Last year around this time I wrote a post about Origins entitled “A Somewhat Personal Origins Report, or Holy Crap Was That Awesome.” And it was. Runner’s Toolkit won an Origins Award, we had Felicia Day in a special session of Shadowrun, and nearly 300 people played SR at the con. It was great.
This year–The Year of Shadowrun–left it in the dust.
This con had everything, from a power outage during setup that evacuated the conference center briefly and eventually had us setting up for a while in very dim light, to the stress of wondering if Shadowrun, Fifth Edition would get there on time, to the happiness when it did, to the stunning speed at which it sold out. And on top of that, I had to sing in public, which everyone now recognizes is not a good thing.
This was about the only time at the con where we had a good supply of SR5 books.
Here’s how that happened: I spent much of Thursday answering people’s questions about when SR5 would arrive. The follow-up question normally was how many copies we would have, and if it would be enough. I knew we were bringing a good supply of books–more than twice as many of the top sales of any title I can remember–so I felt confident that we would have plenty. I expressed that confidence by telling people that if we somehow sold out, I would sing the description of the street samurai to the tune of “Sweet Caroline.” I underestimated the passion and energy of Shadowrun fans. I was wrong. (Here’s a video of the resulting debacle event; I’m told we’ll be posting a high-def version later, so I’ll link to that when it comes. If you really feel you must see this in as much detail as possible.)
Shadowrun players and gamemasters made their passion known throughout the con. Last year, I was very pleased that we had nearly 300 players; we broke that mark this year at about the halfway point. We ended up with nearly 700 players. That was astounding, and a true testament to the Shadowrun gamemasters’ dedication to never turning away anyone who wants to play a game. Ray Rigel and the entire crew hit this one out of the park, then circled the bases, then hit the next several ones out of the park too. They were astounding. (We may, however, have to convince them that sleep is not just for the weak.)
Shadowrun was unavoidable at the con. The artwork for the Fifth Edition cover was on the cover of the event guide; the Catalyst booth was front and center in the exhibit hall; and we had glorious images from Storm Front and cityscapes from SR5 on the doors leading to the convention center.
It was a daily struggle to remember to keep moving instead of stopping and staring.
We also had posters in the Hyatt next to the convention center, including one of my favorite pieces from SR5, the occult investigator, in the Big Bar on 2.
I’m just trying to make myself cooler by hanging out with her.
On top of all this Shadowrun magic, we had a demo of the upcoming cooperative deck-building game, Shadowrun: Crossfire. It does an amazing job of capturing the Shadowrun teamwork dynamic in a card game, while also presenting opportunities for character advancement. I can’t wait to design specialized missions with the obstacle cards and gear it contains. Kudos to the designers of the game, and extra thanks to Rob Watkins, who hung in at the demo table like a champ and took on all comers.
I had to work hard to find an angle where you could actually see Rob Watkins in the crowd. He’s the bald one in back.
The strongest impression I’ll take from this con is the wonderful enthusiasm for Shadowrun. I loved to see people playing it, exploring it in new ways, and just plain having fun. It’s one of the great fictional settings of all time, and I’m thrilled people are diving into it.
Now on to GenCon in eight weeks and more Shadowrun awesomeness!
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