I'm getting in on this a bit late, but here's my rundown of GenCon highlights that are currently running around my brain. I'm sure I'll come up with more later, and I'll have pictures back in a day or 2 to post as well.
Day 1-Wednesday
Emergent & I got into town around 5:30pm, no problems, staying at the Best Western, a block (1 LONG block) from the convention center. I have to give 4 stars to the hotel, it was brand new (like 1-2 months new) and had friendly staff, and a good free breakfast. Quiet, too.
After checking in, we went over to the center to pick up our event tickets, and marveled at the registration line. Went inside, and wandered around, looking for locations and the like.
Went back and got to sleep early, in order to prepare for...
Day 2-Thursday
Got up early, went inside, and had an hour to kill before the dealers room opened. Went to the miniatures/boardgames hall, and found the lego fanatics setting up for Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. I never did get to play, but next year, AAARRRRRR!!!!
Just after 10am, we went back to the hall, and found a HUGE mass of people all trying to get in through the main doors. I suggested we go around to the side doors to see if the line was any smaller, and found 4 sets of open doors and not a person in sight! So in we went, found ourselves close to the White Wolf booth, and hopped in line and were among the first to pick up Arcana Unearthed. Books in hand, we went and had Monte sign them. He apologized to me for the scrawling signature, and we both laughed about the fact that the convention had just started and already his hand was getting tired.
Next stop was to pick up my new dice bag from Paladin & Paladinwife, and its great! I'll post pics of it later.
After talking for a few minutes with them, we headed over to ENPublishing, where we met Hellhound & Dextra, Ashy, Hand of Evil, and a few others I'm blanking on right now. Got our Little Canadia stickers, and we hit the floor once more to see what we had to buy over the next few days. Making periodic stops back an ENPublishing, we met lots of folks over the next couple days-Piratecat, Morrus, Jane, alsih2o, Maldur, Hanry, Creamsteak, Crothian, Negative Zero, Teflon Billy, Ghostwind at Bastion Press, EOL at DireKobold, and many more.
Thurday night we headed over to Little Canadia to have beer, fries, and to hang out for a few hours. For dinner that night, we decided to go to the Ram based on the menu we picked up inside the con, with the great item names like "Orc" "Kobold pie" and "Minotaur Meatloaf". More food than you can imagine. Those onion rings and cake in the picture earlier? The same with the meatloaf. Lots of food.
Day 3-Friday
Played in my first Buffy: TVS game, and had a blast! Immediatly went and picked the book up after the game, and had it signed for my fiance (who is hooked on Buffy, along with me). I'll get her to rpg with me yet.
Don't really remember what else happened on Thurday before the Ennies. At 7pm, emergent, Maldur, Mythusmage (I think), and I helped alsih2o carry the awards in, taking extreme care not to jiggle boxes, lest we break any of them. At the Ennies, we talked before the show with Paladin and Buttercup for a while, then went in and found seats with them. The show was great fun, especially the afformentioned "That Guy" picking up all of Privateers awards. After the show, I talked for a while about the pains and perils of working in a library with Eric Noah & Buttercup. Between the two of them, they soundly beat it into my head that I really NEED to go get my Masters of Library Science. Consider it done, now I just need to decide where to go and start applying. Amazing, I come to a gaming convention, and I figure out what to do with my life.
A large group of us decided to head out and find a bar that could hold the whole mess of ENworlders, and we ended up at Ram. I played "Catch the bartender" with Buttercup, then we played "Catch the bartender again and get Buttercups change back." We found a table, squeezed in, and I met even more people-Pielorinho, Spider, Dinkledog, Boz, Boz's fiance, Buzzard, and more I don't remember. Went back to the hotel around 2am, I think. Anyway, it was later than I've been up in a long time. I guess I'm getting old...
Day 4-Saturday
The masses have arrived. The con was packed. Ran my demo of Torn Asunder for Bastion for a few hours, met Die_ Kluge and we talked for an hour while trading off running the demo and passing out catalogs. emergent & I then had a Call of Cthulhu game in the afternoon, which was alot of fun, as CoC ahould be. Lots of running scared and getting frightened.
In the afternoon, I ran into Crothian, who proceeded to show me enlightenment-ie. the wonders of the half price used game booth. Definitly one of the highlights of the con for me. I picked up a bunch of oop CoC books, some new 3e adventures I've wanted, and the FUDGE rules, and spent under $20! Any one of these books would have cost that much alone, if I could get my FLGS to order them. So a big thanks to Crothian! Not only can he post like mad, but he knows where to shop!
Day 5-Sunday
Going home. Sunday morning, we stopped by the EN Publishing booth again, and said our goodbyes to those who were there. Hellhound was excited about his achevements in the Risk 2210 game (he had just made it into the finals). We grabbed Maldur, and headed to my car to head on over to P.S. O'Rourke's for the after con gathering. I hope the directions I left at the EN Publishing booth helped someone get there. I know Crothian used them, so they were acurate. Maybe Piratecat should have given them to his cabdriver...
alsih2o, I have to thank you and your brother for a great way to relax before heading out on the road home. The bar was great, and we had a wonderful time. The staff was friendly (and attractive, too
), and everyone was having a great time. Met even more people (Barendd Nobeard, StoneAngel, Justinian). Stories, games, prizes, gnomes, and good people, what a way to wrap things up. I tip my hat to you, my friend. We had to leave a bit earlier than most people in order to get on the road, and weren't there when the second wave hit. Sorry we missed those who showed up later, we'll see you next year...
So, for my wrap up, I've only got a few things to say:
1. Piratecat, sign me up now for a makeup game of Paranoia next year!
2. alsih2o, thanks for making introductions everytime 2 ENWorlders met and you were around (where do you get the energy? you never slowed down!)
3. Russ, thanks for providing us a home here online where we could meet all these great people, and then meet them again in person.
4. Thanks to everyone I meet, those I named and those whose names I forgot, for making my first GenCon a great experience. Hope to see you all again next year!
- honestly, Sniktch, if there would have been ANY clubs open after 3 AM, you know I would have been there wit cha, my friend - Hall was the droopy-eyed one... 
