Well, we're back in the office now, or at least most of us are - some staff members have taken advantage of the lull in the office immediately after Indy so take a quick vacation and visit friends and family. Until our pallets (where most of our paperwork and notes from the show were packet up) from Indianapolis arrive, we're kind of in a holding pattern. Then we'll dive into wrapping up the show and getting geared up for 2009.

Until then, though, we're resting up, relaxing and recovering from our mad dash to the show. What have I been doing? Flipping through the books I picked up at the show.

I was able to snag a copy of the much sought-after Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and it looks pretty cool, though what I'm really waiting for is the player's companion - I want character options. In other D&D news, I got a physical copy of the hard-to-find Pathfinder BETA playtest. It's available free online in PDF format, but the physical printing sold out incredibly fast at Gen Con and Paizo's new Pathfinder Society organized play program had an amazing launch.

I didn't just pick up D&D stuff, though, another of my favorite games (Shadowrun) had a few new releases I grabbed: Unwired and the Runner's Companion. I was also able to finally find a copy of CthulhuTech, something I'd been trying to hunt down since last year's Gen Con. As an added bonus, I got the new, prettier printing and got the author to sign it.

Another hard-to-find book I managed to track down was Delta Green: Eyes Only, a reprinting of the older Delta Green chap-book-things with some additional content. I was only able to get the softcover edition, though. I think I'll need to pre-order their next book if I want one of their super-low print run hardcovers.

Fantasy Flight had a new RPG at the show: Anima. I've seen the card game and miniatures game floating around but had no information on it, but when I was told that it was an anime-styled RPG by way of Spain, I knew I had to at least check it out. I also picked up a starter set for the pre-painted miniatures game Confrontation so I could finally check that out and see how it plays.

It wasn't all news stuff that I picked up, though. I also got some older White Wolf books I'd been meaning to pick up for a while, Requiem for Rome and Fall of the Camarilla. I've been itching to run a Vampire game again and I'm hoping the historical Rome setting will lure some of my friends away from D&D long enough for them to realize they can enjoy another game too.

I grabbed a handful of indie games that looked interesting for a friend, picking up 3:16, Darkpages and Hot War. They all looked pretty cool and came highly recommended from Mssrs. Hite and Sorenson. I also grabbed 2 copies of Hite's Tour de Lovecraft (one for me and one for another friend).

I did have one thing I wasn't able to get, annoyingly. The Maid RPG was apparently pretty popular, 'cause when I finally found it on Sunday it was sold out. Frustrating. It's supposed to be the first Japanese RPG translated into English and I'm curious to check it out (and anxious for the other Japanese RPG in process - Tenra Bansho Zero).

So I just wanted to pop on and pimp some games I was able to grab at the show. Next time I'll try to give some of my impressions on how Indy ran this year, and maybe a few things I want to try differently next time.