Well the Con of Cons (for tabel top RPG gamers that is) is only two friggin’ weeks away! I’m pretty stoked, even if the guys, BH2 and MM, and me are only going to be playing 4e. I got my badge and event tickets about a month ago and placed them in a safe place. Somewhere the two-year old larva wouldn’t find them and turn it them into confetti. In a place I will most likely forget by the day GenCon arrives; finding myself ransacking the house in search of them.

Even though I have been gaming in some form or fashion for over two decades, I never went to GenCon until it chose the Indiana Convention Center as its venue. This might be because my mom was never really thrilled about D&D (or the heavy metal…), lack of finances, being an invert, and my honorable service with the Corps. But when it finally came to my home state of Indiana, and being less than an hour away, I couldn’t resist the urge.

GenCon was my first gaming Con experience, and it is still rich with memories. I’ll remember it as the death of the original World of Darkness and the birth of 3.5 edition D&D. The death of the WoD was quite an event as they handed out 500 shirts to gamers that attended their Time of Judgment press conference. If you were 21 or older and had one of those shirts, you scored free entry into their party in the ArtsGarden suspended over the streets of downtown Indy. Did I mention that the party had an open bar?  Oh yeah, Will knows what I am talking about!

I missed the next one because of college related stuff, but I have attended every one since. I was there for the 4th Edition D&D announcement and discussions with the designers. And the last Living Greyhawk adventures to be run by the RPGA at GenCon.

What sucks is that now only two other members of my group are going this year. The rest (of the 7 base member group) have decided that GenCon sucks… What!?! Blasphemy I say! I think they are disappointed because the several years they attended we never pre-registered for events, and thus spent a lot of time trolling the vendor booths. Which seems to have less and less booth babes every year! Who dropped the ball there? My goal for next year is to get at least two more to go with us.

Well, this year we did it right. We coordinated our schedules, picked our events and back up events in case they sold out, and pre-registered as soon as the RPGA events cut loose. Which, by the way, was delayed long enough to have me secretly hoping I would be able to get the other two guys to sign up for other games like Mutants & Masterminds, Warmachine, or World of Darkness.

Our con schedule is friggin packed with gaming. If the games were to last the entire scheduled times (which they won’t) we would only have two breaks between 0800 and 2400 (thats 8 a.m. and midnight for you non 24 hour clock readers). They would be a one hour and a two hour break. And the special module is scheduled to 3 in the morning!

So in preperation, I have done the following:

• mapped the fastest routes, and back up routes, to and from the Convention Center to my house
• bought a 40 c.i. roller cooler (here’s to me, Mr. roller cooler roller)
• made a grocery list for next week to put in said cooler
• made a packing list for game supplies
• scoped out the best (and hopefully overlooked by out of staters) parking

Here is to hoping GenCon and Living Realms changes my opinion of 4e!

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragonsworld of darkness