OK GenCOn ENWorlders, document your experiences here...

[Michael Dean]

The Ugly:
I had the single worst customer service experience that I have ever had in all the years I’ve been attending cons. Wizards of the Coast booth. Early Saturday afternoon, about 2 PM-ish. I strolled up to the counter ->

------

I hate to laugh, but I witnessed a scene at WOTC's booth at about the same time Saturday, only it was a poor schmuck ahead of me trying to RETURN his copy of Forgotten Realms because he didn't like it. The counter guy made him wait while he disappeared for a bit, came back and told him they wouldn't refund his money. The guy asked why, and got a short "because we can't." The guy spent the next few minutes trying to find someone to buy it off of him. If only you had hooked up with that guy!

Edited after reading Scout Rouse's sincere apology so as not to seem like I'm dogpiling bad service.

 

[exile]

This was one of teh best Gen Cons I have attended in recent years.

General
1. My wife had other stuff to do and did not attend. I love her dearly, but she cramps my gaming.
2. With the exception of Saturday night, I shared the friend with only 1-2 other friends, meaning we had a lot more space than years past.
3. Despite the intense rivalry between 3.Xers and 4E'ers, the two systems, played back to back, are a lot alike, and both still hold lots for me to love.

Wednesday
1. During the drive from Toledo to Indy, my friend Sean and I did some world-building. I am particularly proud of the backstory we created for halflings in the world.
2. We arrived early. I already had a badge; Sean was able to get his in minutes.
3. I had not pre-registered for events, so I tried for some of my top priorities, the four Pathfinder Society scenarios. I was actually able to get into all four of them, but later I realized that two were scheduled for teh same time period.
4. D&D 4E pick-up game in the Hyatt. We just through our stuff out on the table, and were able to attract a group of four additional players. Two had never played 4E, two were well-versed in the game. We had a nice little tropical adventure, fighting shark cultists, rescuing island children, and escaping from an angry shark god. The game wasn't highly polished by any means, but it was tons of fun. It probably would have been more so if two of the players had been more willing to use the pregenerated characters Sean and I had made, as they all had a tightly woven backstory.

Thursday & Friday
1. I bought a ton of stuff in the dealer's hall. I'm ashamed to say how much money I spent. Maybe I'll prepare a comprehensive list at some point. Things that saw near immediate use were some Reaper minis (a sword and dagger wielding female rogue used for my Living FR character), Pathfinder dice (which I love, but the runic 20 looks an aweful lot like a one, so I'm afraid people think I am cheating whenever I yell "natural 20"), some boffer weapons (a flail and an axe, I already had two swords), and a PFS faction t-shirt.
2. Pathfinder Society scenarios. I was able to play in all four over the course of the weekend. I think Silent Tide may have been my favorite, though before playing in them, I had been most looking forward to The Hydra's Fang Incident. Overall, I had a very rewarding play experience. I like the pace at which treasure is awarded and characters advanced. I liekd teh stories in each of the scenarios. DMs were all above average (had one guy twice who was quite good). I played a halfling wizard and will be playing more of these scenarios.
3. Living Forgotten Realms. I was able to play in the three core events (not the special) as well as the Waterdeep event. They were a little more up and down than the PFS events, but still quite enjoyable overall. The two had a different feel, with the LFR games being 'higher magic' in general. I do love someof teh treasure I picked up though- Leather Delver's Armor +1 and a Dagger of Lightning +1. I played an elven rogue and hope to be able to continue playing her as well. A highlight- the scenarios made excellent use of the skill challenge rules. Two lowlights- There seemed a lot of diagreement, even amongst judges, to the rules about finding magic items AND one of my DMs fell asleep...twice...during the game (this was actually on Sunday).

Saturday
1. Much like Thursday and Friday, but somemore friends arrived.
2. We had drinks (and some of us, smokes) with Peter Mayhew at the Ram. I massaged his wife/girlfriend/groupie.
3. Drunken swimming back at the hotel. I had the best room ever. I liked it so much that I will keep secret which hotel and floor it was, because I want it again.

Sunday
1. Much like the previous days. I finished out one more PFS and LFR scenario, keeping me at the con longer than I have ever stayed before. They were that fun.

 

[Hypersmurf]

... I shared the friend with only 1-2 other friends...

Scandalous!

-Hyp.

 

[Rel]

You're just jealous.

Correct. And spiteful.

Yup.

As I put it to someone on Sunday night at the dinner: "I don't fly nine-and-a-half thousand miles for the official events, or the dealer hall, or the costumes, or the sights of Sunny Indiana. I fly nine-and-a-half thousand miles for the people in this room."

-Hyp.

And yet my spite draws the line when it gets to Hyp. Even though he speaks American better than I speak New Zealandese, I just can't bring myself to hate the man. He is a gaming tour de force (I'll bet he speaks France-ese better than me too).

The very first day I'm at GenCon the guy is in a Dread game I'm playing and he's playing a pair of conjoined contortionist twins. And he's crushing both roles with a vengeance. The part where he's having an argument against himself AND making pulls against himself is LEGENDARY QUALITY HILARITY.

On Friday night he's at the ENnies in a gold, poofy shirt that would make The Rouse drool with envy. So incredibly poofy. Then he goes and turns the second best idea ever for a gaming product into the best idea ever for a gaming product. Keep a ing eye out for it, folks.

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, the nearly sleepless nights and non-stop gaming was starting to take its toll on me. Fortunately Hyp woke me up right at the start of my Sky Galleons of Mars game with a full-on axe-murderer level battle scream that had literally every other table in the building looking over to see what in the bloody hell was happening at our table. Crazy Gurkha Fun, that's what!

Anyway, what I'm saying is that the man is a gaming treasure, made all the more valuable for his scarcity around here. If you happen to be near New Zealand, drop by Hyp's place and try to game with him. I'm sure if you just ask around that you'll find him. I mean how big can that place really be?

You'll thank me later because the guy is fantastic. And I'm not just saying that because he said my Sky Galleons game was his favorite game of the year. I promise.

 

[Eridanis]

You're just jealous.

OK, someone has to get this down in black and white before it fades in time.

Hyp's character is the Golden Dynamo, a mad scientist who's built a battle suit for himself. Quartermoon's character is Jetete, who is a 90's woman in a 50's world, and flies around with a jetpack (which, I gather, Dynamo secretly made for her). Anyway, Jetette is obviously interested in Dynamo for more than the twiddly knobs and gadgets on his suit, and Dynamo has been keeping her away in a gentlemanly yet awkward way. (At one point, Jetette demonstrated how good guys show their affection for each other by laying a kiss on Dynamo. Unforfunately, the faceplate got in the way.)

At the end of the game, after Hyp has had his tour de force moment to bring the game to its conclusion (a moment which I've posted about elsewhere and will recopy to here later), he adds the denouement as people are starting to pick up their dice.

"Well, Jetette," he says, slowly standing up from the table. "This has been an exciting day. One full of emotion, and sacrifice, and danger." Quartermoon rises from the table as well, and starts to lean towards him, as he is starting to lean towards her. "Days like this can bring emotions to the surface." She's smiling, he's still stone faced as they lean closer together. The emotional tension is palpable; I can't wait to see what happens. "Jetette, I just want to..." (at this point, their heads are about a foot and a half apart) "... congratulate you for a job well done," and he sticks out his hand to shake hers.

We're whooping like crazy with enjoyment. Quartermoon's character grabs Hyp's character in a clench. At least that's what she says happens; I think Dynamo went off to check on his robot.

And that's why Piratecat says that Hyp's is the best Dynamo he's every seen played.

 

[Eridanis]

Oh, and since I forgot to mention it in my epic essay on the first page of this thread: I also got the very last copy of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting from the Paizo booth. Since I was the lucky last customer, all the designers signed it for me. One of my prized treasures from the Con!

 

[IcePirateLord]

I had a blast at Gencon this year. We had a really good group of players. We played all the available LFR/RPGA mods. The highlight was definitely Nick's DMing on the Sunday morning slot. He was extremely well prepared and let the table have some great role playing opportunities while keeping us focused. The trash-talking flying undead dude is a hilarious memory.

All I did was play, so I want to thank all the DMs out there for their hard work.

 

[WizarDru]

At the end of the game, after Hyp has had his tour de force moment to bring the game to its conclusion (a moment which I've posted about elsewhere and will recopy to here later), he adds the denouement as people are starting to pick up their dice.

That moment was, to me, the best moment of a game chock-full of best moments. The look on Piratecat's face when he realized that Hyp had approached the end of the module from a completely different and totally logical angle (and thereby potentially completely rewriting the ending and future installments, should they occur) was why I play RPGs. The simultaneous look of "...wait, What?" mixed with"...holy crap, that's BRILLIANT." was just fantastic to be witness to.

Take three poker chips, sir, on me.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Anyway, what I'm saying is that the man is a gaming treasure, made all the more valuable for his scarcity around here.

And that's why Piratecat says that Hyp's is the best Dynamo he's every seen played.

That moment was, to me, the best moment of a game chock-full of best moments.

I enjoy roleplaying. I have fun roleplaying. And occasionally, here in New Zealand, I'll play in a game and at the end of it think "You know, when I did XX in that game, that was kinda cool," or "I really liked the concept for that game, and the DM pulled it off well."

But pulling off the kind of moments of awesome that makes you guys say these wonderful, kind things? I only ever manage that at GenCon. I'm never that cool here at home. It's the GMs, and the games, and the players in this community that inspire me to play above my natural level, and I'm just thankful I have the opportunity to be a part of it and be better than I really am

Something fusangite said to me on Wednesday night - "The people in this community include the best GMs in the world." And if one of the hallmarks of an excellent GM is the ability to draw from his or her players a performance beyond what they believed themselves capable, then I cannot disagree with him.

I'm glad I had the chance to help make some GenCon memories for you guys; you've made a ton of them for me!

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

"Well, Jetette," he says, slowly standing up from the table. "This has been an exciting day. One full of emotion, and sacrifice, and danger." Quartermoon rises from the table as well, and starts to lean towards him, as he is starting to lean towards her. "Days like this can bring emotions to the surface." She's smiling, he's still stone faced as they lean closer together. The emotional tension is palpable; I can't wait to see what happens. "Jetette, I just want to..." (at this point, their heads are about a foot and a half apart) "... congratulate you for a job well done," and he sticks out his hand to shake hers.

We're whooping like crazy with enjoyment. Quartermoon's character grabs Hyp's character in a clench.

Oh, and for the record - while it played out absolutely perfectly, Quartermoon was so totally onto me. I hope the handshake maybe caught some of you by surprise, but I'm pretty sure she saw it coming a mile away

-Hyp.