Good afternoon, all!
I wanted to take a moment to update you on my Gen Con status.
As it stands today, I’ll be canceling my Gen Con games.
I know this will disappoint some of you. I’ve made the decision, though, based on what’s best for me. Here are the factors that have gone into this decision:
- Since scheduling the games, my work and life have taken a much busier turn. The posting frequency on this blog should be evidence enough of this. Suffice it to say that my small business is growing by leaps and bounds, all while my free time shrinks. This means less prep time, and less time here.
- Part of that growth means I’ll be doing some real work while I’m at Gen Con. What that means is that, sometimes, I’ll be hidden away at Circle Center Mall with my laptop, doing work for clients. I’m thrilled that I’ve got that much work, but it also means I don’t have as much free time to enjoy the Con. Add in four games (actually five, I’d planned an extra session for a few folks that asked personally) and there’s zero time for me to do anything but, well, run a game.
- 4th edition has made less than a big splash among our local group. This means I’ve had little opportunity to playtest, much less prep a game that would be worth your time (or mine) at the Con. I’m still very interested in 4E, but I don’t yet possess the comfort level I’d like to have with the system before running a game for you all.
I will still be attending Gen Con. There will be a seminar with a bunch of us D&D bloggers on Saturday at 1 PM, so hopefully I’ll still get to meet some of you. My good friend Chatty will be there, as will folks from many other D&D blogs you know and love.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds to me like you’ve made the right decision. It’s difficult to balance obligation and fun; now that you’ve made the call, I hope you can sit back and enjoy Gen Con more, AND get work done too.
Getting players to buy-in to 4e is tricky. My own group were very anti-4e; their comfort zone is Mutants & Masterminds and 3.5e D&D, plus a handful of old-school guys back from when dinosaurs rolled dice (me included). 4e didn’t figure on their funmap at all.
My solution – I started a new game with them alongside the 3.5e campaign. It’s set in Ptolus (so the setting is familiar) and entirely based around the Arena. They’re playing GMless using miniatures in gladiator battles between each other (me included!), trying to gain Fame Points, XP and glory – and at the same time, learning to like (if not love) 4e and acclimatize to the idea that 4e WILL replace 3.5e eventually.
Keeping players happy. It’s like herding displacer beasts, I tell ya!
At least you’re still going. That’s the most important thing.
@ Greywulf – Thanks for the encouragement, my friend. Oh, and “herding displacer beasts,” made me nose my Coke.
@ Tony – agreed. Looking forward to seeing you and the family, too! I will be watching the Ennies with baited breath.
Does this mean we’re not gonna finish the game?
Pretty much the feeling I got from 4e was its a new different game. Yes its called D&D but the similarities from there are sketchy.
Accepting it for what it was, its a fun game. Endlessly comparing it to former editions is like comparing Rifts to Gurps or Xcrawl to Werewolf.
Sad to hear you are canceling your games. I know how much you were looking forward to running them as well as the people looking forward to playing them. Only a few days left *grin* see you there my friend.
Apis
Please make sure to cancel the game in advance with gencon. That was we don’t have to show up and get someone to sign off on our tickets as a no-show.
Yeah, we’re sort of in the same boat with 4e in our group — we’ve gotten to play all of twice with it and one of those sessions were character creation. We literally scheduled a couple sessions to play just so we wouldn’t feel quite so lost when we got to the ‘con.
I don’t blame you one bit for cancelling, I think you did the right thing for both you and your players, if for no other reason that it sounds like it’d be more stress than fun for you. I am, however, glad to see you’re still going. See you on the panel Saturday.
Vanirs last blog post..Happy Birthday To Us!!!!
Disappointed as yours was the only 4e game I had scheduled for Gencon. Glad I checked the blog. PLEASE make sure you cancel the event though so I don’t have to run all the way across the city just to get someone to sign off on my refund.