I was privileged to attend CritHitCon in Phoenix, AZ last
weekend, July 9-10, and it was a great start to a new annual event. Two days of tabletop roleplaying games focused on learning about new games and meeting new players. There were so many games scheduled including Patfinder, D&D, Savage Worlds, DCC, Shadow of The Demon Lord, Trail of Cthulhu, Tunnels & Trolls, 7th Sea, and so many more. The best part
was being able to game with and hangout with Some RPG Legends and great
designers like Ken St. Andre, Shane Hensley, John Wick, and more. I had the opportunity to sit for a while and talk to Ken St. Andre about all things RPG (he was a little disappointed that I hadn't read the Tunnels & Trolls Deluxe that he signed for me at Phoenix ComicCon, but I'm fixing that right now.),
There was a great update and informal discussion
from Shane Hensley on what's new and exciting from Pinnacle.The presentation was the same as last year's GenCon announcement, but the conversation that followed was a whole lot more fun. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Fear Agent setting. Shane also let us in on some "insider" stuff that may, or may not, be in the works, sorry I'm under oath, but it was great being able to ask very specific Savage Worlds questions and get the answers directly from the originator of the system.
I planned on running two games, My own
Heart
of Darkness for Savage Worlds and
Nebin
Pendlebrook’s Perilous Pantry a Zero Level DCC Funnel. Unfortunately one of
the pitfalls of a small first year con and maybe having a game in the same
timeslot as John Wick who was running 7
th Sea, I didn’t have any
guests at my table for HoD, but fortunately that left me time to catch the screening
of
Dark Dungeons: The Movie which included a Q&A via Skype with
writer/producer JR Ralls.
Nebin’s Pantry did deliver on its perilous promise. While
most of the players managed to hold onto at least one zero until the very end
the last two encounters finished them off. Don’t let the pretty pictures fool
you, this adventure is quite deadly, we lost 3 PCs by the end second encounter—it
was a great game enjoyed by all.
Jim Miller Did a great job putting this inaugural gaming
con together and I can't wait for next year. There is so much potential here,
and as Ken St. Andre said in a Facebook post following the event, "If Phoenix isn't the hub of the game-designing
universe, it's at least a mighty nexus.”
