# What's the coolest thing you did at GenCon?



## billd91 (Aug 21, 2013)

This was the first year we've gone since 2003 so it was the first year for my son (who is 8) and the first year my daughter was able to go about the place on her own (she's 15). As someone who had gone to most Gen Cons between 1983 and 2003, it was good to get back.

One of the exceptionally cool things that I experienced was watching my son play games at midnight on Saturday with some game designer friends. Just a couple of hours before, he had been whining a little about wanting to go back to the hotel, but he was clearly in his second wind and having a blast.

One not so cool experience was the motorcycle rally at the monument. We stayed at the Sheraton and the motorcycle went loud (even up on the 16th floor) and late (after 2 am on both Friday and Saturday night) and it wasn't like we could complain to the police about the noise - they were out cordoning off access to the square around the monument on the bikers' behalf.


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## JediSoth (Aug 21, 2013)

I spent most of my time at my table on Author's Avenue or sacked out in my hotel sleeping. One moment that stands out to me from my limited exposure this year, was when my step-nephew-in-law brought his 3-year-old daughter on Sunday dress as River Song and got a picture of her with Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor). He didn't just stand there and smile for the picture, he brought her up in his lap and held her hand for the picture. It's the best picture of the con, to me.

Second best is my wife with a full-size, screen-accurate puppet of Crow T. Robot. I am insanely jealous that I somehow ended up only TAKING that picture and not getting one myself.

My own personal cool story is this: I was visited at my table on Author’s Avenue by a friend I had not  seen since 1988 (maybe 1990--he was my best friend in Elementary school). He had seen on Facebook that I had a  table on Author’s Avenue and came by on Family Day with his family to  say “Hi.” He was the guy who introduced me to D&D in the first  place, way back when I was 8 years old. Were it not for him, my life  would likely have taken a very different course. In a way, his act of  introducing me to that little game in the red box with the funny dice  led me to my involvement in the industry (in my capacity as ENnie Awards  Submissions Coordinator) and to becoming an author. I thanked him. I  told him, “This, all this" *gesturing to the con*, "my involvement here,  is all thanks to you.”

I didn't play any games or do anything to speak of after 6 PM that wasn't ENnie-related, but I still had massive amounts of fun and feel rejuvenated.


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## FickleGM (Aug 21, 2013)

Coolest...hmmm... I would have to say that being introduced as the new Business Manager of The ENnies and being able to speak in front of the largest crowd I've ever spoken to without completely falling on my face would win the distinction.

There were a number of other cool things, but that one was the top of the bunch.


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## RangerWickett (Aug 21, 2013)

I was able to get dinner with Russ and Sharon four times over the course of the con, which usually involved some game designer or other geek luminary swinging by and sharing drinks, like Keith Baker, and Rodney Thompson, and Gabriel Whitehead.

I witnessed geek speed dating going on downstairs from the ENnies.

I caroused a bit with some friends in Pathfinder organized play, including Thurston Hillman, the guy who wrote and ran a 1000-player mega-event on Friday night. (He also does the Pathfinder conversion for ZEITGEIST.)

My aunt and cousin came down from Ohio, and we demoed the Pathfinder card game, then hit Steak & Shake (during daylight hours, which is really weird compared to past Gen Cons).

I ran a game where a player happily flung himself off a thousand foot cliff. 

The coolest thing for me personally was when I was able to snag 30 seconds of time from Erik Mona to pitch him something, and he sounded interested.


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## Eridanis (Aug 21, 2013)

The coolest thing for me was seeing all three of my kids enjoying role-playing for the first time. (Kudos to Paizo for their brilliant Kids' Path games!) I wish I could have played more games (I played in two Magic tournaments, but no RPGs) and I wish I could have seen more friends (we didn't get to see you guys, and saw Russ and Sharon for only a few minutes), but having some family time in an era where my work responsibilities get larger and more time consuming was the best part.


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## FickleGM (Aug 21, 2013)

RangerWickett said:


> I was able to get dinner with Russ and Sharon four times over the course of the con, which usually involved some game designer or other geek luminary swinging by and sharing drinks, like Keith Baker, and Rodney Thompson, and Gabriel Whitehead.




You're too funny, Ryan. I'm fairly certain that I don't qualify for that distinction.


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## exile (Aug 22, 2013)

I've been going to Gen Con for a long time (since the early 90s). Some years, I schedule a game pretty much every slot; some years, I leave a slot or two open so I don't have to see the exhibit hall at breakneck pace between games. This year, my schedule was packed with gaming. Ten slots: six of Pathfinder Society, two of Legend of the Five Rings, and one of D&D4E.

In years past, with similarly busy schedules, at least one game has always sucked. This year, however, there was no suckage. A few of the games might have been average (albeit with some very fun moments), but most of the games that I played in were good or great.

There were a few standouts...

1. A group of close friends and I played PFS 4-26 on "hard mode," a bad decision given that we straddled the fence between low and high tier. We had no business playing on hard mode. Still, we fought our way bravely to the Runelord Kroon (I think that was his name), and he... wiped the floor with us. A summoned fiendish t-rex, black tentacles, and horrid wilting-- and we were done, most of us anyway. My cleric was able to quietly slip out the way we had come in (good on me since the party had left me for dead during level 1 of Bonekeep earlier this year at Winter Fantasy). Archimedes, the alchemist, was able to teleport away with the four corpses. Still, I think we all had a great time.

2. The same group of players and characters tackled the PFS special. We fought wave after wave of demon. It was my perception that the game lacked the level of interactivity seen in other BIs, but I have since been convinced that it was there, simply invisible to us. Regardless, we had a wonderful time repelling the abyssal invaders of the city of Nerosyan. The highlight of the adventure was facing off with and defeating a named baroness of the Abyss and Sunderheart, a corrupted abyssal dragon.

3. With another group of friends, I played Secrets of Naishou, a sandbox-ish L5R adventure. I played a pre-gen named Haikyohime, the Princess of Ruins, an idealistic young ronin. The other players did such a great job getting into character. As clan samurai, they pretty much all joined together in tormenting poor Haikyohime. It made role-playing easy (and a great deal of fun) for me. Haikyohime tolerated all of the insults with great stoicism until a Lion (played by my good friend) insulted my character's father (also a ronin, who had died defending their village when she was just a babe), basically calling him an alcoholic peasant. Anyway, Haikyohime tackled the obnoxious Lion and a bout of fisticuffs ensued. I realize that it would have probably been more appropriate for her to have cut off one of his hands, but I didn't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of the game. The DM deserves great kudos for allowing us to explore as many of, like, ten villages in the province as time allowed. We solved a kidnapping and defended another village from outright attack by a band of maho users. Great stuff.

4. The D&D4E game deviated a little bit from the rules as written in that every character, at-will, could use an at-will to "do something cool"; and, as an encounter power, could also "do something cooler." In the first fight, my rogue, Corporal Daxter Potts, used his "do something cooler" power to slash open a giant centipede's poison glands, rendering it much less of a threat to us.


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## Mark CMG (Aug 25, 2013)

The mammoth and giant Mayfair Games were a lot of fun and very cool.


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## am181d (Aug 26, 2013)

billd91 said:


> One not so cool experience was the motorcycle rally at the monument. We stayed at the Sheraton and the motorcycle went loud (even up on the 16th floor) and late (after 2 am on both Friday and Saturday night) and it wasn't like we could complain to the police about the noise - they were out cordoning off access to the square around the monument on the bikers' behalf.




One of my favorite stories from LAST year's Gencon: 

I went to the Masquerade Saturday night (just to drink, not to cosplay) only to find that there was a cash bar, so I was redirected to the hotel across the street to use the ATM. The bikers were out in full force, including a couple of big, burly, leather-clad guys in the hotel lobby. 

I'm not normally a timid person, but I was kind of keeping an eye on them as I was taking my money out of the ATM. Just as I'm getting my receipt, somebody else comes in from the Masquerade in full costume: He's some kind of alien bounty hunter with a trenchcoat and a crazy gasmask and a big gun strapped to his side. 

And those bikers FREAKED OUT! 

The cosplayer was very polite in explaining what anime character he was (or whatever) and the bikers seemed to have a good sense of humor about it once they collected their wits off the floor.

So I can understand how the noise would be frustrated, by I find the juxtaposition of the two communities to be kind of heartening...


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## MatthewJHanson (Aug 27, 2013)

Games on Demand was my highlight, both as a player and a GM. I got to play Fiasco and Baron von Munchhausen for the first time, and showed a bunch of people my new game (see sig). 

I also had lost of fun doing other events I preregistered for, including Paranoia, Ghostbusters, and a modified version of Gumshoe called Mystery Solving Teens.


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## mattingly (Nov 3, 2013)

Being nominated for an ENnie was great, of course. And we lost to G R R Martin, just like we expected. Like there's a chance we could ever compete with him.

I had several booths this year (BlackWyrm Games, BlackWyrm Fiction, BlackWyrm Art, and the Christian Gamers Guild / Fans for Christ), so I didn't get to see much of the show, but the gamer church service on Sunday is always a highlight for me.

--
Dave Mattingly
BlackWyrm Games


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## Hand of Evil (Nov 4, 2013)

Being able to tell game designers all about my umber-character...NOT (that's a joke) 

Being able to make it, been a few years and decided to go on my own.  The whole thing was a blast, had a great time.


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## francisca (Nov 11, 2013)

Late to the party as usual....uh let's see, my coolest things:

1) Reuniting with a buddy who used to live here in town, who moved away to California a few years back.
2) Getting another guy from my local game group to GenCon.
3) Reuniting with yet another buddy who played in my home game for about a year a number of years ago, who also moved away.
4) Running G2 using 1e in the D&D Next demo area (the wotc guy was totally cool with it....he said, "As long as it's D&D!".  IMO, you don't more "D&D" than Against the Giants).
5) The wednesday night party was fun, as always.
6) Played a ton of historical minis, which I never get to do outside of conventions.


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