Last week, I attended my 29th GenCon (“The Best Four Days in Gaming”) in Indianapolis, IN. As always, it was a delightful whirlwind of games, shopping, and friends, though this year you could really feel the crowds with a record 70,000 attendees. I wore a mask for the exhibit hall and any movement through big crowds in the hallways, because that’s 69,992 people around me that I don’t know.

One of the things I really enjoy at GenCon is seeing how the industry is changing, year-over-year. The biggest theme in the exhibit hall this year was definitely new dice. I found that surprising since there are always numerous dice vendors, with wide assortments of must-have shiny math rocks.  But this year, with people able to make their own dice with resin and other materials, it really seemed a step beyond. 

It’s All About the Dice

There were probably 10-12 new dice exhibitors this year. Chessex, Crystal Caste and Q Workshop all had 3-4 booths with their traditional, beautiful dice. I got the free GenCon die from Crystal Caste (and ended up buying the set). From Chessex, I purchased 4d8. This was a utility purchase. Somehow, over the last five years or so, I’ve found that I’m running low on d8’s in my standard gaming set. Rather than find them, I just bought some. This impulse buy cost me $2.56, including tax; this seemed quite the deal, given that there were polished resin dice that were upwards of $30 per die.

As for the rest, I always look at dice, but don’t think I’d purchased any in 10 years or so. I’m at the point of measuring dice by the pound, so it’s hard for me to really *need* new ones. I’m as much a die goblin as the next person, but when you almost never play in person, and don’t even get to look at the dice you have, there’s less incentive to get new ones. That said, this year, I bought some new ones.

My big find was these “Stained Glass” dice, by Gate Keeper Games. They had an amazing collection of “pretty” dice, including several glow-in-the-dark models. Firefly dice were sold out before I found them, sadly, but these were must-owns, anyway. 

This article is continued on my blog, DiceDeliberations.com

In the meantime, here are a couple of other pictures I took of the convention.

On July 28th/31st the first game of our new year’s campaign Warrens of the Harengon opened to two full games! Thanks to Guild Master Loni, we opened to a fun and exciting festival hosted by the harengon inviting all animal races alike. Below is a link to some accounts from a few of the characters who attended the festival and got to see all the events unfold.

The Story So Far…

As a reminder, any member who creates a writeup or delivers a speech based on their in-game experiences is eligible to receive one of the following achievements:

Beyond the Board (Written)
Spirit Quest

75 Gold

Submit a writeup of one of the games within the annual TTRPG campaign or additional world-building material (with approval).

View More

Beyond the Board (Spoken)
Education Quest

15 XP

Deliver a speech — in character or otherwise — related to the annual TTRPG campaign.

View More

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The next in campaign game will be on September 29th. Have fun and have a great adventure!

A good Toastmaster should always have a speech in their back pocket. In order to encourage this, the Council of Elders (I.e. the Officers of the club) have decided that whenever a speaker drops out with less than 24 hours advanced notice, any person who fills in should receive a 10 XP bonus to reward them for that back pocket speech.

Further, since Table Topics similarly requires advanced preparation, there will also be a 10 XP bonus for someone who fills in as Table Topics Master with less that 24 hours advanced notice of the vacancy.

The name of this award is pending, but the offer is available immediately.

My first experience at Comic Con was good times. My wife recently started producing independent films and one of the perks of her being in the “industry” is we were able to attend Comic Con at no charge. As such, I didn’t feel the pressure that some other folks might have felt to participate in “Line Con 2023” because I didn’t have the same skin in the game. Still, I did make sure to rock my love for Spidey.

Saying the Main Hall is packed to the brim and overwhelming does not do it justice. I made it a point to methodically go row-by-row to see everything I could the one day I attended but despite seeing everything, I definitely did NOT see everything. There is something for everyone with sections dedicated to video games, artists, independent publishers, and big studios/publishers hoarding over the coveted space in the center. Artists Alley was cool but the paths were more narrow which made seeing the work challenging.

Outside of the main hall the Dragonball and Junji Ito installations were both fun for an anime lover like myself. As many of you know, the former guild master has a dark and twisted soul and Ito’s art always speaks to that particular side of me.

Hello, fellow adventurers!

Gear up and join us on Wednesday, September 6 at 7pm PT, as we raid the Nerdmasters Toastmasters club for their last ever club meeting, entitled Nerdmasters: The Ultimate Edition, and bid them a fond farewell!

Sign up for the raid and get the Nerdmasters online meeting information here:

https://dungeonsandtoast.com/rsvpmaker/nerdmasters-farewell-2023-09-06/

So far, I only have records of three officers being trained: Loni, Angel, and myself. In order to earn the Distinguished Club Point, we need at least four officers trained. And, least you forget anyone can earn an easy 25 XP for attending officer training, whether you are an officer or not.

There will be another set of training sessions this Sat (Aug 5) from 11 AM to 1 PM PT. One of them (President) is being run by one of the most entertaining and educational trainers out there – Me. Good chance for some easy XP…

Before you get skinned alive to satisfy that Lich wannabe, Lucifera, before you cast another vote for the corrupt mayor Fluffy Bunny, and before you… well, who cares about Crunch… Get the scoop on what’s going on by seeing (if you haven’t already) the introduction to “Warrens of the Harengon”:

And Recruitment Master Lucas has graciously provided an overview of this year’s changes to campaign mechanics:

Yesterday, District 100 hosted the 2023 Hybrid Awards and Installation Celebration. Dungeons & Toast was recognized as one of only three clubs in the District to have achieved 10/10 goals within the Distinguished Club Program! Congratulations to the following members for being recognized for their contributions to the Club and District last year!

• Angel L: second place in Affinity Points (9)
• Hovey Y: Distinguished Toastmaster
• Cliff C: Division L Director
• Andrew B: Club President of the Year
• Beth G: Toastmaster of the Year

Great job, everyone, and we look forward to another productive year in 2023-2024!

At last week’s meeting, the guild was polled about new options for the General Evaluator title. By an overwhelming margin, guild members chose to refer to this standard Toastmasters role as “Captain of the Watch.” Accordingly, Speech Evaluators will be referred to as “Watchmen,” making our list of customized roles as follows:

• Toastmaster: unmodified
• Ah Counter: Wizard of Ahs
• Grammarian: Cleric of Rhetoric
• Timer: Sorcerer of Time
• Scribe: custom role
• Topics Master: unmodified
• Speaker: unmodified
• General Evaluator: Captain of the Watch
• Speech Evaluator: Watchman

Of course, members are always free to modify the title of their meeting role on an individual basis, if doing so is part of a roleplayed version they would like to perform for that evening.

Meeting Role: Watchman
Education Quest

10 XP

Meeting Role: Captain of the Watch
Education Quest

10 XP