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GenCon:
It's Like a Star Trek Convention, Only Nerdier
Seeing as I have zero knowledge of the gaming
world (and I don't mean either gambling or hunting, but rather sitting
around a card table in someone's parents' basement pretending to
be a Level 4 Wizard), I was thrilled when CampBlood.org regular
Bub offered to send me a report from his recent
trip to GenCon in deepest, darkest Indianapolis. Considering that
horror gaming is quite popular, I'm glad to be able to offer this
info to those of you who might, like Bub, boast the triple-threat
of being queer, horror-loving gamers. Triple-threat to what,
I'm not exactly sure -- but I'll get back to you on it.
Note
that Bub has some pretty strong opinions about both gaming and Ernie
Hudson -- these opinions are not necessarily the opinions
of CampBlood.org (mostly because I have no real opinions about gaming
or Ernie Hudson).
Read
on for the magic! |
Correspondent
Bub and his favorite vampire
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Greetings,
Girls and Ghouls...
This
is Bub reporting from GenCon 2005,
the largest fantasy gaming convention in the world. With more
than 25,000 attendees per day, the convention swelled the
Indianapolis Convention Center and took up Banquet rooms in
three hotels! Oh the evil goodness of it all.
The
best part of GenCon, well at least for me, is the large number
of horror role playing games run. Over the years, horror gaming
has gone from being a niche genre to the apex of gaming. Some
of the most exciting gaming supplements and most unique storylines
have been from the horror community. Such games often push
the boundaries of mainstream fiction and gaming and once in
a while even push the boundaries of good taste.
Among
the most interesting, and sadly barely supported games at
the convention, is All Flesh Must Be Eaten,
a zombie horror survival role playing game that pits players
in any number of survival scenarios reminiscent of everyone’s
favorite zombie films. Yours truly, the Bubster, ran the largest
of these games with almost 60 players and moi. Such fun. Sadly
the company that creates the game, one Eden Studios,
never seems to support the games they create for long, often
jumping on a new bandwagon at first glance. While brilliant
horror games like Witchcraft, Conspiracy
X and All Flesh… are often
left to rot or go years without a supplement, their new super
hero title gets all the press.
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One
of White Wolf's more recent titles.
No, I'm not making this up.
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White
Wolf, the Bitchslapping
Perhaps
the most interesting dirt from this convention was the sad
tale of White Wolf games. Now, those who
know White Wolf best remember them for their groundbreaking
storytelling games, Vampire the Masquerade,
Werewolf the Apocalypse, Wraith
the Oblivion, Mage the Ascension
and most interestingly the short lived Demon the
Fallen (ed.: wait --
was Jakob the Liar one of theirs too?).
These games rewrote the boundaries of gaming in America
and opened up the hobby to a new audience.
These
games pissed off the religious right because they left ‘family
values’ in the dust and spoke of lust and desire.
They made monsters beautiful and desirable. Along with the
craze of vampire films that made blood sucking erotic, these
games made horror a major part of the mainstream.
Flash
forward a dozen years to what White Wolf games has become.
Two years ago White Wolf said, “Oh, btw…we’re
ending the world. Now you have to buy our NEW books to play.”
And so was born the new and massively dumb games that exist
today. Riddled with poor art, even poorer storylines and
a total lack of originality, these new games have failed
to capture the old audience back or even pull in a new generation
of gamers. Add to that the fact that few games have come
out on time and several books have mysteriously vanished,
probably due to the poor interest in this new world they’ve
created.
This
was blatantly evident at GenCon with a sad and generally
deserted gaming floor and hawkers searching the crowd for
someone to teach their game. In an effort to force gamers
into the new setting, White Wolf bought back older unsold
copies of their original games and, ready for this, destroyed
them! You got it! “Either play our new games or you
get nothin’!” Ouch, that can’t bode well
for their sales and total lack of interest in the game.
According to insiders, White Wolf is beginning its slow
descent into nothingness. No one is sure how much longer
the company will last or at least how long the now gimped
horror games will last.
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Who
You Gonna Call? 1-800-597-JENNY
Along with the declining state of White Wolf
is the declining state of some of the guest stars. Oh the
autograph floor is such an interesting mix of those climbing
the ladder of stardom and those sliding right back down to
convenient store management! Most notable among them was Dean
Haglund, one of the "Smoking Gun” members
from X-Files who has done nothing since his
short-lived series killed off the entire cast (a mercy killing
I assure you). The saddest part was the line at his little
desk. You could hear the crickets where he sat, hoping for
the occasional $20 signature. In the several hours I was there,
I doubt that he made enough to pay for his cab fare to the
airport.
Saddest
of all though was the plight of poor Ernie Hudson
of Ghostbusters ‘fame’.
Ernie’s credit list could fit on a business card, as
could his talent, but still he sat there in all of his aged
blubberiness, grinning ear to ear and sporting his all too
‘snug’ original uniform. Thank the great zombie
lord that the jumpsuit must have been made ‘extra sturdy’
because good old Ernie was just pushing those seams to the
limit.
Yet
the most disturbing moment was when yours truly and his main
squeeze went to get an autograph from Tricia Helfer
(from the new Battlestar Galactica).
Bub’s b-friend went up to get a pic and I stepped across
the lines to take the picture (and it was quite cute I might
add). Well, I accidentally stepped over by good old Ernie
who jumped up with a pic in one hand and his other extended
to shake mine. Oops! I explained that I was just taking a
picture of Tricia Helfer. He was rather crestfallen and returned
sadly to his seat. If Bub was a better guy, he’s have
bought a pity pic, but nope…didn’t happen.
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Back off, Ernie -- she's mine!
(Bub's "friend" with Tricia Helfer of Battlestar
Galactica) |
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Images from Zombies!!! 4 and
Hetacomb (conceptual art on the latter)
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A
Taste of Things to Come...
On the upside, Wizards of the Coast, the
largest game producer on the friggin’ planet, premiered
its new flagship horror card game Hecatomb
at GenCon. Hecatomb has everything needed
for good gory game play, monsters abound, even Great
Cthulhu makes an appearance! Somewhat smaller but
no less awesome was Twilight Creations
game, Zombies!!! 4 a fantastic foray into
horror board gaming. Bub also got to see a new game called
The Pumpkin King that will be out for Halloween
from Avalon Hill. Neat stuff, keep an eye
out.
Last
call from GenCon 2005. Four great days
of gaming and hangovers. Does it get any better than that?
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Extra-big
thanks to Bub for his fun and informative reportage! |
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