[BISH0P007]

Registration just opened, will there be a presence in Atlanta this year?

"The Beef"

[Teutonic Overlord]

Yes

[BISH0P007]

The Beef is happy, it's been a long time since he ate good. (and Thank you for attending!)

(looking at the schedule, SRM 07-03 only has 1 time slot currently.  Following the other patterns, shouldn't there be a Fri 8pm slot for it?)

[solracdes]

Will DragonCon have all the cool stuff from GENCON?

Please please PLEASE!?!?!?!

The SR Tarot Deck is what I'm looking for.

Sol

[Teutonic Overlord]

Catalyst Game Labs will not have a "booth" there this year, so I'm afraid the answer is no.  Sorry!

[deacon45]

Just got back from Dragon Con, and thought I would offer a little feedback. My best friend and I are veterans of many Living Campaigns, but have only been playing Missions for about a year and a half with no other experience with Shadowrun in any form. This was our first time playing missions at a major convention, and we had a really great time. I am going to share our initial perceptions both pros and cons. The cons are strictly to give a perspective from some one new to the community not to criticize. The overall experience was terrific!

Pros:
1) The GMs and coordinator were extremely friendly, helpful and accomidating and were very passionate for the setting.
2) All of the players and GMs we sat with seemed genuinely more interested in the role-playing aspect as opposed to the roll-playing part of the game. That was very refreshing! While we enjoy building fairly optimized characters we are just as happy if excellent role playing allows you to avoid combat entirely. That was certainly the attitude of all the GMs and nearly every player we sat with. That is a tremendous accomplishment and I applaud all involved as that is obviously instilled in the community from the top down.
3) All of the judges had an excellent grasp of the rules which allowed the play to flow smoothly, and made it seem much more seemless when players deviated from the written confines of the scenario. They also did a great job of explaining the nuances of the game to walk in players without getting too caught up in the mechanics explanations of what I would consider a very complex rules system. Excellent choice as in my experience focusing on the mechanics with new players can overwhelm them rather then allow them to get emmersed in the "flavor" of the setting. Each judge also made a concerted effort to keep everyone involved including those players with little or no experience.
4) A shout out to the authors in general not just the authors of the scenarios at this convention. I really like the format that allows for a lot of versatility rather then a linear approach. Most campaigns we have been involved in have the same formulaic 3 basic encounters with a 4th optional encounter. Everyone gets the same experience for the most part with some very basic opportunities for "side quest" type opportunities. The scenario and modules I have played and run have allowed for many variations and several paths that can lead to completely different results while still maintaining continuity with other scenarios. A real triumph in my opinion!  I was concerned initially with the "replay" option with a different character, but that makes it much more plausible.

Cons:
1) The lack of GMs made it very difficult for them to offer much variation of time slots and forced them to even cancel some scenarios even an entire slot Friday night with no games offered at all. I totally understand why the decision to give the GMs a break was made, and do not blame them at all. Each of them were selflessly donating their time to nearly every slot. Considering how difficult it is to play many of the adventures without playing them at a convention it would seem a lot more effort would be made to recruit enough help to offer more diversity each slot. Some adventures only offered one or two tables the entire convention. The problem seems to be the lack of support building excitement within the community for events centered around the biggest cons of the year. The forums seem very reactionary rather then campaign building. This thread was far from inspiring in regards to recruitment with basically no follow up. One word responses and very little if any updates had to have contributed to the lack of interest in judging, and I can not imagine most people were even aware of the lack of volunteers. If so perhaps more would have stepped forward and taken the pressure off of the few stalwarts that ran practically every slot. I know one or two players were kind enough to give up their slot to run adventures cold. If I were more confident in my grasp of a few of the major mechanics, and had a better understanding of the overlying plot lines I would have volunteered as well. However, this is a very complex system and I have never been great at running with out considerable prep even with systems I know much better. I am unsure if the goal of catalyst is to grow the community or if it leaves it completely up to the player base to run the community. It seems like fostering a solid community would sell more of their products. I know when I, and my gaming group play a living campaign we each buy pretty much every book or at least PDF offered and available for play in order to add more diversity to the game, and to financially support the company offering this valuable service. Some companies see the living communities as an afterthought. Judging by the convention forums that may be the case, but for the sake of this feedback I will assume the goal is to grow the community.
2) It was very surprising that there was not a Catalyst presence at a convention as large as Dragon Con. Several of the new players enjoyed the game tremendously, and asked if there was a booth they could purchase any of the books but no one was sure if there was. They were only sure that there was no catalyst booth. That is a missed opportunity as a convention purchase normally leads to several more from that players home group of players.
3) Lastly, it would be great if scenarios could be made available at a faster rate for purchase for those areas that do not have an agent nearby. Last I checked not even all of season 6 were available yet and the finale for seven was already available at this convention.

Once again...the overall experience was wonderful from the convention team. The "cons" are really more global then directly related to the convention experience. Thanks to all of those that donated their time and passion for the game, and all the great players we had the pleasure of meeting. You guys were great and we will make every effort to see you again next time.

Steve

[solracdes]

Greetings All,
Deacon45, excellent assessment of DragonCon.

If I could add a few details.

1 - I had an awesome time as week.  I only play once a year and DCON is it for me and my gang of misfit runners.  We look forward to it each year and usually buy out an entire table for our sessions.

2 - I agree that the GMs are phenomenally skilled.  I use my last adventure with Matt (which we bombed at the very end...oops) as the perfect example.  Matt did the adventure cold (GM dropout) and ran the adventure without ever referencing a book, just the module.  Meanwhile, Zac was coordinating all the adventures, keeping the time hack, and quoting supplemental rules to help the GMs while resting on a table (eyes closed).  I WISH I had that much control over just my own character.  Each of the GMs has their own style but they are all tons of fun.  The players are also friendly and helpful.  2Bags is the strangest mage yet and Radio give a hell of an Scottish accent (if that is what it was).  Not bad for a local!

3 - Catalyst usually attends but this is the first year they opted out and so near game time.  I was extremely disappointed but GENCON drift towards DCON is apparently having an impact.  I did manage to still get Echo's signed Tarot Deck Art Pack but only because she was in the dealer room.  SCORE!!!  This probably impacted SR gear since most dealers ASSUMED that angle was covered and they brought other stuff.  Voice your concerns for a sustained presence next year!!!!!!!

4 - I totally agree that Catalyst sends out regular waves of disdain for Shadowrun and DCON.  I have been with SR since 1st edition so something seems amiss now and for a while too.  The writers jump on the forums, the freelancers field questions, and the conversation is open.  But some books make my head hurt and errata comes slow (even though the forums are stuffed with 'suggestions').  Adventures come out on PDF but hardcopy is glacial.  It might be all games or just SR.  Anyone get that feeling on Battletech?

In closing, mega thanks to super GMs Matt, Zac, Mac, Andrew, and Guy.  You guys need to get a life cause you know Shadowrun TOO well.
  You are the lifeblood of DCON Shadowrun.  Hopefully, Catalyst sees your goodness and rewards you somehow.

Special thanks to Andrew for suffering his first module as a GM with us.  Rotten luck for him! 

OK...I'm done for now.