Game Day: GenCon 2007

There’s no game day for me today, as I’d had alternative plans that fell through when I came down with Pink Eye. Which isn’t to say there’s not some great gaming news to talk about — after much debate, scrambling and a little bit of arm twisting (or perhaps just enthusiastic encouragement — I wasn’t there for all of it) my gaming group is sending what may be its largest-ever contingent to GenCon Indy in 2007.

There will be eight of us going, including two who’ve never been there before, one of whom we haven’t seen in months because he moved to Oregon. It harkens back to our last big trip to GenCon, which I think saw six of us go to Milwaukee (though it may have been seven … it’s all a happy blur).

I’m looking forward to resuming traditions first started in Milwaukee, like our huge group dinner/beerfest where we head out, drink a goodly amount of beer accompanied by some excellent steaks, and talk about old times, new times, and anything else that comes to mind.

A Geek Dad at GenCon?

A lot’s changed since my last expedition to GenCon. In 2001, I was married, but not yet a dad. Sleep depravation was a choice, not a way of life and I had this thing called “disposable income”. Nowadays, well, I may be a hell of a lot healthier than I was in 2001 but I suspect my late-night stamina is worse. I’m not alone in this — the same gaming group that used to stay up until 5 a.m. watching geek movies after the game now struggles to say conscious and civil when gaming until 1:30. I doubt I’ll be able survive 18 hours a day of gaming like I did at my earlier GenCons, and to be honest, I don’t really want to try. Last time around, I wanted to do everything I could possibly do. This time around I want to relax.

This time around I find that my interests have diversified, and while I’m sure I’ll play in a few RPGA Dungeons & Dragons events, I’m also hoping to schedule a bunch of games I don’t get to play much of, like Spycraft, Amber, Risus, Mutants & Masterminds and maybe even an indy game or two. I also like to try out more of the game demos in the vendor room, something I usually passed on at the earlier cons.

I’m also hoping to meet up with some online folks at GenCon, particularly other podcasters, but readers/listeners as well. If you’re going to be at GenCon, let me know!

Helpful GenCon Links

Interested in heading to GenCon yourself? Then check out these useful links:

  • GenCon: The official home page for the convention, where you can learn more about the con, buy your badge, and (eventually) register for events
  • GenCon Cost Estimator: This tool tries to give you an estimate of how much it will cost to attend GenCon. It includes options for number of people attending, travel, hotel rooms, event tickets and more. Simply choose what you’re most likely to do at the con and how you intend to get there, and it estimates how much it may cost you.
  • The Keeper of Ancient GenCon Lore: GenCon turns 40 this year and if you missed out on most of its history you can get caught up by visiting this web site. It contains an overview of the con’s history, from the early days in Lake Geneva up to the current day in Indianapolis.

The Fate of Nuke(m)Con?

So what will happen this year with Nuke(m)Con, our home-grown alternative to GenCon? I suspect we’ll still have it in one form or another, since it’s a heck of a lot of fun, and most of us need that extra weekend of stress release. We might need to scale it back to single day though, perhaps starting early and going late on Saturday rather than trying to do an entire weekend.

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