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Gaming culture has taken a great upswing in recent years with the influx of so many great board games. Settlers of Catan is probably the most recognizable of these kinds of games as of late and should give you an idea of what I'm talking about. To provide a place for gamers to convene and be able to explore new gaming lands, GameStorm has sprung up to fill this void. What would a comic book fan be doing at a gaming convention?


Lots!

The Premise

My purpose in going to GameStorm was twofold. First I just wanted to hang out with my gaming friends and try some new games, but I also wanted to find if there was hidden under this gaming rock some comic book critters for me to enjoy. I know that geek culture can often overlap and intermingle and I have played my share of comic book based games, so I was sure that I would be able find something to sink my teeth into.

Comic Book Finds

Although my findings for comic book related items were a bit slim, I did make a couple of good finds. First up was a demo of Marvel Heroes, a game that hearkens back to the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG that was published by TSR. It really had a lot of the same look and feel of that old game, of which I still have my original rulebook and some supplements. The game takes place in Manhattan with you taking control of one of the teams of superheroes. I didn't have time to stay to see it played out, but it looked pretty good and could be a good time with the right mix of people.
My second find was in meeting Jason Thompson, the author of King of RPG's.

It is a graphic novel put out by Del Rey Manga and it was great to find a kindred spirit there. Jason has a great looking comic and Vol. 2 is just around the corner. Go check out his site to find out more information and see some sample pages. Keep your eye out around here for an upcoming review as well.

Comic Con VS Gaming Con

There are some differences between a gaming con and comic book con. First among them would be that at a comic book convention, if you don't want to interact with people, you don't really need to. You can go to panels, wander the floor, play games, buy comics, all without getting too close to other fans. At a gaming convention like this one, interaction is a major component. People volunteer to host games all of the four days of the con and put out sign up sheets in the front lobby. Gamers peruse the program book or the sign up table itself and look for games to get into and sign up with their badge ID to reserve a spot. When the time comes the gamers convene and get into the game. They would even put up an orange cone to show that there are open spots available. In all there was a ton of games going on all over the two floors of the convention and if you had a particular game your were into, be it Magic, 40K, or Munchkin, you could find something to whet your appetite.
The similarities though are great. There were panels, a dealers room, people dressed up in costumes, laughter, and overall geeky people coming together to throw down in one place. It was a lot of fun and I got a lot of great games in. I would advise though that if you can to beg, borrow, or steal a friend to go with you. Sharing this experience was so much more rich with my friends at my side and helped us cope in any unusual circumstances. We had a lot of good times together and waded through the misty waters of geek gamers and came through all the better for it.

Pros and Cons of the Con

This con had a lot going for it. There were just over one thousand attendees and while that might not turn the heads of some of the larger cons in the area, it was a good amount of people. The staff was very friendly and accommodating to me and bent over backwards to get me into the convention. There were a lot of people helping to make sure the show went smoothly and it seemed like overall everything went well.
GameStorm really takes care of its attendees. They had a whole hospitality room where you could get snacks and light meals, not to mention cold beverages to keep you going. It was also free as part of your admission to the con. A frugal gamer could do well there and could get many meals without even leaving the con. There was also a lot of space for each "clique" of gaming with rooms just for mini gaming, RPG's, LARPing, with the bulk for board gaming. Want to play all night? Head over to the 24 hour gaming room where you and your friends could game every hour of the day. Combine that with the game library where you could check out games to play and you can see we were very well taken care of.

The cons overall were small in my opinion. One nit-picky thing would be that they used blue painters tape to put up all the signs in the gaming rooms. It gave it a bit of cheap feel. The other negative thing, and this isn't really a thing that the convention can control, was there was a little too much gamer funk. This dreaded beast reared its head on more than one occasion but I'm glad to say that it was mostly localized with a few gamers. Comic cons can't point fingers as it can be found there as well.

Conclusion

I had a great time and plan on going next year for sure. There was always something you could do with games popping up all over, panels to attend, games to buy, and friends to conquer. If you are in the Pacific NW next year then I recommend giving GameStorm a try. It was just big enough to feel lively but not to big that you couldn't do the things you wanted to do. You might also check around to see if similar conventions are happening in your area. Cons are on the rise and you can find all kinds of flavors to suite your tastes.
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