It seems hard to believe, but Quincon is just around the corner- July 19, 20, and 21. For the 28th time, gamers will converge on Quincy for three days of gaming. Much will be the same as last year:

• We have three game tracks on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The first track each day starts at 9am. Each day there is a 1 hour break for lunch and supper (except for noon on Saturday- the auction messes that up). Each track will have lots of options: boardgames, roleplaying games, card games and/or miniatures.
• On Saturday only, the game tracks are interrupted by the auction from 1 to 3. The auction is a great place to buy games, but if you aren’t interested, you can always play a pick-up game. “Pick-up games” (any game that is not scheduled) are always running, but registered games have first dibs on tables.
• Pathfinder Society RPGs will be running all weekend- usually three games per track! If you have never played, you should give it a try.
• To see what games are being run, check out our Warhorn page: http://warhorn.net/quincon28/   You can register on Warhorn and even pay a reduced rate ($15 versus $20 at the door). If you pay up front, you can reserve a spot for the games you are most interested in. Some games fill up fast!
• If you are running a game or games, you may qualify for a reduced rate. The game description must be turned in and approved before the con booklet is produced (June 30). Go ahead and register for Warhorn, but don’t pay. Email Ray and he will give you your reduced rate. Click on “email the event organizer”.
• Lots of old Quincon favorites are returning: Temple of the Beastmen, Crimson Skies, Battletech, Sky Galleons of Mars, Toon, Memoir ’44 Tournament, etc… Special Guest Lester Smith will be there again running his games. The schedule will be filling up as we get commitments from people.
• Our fabulous vendors will be back! Larry and Jane Zoet, The Game Room, and Down the Playce. We have a facebook thread where you can request new or out-of-print gaming materials. Did you not know that we are on facebook?

There are a few changes from last year that you should know about:

• The auction will be running the same as last year, however, no one will be allowed to bring their items in until Saturday morning. There is a bit of paperwork that needs to be done to sell stuff at the auction and the auction staff will be there to help people, but not until Saturday morning. This helps us keep the auction moving and get it done within the time allotted.
• The first 100 paid people to show up will get a bag with lots of goodies inside. Including a Quincon first: a commemorative d6!

If you have any questions about Quincon or the Great River Gaming Guild, email me at criticalrob”at”yahoo.com. I hope to see you there!

http://www.tabletopday.com/

Here is the announcement from Felicia Day:

Our mini-con just happens to be on the same day so I registered our event on their website. Cool!

Our event is on Warhorn.net so you can register and prepay if you want. If you want to ask questions or sign up to run a game, contact Ray at <quincon.con@gmail.com> or myself at criticalrob(at)yahoo.com.

Here is a good article about Tabletop Day:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/international-tabletop-day/

p.s. Besides Tabletop, the Geek & Sundry channel has another show called On The Table which is good. And Space Janitors. And lots more.

 Looks good!

Drive Thru RPG is now carrying 86 pdfs of classic TSR Dungeons and Dragons goodness. All the pdfs are new scans and searchable. The watermarks are subtle.

Lots of great old treasures including…

The “B” series of modules for Basic D&D set in Mystara. These were published in the late 70′s and early 80′s and were many people’s first introduction to the roleplaying hobby. You can buy Tom Moldvay’s Basic Set Rulebook to play them.

The “C” series of modules for Advanced D&D 1st edition. These were evidently designed for competition and include a scoring system.

The “D” series of modules. For those that love the Drow.

The “N” series of modules for “novices”. This has some good titles.

The “U” series for “underwater” adventures in Greyhawk.

The “HR” series of settings for 2nd edition AD&D. These were setting books to play AD&D in a historical time period: vikings, Charlemagne, celts, Rome, the crusades, etc…

Some 3rd edition and 4th edition modules too.

Rulebooks for every edition of AD&D including Manual of the Planes (1st), Deities and Demigods (1st), Fiend Folio (1st), [I can't finish this list because the servers are down].

Some Ravenloft titles, Greyhawk, Planescape, Forgotten Realms.

Many of these modules and books have been out-of-print and rare for a long time. I hope that by releasing these for purchase, people will get a glimpse into the beginning of this hobby and breathe some life into these old treasures. Some of these are among the best ever written.

If you act fast, you can a get a *free* copy of the classic module B1- In Search of the Unknown.

See them HERE:  http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=44

or Here: http://www.dndclassics.com/

[Note: They are currently slammed on bandwidth. You may need to wait a while before you can browse!]

p.s. WOTC also has a selection of free pdf adventures for you to peruse as well: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b&page=1

Quincon has a great auction on Saturday afternoon where you can find piles of boardgames, miniatures, roleplaying games and supplements, books, and original artwork. It is the most popular event at the con, and as a result, last year we gave it an exclusive slot in the schedule. There are no scheduled events that take place at the same time at the auction. There is open gaming of course if you’re not interested.

Lester Smith pimping whatever it is that Greg is holding.

The one issue that always comes up with the auction is time. The auction runs for three hours (noon until three), and we need to make sure that it ends at three. Otherwise, it will delay the scheduled afternoon games. It needs to end at three regardless of how many items there are and regardless of how many people are there bidding.

Your friendly auction staff.

Last year, we made the first big changes to the auction in order to alleviate the time crunch. The biggest change was that we started charging for each item* after the first five. This was not done to raise money; in fact I think we actually lost. It was done to get people to bundle their auction items into groups. So instead of filling out one auction slip for each core book, splat book, and GM screen for an unloved RPG, you were encouraged to bundle all like items into one. Many people bundled dozens of items into five auctions so that they didn’t have to pay any “listing” fee at all.

This worked marvelous. The auction was done right at 3:00.

Everything you could imagine; new and out-of-print.

This year we are doing the same thing. In addition, we are only allowing people to bring in their auction items on Saturday morning. That way, auction staff will be on hand to help them fill out the paperwork needed with the new system: the auction slips as always and also the summary sheet that shows the listing fees. In past years, some people have brought their auction items in on Friday night. This way the staff can ensure that everything will run smoothly on Saturday afternoon and will provide an excellent experience for all.

“I didn’t come to Quincon to do paperwork!”

If you have never been to Quincon and you have games or gaming-related items to sell, let us know. There will be over 100 avid gamers there to bid on your items. It only costs 10% of the final bid, plus a listing fee if you have any more than five items* the listing fee starts at .25 and goes up by .25 after every five items. So the first five are free, six through 10 are .25 each, 11 through 15 are .50 each, and so on and so on…

The auction treasures I purchased two years ago.

*I’m using the word ‘item’ here inexactly. I’m using it to mean any individual thing or stack of things that you want to auction together.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/markets/24704.html

According to icv2:

1. Sales of ‘Hobby games’ (boardgames, rpgs) are way up again in 2012. Part of the growth may be due to the slide in video games.

2. Kickstarter is a major force in hobby games. I think I read that 7 of the top 11 Kickstarter projects have been game-related. Kickstarter has become a marketplace of ideas where the projects of would-be game designers can be realized without relying on a publisher. Also, publishers can go to Kickstarter with projects to gauge customer support before risking their own money. Check out the success of this game that many people were able to demo at Quincon: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lestersmith/invasion-of-the-saucer-people-card-game?ref=live

3. Wil Wheaton’s “Tabletop” show on uTube has become a sales-driver. According to the article, any game that appears on the show will have a dramatic increase in sales. I read that Target is labelling these games ‘as seen on Tabletop’. I think that it’s really cool that this show is a success. I think that it is a great resource to get non-gamers involved in the gaming hobby. I can’t wait for the episode on the Dragon Age RPG.

By the way, while you are subscribing to the ‘Geek and Sundry’ channel to get Tabletop, be sure and watch Space Janitors. It is hilarious!

4. Licensed games are once again hot. This trend seems to blow both ways. Fantasy Flight Games seems to be having great success with the Star Wars license, and there are lots of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings games out there. It seems to me however that there are lots of failed licenses in the annals of gaming history. The expense of having a license long term seems to be more expense that most companies can bear. I hope it works out for the license holder and the game company!

5. Is Magic: The Gathering the largest game brand in gaming? I can’t believe that people are still playing this after all these years. Why has this game succeeded where so many other CCGs are dead or dying?

6. The King is Dead! Long Live the King! Hasbro is coming out with a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons in 2014. I like everything that I have seen of it so far. In the meantime, they have issued reprints of old rulebooks of previous editions. And they are releasing some old products on pdf too: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Catalog.aspx

As a fan of 1st and 2nd edition D&D, I am happy to watch this trend develop.

7. New CCGs on the way. More grist for the mill?

8. Something about Yu-Gi-Oh. ?

9. Mayfair has gone to one distributor exclusively.

10. The rise of 3D printing. I can’t believe they put this one at the end of the list. They mention Games Workshop as a company that has been impacted by this, but many others are going to feel the pinch too. In short, 3D printing will revolutionize the business of miniatures. It allows print-on-demand, which eliminates the need for creating an inventory of product on hand. POD also will allow for a greater diversity of miniatures because the producer only has to create and pay for the design of the mini itself. No molds needed. They may even set up a custom miniature service, where you can tell them what you want precisely. So if you want a half-elf, one-eyed, samurai mini that is carrying a wicker basket and and a Dwarven Urgrosh; you will be able to get that. 

GW is upset because people are creating minis that look like Warhammer miniatures. It will be interesting to see how this plays out because I don’t see them being able to stop this entirely.

Anyway, give the article a read if you have a minute.

One of the IndieGoGo projects that I backed finally arrived in the mail yesterday.

Starships and Spacemen (2nd edition) is a new sci-fi RPG produced by Goblinoid Games. The goal of this game is to replicate the Star Trek television shows, without having access to the actual franchise. And the nice thing is that this game is designed to be compatible with Goblinoid Games’ “Labyrinth Lord” fantasy RPG. So if you know how to play Dungeons and Dragons, you will have no trouble playing this game. See for yourself:

They replace the ‘Wisdom’ stat with ‘Psionic Potential’ and there are only four saving throws; but everything should look pretty familiar. I’m looking forward to reading through it.

This is really what sold me on the game. If you like your Star Trek adventures “Next Generation”-flavored, check out this random forehead table:

If you like Star Trek or Star Trek: The Next Generation, and would like to lead your own expedition into deep space, you should go out and pick up a copy.

[This is something only backers got. Sorry.]

Quincon is our big summer gaming convention. We feature three full days of gaming, from roleplaying games like Pathfinder and Gamma World, to miniature wargames like Crimson Skies and Warhammer 40K, to board games like Ticket to Ride and Twilight Imperium. If you enjoy tabletop gaming you will find something fun to try.

Our next Quincon will be the 28th annual event. It will be on July 19-21. If you have any questions or would like to run a game, please contact Ray at quincon.con@gmail.com.

Set your calendars!

The GRGG has rented the basement of the Tangerine Bowl in Quincy for another full Saturday Game Day. The Tangerine Bowl is at the intersection of Maine and 36th Street (enter from Maine). Go up the steps to the front door and immediately take a left down the stairs. We will be there from 9am until 10pm. We are planning to have a lot of different games going on, and feel free to bring your favorite. The nice thing about having an all-day event is that we can run games that would ordinarily take too long for a regular meeting. If I find out what kind of games are going on, I will post them here. I know that the “Friends of Gaming” from Peoria will be running some miniature games.

If you haven’t been to the Tangerine Bowl before, they have a diner there where you can get drinks and food. The food is good and the prices are reasonable.

I’m happy to report that Lester Smith has started a Kickstarter project! Many of us were able to playtest this game (and others) at Quincon. If you are not aware, Kickstarter is an awesome website where people go to find financing for ideas they have. Instead of going to a game company to get funding for example, someone with a game idea can present their idea to the public on the Kickstarter website and get little bits of funding from lots of people. It really is amazing. Here is the link for Lester’s project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lestersmith/invasion-of-the-saucer-people-card-game

The game is called “Invasion of the Saucer People”. I’ve played it several times at Quincon. It is a simple, quick, fun game for 2-4 players. Even a four player game can finish up in 15 min. There is a math element to it that would make the game great for your 5-6th grade kids. Practicing math while playing a game! The game is already done; the kickstarter money will be used for original art for a commercial version. If you are a fan of RETRO science fiction art, this game may be a must-buy.

The project just got started but it is already 2/3rds of the way to it’s final goal! Wow!