Category: Adventures

Day Four of my Gen Con experience was a somewhat subdued affair. I had other commitments to attend to – primarily schoolwork, with weekend deadlines that cared not for my extracurriculars – but it also gave me a much-needed opportunity to reflect on the week thus far.

I received more than a few sad glances this weekend from contemporaries who learned that this was my very first Gen Con. Admittedly, I rather expected more, though I can’t be sure it would have significantly altered my plans, such as they were. Many events and features that would have stood out in previous years were absent or compromised this year, often simply because the organizers were not present. In some ways, that really did enhance the feeling that this was just a very large-scale version of what we do at home. There was gaming, vendors, VIGs, demos, cosplayers, more gaming, and even Mikey Mason – though I sadly didn’t get the chance to catch a show or even hang out with the dude.

On the other hand… scale matters. I purchased a few games that I had never seen, perused arts and crafts from dozens of amazing exhibitors, caught up with industry friends like Bruce Cordell, Chris Pramas, and Phil Reed – and made new friends in Tammy and Charles from Monte Cook Games, and Will and Annie at the Steve Jackson booth! – had a chance to game with some gentlemen Peter met at a Kansas City con (who may make it out to TsunamiCon next year), had a chance to sample a few of downtown Indy’s excellent restaurants, and spent a few days hanging out with an old friend whom I haven’t seen in several years (and then only via webcam!). Not to mention, I had a lovely weekend hanging out with Peter, listening to stories and sharing ideas; he harbors a deep and abiding passion for Gen Con – which he shared generously – and was an excellent guide in unfamiliar waters.

On Day Four, I took one last lap through the dealer room, in the final hour it was open. I made a few more purchases – marked down at the very end of the con – and picked up some more gifts for the kids. Peter and I wound down the evening with an excellent cognac and a little of the amazing cheese he drives to the Wichita Costco to procure and turned in early, and now I am restless and awake after only a few hours of sleep. But I’m not really doing much of the driving today, so it’s cool. I’m just ready to be home.

All in all, this has been a really enjoyable weekend with old friends and new, and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity to visit Indianapolis and my very first Gen Con.

Salut.

Saturday was unsurprisingly the busiest day yet. Though still not thick enough to inhibit traffic, social distancing was a significant challenge in the dealer hall. I dutifully spent some time navigating the shoals and surveying the nearby shores for ports of call and a chance at more booty. I stopped at a few places to chat about their product, get the occasional quick demo, and record conversations with some folks. The crowds were frankly exhausting, however, and I was just as happy to make some final purchases at the Dryad Teas booth and pick up a few enamel pins that had caught my eye, then catch up with Dan for a long overdue podcast.

One of the nice things about having a room at one of the hotels attached to the con was that it was an easy walk to somewhere quiet. Dan and I took some time to organize our thoughts and discuss our Gen Con experience, after which we parted ways – presumably for the last time – and I took a much-needed siesta.

I met Peter for dinner at the Weber Grill. I won’t be gauche enough to post pictures of my food, but I don’t think I’m overstating it to say that I had the best burger of my life. If you’re ever in downtown Indianapolis, do yourself a favor… it was pricey, but an experience all it’s own.

After dinner I realized that I had committed the unforgivable sin of neglecting to grab a selfie with Dan. This was our very first meeting face-to-face after nearly a decade of friendship, and I was devastated until I discovered that he had not yet fled the convention center. I quickly made my way back following dinner, and we relaxed in a quiet corner of the con for another hour or so.

So while I didn’t play any games on Day Three, I collected a good deal of media to share with friends and fans and spent some valuable time enjoying the convention. I don’t know if I’ll even have anything significant to discuss on Day Four, but I’m more than content with my first – and quite possibly but hopefully not, only – trip to Gen Con.

My second day of Gen Con was kind of a blur.

In the morning, Peter and I had breakfast at Le Peep, a provincial cafe just a mile’s walk from the hotel. And walk we did. After the travails of the prior day, I was frankly astounded at my ability to keep up. On the way there, anyway… I was quietly grateful when Peter felt the need to rush out a bit quickly following breakfast, making for the hotel to grab the gear for his high noon festivities. I took the opportunity to mosey toward the convention center at my own pace, enjoying the morning air as I snapped photos of downtown Indianapolis.

Back at the convention center, I hit the dealer hall and made some more gift purchases I had been eying the day before. Mostly supporting artists and indie game designers. I ran a 12:00 game for Monte Cook Games with a fun group of players who, despite having to shout through the masks to make themselves heard in a noisy room, took to roleplaying their random group of dungeon delvers with enough personality and wit to quite simply amaze me at how efficiently they tackled the adventure scenario. It was a four-hour slot, and we were done in three.

Riding the high of a great game with folks who genuinely seemed to enjoy sitting down with a few strangers and pretending to be the best of friends for a few hours, I made arrangements to connect with Dan and we hit a nearby pub for a late lunch. Or early dinner. Whatever it was… the convention center food was pretty awful, so walking the extra two blocks seemed like a kindness to our bodies and our souls. Had a barbecue blue cheese burger, incidentally, that was a fascinating and very satisfying blend of flavors. Good stuff.

Our evening game was a Savage Worlds Victorian pulp adventure Peter has run at TsunamiCon previously, and this was my very first chance to sit at one of his gaming tables. I definitely enjoyed his thoughtful approach to getting characters involved in the story and his openness to creative – and sometimes tropey and hilarious – innovations from the players. It was the same group of participants from the night before, and we had a good time.

Friday at Gen Con was a much busier affair than the previous day, and the gaming hall was pretty packed. The space between tables kept it from feeling unsafe, but we also started noting a more lax stance amongst participants concerning the masking regulations, particularly when you could invoke the consideration of eating. We roleplayed through our masks, but many people seemed to adopt a sort of restaurant etiquette at the table – that is, despite the policies posted by the con, once sitting down masks seemed to be optional. Because the place was so crowded, this felt like a poor decision… I was imminently relieved that the table Peter had grabbed – the same as the night before – was somewhat remote and removed from much of the population. I could see that he was distracted by it while running the game, however, even to the point of mentioning my own dangling mask after I failed to put it back promptly following a pull from my soda.

And I think that’s what bothers me the most. While it feels like it is possible to make relatively safe decisions and avoid the majority of risky situations with a little conscientious care, we shouldn’t have to walk that edge while trying to enjoy our time at the convention. Though I am enjoying myself immensely, it casts a bit of a pall over much of the experience.

That being said, I am looking forward to whatever comes next.

After wandering to wakefulness at around 4:00 in the morning (would have been 3:00 back home!), I finally gave up on sleep and resolved to begin my day with a clear head and a cup of Lapsang Souchong. Nice face full of wood smoke and happiness. I hadn’t had a chance to test it, but my new little travel tea kettle worked beautifully.

I eased into my first day of the con. Though events were starting at 8:00, my primary interest for Day One was the exhibit hall, which opened two hours later. Also, given the COVIDs, I didn’t want to risk the traditionally packed opening ceremony shtick and gave it an extra half an hour or so. I took my video camera and started recording immediately as I was leaving the hotel via one of the skywalks over toward the convention center. No one seemed to give me much thought as they maneuvered around me or trudged in my wake, but I did find it interesting that conversations would die as people ventured near, so as not to disrupt the production I assume. Or be caught on tape being an insufferable nerd or something.

All in all,, folks were terribly polite.

And masked! And largely keeping their distance. This was – and still is – my biggest concern about this trip. Beyond a mask mandate and a general attempt to space tables further apart, the convention has taken no extraordinary measures toward crowd control or health and safety. The up side (depending on whether you sit on the convention board, that is) is that the crowds are significantly diminished per their expectations – and they had planned to limit capacity to half of the previous in-person convention. Word is, it’s nowhere close. Although that hardly means that the crowd is small – we’re still probably talking between 15 and 20K, but the immensity of the convention halls and additional spacing allows for much greater freedom of movement than I was given to expect going in. And like I said, the attendees are generally taking the mask thing very seriously.

That immensity, by the way, made my first day at Gen Con a truly surreal experience. I was floored by the expanse filled with gaming tables, walls so far away that I could barely register them as such. I spent hours wandering the dealer hall, stopping occasionally to snap a few photos, purchase some gifts for my gamers, and visiting with industry folks I’ve known for years but never met in person. Truly, I only stopped when I did because I was starving and my feet had registered a complaint with home office.

After a brief nap, some lovely thai food, another brief nap… I geared up for my first game of the con. And by geared up, I really just meant a bag of dice, as I wasn’t running this one.

The game was Deadlands Reloaded, and my character was a great explore / big game hunter named Rufus who talked through his mustaches and acted absolutely fearless in the face of exploding dice. The best part, I got to game with the Honorable Peter Hildreth, my guide on this sojourn to Indianapolis, and my friend Dan from the Carpe GM podcast. Dan found out I was going to Gen Con and made the trek from St. Louis – admittedly a less harrowing trip than ours – to hang out. We’d visited many times over the past six or seven years and used to have regular rap sessions over Google Hangouts, recorded bits for each other’s shows, shared industry information and guest contacts, and even collaborated on some jams! But this was our first face-to-face meet ever. And sharing a game table was a fantastic way to start the weekend.

It was midnight before I turned in, still riding high just a bit from the Day One experience.

We arrived at the hotel near 5:00 on Wednesday evening. At first blush, little sets Indianapolis apart from any other middle American city. A detour on the highway even routed us through a graffiti-enhanced smidgeon of urban sprawl that disappeared instantly as we crossed the river into the downtown area, which sports some very cool architecture.

Our hotel is attached to the convention center via a skywalk – a system of which appears to connect several hotels and nearby buildings criss-crossing the immediate vicinity – and we wasted little time after checking in heading over to the con to get our badges. I walked for half a day to the room where I picked up my press pass, stopped to water my camels and pick stones from between the toes of my favorite Sherpa, and meandered for several days more toward the orientation for GMs running events for Monte Cook Games. I have games scheduled for Friday and Sunday, which blessedly leaves me much time to wrap my head around the Gen Con experience before I settle into the time-honored tradition of performing graciously for a table of complete strangers with a blood lust in their eye.

I met up with my traveling companion and erstwhile guide in these unknown waters, and we ventured even further on foot to an Italian restaurant where they serve spaghetti and meatballs on a plate the size of a small battleship. With a heartfelt arrivederci to my dietary goals, I did my best to balance my consumption with the inevitable brisk walk back to the hotel. I was pseudo-successful… my Sherpa only had to revive me once, and that was following a brief rockslide incited by rapacious scooter-fiends roaming the city sidewalks to the beat of native buskers beating plastic tubs that echoed eerily beneath the skywalks.

Having had a chance to peruse the maps provided in the Gen Con program – and noting that events span both floors of the massive convention center and four surrounding hotels! – I have wisely decided that I am not one of those gamers who must clear the fog of war from every corner of the map. Tomorrow – or more accurately given the early hour, perhaps, later today – is for catching up with friends and perusing the dealer hall. Perhaps I can hire someone to carry me…