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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 9425519" data-attributes="member: 6796661">The time and money needed to go to Gen Con are hard to justify with my current work and family obligations. My youngest son and I are into TTRPGs, but it is not something my older son or wife would have any interest in. I used to enjoy Con of the North, a small regional convention in Plymouth, MN. For a small convention, they had a good selection of indie games being run. It is a great little convention to go and try out new games. But the merchant area was small and limited, there were no panel discussion, and you didn't have any designers, celebrity DMs, etc. showing up there. Now that I'm in Milwaukee, I did decide to give Gamehole Con in Madison, WI a try. Seems like a good sized con. Lots of games being run and a good selection of games outside of D&D and Pathfinder. Lots of panel discussions, including a number of panels on different eras of D&D history with designers and historians on them. Opportunities to play with game designers. Plus a number of interesting events like True Dungeon and LARPs. Large enough to draw participation from major publishers, but not quite large enough to for the major live play shows. It does have some of the headaches of a larger con, like having to carefully curate your event wish list and rush to submit as soon as registration opens. But, for the most part, it is in the goldilocks zone for game conventions, especially as it is close. I could have saved a lot of money by commuting back and forth every day, but I like to get a room as close as I can. Even for Con of the North, I would always get a room at the hotel in which it is held. Next year, I'm going to try to finally attend Gary Con. I might try to do a father-son vacation with my youngest son to Gen Con in two years, if he is still into the hobby. It is only a 4 hour drive for me, so I can save on airfare and have more to spend on a good room and early registration (if Gen Con offers that) and events.</blockquote>

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