In a lot of ways today was a great reminder of why I game. How so? Well, I only really played 4 games today, but here is what I did:
- I commanded a space ship in 'The Amega Weapon' and managed to grab the galaxy's most dangerous super weapon before hunting down my fellow players across the board.
- I got to take on the role of Ray Stantz, Ghostbuster Extraordinaire, in the upcoming Ghostbusters board game and help my team stop a group of rampaging ghosts. My crowning moment of awesome? Diving back into Ecto-1 so I could "cheat the rules" to be able to remove slime tokens from Venkman and Winston getting myself much needed XP and freeing them up of action restricting debuffs.
- As Akodo Ochiru I attended the Topaz Championship in the Heroes of Rokugan module "New Beginnings." I did not compete, but when wisked away to a spirit realm stepped forward for my companions and out wrestled an Ogre with the aid of my honor and ancestors.
- Finally, as Utaku Mizuko in an AEG inspired event that will impact the L5R Canon in a story coming out next year, I wielded the sword of Otaku and sliced the arm off a demon saving one of Shinjo's descendants before slaying the demon with the aid of my fellow samurai.
None of this even touches on the people I met, sights I saw, and other experiences. It was a great time.
Oh, also, my friend and I randomly got grouped up in the AEG event with 3 people we played D&D with last year. What are the odds, huh?
Sounds like an awesome time, I have some envy for you, looking forward to all of the stories! Amega Weapon sounds fun.
ReplyDeleteI love Cons. The more I go, the more people I know & the more fun I have.
ReplyDeleteNever been to GenCon - it's tempting, but it's quite a ways from California and stories of lodging sound challenging. I'm fortunate to have four solid local Cons within an hour's drive. Appreciate the updates from your trip. One of these days I'll have to make the pilgrimage.
They have the dates listed through 2020 (when the contract with Indy expires) here: http://www.gencon.com/attend/futuredates
DeleteGenerally we start planning 6-7 months in advance. We know before badges go on sale if we're going to want to go, and we've already discussed some logistical issues.
If you want to do it, I'd start looking at air fare now. Odds are no one is booking their flights for GenCon 2016 w/ GenCon 2015 just ending, and a year out you may find a good deal. Then, come housing time (march) make sure you get a hotel you can afford. Hotels near the airport are about $110 a day. You can also, usually, get a shuttle.
Obviously cost is going to be a big limiter. GenCon is expensive. We spent about $1000 between transport and hotel. Then add in about $70 for the badge, $15 for the badge to be shipped out, and about $50-$60 in event tickets and then the cost of food and it comes out to a good $1200 to $1300 holiday. Though, the first $1000 was split between two people. Still, nearly a grand for a week isn't cheap.
Thanks for posting this information - very helpful.
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