blumberg@ihuxw.UUCP (Marc R Blumberg) (08/31/85)
This is the GENCON 18 report, I tell it like it is... Good stuff: - Believe it or not, the location. This is the first year in the last 5-6 that GENCON was not held at U. of W. in Parkside. This was an unexpected improvement. All enclosed (like Parkside), extremely noisy (unlike Parkside), and right across the street from the convention's major hotel, the Milwaukee Hyatt. During my free time (that's right, I said FREE time) I found several food establishments, including a high-tech Wendy's, less than two blocks from the site! Another block and you hit a huge shopping mall. Now this is civilization.... - registration procedures. from what I could tell, things are getting more organized each year. less lines, except for event registration (no way around this, I suppose). Security is just as good as it ever was, I could get into the exhibit area by walking fast and flashing my ORIGINS exhibitor badge. Oh well. Bad stuff: - just about everything else... - Running hard-core role-playing events like Champions and (especially) Justice, Inc. in the noisy cloth-bound cubicles was without a doubt, hell on earth (milwaukee?). Could be that the bugs were still being knocked out of the new location, maybe next year we'll graduate to conference rooms. - on-premises food. not really bad, just mediocre. but when compared to Wendy's, no contest. - THE DEALER ROOM - I can only remember one GENCON when I was more disappointed in the Dealer area. I don't remember seeing some of the major companies (FGU), and those I did see had much smaller booths than at ORIGINS (Chaosium, even Hero Games). Not too many major releases, but they were: - Chaosium's Second Cthulhu companion - DC Heroes first module (actually, this came out two weeks prior) - FGU's Most Wanted for V&V, volume 3 (Yes, I know that volume 2 hasn't come out yet, that's THEIR problem) featuring the OFFICIAL V&V to CHAMPIONS conversion system. - Steve Jackson's MAN-TO-MAN, with free cardboard heroes inside (this unfortunately looked like a rehash of the Fantasy Trip (late Meta-gaming)). ... and except for the Supremacy game I picked up (the RISK of the 1980's!)... that's IT! When not running games and exploring downtown Milwaukee, I hung around the Hero Games booth, THE absolute bright spot in a dull exhibit hall. Debi Maxwell and Ray Greer are two of the most fun people I know, and they love talking to customers. If you find yourself at a dull exhibit hall, wander by the Heroes and say hi. and finally..... DA TOURNAMENTS! This is short, most of it being repeated from the ORIGINS report. The Champions tournament absolutely sold out, and unlike past conventions, even the spare slots we keep were filled. The Justice Inc. tournament ALMOST sold out, probably didn't because it ran before Champions, so we couldn't do word-of-mouth on it. The players were terrific, and here are the winners (as my memory serves): CHAMPIONS: 1st) Dean Edgell (Canada) as Firestar 2nd) Joe Adlesick (Chicago) as the Claw 3rd) <arrrrgh, I forgot. And I KNOW this guy, too> as the Monk JUSTICE INC: 1st) Eileen Reedy (Chicago) as Roxie 2nd) Dean Edgell (Canada) as Nick 3rd) John Toomey (?) as G. Whiz That's it for this season's HERO tournaments. Next Year, we will be running THREE full tournaments, Champions, JI, and probably Fantasy Hero. We're also considering a short Danger International event if we have time. We are looking at ways to expand the Champions tourney, to accommodate more than 64 players comfortably. If there are any good ideas out there, please send me mail. Thanks in advance. To people who inquired, it looks like the Texas Rangers WILL BE PUBLISHED, now the question is by whom. We're negotiating right now, I'll post progress if anyone cares. Till next time.... Marc R. Blumberg AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, IL ihnp4!ihuxw!blumberg