Adventure Hooks

Friday, April 21, 2006

Those Gencon Plans - make 'em early

Hey, is anyone else from the group going to Gencon this year, other than the Tjarks clan? I suppose I can also count Amber #2 among the likely to go, but I'm just checking on other folks.

One of the big reasons I'm checking is so that we can flesh out teams for a couple of events - mainly for True Dungeon but also if there are other things people may want to do together.

I'm not planning on judging this year (though I may get swayed again later -- we'll see).

posted by TT at 11:44 AM

11 Comments:

  • Me and Amber are planing on it, and hopefully this car wont be a money pit. I know we can get the time off of work, but I am pretty bad at saving money. Amber said she would make me save for it. I just hope she does.

    By Blogger Rob, at 22/4/06 07:05  

  • Some info for you if you plan on going Rob. Event registration opens on May 1st. If you want to get into any roleplaying or larping events, I suggest buying your badge and registering as early as possible. I'm actually not quite sure how fast larps fill up, but regular non-RPGA games will fill within the first week.

    This does not really count the RPGA at all, since there are usually plenty of spots. Unless of course you want to get into one of the specials (of which there are 3: Living Greyhawk, Mark of Heroes, and the new campaign Xen'drik Expeditions). The Greyhawk one will definately fill up, last year in about a month, the Mark of Heroes one will probably have spots open, but not necesarilly in the times you would want. And the Xen'drik Expeditions one is a 3 round event (you heard me right), but I don't know how popular it will be or anything. I'm assuming you wouldn't be interested in the Living Greyhawk, so at least you won't have to worry about it filling up.

    I don't know if this is your first time going (as far as I know it is, but maybe not). But here are some tips that I have picked up from going to GenCon for a few years now, for anyone who wants them. Maybe other people can chime in with their own tips and maybe educate me. Some of these tips may have already been picked up from going to other large conventions anyway.

    1) Don't over schedule yourself. You are going to want time to go to the dealer hall, eat, wander around, and jump in random events.

    2) Don't under schedule yourself. If you go to the convention with absolutely no plan, with maybe a couple of events scheduled, you are going to be bored, or feel overwhelmed.

    3) Check out the Paint and Take. Go early in the day on Thursday or Friday when there isn't a line. If you are a total n00b they can help you out, and even if you are pretty good, they can give you a new tip to make your mini-painting better. And it is totally free way to get a mini that you painted yourself. I find it a good way to start off the day.

    4) Try new things. There are tons of beginners welcome games. Is there a new roleplaying game you wanted to try? Maybe a board game or a card game? Besides the intro games you can sign up for as regular events, there are TONS of demos in the dealers hall.

    5) Swag. We all like it. And from my experience, the best swag comes from following tip #4. Also, go by the Wizards booth every day to get the daily free mini. It may not be obvious where it is, but look around, because they got them. If you miss a day, they'll probably have extras on Sunday that you can get. And check the coupon book you get in bag, especially if you are there on Thursday. There are lots of free things in there, but they tend to be limited, so get there early if you really want it.

    --

    I can't think of anything else off the top of my head right now. Just plan early, and be educated before you go.

    By Blogger Matt, at 22/4/06 09:04  

  • All Matt's tips are good. Here are a couple other things to know:

    1. There are volunteer opportunities that will cut your cost a little. Generally it's 16-20 hours of work to get a free badge (which means only around $2 an hour). If you work a lot you might be able to latch onto something that will give you a free hotel room (shared with 3 others) - however that will also eat essentially all your con time -- you've have to work at least 75% of the time to get a hotel room.

    2. There won't be any hotel rooms available near the con at this time. If there were, they'd be expensive (at least $150 a night). So, you can stay somewhere cheaper (didn't you say you knew someone in Indy?), but you'll either then have to pay for parking ($15-$20 a day) or maybe take a bus in to downtown?? I don't know.

    I'm just letting you know to make sure you do have money saved that you'll need, or that you've got another way to cover your expenses (like volunteering).

    Not trying to dissuade you, just making sure you have the info.

    By Blogger TT, at 22/4/06 14:32  

  • Definitely try new things. Gencon's a place where I play a lot of different things that I normally wouldn't get a chance to play.

    Also, watch what times things are and make sure you budget time to sleep, eat, and bathe. Don't schedule a late night game and then an early morning game.

    And just so everyone knows: This year, if you return event tickets or generics, there's a 5% restocking fee--so be careful with your scheduling.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 22/4/06 15:22  

  • What! They did that on purpose ;-). Just based on how much I get, return, get, and return again, I probably would spend an entire event tickets worth of money doing that. And I don't think we will be doing my idea of trying to get TD tickets at all of the different times that they open up at...jerks

    By Blogger Matt, at 22/4/06 23:31  

  • Well, if you don't actually buy them, then the 5% restocking fee doesn't apply. So you can still put the TD tickets in the cart, just don't check out until you decide which ones you actually want. Apparently, at least part of the reason for doing this is that last year, people were buying up entire blocks of TD tickets (like, $1000 worth in at least one case) and returning them weeks later, after they decided which run worked for all their friends.

    By Blogger Kalen, at 23/4/06 08:24  

  • Yeah, I'll be going, but unable to pre-reg as I'm getting my badge through the auction. Obviously, I don't know what my schedule looks like yet other than there'll be a 75% chance I'll be at the auction at any given time if you stop by... availability to talk's a different issue.

    Rob and #1, all the advice pulled out so far is good. If you're looking for badge re-imbursal come by the auction Wednesday or Thursday and I'll introduce y'all to Jane. 16 hours of work each and she'll pay ya back at the end of the con... through the mail... within a few months. If you need somewhere to crash it may be able to be arranged but ya gotta tell me now so that I can tell Jane. If it comes down to it you can crash at the apartment without doing the extra work.

    #2

    By Blogger Amber #2, at 24/4/06 15:05  

  • Event listings are now online. Go here for the download. http://community.gencon.com/files/24/pmcompletecatalogs/default.aspx Remember that event registration opens May 1st, and some events will sell out quickly.

    By Blogger Kalen, at 24/4/06 21:23  

  • Gah, the link is too long. IM me or Kathy if you can't find it on the site.

    By Blogger Kalen, at 24/4/06 21:23  

  • GenCon Event Lists

    By Blogger Matt, at 25/4/06 08:06  

  • So what were we looking at for team events? Anyone got any recommendations for other cool events? I like to plan out a couple games to play with the cool people.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 25/4/06 10:38  

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