Genghis Con took Denver by storm this past weekend. It was a great show, and apparently broke some attendance records this year. While I fire up my caffeine IV in an attempt to recover, I’d like to share some personal highlights from the show:
Guilding: While wandering through the board game room like a millionaire window-shopping for a new fleet of cars, I stumbled across a local guild of game designers playtesting their latest designs. After I crashed their official meeting, they offered to let me join them, which I gratefully accepted. I figure there’s no better incentive to finish that prototype than a gaggle of fellow designers demanding, “Where’s that new prototype, you slacker?”
Casting: I also had the pleasure of sitting on the panel / recording for SavageCast, a Savage Worlds-themed podcast. Here I shared the mic with Jodi and Clint Black of Pinnacle, our hosts Chris Fuchs and Chris Landauer, and special guest star Shane Hensley. I’ve worked with Jodi and Clint at various times on freelance projects, so it was great to officially meet them in person and hear the tales of their early gaming adventures.
Punching: On Savage Saturday Night, I ran seven players through the Ghost Punchers adventure, “Mini Van of Death!” It was pretty amazing, with puns and bennies flying everywhere as the characters solved the twin mysteries of (a) what ghost was behind the killings, and (b) where can you get pizza, alcohol, and scuba gear at 10:00 PM in Detroit? This was also the first Ghost Punchers adventure I’ve run in which a player tried to use a ouija board to talk to the ghosts before punching them… and now I have to add rules for that to the game. Congratulations, Genghis players! Achievement unlocked!
There’s nothing like attending a game convention to inspire my creativity. Seeing all those people having all that fun rekindles my passion for the game, and reminds me why I got into gaming in the first place. Thank you, Genghis! I can’t wait to do it all again next year!
