Christopher Street

GenConReport 2K9

So, for all those folks out there--and I see you, all...one, two...three of you--who've always wondered what exactly I do at these game conventions we go to, I present to you my GenConReport. It's actually more of a diary and less of a report, but GenConReport has such an authoritative ring to it.

Tuesday
So, we left Rockville on Tuesday around 3PM. We beat a good deal of the traffic, and pulled into my mom's around 8:30. Had a little late dinner, and turned in...I know, that was riveting information, but it explains how we could be in Indianapolis by 5:30 Wednesday evening without a time machine OR a transporter. :)

Wednesday
We did arrive in Indianapolis around 5:30, as reported above. This was a little later than we had hoped, but we hit a ton of traffic heading into Columbus, where we were picking up Dylan. And then, there was grocery and liquor shopping to do. When we finally arrived at the hotel, John headed over to the convention center to pick up his badge, and I headed to dinner with Kevin, Philip, Todd, Michele, Zach and Dylan. John ran a game on Wednesday evening for a group of his friends, and after we ate and I picked up my badge, the rest of us retired to our suite at the Embassy for nightcaps.
Nightcap headcount on Wednesday: 13
Drink of the evening: Kamikazes

Thursday
I had my first event scheduled on Thursday at nine. I was a little concerned at 8:50 when there was no GM, and NO OTHER PLAYERS. I went over to the Hyatt event HQ, and was assured that I was in the correct place...and by the time I got back to my table, there were two players there, but still no GM. The three of us waited around till 9:15, and then proceeded to event HQ to get our tickets refunded. It took over half an hour to even get our tickets signed, and then they sent us back to the convention center to get the actual refund. Lame. In any case, by now it was almost 10, so I met John and we moseyed over to the dealer hall to be there when it opened. THAT was a big mistake as it was so crowded that we could barely move. We did pick up a couple things that we were afraid would sell out later in the con (Pandemic: On the Brink, for one...which did sell out on Thursday, so I am glad that we didn't wait). All in all, we were in the dealer hall for about 90 minutes, and then we headed out for lunch. John had a game from 1-5, so we went to Steak and Shake for lunch, then a quick stop back at the room. I didn't have a game till 4, so I went and sat in the Arts Garden and read for a couple hours, then took a nap. :)

My 4:00 game was complete chaos, and poorly thought out, and not well planned, and had some problems with organization. It was, though, a lot of fun. I had played at this GMs table last year, and knew what I was getting myself into. The game was the Buffy RPG, and this game was set in the future...and set on Mars...and I was one of a family of powerful vampires. It was fun.

I was done at 8:00, but none of my peeps were done till 10, so I took myself to Champps for dinner. The porkchops were terrible...but the pina coladas saved the evening. I sat on the terrace and read until about 9:30, when I got a call from Melinda. She and Mike and their friend John met me back in our room, and we hung out for a while waiting on the 10:00 folks. When Todd's game wrapped, he called, and we met him at Steak and Shake. Most of us had eaten, so we mostly had drinks while Todd ate. After dinner, we all retired to the room for nightcaps.
Nightcap headcount: 7
Drink of the Evening: Captain and Diet.

Friday
My game Friday was at 10. It was Hollow Earth Expedition, and it was so much fun that, when we were done, I would have played it again. Nestor Rodriguez ran the table, and we fought nazis and velociraptors and a zomboctopus. Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like. It was all sorts of awesome. I will definitely play more HEX games next year. We wrapped at 2, and my brother picked me up from the hotel to take me out for a late lunch. We went to BARcelona, a Spanish Tapas bar. Good food, good drinks. AMAZING deserts. I shall never forget the tres leche cake, nor the Andalusian vanilla creme brulee. After that, we went to a German beer garden (The Rathskeller) and had a couple beers. Lee dropped me back at the hotel around 5:30. I had brought John some leftovers from the tapas place, and after he ate and left for his game, I headed over to the convention center to buy a badge for my friend Kevin who was coming in on Saturday and didn't want to wait in the LONG Saturday lines. After that, I headed back to the room where I read for a while, and then took a nap. Around 10, Todd called to tell me that they were at Rock Bottom, so I headed over there. Bunch of people there...and after we ate...yes, we all headed back to the room for a nightcap.
Friday nightcap headcount: 7
Drink of the Evening: Parrot Bay and Diet Coke.

Saturday
I had no events on Saturday. I was going to play something Saturday afternoon, but I really wanted to be able to spend the day with Kevin, so I sold that ticket back. He arrived around 11:30, and we hit the dealer hall again. We walked about 90% of the hall, till a little after 2:00, when John called to see if we wanted to go to lunch. I had been so impressed with the beer garden the day before that I convinced John and Kevin (and Dylan) to hop in a cab with me, and go get lunch there. Beer was even better the second day! Totally fell in love with the Delirium Tremens beer...and at 9% alcohol, the two I drank was about the equivalent of drinking a sixer. No wonder I felt all loopy that afternoon! We were there for a couple hours, and arrived back at the hotel around 5:30...just in time to get a call from Todd that he and some friends were going out for Japanese food! We were stuffed, but Kevin and I tagged along for the company...and, believe it or not, had one more beer. After that, we headed back to the convention center in search of game demos. The Rio Grande Games Room was still open, and we were able to play Finca and Dominion, both of which I loved. After the room closed at 10, we headed back to the hotel for some cocktails. Saturday night was our biggest nightcap turnout...we had sixteen for drinks, and it lasted till 3:00 am. :)
Nightcap headcount: 16
Drink of the Evening: Cherry-infused Vodka and lemonade

Sunday
Sunday, I had no events, but there were some things that I wanted in the dealer hall, so we got up around 9 and headed out to breakfast. John and Kevin and I hit the dealer hall, then lunch at Champions, then back to the dealer hall. I played a couple demos with Kevin--You, Robot, which I hated, and Last Night on Earth, which I had played once before--and picked up copies of Dominion and Finca from the night before, and then it was time for Kevin to get back on the road to Cincy. We saw him off, and then we went back up to the room and played Dominion till it was time for dinner. There were an even dozen of us at the Weber Grill for dinner, which lasted till 9:30 or so. We went back to the hotel and commandeered some tables in the dining room, and about a dozen of us stayed up till midnight playing board games. No nightcaps. I was all nightcapped out at that point. :)

Monday
Up and out by 9. Long drive home.

So, that's it. The mystery of what Lori does at GenCon is solved.