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Gaming At NYCC – Steve Jackson Games And Rare Elements

Jon Johnson writes for Bleeding Cool:

GPK Snot Shots_MDThe New York Comic Con has gained notoriety as an East Coast genre and media powerhouse in a relatively short period of time, rivaling that of its well-known West Coast cousin, the San Diego Comic-Con (don't forget the hyphen, it's trademarked). Since its inception, the convention has been host to a wide variety of computer and console games for the discerning player and fan. Not lost in this, though fairly overlooked, are tabletop games. As tabletop board and card games have been selling in unprecedented numbers of late, one might expect to see more and more at a show the size of NYCC, and though it happens in fluctuating amounts, there are not many to be seen in 2014. The ones that are here seem to all fall into a similar category; that of short, fast-play scenarios.

The venerable Steve Jackson Games (www.sjgames.com) has a large booth in conjunction with equally venerable and highly regarded New York City retailer Compleat Strategist (www.thecompleatstrategist.com) , where the generous and amiable Men In Black will draw you into a round of their new release, Garbage Pail Kids Super Snot Shots. Utilizing the old Garbage Pail Kids card art on new, thicker stock, up to four players "flick their snot", in the form of dice, onto a central card to claim it. Once the entire deck is gone through, the winner is the "grossest player" with the most won cards. It's just that simple, a prevalent focus of many Steve Jackson games.

Also newly released is Adventure Time Munchkin, a mash-up of the popular Steve Jackson card game and the hit Cartoon Network program. It's the first edition of the game not developed by SJGames, but fully approved by them. If you enjoy the short adventuring plots of Munchkin, competitive card games with a little snark, and the quirky clandestine maturity of Adventure Time, you'll likely have a ball with this.

I spent part of Friday morning with Miya Sohoza, originator of the Rare Elements Foundry, a small Cincinnati Ohio company aimed at producing high quality components for role playing games, in the form of coinage. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Miya had coins of varying sizes and denominations minted, utilizing the same process, alloys and metals in common, present-day currency. Each coin has a detailed, fantasy art design, some with denomination, some without. Some coins denote an alignment of a played character, the essential moral line that a person typically follows when playing. The coins are physically beautiful, tactile pieces for the discerning, detailed tabletop role gamer. Sets can be purchased from Miya's website, www.rareelemtsfoundry.com complete with a draw string purse perfect for the thief (or rogue, if you're so inclined) to palm when his makes a successful roll. These coins are such high quality I have no doubt that as the product gets out there, someone is going to have the temerity to attempt to pass one or more of them as actual money. Since none of the coins are the same size or exact shape as real currency – the law tends to frown on that – I can only chuckle in amusement at the person that wouldn't notice it immediately. Miya intends the company to head into the custom market, taking orders from individual gamers or companies so inclined to have very specific coins for their games. Looking at the intense creativity behind these components, it's easy to want them, even for game players like myself who don't usually utilize such elements. I foresee a lucrative future for this inventive enterprise and I suggest getting an order in early, before you're waiting long periods of time between minting. You will be pleased you did.


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Dan WicklineAbout Dan Wickline

Has quietly been working at Bleeding Cool for over three years. He has written comics for Image, Top Cow, Shadowline, Avatar, IDW, Dynamite, Moonstone, Humanoids and Zenescope. He is the author of the Lucius Fogg series of novels and a published photographer.
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