Skirmisher Publishing LLC would like to thank everyone who helped make Gen Con a success for us this year! We met lots of old friends, made a bunch of new ones, and did not create too many more enemies than usual. People and groups we would like to acknowledge, not in any particular order, include:

* Our booth babes Lindsey "Con Panda" and Emily "Loleda/Alice," who ensured a steady flow of gamers and creepy stalkers alike to booth 314.
* Matt Beman of Beaumont Miniatures and ArmorCast, the driving force behind the new line of Nuisances miniatures that we introduced at the show.
* The various people and companies we met with and will be working with over the coming year, including Ginfritter's Gnomish Workshop, Pagan Publishing, Dagon Industries, Impressions Advertising and Marketing, Quactica author Steve Lortz, d20 writer Shane O'Connor, editor Darrell Hardy, and CL3 author Will Thrasher (who also deserves thanks for helping us pack out at the end of the show).
* Starwind Design, who we have exhibited next to at Gen Con since 2001 and who have always gone out of their way to be friendly and make us feel welcome.
* Dave and Owen, the "Cthulhu Kids," who helped hold down the booth, ran our first-ever PowerLunch tournament, and helped us pack out at the end of the show.
* The Miniature Building Authority, which provided terrain for our first-ever H.G. Wells' Little Orc Wars game at Gen Con.
* The Game Publishers Association -- especially David Wainio -- whose members are always helpful and supportive and make us glad to be part of the game industry.
* OneBookShelf.com, which generously took us to dinner at Bucca di Beppo and took the time to provide us with professional guidance.
* Richard Poppe of Ryleh Enterprises, who displayed his mythos art at our booth.
* The Chicago Gay-Mers, who we hung out and drank with a couple of nights and who introduced us to Sailor Jerry rum.
* Party Hard Corps, who shared their booze with the Skirmisher crew and taught us some cool new drinking games.
* People who hung out and partied with us, including Will from Norfolk, Ken and Sasha from New York City, and Jon from Pittsburgh.
* Every fan who played in one of our events, bought one of our products, or dropped by to visit with us for awhile.

Other companies' games and products that caught our eye at this year's Gen Con and which we will write about in future articles and reviews include:

Best New Role-Playing Game: Metal, Magic, and Lore, from 5th Epoch Publishing
Best New Board Game: World of WarCraft: The Board Game from Fantasy Flight Games
Best New Card Game: Wench! Top Shelf from Mydzei Games LLC
Best Gaming Accessory: The humongous, 54" x 102" Mondomat from Chessex

Other Skirmisher milestones and the like include:

New High Points: Lightsabre duels in the basement of the Hilton, schwaggling the flip flops from the devil at the Alpha/Omega booth (picture to come).
New Low Points: Having someone try to schwaggle one of our junior staff members from us.
New Favorite Drink: Order one weissbeer, one lemonade, and one extra glass, and then mix the drinks in equal parts. Very refreshing at the end (or middle) of hot and busy con days.
Best Quote: "We're booth babes ... They're booth whores." (With regard to the non-gamer "models" working at various booths.)

We will be talking more about Gen Con in this and other posts, so keep your eye on this Website and feel free to come back with any comments you might have!

Skirmisher Publishing is pleased to announce the PDF release of Experts v.3.5. Originally published in print format, this book is a thoroughly updated, expanded, and revised version of Experts, the company's original d20 tome dedicated to bringing new depth and playability to the Expert, the NPC class only briefly described in the DMG.

In addition to updating this edition to 3.5 standards, Skirmisher has added to and updated the book’s many exciting features:

* More than 30 fully detailed Expert types, including the Alchemist, Blacksmith, Courtesan, Merchant, Miner, Navigator, Physician, Sage, Sailor, and Weaponmaker.

* More than 100 new skills, including dozens of new Crafts and Professions and detailed rules for creation of everything from weapons and armor to buildings and ships.

* More than two dozen ready-to-use NPC Experts that can be used as-is or easily modified to suit any campaign or adventure.

* More than 20 new magic items.

* Three new prestige classes, including the Guild Master, and the Militia Leader, and the all-new Spellcrafter, which are suitable for PCs and NPCs alike.

Experts v.3.5 is available as a $12.99 PDF download from a number of online retailers, including DriveThruRpg.com and RPGNow.com; Italian site Arima.it; Paizo.com; and publishing cooperative YourGamesNow.com.

For more information, go to www.skirmisher.com.