Gen Con 2025: Photo Journal

Grab a set of dice.  Roll them on a table.  Now, imagine 70,000+ sets of dice rolling, add conversation and laughter, and you now have a sense of what Gen Con 2025 might sound like.  So many games, so much food and drink, so many vendors, so much fun!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this year's Gen Con: 

Balloon Sculpture

Awesome Cosplay: a tired Belle

Barbarian Rage!

A Goblin Grappler!

Someone looking over my shoulder

Badge Line out the door for hours!

Night Settles on Gen Con

First time finding Genevieve

Gen Con 2025: Top 5 Games Played

There is no way that I could even scratch the surface of playing all or even a majority of the games played or demonstrated at Gen Con, but of the games I played, these are my Top 5: 

5.  Starfinder first edition: Paizo

I love the setting for Starfinder and the system works for me. I have played Starfinder every year I have attended Gen Con.  I have always enjoyed the people I have played with in the Paizo ballroom, and even better, the DMs for Starfinder have always  been A+.  When I went to play, I knew what I was getting, and I wasn't disappointed.  

 

4.  Thunder Road Vendetta: Restoration Games

First, lets start by saying the people at Restoration Games are awesome and enthusiastic.  I had three different people demonstrate how three different games were played at this booth, and they all made the demonstration clear and fun.  Thunder Road Vendetta is a raucous game.  One might think you simply drive your three cars to the end of the board first and you win.  Oh, if it were only that simple.  There are hazards, helicopters, and a hell of a good time!  The best part of this game are the domino affects of crashes and hazards.  Play it with friends and be prepared to shake fists, taunt, and laugh.  

3.  Starfinder second edition: Paizo

When you've got something good, you go with it, right?  Well, Paizo isn't sitting back and watching as things change around them.  They released the second edition of Starfinder at Gen Con this year, and I am not disappointed.  Same fun, same general idea, more streamlined, and now is compatible with big brother, Pathfinder.  I am making the switch, sorry first edition.  

2.  Rumble Slam: TTCombat

Sometimes you can have a good game, but the person teaching it makes it a great game.  That was the case for Rumble Slam.  We had a young employee introduce us to this game, and he was awesome.  Is Rumble Slam good?  I have no idea, but the employee made it great!  He called out the moves, did the moves, and played announcer.  It was hilarious and fun.  If I purchase this game or have the opportunity to play it again, I am inspired by the TTCombat employee, and I will totally ham it up with all the good wrestling calls.  P.S. It is a fun game and really easy to figure out.  Have fun with this one! 

1.  Dragon Bane: Free League Press

This game has been out for a couple years, but continues to sell out game play at Gen Con.  I got lucky and one of my friends had an extra ticket, so we went adventuring.  First, as mentioned above in other games, the person teaching/leading a game can sometimes make it great.  That was the case here.  We had a pro DM who connected with the group right away.  We also had a table of eager players wanting to learn the system.  Dragon Bane is a streamlined system with some cool features like on a failed die  roll, you can give yourself temporary conditions like sickly, exhausted, and disheartened for a reroll.  Spells are not recorded with slots, but with a bank of willpower points.  Kinda cool.  It was fairly easy to learn and we played an adventure with a satisfactory ending.  (No Photo, I was having too much fun!)

Games played or demoed at Gen Con: 

Goats and Goblins, Fortune and Famine, Splendor, Earth, Mandalorian Adventures: Clan of Two, Starfinder first edition, Rumble Slam, HardWar, Fortune and Glory: the Cliffhanger Game, Starfinder second edition, Dragon Bane, Bo Jackson: Battle Arena, Thunder Road: Vendetta, First Exposure Play Hall 

Things I Love About Summer Part 4

Summer Reading!!  Doesn't that bring back memories of being a kid and going to the public library at the beginning of the summer to sign up for summer reading?  That was always fun to get rewards for reading books in the summer.  I wasn't the best at reading a ton or getting many prizes, but the effort of opening a book on a rainy summer afternoon wasn't the worst thing in the world.  

When I made my way into junior high the motivation for reading waned a bit as I got my first job working at the local swimming pool hocking pop corn, Ding Dongs and soda in the concession stand.  But then, a neighbor introduced me to the X-Men and The Hobbit.  This was summer reading where the prize wasn't something a librarian gave me, the prize was imagination and discovering characters I could get behind.  In high school, summer reading got me through the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.  

Today, summer allows me the time to read books that aren't necessarily just for work.  Yes, I have a summer reading group with students that meets three times through the summer to discuss three books we have read.  Those books are a hit and miss on stories that I like, but the discussion with the kids are always fun and insightful.  Many times they convince me that I shouldn't have liked the book that I liked, and that I should have liked the books that I didn't.  I can never win.  

Then I get to the books that I really want to read.  Most of them fall into a few categories that I will never tire reading: Star Wars, fantasy (Forgotten Realms, DragonLance), graphic novels and comics.  I save the non-fiction for the school year when it feels a little more, scholarly.  

This summer I have continued my read-through of the X-Factor comic run of the 1990s.  I keep up-to-date with my current comics both in print and digital.  I finally started reading the classic X-Wing series from the 1990s.  I found Rogue Squadron by Michael Stackpole to be as exciting as watching the trench run through the Death Star.  What a great book!  I blew through it as I found it hard to put down.  

I am now, on July 19, between books and struggling to choose.  I am in the mood for fantasy but the lure of book 2 of X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble is really strong.  So, as I decide, I consume comics and graphic novels.  

This is one of the things I love about summer.  I get to read and read and read, take some time between books to decide what is next, and enjoy the real prize of great stories and good relaxation.  

Gen Con 2025: Trade Day

Trade Day at Gen Con is one of the most productive of the convention for me.  I get to hang out with my people. Yes, they are gamers, but they are educators, librarians, game publishers, and store owners.  It is the fourth year that I have presented with my colleague and podcast co-creator/host, Dan Reem.  It has been a good outlet for us to share our model for a school game club as well as our RPG Summer Camp.  It isn't just presenting that makes this day worthwhile; however, I get to attend the sessions of other educators and librarians to hear how they are using games in their schools and libraries.  Public librarians share how they use games to increase usage of their resources and build community with games.  

Trade Day also allows everyone the opportunity to talk with vendors on a more one-to-one basis.  I have learned about new games and how they are designed to meet the needs of educators and student learning.  I get to talk game mechanics and the business of game design.  It is a unique opportunity for both parties to talk and share ideas and needs. 

Finally, my favorite part of Trade Day is the evening social after I have enjoyed dinner at the food trucks.  The social is a great time to wind down after learning all day.  It is at the social that I get to socialize with the other educators and librarians.  I also take a good chunk of the time to get game demonstrations and talk about the business side of the game design.  There are also opportunities to play some games that are still in development and on Kickstarter.  This year I got to play a prototype of Goats and Goblins, a fun, competitive card game that involves strategy and luck to win.  

There are less important benefits to participating in Trade Day, but nice conveniences all the more.  First, there aren't long lines to pick up badges.  We walked up to the check-in table, got our badge, and moved on in less than one minute.  We also got to visit the Gen Con store.  This year we had to wait about 45 minutes in line, but that is nothing compared to the hour to hour and a half lines during the convention.  Finally, we get to walk around the Indiana Convention Center.  The vendor and play halls are closed, but we get to look around the long corridors where the signage is already up.  At the end of a long Trade Day, this walk got me pumped up for four days of convention fun.  

Trade day is a great opportunity for learning and networking.  Trade Day is also a great way to acclimate to the next four Gen Con days ahead.  If you are a librarian, educator, game developer, or game store owner, I highly recommend attending this day. 

Gen Con 2025: StarFinder 2nd Ed. panel

On Saturday morning in Room 245 of the Indiana Convention Center, excited fans filed in to listen to a panel of StarFinder creators to discuss what is new and give a little hint of what is coming. Many fans could barely get comfortable from all the excitement, but for good reason, StarFinder second edition to be released next month (for sale at Gen Con), and there was a lot to share. 

First, the panel discussed the new products from the second edition including the Core rulebook, a deluxe adventure, "Murder in the Metal City," a new novel by Tim Pratt, Era of the Eclipse, and a new card game.  Many of us in the audience hadn't had a chance to see these items, so it was good to hear what we could expect.  

Next the panel of StarFinder creators shared that a new adventure based on the online game, Warframes, will release as a pdf in October.  It is designed it be a quick adventure of two hours for your combat-heavy groups and a few more hours for your role players.  

The new book by Tim Pratt, Era of the Eclipse will fill in some gaps between eras that will help fill in the timeline of StarFinder.  I purchased the book and will give a review here on Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy later. 

Then the panel got to some new, unannounced content.  They began by showing a trailer for a new video game to come out on Kickstarter titled StarFinder: After the Light.  Panel members described it in the vein of Balder's Gate, but most interestingly, it appears that it will have a romance component which should be interesting.  

A couple new book covers were revealed in the panel discussion.  First, was the cover for a new book of Galactic Ancestries.  Of course, not much could be said, but one panelist revealed that he is working on a race of oozes, and another panelist noted that several Pathfinder races will be included with expanded ancestries from other planets.  This book is designed to continue the canon of the StarFinder galaxy which when asked, will connect to the original first edition books.  It was noted that the rich information from the first edition books are still relevant even thought the stat blocks and other game mechanics are not.  The other book cover which depicts a space battle with some really cool purple lightning magic shooting across one side and space ships on the other side, does not have a title.  The panel couldn't really say much about this book except that it is an adventure book and think haunted space station/gas station.  There is a lot that could go into that, so we wait.  

In the Q/A session, a fan asked if ship combat is still in playtest.  The simple answer is yes, but they are close and they want to be sure to get it right. Finally, an audience member asked about new classes.  There are new classes being discussed weekly, so we can expect to see some new classes.  

At the conclusion of the panel, many fans, understandibly, rushed to the stage to meet the creators face to face.  This is what Gen Con is all about.