Here’s my second post stemming from GenCon Indy 07. I went through the GenCon program guide looking for titles of games I didn’t recognize. Here’s the list, with URLs and short burbs from those websites wherever possible.

• WEGS: “WEGS is an old school sword-n-sorcery rpg that revels in the ‘let’s get a game together tonight’mentality. Flavored with an air of whimsical high-fantasy, the rules are energized by an
  errant rule system which encourages players to take risks and, most of all, have fun.”
• Dragon Storm
• Witch Hunter: The Invisible World: “Such a duty is one that few would choose willingly, particularly if they understood the nature of their foes. And indeed, when those foes are invisible to the untutored eye, even a willing guardian would never know that his efforts were needed. But those precious few, given sight of the Adversary, and the will to face them, are the Witch-Hunters.”
• Crusaders of the Holy Lands: “Crusaders of the Holy Lands is a 13th Night Role Playing game set at the time of the end of the First Crusade. The Crusaders have had a prosperous existence and look forward to a peaceful future.”
• Cadwallon: “Cadwallon is a role playing game played with miniatures. It lets you represent one of the heroes of a tight-knit group of adventurers.”
• Dark Refuge: “In the distant future the evil and tyrannical government of Mars has waged war on Earth. In the catastrophic battles that followed, refugees from Earth have fled to the furthest corner of the inhabited worlds to colony D-455, now called Refuge. Hidden, humanity looks forward to enjoying this eden. But this planet is not quite what it seems. Dimensional rips in the fabric of reality have allowed energy called Leyas to seep into the planet’s atmosphere.”
• Chronicles of Ralmar: “The Chronicles of Ramlar is a fantasy roleplaying game, with the heroic setting of Eranon, one of the two major continents on a world created by Ramlar, the Maker of All. The premise behind the game is to create your own heroes and weave their own chapters of legend and legacy to be immortalized in The Book—the ultimate annals chronicling Ramlar’s world.”
• Beyond Mere Mortals: “Beyond Mere Mortals is a unique d20 superhero roleplaying game that brings you all the excitement from your favorite comic books – brought to your game table from Noble Hero Press!”
• Battlestations: “Battlestations is a pulp sci fi adventure boardgame. Ongoing adventures feature simultaneous ship-to-ship and boarding combat in space. Players work together as a starship crew aboard a ship of their own design facing referee-controlled forces. You’ll track the heroes’ positions on the starship layouts and the starships’ positions on the space map. The action in Battlestations is character driven. If you want the ship to turn, speed up, or launch a missile or blast the enemy ship, a hero has to take an action to make it so.”
• The Great War of Magellan: “The vast and desolate galaxy of Richard Hatch’s new epic Sci-Fi saga, The Great War of Magellan is meticulously captured in this innovative new role playing game produced by DGA Games. The story is incredibly deep and offers a myriad of possibilities.”
• Ustio: The Rebirth: “It is a ‘Neo-fantasy, non-Tolkien’ role-playing game. The world is not based on the mythos, geography, races or creatures of Earth; that is to say not intentionally, but many things could be likened to creatures or races of Earth in some fashion – the game was designed by humans after all. That disclaimer withstanding, the game, world, breeds, creatures and history of Hlomb are ours and not based of of any fiction or mythos known to us.”
• Trin’ Dar: “Welcome to Trin’Dar. A continent formed from the aftermath of warring gods; a realm kept in balance by a superior race of Dragons that will only interact in the guise of mortals. Explore a world where the only absolute is the unknown.”
• Four Colors al Fresco: “Four Colors al Fresco is a roleplaying game of pulp-style adventure, set in an alternate Renaissance. The setting is Renaissance Italy — as it might have been. Had there been fantastic, pre-industrial advanced technologies in the hands of a few.”
• Sign In Stranger
• Mundi Animalia: “Welcome to the world of Mundi Animalia. A comprehensive system that lets you play anything from an ant to an elephant. It includes 6 sets of supernatural powers using the KaSE system used in Edward Abbot Abbot’s Flatland (Inflated) the RPG. Mundi Animalia is primarily usable as an omni supplement to an existing campaign to show the hidden world of animals.”
• Bounty Head Bebop: “This roleplaying game was inspired by the world of Cowboy Bebop and takes over where the animated series leaves off; presenting players the opportunity to jump in and experience the adventure, humor, and drama of Cowboy Bebop for themselves. So roll up a character, pop in your favorite jazz CD, and 3..2..1… LET’S JAM!”
• So Ya Wanna Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star!
• Skies of Glass
• Cursed Empires
• In Dark Alleys
• Khymir
• Adventures In Fantasy
• Strikeforce: 2136: “The StrikeForce Role Playing Game is based on the Conflict System. Gaining experience, StrikeForce characters gain detailed skills and access to more powerful technology. The world is a place of violent competition between Corporations, Nations, and Independent Guilds. The characters are placed in a world, where on the surface they appear to be the power and strength of society. Only to discover they are simply pawn of the larger forces that run the world. From the UN to the rumors of Paulson units and Aliens, the StrikeForces tend to be the asset of choice to get the job done.”
• Iridium Lite
• Advanced Dimensional Green Ninja-Educational Preparatory Super-Elementary Fortress 555: “Based on the hit TV series of the same name, Advanced Dimensional Green Ninja-Educational Preparatory Super-Elementary Fortress 555 chronicles the lives of children attending the elementary school in the suburbs surrounding the city at the center of the universe.”

The following didn’t turn up anything on Google: Ascent, Bullseye, Cats, Century’s Edge, Demon Hunters, HiBRiD, Luchador: Way of the Mask, Mithuria, Realmsaga, Serial, Spacers, Supernatural, War Gods. Some have too generic titles to let me find anything, and for others it was just that nothing came up. Anyone out there have any info?

I survived GenCon Indy. I put a long diary-type report on my LiveJournal, but here I’m going to concentrate on actual gaming stuff rather than complaining about how tired I was or commenting on the restaurants I went to.

I didn’t get all that much gaming in during the con. I’m actually sort of ambivalent about this because I feel like I should’ve gotten much more in (why else does one go to a gaming con?), but I was feeling too physically and emotionally spent to handle much in the way of roleplaying.

I did however run two sessions of Maid RPG as planned. I put together a fairly simple scenario, and had the players make characters and go at it for the remainder of the three hours. The first session was brisk, random, and fun. The second was the single strangest RPG session I’ve ever witnessed, and at times I had to put my head on the table and breathe deep to be able to handle it all. John Kim was there for the second one, so hopefully he can provide more useful commentary than my sleep-deprived brain could hope for.

I think I came home with a total of about 20 or so different books, a mix of indie RPGs and bargains, so I have entirely too much reading material now. I got all inspired to play more of these games with my friends, so I’m going to finally try to organize to play The Mountain Witch in the near future, as well as my neglected Fudge-powered Halo game. I also want to work more on my own games, and try to properly integrate playtesting into the process. Raspberry Heaven and Anime Dreams are actually relatively close to being testable, and I have a very solid idea what I want to do with the next revision of Tokyo Heroes (based largely on Filip’s advice, and in general trying to make it much less handwave-y).

I got to hang out with Andy K a little bit at the RPG.net meetup on Saturday, so in addition to meeting a bunch of cool people I got hooked up with Meikyuu Kingdom, Demon Parasite, and Baka Baka RPG wo Kataru. The latter is a collection of a Japanese gamer’s columns on weird American RPGs, including some indie stuff, and even Panty Explosion (about which he notes that there are only two explicit psychic powers — levitating and making heads explode — but for some reason nothing to make panties explode). Andy did a very short demo of Tenra Bansho there, and I have to say it’s made of pure unadulterated awesome.

I still have a lot of other stuff to post about, but that’ll have to wait. Notably, The Hobby Games: The 100 Best book from Green Ronin is amazing so far, I have lots of games to read, and I went through and wrote down the names of all the RPGs being run in official games that I hadn’t heard of (like Bounty Head Bebop, basically Cowboy Bebop with the serial numbers halfway filed off).