So I figure with the GendCon only about 6 months away, it is a safe time to begin discussions on the topic of what people's plans are, what games they want to test/run/play and in general what the plan is for the whole convention. I'm looking at taking monday to monday off, so I can actually enjoy the time around it and not have the back to work crash. What are the rest of dumpshock's plans? Any ideas for the meet and greet?

I'll be there. Not sure what else will be going on with me, but I'll be there!

That's about all I know thus far too. Any word on if pre registration is good to go yet?

I pre-reged.

Just a heads up... I'm looking to change up our usual Wednesday Meet n Greet a little bit.

Last year the RPGnetters, who likewise hold an annual MnG at the con, actually scheduled themselves a free event. I'm going to look into doing something similar. It will still be Wednesday evening, will likely be a free event (I think we can manage that), and I'm going to see if we can have some of the CGL freelancers and developers attend. We may even be able to do some door prizes, or maybe a couple little games/contests to give away prizes. Dunno yet.

It will be early-ish evening, probably 2 hours long. Afterwards, everyone can head up to Claddagh or wherever to go drinking. We may have some drinks and snacks or something for folks who show up though, and while we can't officially serve alcohol, well... Like I said, officially. Doesn't stop folks from bringing and sharing, so long as they keep it on the DL.

I'll keep folks informed.

I plan on being here. I'm going to be running a lot of Eclipse Phase games, but I'll still want to hit the Meet & Greet.

SSS and I will be there. We've already got tickets and a hotel reservation.

Hey, Bull. Any news on the LARP? I think we spoke about SSS and I volunteering for it last year.

I'll be making my usual pilgrimage to Indy in August, I might even manage to get my drek together enough to run a couple of SR games too!

Once more unto the breach, dear friends. I'll be present and GMing for a ridiculous amount of hours like the madman I am.

I will be there, and I do still insist on getting in on a game with CanRay (just so I can say "I was there when he got to play Shadowrun").

I enjoy sitting on panels and even liked manning the booth for a while, but I have no idea how much game-running (versus game-playing) I feel up to this year. As much fun as it was to run my adventures, having to talk that much, over that much noise, does not do my already-peculiar voice any favors...but boy, howdy, will I be there!

Now, to figure out a Missions character to play...

Nice to be appreciated.

This will be my third GenCon, though first since starting to play Shadowrun and joining the Dumpshock community.

Looking forward to playing some missions, and attending any occasions involving drinking, which I am good at.

I'm planning on making my first trip out to GenCon EVER! Any suggestions on what I should do?

I recommend reading this for first time convention attendees.

I plan on bringing a bar of soap in a sock to beat people who smell of "Con Funk" with.

You've all been warned!

Grendel's link has some good advice in it -- it's mostly just a similar thread from a year ago, but not much has changed, as far as con tips and etiquette goes.

Etiquette lesson is helpful, but I was more hoping for things like good events to see, what to avoid, etc etc. Definitely keeping that stuff in mind, though!

Shadowrun-wise, I recommend the tournament and the SR Scramble. Hit up the booth in the vendor hall as early as you can otherwise you risk missing out on purchasing the latest release. If you're looking to become an SR GM or have questions and want to polish your skills, either of the two SR GM Bootcamp seminars are appropriate as well.

Con-wise, the vendor hall is great to stroll through several times. The costume contest on Saturday is always fun to watch, although you can usually catch a fair number of costumes just wandering around. True Dungeon is a big draw and they put on a quality event every year.

Some people swear by True Dungeon (and there's all sorts of badges and tokens and stuff to go with it), but I've never tried it so I can't offer first-hand advice. The Shadowrun Scramble is a blast, traditionally a half-LARP, half-tabletop, Missions game...lots of fun. Also, I'm a big fan of trying other LARPs, too, or just general home-brewed stuff that I find. If you're a fan of a game/setting (from Harry Potter to Firefly), the odds are you can find someone who's thrown together a home-brewed game, or even a home-brewed LARP, for it. Give it a shot! If not at GenCon, when else are you gonna get to try something new like that? So don't be scared to shy away from the big name RPGs you know and love, and try something someone's just cobbled together, at least once. It can be a lot of fun. Oh! And if you're a Battletech fan, hold onto a few GenCon Generic Tickets, and use them to try out a game or in the Battletech Pods. There's plenty of awesome BT stuff going on, but even folks who aren't into the wargame can have some fun climbing into the cockpit of a mech and stomping around in a giant robot, shooting their buddies.

Which leads me to Generic Tickets as a whole -- have some, hold onto 'em, and don't be scared to use 'em. Gamers get lost, distracted, tired, whatever, and no-show all the time. So don't be disappointed if a game you want to play is already booked up; swing by a couple minutes before it's supposed to start, chat with the GM, and ask him if you can have the first available spot. In my experience, as often as not, someone who booked a spot in a game doesn't show up.

There's a TON of great places to eat in Indy. Everyone should stop by The Ram at least once, just to see what a good time they have converting the whole place to a geek mecca for GenCon. They bust out custom menus every year (and let'cha keep 'em!), microbrew something special every GenCon, dress the place up in all sorts of cool banners, you name it. Other places there in Downtown Indy don't jump in headfirst like that, but do still have great food. Most such places can be a little pricey to a gamer on a budget, though, so don't plan on 'em for three meals a day. For eating out on the cheap, plot a skywalk path to get to the food court of the nearby mall -- for affordable but tolerable dining, it's your best bet and has the most variety. Most hotels will have at least a mini-fridge, though, and you can save a lot of money by bringing SOME food of your own (or at least snagging a continental breakfast at your hotel).

Make sure you set aside some time to just walk around and take it all in. The vendor's hall is...dauntingly large. It takes TIME to navigate it, and that's even just trying to go from point a to point b; meandering through it, looking at all the different types of geekery on display, can take some time. Give yourself that time. Don't rush through the whole convention, signing up for every single time slot and scurrying all over to keep up with a busy schedule.

Be kind to your feet. They will do a lot of work at GenCon.

So... Spare white socks?

Speaking of, when the hell did that become a Meme in Shadowrun books. Hell, even I've used it!

EDIT: I'll also be sure to leave my nuclear weapons at home in order to get into one place I remember.

Best advice I can give?

Don't try and do too much.

Gen Con can be overwhelming. There's a LOT going on, and if you've never attended a larger game convention (or larger geek convention at all), it's a crazy amount of walking with a crap ton of things to do and see.

This is doubly important if you're planning to meet up with folks from these or other message boards/mailing lists/IRC channels/whatever. Don't make the mistake of scheduling yourself for 3+ games every day and expect to get to do anything else.

Leave one day open to just wander the exhibit hall and meet people and see things.

All in all, just go and relax and have fun and don't sweat trying to play a lot. Gaming is why we're there, but gaming shouldn't be all you do while there, because otherwise you miss out on a lot of the cooler aspects of the con.

(The Shadowrun Meet & Greet will be Wednesday night at 6, likely, for a couple hours, then we'll move the party to the Claddagh Pub for food and drinks. The Tournament will be Thursday and Friday nights from 8 to Midnight. The Scramble will be from noon to 8 on Saturday. At least, those are the times we're shooting for scheduling events this year).

Bull

I heartily recommend setting aside one day to get away from Gencon, oddly enough. There
S a minor league baseball stadium next door and just past that is the Indianapolis Zoo. With how wretched the Colts were, 2012 should also have a pretty entertaining preseason game if they are at home during Drunken midnight carriage rides are also hilarious.

As for food, I'm a big Spaghetti Factory fan, since the Alcatraz and Had Times are gone. I found the Ram to be overpriced, overcrowded, and fairly crappy. Indy has a lot of neat little bars downtown that don't slap a 20% markup on everything and fill their bar with Privateer Press posters.

But definitely bring extra socks. Or do what I did, and spend the entire con in sandals.

As for gaming, hit the Scramble. It's my head and shoulrs favorite event run at Gencon.

So what is tithe Scramble? Half larp, half tabletop? Huh?

Players are broken into teams, and the game starts off as a tabletop session, usually to set up the LARP portion. Then you move to a LARP. A couple years this was a fixed room event (A party the runners were attending, or a massive locked vault we were trapped in), others it's been more free ranging, with various areas of the con representing in game locations, and the runners needing to track down clues and/or find things.

There's a real simple mechanic for handling conflict in the LARP portion, but conflict and fighting aren't really the focus of the LARP section, nor should they be.

After a few hours, the game "collapses" back to Tabletop for a couple hours, and builds upon what your team did in the LARP portion. The last section generally handles things like combats and wraps the game up.

It's an 8 hour event all told (4-6 hours are LARP). It is a Missions event, so you can play your missions character, and get XP and Money for them (and the Scramble is generally worth a bit more than the average Mission). There are also some bonus awards given out for best players and best costumes.

It's usually pretty fun

Bull

oh! does sound fun... Hmm... I'll have to put together a missions character by then...

*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...

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.

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

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.

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

Damn, I don't think I'm going to arrive early enough... Ah well, can barely afford what I'm going for anyhow.

Oh, I know. I was walking around in a suit, formal dress kilt, and a two-gun airsoft rig. 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.

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.

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.

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!

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."

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.

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

And Can, what are you saying you might miss? The Scramble is on Saturday, so you should make that

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.



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



-k

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

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.

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...

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.

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.