GenCon 2013: Roleplaying Games Galore

Greetings once again InterWebs!!!! It has been a flurry of blogging lately covering my GenCon 2013 experiences and tonight we will look at some of the Roleplaying games that caught my attention enough for me to stop and play for a while. I have found a new passion for the Shadowrun 5th Edition Roleplaying game from Catalyst Game Labs and that is where I would like to start.

First off, I managed to get into the special GenCon-only 'Dante's Inferno' game of Shadowrun. This event was held in a custom round room with Shadowrun art on the inside and outside. The two GMs for the event were both in costume which really added to the atmosphere of the event!

Here I am standing on the outside of the 'Dante's Inferno' area with the outside artwork of downtown Seattle circa 2075:

A look at one of the GMs who happened to be the target that needed to be protected inside of Dante's Inferno:

I failed to grab any pictures of the inside of the area, I was too busy trying to keep the target alive! However the inside area was all done up to look like the inside of a swank/posh nightclub complete with Shadowrunners lurking in the shadows! It was something I will remember for sure! 

To continue the Shadowrun coverage, I snapped a shot of Jason Hardy (line developer for Shadowrun) being interviewed:

A look at the Shadowrun 'play-area' where there must have been 10-15 tables of Shadowrun being played (all part of Catalyst's Living Shadowrun Campaign):

I was hooked on Shadowrun at Origins 2013 and all it took was one game of Shadowrun for my friends to be hooked as well. My group of friends actually played more Shadowrun at GenCon than I did! Of course I spent my time elsewhere after ensuring they all got into games:

I am glad they found the game enjoyable, so much so they all went out and bought Shadowrun Rulebooks. Here is a look at a very expensive display case I found lurking in the convention halls (Some of those books are $200+ U.S.D.:

Taking a break from Shadowrun for a little bit let all of us (5 total) get in a game of Deathwatch in before we all went out for drinks! It had been a long day (the game was Friday night) already for me at this point and I was running late to get to the game but I made it only to find out that the GM for the game was THE WRITER of the entire Deathwatch line! What better GM could you ask for? Here we are all gathered to bring the Emperor's Wrath to the Xenos:

The last event that I will cover here is really a miniature event but we have so much fun roleplaying during it that I really think of it as a Roleplaying event. It is time for FORMULA WAAAAGH!!!!!!! Last year's event was our first but certainly not our last:

 It was a grand time with much Orkiness!!!! I don't believe that anyone actually made it around the track! The addition of the stream that ran through the course played havoc on the racers:

The Mad-Doctor van Oosten plotting our doom with his mighty gretchen wagon:

Doctor Peel trying to figure out how he can kill the Warboss 'on accident' while the GM looks over the rules:

Speaking of rules...they were the same as last year:

On Friday morning I managed to get into an event that most call a 'must see' at GenCon...........

The 'breakfast' was side-splitting funny with contestants being called up on stage to run through Tracy's Improv Style Adventure that played on their responses. Not the best description but it was very funny to watch! Here is a look at the action:

Well, that is all for tonight. Take care and stay tuned for tomorrow's coverage of the GenCon 2013 Cosplay experience! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

GenCon 2013: The Miniature Side of Things

Greetings once again InterWebs!!!!! My recapping of my GenCon 2013 experiences continues with a look at the Miniature side of things. We will have a look at a bunch of gaming tables for various miniature games and then we will have a look at some of the painting competition entries. Here we go!!!

The Front of the Forge World/ Games Workshop/ Black Library Booth:

In one of the Miniature Wargaming Halls I found a massive game of Warhammer Apocalypse that went on all day on Saturday. There was some awesome looking models and terrain including a Thunderhawk Gunship that was being used as terrain :-(

I have always loved the Armorcast Reaver Titan and this one was nicely done.

A fantasy version being setup. From the look at the armies held off table this game was going to be huge unfortunately my schedule prevented me from returning later to see it all unfold.

Continuing our look at Games Workshop miniature games being played here is a massive game of Space Hulk being played on 3D terrain:

I loved the Assault Ram that acted as the boarding location:

Now to step away from Games Workshop games and take a look at the many other game tables that were on display starting with a game of Sedition Wars:

Here are a bunch of really cool looking tables that caught my eye. I could not tell you what game system most of these are for but they are stunning gaming tables:

The water effects on this board were stunning even though they really don't show up to well in the picture:

I think this was a game of Infinity:

The red glowing effects from the hot metal in the buckets was awesome, somehow they all flickered like they were hot:

A largish game of BattleTech Miniatures put on by Catalyst Game Labs:

A D&D Skirmish Board set in the Under Deep:

Dust Tactics? All I know is it was Weird War II but still a cool looking table:

Mercs Minis!!!! Unfortunately my hectic schedule left me without any time to actually get a game of Mercs Minis in. I did have a blast talking with the Mercs gentlemen in their Dealer's Hall Booth, they are such nice people to chat with.

If this post was not long enough for you I would like to reward you for getting this far by giving you a look at some of the painting competition entries. This next pictures were taken through very thick glass so I apologize for their quality. Some of the entries:

That is it for now. Thanks so much for bearing with me on this long post! Next up I will be taking a look at the Roleplaying Game side of GenCon 2013 (which for me was a big part). Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Take care!