Gen Con 45: No Game Left Behind
That was slogan. I have to say it is pretty accurate. But my interpretation is that by "no game" they mean any and all games. I have not been to a Gen Con in more than 10 years (with the exception of a one day fly by a few years ago. Prior to that I had been to 17 in a row starting in 1982. I have to say, things have changed considerably. What was once the pinnacle of
RPG conventions is now more of game/game-related trade show. Sure there are still tons of
rpg playing opportunities, as well as board game, strategy games and miniature games, but the enormous amount of card games and costume-style "events" almost dwarfs everything else. Back to that later.
I was fortunate this year to have the opportunity to run an
OSR booth that featured the products of many game publishers. I packed up the products and drove to GC on Wednesday. I arrived in the late afternoon and went to the loading dock, then out to a muster yard to get a pass, then back to the loading dock and unloaded. At this time I learned that the good news was that my booth was very near the loading dock entrance which was also the bad news. The
OSR booth was about as far away from the exhibit hall entry as possible and I was basically the only actual game publishing (game product) booth in the area.
So I started the set up procedures and soon discovered that my booth neighbors were a couple great guys running the Utilikilt booth. I have to come clean here. I have previously posted my amazement (and confusion) about the kilt thing at Gen Con. So here was karma smacking me in the face. Well, I now have a whole new appreciation for the Utilikilt. Those two guys sold the hell out the kilts. And they did it as true professionals. No pressure, just professionalism in every respect.
After setting up the booth (for the most part), I checked into my hotel and returned downtown for the Acaeum dinner. I sat with Jeff and Angela and their friend (I forgot his name). The food and conversation was great and I finally met some Acaeum members face-to-face for the first time. I rolled back to my hotel relatively early because I had to be back at the exhibit hall by 7 a.m. for final set up.
Thursday was very busy at the booth and sales were great. Booth participants Tavis Allison of Adventurer Conqueror King fame, Joel Sparks of Faster Monkey games, Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask of Eldritch Enterprises, and Rachel of Frog God Games all stopped by to say hello, drop off products and offer help! What a day. Tavis hung around most of the day and he is a great guy (buy his book). John Peterson who wrote the very cool Playing at the World book also came by (I also met him at the Acaeum dinner). Many personalities from various forums stopped by to say hello and pick up some great
OSR products. I finally met some very long time Pacesetter supporters, also. It was a crazy busy day and most of it seems like a blur. I wrapped up the booth at 6 p.m., reloaded stock and headed out for dinner. After that, it was back to the convention and the auction room (my second home). I picked through the auction store and grabbed a nice copy of Richtoffen's War and a couple other minor things I can't recall right now. During the live auction, I sat with some Acaeum regulars: Bracton, Prufrock, Blackmoor, Stratochamp and a few others (again, things get a bit blurry). I picked up a nice copy of the Hobbit board game (the old one) and a decent third print
PHB for $9!
Friday it was back to the booth and, again, it was a very steady day. Lots of old and new friends came by. Tavis and Joel came by to offer help and let me dash off to strech my legs, etc. Tim Kask and Frank Mentzer came by and sat for a time, signing copies of their books and conversing with everyone. By this point I noticed a definate sales pattern of Lamentations of the Flame Princes (including Carcosa, Vornheim, Isle of the Unknown) and Adventurer Conqueror King were really leading the way. By the way, I forgot to mention that my laptop broke down Thursday morning as I checked for early email. I had to use the paper and pencil method for the duration. Friday night came to a close in the hall and did my routine of clean up, restock and dinner. Then I went back to my second home (the auction) and hung out with the gang. The "rares" were a bit disappointing this year. I did manage to snag a pretty good copy of Tractics for $30 that had a nice surprise - a near mint copy of Dog Tags from Wee Warriors! I also picked up an excellent first print of Squad Leader for $64! I was very happy those pick
ups! I stayed way to late - closing out the auction and then back to the hotel.
Saturday was a repeat of Friday with the key exception that Matt Solarz of Center Stage Miniatures arrived to help man the booth the for the weekend. Matt set up an awesome display of his products and a really cool glass tower that showcased his products (painted). Matt and I had a great time and we conspired on some future products to help DMs stress out PCs. Tim and Frank came by as well as the other mentioned publishers. Everyone was there to help and talk to those who stopped in. One particularly awesome moment has to be mentioned. Frank was hanging out the booth when a gentleman and his son and daughter stopped in. The kids were about 9 and 10. The father had a well-loved copy of his Mentzer red box and he asked Frank to sign it. Without hesitation Frank started up a conversation whereupon the father mentioned that he was running his son and daughter through an adventure using the boxed set. The kids' character sheets were in the box. Frank took them out and asked me if I had any dice (I did). Frank then gave the kids their sheets and ran a short adventure for them on the spot - no more than five minutes, but it was something special. I could see the father grinning ear-to-ear and I have to say I was really touched. I am sure there are some people who might suggest it was good business, but it was so much more than that. I have told this story to many people and it is my favorite of the convention. I won't forget that moment anytime soon. Matt and I wrapped up and did the clean up, restock and dinner thing. Then, guess what, back to the auciton. It was Charity Night at the Auction and the Gary Gygax auciton was first. Out came all those fantastic pieces from the archives. I pegged two items I really NEEDED. I won them both. First, I snagged mint in the shrink lot of four modules PC1 - 4 ($50). I am missing one of them but can't recall which one (and my laptop was dead so I could not look it up at the time). Next I won a mint and in the shrink copy of RS1 Red Sonja. I have been chasing a mint copy of this damn thing for years. Everytime I win one, it seems that the description was lacking or down right fraudulent. Or I was simply out bid. No more. Within seconds of the item going up, I raised my number and announced a bid of $100. Done. You may think I over spent, but remember, the proceeds go to the Gygax memorial.
Sunday was another day at the booth. Friday and Saturday were steady but not fantastic. Sunday was rebound day. Matt and I were busy nonstop until close at 4 p.m. We packed up extra stock before opening which left us in great position to get out of Dodge just after close. We had to wait for the carpets to get rolled up, but then we packed up and managed to escape the insanity.
All through the convention I had many people come to the booth and ask what
OSR is all about. Many people were very interested and many were surprised at the products that were available and the popularity. Many were very happy to see that they were not alone in playing
1e, B/X, etc. While I did not have much chance to game this year, I had a fantastic time running the
OSR booth. Next year you can expect to see a much larger and expanded
OSR presence at Gen Con. Preliminary discussions have already started and if all goes right, there will be an entire section devoted to the
OSR. I don't want to speak for some other publishers, but I expect at least two
OSR publishers will have their own booths. Pacesetter and Center Stage Miniatures will again run an
OSR booth - this time we will have two stalls on an end cap! Since we will be a returning vendor we will actually get some preference in regard to location.
The link below will send you to my photobucket Gen Con photos. I took way less than I wanted (because I just forgot to take more).
http://photobucket.com/osrgencon2012
