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Time to get to writing about the lows and highs of this particular GenCon trip! It was one that somehow had some of the best and worst moments of con-going I've dealt with packed into one day, let alone a whole con. Without further adieu: Tuesday:
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday ~ Monday
TL;DR : Shittiest Thursday day followed by greatest Thursday evening. Rest of con was shellshock and fun with goons. I can't give an overall rating to this trip just because I had such opposite moments of good and bad. That losing GenCon exclusive games was probably the third worst thing to happen that Con is telling, but the same loving day that happened so did Monikers with SU&SD. So yeah. Definitely going next year. Definitely booking a hotel better this time.
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Aug 25, 2014 06:03
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I hosed up my hotel booking, and what was supposed to be a 15-minute walk to GenCon becomes a 30-minute drive 
the dinner meetup was WITH THE loving SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN CREW, I spend too much money and so got to be at their private dinner thing. They were awesome, friendly people and great to talk to. They pretty much are who they play in their reviews, except less lost in time and space. Thankfully I didn't have to pay for meal considering my card still frozen.
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camoseven posted:I had a good time at GenCon, and can vouch for both AlienRopeBurn (aka Snackmasta' J) and GimpInBlack. I hosted both of them in my house and neither of them murdered me or pooped in my bed! Everyone else I met was cool, too. I'm sorta glad to hear that I wasn't the only who had a loving TERRIBLE time at the Welcome to the Sixth World event. 3 hours of a disinterested GM watching us make characters, and then 20 minutes of a mission. Ugh. I did get myself addicted to Magic: The Gathering again which is both a good and bad thing. Which one were you in? It would be kind of funny if there was a goon in my session and I didn't know it. Thursday at 4:00 I was at the table with the two Canadians.
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Aug 25, 2014 11:08
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Trynant posted:
Those "goons" you drank with were me and my wife who is not a goon. Glad the second half of your trip went better than the first.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:51
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I felt super bad when you told me about your stolen/lost games, Trynant. Thanks for the games of Cash N Guns and Netrunner though 
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Aug 25, 2014 19:26
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Sorry again about your trials, Trynant. But hey though, we are almost a mere 11 months from Gen-Con 2015 already  you will have a better year next year overall for sure!Hmm, and I made this thread in February ... drat, the next thread is coming in only slightly more than four months!!! If anyone has some hilarious pictures they took this year, please post them (or links to them, whatever) so I can get some good fodder for the next thread--I have pretty much used up all my general-interest Gen-Con pictures in the last two years of thread. And I cannot possibly repeat the "Chill Vampires" picture. I should probably post mine, but that picture Mudcrab Merchant posted of me with Envy in the Group Me is enough damage for this year.
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Aug 25, 2014 20:15
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Backno posted:Those "goons" you drank with were me and my wife who is not a goon. Glad the second half of your trip went better than the first. Yes! You two were fantastic to chat with. Sorry for the glossover/exclusion; I'm still kind of in shellshock mode so I was rushing a little with naming all the people met. Also beer talk  And hey, just to attempt to cover my bases with who I was chatting with:
Either way goons (and their friends/spouses/etc.) definitely helped make my GenCon more fun than it could of turned out. So cheers folks, I'll hopefully rope you all into crazier board games next time 
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Aug 25, 2014 23:29
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At this point we should just find cons to go to. I had a blast.
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Aug 26, 2014 02:07
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TheHoosier posted:At this point we should just find cons to go to. I had a blast. I'm one of the directors for Play On Con down here in Birmingham, Alabama each summer. We hold it at a combination convention center/summer camp, so we get all the normal hotel rooms and meeting spaces, but we can also do a bunch of outdoor events like archery, canoeing, etc. It's family-friendly during the day, and then at night there's plenty of rampant drunkenness. I'd love to see some goons show up next year. As long as they don't try to re-enact GoonCamp.
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Aug 26, 2014 05:10
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TheHoosier posted:At this point we should just find cons to go to. I had a blast. MAGFest is coming up in January and I had a blast going the last two years. It's a much more low-key time in both scale and atmosphere, but it's the friendliest convention I've been two between GenCon, PAX, and MAGFest.
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Aug 26, 2014 11:28
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GenCon has ruined me for other cons. I live in Atlanta and have been going to Dragon*Con since I was 15 but after GenCon last year, D*Con just seemed lame and this year I just decided to skip it altogether rather than buy a ticket only to spend another $5 to get into their lackluster boardgaming room. I may still show up to get drunk at Trader Vic's on Thursday and possibly go watch the parade on Saturday but otherwise, meh. Maybe it's just that gaming nerds are more my crowd than nerd fandom nerds? PlayOn looks cool and B'Ham isn't too far of a drive. I also talked to Kaddish and RnRAyatollah about DiceTowerCon in Orlando next year, hopefully that'll happen. There's also the Atlanta GameFest in October which I've heard good things about and am going to try this year, if any of you show up for it I'll buy you a beer. GenCon: So much fun that it makes you hate your second-favorite Con.
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Aug 26, 2014 13:32
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I agree with you on DragonCon. It seems like they haven't adapted at all to the growth they've experienced since the early 90's. The space is inadequate, the customer service is poor, and the badge pickup system is an abomination. I remember waiting in line for three hours for my (pre-paid, pre-registered) badge, which they lost. I then got to stand in another line for over an hour. At GenCon? I hit Will Call on Wednesday evening, and despite the line stretching all the way down to Exhibit Hall B, the wait was about 25 minutes. Also, the way DragonCon handles panels and events is awful ("stand in line for four hours, and MAYBE you'll get in to see the cast of Eureka"). As annoying as it is to brave the giant advance ticket rush of GenCon, at least I know before I arrive that I have a reserved seat at everything on my schedule. Unless they've changed any of that in the past few years. I was so soured by my DC experience that I swore I'd never go back. Lawen posted:There's also the Atlanta GameFest in October which I've heard good things about and am going to try this year, if any of you show up for it I'll buy you a beer. Be warned though: These are strictly "open gaming" events. There are no tournaments, no shows, no parties, no activities outside of boardgaming. It's literally a giant ballroom full of people and tables, with hundreds of games available to play. That said, I find it to be the best opportunity to actually play games (as opposed to GenCon-style "quickly demo and buy games") and meet a ton of awesome people.
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Aug 26, 2014 13:52
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There are other gaming focused cons that are good but Gen Con is the only large one in the states that pulls it off without turning into Comicon light*. I know several people after this year and last year are worried about that changing, though. Honestly, if you avoid that stuff then Saturday is the only day that seems closer to fandom than gamerdom to me and even that is somewhat of a stretch. Garycon is wonderful, particularly if you are into the history of roleplaying and like games in either the OSR or 1st edition period or older (not necessarily TSR). That includes old wargames and boardgames up to the modern day. I've been to it twice now and the games are great, meeting and playing with people from the beginning of the industry is great, and getting beer served to you at your game tables is great. It was also a wonderful experience to play both OD&D and a sandtable game of Chainmail in the house Gygax typed D&D up in. It is certainly smaller, however, at 1% the size of Gen Con, but it is no less fun with 500+ people if what you want to do is play games as the major part of your con. I have heard similar things about North Texas RPG Con, just a smidge smaller in attendance than Garycon, but I haven't been able to make it out to that one yet. I have had mix success with local cons in the Philadelphia area. I don't regret going to them, but with the exception of Historicon they have all felt more like a bigger in-store gaming experience. *=I have not attended Comicon, Dragon Con or any of the PAX's so this is all from second hand descriptions of them. That said, from the descriptions I have had of them and why people who love them go they don't sound like my cup of tea at all.
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Aug 26, 2014 14:27
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We went to Origins from 2006 to 2010 and after the tiny mediocre 2010 Origins we decided to just go to Gencon and see what it's like. Now the thought of going back to Origins is just horrible. The convention center is smaller and shittier because it actually let's people sleep on the floor and the events and vendor hall just keep getting smaller and smaller. We went back for a day in 2012 and it was just depressing.
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Aug 26, 2014 14:31
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LESS TALKING, MORE PICTURE-POSTING Actually, no, MORE TALKING, AND ALSO MORE PICTURE-POSTING I will post that picture of me with Envy I swear to god do not make me do it I wish I took pictures of our Colts Grille table
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Aug 26, 2014 20:15
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I had a blast, this being my first GenCon I was surprised at what an overwhelming good experience it was. I have a ton of photos and a few videos I'll throw on imgur when I get a chance. Hate I missed all of the goon sanctioned events but between overbooking myself, demoing, dealer hall wandering and getting drunk with friends I was pretty busy.
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Aug 26, 2014 21:19
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Quarex posted:LESS TALKING, MORE PICTURE-POSTING I am taking the lazy way out and not selecting individual images. Rather here is a link to all of the photos I took at Gen Con this year: https://plus.google.com/photos/107246940752848843822/albums/6049089079338174273?authkey=CO6ymdTR6Obu3QE
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Aug 26, 2014 21:59
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My con was good; the events I participated in were all great, with the exception of the Spycraft game that I played, but I guess what do you expect for a game system that's been in testing for 3-4 years. The CoC game/LARPish thing was fun; I would do it again if the theme/flavor was up my alley. I don't know if I'll take a shift working the TCG hall again. I probably will, since working one shift leaves the entire rest of the con open and still pays for the badge and some swag. Gaming and/or drinking with goons remains the highlight of Gen Con; I wish I had gotten to Colts Grill for trivia and stuff, but my travel group had a Gen Con virgin that we wanted to show around, and then I had a stupid staff meeting. Whoever graciously shared their Captain Morgan while playing Avalon was very nice; the Dick Pill Fiasco was quite entertaining, as was Toc Toc Woodman. Next year, I'll have to be more careful to either schedule more things for myself or book fewer really long events so I have time to play some real games with goons (not that Avalon isn't a real game). Maybe we can rush some scheduled events so someone else can handle our logistics.
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Aug 26, 2014 22:06
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Here's my Gen Con 2014 Photo Gallery. It's mostly photos I grabbed while doing press stuff in the vendor hall, but I got a few interesting ones of other activities (including a very blurry photo of the Colts Grille meetup).
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Aug 27, 2014 03:57
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Thanks for posting pictures!!! I will be using a few of yours for sure, N3SB1T, and WhiteHowler, I think it is entirely appropriate that the only picture so far of the Colts Grille shenanigans is blurry enough that it would be hard to actually identify anyone, haha.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:38
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Kobold guide to board game design is my new game design bible. It was the thing that let me know I was on the right track. When my game survived all of the tests that book put it through I knew I was ready to seek out publishers.
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Aug 27, 2014 06:22
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This was my 6th Gencon so I take less and less pictures every year. A lot of things repeat and more and more I don't find it worth the time to take pictures of stuff when I can be running around gaming like a loon. Here are some pictures I did take though: We take him on every road trip. You start being a cranky/lovely/a butthead someone just puts on Blabbleberry and then you look like an rear end in a top hat yelling while he looks on.    I took a picture of a pepper on the sidewalk     IT'S HAPPENING!  Playing Desert Island (sequel to one of my favorite games, Lifeboat.) with Jeff Siadek, the designer.   The rings I bought. Got a gold R-P-S for  MY GIRLFRIEND 
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Aug 27, 2014 07:06
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ThaShaneTrain posted:Kobold guide to board game design is my new game design bible. It was the thing that let me know I was on the right track. When my game survived all of the tests that book put it through I knew I was ready to seek out publishers. I liked the other design book and hope this is as good or better. Glad to hear it was useful for you. We'll see when I actually have time to put it into practice.
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Aug 27, 2014 16:20
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nesbit37 posted:I liked the other design book and hope this is as good or better. Glad to hear it was useful for you. We'll see when I actually have time to put it into practice. Which other design book?
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Aug 27, 2014 16:37
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See that picture of Tom Vasel? See that lovely foamcore insert sitting on the table there (kind of hard to see around Tom, though). That is MINE now. They couldn't get anyone to shell out $45(!) for the thing, so I picked it up for $20 (which for a decent, well-made insert designed to hold the base game+expansion, is a good price).
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Aug 27, 2014 16:45
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Complete KOBOLD Guide to Game Design , which is there three other design books combined. The board game design book is the 4th one they put out and not included in this compilation.
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Aug 27, 2014 16:46
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ThaShaneTrain posted:IT'S HAPPENING! Ha, fantastic. I kept looking for a booth/vendor who accepted BitCoin to make fun of, but couldn't locate one.
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Aug 27, 2014 17:31
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Peas and Rice posted:Ha, fantastic. I kept looking for a booth/vendor who accepted BitCoin to make fun of, but couldn't locate one. I think this was at the booth with the wooden deck boxes, dice cases, and other wooden gaming stuff. If not, pretty sure they had one too.
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Aug 27, 2014 20:06
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Peas and Rice posted:Ha, fantastic. I kept looking for a booth/vendor who accepted BitCoin to make fun of, but couldn't locate one. I hold out hope that juggalocoin explodes to replace bitcoin but so far no dice.
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Aug 27, 2014 20:13
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SciFunk posted:I think this was at the booth with the wooden deck boxes, dice cases, and other wooden gaming stuff. If not, pretty sure they had one too. I must have missed it then, but I really wasn't on the watch for it. quote:I hold out hope that juggalocoin explodes to replace bitcoin but so far no dice. Juggalocoin isn't a real thing! Hahaha.. http://juggalocoin.org/ 
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Aug 27, 2014 20:26
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I saw that buttcoin booth as well, but didn't get a chance to ask them if they actually took  coins or just used one of the internet black box third parties where people put bitcoins in and money somehow comes out to pay the vendor.
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Aug 28, 2014 03:43
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Was the buttcoin booth in the shady "Entrepreneur" section?
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Aug 28, 2014 12:31
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Has anyone every ran a booth at Gencon? Wondering about hidden expenses, wisdom and/or how the experience was. Thinking of applying for a first timers booth and wondering how it will go.
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Aug 28, 2014 13:56
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Great question. I have often wondered that myself. My friends and I often contemplated trying to put together an aggressively dumb satirical booth as an art project/way to collectively blow thousands of dollars. Though our one-time hook of "YES, WE HAVE STAR FRONTIERS MINIATURES!" would no longer work now that they actually sell for more than ~$2 a box
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Aug 28, 2014 22:25
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LongDarkNight posted:Was the buttcoin booth in the shady "Entrepreneur" section? How did you know?!?!?! But yes, I wanted to point at them and laugh for having that. Anywhere that takes bitcoins should have a supply of paper cone hats with the word "dumbass" written on them that they put on your head for free (with purchase of item using bitcoins). Quarex posted:Great question. I have often wondered that myself. My friends and I often contemplated trying to put together an aggressively dumb satirical booth as an art project/way to collectively blow thousands of dollars. Though our one-time hook of "YES, WE HAVE STAR FRONTIERS MINIATURES!" would no longer work now that they actually sell for more than ~$2 a box Evolve around the con itself. Any time something sells out, claim that you have it. By the end of this con, you would've been rolling in references to Dead of Winter, Tragedy Looper, Warhammer 40k Conquest, and other hot items. Make sure you accept bitcoin!
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Aug 28, 2014 22:29
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darkspider42 posted:Has anyone every ran a booth at Gencon? Wondering about hidden expenses, wisdom and/or how the experience was. Thinking of applying for a first timers booth and wondering how it will go. From a friend of mine I know that they charge $80 to run an extension cord to your booth (it was Artist's Alley, but I doubt it's different for other booths) and you should not plug anything directly into it, as it destroyed the charger for his wife's electric wheelchair.
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Aug 28, 2014 23:01
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I'm 99% sure that the booth in the main area selling the FATE books, The Quiet Year, DungeonWorld, Hillfolk, and that horrific brony PathFinder port I posted in groupme also had a "Bitcoins Accepted Here" sign. I'm 100% sure I saw more than one booth (maybe 3 total?) taking BitCoins and I didn't go into Artists Alley at all.
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Aug 28, 2014 23:50
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darkspider42 posted:Has anyone every ran a booth at Gencon? Wondering about hidden expenses, wisdom and/or how the experience was. Thinking of applying for a first timers booth and wondering how it will go. Right out of college, I sold my indie heartbreaker from the corner of a booth two of my friends had for their own indie heartbreaker. A lot of my revelations would have been obvious to anyone who ever worked retail, but that wasn't me. We had one of those single panel booths in the far reaches of the hall. We were wedged between another, more established purveyor of small-press games and a gentleman who mainly sold HeroClix. We didn't have an advertising budget for free stuff, but we were aware of the image of the first-time vendors who just huddled behind a stack of books, talked to themselves, and expected to do well. We made up buttons and signs and made copies of our books accessible for people who wanted to flip through them without getting the hard sell. We tried offering in-booth demos, although those didn't really take off. I've heard pens make good promotional items. Everybody needs pens. I had practiced an elevator pitch, but it never quite seemed to work. It sounded too much like a commercial and not enough like I was connecting with a fellow gamer over something that interested both of us. Also, I was never quite sure when to fall into pitch mode. When I'm checking out an unknown booth for the first time, I want to explore it on my own for a little while before the owner comes up and asks if I need anything. A too-enthusiastic greeting makes me feel like I'm being scrutinized as I connect with the product on my own terms. As a vendor, I didn't want to chase off shy customers who wanted to judge the book on its own merits. At the same time, I didn't want anyone to miss what made my special angel perfect for their every need. Some of the customers were rude or dismissive. Some of them had no money, but offered exposure through review copies or prize support. A few were probably the stars of a post in the creepy gamer thread. My favorite customers were the ones who made a habit of checking out the new booths every year to see what the next generation was bringing to the hobby. They weren't always interested in what we were selling, but that's how I eventually met the Indie Press Revolution team. In the lengthy downtime when nobody was visiting the booth, the HeroClix gentlemen shared the conventional wisdom of a veteran. He told us not to expect to turn a profit; having booth space was primarily about advertising and connecting with the diehards. He made a pittance on each HeroClix sale, but he was getting his name out there for when people wanted to do bulk orders later on. Overall, it was an informative experience. It showed me a different angle on my favorite convention and connected me with people who've helped me grow as a freelancer. On the other hand, it would've been expensive experience if my friends had thought of me as renting a corner of their booth rather than helping with their space. A few years later, I went back into vendor mode by helping out at the booth of a company where I did some writing. Their operation was larger, but still not for a game that had a thriving fan community. The Cheese Weasel quest brought lots of people into the booth, but most of them weren't role-players (or interested in learning) so pitching to them was discouraging. Books sold best after visitors had an experience to connect with them--either through an official, ticketed demo or an unofficial one at the booth. My experiences as a vendor make me curious. When you're walking past a booth for a game you haven't heard of, what draws you cautiously in and what tells you to keep on walking?
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Aug 29, 2014 00:36
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DNA Cowboys posted:My experiences as a vendor make me curious. When you're walking past a booth for a game you haven't heard of, what draws you cautiously in and what tells you to keep on walking? Take this year as an example. Did anyone else walk through the "Entrepreneur's Alley"? Did you notice how most of the booths were basically a table or two with a stack of books or boxes? No matter how good their product might be, why on earth would anyone stop to investigate? Hell, I was there as press and it was my job to see as many new products as possible, and even I passed most of these by. Now, did you happen to walk around the "back" side of the hall where the Incredible Expeditions booth was? Here, I'll refresh your memory:  These folks were self-publishing their very first game, and they were also part of Entrepreneur's Alley. They also busted their asses to make their booth attractive, with a ton of set-pieces and costumes. Despite the fact that virtually all of the copies of their game got held up in customs and they had literally nothing to sell but pre-orders, their booth was packed most of the weekend, and they were visited by several big press outlets. Obviously you need a good product to make the sale, but when you're competing with hundreds of other publishers, having an interesting-looking space is the best way to draw people in.
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Aug 29, 2014 00:54
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Thank you for the world's largest .JPG, Lawen.LuiCypher posted:Evolve around the con itself. Any time something sells out, claim that you have it. By the end of this con, you would've been rolling in references to Dead of Winter, Tragedy Looper, Warhammer 40k Conquest, and other hot items. Make sure you accept bitcoin! WhiteHowler posted:An attractive booth goes a very long way. I honestly do not think in all the years I have attended Gen-Con that I have felt anything but scared off by the "booth name and number on generic paper and then some tables and some people staring at you" booths every single time. The one exception being when Some Guy bought the rights to TORG and briefly tried to resurrect West End Games--but, well, the fact that he had one of those "no-frills" booths is part and parcel of why his efforts to resurrect the brand failed. I am still mad that he told us he was only missing one TORG book because there were no physical copies of it left when he bought the back stock, and he wished he had one for completion's sake ... so CaptainRat and I did the equivalent of Gen-Con dumpster-diving to find him a copy by the end of the convention, and his reward to us was "oh, cool, thanks" still worth it, Jake; high five
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Aug 29, 2014 01:26
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WhiteHowler posted:An attractive booth goes a very long way. Just to add to this, I worked for the Wyrd booth this year. This was their 6th year doing Gen Con but their first going all out with the decorations, fence, statue, etc. The number of people who stopped to ask me if they were a new company was staggering. I know not everyone is into miniatures, but still this is a company that has been there for years with a large booth with a giant rotating banner above it and still had people not notice them in the past. So if you are going to go to Gen Con and set up a booth take the extra time, effort, and money to do it right. You will actually stand out from row after row a couple of people behind a table selling some random game.
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Aug 29, 2014 01:29
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