First-ever GenCon: What should I expect?

[ham2anv]

So, I'm going to be attending my very first GenCon this year, and I'm wondering what I should expect going in. I'm looking for advice or opinions from the old hands on:

what I must see/do
what I should avoid
obscure etiquette (other than hygiene, I've got that down)
and so on ...

I've signed up to run games for RPGA (thus am I able to even attend the con), so my free time will be somewhat limited. I'm free most of Friday, though, so if there's stuff happening then that you'd recommend, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks.

 

[Henry]

GO TO THE KEEPER.

GO DIRECTLY TO THE KEEPER.

DO NOT PASS THE KEEPER.

DO NOT COLLECT $200.00. (Well, not from me, anyway. I'm broke.

I love that site, and it brings up a lot of things that people often forget.

And have fun!

You might also want to check out the Gencon Events Sticky thread in the General forum.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Say hello, make freinds, have fun.

See the Art Show.

Spend time in the Auction.

See the Costume Show.

Seminars are good for down time.

Anmie Movie rooms are good for down time.

Ask to take someone picture before taking it.

Don't talk about how cool your hyper-super-mega character is to game designers as if they were real life. That's just creepy.

 

[The_Universe]

Just explore the exhibitors hall and demo games and see the sites - I could do *just that* for all four days and be happy.

Also, if you've got a lot of patience, I'd hang around the True Dungeon area with a bunch of generic tickets to see if you can "vulture in" on a no show. True Dungeon is one of the coolest, funnest things I've ever done. At the very least, I'm told there will be a full-service "D&D-style" Tavern available to all comers outside the True Dungeon - do that!

 

[The_Universe]

Say hello, make freinds, have fun.

See the Art Show.

Spend time in the Auction.

See the Costume Show.

Seminars are good for down time.

Anmie Movie rooms are good for down time.

Ask to take someone picture before taking it.

Don't talk about how cool your hyper-super-mega character is to game designers as if they were real life. That's just creepy.

That last bit reminds me....

As people who attended last year probably remember, Wayne Reynolds (WAR, the D&D artist that most people attribute 3e's "dungeonpunk" visual style to) had a little booth in the WotC area where he was signing stuff that he'd drawn and painted (I got my Monster Manual signed) as well as selling some original art. We were the only ones over there and we were thinking of buying a piece or two (I like his stuff!) when out of the crowd comes what I'd guess to be a high-school aged kid with backpack in tow. I'm talking to Wayne (who is a marvelously nice person) and so the kid starts chatting with my wife (she's a girl, she's at gen con - even without my being busy, I suspect he would have tried to talk to her first). But anyway, he asks what brings us to the con, and then proceeds to ask what games we play. Since we were mostly playing D&D at the time, my wife tells him a little bit about our game, but tries to avoid a lot of detail - she's here to talk to Wayne. But it's unavoidable. He starts pressing for details, asking questions about the homebrew world we gamed in, and then starts talking about *his* characters and *his* homebrew world, alternating his attentions between me, my wife, and Wayne Reynolds. The speed increases as he starts discussing the minutiae of his Fighter's history, and I reduce my participation to "yeah, uh huh, yep, cool" while I slowly nod and try to pick out a piece of art to buy from Wayne. But he won't shut up. He keeps going, and going, and going...eventually (while he was concentrating on Wayne, telling *him* about his characters) we just snuck away.

We passed by a few more times over the next hour or so to see if the Kid had vacated the premises, but every time we checked he was *still there.*

To this day I feel bad for abandoning Wayne Reynolds - and because of that weirdo we never got to go back and buy some art. I hope Wayne is back this year.

 

[ham2anv]

Yeah, I'm not likely to fall into the "want to hear about my PC?" trap, considerind that I haven't really had a character that I'd even want to talk about for over two years. I also understand that if I don't want to hear about your game, you probably don't want to hear about my game.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Don't lug every book you own, you will not need them, only dice and pen/pencil is needed, maybe players handbook.

If you can get a game at your local store buy it there and save your money for the hard to get items, which there will be tons of stuff you never heard off. Which brings us to window shopping, look at the material, take your time in the dealer room.

 

[derbacher]

I've signed up to run games for RPGA (thus am I able to even attend the con), so my free time will be somewhat limited. I'm free most of Friday, though, so if there's stuff happening then that you'd recommend, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks.

<Blatant thread hi-jack>
I've looked into running RPGA games, but when I got to the site, it was pretty confusing. Any advice on deciphering the thing?

 

[Henry]

Don't talk about how cool your hyper-super-mega character is to ANY OTHER PEOPLE as if they were real life. That's just creepy.

Fixed that for you, Trace.

I'd say this one in many people's minds comes down to #2, right after the Gamer Commandment to Bathe. Not saying anyone here does it, but I've seen a lot of people at cons who do, and it's a pet peeve of many people. Gamers all enjoy gaming, and talking about gaming, but they usually want to talk about other things, too.

 

[ham2anv]

<Blatant thread hi-jack>
I've looked into running RPGA games, but when I got to the site, it was pretty confusing. Any advice on deciphering the thing?

Well, this will actually be my first time, but it doesn't seem so confusing to me. It's mostly just some extra paperwork at the end of the slot so that everybody can get their participation recorded. Honestly, for a free hotel room, I'll do as much paperwork as they want.

Of course, more experienced RPGA judges should feel free to jump in and frighten the noob.