On Thursday, my primary goal was to roam the Exhibition Hall and pick up a few items that I had planned to buy. With all of the seminars I had booked for the weekend, this was the longest span of open time I had available. Really, you need the better part of a day to take it all in, and more if you want to sample the demo games. There were lots of demos, and some of them looked pretty fun.
I had a few goals in mind for Thursday, pretty simple ones actually. I wanted to get a new boxed set of Tunnels & Trolls. The Flying Buffalo booth was one of the first I saw, so I headed over to it. As luck would have it, T&T's creator Ken St. Andre, happened to be working the booth. There was a copy of 7th Edition T&T, which I've heard has several changes from the rules I remember. The person next to me actually bought that one. Ken was talking to another person who was interested in the game and made another sale.
T&T was the second RPG game to hit the shelves after D&D. I still have my old copy of it. I believe it was my friend Brian who introduced me to this game after he showed me D&D. I liked the fact that you could play it solo and the rules are very simple and easy to learn. Plus, it's a six sided dice system. It's nice to see the game still lives. Actually, Flying Buffalo released a quick start rule book and Goblin Lake adventure on Free RPG Day, and I made sure to get a copy.
I also happened to sign up for three writing seminars done by Michael Stackpole (this will be covered in my next post). I didn't know Michael was doing them or really who he was. His seminars impressed me though. Michael did some solo adventures for T&T, and I got a copy of Sewers Of Oblivion at the booth. Later, Michael would autograph it for me. After purchasing my new T&T boxed set, I had Ken autograph my old book.
Flying Buffalo has an award winning play by mail service, snail and e-mail. One of the neat things about T&T is how easy it is to learn the rules. If you don't happen to have a group to play with, they have you covered. Just create a character and get one of their many solo adventures. I believe they were the inspiration of Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone's very popular Fighting Fantasy books.
The Steve Jackson Games booth was also on my list. They do the popular Gurps RPG and the Munchkin card game, among other things. I've seen the Munchkin card game at my local game store, and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. If I had a group to play with I'd probably have given it a try. I had thought of bringing The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain or one of my other FF books for Steve to sign, but I didn't. I thought I might find a copy there, but no such luck. Not sure if Steve was even there, but the booth had a lot of cool stuff.
I already mentioned elsewhere that Dave Arneson was on my list. I had a First Fantasy Campaign book and map (from 1977) in nice condition that I recently won on ebay. I had to get that signed. Dave is at Zeitgeist Games these days and graciously signed my FFC Book. I already mentioned that elsewhere, so I won't get too much into details here. I'm happy to see Dave is actively involved in the game, even if it is one of the lesser hyped deals. I get the feeling he may not be comfortable promoting himself.
Dave was a name on the Basic D&D book to me for a long time. I could have had him autograph the copy I brought, but it didn't seem right to do that. I'll spare you the reasons why. Recently, I've taken an interest in Blackmoor and learning more about the first Dungeon Crawl in RPG history. It's fascinating stuff. You know, a few years ago, Dave screened his documentary, Dragons In The Basement, at Gencon to nice reviews. I asked him if that would get to DVD soon, and he said not in the near future. I hope it makes it one day as this is a story the 3.5 and soon to be 4.0 crowd needs to hear.
I could have left with my autograph, but I decided to support the cause and get the Blackmoor Campaign book. There was just one problem. There was a Dungeons Under Castle Blackmoor book, and I recognized some of the maps from the First Fantasy Campaign book. I decided to get both. I'm not playing 3.5 these days, but this looks like a nice read. Plus, it could come into play one day at my table.
The KenzerCo booth was a must. I hit that one early on too. Hackmaster and Aces & Eights were both featured prominently along with Knights of the Dinner Table books. I got the latest Bundles Of Trouble book and Knights #95. Nearly have all of the first 100 in the series now, and that will be covered after two more issues of the BOT. I credit discovering this comic, I guess five or six years ago now, for rekindling my interest in RPG's.
The Kenzer Crew was all cautious and dressed in western wear to promote Aces & Eights. I've never really been a western fan, but that's just me. TSR failed to reach me with Boot Hill too. I will say that they really did a nice job with the A&E book, and if Hackmaster's next edition is that nice looking, it could win people over. The old Hackmaster was represented, but I've got to wonder if that many people bought it. You see, it was done with satire and based on AD&D 1st Edition Rules.
People who have bought Hackmaster have enjoyed many sessions. Heck, Kenzer even started the HMA (Hack Master Association). You get a licence to hack and everything. It's like the RPGA, I suppose. I doubt Wizards of the Coast expected much from Hackmaster when they granted the seven year deal on the licence, but people bought it and the mods Kenzer did, like Little Keep On The Boarderlands. Unfortunately, Hackmaster in this edition is done. The licence has expired.
Kenzer said they decided not to renew, and they probably did. They've been working on a new edition of Hackmaster for a while. But, it's very likely that Wizards wasn't going to renew anyway, and this was Kenzer's way of parting on their own terms and avoiding the backlash that would come out against Wizards. Wizards didn't renew with Paizo on Dungeon or Dragon Magazine. The two will be pdf's on the Internet now. They also didn't renew DragonLance with it's creators Hickman and Weis.
The rumors were this was because 4th Edition D&D was coming. Was it? Well, of course you know that now.
Kenzer is not giving up on Hackmaster. Aces & Eights is their main focus now. It's the one on the shelves, and it's good business to get behind it now. They will support old Hackmaster to some extent, while working on the next edition that should come out in 2009. Kingdom of Kalamar, once made for D&D, will become the Hackmaster setting with the next edition. Plus, there will be a Basic Hackmaster. With A&E out now, The Knights going strong and Hackmaster in the development stages, the future looks bright for the guys at KenzerCo.
Basic Editon Games has been something Gary Gygax has preached about for years. If you follow his threads at enworld or Dragonsfoot, you know that Gary has spoken of the need for it. Well, the Lejend Master himself has been busy at Troll Lord Games. I finally got to meet him on Saturday. I purchased his LA Essentials boxed set and had him sign that and my Basic D&D book. But, this has been covered elsewhere.
The Trolls have done well with Castles & Crusades. Using the D20 Licence, they have attempted to emulate 1st Edition as closely as they legally can. There are those (OSRIC) who emulate it even closer, but they aren't in business. Anybody trying to make money at this is a little wary of OSRIC, because that document hasn't been legally tested. I have more on that subject from the convention, but I'll put it in the post where I discussed it. Part 5 or 6 of this series.
Basically, The Trolls have done a nice job using the D20 to do what they've done. All of their core books were on sale. The cover artist had a booth next to them. There was a C&C Boxed Set based on D&D (1974) with the D20, but I'm looking forward to checking out the Basic C&C Boxed Set, which is coming soon from what I hear. C&C is about the closest thing being marketed to what an old school D&D gamer might be looking for. I my neck of the woods, they still have a hard time getting shelf space in the D&D dominated game stores
And D&D was represented in full force. Wizards had a big booth at the back of the Exhibition Hall where D&D, Magic and other games were demo'ed. 4dventure? What the heck is that. On Thursday, we had no clue. The TV screens at the booth just had the 4dventure picture. That evening, it was announced. 4th Edition is coming in 2008.
To Be Continued...
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Roaming The Exhibition Hall Part 2
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