One of the big reasons I come to GenCon is to play games, but it’s not the only reason: shopping is another. In 2000 I bought my first Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook there, in 2014 I’ll by my first 5th Edition PHB. This is where I got my Battlestar Galactica and Serenity RPG books, as well as more d20 sourcebooks than I care to mention.
I’m on the road to GenCon 2014. In seven hours I’ll be in Indianapolis, rendezvousing with friends, checking into the hotel, picking up my registration pack … and getting reading to roll some dice. As I wrote a few months ago, this is my first trip to GenCon since 2007. A lot has changed since then — from what I’ve heard, the convention has gotten even bigger than it was then (and it was hella big then, having outgrown Milwaukee a few years earlier).
After seven years away, I’m going back to GenCon. It’s been far too long since I was last there, and even longer since the late 1990s when GenCon was an annual pilgrimage for my gaming group. I’m looking forward to going back.