Went to Gen Con last week.
If you don’t know anything about Gen Con, stop reading now.
Okay, now that the normal people are gone, I can speak freely to my nerdy comrades.
It’s hard to pick just one aspect of game conventions that appeals to me.
The entire experience is so viscerally surreal, it’s impossible to settle on one ‘highlight’.
The picture is representative of the magical scenes that played out all over the Indianapolis Convention Center.
This is a group of grown up people learning how to effectively pilot a Mech.
If you don’t know anything about Mechs, you were supposed to quit reading earlier!
Several people were taking notes.
It was kind of intense.
I didn’t stay for the whole presentation.
(Didn’t have sufficient security clearance.)
But I stuck around while the cadets asked some questions.
“How many missile hits before the shields give out?”
“What is the jump-jet recharge rate?”
“How many heat-syncs should I use with the rail gun?”
All of these inquiries made without a hint of irony.
Mech pilots need to understand every inch of their machine.
When a five-story, mechanized battle suit is all that stands between us and tyranny, we can’t afford rookie mistakes!
God speed, Gen Con Warriors!
I left them to their briefing and went to peruse the samurai swords.
7 Responses
I never really got that far into Battletech; the computer games were enough for me. Although, getting into the tabletop version did help me understand what all the information I was looking at when I pulled up mech loadout screens. So I guess all my friend’s efforts weren’t wasted.
How is GenCon these days? I went once about a decade ago, when I received a free pass I won at a L5R tournament. Although I didn’t make it very far in the national tournament, I still had a blast.
So… judging from the display next to the speaker, the Mechs play baseball? Just kidding.
I’m trying to picture John Branyan with a samurai sword. I can imagine at the end of a set, instead of a mic drop, you toss the mic in the air, pull out a samurai sword and cut the mic in half in midair.
Just think Dave, he gets his crown after he’s DEAD. Dream on, fellas. (Head shake)
Carmen, we’ve got to observe some basic protocols.
You may not address Dave directly unless you can state the number of hard points on a Stormcrow chassis.
John,
Are you a Clan guy or Inner Sphere?
I have been a Davion loyalist for many years.
For the Federated Suns!
Matt 10:34
(sorry, Lord. I couldn’t resist.)
Dave
John,
I am a gaming nerd myself, both online and tabletop. Love the Battletech stuff, and play Mechwarrior Online. Was even a D&D player from age 12 to early 30s (would love to play again… just haven’t found a group in many years).
I am so jealous (but not in a commandment-violating way 😉 ) that you got to go to GenCon. Do you have any pictures you can post somewhere?
Thanks,
Dave
P.S. – If you ever find yourself in Hawaii (on Oahu… I am too poor to get off the island), I would love to meet you someday. Your comedy and blogging have been a blessing to me through some pretty tough times (self-caused, but tough nonetheless).
James 1:12 (ESV)
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Roll20dotnet is actually where me and my old gaming group play. The site has searchable games, and a bunch of different games it supports (including from original D&D to fifth edition, as well as games outside of D&D). I haven’t looked, but there might be support for Battlemech games. At the least, it does support maps in hexes instead of squares.