Walk through GenCon - help please?

[Malin Genie]

Hail to you.

As a traveller from a far-off land, where outlandish creatures hop and crawl and small fuzzy bears wait in trees to drop on and maul unsuspecting passers-by I know little of your ways.

I enter your demesne as a humble pilgrim to the great GenCon.

The website of which I find unhelpful in actually getting an idea of "I've turned up at the Convention Centre. Now what?" (The 'server error' when I tried to select the "RPGs" option didn't help much either...)

I missed preregistration, so I'm assuming I would register to enter the Con itself. Having done that, how do games work? Are they centrally rostered? What exactly are 'pick-up' games? Are seminars and other 'events' ticketed or 'just turn up'?

A quick walk-through or summary would be greatly appreciated - even a 'go to this section of the website which answers your questions' would be a huge help (if it is indeed my malnavigation and not the site itself that is uninformative)!

Thanks!

 

[EricNoah]

Well since this is its first time in Indy there may be some specifics that no one really knows.

For general info you might start here:

http://php.iupui.edu/~wrporter/

 

[Marshall]

As a little aside, Can anyone send me the events(games) listing?
No matter what I do the GenCon site freezes every time I try to get it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

As a little aside, Can anyone send me the events(games) listing?
No matter what I do the GenCon site freezes every time I try to get it.

If you are trying to download the Complete Event List file, it may be freezing because the file is HUGE. Try downloading just the individual days or type of event lists, they are a much better file size.

 

[Hand of Evil]

You purchase tickets for events, on what you want to play for the day, which means a line if you did not pre-register. When you get on site you will be supplied a listing. Pick up Generic Tickets, these allow you to go prety much any game AND IF ROOM allow you to play in the game.

Seminars, may have a cost but most are free.

Pick-up games are just that, someone throws down on a table and grabs players and starts running a game. There is always a a number of dealer games to promote new products.

 

[CaptainCalico]

Hopefully, when you register, you will get a copy of the on-site program book, which will have all the event listings (it will be an utter fiasco if they don’t have the on-site book). You look through, pick what you want to go to – if it is something that requires a ticket then you will have to go find the event ticket line and get in that. Most seminars are free, and while the people running them collect tickets from people who have them I have never seen anyone turned away if they did not have a ticket, (except last year at the KODT Reading – and that was because the room was so packed it was in danger of violating fire codes or something.)

If you are going to be in Indy on Wednesday I strongly suggest going to register then (5pm-9pm). The lines are always a pain and the first year in a new space is not going to help.

Things like the anime room, gamer film room, etc. are “just turn up”, same for the art show. I think the costume contest is pretty much first-come first-served as well. The first 3 years or so I attended GC I filled 2-3 days with just wandering around, going to free seminars and shows, people watching, and playing in free demo games. It can be done.

 

[Cog]

Free seminars still need a ticket, though (I checked with GenCon about that).

 

[jmsetzer]

Free seminars still need a ticket, though (I checked with GenCon about that).

Wow, this would be a big change. You never needed to have tickets for the free seminars in the past (although organizers sometimes collected them from those who had them to show how many people were at the event).

How would they even enforce this? Do they really want the registration lines to be clogged up with people trying to get tickets for free events?

Not that I doubt you, Cog, this may be what you were told. I just don't see them really doing this...

 

[Hand of Evil]

Wow, this would be a big change. You never needed to have tickets for the free seminars in the past (although organizers sometimes collected them from those who had them to show how many people were at the event).

How would they even enforce this? Do they really want the registration lines to be clogged up with people trying to get tickets for free events?

Not that I doubt you, Cog, this may be what you were told. I just don't see them really doing this...

It is not craved in a rock but tickets are collected for them. It has to do with seating, size of room, and speaker (I think some get paid) but I have never been turned away from a seminar.

 

[orchid blossom]

I've been to Gen Con several years in a row, (I was lucky enough to be living in Wisconsin, which, until this year, made it much more feasible to go yearly,) and it isn't really all that scary.

Step 1) Go Wednesday night if possible to register, wait in an incredibly long line. (Bring a friend or a book.)

Step 2) Stand in a long line to buy generic tickets. If you're lucky, you might still be able to get tickets for specific events. It never hurts to ask. Hopefully they will have the tv screens scrolling upcoming events in Indy like they did in Milwaukee. They can be helpful in finding things you want to do with those generic tickets.

Step 3) Wander the con bemused. Wander the vender hall bemused and wishing you had a lot more money. Lost? Ask another lost person. Eventually you'll figure out where you're going.

Step 4) Take those shiny new generic tickets and try to find a game. Often times players just don't show, and the GM's are happy to have someone to fill that chair. Plus, the cool accent should help.

Step 5) Try to hear the GM in a room with 15 games going on at once.

Step 6) Follow GM when they move the game into the hallway so you can hear. (Maybe Indy can solve this problem.)

After that just repeat steps 3-6 for the next four days.

Have a great time!