Gen Con - Maybe I'm Getting Too Old For This
Then again... Maybe Not
I started to attend Gen Con when it first moved to Indianapolis. Since then I have missed more than few due to the start of the school year getting moved earlier to give more time to prepare for the all important state test. (All Hail the Statewide Test!) Since retiring I haven’t missed one. For those who don’t know Gen Con was started in Geneva, Wisconsin and quickly became THE gaming convention for Dungeons & Dragons geeks & nerds. I wanted to attend after I first heard about it- but being underage I could never convince my parents to take a vacation to Wisconsin.
This year I had a bunch of people join me at the Con. My brothers, some friends from the east coast, and the usual suspects from around the Midwest. The thing is so many events are going on and there are so many people that unless you plan for it you may never see anyone. This year I was able to play a game or attend an event with almost everyone. Which can be wonderfully exhausting.
Day 1:
Thursday I started off at GM 101 to learn to be a better Game Master. I learned the mistakes I made in my first campaign and in the presenter’s eyes - the role of the GM in a game. It was a great session that I may take again and/or move up to the more advanced 201.
From there I branched out to a craft session. This one was basic block printing. I remember doing this in middle school or maybe high school. We were given the choice to create our own or use a premade design. In the end we could print out as many as we had time. It was fun, and a nice break from the chaos that can be Gen Con.
After block printing I learned “Bagged & Boarded” a game I had Kickstarted which dealt with comic book collecting. I was about as successful at the game as I have been in real life. 🙄 That said, I enjoyed myself and the whimsical take on comic titles and characters in the game. A great game for the comic book geek.
The next session I attended was on the first superhero: The Scarlet Pimpernel. The presentation covered a lot I was clueless about, having only read the initial book and seen a couple of the film adaptations. I now have things to do when the time comes to expand my knowledge.
Thursday ended at the D&D Tower- which was the Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT). This was the D&D Keynote covering the “Future of Dungeons & Dragons.” It seems that a lot of IPs are going to have D&D versions - similar to what the Magic Collectible Card Game is doing. Many of the worlds from past versions are coming back, along with partnerships with other companies. Basically in the hope that old players will return and new players will jump into it through a familiar IP. The partnership everyone had heard about was World of Warcraft. The one that was a surprise - Star Wars. I’m looking at how much it’s going to cost to have all the sourcebooks for every new world/era. 😳
Day 2:
This started off taking me way out of my comfort zone with the Orc Stomp 5k. Those who know me, know I’m not athletic and except for maybe curling don’t deal with sports. I survived, was not last and even won a game in the bib number raffle! I was 4th in my age group (out of 5) and “ran” it in under 50 minutes. So maybe I should run more.
Next came a DCC (not Dungeon Crawler Carl - Dungeon Crawl Classics) Funnel. This one was not only run by a good friend, but I had used it as my first adventure as a GM. I just wanted to see it from the other side and determine how badly I had done. It was fun seeing the other adventurers figure things out and discovering that while I wasn’t perfect, I hadn’t done that badly. Though next time I think I’ll try something I haven’t played.
After that it was the D&D Carnival at the Roof. The Roof is the ballroom at the IRT. The Roof usually has a Disney vibe looking like you are surrounded by a small European town. The story was this magical carnival only shows up once every eight years and your magic wrist band gave you two hours to safely visit - I thought back to “Finian’s Rainbow.” While at the carnival you were handed a card which gave your character class and quest, along with side quests. It was basically a series of carnival games to test your aptitude in Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, and Charisma. I ended up a Bard, so my main quest was the Charisma game so I started there and failed. Some quests were easier than others. I only completely failed at Dexterity. That was a ring toss… stupid purple unibunnies.
From there I headed to play Munchkin! I have played once or twice before, but they have updated the rules so it was a “Learn to Play” session. Munchkin can be cutthroat. Our game was amazingly fun with everyone having a good time learning the power of friendship. You see we stopped a number of winning attempts by using a friendship potion to make the monster disappear. Cutthroat - but fun.
Following Munchkin I met up either some friends at the 25th Anniversary of munchkin party. Like the Carnival earlier we had quests we had to accomplish before gaining a prize. These weren’t as bad as the stupid purple unibunnies. All in all it was a great time and I see Munchkin coming out for game night once the update makes it to my door.
Day 3:
Saturday is usually a zoo. I started off with Kobolds Ate My Baby. A silly Role Playing Game in which you assume the role of a cute fuzzy orange kobold with lots of sharp teeth. You are given a quest from King Torg “All hail King Torg!” Basically the sillier you are the more fun it is. This not a game for someone who takes their gaming seriously or cares a lot about their character- you will die multiple times in this game.
From there I headed to the Vendor Hall to get Dungeon Crawler Carl stuff. After the great Lorcana debacle, vendors have tried to come up with fair ways to make sure people can buy stuff without ruining the con for everyone. So Renegade gave out tickets between 10:00 & 11:00 which allowed you to line up to get Dungeon Crawler Carl stuff. This ended up being dice, a pin, and a Mordecai on Level 10 miniature. You were limited as to how many you could buy of each. I had a 2:00 ticket and an event at 2:30 so time was a bit crunched.
I headed to secure a table for my geocaching event - the one with 😱 stickers. Met some great people gave away random dice and a few books to those in attendance. That was until it started to rain and then there was that tornado warning thingie. So I sent out an announcement asking everyone to stay safe and we were ending the event early.
“Auntie Em it’s a twister!” While Gen Con does give off the “We’re not in Kansas anymore” vibe things did get a bit tense. As the the waterfall erupted from the roof into a few of the exhibit halls and the Cascadia kept telling us to move to the safety of the center of the building I understand that many people in the Vendor Hall just kept shopping. By the time the all clear was sounded it was time for my first game of AerodromeACE. Pacific Theater World War 2 edition. I took the role of a Japanese pilot of a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero. Flying against a squadron of American Grumman F4F “Wildcats” flown by my brothers and a few other fine folks. We had a great time and being a peaceful spirit did not shoot anyone down… wait, Was supposed to shoot the other planes down?
Day 4:
Pretty easy going today. Only one game in the queue. A return to the AerodromeACE tables and this time a galaxy far, far away. I decided to embrace the veil nature Cecil brings to these things and fly a TIE fighter. My brothers joined in this time. The interesting thing about space (besides no one hearing you scream) is that you can fly backwards! So in hopes of becoming a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Balloon pilot I embraced going backwards and actually got my first kill earning my space wings! Besides that I died a horrible death with lots of fiery (but silent) explosions. After that Gen Con was over except for a last trip through the Vendor Hall and purchasing the Dragon Luau pizza to take home for dinner.
Hindsight is 20/20
I had a great time and did enjoy Gen Con, but there are a few things I might do differently. I will probably forget this advice when it comes time to register for next year, but here goes nothing!
Pay for parking in advance. My older brother did this and while he had a bit of a walk he saved some money and stress by not having to deal with the daily rate charged by many of the Garages.
Keep myself busy with games, or things that will keep me out of the chaos that is the vendor hall. While I like buying some stuff, I don’t need to wander the hall, and I really don’t need the stuff, no matter what the dice goblin in my head says. I picked up some very cool pins, but have some buyers remorse on a few things I spent money on and it’s only been a day.
Try to take in a show- I need to sit back and watch one of the live play sessions.
I enjoyed taking a moment to do some crafting, so always consider that as a viable option.
Play more with people I know and like. No bad experiences with anyone, but I think some events are better shared. I did more events with friends and family this time around, and it was nice. Being able to talk to someone about your shared experience vs. just telling someone what you did.
Run the 5k but give myself enough time afterward to take a breath, and maybe stretching would be good. I heard stretching and maybe actually preparing for things like this help.
What does that mean? If I can, I’ll return to Gen Con next year. Then again, because of Gen Con, I’m going to run a second campaign (Ravenloft) this year and help organize a Mystic Curling Club bonspiel. There is some interest from members of my family to do Historicon in Pennsylvania so they can play more AerodromeACE.