Skip to main content

GenCon Day 2

Despite us only staying half of day 2, I think it was even better than Day 1.  I was rested and able to do a lot more walking.  We learned the layout of gencon, and there are significant shortcuts to be taken through the convention center, which cut miles off my day.  Once again we were at the exhibition hall at open, and the crowd was smaller.

I got to catch up with Andy Hopp today, the artist and creator of Low Life.  He really is a great guy to meet in person and he took time out not only to sign my Low Life book, but also drew a couple of sketches in there.  He signed art cards for my kids.  We also picked up a dice bag for my wife and I got the limited edition miniature he had on sale.  It feels good to be able to support such a great contributor of new, unique content in the gaming world.

We also made it to Pelgrane Press over in the front left corner of the exhibition hall.  They were parked right next to an impressive Dr Who section.  Pelgrane Press has made a big impact this year with their rules-light d20-based system called 13th Age.  After all of the great things I had read, I was really happy to be able to pick up a copy, and for exact change, they also gave us an "exact change" die, which turns out to be the perfect die to use as an escalation die.  I am going to post separately on 13th Age.  We wandered around the hall for over an hour before we had to get back to our hotel.

The hotel wasn't letting us stay parked for the rest of the day in their parking garage, so we decided to head home after checkout.  We packed in a lot of stuff for our first gencon and learned a lot of stuff for the next time we decide to attend.

Here's my quick lessons learned list from my first gencon.

  • Get a central hotel to minimize walking.  The JW Marriot is on the far end of the convention center.  Because of the extra walking distance, I didn't make it to any of my sessions.  All the sessions I signed up for were primarily in the Crown Plaza.  The Crown Plaza would have been ideal.  The Westin was also in a pretty good spot.
  • Arrive on Wednesday night to get your badge, coupon book(!), and program.  The coupon books and programs seem to run out even on Thursday.
  • Don't eat at the convention center.  It really is as bad as everyone says.  The food trucks were awesome.
  • Order pizza from Hotbox pizza.  I don't know how it fares in the Chicago style pizza challenges of real connoisseurs, but it was better than most places I am used to.  They deliver to hotel lobbies.
  • Pack light but make sure you have room for stuff.  Wherever you go, you are going to get free swag and find stuff to buy.
  • Bring a couple of bottles of water with you each day in your pack.
  • Don't underestimate the time it takes to walk around.  To get from the exhibition hall to hotel was a good twenty minutes walk, though I was hampered by a cane.
  • Wear comfortable shoes and comfy clothes.
  • Prioritize your plan to visit places in the exhibition hall.  Be prepared to stop by multiple times in case the person you want to visit is busy or out for lunch.
  • Plan on meeting "famous" people.  I even got to talk to Monte Cooke with essentially no line.  It was amazing how accessible people are in the exhibition hall.  My wife and daughter even met the Dungeon Bastard in the hall and had a pleasant encounter.
  • Explore.  The convention center has a lot of nooks and crannies that your won't even know are there if you don't wander.  There are things going on all over, even at night.  There are games everywhere.
  • Be friendly and talk to people.  Everyone was really nice and friendly.  Its a good place to socialize.  In the art section in particular, there were a lot of booths manned with no one to talk to.  They liked having company.
  • Fly your geek flag.  Now is the time to show what you like.  I was very surprised to get positive comments on my day one t-shirt:  "It's too late.  You have awakened the gazebo."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5E Starting Gold and Equipment for Higher Levels

The DMG has a rough recommendation for starting gold and equipment for higher levels, but with my groups running one-shots, we wanted to nail it down to level by level. Here's my DMG-inspired table. Generally I allow equipment to be traded in during character creation for half book value, where applicable. I also, as a GM, offer to make custom magic items for players who can't choose. A list of magical items by rarity can be found here  with stats available in the DMG. I also generally allow players to buy healing potions (2d4+2) for 50gp and greater healing potions for 250gp (4d4+4). PHB items are available at book cost at creation. I do not allow other equipment to be purchased except in game. This is generally based off the "high magic" campaign. Level Starting Gold Starting Equipment / Magic Items 1 - 160gp  OR Standard starting equipment 2 210gp Standard starting equipment 3 285gp Standard starting equipment 4 365gp Standard sta...
3 comments
Read more

Rules for Flying Creatures in 5E

I'm not one for just throwing my players willy-nilly into something new without an idea of how it would work.  Flying races are on the horizon for one of my games, so here are my clarifications for flying creatures: A flying creatures requires a minimum space of at least 3 times their height in all directions in order to flight. For example, a 6 ft tall flying creature requires a room to be at least 18 ft in all dimensions before they can fly in it. A flying creature can attempt to grapple a creature.  If the the target or grappler are flying, grapple attempts are at disadvantage. If neither are flying, grapples are per RAW.  The state of flying or walking is determined by the last square you have moved.  To change between walking and/or flying, you must use at least 1 space of movement.  Movement rules per RAW apply (PHB pg 190 "Using Different Speeds") A successful grapple check by a flying creature can allow the flying creature to potentially carry th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Exploiting Weakness in D&D 5e: A Guide for the Evil Plotting GM

I wrote a similar article to this on Pathfinder, and though this is a pretty evil topic, it has been of use to a lot of folks out there.  So, now, I think, is the time to start a similar article for D&D 5e.  This will be a living document to be updated with suggestions and more information as I find better methods. In general, 5e is a lot more challenging for a GM, because the classes are reasonably balanced and because the game mechanics don't have a lot of scale over the 20 levels. Here's a general list of things to increase the difficulty for the party: Increase the number of foes and the CR (ignore the book CR system if it isn't offering a challenge) Spells against the PCs low saves.  A high level sleep spell, for example, could take out a party with no elves. Drag out the opportunity for the long rest.  After 2 short rests, the 3rd battle of the day is tough. Hit the most vulnerable PC first. It almost always forces another teammate to take an acti...
1 comment
Read more