New writing
GenCon 2026: What I Wanted to Share
As I was walking around the Indiana Convention Center for GenCon 2026, I was thinking about the revival of Terrible Gamers and what would be important, for me, to share with you. There were certainly more games than I could hope to point out. What I wanted to give you was some sense of why certain things caught my attention, and why I keep coming back to this convention.
I have to confess, I still do not understand how people talk to a camera in public without feeling self-conscious, especially in a crowd of strangers. I wanted to show you what GenCon was like, but apparently my willingness to talk about games does not extend quite so comfortably to talking about them into a camera.
For me, the play area seemed like a good place to start. The tables you see in the video were in one of the two areas dedicated to tournament play and demos. The entire floor of Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Indianapolis Colts play, was also dedicated to tournament play. If you have never been to GenCon, I think it helps to see how much space is given over to people sitting down and playing games. The exhibition floor is another part of the convention altogether.
I enjoy walking the exhibition floor. It is honestly one of my favorite things to do at GenCon, although it entices me to spend far more money than I actually have. I can at least show you a few of the things that tempt me.
Free League gives you a fairly good idea of what I mean. They are my favorite publisher of pencil-and-paper role-playing games, and I did buy something at their booth. What I particularly like is the care I think they put into the mechanics. Their choice of properties appeals to me, too, though it is not simply a matter of recognizing a familiar name. Coriolis, one of their own settings, is one of my favorites.
I remember first encountering LitRPG books when The Wandering Inn showed up in my book recommendations on Amazon. I did not know what to think, but when I talked to my son, who was eight or nine at the time, about the book, he was fascinated. He helped me pick audiobooks to listen to on the 30-minute drive to school. We downloaded the first book in the series, and I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Fast forward six years, and Steve Penner, a Terrible Gamers contributor from the site's earliest days, gifted me a Kindle copy of Dungeon Crawler Carl. I did not put those books down until I had finished the entire series available at the time, in less than a month.
So I was authentically excited for, and curious about, the announced Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG. I love the world Matt Dinniman has built. This was the first pencil-and-paper RPG based on a LitRPG novel that I had come across, and I am curious to see how they turn a story built around game mechanics into a game we can actually play. I cannot wait to see what they do with it.
You can imagine, then, my disappointment when I saw the release date was November 2026.[11]
Then there is Kingdom Death: Monster. KDM is my favorite miniature-based tabletop game. Part of what I love about it is the feel of old-school D&D, when characters died a lot and there was a real sense of consequence for the decisions your character and the group made. Depending on your taste, that may make you want to try it or convince you to avoid it. I can understand either reaction, but you can probably guess which side I am on.
I should probably mention that assembling the miniatures is not one of my talents. Some of you are wonderfully crafty; I am not. I put them together because I love the game, which explains why I am willing to do it, but unfortunately does nothing to improve my painting or assembly skills.
All of this has me thinking about Lou Zocchi. I need to tell you how much I enjoyed talking to him every year at GenCon. Lou died on April 15, 2026, at the age of 91.[1] Some of you may remember his name from the 2013 Terrible Gamers convention report, which thanked Col. Lou Zocchi and added, “we love gamescience!”[4] Those annual conversations are part of what I associate with GenCon, and part of what I want to remember as Terrible Gamers returns.
If the name is unfamiliar to you, Lou was involved in game design, publishing, and distribution during the early years of tabletop role-playing.[2] He also made GameScience's precision-edged polyhedral dice, including the 100-sided Zocchihedron.[3] You can see the two of us in the photograph here.
Another part of GenCon I wanted to show you was what happens on the floor after the hall closes. In the video, attendees are still making their way out, while the exhibitors have more time to talk among themselves. Vendors trade games with one another. I like seeing that: the people behind the booths have things they want to play, too.
It is also a chance to talk with game developers who are difficult to get time with while the hall is crowded. For me, there is a difference between seeing a designer behind a busy booth and having enough time for a conversation. I want to know something about the people making the games, as well as what they have brought to show.
I also think it is easy to overlook what these conversations mean for the exhibitors themselves. Some are friends who only get to see one another once or twice a year. What I might see as a chance to ask about a game may be, for them, one of the few opportunities they have to spend time with people they know. When I look at the booths with that in mind, I find more to be interested in than what is on display.
When I think about bringing Terrible Gamers back, this is the sort of thing I want to make room for. I can tell you why I like Free League's games, and why I will put up with my own lack of miniature-assembly skills to play Kingdom Death: Monster. I can also tell you about Lou, and show you a little of what the convention means to the people working there. Those interests are mine, but I don't expect them all to be yours. What I hope is that by sharing why I stopped to look, or why I enjoyed a conversation, I can give you something you will want to explore for yourself.