[LIVE ON THE ROAD from Origins 2006] This is your typical gaming convention photograph. A bunch of guys sitting around folding tables not doing much of anything.
This is actually a small group of Doomtown players waiting for the Sealed Deck event to start... unfortunately, it never did. Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow what happened, since the Doomtown World Championships are Friday at 7pm. I'm doing Whateley (again) and Mike is running his Sweetrock deck. Of course, if there's more trouble at the watering hole, maybe this event will be a surprise cancel as well.
With all the extra time afforded to us by the cancellation of the Doomtown Sealed Deck tourney, we accomplished a lot of demoing in the exhibit hall. I'm sure I've said this before, but this is why I come to Origins. Game demos.
This picture is from our demo of Clout Fantasy, which is probably one of the most awful games ever. Somehow, you're expected to simulate an epic battle between elves and zombies by tossing poker chips on the table. Suckity suckity suckity suck. I wouldn't expect this one to be around for long. The demo guy told me that they're doing a Marvel version soon, which just proves that Marvel has ceased to be a comics company that licenses characters and is now simply a character licensing company that makes comic books.
Here's another common Origins view: the booth that sells swords. There's a bunch of them out here this year, but this one seems to specialize in video game related weaponry.
That keyblade goes for $60. I have a great photo of me doing a Kingdom Hearts action pose with it, which you'll see when I get the full online photo album assembled.
I also spotted lots of swords from Final Fantasy (you know, the big one with the fur trim, and the ones that have a gun for a handle), and a Link sword+shield combo.
The best part? They're all made in Pakistan. How the heck did these guys get through customs?
I see Blastoise, I kiss Blastoise.
And when we got back to our host home, I fired up some iChat with Rhonda and Clark.
As I found out later, I'm not even using the in-house WiFi network... I'm on somebody's signal from down the street.
The free goodie bag this year ranks as one of the best I've seen, with several substantial freebies. Some dice, lots of literature, a 2-figure HorrorClix demo pack, even a complete Clout Fantasy starter so you can bring the suck home.
I've already checked out most of my targeted purchases... and rejected the Deadlands book and (probably) the Zombies upgrade. The Deadlands book is too expensive ($40) for my needs, since I'll never use all the RPG junk. And the Zombies Second Edition box is big, but not big enough. It looks like it will only fit the expansion sets if you throw away the expansion set boxes. I'm still debating this one; it's $27.
I did buy the big Pirates islands + playmat set, which is super-awesome. My Pirates games are going to look completely badass now. Mike really doesn't dig on Pirates much, so we're at loggerheads on it. Chris is coming up tonight, and at last report he was really into the game, so I'm going to start dating him now instead.
WizKids has already picked up the award for Biggest Dick Move of the Show. They're selling their stuff on the convention floor for MORE than it costs at retail. Pirates boosters are $4 anywhere else in America; here, they're $5. Fuck off on that. And of course, they have "convention exclusives" for most of their games, which you can only get by buying $50 worth of overpriced merchandise. I really wanted the Pirates exclusive. Now I'm just sour on the whole thing. What a great way to screw over your own loyal customers.
Bought Monsters Menace America, a happy little board game where you pit giant movie monsters against the US military. It kinds of reminds me of Gammarauders if Gammarauders wasn't terrible. We had a great demo of it - to the point where we finished a game, which rarely happens in demos. I had seen the game before, but I've been burned time and time again on independent board games with lots of plastic parts... so I've grown wary. Happy to say, MMA is fast without being simplistic and funny without being hokey.
Mike, meanwhile, has purchased Gold Digger (which I liked as well), Blokus (as a gift for our gracious hosts) and a bunch of WizKids' failed CCG, High Plains Drifter (at ridiculously cheap closeout prices).
