Gen-Con 2017: This Year, We Finally Apply the Half-Centennial Template

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Gen-Con 2017: This Year, We Finally Apply the Half-Centennial Template

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Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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AW DANG UNOFFICIAL GEN CON 2017 FOR ANDROID JUST UPDATED

HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO

# ¿ May 27, 2017 22:40

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:33

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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LLSix posted:

My schedule Wed - Sunday so far. Am I doing it right? I think I may have scheduled too much time for eating and sleeping.

1. "Bears?"

2. Have you done this before? People who go to Gen-Con for the first time assuming they need wall-to-wall events usually end up skipping all of them by the third day upon realizing there is too much else going on that they have been entirely missing.

3. Bears?

Also Lawen hahaha at your fantastic avatar.

# ¿ May 28, 2017 16:07

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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I have never done the Wish List before and obviously the Gen-Con forums are not working since they run on the same server as the Wish List...uh...what happens now that it submitted it? Do hours pass and then I wake up and it is 1984?

Edit: Am I supposed to have a number?

# ¿ May 28, 2017 17:11

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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O.K. so after a few more minutes it finally was like O.K. GOOD JOB and I discovered I had more overlapping events than I expected.

I am more than a little confused that I seem to have gotten tickets to both of the limited-to-15-people-world-famous-amazing events (Frank Mentzer tour, Jon Peterson tour) but so it goes.

Yes Nesbit37 I WILL BE AT YOUR PANEL WOOOoOoOoO

Edit: How do I know what order I was in? Is there no way?

# ¿ May 28, 2017 17:16

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Wow does this mean I was #1 or

I imagine my number was just low enough that they did not bother showing it to me, then.

And even with all that careful planning I somehow ended up with three events with overlapping times. And now I have no idea what they were since they are gone.

# ¿ May 28, 2017 17:48

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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nesbit37 posted:

Yay! I am surprised, my panel is only one of two to sell out in the initial rush. I had no idea people wanted to know so much about Gen Con's event history. I better get cracking on that prezi

Oh that is awesome, and here I was wondering if I just profoundly miscalculated the relative popularity of the things I tried to sign up for, particularly since the three events I messed up and double-booked for and thus did not get tickets for all seem to still have tickets available just in case. Apparently I dun prioritized real guud

Also HELL YEAH PREZI NYEEEEEEOWWWWWWWWW ZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMmmmmmmmmmm

I can hardly wait until you create the definitive moment when Gen-Con turned from "wargaming convention like the good ole' days" to "just anime for 12-year-old girls" as some awful people seem convinced it is. I DO wonder when the word "cosplay" was first written in an event...

Also I take it Legend of the Five Rings is relaunching or something, given all this bizarre talk after what seems like a decade since I heard anyone mention it? No offense meant if I am 100000% wrong

Edit: Wow yes people in the Facebook group are talking about skipping the convention entirely after being unable to get tickets to the Legend of the Five Rings thing, so I guess so.

Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 01:34 on May 29, 2017

# ¿ May 29, 2017 00:22

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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I did not realize I was a Jon Peterson fanboy, but half of my events are hosted by him, so uh. Look at me. I am officially beyond hope.

# ¿ May 29, 2017 02:06

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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CaptainRat posted:

Not empty-quoting.

hahahahah I also loved that comment.

Does this mean I should leave it on our pre-Gen-Con Indianapolis playlist or has it insulted your honor, I am confused

# ¿ May 29, 2017 16:12

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Deviant posted:

I am deeply incensed about my lack of an L5R ticket.

There is a dude on the Facebook group who is cancelling his badge because he did not get into that event.

I mean it makes a little sense as that was the only reason he had been saving up to go, but it still comes across as pretty misguided rage.

Wait I think I already posted this

This post is now about cats

Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 03:55 on May 30, 2017

# ¿ May 30, 2017 03:53

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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I want to say this is a first, but I also have never done it before. Certainly seems like a time engineered to be hardest for people to manage.

# ¿ May 30, 2017 15:08

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Rad Valtar posted:

Do you guys usually have your badges shipped to you or just do will call? I get to town around 5 on Wednesday so I'm assuming it's better to just walk down and grab the badges and save the $10.

Radio Free Walrus posted:

Just do will call - I did mail once in the past and it was lost for while.

Deathlove posted:

Shipped. Those Will Call lines for the first forty-eight hours are death.

Double Agent posted:

Since will call is now open 24 hours, the best time to go is late at night. Sure, there's a good chance you'll be drunk at that point, but it will be a shorter line.

This conversation loop is nearly closed, but nobody has yet mentioned that the Will Call lines on Wednesday are always pretty short, in addition to being short late at night of course.

On one hand, I used to love having my badge shipped to me; on the other, that is not an option once you are a volunteer anyway, and they make Will Call more enjoyable every year, so I am content with picking everything up now.

Plus I seem to move annually which keeps me never knowing where I will be living in July :smith:

# ¿ May 30, 2017 18:04

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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8one6 posted:

It's still handing there as a reminder to not be a dumbass.

This is a good system.

# ¿ May 31, 2017 04:44

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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The worst effect the Gen-Con bathrooms have had on my life is having such a distinctive stench that on those incredibly rare occasions I end up in some other way-way-way-overused public bathroom elsewhere in life, I instantly recognize the smell and it is briefly nostalgic despite being awful. Hey, Awful Nostalgia! That is like what we have here!

Also one secret to the bathroom quandary is, if you have to use the bathroom, look for the closest bathroom to wherever you are and then ignore it at all costs and keep wandering the convention center halls aimlessly until you find a bathroom in an area where not much is going on. I mean, if you are going to make it that far. If not, I hear [censored AB/DL joke]

Was this posted earlier in this very thread? Yes? No? Who cares, topical again?

Edit: I have just discovered how hard it is to search for comics about conventions.

Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 16:28 on May 31, 2017

# ¿ May 31, 2017 16:17

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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I imagine this might be being talked about in some other place where people talk about things in this subforum but the TORG Eternity Kickstarter is live (and doing, uhh, about 10,000% better than I expected) and someone is Livetweeting the invasion of Earth!

# ¿ May 31, 2017 22:10

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Nemesis Of Moles posted:

I'm highly envious of those of you who have someone in your team willing to sell their immortal souls for good hotel rooms

my gencon squad this year all asked me to submit their events for them

Your squad needs to Squad Up and join you in trying to do these things! Rude. OR DO YOU NEED A NEW SQUAD???

Sloober posted:

I'm just flush with cash because for real suites are easy to get and even now you could probably get one a block away, they're pricey which scares off people.

I just view this as my one great vacation per year so i'm willing to spend.

Same. I was talking about this on one of the official places, where people were asking what the target demographic for Gen-Con was (well, you know, besides nerds), and trying to extrapolate from that what people would be willing to pay for badges and hotel rooms and everything. I think I killed the thread when I said something like "dude I mean, I think if you straight-up reset the V.I.G. and auctioned them off, groups like mine, which is made up of people with middle-to-upper-middle-average incomes at best, would probably bid the price up into the thousands just to be sure we were going to have the best time possible for the best event of the year. I mean, if I am only planning to really spend more than $50 in a day once in a year, I might as well go all-out, right?! And, the point is, that hardly aligns with what you would expect people in our income brackets to be willing to pay. Or maybe it does and I know nothing about vacation spending.

# ¿ May 31, 2017 22:35

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Cthulhu's demand will probably never be satisfied. I think the disparity between the number of people willing/able to run a game like that and the people who want to play is pretty great. Or at least in my experience I would not trust many gamemasters to do "spooky/scary" with any amount of fun involved at all.

betamax hipster posted:

I played the TORG Eternity preview at last years con and wasn't very impressed!

THERE WAS NO GEN-CON 2016 STOP LYING TO ME

I also refuse to believe Shane Hensley is capable of making a bad game (I would be interested to know how much has changed since last year though)

# ¿ Jun 1, 2017 15:22

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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djfooboo posted:

Mr Quarex, tell me about pre-registering games for auction or that side market.

NO

Aw dang I thought I still had this in my Windows clipboard: http://www.livegameauctions.com/

Basically you go there and then go here http://www.livegameauctions.com/PreRegSite and then make an account and oh wow things have changed since I last listed items, let me use screenshots

O.K. so after making your account click on one of "Your Auction Items" or "Your Store Items" and you get this:

Then click the counter-intuitively-placed "Add Item" to get this screen:

For the main Auction, there is no upper limit for how much you can charge for an item, though it is always better to place a reserve on something than to place a high minimum bid, because people get excited and start yelling out higher numbers if it starts low whereas if you start something at $100, even if it is worth over $100, you might only get one bid, from the dealer who is protected from human psychological instincts and is going to re-sell it for more anyway.

As you can see in the screenshot, you can have something either be auction-only, so you get it back if it does not sell on stage, or let it go into the store, where it will be sold for whatever you listed as the minimum bid. So this is why you might want to start something at, say, $20, rather than $2, if you are worried as to whether it would generate enough interest to sell live or if you want to bank on the much larger number of people who will see it over the weekend when cruising the store.

As for putting things in the store directly, you can have things cost up to $50 if listed there directly, including changing the price from a high on Thursday to lower on Friday and lowest on Saturday (or, for comedic effect, you can have the price go up over the course of the weekend).

I think they should probably raise the maximum $50 store cost at some point incidentally, that cap has been the same since the days when you made a profit by listing something at $1 and having it sell, as opposed to now where you would owe them 10� if you actually put something in for $1 and it sold. Not that those things are specifically related

You have until my birthday to register the games, as is tradition.

Did I actually answer your questions or did I, as I am wont to do, fundamentally miss your simple question and launch into the complex explanation

Edit: I could give further information on any of those item input fields that seem confusing (as most of them are, as far as I am concerned)

# ¿ Jun 1, 2017 22:43

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Sionak posted:

The thing about the auction that confused me is that I don't think you have to print out separate store tags for the items that don't sell in the auction. But I feel like I should do that as I am bundling up all my books and stuff.

Ooh, after trying to figure out what you were saying a bunch, I think you are saying that you make a tag for something to sell in the Auction, and then if it does not sell and it goes to the store, it uses the same tag? Yes. You can tell which ones they are because they have "NO SALE" stamped in red on them, just to ensure something does not accidentally get put directly into the Auction Store if it was supposed to go up for auction. I am honestly not sure if you can preemptively set different Thursday/Friday/Saturday store prices for an item you put on stage just in case it does not sell initially.

Sionak posted:

Also I highly recommend selling stuff in the auction, I cleared out years' worth of White Wolf stuff from my house and helped pay for GenCon in the process.

Oh dude yes. Every nerd has stuff in their house that they sort of like but also realize they could totally live without if they knew it were going somewhere that someone would appreciate it AND they could make some money in the process! My greatest shame at this point honestly is that I basically unloaded everything I did not really appreciate by a few years back, and at this point I would probably need to dig into things I previously bought at the Auction to find things to sell :shobon:

8one6 posted:

Is there any way to see a list of the pre-reg'ed store items before the Con?

Yeah what Nesbit37 said; you would think from the pacing of the Auction that things would not pile up that fast, but there is a table in the back of the Auction Store (if you have been there in the last 4-5 years, you probably know the one) that gets filled up with unsold items from the main stage, and that thing goes from empty to overflowing in shockingly little time. And that is even with volunteers trying to move stuff from the "recently unsold" pile to where it would normally go in the store.

I have no doubt they could make this happen, as it would just ("just?") involve making everyone's inputted data publicly accessible...and then compiling it into a spreadsheet somehow, but then you get people's hopes up for items that do not actually necessarily show up (I cannot possibly be the only person who has registered more than a few items that either ended up lost or, in one delightful case, sold to an auctioneer before I made it to check in my items).

# ¿ Jun 4, 2017 05:29

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Multi-posting as is my right as Threadmaker General

I thought I had mined my personal archive of Gen-Con photos in threads past and present, but I just found my unsorted 2013 photos (in, of course, a directory labelled "unsorted") and decided to start posting them both because why not and to try to remind people that WE NEED GOOD GEN-CON PHOTOS FOR THE THREAD :mad:

HELLO!

I was playing with my camera's maximum zoom settings right after we got to town and into our hotel, and in the process I accidentally chronicled the First Guaranteed Convention-Goer Sighting 2013: a two-panel story about gamer stalking!

Someone always eventually asks about the schedule; it is never set until the convention itself, but this one is fairly illustrative of usual timing, other than that the last thing Thursday is usually "things that would probably be considered collectibles anywhere else, but here we have boatloads of stuff outclassing it"

Oh and while I am at it, an Assortment of Photos of the Auction Chamber, including more of those rarely-seen "before it opens" and "from the stage" vantage points!

An exciting photo of half the people offering Gen-Con Horticulture Hall tours this year (Jon Peterson of "Playing at the World" "fame" on the left, and William Meinhardt of "most ludicrous D&D collection in the world" "fame" on the right; also featuring Jayson Elliot, of briefly-relaunched-TSR/Gygax Magazine "fame" in the middle):

And of course Frank Mentzer, now bringing this post's Horticultural Hall Tour Guide total up to 75%, only not 100% because I have never actually seen Peter Adkinson at Gen-Con:

Ooh also featuring ("The") Dragon founding editor Tim Kask on the right, and on the left the guy whose name I never remember but who is one of the only people on staff at the Auction who can out-chipper me. Also starring Occasional Chainmail Bikini Caroline strolling across the stage in what I can only assume is a Cloak of Elvenkind.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2017 01:24

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Carteret posted:

I love how you could have told me those photos of the auction pre-open were from any year in the last decade and I'd believe you.

Yeah the Auction has "authentic yearly self-re-creation" down to a science.

Deviant posted:

i plan to use the auction as my personal nerd thrift store donation center

listing all my old stuff starting at 99 cents and not coming back for anything that doesn't sell.

I see no problem with this. Particularly if you literally start it at 99 cents, it will get people's attention because the word "cents" is so rarely spoken aloud, haha. Though it would be interesting to see what happened if none of your things sold for more than 99� and you technically ended up owing 15% commission, rather than making any money, in addition to the dollar you already paid. But that is both unlikely and also hilarious so go for it

# ¿ Jun 5, 2017 18:51

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Important Forums post update from the "Gen-Con Etiquette Tips" thread

Totally Not Spam posted:

hay all i want join this game because i see my friend say me this game really nice

Anyway,

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

Another downtown hotel popped up and sold out as I was taken to the buying screen.

I thought I had a downtown hotel I booked in case of emergency last August that I was going to try to see about transferring to some Goons, but then I looked at the reservation and remembered everything was already basically booked even then and my emergency hotel was on the north edge of town. USELESS TO ALL

Agrias120 posted:

Has anyone ever done one of the "Totally not Star Trek" bridge simulations? My group of 5 is looking at doing either Spaceship Bridge Simulation or Starship Horizons, but as we've never done either it's kind of a stab in the dark for us. I'd be interested if anyone has any opinions on either, or even if the prevailing opinion is that both suck and don't waste your time with them.

I know several people who rave about how fantastic Artemis is, BUT I do have to acknowledge they were raving most about it 2-3 years back, so it is entirely possible that this does nothing to contradict the last two posts about it going way downhill.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 03:46

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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WerrWaaa posted:

Consider also the awful Soylent for meals because it's easy peasy. That's what I'm doing.

Any Goonmeets happening? Anyone running events? 'Cause I suddenly have a free weekend unless someone gives me L5R tickets. Mostly interested in RPGs and seminars, since I've dropped board and mini games from my repertoire. I used to hit the Egyptian hookah bar in Broadripple a lot when I was an edgy college kid, and their food was good. Assuming they are still around I can add them to the recommended list. Danny Boy in Carmel ain't bad neither, for beers and such.

I want you to know I am seriously considering checking out the Soylent coffee/breakfast drinks as a result of you casually mentioning them. They are finally moving on from "just being an unappetizing concept!"

Also yeah there are events...Nesbit37, is your Google Doc still around? Did anyone actually use it last year? I feel like the GroupMe has sort of stolen its thunder even though it is probably more useful for planning purposes.

Fellis posted:

Unfortunately, st gerald was being sarcastic

Last year Goonmeets happened every night at High Velocity, the hotel bar/resturant in the JW Mariott, where we took over a side area of the bar to play games and drink.

I was initially taken aback at his post until it then quickly occurred to me that he was being sarcastic. But to a casual observer it might sound like those events he mentioned were all catastrophic failures of Goon Meets.

And yeah now that the Colts Grille Nerd Trivia is seemingly permanently not on the Wednesday before the convention starts, I imagine all formal meetings will end up planned there. Though this year I am determined to log into the Forums on my phone to give others a fighting chance of knowing what is going on (but GroupMe really is great).

Also more random photos

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 17:22

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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Nemesis Of Moles posted:

I love you all but please don't use Soylent in place of actual food. Half of the fun of GenCon is going to all the cool places around for food and I don't want my fiasco buddies getting heavy metal poisoning from their nutrient sludge.

Oh I would never skip a meal. Well, O.K., as I am fond of pointing out, I do skip every lunch in sight because that is Prime Gen-Con Exhibition Hall Time but that is why I am also stocking up on clearance snacks at grocery stores and random imported chocolates I have never heard of. Oh and instant Thai Iced Tea from Thailand, they know what is up

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 17:57

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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nesbit37 posted:

I just remade it:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jNHe8oYKYbffaelCoeTtf_0RXbnC1_e12K-cWTFs2sA/edit?usp=sharing

The groupme is better while at Gen Con, but for planning purposes I think the spreadsheet is way better. Go add your info Gen-Goons!

I was going to comically post "DONE ALREADY" and then I loaded the spreadsheet and noticed I am, in fact, already in it. I am so good

Ilor posted:

Yeah, if you go full-Soylent, you will miss out on the joy of Haveli, which will make you a sad goon.

I absolutely need to give Haveli another shot, the only time I went last time was right after I had already had one dinner and whatever appetizer I ordered was not nearly as good as I assumed it should be. But I feel like the time I got an entr�e there it was good so I am holding out hope that I will rejoin the 100% Good Review Crew

Rad Valtar posted:

I've never put anything in the store or auction but I really want to get rid of my Marvel Dice Masters collection. I'm thinking the store would be the best bet.

Thank you for posting that so I could Goog it and say "oh, THAT is what those weird symbol dice things are."

Yeah anyone who has anything remotely nerdy clogging up closets or basements at home--GRAB IT AND PUT IT IN THE AUCTION

Some of the things I have loaded up and sold at previous Auctions (that you might not immediately think to sell) to varying degrees of great success (I think everything in this list went for at least $10):

A box full of Halloween masks
Three sheets of Garbage Pail Kids that ended up being Series 1 and selling for like $30
A box full of plastic weapons
The enormous letters S I N from an old Kinko's sign
A voice-changing box that Josh used while describing it that ended up selling for almost $70 despite costing $8
A 70" resin skeleton (Frank Mentzer nearly won this for $50 as I recall but someone worrying-looking outbid him)
A huge blue storage tub full of Mad and Cracked magazines
Nintendo Entertainment System and ~30 games
1990s-era WWF Juice Drinks (in ~2010)
A hideous purple marionette bird-thing
A mug from a Princeton fraternity circa 1966

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 18:55

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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I now understand why I have never Havelid properly, because I am a world-famous lunch-avoider at the convention. As I think I already literally posted once on this very page

Oh well, I will just sit in the Auction with my expired Sunbelt Granola Bar stash and stare wistfully in the direction of Haveli's buffet

Edit: The guy in that video just said "flaccid bacon" and now I am sad

Edit: O.K. for as much as some of this is super-weird I am intrigued by the concept of the prison fridge and I have to acknowledge I never knew the avocado trick. Though I also suspect it means further ruining any overripe avocado still in the store. Pretty libertarian

Edit: A name I have not heard since the late 1990s apparently always wins the egg-making contest at some hacker convention

Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Jun 7, 2017

# ¿ Jun 7, 2017 21:06

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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head58 posted:

True words. Two years ago i was in the room when an item came up: a lovely rusty red toolbox full of weird index cards and some terrain bits and masking tape and I think a butterknife. The auctioneer dubbed it the "hobo murder toolkit," and I knew I needed to have it. A couple of dollars later she was mine! I've murdered no hobos with it* but I did turn it into a case for my Guild Ball minis (Masons) and other nerds are jealous.

Dreams can come true at the auction, goons. People will pay money for your crap that you can't imagine anyone else wanting. I'm living proof!

It is all true! Also I am genuinely surprised that something as creative as the term "hobo murder toolkit" arose at an Auction where Josh was not auctioneering.

Carteret posted:

FFG just announced they are adding more tickets for the L5R event. 2nd Chance!

No worries, I notified the guy who was threatening to not go if he did not get a ticket. THAT WAS MY GOOD GAMING DEED FOR THE HOUR

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 17:43

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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And also why they cut Educators from being able to use the Exhibition Hall on Trade Day this year. Which is a drat shame, as it would have been one of the most tangible uses thus far of the Dr. part of my name.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 18:34

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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nesbit37 posted:

Even though I don't have an educators badge this year it pissed me off. I mean the educator part of trade day already kind of sucks, and now for the same price you get less badge value. They should at least drop the cost or something since the educators are mostly non-profit folk coming.

Yeah and I realize it was speculation, or at least I think it was, but it was like...clearly this is related to complaints about things selling out before the main show starts, but really, you let retailers keep early access like they are not surely more likely to be causing problems than educators? Dumb.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 20:25

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

There's honestly no reason to buy anything at Gencon that you can't get at your FLGS unless it's a crazy good deal, which is rare, or exclusive to GenCon, which is also rare.

The other big exception being if you are in the Auction/Auction Store, as they specialize heavily in "crazy good deals" in huge numbers and, well, sort of "exclusive to Gen-Con" in the sense that your local game store is not going to have, say, a shrinkwrapped copy of a rare game from 1976.

But yes, my purchases in the Exhibition Hall itself have almost entirely switched from games to another category of thing you might want to get there: fabulous clothing and accessories!!! I think a good 25% of my shirts are from Gen-Con, and I would like to bring my sock tally up around that percentage as well. It would be easier if the average nerdy shirt were not per this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w700Q_5-y0

Edit: Oh and beyond fabulous clothing and accessories another category of things you can clearly buy at Gen-Con and not feel bad for stealing money from your local economy is incredibly stupidly expensive furniture

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 21:20

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

I enjoyed the year I went to Gen-Con thinking "I wonder if Palladium ever made some fluff books relevant to my current campaign?" and I found the RIFTS booth and I found a book that seemed right up my alley and I noticed Kevin Siembieda was there and I had him sign it and left, and I realized I had basically never even noticed the RIFTS booth before, so I have decided it Brigadoon'd me hard.

Exmond posted:

I'd say you might be missing out on things if you go to gencon to just buy things. Go out to events or meetup with goons.

Gen-Con is too short for events :colbert:

Granted my catchphrase has less resonance this year as I am signed up for a game and like six seminars BUT I still chafe at the idea of that much time spent cloistered in a little room instead of taking in the grand sweep of nerd history taking place all around.

Meeting Goons though, that is good for sure. I only successfully got together with one of the Goon Hordes like 3 times so far, but each time it was lots of fun. I also just antagonized Colts Grille to check their Nerd Trivia schedule, speaking of hordes.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2017 01:18

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

LuiCypher posted:

Best ever

LuiCypher posted:

I'll even say that it's not the fault of the program and is definitely the fault of the manufacturer, but that's not how your average con-goer is going to see it. When you feel like you need to be VIG to have a shot at something and then you find out you have no shot at being VIG, people are going to get salty.

Yeah I am sympathetic to the VIG-angry and VIG-dude-chill-out-bro camps, because there actually were years where the VIG did not need a lottery when announced for the upcoming year, which might suggest all the people furious about the lack of VIG availability are NEWBS LOL DID NOT EARN THEIR PLACE except...I personally never put in for VIG because it seemed pointless as I always just booked a hotel a year ahead of time, and lacked the foresight to imagine Gen-Con might suddenly double or potentially-this-year-nearly-triple in attendance over the span of a decade and that VIG Badges would be in retrospect the greatest possible investment in your Fun Future.

The point is, they actually could make it worse; just imagine if they started auctioning off all newly-available VIG badges and people found out that there are attendees who could (and would) drop 5 figures to attend Gen-Con! Or, even more excitingly terrible, if they stripped ALL the VIG badges and distributed them to the 500 highest bidders, I suspect all of which would be at least mid-4 figures! CAPITALISMMMMMmmmmmmm

# ¿ Jun 10, 2017 17:30

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Old Doggy Bastard posted:

Currently heading to Origins Game Fair to quench my Ohio and Convention urges until Gen Con.

nesbit37 posted:

I am off to Origins as well! Curious to see what I think of it this year compared to last.

I knew I should have installed the Awful App(tm)

Granted I only had a total of about ten hours on-site at Origins despite getting to Columbus on Monday, but I still bet something funny could have happened as a result of our Goon Presence.

Also ugh Origins is bad

So bad

I do not mean to disparage the potential it has for allowing people to get together and play games and have a good time, as clearly there was fun gaming going on. But if you do not go to conventions primarily for gaming, then it matters that just about every single intangible (and even some tangible) thing that makes Gen-Con amazing is missing. Columbus' downtown is increasingly run-down and under construction and hard to navigate from last year (and definitely compared to ten years ago when I first went), the "Nerd Zone" Gen-Con creates where everything within like a 3-4 block radius becomes all about appealing to the Gen-Con attendee dollar and changing menus, signage, costumes, and attitudes to welcome you to the amazing event... well, at Origins, the convention's influence extends, uh, maybe five feet, as I think I maybe saw one crude Batman drawing on a store next to the convention center.

The extended convention center area itself was even under construction and had sometimes-broken escalators, and admittedly this hit me harder than it probably should have when I attempted to retreat to my last-year sanctuary coffee bar with comfortable seating and found only the entire area torn down to the concrete supports and a few construction workers staring at me.

Oh and the Exhibit Hall is about 1/10th the size of Gen-Con's, and admittedly I did still have a fine time wandering it for a couple of hours over two days, and certainly it provided most of my convention-related highlights. But mostly it just got me hyped up for the real thing in August.

O.K. and also Hot Chicken Takeover is maybe my favorite place to eat, barring perhaps Harry & Izzy's, at any convention.

WerrWaaa posted:

Can I come to shots Friday or shots Saturday? Wednesday is family time, because they live in IN, and they are my excuse for taking off work to go to GenCon.

Also, any one interested in the late night events? Nerlesque or Cosplay Deviants? Seems both weird and overpriced for nerdy horndogs, but nevertheless entertaining perhaps.

I will be at both the Thursday Nerdlesque and Saturday Cosplay Deviants events, because a friend/ex- wanted me to join her at the former and because I pledge my fiscal fealty to the latter.

Also I asked the Colts Grille on their Facebook page if they had any news on Nerdy Trivia and they never answered :mad:

in fact it looks like they turned off their wall posts entirely? Or my browser hates me.

Oh and somebody posted this intriguing analysis of, uh, looks like the last 6 years' Auction results:
https://public.tableau.com/profile/robert.anderson#!/vizhome/GenConAuctionAnalysis/Dashboard

Suddenly I feel for the first time like time has passed more quickly than I realize, as I was like "where is the Gygax briefcase? It sold for more than...oh...oh no, was that 2010 or 2009? Oh no. I am now Gen-Con Old."

I like that you can sort by session and see that even TOVA has valuable things sometimes!

# ¿ Jun 18, 2017 16:23

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

nesbit37 posted:

Bottom line, Origins feels like a much larger local con. I can best compare it to Gen Con in Milwaukee in the mid-90s pre CCG days. They apparently had 17000 unique badges which was fewer than I expected them to have, so you can see its like 1/4 the size of Gen Con. Its not bad to get your Con feet wet or get you excited for Gen Con but it is no substitute.

That is a good way to put it. My favorite "this is just not a professional operation" moment was when I was going to get my badge with Torrent, and when we arrived at the room it said to go to to use the self-service kiosks, and of course that aforementioned room was blocked off, and we asked the people in front of it where to go. They said I could go to the pre-registration line, but Torrent could use the special GM badge line.

So, we each go off. I go to the pre-registration line, which turns out to mostly be an illusion (in the good way!) and I had my badge in about 30 seconds. I waited for Torrent for several minutes, then went looking for him. He was in a line only 6 people long, that nonetheless had not moved in ten minutes. Salvation appeared as a third person came to open up a new line! No, wait, just to tell the people waiting that they could also use the pre-registration line. And, needless to say, after going back to that line, something went wrong with printing his badge and it took another ten minutes of talking to differently-colored-shirt event staff to finally get his badge.

I mean, the first year of Gen-Con Indianapolis was worse, but...this is what year of Origins Columbus again? Like 15 or more? And it is still hard to get your badge printed? Sigh.

Yeah Origins can certainly be fun, but you have to make your own fun to a much greater degree than Gen-Con, where you cannot avoid fun no matter what you do. Well, if you leave your hotel anyway.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2017 22:27

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

I did eventually figure out where it is from another page. Clearly Mudcrab Merchant will be there! Yeah probably not.

I had never heard of Dice Tower until last week when I finally decided I was ready to look for Gen-Con YouTube videos (knowing I might be reminded that 2016 existed). I was confused to hear such a thick Québécois accent, but otherwise I did enjoy their videos. Are they a big deal?

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 12:44

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Sloober posted:

They're popular but are also well known in the SA circle as having really bad, nearly unforgivable opinions about things, in addition to dubious game reviews that cite fun as a reason to like something rather than a mechanics based analysis.

I'll never forget the complaint that Dungeon Lords had a knock against it because the game name made them think it was a dungeon crawler, when it isn't

Well that sounds amazing. I guess I am lucky I only listened to their Gen-Con advice videos, as even bad-opinion-havers are generally on the right track when it comes to "how to enjoy a fun event."

LuiCypher posted:

In 2016, someone sold THE PRIMIERE SEASON OF XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS on 12 VHS tapes for $7.

Reading what they sold at TOVA is a good, albeit weird, time.

I was also crushed to see that all the stuff I sold at T.O.V.A. predates those records (no surprise, I suppose, as I had started auctioneering by 2012 and I was already pretty much done selling all my bizarre vaguely-gaming-related crap before then). Though looking at it again...now I am just confused, because some things only show up when you specifically search for them (like the Nintendo I sold for $60 at T.O.V.A., nothing is showing up at all as selling for $60 if you just search all of T.O.V.A.). Oh well!

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 13:59

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

nesbit37 posted:

Speaking of Gen Con advice videos, any good ones to watch this year? I mean, this is like my 20th Gen Con so I should know most of it by now but anything to keep the hype going for me is appreciated.

I am looking for anything good, but in the meantime here is a 2017 Beginner's Guide to Gen-Con courtesy of BoardGameGeek:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1799212/2017-gen-con-beginnerssurvivors-guide

And a Kia Sportage advertisement that, for some reason, talks about Gen-Con at first:
https://www.justshortofcrazy.com/attend-best-4-days-gaming/

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 15:20

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

I love fun

This is also why the average Goon cannot stand being around me for more than 2 minutes.

Well, that and the spinning blades.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 18:21

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Backno posted:

The only reason I can stand being around you at all is because I own a t-shirt with your name on it.

Hahaha

Fair enough.

Also Nesbit37 I am now watching the Dice Tower's tips and tricks video for last year's event, did you watch that yet? Their 2015 one was decent, not that I really learn anything ever considering how much time I have spent absorbing all knowledge about Gen-Con. Plus I am delighted to learn that "random Qu�b�cois Accent Man" is the "good one."

Good lord I cannot believe how many of these things have appeared since the last time I looked a few years back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPV2Twplu9E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW1w2ff3Pw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0fO86FpHvw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD1fKjQlKao (I like this one, as this is apparently them saying WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DO THIS, PLEASE TELL US despite being the 6th in their series on Gen-Con)

Also I was like "who was that one tiny Irish girl who made videos about how excited she was to attend? Oh yeah, Nelly!" and I looked her up and uh, how has she gone from a twee Irish teenager to a surly American 30something in three years? I guess that is what conventions will do to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5I_quiTPI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqhHBcKbydg

# ¿ Jun 21, 2017 20:02

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

nesbit37 posted:

The Gen Con vomit treat at the end is making me rage internally about everything I hate about gamers. I can't tell if thats a joke food or they are seriously suggesting people eat that thing but I wouldn't put it past several people to do so.

It reminds me of that video about doing your own room-based sous vide cooking in that it fundamentally assumes you literally do not care about how it might look that you are doing something, just that you want to save money/eat efficiently/whatever. Except...at least that one comes from a sort of reasonable place. Yeah, I wanted to be sure I had time to review this important material before responding, and uh. I THINK it is a joke? Except they sure took a lot of time making it for a joke.

ALSO HE SAID "REE-SEES" INSTEAD OF "REESE'S" SO I WILL END HIM

I am a little torn, I appreciate that they at least tried to make something like "the least healthy trail mix" instead of just buying a bag of bite-size Snickers. But what they ended up making also seems like the worst thing ever, so there is that.

Also hey wow, this OTHER video actually has things being discussed I did not know about! (Even if it is because he lists a few things that take place at specific times and locations rather than all general tips) (O.K. maybe just #10 and #7, still noteworthy to my overinformed self)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW1w2ff3Pw8

Alsoalso good lord our conspicuous consumption as nerds is going wonderful places
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXcnJ_oeIyw
"Should be reminiscent of an old dank basement with a dead squirrel stuck in the wall."
"Oh wow!"
"There's a bit of decay in there along with the mold"

Edit: Oops I should have maybe not started a post yesterday and then not checked the thread before posting it

Deviant posted:

tom vasel is a homophobic shitlord.

After reading about his time studying at a not-exactly-progressive theological school I suppose that should not surprise me. Still too bad.

Edit: Important update on why a member of the Gen-Con Forums had a late place in the events registration list

posted:

I was about 7500, but that's largely because my wife decided to... distract me... a titch before registration opened.

Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jun 22, 2017

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 20:58

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:33

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

This deserves its own post because I am so angry that this was never advertised when I was an unemployed Gen-Con fanatic living in Seattle (and occasionally asking on the forums and on Facebook if there were ever any low-paid grunt jobs available, at that)

http://www.gencon.com/forums/22-general-info-2017/topics/7728-work-at-gen-con-in-seattle-this-summer

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 21:52

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Gen-Con 2017: This Year, We Finally Apply the Half-Centennial Template

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