Is Gen Con worth going to?

[Dungeon Master]

My wife and I attended GENCON for the first time last year. Its an overwhelming experience to say the least, but well worth the trip!
If you don't do anything else, the dealers area alone makes everything worthwhile.

Unfortunately we registered just a couple moths prior to the date of the convention, turns out many of the games we registered for were already sold out.
We didn't make that mistake this year, having already registered and reserved a hotel room, we can't wait!

We loved GENCON so much, this year our entire D&D group is coming with us.

Can't wait to see everyone again, lets plan a gathering like last year!

 

[Zulkir]

All,

Gencon is a gas. Bring friends if you can, put on your gregarious hat and meet people. Come to the seminars and ask questions. Go to the Safehouse. Party at night. Spend more money then you should. Go dancing. Game at all hours of the day and night. Try a game you've never even heard of. Check out the booth babes. And finally, in defense of James Marsters - he got held up in a shoot and missed his flight. At that point he had the legal option of canceling completely. Instead he booked a later flight. Then got delayed in Chicago. Fought his way too Milwaukiee and on no sleep still did the meet and greet and stayed an extra day to do an unscheduled Q&A. JM is one of the best, nicest and easiest to work with celebs we've ever brought to Gen Con.

AV

 

[Piratecat]

Zulkir's right! One of the things I love most about GenCon is that all sorts of less common, fun games are played there that you'll never find in your home city. Want to play Paranoia, or Star Wars, or Call of Cthulhu, or Torg, or Shadowrun, or Gamma World, or Feng Shui, or Seventh Sea? You probably can there. Want to try some of these for the first time? Gen Con's where you can do so.

In addition, playing with strangers actually makes you a better player. You learn from those who you like, you figure out what you dislike from those who aren't as fun players, and you use the good ideas later with your own group. If I have any skill as a player or DM, it's because I've been playing and judging RPGA games for years, blatantly stealing ideas from (and making friends with) the best players and DMs around.

My friends have a theory that three things make for a fun game at a con: a good DM, good players, and a good module. You need two out of the three to have fun, and the DM trumps. In other words, a good DM can improve a bad adventure or coax out quiet players, while good players and a good adventure can sometimes overcome a less experienced game master.

I've gone to about nine or ten GenCons, myself. There are 13 slots; I tend to judge six or seven slots, play a few, and take one slot off per day. I don't think I've ever had a bad time at the con!

But if you go, remember: do stuff. If you sign up for two games and one of them stinks, you'll be annoyed. If you sign up for six games and one of them stinks, big deal. The more cool things you decide to do, the more fun you'll have.

 

[Coik]

I can't wait for it to move to Indy 'cause I'll finally be able to go to it. What are the 2003 dates?

They seem to have taken them down, but I remember that they were nearer to the end of August (and thus the convention season, meaning that more rooms and suchlike will be available). Strange that they should wait until the convention moves to Indy to move the dates back, though...Of course, I'm sure that there's a perfectly logical explanation for it.

If you do go, though, expect frustration in the early going. The people WotC hires to handle actually getting your stuff (badges and such, though badges are apparently being mailed out this year) are universally incompentent. I remember waiting over an hour and a half in line in 2000 to get one event ticket because, of the four people handling event tickets, only one knew what she was doing.

And here's a tip: If you plan on visiting the Dealers' Room at all, bring an empty bag with you. Trust me, you'll need it. Impulse buying is the name of the game up there. Even if you don't buy, there are enough freebies floating around up there to fill up that bag.

 

[RatPunk]

Indy Dates

I can't wait for it to move to Indy 'cause I'll finally be able to go to it. What are the 2003 dates?

The last dates I heard (from someone on these boards, IIRC) were the end of July for 2003, then the 2nd weekend in August for 2004 - 2006.

This site used to have the rumored dates, but I couldn't find them when I went looking just now. It does have alot of other good info, though (even if the text font tends to be almost annoyingly large...).

 

[Don21584]

Yes, he did show up late. We were in the hotel he was supposed to do Q&A in like an hour early, then we got told his flight was delayed. But he would still do autograph signings later in the day. Well, we go to where he's supposed to sign autographs and this security guy says he will be there eventually, but we can't stand in line yet, wait a half an hour then you'll be able to. Well, 5 minutes later, there's this HUGE line. And we were told he'd only be able to stay like an hour. So we KNEW by the size of the line we wouldn't be able to see/meet him. Oh well.

 

[William Ronald]

Gen Con is a blast. I have gone with friends and meet people who were fun to talk to and game with. Fortunately, I seem to have good luck getting into events, even last minute.

There is a lot of fun to be had at GenCon. Go if you can.

I hope there is an EN Board get together this year. Last year's was great. It is nice to have faces to associate with my fellow board members.

 

[Orco42]

I hope there is an EN Board get together this year. Last year's was great. It is nice to have faces to associate with my fellow board members.

That was quite nice. We definitely should do it agian.

 

[LadyGargoyle]

I can't wait for it to move to Indy 'cause I'll finally be able to go to it. What are the 2003 dates?

The last dates posted on Wizard's website were:

August 21-24, 2003
August 19-22, 2004
August 18-21, 2005
August 17-20, 2006

I've noticed that Wizard's has removed the dates from their site which has been a topic for discussion in house. I have family that lives in Milwaukee and they have all told me that they have heard that GenCon is staying in Milwaukee and not moving to Indianapolis.

As far as whether someone should go to GenCon or not, DEFINATELY! I am just a casual gamer and I don't participate in any of the events at the con (not that Gargoyle doesn't try to get me to!), but I really enjoy going anyway. There is so much to do without having to play in the organized events. Besides, who doesn't like to people watch?!? I say try it out once and if you don't like it don't go again

 

[Gargoyle]

So much for posting all my DMing secrets. Another secret hideout invaded by the missus....