Sorry, I don't have much advice, as I have never been to Indianapolis befoer, and most of my Gen Con advice involves stuff other than signing up for games and buying product.
I would say that bringing money for the dealer's room is pretty much a must...there was so much stuff I wanted last year that I had touble deciding.
If you spend time looking, you will likely find that a lot of the stuff you want is reasonably priced (those guys who seel the weapons and armor came in sometimes at half price of the other weapons dealers there...you know the people I'm talking about)
Gaming at Con's is a pretty hit-and-miss thing for me. if there is something you
really want to play, I'd say sign up for it now or expect to not play it. Generic tickets will only get you into stuff nobody wants to play most of the time. Don't count on them.
My best experiences have been with publisher demos. Playing a
Green Ronin 3E demo (can't remember the module name, but it was Freeport) remains one of my best RPG experiences, period.
Last year at Gen Con the
Steve Kenson GM'd
Mutants and Mastemrinds demo had me slavering for the game for months afterward.
The last bit of advice I have is not Gen Con specific, but it has served me well at Cons for years: Try to play some non-RPG stuff. The bar is set a lot lower for the socially inept in a game of
Car Wars,
Robo Rally, or
Canvas Eagles than in, say,
Vampire or
Cthulu...in my experience geeks at Cons can bring ruin to just about any RPG experience. Be warned.
See you there man
