Octopus Overlords

raydude wrote:I saw that a new Star Trek RPG, Star Trek Adventures is coming out in August. And apparently there will be a play session with it at GenCon. Interested in hearing some impressions if folks happen to see it.

The digital version is available now. I picked it up, but haven't touched it since...

Punisher wrote:

hentzau wrote:

hepcat wrote:

hentzau wrote:If you're looking for RPG stuff, there is always a big selection from a single vendor of RPG books, supplements, etc that are like "Buy 2, get 3 free". Wish I remember the name of the vendor. Most of them are from obscure games, but your money can go a long way there.

And yeah, the CSI booth last year had a ton of great deals.

By the way, we looked for your copy of that RPG you wanted while we were at Origins. No go.

Yeah, it's turning out to be pretty damn rare. I wish I would have picked it up when I saw it about 7 years ago.

Just curious.. What RPG?

Spirit of the Century by Evil Hat Games. The TableTop episode where they played a Fate Core game has me really interested in the system, so I've been buying and reading some of the rulebooks. I'd love to get a hardcopy of this one, kind of the flagship of what became Fate Core, but no dice so far. I'll buy the PDF here pretty soon, I just am a paper game book sorta guy.

raydude wrote:I saw that a new Star Trek RPG, Star Trek Adventures is coming out in August. And apparently there will be a play session with it at GenCon. Interested in hearing some impressions if folks happen to see it.

At Origins my RPG room had 1-4 tables running sessions for modiphius as a tournament. There was a bunch of feedback they hoped will be added to the final ruleset. Apparently, it's very easy once you have points in the momentum mechanic to steamroll and the mission had no way to challenge that loop.

looks like something you'll find only at flea market, yard sale, older FLGS's... You could always get it printed out if you just need a hard copy and not the actual original book.

And I've offered to do this before, but if you want me to print it out on our nice, color copier at work, just let me know. I can even spiral bind it for you.

hentzau wrote:

Punisher wrote:Just curious.. What RPG?

Spirit of the Century by Evil Hat Games. The TableTop episode where they played a Fate Core game has me really interested in the system, so I've been buying and reading some of the rulebooks. I'd love to get a hardcopy of this one, kind of the flagship of what became Fate Core, but no dice so far. I'll buy the PDF here pretty soon, I just am a paper game book sorta guy.

Failing hepcat's generous offer, unless you're willing to pay a hefty premium, your best bet is likely to just print your own hardcopy book with a service like Lulu.com. There's a useful post here on the subject of printing RPG PDFs to hardcopy books, which mentions using Lulu to print the Fate Omnibus to a softcover book (and also helpfully points out that with their Fate products, Evil Hat specifically encourages making hard copies for your own personal usage). You should be able to do it for around $20 to $30, including shipping.

Haven't heard of lulu before, but it looks like if you stay away from color, the prices are pretty good. A 489 page PDF I have is about $25 in black and white with hard cover.... just to $102 by making it color. $16 for premium paperback B&W..

I might have to go through some of my PDF's to see if it make sense to convert them.

Hmm. The Lulu idea is intriguing. Hep, if that doesn't pan out for me I may take you up on your offer. I poked around on the Lulu site for all of about 10 minutes but couldn't figure out how to print just one copy of a book. I'll investigate and report back, but probably in the other RPG topic, rather than junk up this one.

hentzau wrote:Hmm. The Lulu idea is intriguing. Hep, if that doesn't pan out for me I may take you up on your offer. I poked around on the Lulu site for all of about 10 minutes but couldn't figure out how to print just one copy of a book. I'll investigate and report back, but probably in the other RPG topic, rather than junk up this one.

Try going here:
http://www.lulu.com/create/books

Thanks for all the info on vendors. I'll likely be shopping mostly for RPGs, miniatures, and accessories that are hard to find online (or are a hassle to get), and I want some freedom to grab things that catch my eye. I've been saving up (and not spending much of anything at all on myself) since last fall to pull that off. I do want to come back with a boardgame or two, though.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't keep up with the latest and greatest boardgames, as I rarely have the cash to buy them. Perhaps someone has some recommendations?

I generally only get to play games with 3+ people, so as cool as some of the two person games are, they tend to get stuck on the shelf. I am also not in the market for games that cost $200 off the shelf, or are built on the assumption of the constant purchases of booster/extras, etc. I just can't afford such games.
Games that take more than a couple of hours to play also don't get as much use as they used to.

Blackhawk wrote: I do want to come back with a boardgame or two, though.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't keep up with the latest and greatest boardgames, as I rarely have the cash to buy them. Perhaps someone has some recommendations?

I generally only get to play games with 3+ people, so as cool as some of the two person games are, they tend to get stuck on the shelf. I am also not in the market for games that cost $200 off the shelf, or are built on the assumption of the constant purchases of booster/extras, etc. I just can't afford such games.
Games that take more than a couple of hours to play also don't get as much use as they used to.

I'd suggest Pandemic Legacy: Season 1. It's still the #1 ranked overall game on BGG, and has been for quite some time. It's a Co-operative 'Legacy Game', which basically means it's like the boardgame equivalent of a wonderful advent calendar, filled with secret treats and goodies that get revealed by choices made as you play, and it plays out much like an RPG campaign. Trust me, if you've not yet played it, it'll blow your socks off (and for best results, be careful to avoid spoilers if reading or watching reviews and such).

If you can score a copy, Gloomhaven would be an excellent choice, too (be warned though, it's a truly immense box of gaming goodness).

I'll check into Legacy. I have a couple of Pandemics already, and they're a lot of fun.

Gloomhaven looks amazing, but it is way, way out of my price range.

Am I understanding this right? Pandemic Legacy is a full priced game that you play once, after which it is unplayable? That just doesn't work at all with the way we play games. We rotate games way too much, and I play games with different sets of people on different weeks.

You play at least twelve 'month' games with some repeated if (when) you lose some of them.

Right, but if your other friends come over, you can't play unless you have a second copy (which you can then only play with that group of friends.) And if you get distracted and come back to it, you can't start over. And once you've played those twelve games, you're done. Forever, unless you buy a new copy.

That just doesn't work with how we play games, and to be honest, I can't afford to invest in $50 board games as disposable products.

Blackhawk wrote:Right, but if your other friends come over, you can't play unless you have a second copy (which you can then only play with that group of friends.) And if you get distracted and come back to it, you can't start over. And once you've played those twelve games, you're done. Forever, unless you buy a new copy.

That just doesn't work with how we play games, and to be honest, I can't afford to invest in $50 board games as disposable products.

Pandemic Legacy is designed to play much like an RPG campaign, with each session lasting around an hour so, and the entire campaign taking perhaps 14-18 sessions in total (depending upon how successful your sessions are). So it is best suited for regular play with the same group of friends or family. Being a 'Legacy Game' means that it provides for a much more epic and immersive experience, but at the cost of replayability. I enjoyed it so much that if I had the opportunity to do so, I'd gladly purchase another copy to play with a new group. But in your situation, it sounds less than ideal.

Blood Rage is another excellent game that may be more suitable to your needs. While it does include some truly phenomenal miniatures, the gameplay is immensely enjoyable with a great Viking theme.

I loves me some blood rage. I never get tired of that one.

I enjoyed pandemic legacy, but I doubt I'll jump on season 2. Once was enough for me.

Hepcat is still annoyed with a few choices we made that fucked us hard in the last 2 months of Pandemic Legacy.

I'm pretty sure Blackhawk will be able to find a few good deals. There's a vendor that has good deals on older Rio Grande games on Sunday. Mayfair always has a rack of discounted overstock, and grinding through their demos to get 5 ribbons =50% off. There is a vendor that has bins of bulk Warhammer figures, and another has old metal minis (Iron Wind?). But the Coolstuff ding and dent is the best bet.

I'm just going to simplify it for myself to compensate for my poor memory. I'm going to go through the recommendations, catch up on Dice Tower, TableTop, and Shut Up & Sit Down and add those that strike my fancy to my Amazon wish list. I'll then go down that list and categorize them as "Want!" "Would like" or "If it's cheap." I'll add the MSRP and current online prices via BGG and type it up. I'll just keep that in my pocket at GenCon.

/edit - sounded too bitchy. I keep forgetting that board gaming is an expensive hobby. If you wait to buy until the reviews are out, the game is out of print and you have to pay the scalpers.

Just one month away

I know. *shudder*

Very happy I have my FedEx registration. The Check In lines are going to be crazy!

So, did we ever settle on anything for an OO meet-up?

Blackhawk wrote: If you wait to buy until the reviews are out, the game is out of print and you have to pay the scalpers.

It really has become this. I suppose it is what it is, a sort of analogy to mircobrews, I guess. I wonder if it has to be this way to keep price points high and game making at least somewhat profitable.

It seems like the next wave will be to kickstart everything and only make several hundred copies of the game beyond the kickstarter, which then makes me wonder what distributors think of these limited models with all of the very very small publishers with their very limited publications.

Zarathud wrote:Very happy I have my FedEx registration. The Check In lines are going to be crazy!

Yeah, last year's line took me by surprise as up until that year, I could waltz in and get my stuff within 15 minutes. This year is going to be even larger, so I went ahead and had all of it sent to me.

Blackhawk wrote:Four day badges just sold out. Anyone wanting to go on single day badges should order really, really soon.

Saturday and Sunday badges are sold out.

I'm planning for GenCon 2018 with our gaming group for next year. 11 1/2 hour drive split three ways won't be too bad. That would be a hell of a fun road trip.

YellowKing wrote:I'm planning for GenCon 2018 with our gaming group for next year. 11 1/2 hour drive split three ways won't be too bad. That would be a hell of a fun road trip.

Not sure if they still do it, especially since the WotC presence at GenCon is not next to nothing, but years back the WotC attendees would take the train and play games on the two day trip from Seattle to GenCon and back again.

hentzau wrote:

YellowKing wrote:I'm planning for GenCon 2018 with our gaming group for next year. 11 1/2 hour drive split three ways won't be too bad. That would be a hell of a fun road trip.

Not sure if they still do it, especially since the WotC presence at GenCon is not next to nothing, but years back the WotC attendees would take the train and play games on the two day trip from Seattle to GenCon and back again.

That's kinda cool.

Ok, kids just left for the week. For the first time in almost a month I have free time. Time to sit down and start researching games I might want at GenCon!

Wait...Gencon has games too???

Or so I've heard.

I've been shorting myself in other areas to make sure I have money for GenCon since last December when I was told that the trip was a Christmas gift. The problem is, I haven't the faintest idea how much I'd be likely to spend. I could have way too much, and I could be very, very short. I could find a number of games I'm interested in that are available for less than I'd pay online, or I may not find a single one - and I generally don't spend unless it is either a small purchase or a really great deal.

I'm used to not spending money, so I'm often a very hesitant buyer at things like this.

Not knowing whether I'm fine or short is making me nuts.

GenCon is an infinite pit. It's a matter of budget -- whatever you bring, you can spend. And whatever self-discipline you can muster.

Personally, I have a list of things broken down into buy, look for and demo. I'll try to mostly get things I can't get later or cheaper, unless they're a few "must haves." Then except for the must haves, I try to hit a good chunk of the dealer hall before buying.

A few things I won't buy until the last day based on my budget. The past few years that has been pre-painted D&D minis, but for a while it was painted sci-fi guys from the Warhammer bulk mini dealer.

The Rio Grande distributor at GenCon discounts on Sunday. Saw a few of their games on your list.

Yeah, I've heard a couple of times that it was good to hold off on purchases of non-limited items until Sunday.

I'm starting to get my stuff together now. I'm borrowing a backpack today. I picked up a case of 'meal bars' that won't melt so that I don't have to mess with lunches, and about a pound and a half of chocolate espresso beans so that I don't have to look for caffeine. I'm a tea drinker, so caffeine withdrawal isn't that bad, but it's still a thing I don't want to have to worry about. A few things a to print (schedule, map, game list), and some stuff to stick on my tablet and I'll be good to go.

I'm throwing shitte into bags tonight, and leaving before 8 tomorrow to meet up at my freinds' house on the outskirts of Indy. If anyone's wanting to have an impromptu OO meet-up, let me know.

I just sent you and Punisher some contact info. Anyone else going that I missed?

My schedule, should it be helpful to anyone. I kept a lot of space free to wander, demo, and see:

Wednesday:
Noonish - Will-Call for my badge, quietly exist

Thursday:
2-4pm - Era of the Ninja
7-5pm - Lose the Fear: Green Stuff Miniature Modelling & Sculpting

Friday:
11am-12pm - Giant King of Tokyo
8-9:30pm - Advancing Your Highlight (painting class)

Saturday:
9-11am - Hickman's Killer Breakfast
12-2pm - Era f the Ninja: Kami and Mahou Expansion
4-5pm - Investigative Roleplaying Master Class

Sunday:
10-11am - Retrospective Tour
Early evening - go the hell home

You left out the Time Travel session on Thursday!