I just got the day off Friday, so I'm thinking about going down to GenCon. My first con was DDXP in Ft. Wayne this year, then I went down to Origins in Columbus OH and had a blast. But my DM says that all the tickets are sold out for GenCon, and did so many months back. Will there be enough open gaming to go around so it's not a complete waste of time and moolah? I'm still willing to pay $80 to stay Fri/Sat if it doesn't cost too much to stay overnight. I'm just wondering about the effort and cost vs. fun payoff I guess.
I just got the day off Friday, so I'm thinking about going down to GenCon. My first con was DDXP in Ft. Wayne this year, then I went down to Origins in Columbus OH and had a blast. But my DM says that all the tickets are sold out for GenCon, and did so many months back. Will there be enough open gaming to go around so it's not a complete waste of time and moolah? I'm still willing to pay $80 to stay Fri/Sat if it doesn't cost too much to stay overnight. I'm just wondering about the effort and cost vs. fun payoff I guess.
If you had a blast at Origins, you'll LOVE GenCon.
It makes Origins look like a waste of time.
Don't worry about what your DM said. Pre-reg for badges & game tkts ended along while ago, but GC doesn't sell out. All of the hotels right down town are booked solid though. Think that took about 10 minutes this year.
Anyways, you can purchase badges & tkts on-site - just like at Origins.
Individual games will be sold out. The good news? The on-site event book has more games listed than what was available for pre-reg. You'll almost certainly find something to play/do. And there's ample open gaming space, demos, etc.
My suggestion for how to pick games is this; decide what time blocks you want to be playing during. Make a list of about 4-6 things in that block that interest you. Rank them 1st choice though whatever. If the cashier tells you somethings sold out, just ask about the next one on the list. Doing it this way saves alot of time.
And be flexable about what you play. You might not get your favorite game, but like I said, odds are you'll play something. Personally I use GC to try games I don't get to play back home.... I've played all kinds of stuff doing it this way.
Also be sure & look for an AD&D1e game called "The Story". They take generic tkts & I've yet to see anyone turned away - even from "full" tables.
Lodging:
Like I said, downtowns booked solid. There's probably some room still open but you don't want to pay that much....
Go to Priceline or whatever & select the northern part of Indanapolis. You'll almost certainly find a room at a reasonable rate.
Remember, this town hosts the Indy 500. GenCon? That doesn't even make a dent in Indies hotel capacity.
Another thing to consider is making time for the dealers room & food.
Like every convention center, food inside is waaay over priced. Thank God there's so much better food within walking distance.
I just got the day off Friday, so I'm thinking about going down to GenCon. My first con was DDXP in Ft. Wayne this year, then I went down to Origins in Columbus OH and had a blast. But my DM says that all the tickets are sold out for GenCon, and did so many months back. Will there be enough open gaming to go around so it's not a complete waste of time and moolah? I'm still willing to pay $80 to stay Fri/Sat if it doesn't cost too much to stay overnight. I'm just wondering about the effort and cost vs. fun payoff I guess.
Not all tickets are sold out. Most events did sell out, but there are still events with tickets. There are also often demos of games in the dealer's hall. And many events take Generic Tickets. You cannot buy tickets now because they are only on sale for a short period of time.
You can head on over to the GenCon registration[/url]http://www.genconreg.com/[ur/] and download a catalog of events that still had tickets available as of June 17th, which is about when online registration closed. You will have to register in order to access the site and download the catalong, but registration is free.
If there events there that piquie your interest and if you can pull it in under budget then I say that you should give it a whirl! Even if you cannot get into any events there is still a lot to do, and it will give you an idea if it is something you would want to do in the future when you can prepare in advance.
Take care and have a great day....
ciao,
john.
Remember, this town hosts the Indy 500. GenCon? That doesn't even make a dent in Indies hotel capacity.
A couple of years ago, though, the New York Jets were playing in town for a pre-season game during GenCon and they were unable to book the team into a downtown hotel! A fair number of sports commentators and fans were a bit peeved by this. All of us gamers found it to be a hoot!