the "con" and the farmhand

[alsih2o]

i have been gaming for nearly 20 years and have as yet to attend a gaming con of any kind. i live very rural and none come near here.

so, do you hoinestly think it is worth the trip and expense to make it to a con? if i lived in a city where one was held i am sure i would go just to "see the sights", but i am looking for real input on whether or not a con will make a difference in my gaming, and being so far, how to make the best of one should i put out the effort.

thanks for your input

 

[CMG57]

IMHO conventions are one of the greatest things about gaming. You can demo new games, talk with game designers, authors, artists, see spectacular original artwork, play in tournaments, see and buy a plethora of gaming related products, meet new people, see outrageous costumes, etc.

Of course, at smaller conventions there is not the variety of Gencon, Orgins, or Dragoncon, but many of the smaller cons are worthy of attendance and just as fun.

Will it change your gaming? Most likely; at the very least, you'll meet new people to discuss the games you love/hate.

Calye

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

I am not sure how it my affect your gaming, but it is an experience you should seek out at least once.

Why? There is something amazing about being surrounded by people who enjoy a hobby similar to yours. It is a nice feeling.

It also can be a lot of fun.

My one piece of advice is to stay away from RPGA Living events. These are events where you can continue to use your own character- adventure to adventure, con to con.

However, I ran into a very large good-ol-boy network that pretty much screwed you if you were not one of them.

Which is what turned me away from cons.

The stand alone RPGA events are a lot of fun though.

FD

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

My one piece of advice is to stay away from RPGA Living events. These are events where you can continue to use your own character- adventure to adventure, con to con.

However, I ran into a very large good-ol-boy network that pretty much screwed you if you were not one of them.

Which is what turned me away from cons.

The stand alone RPGA events are a lot of fun though.

FD

I gotta disagree. Last year at GenCon, it was the RPGA Living stuff that was fun; it was the D&D Open and the D&D Dungeon Crawl that sucked. But what happened to me doesn't necessarily hold true for everyone else on the planet (or anyone else on the planet, for that matter). If you are playing with complete strangers, it's just "luck of the draw"--you may get in with a good group or you may get stuck with a "clique" table....

I have run into players such as you describe in Living events; but there are also a lot of nice people playing in Living campaigns.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Cons have always been prety hit and miss for me. I have basically given up on playing any serious RPG and stick to tabletop strategy things (Car Wars, SFB, Canvas Eagles) and joke games (Hackmaster, Toon etc)

It may just be the aforementioned "luck of the Draw" but I seem to get stuck with frothing jerkoffs evertime. Smelly, loud, no social skills.

Pretty much what the rest of the world thinks of when they hear "gamer".

I have no fun at the "living" events.

 

[chatdemon]

Of course, at smaller conventions there is not the variety of Gencon, Orgins, or Dragoncon, but many of the smaller cons are worthy of attendance and just as fun.

It's worth mentioning that DragonCon is not strictly a gaming convention. Though there is gaming to be had, it's a general purpose sci-fi and fantasy con, so be prepared for a lot of non-gaming related stuff too.

 

[Zappo]

Worth it? Hell yeah! I traveled half my country to go to the last major con, and you can bet I'm doing the same next year. It's the greatest opportunity possible to taste new games, meet people, empty your wallet, eat junk food, and get into tournaments.

Uhm. Come to think about it, "half my country" isn't that much if I live in Italy and you live in the USA.

But still, it's worth it. It just means it'll take you longer.

 

[Ysgarran]

However, I ran into a very large good-ol-boy network that pretty much screwed you if you were not one of them.

Which is what turned me away from cons.

The stand alone RPGA events are a lot of fun though.

FD

I have to ask with which (and how long ago) you ran into this
at an RPGA event. For the most part (90%) of my time spent
playing in RPGA events has been fun.

I have had my bad experiences with RPGA but I chalk that
up to the fact that you can run into jerks just about anywhere. There is nothing special that makes it more or less likely in an RPGA event.

The main question: I like going because it is a block of time that I set aside to do nothing but play games. It also gives me opportunity to play games I don't usually get the chance to play.