Three Games to Get Tickets for on May 19th
(BEFORE they Sell Out)
Art from the top left, going clockwise is a clip of an original Watch The Skies! poster by Joe Veen, 1920 – machine over muscle by Jacob Rozalski, prepared for the Scythe board game by Stonemaier Games, and a screenshot from the video game, Dwarf Fortress by Bay 12 Games.
Gen Con is FULL of AMAZING EVENTS, but sadly, many of those events only have limited tickets. Sunday May 19th is when Gen Con events go on sale and if past performance is indicative of future trends, many of Gen Con’s Megagame events will sell out within 48 hours. So set those alarms! Don’t miss the bus! Here’s thee Megagame events that we predict will sell out quickly.
1. Watch The Skies!
The alien invasion epic is a classic in the megagame community. Many of you are probably familiar with the Shut Up & Sit Down series documenting their adventures in First Contact. Players take on the role of Heads of State, Chief Scientists, Generals, UN Representatives, CEOs, Journalists and Non-Human Beings. The contemporary setting is easy for players to run and play with, and the zany nature of alien technology frequently leads to intense, paranoid, hilarious games. Tangentially, you also might get nuked.
The plot for each Watch The Skies! game is changed with each run as unraveling the motivations of the extraterrestrials is part of the fun. For those curious, MGC will be running the North American (New York) Version with several additional modules, including an incredibly popular Corporations module which introduces a stock market and CEO roles. Due to its setting and its popularity from the Shut Up & Sit Down game, this event will likely sell out very quickly – despite its $60 price tag.
2. Sickle: A Scythe Fan-Made Megagame
Minnesota Megagames created a megagame set in the 1920+ Universe which proved to be so successful that they’re running it again in Fargo this Summer and a third time at Gen Con! The 1920+ Art Universe created by Jakub Rowzalski is home to Stonemaier Games’ extremely popular board game, Scythe, as well as the upcoming RTS video game, Iron Harvest, by King Art Games.
Players take on the roles of prominent political factions, scientists, industrialists, and folk heroes involved in the power struggles of Eastern Europa. The Art Universe has a knack for contrasting the industrial with the human and natural elements of the world. Massive deiselpunk mechs fight in front of tiny, stunned humans, who inhabit a natural environment even larger than the mechs!
The expanded universe of the board game elaborates on a wonderfully intriguing alt-history setting inspired by the real-life turmoil of 1920s Europe (Communists! Anarchists! Revanche! O my!). The difference in scale portrayed in the art and capitalized on in the board game and expanded canon inspires the megagame design, where players take on the role of both powerful individual scientists and industrialists (Marie Curie, Tesla, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky) as well as entire political movements in an incredible alt-history setting.
We’ve had great feedback from the previous runs of the game and we’re excited to be putting it on for the Gen Con audience. It’s also the cheapest megagame being run this year by the Megagame Coalition so we expect it to sell out relatively fast.
This project was made with love and encouraged by Stonemaier Games (because they’re awesome people who encourage awesome fan-made things).
3. Deephaven
We love Dwarves, and I don’t think we’re the only ones. How could you not? They’re serious, they’re jolly, and above all, they’re chock full of a spectacular hubris. And with Dwarf Fortress as a primary inspiration, Deephaven celebrates hubris in spades.
Come together as desperate Dwarves to build the New United Capital for All Dwarves! Just don’t ask too many questions about why this perfectly good mountain hasn’t been mined before! Or how Dwarves of desperate cultures will learn to co-exist and prosper! Or how exactly the architects hope to fit the statue to your ancestor between the main load-bearing pillar and the brewery!
Deephaven has a great setting and a design that pushes players to take just one more pull at that Jenga tower and revel in the rewards and/or catastrophes that may follow.