Surviving the Culling

Happy Gen Con Event Registration Day

Last year Cecil tried out a Forgotten Realms Adventure

Gen Con is “the largest and longest-running annual celebration of tabletop gaming culture.” Originally held in Geneva, Wisconsin, considered the birthplace of Dungeons and Dragons. Since those humble beginnings it has moved and grown. Now Gen Con takes up most of downtown Indianapolis for the first weekend in August. At the beginning of May, Gen Con released their event catalog for people to start creating wish lists of what they wanted to do. This is a “dare to dream” moment for attendees. It is also the time that people who have not gotten badges need to consider what level of con attendee are they going to be.

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Leveling Up as a Con Attendee:

Level Zero: You know about the Convention and think about attending but decide not to because of whatever excuse you can come up with.

Level One: You get a badge and spend the entire time in the Exhibit Hall/Dealer Room looking at the “stuff” that people have on sale. You basically treat the Convention as a flea market with a pretty high admission fee.

Level Two: You actually interact with people and attend things. This would include talking with “special guests” or paying for photo ops and autographs. I almost consider that a level 1.5 activity. Level two would be more of the attending a panel.

Level Three: You spend more time in panels and activities than in the Exhibit Hall.

Level Four: You volunteer to help out in some area of the Convention.

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For Gen Con Indy a lot of the attendees are Level One or Level Two. Level Two would include playing demo games but still not understanding how to sign up for actual events being held.

For Gen Con you can’t just walk into a game (for the most part) you have to sign up to play and for most games pay a fee. The cost is determined by the game, some are free, others are pretty pricey. The event catalog gives you all the information about the game and what you should expect. A lot of the games are designed for beginners, but some are for those folks who are experts.

What kind of games are we talking about? If it is a game, you will most likely find it at Gen Con. Board games, card games, war games, role playing games… are all available. Game companies release new games or beta test games. Now many Kickstarter projects are introduced here. Last year I helped out (Level Four) demoing Mystic Curling Club. Neat game that Kickstarted in the Fall and should be arriving at my doorstep sometime around Gen Con (a year later).

Entering the Second Level

Today at noon eastern time, event registration went live. People have spent the last two weeks looking at the catalog and putting together their wish list of what they wanted to do. Today they submitted that list and joined the queue to see what they might get to play. My wish list was mighty and included games I wanted to play with people I knew were attending. I had added them to my Friends list and then we talked about some games and added each other to our wishlists so we could buy tickets for each other. This can backfire, but fortunately it didn’t. Of the 13 (Yes, I pushed my luck) events I ended up getting 10 of them. Mostly due to the fact my brother got higher in the queue than I did and was able to get tickets to those events we both wanted to do. The ones I missed out on were Saturday events, which makes sense since most people attend Gen Con on Saturday and therefore everything fills up fast. Combine that with choosing a Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG (Role Playing Game) adventure and a currently kickstarting Space Opera version of the latest incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons. I had also signed up for signing with Matt Dinniman, the creator of Dungeon Crawler Carl. I figured those were all going to be impossible unless the Fates smiled on me and I received a low number in the queue. I didn’t receive a low number, but I also didn’t receive a high number. I was 7,235th in line. The luckiest of my group was 123rd, the unluckiest was 14,821st and then somehow refreshed his screen to get put back in line when he was 2,000th 😱 so he went from 2,000 something to 7,000 something… ugh. Fortunately for all of us, we didn’t miss out on everything, but also we aren’t doing everything we wanted (except for Larry). I’ll keep checking back and seeing if things open up for the times I now have open, but It also gives me a bit more down time which can be nice.

So What Am I Actually Doing?

I am not attending the Puppetry Program or the Writer’s Symposium even though I’m sure those reading this wish I would do something to improve my puppetry skills… I mean my writing skills. These are great programs for those with an interest, I’m just focused mostly on games. I have attended puppetry sessions, and even did a session on saber dueling. There is a lot going at Gen Con beyond just slaying orcs.

Thursday is a bit of a school day for me. I’m starting it off with a presentation about being a Gamesmaster.

Gamemasters?!? In my day we called them Dungeon Masters no matter if we went into a dungeon or not! Kids these days…

Since I’m now leading a group through an adventure, I want to improve my ability and the experience of my players. This hopefully will help me understand what I need to improve upon and maybe what I’m doing well (although from the facial expressions from the only other GM in my group I’m thinking “not much.”)

Then I’m jumping over to my creative side and doing a workshop on Block Printing. Yes, I know it has little to do with games, but it Gen Con has some amazing sessions on crafts and other things related to games. Cecil has a chainmail vest I made him years ago from a Gen Con session. This time, I’m going to see what I can do with block printing, something I haven’t played with since High School.

Time to play a game. I’m going to try out “Bagged & Boarded” a game that was introduced last year, and Kickstarted. I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but figured if a game about collecting comics wasn’t close to my real life, I don’t know what is.

I’ll end the day with another presentation this time about “The First Superhero” one of my favorite characters from literature the Scarlet Pimpernel. I’ve seen the film adaptations and read the book. I’m curious to learn more. May not be your cup of tea, but I’m looking forward to it.

Nothing says “Superhero” more than a man who knows how to properly tie a cravat.

Friday currently starts with something completely out of character for me… a 5k. The annual Orc Stomp Fun Run. I may be knocking on the door to my brother’s hotel room to use his shower afterwards, but I figure, I need to work on getting in shape so why not? Currently with the way my 60 year old back is feeling, I may not actually participate, but, then again, I should feel better by then.

I’ve always talked about how much I enjoy the Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel. I even used one as a way to start character creation in my campaign. For three and half hours I will be taking four zero level characters through an adventure lead by a dear friend from college.

I’m ending Friday by playing Munchkin. I love Munchkin even though I rarely play it. I want to play it more, but can’t find the people or the time. They just updated the rules to Munchkin 2.0 and I have purchased a set so… I hopefully will have a chance to have some fun and backstab a few people (even one or two I know) on my way to fame and fortune.

Saturday was originally full of things, but due to my queue position I took some hard hits… Oh well. At noon I will be playing Kobolds Ate My Baby! A game system I figured sounded as irreverent as most of the characters I play. I’ve never played it, so I figured I should try something new that sounded like fun. I’ll be joined by my little brother in this one so it should be interesting.

I close out Saturday with a game I always try to play at Gen Con- Aerodrome Ace this time around it will be WWII Pacific Theater. My preference would be WWI, but that’s OK, I’ll be playing with friends and family. If you don’t know about this game it is a dogfight game with squadrons going against each other. I’ll be playing it twice, once Saturday and again on Sunday where we will be playing the Star Wars version, I am curious how it differs from the Battlestar Galactica version. Each player has a wooden cockpit which they use to plot out their moves. everything happens at once. It’s a lot of fun and one of the first games to pique my interest the first time I attended Gen Con. I have tried to fit in one game and usually it ends up being the last thing I play on Sunday.

Thursday is my really heavy day with lots of stuff going on, the rest of the Convention seems to be holding to my one or two scheduled things rule. I’m hoping to demo some of the games I didn’t get into, or at least see them up close and decide if they are worth investing time (and money) into. It will be nice to have some time to wander and hit up the food trucks. I may even see about setting up a Geocaching event sometime during the Con for those visiting from out of town and would like a smiley, only time and my motivation will tell.

So, if you went through the queue, how’d you fair? Are you happy with your results or upset because you didn’t get into the one game you wanted on Saturday that was only offered once and only had 4 spots since you were 15,349th in line. Rub some dirt on your wound and move on (Yes, I’m Gen X). There is so much to see and do at Gen Con even without a badge. Yes, you need a badge to get into the exhibit hall or game rooms, but there is so much to see just at the Convention Center, I highly recommend dropping by and checking it out (move up to Level 1/2 instead of Zero).