‘Tis that crazy time of year again. It’s getting hot in North America, we are in the middle of the “convention season,” and Gen Con is right around the corner!
Team Catalyst is hard at work getting ready for a major outing this year, and we wanted to let you in on it. Con swag, awesome events, and new experiences are to be had at the show. Grab your favorite TTRPG books, your chainmail dice bag, your trusty con haversack, and your friends for this little adventure!
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BattleTech
Gen Con 2026 is shaping up to be a BIG event for BattleTech. We have major events hosted by the Catalyst Demo Team happening in the game rooms, friends and partners dropping by the show, and major new releases will be at the show. Let’s jump into it!
The Catalyst Demo Team has a wide slate of BattleTech events for you to hop into. From learn-to-play activities like BattleTech Bootcamp and Alpha Strike Academy, to competitive events like Trial of Bloodright and tournaments. Participate in fun, free-for-all events like Grinder, Raise the Flag, and Battle of the Superheavies. Even take a moment and play story-based scenarios with both BattleTech and Alpha Strike narrative games, or learn how to paint your miniatures with CamoSpecs Online painters!
https://www.gencon.com/event-catalog
Our friends at Iron Wind Metals will be at the show in booth #1539 alongside a return of the Virtual World Entertainment BattleTech pods! You’ll have plenty of opportunities to check out classic ‘Mech action with these two groups!
Catalyst will have a wide slate of early releases and new products made available to Gen Con goers first. The coming BattleTech Core and Starter Boxes will be at booth #1611 with the new BattleTech Core Rulebook, while supplies last. You’ll also be able to grab the first packs of the remastered Union-class and all-new Leopard-class DropShips alongside the new Clan Battle Star ForcePack. Make sure to grab a copy of an all-new BattleTech Activity Book #4 and Michael A. Stackpole’s The Crown Ascendancy omnibus off of the book shelves! You’ll even have the chance to get Michael to sign your copy at the booth!
We’ll also have plenty of never-before-seen swag at the booth too, but you’ll just have to stop by to see it for yourself!
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Shadowrun
Gen Con and Shadowrun have a long history together, with Shadowrun being first announced at Gen Con in 1989. This year will be a big one for the 37-year-old universe as well, with your favorite authors at the show alongside several new releases!
As always, the Catalyst Demo Team is ready to take your runs to the next level in the Shadowrun Room (ICC Room #127). There is plenty to do, from creating your first-ever shadowrunner with the Build-A-Runner Workshop and a First Taste mission to jump into the Sixth World feet-first, to a wide variety of Shadowrun Missions to run with experienced and novice runners alike! You’ll even be able to try out Shadowrun: Takedown at the Catalyst Game Labs booth, #1611, a new board game that takes you through a mission on a tactical map!
https://www.gencon.com/event-catalog
Speaking of Shadowrun: Takedown, you’ll be able to pick up a copy of that game and the all-new miniatures that were a part of the Takedown Kickstarter campaign. If you are looking for more book content, you’ll be able to grab Shadowrun: Explosive Decompression, a new campaign book releasing this July, and an early release copy of the coming Shadowrun: State of the Art: 2084, where you can get caught up on everything happening in the Sixth World to-date.
Don’t forget to grab your fiction fix by grabbing a copy of Jennifer Brozek’s Imre Grey and Chaos Tour (A Top Drek Collection) by Marie Bilodeau! Jennifer will even be at the show, along with other Shadowrun authors, so make sure to get your copy signed!
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Leviathans
While we first saw Leviathans on sale at the Catalyst booth at AdeptiCon 2026, Gen Con will also be a major outing for this alternate history setting!
Learn to play Leviathans: The Great War with the Catalyst Demo Team with the Leviathans: Shakedown Cruise! Control two ships as you face off against another novice admiral as you learn the basics of combat with these behemoths of the sky. You can take those newfound skills to the next arena, Leviathans: King of the Skies, a Grinder-style event where you duke it out with other captains, where your destruction rewards you with a bigger, more powerful ship!
If you like the game you previewed with the CDT, you’ll be more than happy to find everything you could want to start playing Leviathans with your game group at Booth #1611! From the Leviathans: Starter Box to start playing with a small German and French fleet and to expand on your convention games, to a wide variety of Ship Packs where you can bring in true beasts of the sky like the heavily-gunned, French, Paris-class battleship or the German gunboat, the Koenigsberg-class cruiser. You will also be able to pick up peripherals for the game; the Leviathans: Map Pack, Leviathans: Dice Pack, Leviathans: Plane Token Pack, and more. There will be limited availability, so make sure to grab what you can!
If you are interested in the alternate history setting of Leviathans beyond the game, you will be able to find fiction that expands on The Great War. Leviathans: Armored Skies features esteemed writers such as William H. Keith, S.M. Stirling, and Harry Turtledove, while Leviathans: Reign of Iron you can find writers such as CJ Irelan, Michael T. Richie. and Michael A. Stackpole!
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Board Games
Mentioned above, you will be able to play and pick up a copy of Shadowrun: Takedown, but we have so many more board games that are great to share with your friends and family! The Catalyst Demo Team will be running demos for a wide variety of games at Booth #1611. You’ll be able to try out the ridiculous and action-packed Parachute Panda, the push-your-luck system of Fandooble and the Dragon’s Eye, the upcoming Quincy’s Tavern game of Barkeep’s Bones, the contemplative strategy game of Guardians of the Four Winds, the strategy-infused mind game of Flippin’ Ninjas, and many more!
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General Catalyst
Team Catalyst and many of our partners and friends will also be doing things around Gen Con. We don’t want to be stuck at the booth the whole time!
While the vendor hall is open, you’ll be able to find various BattleTech and Shadowrun authors hanging around Booth #1611, ready to sign your books. You will have the chance to meet great people like Michael A. Stackpole, Jennifer Brozek, Philip A. Lee, Bryan Young, and more. The full signing schedule is coming soon, so keep an eye out here and on Catalyst Game Labs' social media!
At the Downtown Indianapolis Marriott, you will be able to find the Writers Symposium! Several of your favorite authors will be there, teaching other writers the craft and helping to grow the writing community at-large. This is a great opportunity to improve your writing skills and to meet some amazing people. Bryan Young, Katherine Monasterio, Cat Rambo, and Jennifer Brozek are going to be on panels, but if you are interested in writing there are many people participating that you will want to hear from!
If you are specifically looking to write BattleTech and Shadowrun, there will be a panel all about it on Friday, July 31st at the Downtown Marriott from 3pm to 4pm. You will see Catalyst Fiction Executive Editor John Helfers, Michael A. Stackpole, Jennifer Brozek, Bryan Young, and Katherine Monasterio. This will be a great way to know what you are getting into, so check out this panel specifically if you are interested.
https://www.gencon.com/gen-con-indy/writers
One of the highlights of Gen Con for CGL personalities is the chance to meet so many fans. Whether you play BattleTech or Shadowrun, you will have a chance to meet the people behind your game. One of the best ways to do that is to get into one of two legendary events, Masters & Minions for BattleTech and Legends of the Shadows for Shadowrun! You will be able to play your favorite games with and against authors, developers, and support staff. Masters & Minions even has two full games this year, with both an Alpha Strike and BattleTech version!
https://www.gencon.com/event-catalog
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Thank you for taking the time to see what we have on deck for Gen Con 2026! Team Catalyst is excited for the show and is itching to meet everyone there!
See you at Gen Con!
- Meical Kingfisher
