Gen Con Tips from an (Increasingly) Old Pro

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Hard as it is for me to imagine, this year marks my 18th consecutive trip to Gen Con, and my 14th in a row attending as a gaming professional. In all those years I’ve seen the convention move from Milwaukee to Indianapolis, I’ve played hundreds of RPG sessions, and I’ve met and re-met thousands and thousands of gamers, many of whom I now consider some of my closest friends. As I look at my packed suitcase and contemplate another year of the world’s greatest gaming convention, I thought it might be fun to take this opportunity to list 18 Gen Con tips that will help you get the most out of the show.

Paizo

1. Stop by the Paizo booth in the exhibit hall at least once every morning to get a different free daily Pathfinder button. We started handing out Pathfinder buttons to folks visiting the booth about three years ago, and it’s been amazing to see how popular they have become. If you’re interested in collecting them, try to visit the booth during the first two hours the exhibit hall is open each day. Even the staff missed out on most of last year’s buttons because they vanished to rapidly. (PROTIP: We’ve created a special FIFTH button this year, and the only way to get it is to visit the Pathfinder Society Organzed Play area on the second floor of the convention center overlooking the exhibit hall.)
2. Pick up a Gen Con-exclusive edition of the very first issue of the brand-new Pathfinder comic at the booth, then have your limited-edition collectible autographed by writer Jim Zub and artist Andrew Huerta, who will both be signing through the convention. Andrew will even be doing character drawings all weekend long!
3. Be among the very first to get a copy of Ultimate Equipment, the huge new hardcover item catalog for the Pathfinder RPG! With thousands of magic and mundane items, the book is sure to have the perfect gift for your favorite player character. Don’t you think he deserves a special gift from the convention, too?
4. Gamers who finish an event in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room on the second floor of the convention center receive special wooden coins produced to commemorate the new season of play, the Year of the Risen Rune. Turn in your coins at HQ for a chance to win exciting in-campaign prizes!
5. Check the program book and the posted list at the Paizo booth for a look at more than a dozen seminars and panels we’re putting on at the show. From a look behind the scenes at the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition to Pathfinder RPG rules workshops to 10 Years of Paizo retrospectives to discussions of topics like the art of Pathfinder or the Pathfinder Online MMO, we’ve got all kinds of exciting events going on every day of the convention.
6. A crate of adorable little plush goblins was seen in Anchorage, Alaska today, en route (so they say) to the Paizo booth at Gen Con. Should these rumors prove true, it means Gen Con attendees will be the first people on Earth with the chance to adopt their very own plush Pathfinder goblins. Lock up your dogs and bring home the best Gen Con gift you can ever give your family—a loveable new member!
7. Stop by for a chat with the hard-working members of the Paizo staff. If you appreciate what we do, let us know! There’s nothing like a face-to-face compliment to recharge the old batteries. On the other hand, if there’s something we could be doing better to make Pathfinder more appealing to you, we’d love to hear about it.

Gen Con Tips

1. Schedule several hours (or more, if you’re a compulsive game collector or demo fiend) for the exhibit hall. Resist the temptation to fill every hour of every day with gaming (but oh, what a way to go!), because if you neglect a thorough investigation of the exhibit hall, you’re missing out on one of the things that makes Gen Con such a great experience.
2. Wander randomly a bit. There’s no way to distill a convention as large and as crazy as Gen Con in a web article or even a full convention book. Sometimes you’ve just got to see it yourself. Wander through the miniatures gaming hall. Check out a demo of a game you’ve never heard of, even join a random pick-up game. The best memories from Gen Con often involve situations you hadn’t anticipated until they started happening around you.
3. You’ve got to do the True Dungeon. Even if it’s sold out, I often hear of folks with extra tickets looking for someone to go with them. If you don’t have tickets and hear such an offer, jump on it immediately. It’s quite an amazing experience, and well worth the time, cost, and effort involved. You won’t quite feel like a “real” adventurer after going through the True Dungeon, but you will certainly appreciate the value of a good torch. It’s dark in there!
4. Make some new friends. From the PFS room to the Paizo booth to the informal chats that often break out following a seminar, Gen Con is a great place to meet gamers with similar interests to your own. Don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation with your fellow gamers. Maybe you’re in line at a restaurant, or waiting to get assigned to an organized play table. Either way, the place is packed with potential friendships. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet some new people.
5. Take photographs. These days most of us have incredible cameras in our phones. Use them. Take snaps of the cool displays you see in the exhibit hall, cool architecture you see in Indianapolis, and cool people you game with. Stimuli hits you so fast and furious at Gen Con even the incredible can start to seem sort of normal. “Oh, what, a dude dressed in a full-on goat costume with working neon rays shooting out of his eyes seated on a throne and palanquin being carried by a procession of short stormtroopers? SEEN it!” Yeah, you’re going to want to tell someone about that later, even if it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal compared to the dozen other amazing things you saw in the prior 10 minutes. Take a picture. It’ll last longer.
6. Set aside a little money to pick up a gift for your significant other, even if said other isn’t really into gaming. There’s plenty of cool non-gaming stuff for sale at Gen Con, from novelty T-shirts to toys to jewelry. Find something that certain someone would appreciate, and get it. They put up with a lot from gaming, and if they aren’t with you, they’re probably holding down the fort back home and would appreciate the thought. If they are with you at the convention, you have won the significant other lottery, and don’t really need my advice. Keep doing what you are doing.

Indianapolis Tips

1. Don’t neglect nourishment. The convention hall is good for a hot dog in a dire emergency, but Indianapolis has a nice selection of restaurants within walking distance. The Ram is always jam packed with gamers, and the Circle Center food court (accessible by skybridge from the Convention Center) has a variety of, well, food court options. While there, I often grab a fruit smoothie to remind myself about wholesomeness, since it’s not exactly on offer at places like Steak N’Shake and White Castle. Mmmmm. White Castle.
2. Go to White Castle.
3. It gets hot. Oh, lordy, it gets hot. Pack an extra set of socks. After a full day of trekking from panel to panel and back and forth to meals in a soggy Midwestern summer, your feet will love you for a quick sock-swap before dinner. And bring comfortable shoes, as well. Your feet and you are not necessarily going to be the best of friends at the end of the weekend, so it’s best to make sure things remain comfortable between the three of you for as long as possible.
4. Don’t forget to sleep. You’re going to be tempted to game into the wee hours, to close down the bar, and to play more games after that. Don’t. Or at least don’t every night. You’ve waited a long time (and spent a pile of money) to get to Gen Con. You owe it to yourself to experience at least a little of it with clear eyes on at least a half night’s rest. Man cannot survive on gaming, booze, and 5-Hour Energy alone (trust me, I’ve tried).

The Most Important Tip

• After the spending spree of travel bills and exhibit hall excursions, it’s time to start planning how to afford the trip to NEXT YEAR’s Gen Con. Because seriously, once you go once, you’re going to want to go every year.

I mean, look at me. I’ve been to 17 of these things, and have no plans to stop any time soon.

My plane for Number Eighteen leaves in 10 hours!

See you at the show!

Erik Mona
Publisher