{"id":41626,"date":"2017-08-21T06:01:08","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T10:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=41626"},"modified":"2017-08-21T06:26:13","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T10:26:13","slug":"scenes-from-gencon50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/08\/scenes-from-gencon50.html","title":{"rendered":"Scenes from #GenCon50"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m going to share some highlights from Gen Con 50, which just concluded yesterday. I\u2019ve created it as a photo journal of the event, not all in chronological order but thematically organized.<\/p>\n

I already shared highlights from Trade Day<\/a>, so I\u2019ll focus entirely on things that happened on other days here. Let me start with how fantastic it was meeting Jonathan Tweet for lunch, getting him to sign my copy of his book Grandmother Fish<\/a><\/em>, seeing his card game Clades<\/a>, talking with him about the historical Jesus<\/a>, and about the Mandaeans, and about a range of other subjects of mutual interest.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan<\/p>\n

\"Clades\"<\/p>\n

Jonathan and I bumped into an owlbear, and so it was a photo opportunity that was not to be missed:<\/p>\n

\"Owlbear\"<\/p>\n

Another conference attendee had apparently found the owlbear\u2019s baby\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Baby<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jonathan was one of the panelists at the retrospective looking back at the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons, which saw a number of impressive and important revisions, and an incredible resurgence of interest in the famous role playing game.<\/p>\n

\"D&D<\/p>\n

Much more of the history of Gen Con, D&D, and role playing was to be seen in the Gen Con museum, located in Lucas Oil Stadium:<\/p>\n

\"D&D<\/p>\n

\"Museum<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jonathan\u2019s game Clades is not the only game that seeks to make it fun to learn about science. The following two photos will be of particular interest to my friends in chemistry and biology, as it features a number of items from Genius Games, makers of Covalence<\/a>, Ion<\/a>, and Peptide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Cytosis<\/p>\n

\"Ion<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There were a couple of real highlights that made a local connection. One was the stand for our Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library here in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

\"Kurt<\/p>\n

And then, looking at the game\u00a0Tesla vs. Edison<\/a>, I thought it was really cool to see that Madame C. J. Walker, for whom a theater in Indianapolis is named, but who was also a pioneering inventor an businesswoman, is included in the game:<\/p>\n

\"Madame<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There were a lot of cool t-shirts around \u2013 both for sale and being worn. I was tempted to buy some, but didn\u2019t want to deprive family, friends, and random blog readers from the opportunity to buy me one with Admiral Ackbeer<\/a>, or the Essential NPC Player warning, or any of the others from OffWorld Designs<\/a>. In case you\u2019re wondering, I wear a small\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Essential<\/p>\n

\"Admiral<\/p>\n

\"Sarcasm<\/p>\n

\"Grumpy<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I was shown the impressive materials produced by Chaosium<\/a> about the fictional world of Glorantha<\/a>. It is incredibly detailed not only in the history that has been created for it, but also the religious traditions<\/a> of the RuneQuest<\/a> realm:<\/p>\n

\"Orlanthi<\/p>\n

\"Solar<\/p>\n

\"Guide<\/p>\n

These are a revival of an existing RPG mythos<\/a>, but elaborating it in far greater depth and detail<\/a>. I will be reading some of the items that I got from their booth and then blogging about them in more detail in the near future.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I was also on the lookout for games that might be of use in teaching. One that grabbed my interest was Euphoria<\/a> (and its sequel Leaders of Euphoria<\/a>), which might be useful in my First Year Seminar class that explores utopias and dystopias.<\/p>\n

\"Euphoria<\/p>\n

I was also on the lookout for dice for what may be my next game. In the process, I found a wide variety of dice that I wasn\u2019t looking for, but which were of interest to colleagues of mine who teach languages:<\/p>\n

\"Koplow<\/p>\n

\"Koplow<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There was also, of course, lots of cosplay. I asked for permission to take a photo when I saw this collision of fandoms:<\/p>\n

\"Meeting<\/p>\n

I also had my photo taken with representatives of a local cosplay group:<\/p>\n

\"Star<\/p>\n

And it wasn\u2019t just characters from stories \u2013 I bumped into someone dressed as C. S. Lewis!<\/p>\n

\"CS<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Game Crafter didn\u2019t just hold events (including one at which Canon was played, and another at which I was introduced to the drinking game Bowties<\/a>), but also had a booth which was set up like a candy store<\/a>, including pieces that were designed specifically to upgrade and enhance existing games.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

I had my photo taken on Dized\u2019s<\/a> \u201cThrone of Games\u201d:<\/p>\n

\"Throne<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One game that I played for the first time at Gen Con this year and loved so much that I ordered it is Zertz<\/a> from Rio Grande Games<\/a>. Here I am introducing my colleague Nick Johnson to the game:<\/p>\n

\"Zertz<\/p>\n

\"Zertz\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There was a D&D 5th edition supplement about deities<\/a> that includes Shiva:<\/p>\n

\"Shiva<\/p>\n

This Reformation-themed game<\/a> looks interesting:<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

I was also impressed with Victory or Death<\/a>, which includes cards in the game that quote from Thucydides and other classical authors!<\/p>\n

\"Victory<\/p>\n

\"Victory<\/p>\n

\"Thucydides<\/p>\n

Antike II<\/a> also looks like one that could be useful as well as enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\"Antike<\/p>\n

I imagine that psychology professors and others could do interesting things with the game Hostage Negotiator<\/a>, which looks like it is fun as well as having the potential to be engaging in more serious ways.<\/p>\n

\"Hostage<\/p>\n

The concept behind the TIME Stories<\/a> series reminds me of Timeless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TIME<\/p>\n

Here are some more interesting-looking items:<\/p>\n

\"Anachronism\"<\/p>\n

\"Nefertiti<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If I ever decide to develop a game about multiplying loaves and fishes, apparently the playing pieces will not be hard to come by\u2026
\n\"Bread\"<\/p>\n

\"Fish\"<\/p>\n

The game Apocrypha seems to have nothing to do with the Apocrypha.<\/p>\n

\"Apocrypha\"<\/p>\n

There were lots of Doctor Who games<\/a>, including Dalek Dice<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Doctor<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0all I\u2019m sharing in this post. Were any of this blog\u2019s readers at Gen Con this year? If so, please share the highlights from your own experience of this historic event!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m going to share some highlights from Gen Con 50, which just concluded yesterday. I\u2019ve created it as a photo journal of the event, not all in chronological order but thematically organized. I already shared highlights from Trade Day, so I\u2019ll focus entirely on things that happened on other days here. Let me start with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":41658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,26,86,91],"tags":[595,1490,2220,3743,3819,4660,11822,12577],"class_list":["post-41626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doctor-who-science-fiction","category-games","category-science-fiction","category-star-wars-science-fiction","tag-ancient","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-cosplay","tag-games","tag-gen-con","tag-history","tag-star-wars","tag-thucydides"],"yoast_head":"\nScenes from #GenCon50<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm going to share some highlights from Gen Con 50, which just concluded yesterday. 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