[net.games.frp] GENCON REPORT

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