GenCon 2012, The last GenCon of the World!! Options

[Critias]

*crosses his fingers*

Please lock us in a vault this year, please lock us in a vault this year, please lock us in a vault this year...

[AStarshipforAnts]

Doc Wagon will be there this year...with bracelets! Yes. Do they count as actual DocWagon contracts? You'll have to find out for yourself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

[grendel]

DocWagon 4/16th Det Seattle has been there the past three years. HTR FTW!

[galvatron42]

I'll be heading back to gencon this year and I'm hoping to play a lot of missions. I'd like to give the scramble a try, but I've never done a LARP before. Are costumes required for the scramble?

[Critias]

I'll be heading back to gencon this year and I'm hoping to play a lot of missions. I'd like to give the scramble a try, but I've never done a LARP before. Are costumes required for the scramble?

Nope. They make it more fun, maybe, and last year they had a prize that went to the best costume...but plenty of folks just saunter around in their normal con-clothes, and still have a great time.

[AStarshipforAnts]

Nope. They make it more fun, maybe, and last year they had a prize that went to the best costume...but plenty of folks just saunter around in their normal con-clothes, and still have a great time.

Wearing costumes last year were killer in the heat. Hopefully this year it'll cool down a little bit. (Unlikely)

[CanRay]

Damn, I don't think I'm going to arrive early enough... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) Ah well, can barely afford what I'm going for anyhow.

[Critias]

Wearing costumes last year were killer in the heat. Hopefully this year it'll cool down a little bit. (Unlikely)

Oh, I know. I was walking around in a suit, formal dress kilt, and a two-gun airsoft rig. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif) That's why I'm praying this year's Scramble scenario is a single (air conditioned) room again, or at least just the interior of one building.

[grendel]

Make sure you read the costume rules closely as they're biased against future/near-future gamers like us. Airsoft guns are strictly prohibited. Unless you're a pixie cute girl cosplaying as Lara Croft.

[CanRay]

I remember the first time I went to GenCon, a friend of mine was hassled by security over his "Revolver". Now, he did make the prop from a real cap & ball revolver, but it was only the hammer, trigger, and pistol grip along with some PVC Piping and Electrical Tape. No cylinder, no barrel.

One guard thought "it was a real gun." I laughed in his face, and my buddy went, "Man, the CANADIAN can tell it's not a real gun.", the guy backed off after that.

[Critias]

Make sure you read the costume rules closely as they're biased against future/near-future gamers like us. Airsoft guns are strictly prohibited. Unless you're a pixie cute girl cosplaying as Lara Croft.

Or unless you're me dressed up like a Shadowrunner with Distinct Appearance, apparently. I didn't find out about that rule until after the fact, so I sauntered around all day with a pair of airsoft 1911s under my arms and no one said a thing.

But, yeah. I won't be wearing that same rig again this year, trust me. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

GEEEEEE IIIIIIIIII SHADOWRUN!

[pbangarth]

One guard thought "it was a real gun." I laughed in his face, and my buddy went, "Man, the CANADIAN can tell it's not a real gun.", the guy backed off after that.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

It's been about a decade since I last went to Gencon. I'm starting to get pangs. Too late for this year, but as the opportunity passes over, I'll say, "Next year in Indianapolis."

[CanRay]

Or unless you're me dressed up like a Shadowrunner with Distinct Appearance, apparently. I didn't find out about that rule until after the fact, so I sauntered around all day with a pair of airsoft 1911s under my arms and no one said a thing.

But, yeah. I won't be wearing that same rig again this year, trust me. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

GEEEEEE IIIIIIIIII SHADOWRUN!

Although the size is wrong, you can get some decent looking cap guns that are Con-Legal at a Dollar Store (Or whatever there is in the US.).

Even if it was grounds for a full-on search of my stuff at the Canadian/US Border when the guy looked at it like it was a real firearm. Hell, I didn't even have any caps for it.

[Bull]

Generally speaking we've not had any problems in and around the main room for the Scramble with Airsoft guns. It's the exhibit hall that's the real "problem area". And pistols are generally ok so long as you're not waving them around all the time. I had a couple realistic-ish Airsoft Pistols a couple years in a row, even had them in Leg Holsters two years ago, and no one even looked at them. I generally only pulled them out for pictures though.

In general though, meh. go for Nerf, it's cheaper and easier to pull off (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And Can, what are you saying you might miss? The Scramble is on Saturday, so you should make that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[CanRay]

And Can, what are you saying you might miss? The Scramble is on Saturday, so you should make that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I get there Friday, I think. Depends on how the train goes.

[grendel]

Yeah, any kind of realistic weapon replicas are a no-go for me. Even with my red guns security is all over me the first time I roll through the con.

[Bull]

You dress like a SWAT member, and wear a full balaclava, Grendel. Sorry to say it, but you look like you might shoot the place up.

Me, I'm a fat guy in a leather jacket with ork ears and teeth. I guess I register as harmless (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[grendel]

I'm only grumpy because it offends my sense of fair play. The rules should apply equally to everyone. I figured that gamers especially would recognize the importance of this, but as you say, I've been proven wrong for six years running.

[Critias]

It's the exhibit hall that's the real "problem area".

I was working the CGL booth in costume that morning, actually (and actually took the suit jacket off, because it was so warm). That's part of what made it so funny when someone told me later that night that the airsofts were a no-no. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

[KarmaInferno]

I was at Gen Con in Milwaukee years ago. Dressed in a full Jedi outfit as I'd just done the Living Force Star Wars LARP. Sitting at a Star Wars RPG game. Had the bright white toy stormtrooper blaster with blaze orange barrel in a holster hanging off my hip, with a lightsaber hanging next to it.

A security guard wandered by, saw them, and confiscated them.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

I mean, I got them back later, but seriously? They looked somehow like real weapons to the guy?



-k

[CanRay]

Hm... So my story of Kane at ComiCon wouldn't have flown?

[pbangarth]

I was at Gen Con in Milwaukee years ago. Dressed in a full Jedi outfit as I'd just done the Living Force Star Wars LARP. Sitting at a Star Wars RPG game. Had the bright white toy stormtrooper blaster with blaze orange barrel in a holster hanging off my hip, with a lightsaber hanging next to it.

A security guard wandered by, saw them, and confiscated them.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

I mean, I got them back later, but seriously? They looked somehow like real weapons to the guy?

Boggles the mind. Milwaukee, huh? I went to Gencon there for years. I seem to recall someone in a Jedi outfit from those times. It could be someone else, though. ("This is not the Jedi you seek.")

Reminding myself through a Google search what the outfit looks like, I ran across THIS gem.

[Lindt]

I just need to graduate. I massively miss GenCon. I also miss drinking too much at happy hour in the Plaza and regretting it by the time the tourney starts...

[john_doe]

Yay...GenCon! I'll be there. Badge and Hotel are booked.

The idea of the MnG being a free Wednesday event works in the MnG's favor i think. You can schedule it out and the event knows how many to expect based on registrations. Not to mention most venues will allocate space more willingly if you tell them it's an event. I tried to do that last year, but i missed the event registration deadline. That was the difference between getting all that large space at Scotty's Brewhouse vs. packing all of you in at Claddagh.

Either way, looking forward to returning to my home away from home.

[nezumi]

I love it. I'll likely be bringing my laptop to the con, which happens to have wireshark, cain & abel, some password crackers and a few other odds and ends, and YOU guys are getting hassled for children's toys.