GenCon Events

Too Many Bones

This one is because I own the game. I own the game, yet I don’t play my copy because I know how to play but don’t know how to play. I like with bigger games, I’m thinking of Burncycle last year, Lost Ruins of Arnak and Dwellings of Eldervale the year before, it’s a chance to learn the game. Someone who knows how to play the game is going to sit down and teach you the game. And then, for me, that means that I now can more easily teach and play it at home.

This year for GenCon Too Many Bones is that game. Chip Theory games I think are good for the list. A lot of them are complex with pretty dense rulebooks. So GenCon is a chance to really be able to learn a game and get the experience. At four players that might not be ideal experience, but it’ll be a good first one and help me get the game under my belt.

Stardriven: Gateway

Next up coming from Rock Manor Games is Stardriven: Gateway. I wrote about this one when I wrote about the Gamefound Feast. It still intrigues me as a game that has story to it and going to feel like an interesting space adventure. And while it is supposed to still have the grand vastness of space to it, it’s more about managing your crew. You take care of yourself and focus in on that crew level and the big things will happen.

Star Wars Unlimited

You know I like Star Wars Unlimited. This is mainly for two reasons that I want to get into this event. It’s another learn to play event, I don’t need to learn to play. But I think you might get a promo card, which is Grogu. But even if you don’t, it’s going to be playing with the new set. Yes that set will have been out for under a month, but it’s still under a month. And for an hour long session, it’s going to be a fun time to play the new stuff that I haven’t seen much.

Rebel Princess

This is one that I can’t remember if I’ve already ordered the game or not. I just know when I saw the game announced I was intrigued. You’re a princess who is basically trying not to be a princess in the “traditional” sense. And to do that, you’re playing a trick taking game. I like trick taking games a lot, so it was an easy one for me to consider picking up. And when I’m considering picking it up (or maybe did) then it’s one that I’d like to try at GenCon.

Metrorunner

Metrorunner is one that I added to the list because it’s from Thunderworks games. I haven’t played anything from Thunderworks that isn’t part of their Roll Player setting. Metrorunner is not from that setting so it’s going to be the first. I’m intrigued by the sound of it. And it’s a chance to try a game that I passed on when they did crowdfunding. So I’m curious to see what it’ll be like.

16th Annual Dice Tower Awards

Last year I went to the Dice Tower Awards and it was fun. I almost didn’t sign up for a ticket again this year. And I might have passed, or I would have passed had I gotten into one time for an event. But I like going to the Dice Tower Awards. They are fun, and it’s a chance to make that first day of GenCon last a little bit longer. But it is also a chance to not be on your feet for the whole time which is nice as well.

Is there anything super special about the event, not really? But it’s a fun event. It feels like a chance to just enjoy and celebrate games. For people like myself, I know a lot of the games already, but for the people that I’m going with, it’ll be a chance for them to see what a lot of the big newer games are.

Mistborn Deck Building Game

Finally, the event that I only got into because one of the people was in the 400’s on the queue. Mistborn is a setting that I like, don’t love. It is from Brandon Sanderson, an author who I really love. When he is having a game made from Brotherwise Games, I am interested. Plus I like deck building games a lot, so even more interested.

Why did these sell out so fast? Firstly, it’s a preview of the game, it might even almost be somewhat of a playtest of the game. I am not 100% sure on that. So people like those events, and it’s the first chance to see a game that is coming to crowdfunding. But it is also Brandon Sanderson so people will be interested because of that. The fact it filled up fast was not a surprise for me.

Final Thoughts and What I Missed Out On

Firstly, I like the number of events that I got into this year. For me, this is about the sweet spot in number of events. A few more than sometimes overlap prime walking the dealer hall time, but don’t worry, I plan to do a lot of that as well.

I didn’t miss out on much. Two Mistborn deck builder events were full before i got to my sign-up. But I got in another way, so that is amazing. Then a Stormlight RPG Demo, it is Brandon Sanderson’s series I like better, I am not surprised. The Elder Scrolls, a game coming from Chip Theory Games, I am already all in on it. It is not out yet, so people want to see it. And with Too Many Bones, I will be playing the game it is based off of. Finally, SETI, another learn to play event for a new game. I think it looks interesting, but I don’t feel bad missing on it.

Did you get into the events that you wanted?

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The Basics of the GenCon Events Catalog

Let’s start really easily with the filters and what you need to know.

• Event Type: The type of event that you might want to play. The big ones are RPGs and Board Games. There are events like TCG’s, Seminars (Panels) and other events. But the big two people come for are RPGs and Board Games.
• Game System: What type of game are you playing. Might seem redundant, but if you want to track down a specific game, say Blood on the Clocktower, you can do that through this. So it simplifies some filtering.
• Day: Which day is it on?
• Start Time: When does it start?
• Company/Group: What company is running it. It’s a great way to say, I want to find anything that company X is doing because I’ll be interested in one of their games. I don’t care which one or when it is. So filter by that.

And there are a few other things that matter a bit later.  Has it sold out or already happened, doesn’t matter now, or when you sign up for events. The system will tell you that. The age let’s you know if there are age restrictions. And the level of experience, well, how much you need to know. Most of the RPG and Board Gaming events will be none because they want to teach you the game and get you to buy it.

The Events Themselves

So what do you need to know about the events themselves? I can go into this in detail, but most of the GenCon event stuff is self explanatory. But let’s talk about a few things of note on them.

• Tickets Available: How many people will be at this event. It is going to determine how likely you are to get into it. The more tickets, the easier it is to get into. The fewer, you get the drift. Also important to note if you want to get all the tickets or multiple tickets because you’re in a group.
• Get Tickets For: The big part of the GenCon event catalog is picking what events you want to go to before the events are live. If you are interested, select one of these, if you have a group, pick all or one additional depending on how many you need.
• Only Get Selected Tickets If All Are Available: It does what it says, but it’s important to see it’s there. Again, if you want to play with your friends, you don’t want to sign up only to get one ticket instead of all of them or two of them.
• Cost: How much does it cost? There are free events, but most of them cost. Why, the companies want to pay their people some and this is one way to offset it. Plus they are paying GenCon some as well
• Ticket Method: Another one that is important to note. If it’s electronic, easy, you just show up with your badge and they scan it. So the thing you need to get into the convention is what you need. But it might be paper tickets. And those you either grab at will call ahead of time or have shipped to you. I recommend the latter, skip the lines when you can.
• Duration: Another easy one, how long is this event going to take?
• GM(s): This is the person who is going to run the game. They use GM (Game Master) which is normally an RPG term, but it’s just the instructor/teacher for the game.

Wish List

Finally we have the Wishlist. As you add tickets for yourself and others it’ll allow you to order a wishlist. And I’m not toing to say that there are great tips and tricks for this. And I will get to how you process this in a minute, but order them how you want. It’s meant to be the one that you most want to make it to at number one. I use it slightly differently. Sometimes the GenCon event I’m most excited for has two hundred or five hundred tickets. I don’t need to put that one as high.

Instead, I use it to rank the ones that I’m most interested in with that lower 4-5 person count higher. It theoretically let’s those process first because of how GenCon processes everything, I say theoretically. So let’s get to that day of signing up for events.

How to Actually Get Events at GenCon

GenCon’s main system is on the day that events go live, May 19^th in 2024, it is going to kick off at 11 AM Central time (noon Eastern). You want to be on right then and you want to be on your wishlist page. When the time comes the page will change and you’ll be able to process your wishlist. Keep in mind, mobile, it’s okay for using the site. But that’s only so relevant.

Your wishlist is going to drop into a queue. I clicked within a minute of the go live time last year and was about 5,000 down on the list, maybe slightly further. So events get processed through as you go through the queue. This is why I say the wishlist only kind of matters. I’m assuming that their backend system processes X number of wishlists at a time. So if they go through ten at a time, which seems possible, your wishlist is going to be ranked and compared against the others to make it more likely that you get yours. I want to explain how they do this programmatically, but that’s not going to be useful.

So the processing will take a while. But you don’t need to babysit it the whole time. Check every 15 to 20 minutes to see where you are in the queue. And once your list processes you can go through and update any that you might not want anymore. And you can buy all your events at once. Then after the fact if you want to add more or you missed out on something you really want but there is another event for it, you can add those in and process them separately. Only that first four hours, maybe, is it going to be that hectic and slow a queue.

Additional Tips and Tricks for GenCon Events

Overbook when you create your wishlist. I don’t do great at this, but add in multiple times for a game that you might want. And at the same times that you have other things. If you’re planning on an event at that time,  make sure you have an event at that time.

The other one is book early events. A lot of people get together at GenCon and stay up until midnight or two in the morning every day. It’s fun to do, it’s fun to play games late into the night. It’s fun to have a beer or two while you do so. But I don’t do that every night, maybe one time. Two reasons, it helps avoid con crud, but also it lets me schedule early events. Events that start at 8 AM or 9 AM, less likely to have people sign up for them because it’s early. And especially on the first day when the dealer hall opens, sign up for events starting around then.

Buy generic tickets. This is something that I haven’t really done. But it’s possible to buy generic tickets. The minimum amount is $2 for an event (unless it’s free). So if you want to play a game and it’s at an odd time, say that 8 AM or Sunday, but you  miss out on tickets, you can show up with generic tickets. If someone doesn’t show up, you can get into those events. Now it’s a risk, you might be sitting there with a generic ticket that you can’t use at the end. And you need to plan on enough, so a $8 event, 4 $2 generic tickets, to do the event.

There is playtesting and new things. Sometimes they are trickier to find, but if you know a company is coming out with a new game, search that company or game. You can sometimes get in on playtesting a game which is fun as well.

Finally, you can add friends. The good thing about adding friends is that you can buy for your friends then. This allows you to coordinate events better. If you both or all in your group want to do all the same events, add them to both persons lists. Then process, and whomever is higher in the queue is going to get more of them and sign up there. Just don’t sign up with the other persons.

Final Thoughts

You won’t get everything that you want. But the good thing about GenCon is that there are several thousand events and more will be added. So there are always going to be interesting things to play. And if you’re like me, you don’t overload with events. I generally pick early and later events. Then I’ll wander the dealer hall during the day demoing as many games as I can. But that’s what works for me. You might want more consistent events.

Hopefully this is interesting and useful for  you as you attend GenCon and start browsing the event catalog.

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The Isofarian Guard

The road events are an element of The Isofarian Guard I haven’t talked about too much. I want to talk about Fort Istra and the quests, but right now I need to go and do more with that so I learn their benefits more so. It is a bit premature to talk about them otherwise.

But I did several more road events this time, and I think that they are interesting. It is random when you get road events, which I’m calling that, probably more just events. And sometimes they are good, sometimes not so good. But it is based on the choices that you make. And I knew that the odds were, then I got the really bad result, I chose wrong. But I wanted to see what that story was.

The events add to the story of the world. It is supposed to make the world feel more alive and I think that it does. Much like Gloomhaven with town and road events, they offer you a choice or two or three. And you need to guess from the description given which is the better option. And I think compared to Gloomhaven these are better. Gloomhaven’s were often guess work, at least the first time out.

With The Isofarian Guard, I am fairly confident I know what the safe option is each time. The question is, is the safe option the best option, or is the other option better. Often with Gloomhaven, it is a coin flip. The information to go on is too limited. So, The Isofarian Guard knocks it out of the park when it comes to events.

Upcoming Streams

Let’s start with next Monday, it is Labor Day, so I may or may not stream. The question is mainly around if I need to record a podcast that night or not. I hope to record on Sunday, and if I record then, I likely will stream. But I also plan to go to the Minnesota State Fair that day, which means that I might be too tired from greasy food on a stick and walking around the fair for hours. I’ll know closer to streaming time at 9 PM Central.

If I stream on Monday, there is a chance it’ll be opening up some Magic the Gathering packs and chatting. Or reviewing and talking about Rogue Angels which is launching on Kickstarter that day.

Wednesday is going to be The Isofarian Guard again. My hope is to make it to the next story moment and then up to the first questing location. I want to see what a quest looks like and how it works. My Wednesday stream is at 8 PM Central. And there is no reason that stream will not happen.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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OSCS Meet Up

This is the one with fewer hiccups. The only hiccup would be that I didn’t get to meet any of the OSCS people. The upside is, I had some fun gaming. I got to play two games and hangout. One being Whale to Look that I had picked up. I found, with that game, that a fun game at four players, it is not as fun at two players. I’ll talk about that game soon as it is one that I picked up.

The other game was Tesseract. This is a game that is hard to explain, in theme. It’s a game where players are trying to keep a Tesseract (dice cube) from crumbling completely. Meanwhile the game is working against you causing dice to be lost and containment breaches to occur. It’s Pandemic like, in some ways with a few actions you play. And then adds in a very unique dice cube on top of that, literally above everything else.

Man vs Meeple Meet Up

Now, as I write about this, understand that I had fun at this meet up. There is a lot of good conversation, not a ton about board games that was had. Conversation went from Wheel of Time and other books, Marvel shows and movies, and more. It is refreshing in some ways to not talk about board games all the time.

Now, I did play a board game during that time as well. Scout which is a really fun card shedding game. I like the simplicity of the mechanisms but also the puzzle that you are playing. It’s a very fun game that way and a little game as well. I think that makes it stronger.

The gaming, though, is not what people had hoped. Mainly because for two years in a row the air conditioning decided not to work. I think this time it was worse because the food took a long while to come. So we ended with around an hour to play games. That said, it is a really fun time every year. The conversation is always a blast.

Gen Con Recap Part 2

Overall, these events are always fun. I like them mainly as a chance to meet people and game outside of the normal hours. Some days I really like them, but I don’t want them every day. Sleep and staying healthy at Gen Con are important for me.

But when they do happen, it’s always a fun time. Good conversation and in this case, two games that I wouldn’t have played otherwise. I even played Tesseract twice. It is a game that I plan on getting when it hits retail. I like it that much because it’s just different yet similar. I think my game group would like it a lot.

What events outside of Gen Con do you do at Gen Con?

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Thanks for Listening to 10 Minute Marvel

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions around Marvel Comics

Are you a comic reader? Which is the way that you prefer to read them? I personally use Marvel Unlimited, but there’s an element of going into a comics store weekly to get the newest issues that I miss. So do you still go that way or read digitally as well?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the 10 Minute Marvel Facebook page as well where you can join in the conversation, here.

Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

So let’s talk about how I’ve gotten repeated story. And why I’ve gotten repeated story. The first time was because I was doing a quest that allowed you to go back and try again. A bit annoying to have to do everything again. It could have been shortened by when you hopped back into the quest. But it’s a quest so there is promise of more that you’ve missed to come.

The other time, most recently in last nights game, was when an event happened to me again. And I don’t think it was the third time, but it might have been. In my play, I think I’ve had two, maybe three of the daily events repeated.

Now, some of this is how I am playing the game. When I play Lands of Galzyr, I play every week. Most people won’t play that often. But, I think Lands of Galzyr does encourage people to play maybe a few games in a row, or a few games, say 3-4 in a shorter time frame. And with more players, you are more apt to repeat events, but maybe not for the same person.

This is just part of the game. I don’t think it is a too much of a negative or detractor. To get some events shuffled into the event pile, it means events you’ve had show up again. The evens you have, still, though, do require you to be on the same terrain type where it happened before. So, a minor issue, in my opinion.

Upcoming Streams

More Lands of Galzyr is coming up next Wednesday at 8:00 PM Central Time. If you want to join me, you can find the link to that upcoming video here. Click that notification bell and you’ll know when I go live. And keep in mind some upcoming campaign games as I’m getting close to wrapping up my time with Lands of Galzyr. Pick from the list I have here.

And on Monday at 8:30 PM Central Time I am going to be streaming a game. Last week it was Fleet The Dice Game. A game that I need to play more to see if I can do better. I don’t know what it will be, but expect a smaller game that maybe even you can play along with. But I hope to see you then as well.

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Gen Con Highlights

Man vs Meeple Dinner and Gaming

This one has a lot with it because it’s a channel I’ve followed for a while. Then I joined in with their discord. There I got to chat with them but also with the community. So when a community get together was put together, I wasn’t sure I’d go but I’m glad that we did. We had a nice dinner which really was a ton of fun chatting at the table.

Then, I could put this as a separate highlight, we went to the JW Marriot and played Ready, Set, Bet. I almost went and tried to find the game right away. But from AEG, this is a real time betting and party game. It is just a great time as one person (and this can rotate) is the caller of the race. Everyone else in real time is betting and having a great time trying to get their bets in. This game just has so much excitement to it and worked really well.

Walking The Hall With Tablenauts Crew

This was different but similar to MvM (Man Versus Meeple) where it is another channel I really enjoy. But instead of a meal, though they did do that, I was playing a game further down on the list, we just wandered the halls and played game. And one of those games is on the list as well. But it was just fun to have a group of three or four and just be able to sit down and demo as a group.

If there is one thing I missed about not having someone with me the whole time is that it was sometimes harder to demo. Two people you can do a demo of most things, but with one person you are often waiting for more people to show up. So we got in four games that day, but three of them were full plays and it was just fun to hang out, play games and chat.

Dice Tower Live “Top 5”

I really enjoy yet another board game YouTube Channel, The Dice Tower. I talk about them more often because they have a larger team. But at Cons they do live Top 5 lists. Generally for things that are a big sillier, or a bit more negative than their normal ones. I’m not sure why, but they go over the top for them.

This was Top 5 turn offs for games, and bad rule books was on the list, so I agree with that one. It was good for a lot of laughs and generally just nice to sit there and relax. It is in the middle of the day on Friday, but it was a chance to get off my feet from the dealer hall. Which was nice because after that I went and got a heavy game, purchases tomorrow, and well, I was tired after that.

Batman: Everybody Lies with Designer

So the last two are game plays. They are close to being my favorite games played, but they were just fun experiences that stood out. Firstly Batman: Everybody Lies with Ignacy. He went over the rules and we played the prologue scenario. It is a very easy prologue but had so much fun with it.

Plus, since the boxes were opened, we could buy the game cheaper, so we did. And we got Ignacy to sign he inside of the box which is cool. Right now I have it here ready to get played when I have a chance, which hopefully will be soon. It seems like it’ll be faster to play than some of the other Detective scenarios, at least from the core box.

Paint the Roses with Designer

And then Paint the Roses. This was part of the walking around with the Tablenauts crew. And we got to play this deduction game, interesting that both specific games are deduction, in it’s deluxe form. And taught by the designer of the game.

Paint the Roses is a game where you are trying to figure out the conditions and cards other people have for getting the roses painted. You place a tile and then guess every turn. If you guess a card correctly, you move ahead that many spots and the queen moves one. If you’re wrong, you stay still and she catches up to take off your heads. A ton of fun and super pretty.

Final Thouhts

I had an amazing Gen Con. The two things I’d maybe do or change up for next year. Firstly, it is more fun to have people to go around with. Like I said, sometimes maybe could have had a demo with two people, but I just got the rules explanation because I was just one person. Wandering with more people is more fun.

The other thing is that I’d probably schedule another earlier event. I can easily make it there by 8 AM or 9 AM, so maybe on Thursday, schedule something early. Or even a couple of times. Get in a specific game play if they have the earlier time. Thankfully CGE and some of the company specific rooms open earlier, but they are slammed before the dealer hall opens at 10 AM. So having a two hour event before wandering the dealer hall would be fun, and let me pick more specific things.

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