The Ink Table Podcast Episode 13: "Side Quests"
The Moment the World Stood Still
In a world where time flows ever-forward like a river, three travelers begin a quest, chasing something larger than themselves. Each bore a compass, not of brass and needle, but of stars and dreams. Across deserts of doubt and through storms of silence, they walked - not always together, not always whole - but always toward a single point in the horizon. And then…it happened. A moment when time itself seemed to pause, as if the universe were holding its breath.
Welcome back and thank you for pulling up a seat at The Ink Table. Consider this our returning episode, as it is the first time we have gathered together since our trip to Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana. Join us as we share memorable stories and experiences from the trip.
What is Gen Con?
Founded in 1968 by Gary Gygax (creator of Dungeons and Dragons), has become the largest tabletop game convention in North America. While once dedicated to tabletop role-playing games, the convention now also showcases board games, miniature wargames, and card games. The addition of major tournaments and interactive events has made Gen Con a central hub for the gaming community. So, it should come to no surprise that this is the location that Ravensburger chose to introduce our favorite card game, Lorcana, to the world two years ago. That it is why The Ink Table team was extremely grateful to have received Press Badges to attend alongside the other 72,000 attendees.
*Check out the Vlog below to follow our entire journey
Lorcana at Gen Con
Gen Con was massive. During the 4 days, over 72,000 people crowded into The Indianapolis Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, and many of the surrounding hotel. Nearly 30,000 events took place. And out of those, there was no shortage in Lorcana themed events and sparks of Disney Magic. Some of the events that you could participate in were
Triple Deck Constructed
Collection Quest
The Lorcana 2nd Anniversary Panel
Core Constructed
Sealed / Draft
Pack Rush
Starter Deck Chaos
Triple Deck Constructed, while the team did not participate in any of these events, it was interesting to see there. This format sees Illumineers ringing 3 decks with no ink color being used in a deck more than once. The first and only other time we saw this format used in a Ravensburger official event was at the Disney Lorcana World Championship.
Collection Quest, is a brand-new event type introduced at Gen Con that is pushed towards more casual players and collectors. Check out our dedicated Collection Quest video for a better look. Many of these events took place at Gen Con, with each one focused on a different Lorcana set. Participants would receive 3 packs from that set, and a piece of paper showing off glimmers from particular Ips that acted as a BINGO card. After opening your packs, you would try to gather all the cards on your list. And if you didn’t pull all of the ones you needed, you would then have to trade cards with other Illumineers to help each other complete the quests.
Lorcana 2nd Anniversary Panel was a major experience to be in the crowd for. There were only about 200 tickets given out for this event; and the entire team was lucky enough to be in the room where it happened. This saw the fine folks at Ravensburger speaking on how the game has grown over its first 2 years, and a look ahead at the future of the game.
Prizing & promos
When making a purchase (at a $20 minimum) from the Ravensburger booth, you would receive a promo of Goofy - Emerald Champion, a card set to release in Whispers in the Well. For any Lorcana event that you participated in at Gen Con, you would receive a promo copy of Pluto - Tried and True. For breaking the ice and completing a Collection Quest you would receive a very fitting promo Anna - Ice Breaker. If you were able to win at least 2 rounds during some of the more competitive events, you would be rewarded a promo Rapunzel - Gifted Artist. And if you were able to go undefeated in an event, you could win a special Gen Con exclusive Lorcana playmat.
Friendly Faces
Being just 3 guys from rural West Virginia, we never would have imagined that we would end up in this position. The Ink Table Podcast started as an outlet for us to share our table talk and shared passion for all things Lorcana and Disney with the world. In less than a year, our small brand has grown into a strong community made up of Illumineers from multiple countries. Even with that being the case, you can never really shake the sense of imposter syndrome. Our subscriber count and following is nowhere near the likes of other content creators. Ravensburger did not invite us to represent the game and has never directly worked with us in the past.
But we couldn’t help but feel, that’s exactly where we were supposed to be. Thank You to all the other creators and Illumineers that we spoke with, had nothing but respect and kind words, and welcomed us with open arms.