I'm coming to Gen Con!
If you like playing nerdy games, even a little bit, you owe it to yourself to go to a game con. There are awesome regional cons happening all the time, like the Strategicons we have here near LAX, and RinCon in Tucson, but the biggest one of all is Gen Con.
I've wanted to go to Gen Con since I was in my teens, but one thing or another has always prevented me from making the trip. This year, though, I rolled a 20, and it's finally happening!
I'm a Media Guest of Honor, joining Felicia Day and members of the cast of The Guild. I'll be signing stuff for about three hours each day, and the rest of the time I will be getting my geek on and playing games – look for me wherever you see Zombie or Cthulhu Dice, Small World, Pandemic, Savage Worlds, and of course True Dungeon. I will be doing a storytelling hour at some point, and details about that will be in the program. I'm hope someone will coordinate an epic gathering of the How I Roll shirt from shirt.woot, and if someone else doesn't do it, I'll organize it myself.
I've wanted to go to Gen Con since I was in junior high, and I'm super excited that I can finally attend. See you there!
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I wish that I could go, even though I just saw you at Phoenix Comicon… I used to run a lot of events at GenCon (mostly Spycraft events, but have also worked the exhibit hall running CCG demos for different companies) and I always enjoyed GenCon.
If you get a chance, head to The Ram bar & restaurant; the owner is a huge gamer and truly loves all the people coming in for GenCon. The first year that GenCon was in Indy, The Ram was the only place that had the foresight to order extra food supplies… every other restaurant in the area ran out of food by Friday.
Have fun in Indy, and roll some Chtulhu Dice for me.
Ashes to ashes,
DJ Pheonyx
I always meant to make it to GenCon while I lived in Ohio. Origins in Columbus was my first convention, and I’ve heard GenCon is even bigger/more full of awesome. Have a great time!
Whoa, too nerdy for me, dude. I don’t remember playing Rifts and Shadowrun when I was in high school — but only because I was so sensationally stoned, all the phucking time! ;]
Since Hahnarama made it cool to solicit publicly, I’m just going to through this out there.
I host a restaurant-based podcast called The Well Fed Guide To Life. Normally we review Minneapolis-based restaurants, but if you felt like indulging in some beer-geekery discussion and dinner on us, I think I could make it happen, since I’ll be down in Indy anyway. Indy has some great places to eat, as everyone else has told you. Not to sure on vegetarian options, since my diet is mostly “something has to die”.
Oh. Em. Gee. This is ALSO my first (and possibly) only time to Gencon, since I’m in Singapore (a 13 hr time difference and 20+ hr flight away) and it’s nigh impossible to get there. Same thing; circumstances coincided, and I rolled a 20.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to return to Gencon, but I’ll be there: to help out with Privateer Press, get my game on, and to report on some stuff for my blog (www.herebegeeks.com) And what better way to cement my Gencon experience than to meet you, even if it’s to geek out for a short while?
So, if you see a crazy lanky Asian guy talk to you and then descend into babbling, you know where I came from. 🙂
Yay for Singapore! I have so many friends over there, including one that’s originally from the States but is coming back at the end of the month to visit. Hearing about you coming over reminded me of that all over again!! 😀
I was so excited to hear that you’d be coming out to GenCon – I’m always quite envious of the great times I keep hearing about when you show up to all of those west-coast events. (;
I’ll be getting my geek on in several events (including some of the non-gaming-related ones), as well as helping with one of the entertainer’s booths. (Perhaps we’ll be “neighbors”!)
Late to the game, I’ll be at Gen Con too (didn’t make the Media Guest list though, I’m Media). I’ll be co-hosting the off-con Drunken D&D game and a few other games/demos of stuff I wrote. Mostly this year I’m going to play and mingle with fans and friends. The last 2 were about networking with the Industry.
I’ll drop by your booth and say hi and try to bamboozle you into a game. Mouse Guard perhaps?
My husband is from Indiana (we live in VA) and convinced me that the perfect one year anniversary getaway/birthday present for him would be a trip to GenCon. So that’s where we’re heading this year and I’m so excited you’re going to be there since I’ve can’t get out to the west coast to see you.
Now to the important part– I hereby challange you to a game of Small World! My husband played it at our local gaming store, he loved it and rented it so that he could bring it home and let me try it. I loved the game, my son loves it (we modify the rules slightly for him since he’s only 5). We ended up buying it about three weeks ago and play several times a week. So beware I’m prepared…my Skellies gotta grow 🙂
~~TARA~~
That’s awesome! I’ve wanted to go to Gen Con for a long time but have lacked time and funds. Have a great time for everyone who can’t be there! I’ll, uh, play Pandemic at home and wish I was there. 🙂
Cheers.
I’m excited to see that you’ll be at Gen Con! There are sit-down vegetarian places to be found around downtown, but the easiest option is probably the burrito place in the nearby mall. Of course you can always substitute a good stout for a meal!
If you have the time and are interested in playing some of the small press or independently-published games that are around, you should check out the Games on Demand event and the after-hours gaming options. I think the games would appeal to you because many of them have a bit more of an improv-influence that you’d probably dig.
If you’re interested, I’d be happy to point you in the right direction- just message me.
Steve
Gen con will be a 5 hour driving trip one way. I wished these cool cons would come closer to where I live.
Awesome news indeed!
I too had wanted to go to GenCon ever since I saw the ad inside my copy of Basic Dungeons and Dragons back in the early 80’s. And having lived in Northern California all my life had meant that it wasn’t going to happen easily. I finally got to go in 2008 and again in 2009.
I almost bailed on the trip this year because finances are tight but decided to forge ahead. I am glad I did! I find it a bit ironic that I am going to have to fly to Indianapolis to get your autograph because I missed w00tstock in SF.
I can’t wait to try out Cthulhu Dice!
Wil, Please don’t miss Terrorwerks, the Dark Sun Delves (I am running Saturday Morning and Afternoon), and most of all our BARFLEET Dinner! Barfleet is an organization that is Starfleet based, however we throw amazing parties and have the coolest sci/fi gamer geeks you will ever find!
Gen Con has been my and my husband’s “true vacation” for the past several years (at least, since it moved to Indy). We get four days to be kids while our son spends time with grandparents. AND, that Wednesday will be our 9th wedding anniversary! Anywhoo, we did True Dungeon (one of the mini-quests) for the first time last year, and really enjoyed it until one of the guys in the group ruined the last puzzle for us because he’d volunteered before and knew it all. Oh, well. I’m slightly disappointed this year that I can’t do it because I’ll be around 8 months pregnant by then, and there’s talk of a life-size dragon somewhere in the rooms! So, enjoy yourself! (Oh, and I’d like to attend the “How I Roll” shirt Tweetup, but I doubt I’ll be able to wear mine, because…well, I’ll be 8 months pregnant by then.)
I’m always fair to my players, unless they make a point of being a dick. I have no desire to abuse you with a giant spider. Your “Hurry up and kill it I have to pee” song was hilarious, though.
Naturally this calls for a flash mob of Wil Wheaton lookalikes to crash the party- anyone know where we can order clown sweaters in bulk?
This is great news, Wil. Now that you’ve already gotten eight hundred invites, I might as well throw out one more–I’m a member of the Writers’ Symposium, which has been handling the writing track at Gen Con for years now (Jean Rabe is the mastermind and coordinator), and as usual I and other pro writers are going to be running a series of panels on the craft and business of writing in the science fiction and fantasy fields. Pat Rothfuss was the guest of honor last year, Jim Hines (whom you know something about!) has been involved before, and over the years it’s become one of the more consistently well attended parts of the con. Since you’re obviously in the pro writer category, if you can squeeze in some time between killing armored boars, avoiding acid pits and doing whatever the AWESOME THING is going to be, we’d love to have you on a panel or two. Let me know and I’ll happily send along a schedule.
Either way, look forward to seeing you there!
Greg Wilson
http://writerssymposium.blogspot.com/
@ralamm: i’ve got you covered. join couchsurfing.com, join the indianapolis group, post your request, or message me (vark) on the site; i’m holding a couch for you at overlook hotel; we had 4 genconners last year.
@wil: you might or might not remember me as arbitrary aardvark at the soapbox, was it 8 years ago? i’m in indy and would be happy to do any local support you can use while you are here.
best kept vegan secret headquarters: jinxie’s in the basement of earth house, a local church/coffeehouse/community place 1/2 mile from convention center. reservations sugested, just to make sure they’ll be open at the time. gtbear at gmail.
Mr. Wheaton, if you get the chance you should check out Tracy & Laura Hickman’s Killer Breakfast. It will be on Saturday morning at 9am (Event #ENT1008490). It is 1st level adventure for 100-150 players, and as you can tell from the name there is a lot of death involved! It is a combination of gaming, improv comedy, and music! I have been doing it for a number of years and every year it is the highlight of my GenCon experience!
Here are a couple of links to one group really hamming it up at last year’s GenCon:
And here is a link to Tracy & Laura Hickman’s Killer Breakfast website:
http://www.killerbreakfast.com/
I highly recommend this event!
Mr. Wheaton, it will be wonderful to see you at Gen Con. I have gone for the last 10 years or so and had the chance to meet alot of great actors/actresses/authers/artists, I’m glad the tradition will continue. When I heard you were coming, I looked you up and found this website. Very late to party it appears. I since have bought and am reading one of your books, Just A Geek. It has floored me. Your open, honest, raw depiction of your life has very much inspired me. I’m happy for you, to fulfill a childhood dream by coming to the Con. I hope we live up to that dream and you have a great time. Can’t wait to meet you and shake hands with such a unique actor and auther. Travel well.
B