Day Two from GenCon 2018 came in a flash. There’s a lot to cover ranging from Cool Cthulhu, sexy (non-Sparkling) Vampires, some Cosplay Deviants, and the return of Worg!
Straight from the Elder Gods and right to your smart phone comes MetaArcade’s Cthulhu Chronicles. I got to demo this interactive (think Choose Your Own Adventure for adults) fiction game at the booth with one of the artists, E. Mali Ware. I have to thank E. Mali Ware for the great time at the demo. When people are nice and open about their games, it makes playing them better. The engagement here is one of personal pride and just love for the game—and it showed in the work.
The game starts off with a choice of characters that you must get in the skin of to role play the rest of your (sometimes short) adventure. I loved the character work in both looks and details. It really does matter who you pick because each character has their own backstory with style plays. My demo took me to an old house where all bad things started happening. The music and the text work hand-in-hand to set the mood. This is a full immersion as a live creative fiction. The music and the graphics set the mood—the text is something you need to read and not just ‘next’ through like so many other games. The story is engaging as is the game play. Just like the Choose Your Own Adventures of old, your choices do matter. Unlike the books from our childhood, death can and (and boy does it) happen. If you are looking for a thoughtful, dark, yet fun romp then look no further than Cthulhu Chronicles. Oh and there’s something special coming up from the studio but…spoilers.
Vampire: The Masquarade is back and boy is it ever making an impact. In it’s 5th edition, the game that changed an entire culture back in the 90s was on full display at GenCon. I am pretty new to this game and I have to say the team behind it is just amazing. Everything from art design to concept to background—it all flows perfectly into one gorgeous hardcover rules book. Ever want to be a vampire? Have you really given thought on what that would mean? What would happen if you found out vampires existed and that they were controlling part of our growth as a nation? The modern day world is put into focus with this new edition. We aren’t taking the Vampire in some mythical land but one we are all too familiar with. Given the current political landscape, Vampire: The Masquarade asks us to take stock of ourselves and our place in the world. I love the introspective feel of this game as it makes building a character a personal choice. It makes everything your character does matter (sounds like a theme coming, eh?).
Again, another great team behind another great game. I can get behind a team that believes in their own product (someone who would not only want to sell the game, but play it) and people who show big excitement for not only the current product but for everything that is coming your way from White Wolf. I’m a gamer—and the team behind Masquarade takes feedback seriously. They push to produce the best experience they can give each of us, and the proof is in the pudding. The game was so popular at GenCon it about sold out before midday of Day Two.
To cap my trilogy of brands that people believe in, I bring you Cosplay Deviants. If you are a fan of SexyFandom, then you will love Cosplay Deviants. The concept is simple—-give cosplayers a venue to explore their art and to make several fantastic merchandise ranging from cards to calendars to figurines to full hardcover books—all of which are high quality acts of gorgeousness. Everything follows a cosplayer theme. The cosplayers start fully dressed and little by little the start to take off a piece of the custome until they are displaying themselves for the camera—-pure and natural. The models are talented and great at their cosplay designs and the creative team at Cosplay Deviants take the cosplayer’s art to a whole new level. I was simply amazed by the level of quality and brilliant design ideas.
Everyone I talked to from the models outside and inside the tent to the owner had the same level of enthusiasm and love for the company. I judge a lot of companies by how they treat their workers. I can tell you that everyone—and I mean everyone—at Cosplay Deviants was 100% pure, fun, and just a joy to be around. In fact, they were so nice they are giving me a code: Tapped2018 to give a month of their service. Try it out, you will see what I’m talking about with the variety and the quality of the work.
Worg. Worg, we barely knew ye when the Meatgrinder took you. Fear not, true believer, as Worg is now back! This time as the Son of Worg….where after thanking a friendly mage on showing him what door knobs were (Worg bash door! Bash! Open door!), he helped his party when they forgot their grappling hook. Worg no need metal! Worg has halfling! (Sorry, again, for throwing you across the yellow water lake—-at least Worg made his d20 roll—love those metallic dice!). Needless to say halflings don’t make the best of grappling hooks and things went south pretty quickly. Worg sorry.
That’s it for Day 2! Day 3 is going to be rough as we have a smaller day to cram in everything we ever wanted for the rest of GenCon (including a few more of Worg’s descendents to lose to the MeatGrinder of Charity Goodness!). If you want to say hi, feel free. I’ll be the tall dude in the RazorCandi shirt (probably) killing more halflings by ‘accident’. Until then, may all of your Worgs be Worgily.
