The Links to the left side are the pictures.
Gencon was a super blast, Michelle and I have the best first con we could have, for a couple of people who did not know what to expect. We did over book ourselves a little on some events and seminars, but none that we had to pay for they were all free events. It�s the strangest thing to be around so many people who have the same passion about role-playing games as we do. That�s the neatest thing, all these people go to con to game, get swag, and party, but mostly just to game.
Next year we will fine-tune our schedule as to get more gaming in, less workshops and seminars, and more role-playing. There are a few event I will not miss though, one that we missed this year on Wednesday, called the Big Stink. I know, Gencon does not officially start until Thursday at 10:00 am when the exhibit hall opens. We have found this not to be true, if you go plan to be there early on Wednesday, and pre-register for any events you forgot to get. You must pre-register for some events as soon as you get you badge number, one of them is Hickman�s Killer Breakfast for Saturday morning, and The Big-Stink on Wednesday. The Ennies is another thing I will never miss, it celebrates the folks who write, create, publish, and the art involved, in the games we all love to play. We all owe them the honor of cheering them on, and showing how much we appreciate all they do for the gaming industries.
The eats in Indy are great, and one place all must go is the Ram, it has a Monster of a burger, an oddly enough that�s its name. They are huge Gencon fans, and really make you feel welcome. There is a McDonald�s and a Subway in the Hyatt Hotel, for a cheep lunch, and a vast assortment of other eats for dinner. If you go with a friend look to spend $ 50.00 a day for 2 to 3 meals, that�s what we spent and we ate good! I repeat do not eat at the convention, the food is over priced, and not that great, and a soda out of a machine is $3.00. You cannot take a cooler in or anything like that in, but we simply put 2 cans of soda in our backpack, and carried a bottle of water, which we re-filled at the various fountains, located all over the place. This will save you huge amounts of money. We also took a few snack cakes, to tide us over from meal to meal, or when an event runs long. Trust me you will burn a lot of calories at Gencon, and you will need to eat a lot of calories to keep you energy up with the crowd and events, or else you are going to get a hunger headache, and dehydrated.
One more thing if you think you are going and plan on doing everything, forget it, it�s impossible, and Gencon is huge. If you plan on buying everything you want or is hard to get else where, forget it, you can not budget enough money for this, not that the prices are bad, as a matter of fact most are cheaper then your local gaming store; however, there is just way to much stuff that you will want to get, and you always feel like, if I only brought more money, I could have gotten this. Remember Gencon comes every year, so just wait until next year to get the rest of it. Then you will see more new stuff for the next year. So start saving money now for the trip, its worth every penny you spend, and a dime more if you had it!
