Gen Con So Cal 2004 took place in Anaheim, California, so it's just over an hour's drive from my home. How could I not go? (Later, after driving 140 miles round trip each day, I regretted not getting a hotel ... I'll know better next time.)
I originally planned to attend this show just as a guest like any other gamer, but Gen Con Inc. offered to make me one of the guests of honor at the show, and I accepted. This meant that instead of just running three games and a seminar, I was also going to be on several panels talking about gaming, the industry, and related topics. This meant I was very busy.
Also, at the last minute my friend JD Wiker was unable to attend the show and he asked if I'd want to pimp my games at The Game Mechanics' booth with my friends Marc and Stan! of TGM, in exchange for helping them run their booth. I said yes, and brought some stuff for a small display at the booth, and was so busy at the show that I think I never spent more than 15 minutes at a time there. I also forgot to take a picture of the booth, so hopefully Marc or Stan! did and I can get a copy from them and post it here....
The Photos
This is my friend Dave Sleigh; I took a picture of him at Indy 2004 this year as well. Dave is setting up the videogame network-play area at the show; there was much Halo 2 going on. In the background you can see an open area set aside for card gaming (I neglected to take a panorama shot of the entire con, so this is all you get).
Part of the Miniature Building Authority booth, really amazing pre-painted resin buildings (Monte raved about these a while back). Take a look at that castle wall, it's about three feet from end to end and it comes apart so you can see the sections inside it. If you don't have the time or inclination to build your own terrain (with Hirst Arts, for example), and you're willing to drop several hundred dollars on terrain, this is the place to go to. (There are vertical splices in the photo because I pasted together three pictures to get one wider image with all the stuff on the table.)
A picture of people playing Darter, a strategy board game. Looks cool, a lot of people were talking about how this would be a good gift.
Sharing the booth with Pagan Publishing was Catalyst Studios, a Seattle-based group of artists who come up with interesting and sometimes creepy paintings and sculpture. Pictured are a bunch of magnets (I think they're by Ann Koi, pictured). I like 'em, bought one as a gift.
Close-up of one of the creepy baby-face magnets.
Chris Pramas at the Green Ronin booth. They were expecting a shipment of their new Black Company book on Saturday, it arrived, and they only had 3 copies left when I talked to him Sunday afternoon. Well done!
The main reason why I took a picture of this guy (he worked in a retailer's booth) is because there's a guy on my boards whose avatar (from a painting) used to be the spitting image of this dude.
Chris Pramas and Hal Mangold at the Green Ronin booth. In the background you can see the banner for the Game Mechanics booth.
The Shifting Forest booth (their website isn't active until Jan 1, 2005). They make one-shot simple LARPs for people who aren't REALLY into LARPing. Check 'em out.
The Game of Colors, a board game for all ages, with increasing strategy the smarter you are. Personally, I think I'd throw up after staring at that multicolored board for too long, but maybe it would make an interesting game experience for you stoner types....
The check-in line for the True Dungeon.
The Nintendo booth, with some of their GameCube games on display.
The Pokemon Company's booth. Some of my former WotC co-workers now work for this company.
The Chessex booth. That's a lot of dice!
This guy works with carvers in Indonesia to import their stuff into the US. He has some really cool stuff, including dragons and gargoyles and other gamer-friendly creatures.
Linda Tran, a nude model. Her booth was right across the aisle from the Game Mechanics booth. She actually wouldn't let me take a photo of her booth (she was charging people for photos), so I snuck a zoomed photo while sitting at the Game Mechanics booth. (I just wanted a picture as an example of a non-gaming-related booth, otherwise I would not have bothered ... I couldn't care less about her looks, though she is pretty).
She's a cave ... bunny? She attracted a lot of attention at the show.
My Arcana Unearthed game (The Severed Oath)
The Loot
This is the stuff I picked up at the show, either by handing over money for it, trading, or getting it free because I am so charming (or because the person giving it away didn't want to pay to ship it home).
Ssethregore and City of Secrets, new books for the Arcanis setting.
Abuse: The Final Insult, a Greg Stolze card game from Eos Press, and Creatures & Cultists, a John Tynes/Jeff Barber/John Kovalic game from Eos Press/Pagan Publishing.
Several Confrontation minis from Brookhurst Hobbies: Giant Barbarian With Sword 1, Giant Barbarian With Sword 2, Giant Barbarian With Halberd 1
Holy Zealots miniatures box set from War Machine (Privateer Press).
The aforementioned "babyhead" magnet from Catalyst Studios.
Some more Magnetic Miniature Marker Discs from Alea Tools.
The guys from Alea Tools, the makers of the Magnetic Miniature Marker Discs, those handy little magnetic discs you stick underneath your minis to identify who's invisible, wounded, etc. They're nice guys and this is a really handy product (I used them in all three games I ran at the show).
A view of the side of the Upper Deck booth. They had a big area enclosed by girders, and inside was a big area where they did demos of Yu-Gi-Oh and Vs. I'm an employee of Upper Deck, but I was at the show as me, not as an UD employee, so I wasn't working in the booth at all (plus I've only been there two weeks and don't know how to play either of those card games, so I wouldn't be much help...).
The front of the UD booth. They had two card sets on display and two big monitors showing videos of stuff.