Welcome back, dear reader!

Yes, it is the beginning of the end of Summer 2016 but don’t let that get you down! There’s so much to discuss and enjoy yet!

GenCon 2016 in beautifully accessible Indianapolis Indiana was a blast, again, this year. If you weren’t able to make it out to the gaming mecca, 65,000 gamers descending upon the original and now oldest gaming convention on the planet, then hopefully this recap will give you a sense of what it was like.

As many of you know, collaborative story telling games are such a favorite of ours here at the Beard that we started a whole podcast dedicated to them!

Trying out new and not yet released games is one of the best things to do at GenCon. Regardless if one likes the game or not, simply having the chance to experience it can be rewarding and doubly so if one really likes the game.

Imagine our joy as Galactic Debate fell into our laps! This game, by Road to Infamy Games is an interesting meshing of collaborative and competitive. Each player takes on the role of a world leader representing their planet in a Galactic Federation and must debate other leaders on the pros and cons of “important issues” facing the galaxy while those players who are not debating vote on the winner.

The galaxy at large is a blank slate until players begin world building through their arguments: for each side’s argument become canon. Want to say the Monstrous Bug People are like locusts who eat everything on each planet they inhabit? Fine, it’s canon. Want to say the Sentient Whale People use expendable crew members as an alternative energy resource? Make it so, for the rest of the game.

This mechanic allows for collaborative world building while pitting players against one another as they attempt to pander to the other leaders who will ultimately decide if they win that specific debate.

By the end of the game, the player with the most leaders having favored their positions wins!

We saw so many other great board games too!

The other star of the show was, by far, Mad Science Foundation by Cryptozotic which is a really fun game in which everyone plays mad scientists trying to complete crazy inventions so as to gain the most infamy. For what mad scientist *doesn’t* want to be infamous?! Great strategy here as well. Players can attempt to create inventions that self perpetuate their plans or simply stock pile tons of resources. One of my favorite aspects of the demo was the Sassy Robot… so sassy!!! In full disclosure, one of the designers is a friend of us here at the Beard and we couldn’t be happier for him. Yay Sharang! Congrats on such a great game and looking so great in a lab coat (tough to pull off)!

Tyrants of the Underdark by Wizards of the Coast was the board game we were most anticipating after New York Toy Fair 2016. We thought this would be in the vein of the venerable Lords of Waterdeep board game and while collecting the most victory points is definitely the win condition, how one goes about collecting those points is vastly different than LoW.

In Tyrants of the Underdark players take on the roles of one of four vile Drow noble houses and attempt to spread their presence throughout the vast gloom of the Underdark. By using influence to purchase cards a player builds their deck of creatures and servants who forward the goal of conquering as much of the board as possible. By using power a player places troops and spies on the board to spread their presence far and wide.

The best example we could think of for this game is a mash up of Risk and Dominion. Players do not roll dice against each other and instead use power to remove troops of opposing houses. The best part about this game is how quickly it goes! Seriously, four new players were able to complete the game in 90 minutes. That’s a perfect length! Here at the Beard we highly recommend Tyrants of the Underdark.

We tried a number of other games though none of them really jumped out as big winners. Sharknado the Board Game seems very gimmicky (duh) where as the new Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails by Days of Wonder was a interesting new take on the newly minted classic. The board was beautiful and the new mechanics were interesting. Road to Infamy was the other product that Road to Infamy Games has put out and it is a bidding game focused on getting the most points but nothing to write home about.

Y’know what we *do* write home about here Berlings Beard? Costumes. That’s right, we love cos-play. We love the effort and dedication folks put into their outfits! We love that fans love their chosen nerdery so dang much that they gotta express it loud and proud! Here are a smattering of some of the ones we liked the best.

There were some video games at GenCon too, but nothing new or huge like at PAX East. Still, Pokemon-Go fever has definitely swept the nation.

A highlight of GenCon is their truly cavernous Vendor’s Hall. Seriously, this place must have odes, sonnets, and laments written for it as it is so expansive, beautiful, chaotic, and ultimately amazing as one realizes this must be what the Nerd version of the best mall you’ve ever been to must be like. So many great products, lots of free game demos, a veritable kaleidoscope of visual pleasure, and you might just run into a famous game designer / personality on the floor at any moment! It’s so easy to spend all one’s hard earned ducats here though, so always be discerning. In full disclosure, we may have bought some pirate pants from a leather merchant.

GenCon 2016 was one of the best Cons ever. Indianapolis is very accommodating and welcoming. The ‘beer garden’ this year had a specific brew created for GenCon itself (the Rye, it was alright). While there were over 60,000 people in the downtown area, it never felt too crowded (outside the convention center) and the weather was just beautiful. We cannot recommend enough that every table top gamer out there make the trip to experience this transformational event at least once!

Well Summer 2013 is fast coming to a close and holy crow, this year has already been so awesome and amazing. Many great trips were had, lovely games were played, and lots of love, heartbreak & dragons felt. Welcome back, now’s a good time to be here. Let’s see what the end of the year has in store, yes?

Speaking of the future, I can’t shake the feeling that next year this time will be most gloriously epic. Why? You might ask. Well it’s becoming pretty clear to me that the D&D:Next Project that WotC has been working on will be releasing sometime next year. My bet is on Gen-Con 2014 and to all of you who made it out to Indianapolis this year, I heard it was dope status. If, like me, you couldn’t make it this year do check out Mike Mearls’ short presentation (as presentations go) on the future of D&D. Pay close attention to his language in terms of the ‘expressions’ of D&D.

An interesting indicator can be seen in Mearls distinguishing the multiple products as being unified by the brand, instead of unified by the line of products themselves. With the Lords of Waterdeep game coming to iOS and the Sundering Facebook App, the future of D&D has an aura of dynamism.

Besides Waterdeep, another city of the Forgotten Realms gets some major love this year; Baldur’s Gate. Indeed, “The Gate” is being reinforced as one of the key locations in the Forgotten Realms and in ramping up for the switch to the next expression of D&D Table Top a particular focus has been placed on it. Not only has the old pair of video games been re-released, and I hear they’re wicked hard, this season of DnD Next Encounters finds itself squarely set in the sandbox of the expansive city. There are even tie-ins between the digital games from the 90s, this season of Encounters, and the overarching theme for the Forgotten Realms future, a world shaking event known as the Sundering. This event is getting it’s kickoff with R.A. Salvatore’s new book, The Companions… which sounds… weird. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Drizzt action, however if what I hear is true, the (spoiler alert!) reincarnations of the Companions make for some awkward questions.

That said, the next season of Encounters will be based around the Crystal Shard, so it’s not like we won’t be seeing new content in that saga worthy of the ancients. This season though has provided a challenge unlike any other. A player-character can truly go anywhere in the Sand Box Campaign that is Murder in Baldur’s Gate.

There are places, many of them I’d wager, that we cannot truly go to though and one is just finishing up.

Wow these guys are smart. I know, I know, it’s been said. Yes, I know, smart can mean many different things. So instead I’ll say, due to PAX East and the amazingly unique experience it has been AND in large part due to the eye-windows of the interwebs that capture and show so much of what happens, I’m pretty okay I’m not there. Though hey, being there to see my main man Chris Perkins throw down the next installment of Acq Inc’s saga would be out of sight.

Never despair though, for there will always be hope.

Thank the Gods for a down home North Carolina Con! The Escapist Expo will be putting on a show for the second year in a row and I’m confident the momentum from the inaugural year will spin this gamerific celebration to new heights. There will be expanded panels (I’m moderating one about DM advice), more space for table top gaming, and more open console gaming spots. Downtown Durham provided me with good times, easy to manage locations and yummy foods last time, so looking forward to that again! Trust that there will be more reporting on this. Hope to see you there!

So the game that’s been ruling my life (besides XCOM, of course) has been Pandemic. If you haven’t played this co-op board game from Z-Man games, I heartily recommend it. You are a team of experts racing against four deadly diseases that cover the world. Curing them is the goal, but time usually runs out. My partner and I have only been able to beat it about one out of four times playing. The base game can support up to four players, however with expansions I believe one can get up to six. It takes about forty five minutes to play. It’s 13+ but I’ve seen a sharp 8 year old figure it out.

Finally, what’s Summer without the flicks, amirite? For me, with not much in the way of finances, time, or enthusiasm for the product, making the journey to the cinema is a pretty big deal. Speaking of massive efforts, I was really impressed with Pacific Rim, so impressed that I was mad at first because I felt del Toro left so many great aspects of the world out! Seriously, I was super in to the world and I love that the entire stage was set up in less than ten minutes. I realized the initial disappointment that shaded my reaction to the film had overshadowed just how fun it was to see a robot fighting a monster for forty five minutes plus.

I also did catch This is the End with a buddy whilst on a trip to Chicago and while I found it firmly based in the male demographic, it seems that’s me as I enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m glad they showed so many demon penises onscreen and it’s nuts to remember Franco and Rogan have been together since the Norseman days. So, good for them, ya know?