Board-gaming and lead miniatures enthusiasts started Gen Con way back in 1968 at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (hence the name).When Dungeons & Dragons got big in the late 1970s, Gen Con quickly took the d20 nuts into the fold, and thus Gen Con existed until 1990. In 1990, "Lord British" a.k.a. Richard Garriott, the father of computerized RPGs, visited the convention, and laid the groundwork for a new species of gamer geek (I say that lovingly!). Continuing through the 90s, the tabletop gamer and RPG'ers mecca saw the introduction of "Magic: The Gathering" and other collectable card games. Today, "the best four days in gaming" boasts three seperate conventions (Indianapolis, Southern California, and Europe), and So Cal alone has a mind-blowing 27 pages of events listed in small print, totalling somewhere in the 1100+ range. That's a lot of dice.
These events, since you were wondering, cover the full spectrum of social gaming and even dabble in anime and poker. The games played range from old-school ("Advanced Dungeons & Dragons"... lots of DnD, of course), to kid-friendly ("Munchkinopoly," "Big Box Learn & Play"), to familiar ("Risk"), to funny (the "Redneck Life Board Game"), to frag-fest ("Halo" and "Halo 2"), to the questionable ("Redneck Voltron" - sensing a theme here?), to the eclectic (there's skads of games here I couldn't even guess at, e.g. "Palazzo," "Oasis," "David & Goliath"- I could go on for pages!). There's miniature-painting contests for steady-handed pros and "paint-and-takes" for beginners, half a floor for anime / manga / hentai enthusiasts, a poker tournament, and events for serious gamers ("qualifiers," "pro circuit"-type events, etc.). And I haven't even touched the game designer's / developer's booths, seminars, the massive retail areas, and the "fluff" events (concerts, autograph signings, and a comedy act). Needless to say, there's a lot going on here.
Gen Com So Cal officially began on Thursday, November 17th, 2005, but since the vaunted exhibition halls and MMO-relevant booths don't open until tomorrow, I took the chance to observe Gen Con early arrivals in their tabletop-gaming glory. Open areas, like the large room pictured to the left, were available for sprawling miniature combat. Gamers scuttled around, talking on cell-phones coordinating participation in specific events (since you must sign up and pay for just about every event in advance, though you could buy a "generic ticket" and hope for a no-show), lugging plastic totes full of games and game components around, or just sitting & strategizing with friends. There's not a lot of reunions; there's none of the "good to see ya!" you might expect to find among these longtime followers of their gaming muse. There is a competitive glint in a lot of eyes here. It might be cliche to say that the atmosphere here is charged, but it is- I can see that the competitions held tomorrow are going to be pretty intense.
Inside True
Tavern
In the meantime, True Dungeon and True Tavern are running full bore. True Tavern is a tavern in just about every sense of the word, including the alcohol, costumes, tales, and wenches (the women to the right just happened to be really nice wenches... totally un-wenchlike, actually). True Dungeon puts players in the middle of a true-to-life RPG; pitting their class abilities and knowledge of the game against puzzles and monsters in an actual dungeon crawl (click here if you'd like to find out more). It's really not as geeky as that one Visa Rewards commercial... well, ok, it is. But geeky is the new cool here at Gen Con, it's one time and one place these avid gamers can go to let their hair down (sometimes literally). And that makes Gen Con pretty cool in my book.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's coverage, when (if all goes as planned) I'll talk to Steve Snow of the Auto Assault team about how "the most destructive vehicular MMO ever made" is progressing. Also, Ten Ton Hammer is first on the scene to speak with Peter Beagle, renowned fantasy author and newest member of Tulga's Horizons: Empire of Istaria team.
