Gen Con 2011 Event List Is Out

Last night Gen Con released the Event list for 2011.  You can download it in the obnoxious .csv file and open in Excel, scrolling through 8171 rows trying to find what you are looking for, but my suggestion is just to use this much better website for browsing events. 

I've got to say I'm a little disappointed with the event list.  There are a couple of games I really wanted to play at the convention that just aren't available.  Aces & Eights is probably the biggest of these.  Last year there was only one game and this year none... Very disappointing.  I really wanted to play Pendragon as well, but that is also totally unavailable.  Hackmaster Basic is finally getting some love this year, so that is good, but there are no Song of Ice and Fire RPG games.  It's good to see more 1st and 2nd editon D&D games being played this year.  The two 1st edition games we played last year were a blast.  We will definitely be signing up for more of those.

The OSR & Gen Con

Great news for members and fans of the Old School Renaissance who will be attending Gen Con this year.  The Old-School Renaissance Group has been awarded a Gen Con marketing fellowship which means that they will have one of the big end booths (200 square feet rather than the normal 100 square feet).  

I gotta say, this is pretty cool.  They are definitely one of the first booths I'll be stopping by when I visit the dealers hall.  Here is a map of what this year's hall will look like.  The OSR booth is number 1541 and can be found in the top right corner area of the map marked Entrepreneurs Avenue. 

Stop by the  Old-School Renaissance Group website for future updates leading up to Gen Con. 

Saturday Links: Dungeon & Dragons Through the Ages

We've previously made some comparisons here about what D&D was in the past and what it is today by examining the game's television commercials.  Well some other sites have been doing some great work at looking at D&D through the ages and they form this week's Saturday Links.  

1d8 takes an awesome statistical view of D&D's principal warrior, the Fighter, though the various editions.  The article is mainly quantitative and shows some really great analysis.  How many more Goblins can a 3rd edition fighter kill than a 1st edition fighter?  Click on the link and find out!

What generation D&D player are you?  Cyclopeatron does a great job defining six separate generations so you can easily find where you fit in gaming history.   I'm fourth generation... Thanks 2nd Edition!

Newbie DM takes a look at where D&D is at present and where it might be going in the near future. 

Getting Old and Taking Stock

I'm getting old.  Today is my birthday and now I find myself firmly entrenched in my late 20s.  As is typical for someone celebrating a milestone, I've started to take stalk of things.  Among those things is where I fit in the Gaming Community.  

I guess if I had to put myself into a category I'd say I fit into the Gaming Moderates... Alright fine that isn't really a widely recognized subgroup, but maybe it should be.  Hear me out... 

You have the new school, those who have migrated on to 4th edition D&D.  They play video games, and MMOs and don't mind when they spill into their table top gaming.  Well I don't fit in here.  I love video games as much as anyone but my WoW days are far behind me, and even when I was playing it I had no interest in a table top version.  Nah, 4th edition isn't for me and neither is a membership card in the "New School"

Then you have the "Old School."  These are guys who love their old D&D, especially first edition AD&D and retro-clones like Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades.  These guys are likely to be in their 30s and 40s, and have been playing for a long time.  Well I don't fit in this group either.  It's a closer fit, but I still don't think I get in.  The biggest reason is that, though I've played AD&D and I think it's a great game, most of my play has come at conventions and one shots.  I haven't played any retroclones unless you count Hackmaster 4th edition (which people should, but often don't).  Nope I guess I don't have the Old School Cred to apply for my Grognard membership card.  

So where then does that leave me?  I don't fit into either of the two extreme ends of the spectrum I'm somewhere in the middle.  I've played (and enjoyed) far too much 3rd edition gaming to be old school, but I won't touch 4th so I can't be new school.  I like Pathfinder, but I don't like many of their changes especially the unnecessary power boost.  I really like the new Hackmaster, but Kenzerco has made so many changes and innovations that I'm not sure it counts as old school anymore, and I certainly wouldn't classify it as a retroclone.  I also love Kenzer's Western Aces & Eights, and I have no idea where that falls on the scale.  I'm really enjoying Chaosiums Call of Cthulhu (6th edition) that we are playing now.  CoC seems to be a game that appeals more to the old school crowd.  It is very rules light which is something that probably appeals to that audience.  

So as you can see, I just don't fall neatly into either camp, but somewhere in between.  I'm sure I'm not alone, I'm sure there are many other Gamers out there who find themselves caught between the two more easily identifiable Gamer subgroups.  Maybe it would help to have a scale laid out that people can place themselves on, I might just make one.  Until take just take my word for it, I'm a Gaming Moderate.  We might not have a cool name (yet) but I'll think of one.