Gencon turns 50 this year.

Ronin356

This August 17-20, Gen con turns the big 5-0.

Anybody going to this mother of all gaming cons? I know my sweet butt I am.

I have my 4 day passes, event tickets, Star Trek cosplay costume....so ready for it.

And They might be Giants are playing there on Thursday night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi0Rt0slfy4

Website: http://www.gencon.com/

See you there!

Ketar

I'll be there with a friend. Didn't get a hotel in the downtown area again, which sucks, but the lower rate farther away can be used to rationalize more game purchases I suppose.

I was going to see TMBG, until I eventually remembered that I saw them in college and it wasn't a great show. More gaming time instead

PMAvers

Something to look into is the parking services that'll let you book ahead and reserve/guarantee you a spot. I think one was advertised in a recent newsletter... Big Ten? They're down by the stadium but they have a shuttle that runs to the downtown hotels.

Could totally save you some headaches. Price wasn't bad, too.

Ketar

I did that for parking last year. Good option, but a pain for taking purchases to your car - the shuttles going back to the lot almost always had crowds waiting for them and I always ended up just walking. I paid a bit more for a spot in a lot much closer this time so that I can go back and forth easily.

Dex Dynamo

I'm going for the first time this year, and I'm very excited!

I'm a little confused about the ticketing process for games--does the money I pay go to the GMs? Is it supposed to incentivize me to show up on time, because I've put money down? Because honestly, coming from smaller gaming cons, the main thing its doing is keeping me from signing up for games (because I don't want to spend my money on a potentially bad experience).

I've got some panels I'm signed up for which I'm really excited about, plus some special events and friends I get to see--so it'll be fun no matter what I end up signing up for.

Seriously tempted by the TMBG concert--I've seen them I think five or six times now, and I've never left one of their shows disappointed.

Athenor

I'll be going. Splitting a hotel room with 2 other couples (I'll be taking the air bed) and luckily it is downtown!

And hopefully, tomorrow I'll get tickets to the whole reason I've been wanting to go for the last 2-3 years!

PMAvers

In regards to tickets... kinda? It's complex.

As I understand it, it depends on whether they charge extra for the event or not. The usual baseline for a non-free event is something like $2 for 2 hours. Anything extra goes to them, but also running events counts as credit towards reimbursing the GM for their badge and hotel room.

I think it's something like 72 player-hours for a badge?

Also note that *is* player-hours, so 6 players playing a 4-hour RPG is 24 player-hours. And this is why ticketing is *hella* important, so they can actually track if players showed up to events, and so they can allocate space for them to use.

Riqa

I assume its still a thing but definitely buy some generic tickets now instead of having to wait in line at the con. Generics are useful for the open gaming area, getting in on things when people don't show up and other events that take them. I wouldn't bother signing up to too much unless theirs something specific you want in on; your first Gencon is better to get a feel for it and explore and the exhibit hall alone could take up all 4 days if you let it. Theirs so many things going on and its better not having too much of the con dictated by a schedule.

Ketar

Athenor wrote: »

And hopefully, tomorrow I'll get tickets to the whole reason I've been wanting to go for the last 2-3 years!

L5R? Or did I completely miss something, yet again?

Ronin356

There will be panels covering the long history of Gencon, all thought the con.

Here is the link to all the retrospective panels and tours
https://www.gencon.com/events/search?fri=true&group_sponsor=Gen+Con+50&sat=true&sun=true&thur=true&wed=true

I'm looking forward to seeing Mark the creator of VTM on Friday here:
https://www.gencon.com/events/116883

Dex Dynamo

That... Actually explains the ticketing cost system quite well. Thanks everyone!

WingedWeasel

Wife and I will be going for the 3rd time this year.

We have never been fortunate enough to get nearby hotel rooms and instead always ended up getting the cheapest option we could without forever away. There's a garage right next to the convention center that we continue to have success with. I recall it being relatively cheap for daily parking and it was close enough that we could get to it if we needed/wanted to.

As for tickets, going by last year we had no difficulty just using the generic tickets. Then again our events are all card game related, so maybe it varies by event type? We bought a bunch of specific tickets in advance last time around and then a significant portion of people in our events just showed up with the generic so we transitioned to those. The majority of things we did were smaller offerings though so maybe they just didn't have the popularity and therefore had open spots to spare.

Ronin356

Full day tickets have sold out this year according to their website.

PMAvers

Yeah, I had no idea they could sell out. Guess they want to try to control the crowds a little somehow?

So ready to go, badge and tickets should be arriving today.

Ronin356

PMAvers wrote: »

Yeah, I had no idea they could sell out. Guess they want to try to control the crowds a little somehow?

So ready to go, badge and tickets should be arriving today.

I had never seen it happen until now. Just got the Gencon newsletter saying that single day tickets for Saturday are selling out as well.

Also, I'm really excited to go too. Looking forward to lots of gaming,

Athenor

We really need to organize a get-together of some kind.

WingedWeasel

Anyone participate in the beginner/1 hour d&d events? My wife has literally zero rpg experience but was interested in trying them. Basically she is curious how newcomer friendly they are. Are they for true beginners or novice level? Also how tight is the schedule? It's listed as 1 hour, but do they typically run over? Our experience with gencon has pretty much been exclusively in the ccg/TCG hall

JonBob

I will be there, and will be helping staff the Grand Gamers Guild booth (family pavilion, booth #2110) about half the time, demoing my new release Stroop as well as a couple other games from the publisher. The rest of the time I'll be taking in demos and just enjoying myself. Going to the TMBG concert and Ludology podcast for sure.

If you see someone who looks like a grown-up version of my avatar at that booth, please say hi! It might get you a special prize.

Ronin356

Athenor wrote: »

We really need to organize a get-together of some kind.

I have some open time on Friday if you guys want to meet in horticultural hall in the Lucas Oil building. We could play munchkin.

Ronin356

Saturday Badges are completely gone, sold out.

Sunday is about to do the same thing.

Ronin356

WingedWeasel wrote: »

Anyone participate in the beginner/1 hour d&d events? My wife has literally zero rpg experience but was interested in trying them. Basically she is curious how newcomer friendly they are. Are they for true beginners or novice level? Also how tight is the schedule? It's listed as 1 hour, but do they typically run over? Our experience with gencon has pretty much been exclusively in the ccg/TCG hall

Baldman games are running a beginner level event for d&d 5e called "Introduction to Adventure." They are running that every day at the con.

Hahnsoo1

I'm going! I haven't been there since 2012. I'm playing a lot of Shadowrun and True Dungeon. I'm hoping to get some Magic: the Gathering in, too. I'm also seeing the They Might Be Giants concert.

kaid

Ronin356 wrote: »

Saturday Badges are completely gone, sold out.

Sunday is about to do the same thing.

Yup pretty bonkers I can't ever recall sunday selling out. Normally sunday is one last run through the dealer hall to snap up some bargins from guys who don't want to cart all their stuff home and then start the drive/fly/train home.

Casually Hardcore

So this is my first year going. Is there any tips for new people? Should I bring cash or am I good going all electronic?

TheColonel

Cash is good to have. Many of the dealers have gotten with the times and have Square or some such electronic reader, but some of the smaller shops haven't so having some cash on hand isn't a bad idea.

kaid

I tend to recommend bringing at least a reasonable amount of cash. Most of the bigger vendors are fine with CC but a lot of the stuff around a con is easier and faster to do with cash specially food purchases. Also note that sometimes in the con their internets can get shakey or at least it did in years passed so sometime the CC machines can have problems glitching if they are smaller vendors using the mobile cc authentication stuff.

WingedWeasel

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

So this is my first year going. Is there any tips for new people? Should I bring cash or am I good going all electronic?

Most of your general stuff for huge day long events apply. Plan when you want to eat and actually eat (I tend to skip this then go wtf why am I so hungry!), Wife and I carry refillable water bottles with the filters in them. There are food trucks that come by but as you would imagine around meal times they are swarmed and you could possibly end your waiting a while.

Minimizing what you physically carry is a good idea too. I'm generally there for ccgs and even carrying s couple of decks, maybe a board game purchase from the dealer hall, and a water bottle can feel heavy over the course of a 12+ hour day depending on what you want to do.

I plan out a lot of the purchases ahead of time so I can go with cash for expediency but minimal amount for general security type reasons.

Also it is likely to be super fucking hot.

TheColonel

Tips!

1.) Hydrate. You may be inside most of the time in an air conditioned building, but you're still going to be doing a ton of walking at times and Indy can get hot. Your body needs water.

2.) Wear comfortable shoes. See above regarding walking. You're going to be on your feet a lot.

3.) The food options inside the convention center are "ok" but there are way better options. The food trucks just outside the center are busy but quite good (cash can come in handy here). There are a ton of restaurants in the immediate vicinity that get into the show and have custom menus and decorations and such. See the RAM Brewery and Scotty's Brewhouse in particular for Privateer Press and Paizo matchups. Be prepared to wait especially during the lunch rush. This year is going to be absurd with the amount of people so don't be afraid to eat early.

4.) If you're looking for any sort of exclusives or early release sales, then be prepared to be lined up at the Vendor Hall doors early Thursday before they open. They go quick. Some vendors have gotten better at splitting up their early release/exclusives to have a set amount for each day.

5.) As Kaid said above Sunday you can find a lot of great deals from certain vendors who don't want to haul all of their product back. So if something caught your eye but didn't grab your wallet early, swing back around on Sunday and see what's going on.

6.) Get involved! There are a ton of activities and meetups going on all weekend long. If something says it's sold out, have a set of generic tickets on hand and show up anyway. Sometimes slots will have opened up or someone will have no-showed and you can get in using those generics.

kaid

If you are sticking around until sunday I always recommend a last pass on the dealer hall. I have gotten some really crazy deals in the past by people who simply did not want to schlep the stuff back to their warehouse.

Athenor

Yeah. It's a well-known "Secret" that most vendors don't want to haul their shit back to the warehouse, so they'll clearance out the last day.
Edit: Or, you know, I could read to the end of the above post (which I was doing as I was typing)

kaid

Oh fun tip if you want to buy shirts and you are a bit on the festively plump side like myself and want xl or bigger sizes buy them on thursday or friday if there is some specific one you want. They tend to go through the bigger sizes way faster than smalls and mediums. Plus side if you have kids or are yourself lucky and small or medium shirt size sunday is your day!.

Forar

I'll be going for my second time (first was in 2015). While I'm still new to Gencon, I've been working a friend's booth at Toronto events for several years now, so to build on the suggestions made above;

- Plan time to do nothing. It's tempting (especially for a first visit) to try to squeak out every last little bit of fun possible, but then you look at a grocery list of 20+ events and find you barely have time to run from one to another, let alone wander the vendor hall, let alone stumble into something awesome. Half an hour or so every couple of events/allotted times to just wander and discover can be invaluable. Sure, plot out the events and games and purchases you want to get done and snap them early, but recognize that sometimes you stumble into a line of a dozen awesome cosplays and want to snap pics of them to share later, or a demo for a game that completely wasn't on your radar but the booth is inexplicably empty, or you hear about something else completely out of the blue. Or hell, you just plain get a bit lost and it takes a bit to get yourself back on track.

I like to think of them as chronological crumple zones.

So far, my Thursday and Saturday are starting to fill a little, but I'm intentionally leaving Friday all but blank at the moment, so I can hopefully fit in some stuff on a flexible schedule there, at the very least.

A shame that there isn't another Concert Against Humanity this year. I really enjoyed the one in 2015.

Already lining up the list of booths I want to make sure I visit (and maybe a few minutes flipping the bird at one in particular, they know what they did).

WingedWeasel

I stumbled on mutant football all league last year and ended up kick-starting it because I loved the Genesis game. Probably wouldn't have ever had a clue it was being made again if I didn't just randomly find it in between others events. Just wandering can be fun as well

JonBob

(Crosspost from Board Games thread)

The new GeekPreview tool is up on BGG for Gen Con. It is so much nicer than the old GeekList format. The only thing I miss is the comments, but I can easily lose those in favor of this easily sortable and filterable version. https://boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/1/gen-con-50

WingedWeasel

JonBob wrote: »

(Crosspost from Board Games thread)

The new GeekPreview tool is up on BGG for Gen Con. It is so much nicer than the old GeekList format. The only thing I miss is the comments, but I can easily lose those in favor of this easily sortable and filterable version. https://boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/1/gen-con-50

I was looking at this the other day,but I guess an old version of the tool? I dunno never used it before. I've never gone into gencon and actively thought about trying new stuff. It has always been more focused on a specific thing or things (primarily wowtcg events). This time around I'm still playing in wowtcg stuff but a lot more of my time is going to be demo'ing new things. I even have a Google keep list for my wife and I so I can remember to look for stuff. I've found in the past a lot of "work that's awesome but I'm running to X, I'll check back later" only to realize in September fml I forgot.

Ronin356

Sunday badges just sold out. Got an email from Gencon's newsletter saying that Thursday is about to sell out too.

Wow, I've never seen this before.

Athenor

Hmmm.

So since we started making our plans, two of my roommates moved out to Seattle. This means they'll be flying in, and their flight arrives at 10:10 PM or so. We need to figure out car situations. The other two roommates want to rent a big car for Wednesday and Sunday, to go and come back. I am leery of this, for a lot of reasons.. but.. I don't know, it might be cheaper/work better? I guess it all depends on how much parking screws me over, and how long / hard the trip to the airport is.

Ketar

Any kind of cheap and convenient parking that you could pre-book through a service like Parking Panda or Spot Hero sold out a while ago. You're probably looking at $25+ per day for a public lot at this point, or whatever your hotel is charging.

Athenor

Ketar wrote: »

Any kind of cheap and convenient parking that you could pre-book through a service like Parking Panda or Spot Hero sold out a while ago. You're probably looking at $25+ per day for a public lot at this point, or whatever your hotel is charging.

Yeah. Probably hotel parking. Though it is not uncommon to "lose" your parking ticket and pay the fee...

I didn't do that in 2014, paying like $125 in parking alone.

Forar

My friends and I drove in from a hotel on the outskirts due to getting screwed by the stupid hotel system (it's a long story, but it was their fault) and while I can't say I recall the exact costs, parking wasn't too horrific at the time.

Now, this comes with caveats; there were 4 of us, so even $20 split up to keep things reasonable. We were in fairly early all 3 days (and had to leave early on Sunday due to a family emergency for one guy), that probably helped. And we were willing to go a few blocks out to find more affordable options. And it wasn't the 50th anniversary with days selling out left and right.

So, I'm not saying it's a perfect 1:1 comparison, but if everyone's willing to help shoulder the burden of parking, it might be workable, but it sounds like you got screwed somehow last time, so YMMV...

Casually Hardcore

I actually feel spoiled. My group managed to get hotels with attached skywalk. the only thing I'll be missing out on is True Dungeon but I'm okay with that because I don't like doing new things with complete strangers.

So how does general tickets work? My plan was to get even tickets for things I absolutely wanted to do and get general tickets to fill in the rest of my day. Also, is there any arcades in Indianapolis that I should check out (being a digital gamer first and foremost here)?

Lastly, is there anything I should be gunning for in the dealer room? Right now I'm dead set on getting some Grymkin Warmachine figures and a copy of FFG Genesis beta rulebook. I was kind of hoping Kingdom Death: Monster will be available, but I really don't want to blow my entire budget on one thing so I'm okay with them not being there.