The best thing about GenCon is the opportunity to see friends that I only get to see once or twice per year.
The second best thing? Re-charging the enthusiasm batteries. The energy of the show — tens of thousands of fellow geeks pumped up to fever pitch about games, whether it be Old Favorites or New Hotness — never fails to remind me why I do what I do. I come out of the show with a renewed sense of purpose — even in a show like this year’s, where the 4th Edition announcement has put a giant question mark over the future of my business.
But hey, as has been noted many times, the Chinese word for “crisis”: 
Is comprised of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”
Business considerations aside, I also managed to pick up some things at the show that I’m just plain jazzed about as a gamer:
I picked up both the limited advance release of Pinnacle’s Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane RPG (general release coming in October) as well as Paradigm’s Witch Hunter: The Invisible World, which are just begging to be combined into a glorious mix of late 17th-century swashbucklery-horror goodness. I’m very tempted to start a game. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, here we come!
Also finally managed to get the Origins Award winning Artesia: Adventures in the Known World, which I’ve wanted for quite some time. Plus, Mark Smylie gave me a brilliant deal — bundling the RPG together with the first three Artesia graphic novels (in hardcover, no less), making me a very happy boy indeed.
Got a copy of PIG’s Steampunk Musha, since I’ve had enough people bring it up in conversation when I tell them about Far West that I wanted to see if there were any problems with overlap. I’m pleased to report that the setting, which they describe as “Victoriental”, is much more Victorian/Steampunk than Spaghetti Western, and the Asian content is pretty much 100% Japanese, mixed with D&D-esque fantasy. So no, not really the same sort of thing at all.
Speaking of Victorian — I was gifted a copy of the brand-spanking-new Victoriana: 2nd Edition from Cubicle 7. Using an entirely different rules system from the 1st Edition (no more Fuzion! Hurrah!), while also literally doubling the amount of content. It’s so very, very pretty. Tied with the swashbucklery-horror (cited above) as far as temptation to start a game.
Other things were nabbed — ‘ EsoTerrorists (and the printed collection of his comic strip “The Birds”), Faery’s Tale Deluxe Edition from Firefly Games/Green Ronin, The Pirates Guide to Freeport (also by Green Ronin — this was more for business purposes, as Adamant is a Freeport licensee….although all plans are on hold due to the 4e thing.)…..
So yeah — a bunch of stuff to read and digest, and hopefully to get a chance to play as well.
