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So, speaking as someone whose only con experience is 2 tours of Tekkoshocon over in Pittsburgh, how much money should I realistically expect to need to bring? Excluding travel/hotel/the badge and meals? Is there anything I'd need cash for other than merchandise?
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Apr 7, 2014 00:17
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the_steve posted:So, speaking as someone whose only con experience is 2 tours of Tekkoshocon over in Pittsburgh, how much money should I realistically expect to need to bring? Excluding travel/hotel/the badge and meals? All of it. Bring all the monies.  Seriously though, there are events that cost money, like True Dungeon, tournaments and such. A lot of them you and I can almost guarantee that there will be more stuff to buy then you have money in your pocket.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:27
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Quarex posted:Every year I am asked if I will give some sort of lecture merging political science and gaming ... and this year I think I just might actually pull the trigger and talk about the real-world and fantasy implementations/conceptualizations of eugenics. Sound like a fun topic for a gaming convention? I thought so! I would attend. Bucnasti posted:All of it. Bring all the monies. My advice is to decide how much money you are willing to spend, bring it, and make getting additional money difficult but not impossible.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:55
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It's sort of like going to Vegas: bring as much as you are willing to lose.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:08
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Ego Trip posted:My advice is to decide how much money you are willing to spend, bring it, and make getting additional money difficult but not impossible. Well sure, if you wanna be you know... a financially responsible adult.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:11
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How hard is it to get parking at the con itself? I'm in the 'hotel like 6 miles away' club, and wanted to know if I was going to need to look into taxis/shuttles.
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Apr 7, 2014 06:38
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InShaneee posted:How hard is it to get parking at the con itself? I'm in the 'hotel like 6 miles away' club, and wanted to know if I was going to need to look into taxis/shuttles. It's a bit of a pain. You might get lucky with the mall parking lot, but street parking is going to be impossible.
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Apr 7, 2014 08:04
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Park at Lucasoil, cheap and lots of spaces.
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Apr 7, 2014 17:15
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Last year I didn't have much of a problem finding parking in the mall garages, but I got to the convention center around an hour and a half before things started, but it fills up really fast. This year I have a room at the Mariott across the street (expensive), but at least I won't have to sorry about where to put my car.
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Apr 8, 2014 00:07
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InShaneee posted:How hard is it to get parking at the con itself? I'm in the 'hotel like 6 miles away' club, and wanted to know if I was going to need to look into taxis/shuttles. Last year I had a far out hotel and just took the bus. It was cheap and hassle free.
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Apr 8, 2014 09:19
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the_steve posted:So, speaking as someone whose only con experience is 2 tours of Tekkoshocon over in Pittsburgh, how much money should I realistically expect to need to bring? Excluding travel/hotel/the badge and meals? Is there anything I'd need cash for other than merchandise? I realize this is technically a story about merchandise, but you will see how I consider it something else entirely--in 2012, Jon Peterson was at Gen-Con promoting his new book "Playing At The World," the universally-agreed-upon definitive history (and prehistory) of the early years of the gaming hobby. He mentioned in a little speech that he did not bring any copies to sell, he only had his own copy, but that they would be available online. So I asked if he would sell me his copy and sign it, and of course being a good businessman he did so. HOW WOULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED IF I DID NOT CARRY COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF CASH, I ASK YOU For-real other than merchandise and the things already mentioned, well, technically if you have all the event tickets you want to use, then no, there is nothing but tangible goods to spend your money on. But like, between the Exhibitor's Hall and the Auction and Auction Store, virtually any single nerd-related object from the last century of nerdity COULD be available for purchase, and do you really want to take the chance that something you want would be for sale and you could not afford it?!? Ego Trip posted:My advice is to decide how much money you are willing to spend, bring it, and make getting additional money difficult but not impossible. But I do like the "difficult but not impossible" part. Certainly if you have $2,000 in your pocket there is a much greater chance of spending $2,000 than if you have $1,000 in your pocket and $1,000 in the bank. But even as a crazy Gen-Con Maniac I never spend as much cash as I bring, though perhaps I am more frugal than I realize. Ego Trip posted:I would attend.
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Apr 8, 2014 23:05
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Don't forget money for food trucks and beer
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Apr 9, 2014 01:53
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Ok, sweet. What are the Event tickets? I keep thinking of carnivals "Well Steve! It'll cost 3 tickets to see Jim Butcher, yessiree!" With Tekko, I pretty much just got in line for whatever panel I was going to, but again, that's a small anime con. Gencon is big and confusing, and I am admittedly a simple man. Basically, I don't wanna gently caress up by spending all the money to get there and then not be able to actually do anything because I forgot to do a thing.
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Apr 9, 2014 07:40
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camoseven posted:Don't forget money for food trucks and beer Food trucks, beer, and $7 boxes of dead TCGs to draft with your 7 roommates
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Apr 9, 2014 07:48
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the_steve posted:Ok, sweet. Event tickets are for individual events. Here in the next few weeks They'll post the event listings so everyone can plan on which games/events they want to get into. There's a third party site that puts up an easier to use version once it get released. A while after that they'll open up Event registration so that everyone can bitch about not getting into the various games they wanted to play (and more than likely how Gen Con, who should know better by now, failed to properly scale their systems for what is essentially a scheduled DDOS.) You should also pick up some generic tickets, which can be used for any game, but don't guarantee you a spot in the game like an event ticket does. Sometimes you can get into a sold-out game with a generic by letting the person running it know that you'd like to play if they have any no-shows, and hanging around for a few minutes. Edit: Also, if you don't manage to get into any of the games you want to play, there are pickup games happening at all hours of the con, and I will always recommend Games on Demand for trying something new.
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Apr 9, 2014 07:59
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the_steve posted:Ok, sweet. "Generic Tickets" are what you buy to be able to show up at a game last-minute and hope there is still space for you to play, and then each Generic Ticket gets you uhh what, $2 toward the price of admission? So most events would take 2-4 of those, for however expensive the thing was normally. On the other hand, most seminars are free, which is part of why so many people sign up for them and then why so many people skip them for something else in the heat of the moment. What are you into, gaming-wise? Apparently anime. There are certainly anime events, and anime dealers in the exhibit hall, but as long as you look through the event catalog when it comes out and get tickets to things that sound interesting, you cannot really do anything wrong. Unless you go the other direction and over-commit; I let my Older Friend(tm) talk me into signing up for like 2-3 games a day the first year I went, and by the end of the first day I was ready to start skipping every event because the Exhibit Hall was endlessly fascinating (and basically endless). And when you add in how into the Auction/Auction Store I got in later years, I basically feel like Gen-Con is too short to spend your time gaming at it. PERFECT TWO SIMILAR EXPLANATIONS IN A ROW WOOO
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Apr 9, 2014 08:01
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Honestly, I'm up for pretty much anything. I like RPG's, though I'm only really familiar with a handful of systems. And I'll play pretty much any boardgame at least once. The only real priority I have is seeing Butcher. I figure for the rest of it, I'll wander around, maybe find a few Pathfinder Society games to get my Magus some experience, and then make up the rest as I go. And try not to spend my life savings on merch. Sweet sweet merch.
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Apr 9, 2014 08:34
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Quarex posted:... you cannot really do anything wrong. Unless you go the other direction and over-commit; I let my Older Friend(tm) talk me into signing up for like 2-3 games a day the first year I went, and by the end of the first day I was ready to start skipping every event because the Exhibit Hall was endlessly fascinating (and basically endless)... This! Don't overbook yourself, especially since this is your first Gen Con. Give yourself at least an hour between planned events, if not two hours, and be ready/willing to drop a plan if something more interesting comes up (like running into an old friend/getting invited to a pick-up game/eating at the ram*/etc). Also, the exhibit hall... Remember that scene in Willy Wonka where Gene Wilder opens the door into the room made of candy and starts singing about paradise? It's like that. Times a thousand. It's a room the size of a football stadium and it has every game company in North America (and most of them from other parts of the world) showing off their latest and greatest creations. It is every card shop you've ever visited, with singles and packs and cases of every card game you've ever have played, or ever could play. It is a rich tomb of ancient gaming relics for you to crack open and explore like a Victorian era Egyptologist. You can play games that haven't been released yet, you can meet your favorite game designer, and you can find anything for the hobby. But for the love of god don't come to a stop in the intersections!
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Apr 9, 2014 08:40
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8one6 posted:Also, the exhibit hall... ...or use a rolling bag, or fill a backpack like you're a sherpa, or carry around some giant fuckoff cosplay weapon because that poo poo is just as annoying.
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Apr 9, 2014 18:06
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Yay Gen Con! It's back! My group was in formation on housing day, pounding away at the system to get a room reservation, and it resulted in us having two. We're holding both for now, and I'll probably just cancel mine once it gets a little closer, but until then, I do have an extra double/double at the Hyatt Regency for Wednesday/Monday (that I wouldn't cancel if people were joining me in it, but I'm not going to pay $1300 or whatever for a hotel room for myself). I've asked a few people local to me and haven't gotten any raving interest, so if people are planning on going and don't have lodging sewn up, I have some available (at an appropriate rate, of course - I'm not giving it away). I seem to remember Gen Con goons being a nice bunch and not particularly gross or anything.
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Apr 9, 2014 21:33
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By double/double do you mean two adjacent rooms?
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Apr 9, 2014 22:45
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ritorix posted:By double/double do you mean two adjacent rooms? Its a room with two double beds in it.
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Apr 9, 2014 23:01
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We just landed a State Suite at the Hilton and are holding a double room just in case. Better than last year, when we had nine fully grown men sleeping in one small double room at the Sheraton. I think there are probably a lot of groups who are holding onto two rooms and plan to drop one. Anyhow, I'll have a good space at the Hilton in case any of y'all want somewhere a little calmer to go play.
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May 5, 2014 18:18
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I have been wanting to post another couple of years' random Gen-Con highlights here but I did not want to bump the thread just for that ... SO SAINT GERALD IS NOW THE PATRON SAINT OF EXCITING DELAYS WELCOME TO GEN-CON 2012!!!  WELCOME TO GEN-CON 2013 ALSO!  INSIDE YOU WILL FIND MANY STYLISH NEW THINGS  AND SOME THINGS LITERALLY UNCHANGED IN 30 YEARS!  BUT THE DICE GLOW BRIGHTER ALL THE TIME!   I am not sure why there were so many green balloon outfits/sculptures that year.  Traditional Games nemeses Jon Peterson, author of "Playing at the World" and generally awesome dude, and Jason Elliot, editor of Gygax Magazine. And an Auction dude whose name I always forget but who is apparently one of the wealthiest gaming collectors around.  Working at the Auction also means having Frank Mentzer (of Basic D&D authorship fame) criticizing my auctioneering, which is more than a little harrowing. Though I was pretty excited when he told me he was impressed that I actually listened to his advice, haha. Also featuring the Auction guy people mistake for Tim Kask who is not Tim Kask.  For everyone wondering what it looks like to auctioneer. Oh, just me, then, and I already knew? Right.  This is about how crowded the Auction is on average while the Dealer's Hall is still open. Once the hall closes you slowly get to the "all seats filled and dozens standing at the back" territory. Particularly during the collectible auction and T.O.V.A.  Speaking of packed, I think this is a pretty good illustration of just how crowded the Dealer's Hall can get these days.  Or maybe this one is better.  Wait what  AHHHHHHHHHHH
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May 6, 2014 03:31
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I have a dumb question. I am sharing a room with a friend at the Mariott this year whereas in previous years I have always stayed at one of my friends' houses just outside of 465. Will I be able to park in the Mariott parking garage even though I don't have my name on the room?
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May 6, 2014 04:09
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pakman posted:I have a dumb question. I am sharing a room with a friend at the Mariott this year whereas in previous years I have always stayed at one of my friends' houses just outside of 465. Will I be able to park in the Mariott parking garage even though I don't have my name on the room? If you check in with your friend, you can get your name listed, get a card, and I presume get valet parking (for that nominal fee, of course) But you should call the mariott and ask to find out for sure.
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May 6, 2014 05:08
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I did not realize I was bumping the thread all the way back from April, but I will accept my role as patron saint of exciting delays with all the gravitas it deserves. It's about time it got bumped anyway, I think the event list should be published in a week or so. I have random highlights from last year too:  A pirate, a Klingon, Chewbacca, and something that might be a succubus from WOW or some poo poo, I dunno. Anyway, they were surprisingly not completely terrible.  the best costumes  Netrunner nationals. This will mean little to non-Netrunners, but I was 7 ice deep on R&D and the runner (Katman) could still break it for 3 creds and a click. I wish I had pics from True Dungeon, but it was far too dark. Still well worth the time and money, as long as you have a good group. We ran it twice last year and will no doubt do so again. I think I'm going to keep my schedule mostly open this year, though, as most of the fun I had last time was just playing pickup games of whatever with whomever. On that note, I will be happy to coordinate a casual Netrunner tournament if we can get enough people and can fit it into schedules. I can probably throw in some promo cards or something for a prize. Also, I'll be at the Colts on the Wednesday night, assuming they are doing their trivia night again. That was the big goon meeting spot last year, and if memory serves the goonsquad won the trivia. Nerds.
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May 6, 2014 13:54
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When do they post the event schedule? Is it the same day event registration opens? Cause that would be pretty annoying.
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May 6, 2014 14:02
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It is usually only about a week before registration opens up, if I recall correctly. Certainly plenty of time for the thread to burst open wide with mockery/excitement over events before you actually have to sign up.
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May 6, 2014 17:30
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What's the best group size for True Dungeon?
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May 6, 2014 18:36
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pbpancho posted:What's the best group size for True Dungeon? Groups are always 10. Or they were last year, at any rate. We take a full 10. If you have a smaller group you can either take your chances with whoever fills the other slots, or I think you can buy out the other slots if you want to go as you are. I doubt they scale the combat difficulty.
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May 6, 2014 19:04
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Finally going to Gen Con this year with two other gen con virgins. I see I missed the boat on finding anything within 5 miles of thr con. Any hope in the wait list or just book something further out?
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May 7, 2014 19:26
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Mr.Trifecta posted:Finally going to Gen Con this year with two other gen con virgins. I see I missed the boat on finding anything within 5 miles of thr con. Any hope in the wait list or just book something further out? Best to just make plans somewhere else. I wouldn't place much faith in the waiting list. Luckily one of my friends actually cares about this kind of poo poo so we got block hotels this year. I'm surprised at how bad it's gotten over the last few years though. We used to be able to just book stuff whenever but now even the ghetto LQs remotely near the convention center are all booked up way in advance
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May 7, 2014 19:49
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I registered right when it opened and some stuff was completely closed out within half an hour.
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May 7, 2014 20:01
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Don't rule out the waiting list, I got a room at JW Marriott last year from it. I think I had registered by this time though.
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May 7, 2014 20:38
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CellBlock posted:Yay Gen Con! It's back! I realize this is from like a month ago (that's what I get for not bookmarking the thread), but I might be interested in joining you if you're still holding the room. I've got a tentative spot in a friend's room, but a) it's only Thursday-Sunday, and b) right now it's at a hotel by the airport that MAY get waitlist upgraded to the Marriott. If I can simplify my sleeping arrangements, that'd be rad. Let me know! (This is my first Gen Con as a goon, but I promise I'm nice and not particularly gross.)
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May 7, 2014 21:49
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Your best bet of getting a good room is to book outside the housing block entirely (as in, before it opens) or to make friends with a Very Important Gamer(tm) with their sweet early registration privileges. Though to be fair the years Motocross GP was in Indianapolis at the same time, even by the beginning of September things were already mostly sold out for the next year. I say "mostly" because I am still holding an Embassy Suites reservation I likely will not need ... but. It is nearly $300/night.
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May 8, 2014 01:27
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Has anyone on the waiting list heard anything at all? This is my first year actually registering for my own housing, and I got screwed out of a JW Marriot spot because the site crashed on me after entering my CC info and dumped me back in queue. I signed up for the waiting list and registered a room "out by the airport" as a placeholder (since that is all that was available at that point.) I've gotten no responses and everything about the waiting list says "don't bother asking, we'll contact you when we get to you", but the lack of any acknowledgement makes me worry. I really didn't like the way the housing was handled. After my first attempt to get Thurs-Sun crashed, Friday was booked completely everywhere and you could only book consecutive days meaning no Thur-Sun available at all. Way to lock out the people who want to come for more than one day!
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May 8, 2014 02:46
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I've been on it trying to switch rooms (king to a double), and I have recieved the confirmation email and a lot of silence.
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May 8, 2014 04:04
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I've been on the waiting list since it opened. Radio silence there. In the meantime I reserved a room at a hotel on the other side of the airport. A pretty long commute but it was relatively cheap for 5 nights.
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May 8, 2014 04:08
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