July 2024 Newsletter
What’s this Gen Con thing all about anyway?
Gen Con is right around the space-time corner, waiting for us like an angry, unspeakable elder God. It’s going to be huge and I think there’s already rumblings that the convention as a whole will sell out. Technically they sold out a couple of years ago but then they expanded their footprint and maximum tickets and here we are again.
And if I didn’t say it last month, all of the Megagame Coalitions games (all 18 of them) sold out within 40 minutes of tickets going live. I TOLD YOU! What did I say?!? I said if you wanted a ticket you needed to be ready at noon on the Sunday they got released. But do you listen? Evidently, many of you do because I know at least some of you got tickets. It’s amazing to sell out so fast. I just wish my local games were as popular, then we could do some really put the MEGA in Megagames such as the infamous 175 person game First Contact. https://www.verylargehugegames.com/first-contact-2035
Which just leaves me to tell you what I’m doing right now, which is prepping obviously. There’s a huge amount to coordinate when you have 18 games in your purview. Many of the game runners are first time runners and so have lots of questions. Several of them have run before but not at Gen Con and because much of what we do is behind the scenes, we have to be very aware of the need for good communication (which we seem to fail at regularly!). We’re recruiting and assigning volunteers, arranging places for people to stay, buying equipment and marketing materials. And then I have to run 2 games myself so I have to make sure all the game components are ready and my control team are fully trained. I have to contact my players and do assignments for them too.
It came from… the Skies!!!
If you have read this far, congratulations!
Tickets for It came from the Skies are now on sale. It’ll be on Saturday September 28th in Louisville. I’m being a little sneaky with this one partly because I’m lazy but partly because I had forgotten that I was going to make the ticket sales available in July. Then I was asked to put together a slide for our Gen Con megagame group marketing slide deck and I remembered I should probably include information in it about future events.
Not that I’m not excited about It came from the Skies in Louisville - I AM! But as you can read above, there’s a lot of Gen Con prep going on that I’m deep in right now. What I’m most excited about is the physical space in Louisville. We have this amazing balcony where I’m going to put the Alien players, and I’m going to put the main world map directly below them so they can peek over the railing and look down on earth from “Outer Space”! I love when the physicality of a megagame just works.
I’ll send out a bigger email about this once Gen Con has died down and the September focus gets all my attention.
So what are we videogames?
Anyone ever heard of a game called Baldur’s gate 3?
There are frustrating elements to it that sometimes get in the way of the story I want to to tell/experience, but overall it’s very good. The combat is tough and I feel like I should be min/maxing this, but I’m not. I’m playing it for the story and so sometimes the game makes me play a certain way to be successful over the story.
So what are we boardgames?
I’m really enjoying Tainted Grail right now. Story rich, cooperative games are my favorites. Tainted Grail is set in a twisted version of the Arthurian legends and its very dark, and strangely funny too. The story is excellent, with plenty to explore. The combat is a little tricky to master but I think a few more plays and we’ll understand it fully and not have to reference the rule book every 5 minutes.
So what are we televisioning?
I’m watching Acolyte and really enjoying the portrayal of the light and dark sides of the force. It’s doing a great job of muddying the “perfect” Jedi and the “always evil” Sith.
Final things
As always, we have a fairly active Discord server you should jump on and say hello. There’s even a section where we can talk through the newsletter.
Also, it’s just a good place to connect with other players and the Dukes - me and the control team. Come talk shop with us, ask us behind the scenes questions, get involved, find out where other games are happening etc. Occasionally I’ll ask about design ideas for upcoming games so you can be part of that. The Alien story in It came from the Skies was heavily influenced by the answers I got from the community when I reached out about it several months ago.
Also, come swing by and say hello at Gen Con. Looking forward to seeing many of you there. We’ll be based mainly in the JW White River ballroom (though not all MGC games are in that space).
-Tony