Gen Con History

[Crothian]

I read this on Robin Law's livejournal and I'm spreading the word by reposting it here. It sounds great.

Gen Con History

As I mentioned previously, one very big and exciting project dominating my calendar for the next little while is a history of Gen Con. Commissioned by Gen Con LLC and published by Atlas Games, this will be a lovely volume celebrating the show’s upcoming fortieth anniversary. It’ll be available for Gen Con ’07. I’m working with Michelle Nephew, editor and graphics wrangler, and researcher Randy Porter, well known as the official keeper of Gen Con lore.

My portion of the work consists of conducting interviews and assembling them into the oral history that will comprise the bulk of the book’s text. I’ve already completed interviews with gaming luminaries from the early Lake Geneva days, all the way through Parkside and Milwaukee, and finally to recent events, like the indie scene flowering we see happening in Indy.

In the fullness of time, Atlas will be setting up a forum for people to submit their own Gen Con experiences for possible inclusion in the book. We want to focus on the gamer’s experience of the show at least as much as the game designers and exhibitors. The latter crowd is fairly easy to round up. Finding gamers involves a few more steps. In fact, I’d like to jump the gun a little bit by using this blog entry as a preliminary shout-out.

I’m looking particularly for great anecdotes. Memorable games. Amazing tournaments. Travel crises. Hotel miracles. Brushes with fame. Especially if you’ve crafted it into a great story with a beginning, middle, and punchy ending that you can regale me with over the phone.

If you’ve got a great Gen Con story (or stories) to tell, email me at GenConHistory@gmail.com. If you know anyone else who has a great story, I’d be most grateful if you brought this post to their attention. (As you can probably tell, the above is a sacrificial email address, created to shield my real address from spambots, so you needn’t be shy about sharing it.)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Is it too early to start planning for GenCon 07?

 

[Cedric]

Does me accidently shutting Phil Foglio in a revolving door, while his wife Kaja watches on and laughs, count as a "brush with fame"?

 

[Crothian]

Does me accidently shutting Phil Foglio in a revolving door, while his wife Kaja watches on and laughs, count as a "brush with fame"?

Sounds good enough to me, submit that story!!

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Is it too early to start planning for GenCon 07?

I think so, since you can't get the "con block" rooms till you register for your badge, and you can't get your badge yet.

If you want to get a room on your own, the cheapest I have found (in walking distance) is $260.00 per night

 

[Mark CMG]

Good to see that Randy Porter is working on the project.


http://php.iupui.edu/~wrporter/

 

[Cedric]

Sounds good enough to me, submit that story!!

I sent in an email...

I'm debating sending in another...I was at the WoTC/White Wolf Party in GenCon 1995. WotC had planned the "entertainment" for the event, which turned out to be a juggler/comedian. And yes, that was as lame as it sounds.

The White Wolf guys, whose parties at GenCon in the mid-90's were legendary...apparently were not sufficiently entertained by the Juggler.

So, they cleared an area of several tables and turned this into a Mosh pit. About 15 minutes later, the White Wolf guys stripped off their shirts and turned the Mosh Pit into a Sumo Wrestling ring.

Sometime about 15 minutes after this Mark Rein·Hagen jumped up on a table and showed everyone his Prince Albert (PA) piercing (look it up if you don't know what it is...I can't describe it here, search wikipedia for Prince Albert Piercing..not work safe).

No matter how hard WotC tried to make a GenCon party boring...the White Wolf guys saved us. *whew*

 

[Crothian]

The White Wolf guys, whose parties at GenCon in the mid-90's were legendary...

They still are

 

[Cedric]

They still are

I haven't been able to attend in awhile, but that's good to hear. You never forget the first time you see a girl wearing a spray-on liquid latex top (with little swirls, lightning bolts or other designs carved in it).

 

[Cedric]

On Sunday, before the doors open in the Vendor area...do they still have a giant nerf war? Those were good times. About 45 minutes before the doors open on Sunday, every vendor would break out their nerf guns for a HUGE nerf fight.

I still remember a giant nerf rocket launcher being fired on the TSR Castle...

Then, about 15 minutes before the doors open, everyone would scramble to clean up really fast. Good times.