GenCon: My Mecca

Ever since I began playing RPGs at the age of 15 (10 years now… Has it really been a decade?) I’ve heard of GenCon. Spoken about as advertisements in the back of hardback Wizards of the Coast supplements, Star Wars Gamer, Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, GenCon was always the far off place where your dreams came true.

“The Best Four Days in Gaming,” I was promised.

No one I knew had ever attended, or was planning on attending. It was on the other side of the continent from the (relatively) small town of Spokane, WA. The gaming community was tight-nit, but untraveled. Some were willing to travel 6 hours to Seattle for a few Cons, but never to
Indianapolis. Hearing about GenCon was like hearing about New York City if you’ve never been to it: Big, loud, and fantastic.

As the years went on, GenCon fell off my radar. I would see it mentioned in magazines or by someone on a forum on the internet, and just ignore it. I would never go, so what was the point of knowing anything about it?

Then, one day, while working at Getaway Games, a guy came in to the store with a bunch of tiny, plastic ships, which I would later know as Pirates of the Spanish Main. At the time, they weren’t even out in stores, but he was diligently putting them together. I asked him what they were. He told me. I asked where he got them. Two sweet, sweet words emanated from his lips. “Gen. Con.”

I asked him all about it. He told me about the huge convention halls, the famous game designers, everything. It was fascinating.

Then it fell off my radar again. When you have no way of going, you don’t think about it much.

Then, almost two years ago, I began Dice Monkey and joined the RPG Bloggers Network. I attended my first Con with my buddy Dave, when the two of us went down to ConCarolinas, where we met Dave The Game and Geek’s Dream Girl. Even with the massive speeding ticket I got on the way down that promised to ruin my weekend, I had a fantastic time.

Soon after that, Jeff, Zach and I started RPG Circus, which, if the legends are true, is the “Greatest Show in Gaming.” They began talking about their GenCon plans. I wasn’t going last year, due to finding out about it too late, and not having the money to do so. I was bummed out, but I knew it just wasn’t in the cards. Bridget promised me, “next year, we’ll go to GenCon.”

And here I am: Only a few weeks away from finally going to my Mecca, the ”Best Four Days in Gaming.”

I hope it lives up to my expectation.

How about you? Are you attending? Have you attended in the past? Did it live up to your expectations?