Old School Podcast: Origins interview with Shane Hensley of Pinnacle Entertainment Group [ 16:05 | 14.73 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (102)Tracy had a chance to sit down and talk with Shane about Savage worlds, the new book and a host of other topics!
The second day of a convention is always interesting for me because I lose the energy and excitement of just having arrived. As well, I usually end up staying up really late on the first night, so trying to get going on day 2 can be a challenge. That said, I knew that I was going to be able to get into the Dealer’s Hall on Day 2, so that helped.
The Sprawling Masses
I was very overwhelmed by the Dealer’s Hall at Origins last year. I spent hours wandering the aisles, lost in wonderment at the sight of all of the vendors and products. Since I’ve been to a couple of other conventions since then, I was much more prepared this year. However, when I got in line, waiting for things to open, I was petty surprised at how it all went.
I was in a group of about 75 people, all waiting to get inside. When 10 o’clock rolled around, with no fanfare, with no grand announcement, people just were able to start walking into the Hall. I made a beeline for the IPR booth to grab my copy of the Fiasco Companion, because I wanted to make sure I picked it up before it sold out. Turns out, I needent have rushed. Not because the Fiasco Companion isn’t awesome (it is), but because of the vibe of the Dealer’s Hall this year.
The whole thing just seemed… muted. I didn’t feel that rush of excitement around the room as I walked. Even the booths seemed smaller and more self-contained than last year. Additionally, a lot of the booths were vendors for gaming accessories and (at least to my eye) far fewer publishers showing off their new products. I would almost call things laid back. Now, that might not be the case on Saturday when there are tons more people coming through the Hall, but I didn’t have trouble walking or making my way around. There just didn’t seem to be as much going on. I talked with some folks later in the day and they confirmed my suspicions. Things are just not as exciting in the Dealer’s Hall this year. Don’t quite know what that signifies, if anything, but it’s definitely the case.
Moving Softly Into the Afternoon
I went over to the North Market (again) to get some lunch, and then headed back into the Dealer’s Hall for something I was really looking forward to. I got the chance to interview Shane Hensley of Pinnacle Entertainment. It was a fantastic interview, and I got some relatively exclusive stuff about what Pinnacle is going to be doing with their games, especially the Deadlands line. I promise that as soon as I have a chance to (after the convention), I am going to get that audio up for you all.
It was especially cool to talk to Shane when I did, because I had a Deadlands game scheduled to run that afternoon. I managed to wrangle up a really good group of players, including Tom Cadorette, Dave Chalker and E. Foley. We played through a scenario called Bury Me With My Guns On, that I wrote last year for some friends at GenCon. I’ve had a chance to run it three times, now, and I hoping that I can the time soon to polish it up and possibly get it published. I think I’ve got a good adventure with it, but I need to tighten some things up before publication is an option. I’ll keep you posted. Also, the audio of the game was recorded and will be posting at The Gamer’s Haven soon, as well.
And On Into the Evening
Following the Deadlands game, I went out to dinner with the group, and that, really, encapsulates my evening: good food, good drink and good people to talk to. In fact, so far, that has been the theme of this convention. It’s very different from last year, as I kept myself so busy and wired that I barely had time to think. This year, I’ve been spending the majority of my time just sitting and talking to people. And, thanks to Twitter, they have been people who work in the game-publishing industry, so I’ve been learning a lot about what I should be doing as it pertains to Sand and Steam. It’s the kind of advice that I need, and I’m really grateful to have it.
Going Forward
Tomorrow (today), I’ve got another interview schedule, and this evening will be playing in a game of Pathfinder with my regular gaming group. (It’s really nice to have Origins as my local convention). I’ve also got a dice game that I want to check out on the show floor. It’s called Shootin’ Dice, and I was skeptical about it when I saw the signs around. I tried it out (while writing this post) and it seems pretty interesting. You should be seeing a review, soon.
Anyway, I’m off until tonight’s post! Hope you’re enjoying your weekend as much as I am.
To celebrate another wonderful game system, Savage Worlds, we’ve gotten together with the fine folks at Pinnacle Entertainment Group to give away a few Savage Worlds books. Since the PEG folks graciously provided the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition and the Deadlands Player’s Guide, I’ll be happy to ship them off to one lucky winner anywhere I can via the USPS.
Savage Worlds is a Fast! Furious! and Fun! rules system for any genre of roleplaying game. Create your own setting, convert an existing one, or pick up one of our amazing worlds like Deadlands, Slipstream, or Weird War II.
The rules give players plenty of depth to create their characters and keep bookkeeping to a minimum for the game master.
If you’re looking for a game that’s fast and easy to set up, run, and play, Savage Worlds is for you!
This is a full-color Explorer’s Edition-sized book (6.5″x9″). This is a copy of the third printing. 160 pages.
The Tombstone Epitaph has always been filled with lurid tales of daring desperadoes and deadly drifters, but lately the West’s most-read tabloid claims there’s something more sinister stalking the fronteir’s lonely plains: monsters! Fortunately, where there are monsters, there are heroes. Squinte-eyed gunfighters, card-chucking hexsligners, savage braves, and righteous padres have all answered the call. And if they fight hard enough, they might just discover the identity of the mysterious Reckoners some say are behind it all.
The Player’s Guide is the core rules book for player of Deadlands Reloaded. It includes new rules for shootouts at high noon, new Edges, Hindrances, and powers, and everything thing a cowpoke needs to begin his journey into the Weird West.
So how do you qualify to win these two books? Easily done! Go to Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s website and tell us what year PEG started out and what they first published. (Hint – both answers are right next to each other and a cut/paste is fine). Once you’ve got this info, email it to us at savageworlds AT trollitc D0T com. Be sure to use a valid email address as that’s how I’ll be contacting the winner.
Since I’m also celebrating my survival of (not really all that) life threatening surgery, I’m also going to put in one of my own, unopened Savage Worlds official Oversized Action Deck! That’s a lot of capital letters but also a neat extra prize.
Rules:
This contest will start at approximately 9am on Friday, August 27th and will end at 11:59pm EST on Friday, September 3rd.
That’s all there is to it! Good luck and get to entering!
[tags]rpg, role playing games, savage worlds, contest, deadlands[/tags]
To celebrate another wonderful game system, Savage Worlds, we’ve gotten together with the fine folks at Pinnacle Entertainment Group to give away a few Savage Worlds books. Since the PEG folks graciously provided the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition and the Deadlands Player’s Guide, I’ll be happy to ship them off to one lucky winner anywhere I can via the USPS.
Savage Worlds is a Fast! Furious! and Fun! rules system for any genre of roleplaying game. Create your own setting, convert an existing one, or pick up one of our amazing worlds like Deadlands, Slipstream, or Weird War II.
The rules give players plenty of depth to create their characters and keep bookkeeping to a minimum for the game master.
If you’re looking for a game that’s fast and easy to set up, run, and play, Savage Worlds is for you!
This is a full-color Explorer’s Edition-sized book (6.5″x9″). This is a copy of the third printing. 160 pages.
The Tombstone Epitaph has always been filled with lurid tales of daring desperadoes and deadly drifters, but lately the West’s most-read tabloid claims there’s something more sinister stalking the fronteir’s lonely plains: monsters! Fortunately, where there are monsters, there are heroes. Squinte-eyed gunfighters, card-chucking hexsligners, savage braves, and righteous padres have all answered the call. And if they fight hard enough, they might just discover the identity of the mysterious Reckoners some say are behind it all.
The Player’s Guide is the core rules book for player of Deadlands Reloaded. It includes new rules for shootouts at high noon, new Edges, Hindrances, and powers, and everything thing a cowpoke needs to begin his journey into the Weird West.
NOTE: This is for the print copy only, a PDF will not be won in this contest.
So how do you qualify to win these two books? Easily done! Go to Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s website and tell us what year PEG started out and what they first published. (Hint – both answers are right next to each other and a cut/paste is fine). Once you’ve got this info, email it to us at savageworlds AT trollitc D0T com. Be sure to use a valid email address as that’s how I’ll be contacting the winner.
Since I’m also celebrating my survival of (not really all that) life threatening surgery, I’m also going to put in one of my own, unopened Savage Worlds official Oversized Action Deck! That’s a lot of capital letters but also a neat extra prize.
Rules:
This contest will start at approximately 9am on Friday, August 27th and will end at 11:59pm EST on Friday, September 3rd.
That’s all there is to it! Good luck and get to entering!
[tags]rpg, role playing games, savage worlds, contest, deadlands[/tags]
So apparently Day 2 of Origins gets more hectic than the first day. This was to be expected, but it still caught me by surprise. In addition to more people, the Exhibition Hall is open, and there are a lot more people to talk to. I ended up getting three audio interviews that I didn’t expect at all, and I played in a game session that rocked my world. Let’s get to the recap.
1. Louis Zocchi This gentleman is one the of Guests of Honor, and I ended up having the chance to sit down and talk with him about his contributions to the tabletop RPG community. The two most notable contributions are the d100 (yes, the actual die) and the D Total. I had heard about the D Total before, but I had never had the chance to see one. It actually looks really cool, and Louis had a bunch of interesting stories to tell. As with all of this stuff, I’ll have the audio up later.
2. Michael Stackpole Mike is also one of the Special Guests here, and I didn’t have the chance to talk to him very long, but I did shake his hand and find out what he has coming down the pipe. He has a new book coming out called At the Queen’s Command that is the first of a new fantasy series. Additionally, he is soon going to begin working on a novelization of the upcoming Conan movie.
3. Brent Evans from Catalyst Game Labs This one was more spur-of-the-moment for me, but I got a really good group interview with the Art Director for Catalyst. We got a chance to talk about their financial situation, the departure of Wildfire and Posthuman, and what Catalyst has planned for the future. It was a good, honest-seeming conversation, and I think it will be a good listen for you all.
4. Realms of Cthulhu Oh. My. Crap. The Realms of Cthulhu session was bacon-wrapped awesome. I didn’t realize until halfway through the session that Sean Preston (the guy that wrote the frakking book) was the guy running the session for us. I got full audio of the session, and had a blast playing it. In fact, I bought the book because I enjoyed it so, so very much. More info about the setting and the session to come when I get the audio up.
5. The Exhibition Hall If you follow my Twitter feed, then you probably noticed about two hours of radio silence. You can thank the Exhibition Hall for that. I was really overwhelmed, then I really wanted more money, then I started to talk to people at booths. I got contact info from Wildfire (Cthulhutech), Posthuman (Ecplise Phase), Pinnacle Entertainment (Savage Worlds, Deadlands, Realms of Cthulhu, and a few others whose names unfortunately escape me as of right now. Suffice it to say that I have a lot of good contacts for a lot of future interviews via email and Skype.
I also had a chance to play a Deadlands demo session with one of the Pinnacle guys, and had a blast doing so. Picked up the SW Action Deck and Realms of Cthulu book afterwards. Much fun.
6. Mayfair Games One of the biggest sponsors of the convention, Mayfair had some Media Room time right as I walked in to type this post, so I got an audio interview with Robert Carty and Larry Rozani (whose positions with the company elude me at the moment. It was a good talk about Mayfair, what they do, and what their take on the tabletop hobby/industry.
It has been a really good day, but not as chill as yesterday. Still and all, I have a game of Eclipse Phase scheduled in an hour and a half, then I’m sure I’ll find at least one more thing to do to wrap up my evening of Day 2. Oh, and a big thanks to all of the people I’ve run into here, who have pointed me in the direction of cool stuff; way to give a first-timer a hand. Much obliged.
[tags]rpg, rpgs, Origins, tabletop, Catalyst, Mayfair, Eclipse Phase, Cthulhutech, Savage Worlds, Deadlands, Realms of Cthulhu, Mayfair[/tags]
