Thoughts on Gen Con 2025 - Leveling Up in Indy?

The more things change, the more they remain the same?

Since I retired in 2023 I’ve tried to attend Gen Con for all four days. mostly because I can. You see while Indianapolis hosts this massive gaming convention, local schools usually start the same week so I would have to choose do I want to go to the Con or have a job. Because games and play are not considered educational by most elected officials, and school administrators.

I’ve bounced around trying to discover where gaming fits in my life. Gen Con has been a great way to take an annual assessment of how much it means to me. This year I decided to return to “Trade Day” through the inaugural Game Design Academy. Which may not have been the best option for me. I spent Wednesday in sessions and workshops dealing with a variety of academic topic focused on making games. I won’t go into details, but it was interesting to see how, for me, it came back to teaching. Maybe I just didn’t choose wisely. Before the whole thing started I decided to not dive into the program fully. mostly because they didn’t offer the required sessions at a time I could attend. plus, it seemed like it was going to turn the Con into “work” with assignments that needed to be turned in. I went to to sessions focused on education- both dealing with curriculum- one was for secondary and higher-education, and the other for elementary. The both covered the topics well, and game some great ideas that someone in the classroom could use, but I’m not sure I saw the benefit for game designers. I did end up with a copy of a great game that if I knew any teachers that would actually use it I would give it to them. Sadly, I learned when giving great games to teachers in the past- they tend to sit on a shelf gathering dust. The teacher never has time or desire to introduce the game to the class- when it gets taken out, the student’s make up the rules or just play with the pieces. Not horrible, but not the best use of a resource.

A lot of the other sessions got into the nitty gritty of game design including design theory and designing for various types of players. It reminded me of differentiating lessons to meet the needs of all learners. I did discover why I have problems with playing some games, or playing with some people. For the most part according to Bartle I’m an explorer. I want to learn about the world the game takes place in, I want to take my time to learn. Not waste my time debating on a course of action, or just gaining levels and loot. I recall playing World of Warcraft years & years ago. I played a rogue and would sneak around slowly learning where things were and completing quests in a methodical manner. I teamed with someone who just ran in and killed everyone and moved on from quest to quest (no they weren’t a rogue. By the time I have reconned the area, and was ready to sneak in… they had killed everyone… ugh. No, in D&D I am not a murder hobo.

So while I learned some stuff, like when I did the puppetry seminars, I don’t think it was the best use of my time or resources. I’ll go over my notes again, but I’m not sure I’ll sign up again.

The Hall

I recall talking one about the level of attendee at a convention along time ago, so here’s a review:

• The Level 1 person who only wanders and goes to the Vendor/Exhibit Hall. This is where we all start out. A convention is just a Geeky Mall. Once you run out of money, you go home.

• At Level 2 you start exploring activities and sessions, you look beyond the stuff on sale. When it comes to Gen Con, you may play test a game in the hall, or paint a miniature. but pretty much you still stay solo, with very little interaction with people.

• Level 3 brings us to the player who signs up for stuff and goes to sessions. Sessions/workshops are not competitive you are there to learn. For level 3 players, there is still some apprehension around actually playing a game against someone outside of learning a new game in the Hall where everyone is just a clueless about the rules.

• Level 4 actually brings you to signing up and playing a game. interacting with other players. This may start with a basic game that you are familiar with. You might be bold and sign up for a Role Playing Game that you play with friends at home.

• When you reach Level 5 you are pretty comfortable with the Con and have learned that everyone is as clueless when it comes to some games as you are. The GM is just a volunteer who may not know all the intricacies of the rules as some players.

• Level 6 You run a game or volunteer to host a workshop. You are now that mysterious expert the Level 1 and 2 attendees look at in awe of your powers.

After years of staying at Level 1 I now am around Level 4, thanks to friends I’ve bounced into Level 5 (I’m pretty much Level 5 at a Comic Con). This time around I played D&D for the first time, although it was an intro. I need to play an actual real life adventure to move to feel like I really am Level 5.

The Big Con

For the actual Con (Thursday to Sunday) I did a few things each day. You see, not having a regular gaming group this has become my time to actually play. While I don’t play much, I still try to get a few things in and branch out each year.

Thursday with Brian

My friend Brian and I try to spend some time together at the Con. He is more of a gamer than I am. This year he signed me up for some things, since I was at Lake Como when sign ups started. Thursday was a great day of playing and catching up. See? I do have friends!

Last year I signed up for my first actual role playing opportunity. I picked something a friend of mine was running- a Dungeon Crawl Classics Funnel. If you don’t know what a funnel is- you are given four pre generated level zero characters and need to get through a short adventure with them. Consider it their baptism under fire. This year Brian and I played one together. Unlike my first go around, I actually did lose a few characters. Stupid centi-people… Goodman Games did give us a record sheet so one of our surviving characters could be used in a later game as a first level character. So I guess I can continue Gort’s life beyond the mine and maybe he can find his soul.

Next was a genre I am finding I like, but need to work on knowing more about- WWI aeroplanes and dogfights. I played Wings of Glory and enjoyed myself. Last yer I played a modified version in which we went up against a giant gorilla on the Empire State Building. This time is was simple aerial combat over the fields of France. I was piloting a German Albatross C.III and while I did end up crashing more than once, It was fun.

On Monday I took my brother to Wright Patterson and the Air Force Museum… started doing my research.

My final game for the first day really brought out the “explorer” part of my gaming personality. I understood the mechanics, but really felt like an actor asking “What is my motivation in this scene?” I really had no idea who the good guys were and what the bad guys wanted. Or the backgrounds of the main characters. It was a miniatures games played on a 3D map and one thing my friend and I noticed was the pieces had a rough time staying put. They kept sliding down the hills. Once I realized that there were tokens we were trying to secure… I don’t know why, but it was a goal. I focused on those and didn’t mind my pieces getting killed off. “The enemy gate is down.”

Into the Dungeon & the Hall

Day two had me playing one game - Intro to Forgotten Realms (D&D 5e 2024 edition) We were given regenerated characters from this world and, yes, I picked a bard. He was a race I had never played before Aasamir. These are the opposites of Tieflings. Yes, I know I just compared two things you have no idea about. Let’s say Aasamir are related to angels and Tieflings are related to devils. I named my character “Clarence.”

It was a good game, but harder than many of us thought it should be. We were third level, but it didn’t seem like a third level adventure. One thing that was interesting was a using a large LCD screen as the base and projecting the map and monsters on it. It reminded me of the promised Sigil from DnD Beyond that I haven’t been able to get to work on my Mac and just made me want them to get it fixed so I might be able to actually use it if I ever were to run a game.

I then took some time to wander the exhibit hall before heading off to help out demoing a game. Yes, Mr. Introvert felt obligated to help out so he did. The Mystic Curling Club is a table top version of curling. It really is a great concept. Sadly, like many games demoing at Gen Con, it isn’t available for sale. It’s a soon to be released Kickstarter and Gen Con is a way to get the buzz started. I like it and look forward to pledging once it goes live in October. After the Game Design Academy, this seems like an easy game to play and something that would make broom stacking or waiting for your draw during a spiel fun.

Mystic Curling Club Crowdfunding in October.

Zap! Pow! Biff!

Saturday brought about some simple things- I played one game called Age of Comics: The Golden Years. In this game you are a publisher in the 1940’s and need to allocate workers in order to produce comics. You hire writers and artists, come up with ideas, print and then sell. As I learned a long time ago, the important thing to know before starting a game are the victory conditions. in this case, the push is to have as many fans of your books as possible. You can publish a real book, or a rip-off of someone else’s book. It was fun. I think the only issue I had with it was the social dynamics of the group. The one person who had any experience playing the game kept calling back the guy running the game asking for official clarification of the rules, and kept going through the rule book. We should have gotten through a game and actually learned about scoring if so much time had not been wasted. Everyone plays differently, it just started to get amusing that every turn this guy would ask a question, whether it was his turn or not. In the end, I had no idea how I did, but I’m guessing I lost horribly. Again, interesting game, would love to play it again sometime.

The rest of Saturday was wandering the hall. I decided to skip my last session since it was about preparing are files for production, something I may want to do in the future, but not right now.

Brotherly Love?

My brother attended Gen Con decades ago and this year he decided to come back and signed up for a lot of sessions… Most were in the Writing block. This confused me, but having spent time finding myself in the Puppetry Workshops, I had an idea as to what he was doing. (Level 3 behavior) The only time we both had available was on Sunday so I signed us up for aerial combat.

I usually sign up for AerodromeACE a 1:72 scale miniature dogfight game every year. I first saw it walk by at my first Gen Con and was amazed at how cool it looked. As a Level 1 attendee I knew the rules would be way too complex and I would just embarrass myself if I tried to play. Typical Level 1 thought process. Since I retired I’ve made it a point to play at least once every Gen Con. I know my brother is into planes (we are our father’s sons) so I figured this was a good place to start. We had a great time. I lost, he was second in points. Maybe I need to stop picking British planes.

One last run through the Hall and a quick tour of Lucas Oil, since he really hadn’t exposed that much. and that ended Gen Con for us.

Buyers Remorse

The big one I think was going for the Game Designers Academy and Trade Day Badge. Did I get something out of the experience? Yes. Did I get as much out of it as it cost me to attend? I’m not sure, but for right now- I don’t think so. Maybe if I was seriously working on designing games, or was still teaching my unit on Game Design. I think I would reconsider it at a lower price point. Not taking it to the level of trying for certification made it a good experience, but not worth the price of admission. I was late signing up for digital access, so I’m still waiting to be able to view the resources from the presentations- my fault, not theirs. I didn’t go for the certification because I didn’t sign up for the two required morning sessions on Thursday and Friday. I also was leery about having assignments due during the Con. I’ve been to a con with someone who was taking online classes, and when you want to go out and explore together, they are chained to their computer completing assignments. So bad choice for me.

Buyers remorse comes into play as I wandered the exhibit hall and saw something shiny and decide to buy it. I went into this year saying I wasn’t going to buy any games… and then I bought a couple. The one I’m kicking myself over is a pin based battle game that I thought could be interesting… but upon opening it and the blind box booster packs (two of the same character) made me just go- why? I did buy myself some dice (because it is Gen Con). The other stuff I bought was to support small independent artists. I just wish I had stuck to my guns and thought about that when I considered a game that requires two people who were stupid enough to buy pin sets and then wear them around a convention so when we randomly meet we can battle. 🙄 If the Curling Game was available, I would have happily bought a copy- no remorse at all. 😁

The Cup of Doom… I fell for the Souvenir Cup of $2 refills scam. I think I would have felt better about it, if it had come with a top and a proper size straw. Next time I’ll need to check out about Wild Bill’s price since I already have a cup and would just need a top. Then again bring my own cup and use the water stations around the Con might be the best value.

Cecil getting ready to play Forgotten Realms with his super souvenir cup… The straw in the photo I brought from home.

Saturday and Sunday I left my satchel home and just wandered wearing my geeky jacket of many patches. This limited my purchases and saved my aching back.

Lessons Learned

My third full Gen Con, I was using to decide where gaming fit in this “chapter” of my life. Would gaming still be something I used to fill my time with? Would I even try designing a game as a creative endeavor? This Gen Con was my chance to see if gaming still had a place in the list. I don’t have a regular gaming group so during the year, I sit and look at games I’ve bought, but that’s about it. I figured I would use Gen Con as a way to scratch that itch annually and maybe that’s what will occur. I did run into some friends at the Con and maybe I will put together a gaming night- just trying to figure out the night is the problem.

I tried to hold back from buying games since I don’t really play them, and with few exceptions was successful. I didn’t buy anything new for RPGs because I just didn’t see a reason. I did buy stuff, but nothing is comparison to what I have bought in the past. Two sets of dice, some stickers, some patches, some pins, a Timid Monster and a $25 souvenir cup. I tried to support some of the smaller vendors.

Kickstarter and crowdfunding was again big. This is a way for developers to playlets and hype their games before putting them out on Kickstarter. Was a little frustrated because there were some thing I might have impulse bought at the Con, but will ignore when I see them launched on Kickstarter. No, Mystic Curling Club, doesn’t fall into the category, I just hope I get notification of launch.

Next year I will return, and will most likely look at a four day badge. I’ll consider braving the Purple Line since parking was my biggest expense after my badge. I think I had a good mix of games and didn’t exhaust myself too much. At most two games a day and only one on Sunday. I’d like to consider spending more time downtown, but this year construction made that almost impossible or at least unappealing. I would like to actually take a character through a funnel and into a game. I’d also like to actually play in a D&D adventure not just an intro.

A couple patches I picked up and added to the Geeky Jacket of Many Patches after moving some around to make room. Left: The Conspiracy of Gamers gave me this patch and Right: From a local artist that I came back to multiple times and finally decided, to purchase.

Basically for everyone, all I can suggest is go to a place where you can be with “Your People” it could be a Geeky Convention, it could be a Geocaching event, it could be a sportsing thing... whatever makes you happy. Gen Con is July 30 -August 2nd. Maybe all the construction downtown and around Indy will be finished by then. 🙄