GenCon 08: Getting There, Half The Fun...

The blog journey begins...

Over the course of the next month, I'm going to recount the GameWick Games crew journey to the center of Gen Con. The whole thing was a whirlwind from the moment we backed out of our driveway and got on the road to Indianapolis. And I want to bore you all (I think there's about 8 of you regulars) with a play-by-play, day-by-day travel log. If nothing else this is my attempt to remember what worked and what didn't for us. It might also help those of you out there who are dreaming of doing Gen Con in your own way someday. As this might be some of the most dang boring stuff you'll find on the internet, I'll try to keep the post shorts and the entries easily digestable. Here we go!

The trip, one way, was 680 miles door to door; that is my front door in NJ to the Indianapolis convention center. This was the first time we have driven to Gen Con, and with gas prices as they are, it was a hefty expense (around $200). Still, that's cheaper than airfare for two people. The drive took us on a journey that we were mostly familiar with, as we had driven to the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio the month prior.

All in all, a five state passage: NJ, PA, WV, OH and IN: an 11 hour journey with beautiful, but never-changing, scenery that is broken up a bit by four tunnels in the mountain passes of PA.

Gen Con here we come!

Gen Con Aftermath!

OK... Haven't posted since the last con! That should give you a hint on how hectic things have been and Gen Con was no different. Gen Con rocked from beginning to end (and literally the dice didn't stop rolling at our WEGS booth until the "voice of god" came over the exhibit hall loudspeaker kicking out all non-vendors). Folks were still chucking dice at our table until the bitter end! I'll post stuff over the course of the next few weeks on the GenCon games/demos once I catch up... This con-hopping summer was nutz!!!

Historicon Aftermath!

Historicon was last weekend, and like Dexcon, was a full-throttle WEGS experience. This is only our second time at Historicon (first was last July), though we did attend Cold Wars this past March (which is run by the same group). Historicon is a big, well-run con. Kudos to the folks who pull this off. Right down to the published event program, this con is clockwork. This has been my experience each time I have attended. As this is a historical miniatures convention, WEGS is the freak show here with our battlemat and D&D miniatures. As a non-historical game, WEGS is scheduled off-hours; we're not permitted to take up the prime-time slots (totally understandable). WEGS fills in the late-night slots, and that's something we do too well! The good thing about this is that it prevents me from creating a monster schedule and I actually have time to meander through the exhibit hall.

The games. We had five games on the sched: Fri night; Sat late afternoon; Sat night; Sun morning and Sun afternoon. Attendees get tickets for every event at the central Command Booth, a huge wall of hanging tickets that are handed out upon request. This registration may seem archaic, but it works - and works well! Prior to this con, WEGS always had tickets hanging on the wall. By the time I arrived on Friday, most of the WEGS event tickets were gone. Cool stuff! Come game time for any given event, there are usually no-shows, but not this time. Most of the events had folks waiting at the table to grab the no-show slots. Each game (except the Sunday PM) was filled to maximum capacity. All in all, around twenty people played in our games, the bulk of which were new. We did have some returnees from prior cons. By the Sunday game, the entire table was filled with folks who knew the system and knew if amazingly well.

Like Origins, it's a shame Historicon only happens once a year!