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THE TIME HAS COME ONCE MORE TO GO TO I N D I A N A P O L I S FORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! - - - --- - - -- - - -- - ----- - - - -- - - -- - - -- - -- - - -- - - - - - -- - -- -- - - --- - - -- - - -- - ----- - - - -- - - -- - - -- - -- - - -- - - - - - -- - -- -  GEN CON INDY*.  July 30 - August 2, 2015.    Once, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin's finest wargaming event,   filling the Horticultural Hall to near-capacity with nearly 100 attendees.  Fun fact: My "Lake Geneva/Gary Gygax's Home/Horticultural Hall" pilgrimage was on the same day as my "Michael Jackson's childhood home" pilgrimage Now, Indianapolis, Indiana's finest (and arguably-largest in the world**) gaming-writ-large convention, filling the Indianapolis Convention Center with 56,000+ attendees, and growing ~15% yearly. -=-=-=-=- (If you were here for last year's thread, you will recognize a fair number of the recommendations and such, but rest assured I am revising it constantly) UNASKED QUESTIONS Q. WHAT A. In miniature: GEN CON in its own words: "a consumer and trade experience dedicated to gaming culture and community. Gen Con Indy is the largest annual consumer fantasy, electronic, sci-fi, adventure and hobby game convention in North America. Each year gaming enthusiasts converge to share their love for all things gaming, from tournaments to guest appearances, exhibit hall booths to electronic games, workshops, seminars, anime, art shows, auctions and countless other activities." In my words: no matter what kind of nerdy bullshit you like, Whether role-playing, boardgames, collectible card games, collectible figurine games, collectible game games, or probably even anime and fursuits or whatever, YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU SEEK. Whether you are terrified of other human beings or cannot live without constantly telling everyone around you about your character/army/custom table, YOU WILL HAVE AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE. -=-=-=-=- Q: HOW? A: SIMPLE It is I believe it is The Will Call booths are actually open 24/7 (24/4?) on-site so if you have any concerns whatsoever about mail not reaching you then you should probably roll like that. I would link hotel information, but there is basically no point as all of the attached and nearby hotels sell out immediately when the housing block goes on sale (I believe last year it was down to selling out in 10 minutes or something?). There is a pretty good shuttle from the airport, so your second-best bet to managing to nail a last-minute downtown hotel may be staying at an airport hotel. There is usually a decent amount of parking available in the area surrounding the convention center as well, but of course it is fairly expensive and I have heard more than one story of someone forgetting where the car was parked since all the parking garages look the same. Speaking of: Syntaxed posted:There is the shuttle that is connected to someone of the outside hotels, including ones near the airport. -=-=-=-=- Q. SO WHAT SORTS OF EVENTS HAPPEN AT GEN CON BESIDES WHAT YOU ALREADY MENTIONED? A. Well, you know: Tournaments for dozens or maybe even hundreds of various board, card, miniature, and role-playing games. An exhibitor/dealer's hall larger than a football field. The world's greatest Auction***. True Dungeon, which is basically a Children's Discovery Museum for adult gaming nerds. A pretty substantial Art Show and Author Alley where their pleading eyes only occasionally guilt you into buying something. The Costume Contest Parade, where for about ten minutes straight hundreds of people in legitimately-amazing costumes stroll through the convention center and block traffic to make you mad. As for events, you can look at Alan DeSmet's amazing GenCon.HighProgrammer page to look through last year's events to get an idea of what you might find. Maybe this year I will actually remember to update the event listing when it goes live  There are sometimes celebrities, but they have been actively moving away from featuring celebrities as part of the show since so many other conventions are predominantly about celebrities and Gen-Con DOES NOT NEED THEM TO SUCCEED  Too bad, as I will clearly never forget meeting Sid Meier and Traci Lords in the same afternoon, but so it goes.But the main point is this: if it is nerdy and you like it, IT IS PROBABLY HAPPENING AT GEN CON. BUT WHAT SPECIFICALLY IS HAPPENING AT GEN-CON!?!? """COSTUME PLAY"""   @  @  God I loved this costume @    SAFARI FATTYSTATUE PLAY  @  $   #Companies showing up and making a big splash and disappearing forever!   Blurry Goons Doing Things!  !  Seriously worst gaming advertisement ever. Literally unpronounceable name + "Millions of years ago...it happened." Epic Sweeping Vistas!    @    Actual Gaming!    @  Behold Ken St. Andre, creator of Tunnels & Trolls and on the Wasteland design team, Running A Game(tm) S-H-O-PP-I-N-G!         not that Troll & Toad sells much beyond collectible card games there anymoreNon-Euclidean Moments!   Terrifying Throngs of Humanity!   Generally Intense Things.  #  $    Check out the "Hold Ptolus As Long As You Can" contest from Gen-Con 2006! EXTREMELY Intense Things!  $The awesome Dungeons & Dragons Documentary panel, starring the creators, Jon Peterson of "Playing at the World" fame, Tim Kask the first editor of Dragon Magazine, and Nesbit37[!]  An Auction moment caught in time, with the world's most mesmerized bidder up front THE MOST ASTOUNDINGLY INTENSE THINGS!  @   #  $ -=-=-=-=- Perhaps this year I will mix things up and put in a bunch of articles about previous Gen-Cons to help you understand WHY YOU SHOULD GO EVERY YEAR Once again, the Wikipedia page. This article goes nicely with that discussion we closed last year's thread with, about the haunting stares of the Living Dead First-Time Exhibitors being so unnerving. Officially called the 'largest gaming convention in the world" here, oh man, good times Oh I did not expect to be posting an article critical of Gen-Con's lack of minorities but THAT IS THE KIND OF PERSON I AM When the Onion's A. V. Club talks about you, you know you are a big deal. There was an X-Com Board Game? Oh, and other interesting SCOOPS from last year. Alan DeSmet, runner of GenCon.HighProgrammer.com, the best Gen-Con planning webpage around, has SURVIVAL TIPS FOR THE CONVENTION. -=-=-=-=- Q. WHAT SHOULD I BRING???????? A. QUAREX'S ARBITRARY GEN CON RECOMMENDED ADVENTURE KIT:
Q. WHAT IS FOOD A. PLACES EVERYONE SEEMS TO SUGGEST YOU EAT IN THE AREA: Firstly, a map showing all the places to eat close to the Convention center. The closest food to the convention itself is likely in the form of food trucks on Georgia Street (right outside the uhh East entrance I think). I have heard basically only good things about all of those trucks though I have not tried them myself yet.
Here is VISIT INDY'S list of all its restaurants that have appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (a show on the Food Network here in The America). And here we have VISIT INDY's list of its TOP 25 LOCAL RESTAURANTS! Several Gen-Con/this post favorites show up, including Café Patachou, Scotty's Brewhouse, Bazbeaux ... St. Elmo Steak House definitely is amazing, and their shrimp cocktail is noteworthy in the most meaningful sense of the term, but I am not afraid to acknowledge that I think Ruth's Chris has a better variety of options for stuffing yourself. And even though this is NOT A RESTAURANT I think the HANDLE BAR warrants a mention. For anyone unfamiliar with the concept of a 16-person bicycle that has a bar in the middle, well, you might want to get acquainted this year. I can definitely see Goons heading for this ... though as I am in kind of sort of tolerable shape and was all but dead weight after about an hour when I went on such a tour in Seattle, I am not sure we quite meet the athleticism quotient needed as a group to use it, haha. Q. DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER GENERIC TIPS FOR ME A. YES AND YES I DID STEAL THE IDEA FOR THIS SECTION FROM LAST YEAR'S EXCELLENT COMIC CON THREAD
And see you there. *(neé Lake Geneva Wargames Convention) **I once thought that Essenspiele in Germany had 3x as many attendees--then I found out that they only list their TURNSTILE attendance, which is each day's unique visitors added together, not their total number of unique visitors. Ergo, the ~150,000 Essen claims as a peak compared to Gen Con's turnstile attendance of 185,000 last year suggests it really is the biggest now. ***Full disclosure: I am an RPG/T.O.V.A. auctioneer, though I loved it and talked it up constantly every year even before joining up in 2012. PHOTO CREDITS (after the picture) # ThaShaneTrain @ Len $ Nesbit37 ! WhiteHowler The rest are mine, far-flung across 14 Gens-Con. Q. OH ONE LAST THING, DO YOU HAVE ANY PICTURES THAT ARE NOT OF GEN-CON BUT METAPHORICALLY ILLUSTRATE THE JOYS OF ATTENDING? A. I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED   I really did not have the heart to post the two identical pictures I have from different years of the same incredibly fat woman passed out in a chair
Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Jul 6, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 05:48
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Reserved once again SO HARD for information on Goon-run events, of both the formal and informal variety. Even though last year we only had one event promoted in this post  WE STILL HAVE AN OFFICIAL GROUPME CHAT!!! In fact, it is probably only still active because I popped up every month or so to talk to Mudcrab Merchant like a Spamming jerk. Lawen posted:Go here to download the app for your iOS/Android/Windows Phone. WE ALSO PROBABLY HAVE AN OFFICIAL IRC CHANNEL Hawaii_Lame-O posted:Server is irc.synirc.net ADD YOURSELF TO NESBIT'S GOOGLE DOC!!! nesbit37 posted:The main part of Gen Con starts a week from today! Go add your name and contact info to this spreadsheet if you have not done so already and want goons to check in with you on things. Between this and group me we should be able to organize things spur of the moment pretty well while there(they both worked well last year): OH IF YOU HAVE AN "ANDROID" "MOBILE CELLULAR TELEPHONE MACHINE" YOU CAN INSTALL THIS WHILE IT EXISTS: THE UNOFFICIAL 2014 GEN CON APP which honestly I mainly recommend getting for access to maps of the center, nearby hotels, and downtown area, even if it never gets updated for this year's events.  AS IT HAPPENED TWO YEARS IN A ROW SO FAR, I SEE NO REASON NOT TO ASSUME THIS WILL BE HAPPENING AGAIN AND WE SHOULD GO: [PROBABLY] COME TO THE COLTS GRILLE FOR NERD TRIVIA BY WEDNESDAY [JULY 29] NIGHT AT 7:00, WHICH [PROBABLY] DOUBLES AS THE OFFICIALISH GOON MEET! Colts Grille (next door to the Embassy Suites Indianapolis Downtown, if you know where that is!) 110 West Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46227 THANKS TO CAMOSEVEN 2014 FOR BEER INFORMATION camoseven posted:
GOON AUDIO BROADCASTS, SOME FOLKS CALL THEM PODCASTS I CALL THEM AUDIO BROADCASTS, RELATED TO GEN-CON POTENTIAL GOON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PARTYTIME HAPPYJOURNEY #1 POSSIBLY TAKING: TRAIN: UPSTATE NEW YORK: QUAREX VIRGINIA BEACH: Loki_XLII CALIFORNIA?: Bucnasti BUS: COLUMBUS: Len and his CREW STUPID BAT: THE SOUTH: Nighthob Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Feb 10, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 05:48
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GENERAL INDY BEER INFO 
. I also killed two birds with one stone and threw some things in there for my family, so just ignore any references to my mom's place or whatever.
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I am going to viciously co-opt posts from the Chat Thread to get things going over here! Particularly because I even have some responses for your comments/questions!LuiCypher posted:I, too, am going to Gen Con for the second year in a row! I know this because I've already got a hotel room lined up about two blocks away from the convention. A few words of advice to anyone here who's thinking about Gen Con: LuiCypher posted:However, VIGs come with another benefit - they can give out/sell guest VIG passes which, although they don't come with as many bells and whistles, gives you the early access to the housing portal and first shot at VIG passes for the next year's convention (I may be wrong on the latter, but the former is true). And as an also-greedy Hilton Honors member I can confirm your theory; I always have a back-up room ready to go from August or September of the year before just in case all else fails ("all else" now being "our V.I.G. decides to not go"). It ends up being like $300+/night to book that way BUT knowing we will be a block away worst case scenario is nice. I do always put my room back in the pool once I know we are set though! Len posted:Last year was the first year we had any issue with the housing In the four years we went to Gencon. I personally blame the fact I didn't do the hotel booking this time around but booking without the housing portal just sounds like an all around better idea and I'm not sure why we didn't think of it.
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Jan 7, 2015 05:53
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If you want to get a free badge and/or swag you can run games/events for publishers/companies attending Gen Con. I know the guys at Arc Dream (Delta Green, Wild Talents, Godlike, Monsters and Other Childish Things, Better Angels) http://arcdream.com/ so if you want to PM me, I can get you in touch with them. Generally, you get a free badge for running 3 games and 5 bucks of credit at the Arc Dream booth per player/ticket - for a 6 player game, you would get 30 bucks of credit. Other publishers have their own reward systems for volunteer GMs. You can also get a free badge if you're reporting on the event for the media - podcasts and blogs count btw.
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Jan 7, 2015 06:19
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I want to go to Gen Con. I didn't fully understand the hotel issue. I have a car, and will most likely be driving from NC. How terrible is parking near the Con? I can actually walk around without dying, if that is important.
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Jan 7, 2015 06:59
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Hey my name is Robert and I work the Japanime Games booth at GenCon. We manufacture Krosmaster Arena (Wakfu / Dofus tie in) and Tanto Cuore. I will give you a cool demo and if you tell me you are a goon I will give you and your friends some cool stuff. I hope to see a bunch of you there, I will be the guy in the shirt that says Robert.
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Jan 7, 2015 17:23
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rjderouin posted:Hey my name is Robert and I work the Japanime Games booth at GenCon. We manufacture Krosmaster Arena (Wakfu / Dofus tie in) and Tanto Cuore. I will give you a cool demo and if you tell me you are a goon I will give you and your friends some cool stuff. I hope to see a bunch of you there, I will be the guy in the shirt that says Robert. I will do my best to remember this. I love demoing random games it's my favorite part of Gencon. I still wish I would have gotten to demo Infinity last year. But everytime we went there was nobody there to demo or we would get told "hey come back later." But the guy demoing the game wouldn't let players use tape measures so I'm not sure if I really missed anything. Quarex I forget about this picture taken of me and my friends at the playtest hall a few years back. We went in and one of the games available to try was called "Lucha Monstruo." To this day I'm still not sure what the other games available were because we had to play that one. 
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Jan 7, 2015 17:28
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Carteret posted:I want to go to Gen Con. I didn't fully understand the hotel issue. Parking isn't an issue if you can walk. There is an NFL stadium right next to the convention center with lots of cheap parking.
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Jan 7, 2015 17:34
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Getting excited for it already now that the new year is upon us. Gary Con in 2.5 months isn't helping either. I have to say I am feeling nervous about getting a hotel room. Last year was a nightmare, and I wish they would post the date of the hotel signups already so I can make sure I have an hour blocked out of work for it. As someone who flys in from the east coast I definitely need a room, preferably within walking distance or at worst on the shuttle line. Last thing I want to do is pay for renting a car after paying for a plane ticket.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:08
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The housing portal opens Sunday Jan 25 at noon eastern.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:17
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I just edited out the info of people from 2014 in that spread sheet and opened it back up, so if anyone has problems accessing it via the 2nd post in this thread let me know.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:20
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head58 posted:The housing portal opens Sunday Jan 25 at noon eastern. Awesome, they must have just updated it today with the start of event submissions. I checked the website and official forums yesterday and the date wasn't posted yet.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:23
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Two of the people I usually go with may not go this year, and if that happens the entire thing might crumble. Hopefully that doesn't happen though because GenCon is a cool time.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:28
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Maybe this year, I'll go on that bicycle bar and get intoxicated while seeing the sights around the city! OR I COULD JUST RUN AROUND AND GET IN AS MANY DEMOS AS I CAN WHILE AVOIDING FLYING FROG!
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Jan 7, 2015 20:39
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Grinspork posted:Maybe this year, I'll go on that bicycle bar and get intoxicated while seeing the sights around the city! OR I COULD JUST RUN AROUND AND GET IN AS MANY DEMOS AS I CAN WHILE AVOIDING FLYING FROG! What's wrong with Flying Frog?
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Jan 7, 2015 20:41
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Len posted:What's wrong with Flying Frog? I HAD A THREE HOUR DEMO OF SHADOWS OF BRIMSTONE THAT WOULD NEVER loving END
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Jan 7, 2015 20:42
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Couldn't you have just up and left? I mean, that can be rude if the other people knew it was a 3 hour demo and you leaving kills it but if not, your con your time.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:52
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Oh poo poo I just saw the scotch eggs thing in the OP, I loving love me some scotch egg. If I go to Gencon this year I'm going to get scotch egg.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:53
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nesbit37 posted:Getting excited for it already now that the new year is upon us. Gary Con in 2.5 months isn't helping either. I have to say I am feeling nervous about getting a hotel room. Last year was a nightmare, and I wish they would post the date of the hotel signups already so I can make sure I have an hour blocked out of work for it. As someone who flys in from the east coast I definitely need a room, preferably within walking distance or at worst on the shuttle line. Last thing I want to do is pay for renting a car after paying for a plane ticket. nesbit37 posted:I just edited out the info of people from 2014 in that spread sheet and opened it back up, so if anyone has problems accessing it via the 2nd post in this thread let me know. BUT I LOVE THEM OF COURSE SINCE SOME ARE READING THISCountblanc posted:Two of the people I usually go with may not go this year, and if that happens the entire thing might crumble. Hopefully that doesn't happen though because GenCon is a cool time. Grinspork posted:Maybe this year, I'll go on that bicycle bar and get intoxicated while seeing the sights around the city! I am definitely adding the Handle Bar to the list. Though I suppose it should be in the beer list. Oh ... wow, Camoseven, you never mentioned you had FOOD in your beer list that you spent way too much time on! WHAT A GREAT LIST! Do you want me to incorporate your suggestions into the main list or do you want it to be a unique Camoseven attraction?
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Jan 8, 2015 01:42
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I added myself to the list to feel brave and proud with you two and I will update when I know more information of when my flights are and all that other information.
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Jan 8, 2015 05:07
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Grinspork posted:I added myself to the list to feel brave and proud with you two and I will update when I know more information of when my flights are and all that other information. Speaking of flights and other stuff, I know the opening posts are basically infinite information overload, so my comment about Goon Trains(tm) got buried--a few people in the Traditional Games Chat thread and I talked about how fun it would be to collectively decide on specific trains to take cross-country, sitting near each other and gaming as much time as we could stand while on the way. Of course, the only three people who expressed interest are coming from three entirely unrelated parts of the country, BUT there is certainly a chance something could gain steam. (for those too lazy to look up there, the three locations so far are Vermont, Virginia Beach, and California [I think])
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Jan 8, 2015 06:00
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Quarex, I enjoyed you hosting the auction. After your set was done, was excited for the charity auction only to be bored to tears as whomever was doing the hosting duties, kept droning on and on about the history of the items rather then just selling the items. Mind you, last year was my first year, is the charity auction always a snore?
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Jan 8, 2015 06:30
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Quarex posted:Swank. Dehumanize Yourself and Face to Bloodshed D20. My crew is taking a Megabus out of Columbus. It's not a train but if anyone else is doing that we could try and game. There are tables on them in some seats.
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Jan 8, 2015 10:37
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This will be the first year I've gone in 14 years and the first year I've attended in Indianapolis. It will be weird since the last time I went I was reporting for The Gaming Outpost and only the only other gaming site was Rpgnet which only existed as a dream having just been bought by some media company. Now, even the Forge is gone and there are all these new sites and things I haven't heard of. So much has changed. Will hopefully be there with my wife and press badges. Am excited as hell.
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Jan 8, 2015 15:39
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Oh wow, there is a train from San Antonio to Indianapolis, but I feel like I'll be accosted by old people the whole time.
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Jan 8, 2015 16:01
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Holy poo poo, I made it somewhere near an OP! Oh yeah, in other random advice I can give: 1. If you really want to go to a specific event, pre-reg for it. If it's a popular event (Like True Dungeon is) then you really need to be online when event registration opens because True Dungeon sells out fast. I've never been myself - other goons can probably attest to its quality/fun. 2. Get a decent number of generic tickets (but not too many). These are really useful for random things like hopping in on random board games that are being run by some of the retailers, or getting into piece of advice #3. What they lack in priority, they more than make up for in flexibility. 3. Go to the board game library. It's relatively cheap in terms of generic ticket cost (and if you're so inclined, you can also pre-reg for it) and it's pretty amazing. The collection is truly massive and it's a great way to meet new nerds or learn a game that you don't exactly know how to play, your admission lasts for a staggering amount of time, and once you're in you can come and go as you please. It is also, in my opinion, a terrific meeting place for people because it is in a very set, very definite location (although it's still really funny to try to meet up with people and tell them that you're standing under the sheep on dice). 4. If you go to the dealer's hall, for the love of god don't wait an hour plus just to play the new hotness of the convention (which in 2014 was Dead of Winter, which the Board Game thread here has deemed as solidly 'meh' to 'bleh' and definitely not better than other games in the same style like Battlestar Galactica). Instead if you see an open spot, take the open spot. I ended up playing what is now probably one of my favorite board games ever, Tragedy Looper, simply because I saw two open spots at the table for my girlfriend and I and we sat down to play that instead of waiting for Dead of Winter. Try as many demos as you can, as opportunistically as possible. 5. If there's one day you should go to the dealer's hall, go for the last two hours Saturday. Sure, it's generic advice for just about any convention. Yeah, it'll be crazy, but everyone is going to try to offload their stuff so you can cut some crazy deals (but not from the major publishers - Fantasy Flight's stuff costs the same on Thursday as it does on Saturday). I picked up a box divider for Eldritch Horror + the Forbidden Lore expansion that fit the cards in sleeves from Tom Vasel's friend for $20. The guy sells it on his website for $40+. Vasel himself almost let me have it for free on the condition that I would, Scout's Honor, pay him back for it via PayPal. (If you must know, I ran to my GF, got $20 of our money, and paid him for it right there instead of jumping through BS hoops) 6. There is simply too much to do at GenCon - you can't do it all. But I guarantee you that you will find something that you like to do, and odds are you can find a way to do it the entire convention and hone your con experience into pure reward. If you want to try everything but you can't, you can always go again next year and do more! 7. I'm surprised Quarex hasn't mentioned it yet, but I was a bad frogger last year and I did not go to T.O.V.A. I haven't gone to T.O.V.A., but I hear tell that you should go to T.O.V.A. Do what I did not in 2014. Listen to Quarex. Go to T.O.V.A.
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Jan 8, 2015 17:16
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Len posted:My crew is taking a Megabus out of Columbus. It's not a train but if anyone else is doing that we could try and game. There are tables on them in some seats. Grinspork posted:Oh wow, there is a train from San Antonio to Indianapolis, but I feel like I'll be accosted by old people the whole time. LuiCypher posted:Holy poo poo, I made it somewhere near an OP! T.O.V.A.! T.O.V.A.! Yeah it is pretty much the best. I appreciate anyone being skeptical about anything someone says is THE BEST, because yeah usually if you go in expecting something to be amazing it ends up being bland or something. But it really is at least a little fun for virtually everyone. Here you go, this sums everything up:  I am going to mix this into the other Auction-related comment: Mr.Trifecta posted:Quarex, I enjoyed you hosting the auction. After your set was done, was excited for the charity auction only to be bored to tears as whomever was doing the hosting duties, kept droning on and on about the history of the items rather then just selling the items. Mind you, last year was my first year, is the charity auction always a snore? for compliments so thank you; I mainly started auctioneering because literally all of my friends (most of whom are quick to make fun of someone who suggests possessing a skill) told me I would be better than the worst auctioneers, which was really all I hoped. And to the credit of the bad auctioneers, it was not at all uncommon in the past for people who hated being on the microphone to go up due to there simply not being anyone else volunteering who DID want to do it--I believe that situation has resolved itself in the past few years, though.Oh, but about the ongoing Boring Auction Bits. Well, the problem here is that the Charity Auction's whole deal is "let Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask tell literally any story they can possibly think of in order to try to enhance the perceived value of an item being sold." It does have the effect of driving off the casual attendee, but I am sure they assume that the big money is going to come from the most fanatical people anyway. I am certainly not sure they are wrong. T.O.V.A. has always been an anomaly the other direction--buoyed by Auctioneer Josh's relentlessly hilarious assault, you would be hard-pressed to find nerds who would not get at least some enjoyment out of being there, at least for as long as the slow pace lasts until the "oh poo poo we are not going to be able to sell everything" part starts. I am not going to say I always enjoy the other people who are on stage with Josh, but some are good, and I have gotten enough compliments to make me believe I am not making it worse. It may be because I understand that Josh is the Whole drat Show and anyone trying to steal the spotlight from him is just reducing the audience's enjoyment. Well possibly also since we play well off each other in real life, translating nicely into Believable Auction Banter(tm). Blah blah Auction blah blah!
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Jan 9, 2015 03:04
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Speaking of which, I noticed a giant what I can assume Aliens case that I wasn't sure if it was sold or not at the auction. Do you remember it? Was it just a giant miniature setup of the Nostromo or something?
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Jan 9, 2015 03:45
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Edit: GREETINGS FROM NEXT WEEK, POST--YOU ARE NOW THE ONE-STOP SHOP FOR THIS8one6 posted:https://soundcloud.com/underdiscussion/sets/gen-con-2014 Gen Con 2014 clockworkjoe posted:http://slangdesign.com/rppr/tag/gencon/ 8one6 posted:We recorded a Tips for Gen Con episode for our podcast a couple of years ago, if you want to listen it's here. (I've skipped it past the unrelated spotlight at the beginning.) Quarex posted:I did a few guest stints on some friends' INTERNET AUDIO BROADCAST a few years back, and one of the times they wanted me to come in was when they were doing a Gen-Con special. My favorite moment of the entire thing starts at 38:50 when the guy who has never gone to Gen-Con asks about vices ... and ... oh god. The resolution still makes me happy. If you want to skip an inexplicable discussion of the female attractiveness at the convention over the years, avoid from 03:00 to 06:00. 8one6 posted:My podcast just posted out Tips for Gen Con episode here! ...ANDNOW...THEORIGINALPOST... Mr.Trifecta posted:Speaking of which, I noticed a giant what I can assume Aliens case that I wasn't sure if it was sold or not at the auction. Do you remember it? Was it just a giant miniature setup of the Nostromo or something? Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Jul 24, 2015 |
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Jan 9, 2015 04:20
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Since I can't go to WrestleMania this year I'm gonna give a real shot at doing this if I can convince one of my friends to go with me.
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Jan 9, 2015 04:54
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So, I'm hoping my physical therapy goes well (mega arthritis knees/hips), because that will be decide whether I even try to make GenCon, the plan is if all goes well, I'll book my 4 day ticket and hotel), since I can trade the hotel and eat the ticket costs if I can't make it
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Jan 9, 2015 04:57
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They are doing away with the manual wait list for a hotel this year. Supposed to all be automated on the website now. And we know how well that website worked. Also you can't book individual nights, gotta book a block of time including saturday.
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Jan 9, 2015 14:56
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ritorix posted:They are doing away with the manual wait list for a hotel this year. Supposed to all be automated on the website now. And we know how well that website worked. Also you can't book individual nights, gotta book a block of time including saturday. Potential technology problems aside, this all sounds fine to me. Last year was horrible. I am still confused why so many people booked friday only when they had 4 day badges, since you can't even get into the hotel reg system without a 4 day badge. When I could drive to Gen Con none of this hotel stuff was a worry, but now that I have to fly it keeps me up at night worse than if I had a mindflayer sleeping under my bed.
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Jan 9, 2015 16:39
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nesbit37 posted:Potential technology problems aside, this all sounds fine to me. Last year was horrible. I am still confused why so many people booked friday only when they had 4 day badges, since you can't even get into the hotel reg system without a 4 day badge. When I could drive to Gen Con none of this hotel stuff was a worry, but now that I have to fly it keeps me up at night worse than if I had a mindflayer sleeping under my bed. The big issue is going to be getting a hotel next to the convention center. It's beyond me why people reserved for specific days, but the nerd logic probably goes to take someplace pricey downtown for the days that are really important (Thurs/Fri) and then try to save money by staying in a cheap place far away from the unimportant days. I don't know, really. I know that the way it ended up parsing out was that people could wind up staying in a different hotel every night and the way they got booked encouraged this behavior. I'm just happy I found a place last year for all of the nights even though it was 7 miles away. All in all, I foresee this - it will be a net improvement for network traffic because people will be using the system for less time overall. If you can just click on a hotel and be done, that's great, and it will discourage that weird behavior where people will take a $300/night hotel for one night, take a $250/night one for another night, then settle on a $150/night hotel for about two nights. You either commit to it all up front or not at all. Of course, if attendance trends continue the way they are there are going to be a lot more people using the system this year. I did some extremely reliable back-of-napkin math and estimated that if Gen Con attendance trends continue, based on an very limited sample of 2012, 2013, and 2014, there should be about 63,400 people this year. This is based on some incredible assumptions though, like that there will be growth and it will follow a pattern or something like that. Either way if you're reading this thread, you should be one of those people! There's a reason why more people are going to Gen Con, and that is precisely because it is awesome.
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Jan 9, 2015 17:44
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LuiCypher posted:All in all, I foresee this - it will be a net improvement for network traffic because people will be using the system for less time overall. If you can just click on a hotel and be done, that's great, and it will discourage that weird behavior where people will take a $300/night hotel for one night, take a $250/night one for another night, then settle on a $150/night hotel for about two nights. You either commit to it all up front or not at all. I am all for saving money but that is craziness. The hassle of switching hotel rooms would suck. It almost happened last year, we had one hotel for wed/thrs nights and then we could only get a different one for fri/sat, but then about 2 weeks before the con the housing team contacted us and said they could get us all 4 nights in one place like we had requested. If I had a car out there it wouldn't be too bad, but as it is I need to either be within walking distance or in a hotel on the shuttle line (which isn't announced yet). Bah, at least this happens now, so once its booked I can stop worrying about stupid crap like this and get back to being excited to go to the con.
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Jan 9, 2015 17:56
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Yeah you basically have to be crazy to want to switch hotel rooms during an extended stay ANYWHERE, let alone during a once-a-year event where every moment spent away from the convention zone is a tragedy. Meanwhile, my V.I.G. buddy confirmed that our annual Embassy Suites stay is locked in already; see you plebes there ... if you make it there LuiCypher posted:Of course, if attendance trends continue the way they are there are going to be a lot more people using the system this year. I did some extremely reliable back-of-napkin math and estimated that if Gen Con attendance trends continue, based on an very limited sample of 2012, 2013, and 2014, there should be about 63,400 people this year. This is based on some incredible assumptions though, like that there will be growth and it will follow a pattern or something like that. And yeah, there obviously has to be some sort of growth ceiling for Gen-Con, though it is possible that the ceiling will end up being "moves out of Indianapolis after 2020 and instantly contracts as a result" or something. As much as that would probably destroy the perfect "gamer city" vibe of the convention in the process. Oh, but I am not entirely sure that I understand why the event's attendance fluctuated erratically from the 1990s until the slight dip the year after the economy collapsed in 2008, and then somehow led to continual 10%+ growth annually. Certainly people talk about how nerd stuff is cool now, but it was cool a decade ago too but the numbers still seemed capped forever at 25,000ish until MAGIC HAPPENED edit to clarify: no not Magic the Gathering, that is what just changed Gen-Con forever from "mostly role-playing/computer/board/wargames" to "oh god like 1/3 collectible card games and then everything else also" for a few years. Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Jan 10, 2015 |
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Jan 10, 2015 06:51
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Quarex posted:Oh, but I am not entirely sure that I understand why the event's attendance fluctuated erratically from the 1990s until the slight dip the year after the economy collapsed in 2008, and then somehow led to continual 10%+ growth annually. Certainly people talk about how nerd stuff is cool now, but it was cool a decade ago too but the numbers still seemed capped forever at 25,000ish until MAGIC HAPPENED It probably doesn't have anything to do with it but Origins started to shrink in 09 from the two years I went before. In 2010 every hall had lost space and the vendor hall was shrunk down and that was when we decided to just start going to Gencon instead.
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Jan 10, 2015 07:03
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Quarex posted:That did not sell at all, because there was nothing inside it, and though everyone agreed it was a very nice Aliens replica case and that any Aliens fans would clearly be interested in it, the guy wanted like $300. I think "I could make five of those for $300" was the most appropriate response I heard. Wow that was a big tease then. I was expecting a 1:1 Pulse Rifle.
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Jan 11, 2015 01:39
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Only 199 days to go! I've renewed my VIG so my friends and I will be there again this year. We recorded a Tips for Gen Con episode for our podcast a couple of years ago, if you want to listen it's here. (I've skipped it past the unrelated spotlight at the beginning.)
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Jan 11, 2015 03:27
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Len posted:It probably doesn't have anything to do with it but Origins started to shrink in 09 from the two years I went before. In 2010 every hall had lost space and the vendor hall was shrunk down and that was when we decided to just start going to Gencon instead. Mr.Trifecta posted:Wow that was a big tease then. I was expecting a 1:1 Pulse Rifle. 8one6 posted:Only 199 days to go! I should put your link in the second post since it is sort of like a Goon Event after all. I listened to this last year and I AM LISTENING TO IT AGAIN TODAY I can barely believe I am about to acknowledge this but I did a few guest stints on some friends' INTERNET AUDIO BROADCAST a few years back, and one of the times they wanted me to come in was when they were doing a Gen-Con special. My favorite moment of the entire thing starts at 38:50 when the guy who has never gone to Gen-Con asks about vices ... and ... oh god. The resolution still makes me happy. But overall this is a nice companion piece to your show, 8one6, because you are the coherent and reasonable counterpoint on the same subject.
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Jan 11, 2015 07:42
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