Awesome. See you farkers there.

Did the Safehouse ever open an Indy location like they promised?

/GenCon '99-'02

All those windmills on I-65 will be blowing dorkstink toward Chicago. THANKS A LOT

Bring GenCon back to Milwaukee where it belongs.

I expect to be there.

When is there going to be a FARK party in Orlando?

Seriously.

Florida has a tag, but no FARK party.

Nerdom, Fark, AND alcohol? Wow, I might explode.

Too bad I'll be out of town :(

I'll probably show up. Not that that means anything. But I like to drink and party!


JonathanChance:
Bring GenCon back to Milwaukee where it belongs.


I don't even know what a milwaukee is. How would they fit GenCon into it?

It's best in Indy. ;^)

Tetsuooooooo!

Blargosaurus: JonathanChance: Bring GenCon back to Milwaukee where it belongs.

Yes please.

Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

It was hard as hell to find hotel spaces, and everything except the bars closed at 5, when most gamers are waking up. Indianapolis is a town built around the hospitality and convention industry.

Great, now I have to chaperone my daughter & friends to keep you bastards away from them.

Damn, I have to move that weekend. And I'm only an hour away.

I get to meet both Wil and Drew in the span of one day? The awesomeness, it burns...

/put me down for at least 2, maybe 4

I just might have to hang out on the circle, and check out all the poontang...and the girls too.

Last Saturday night, 10 people were shot in what has regrettably become a traditional last weekend of Indy Black Expo.

I personally don't believe it, but the Black Ministers said it was because of video games.

Were that true, I can only imagine the carnage that 30,000 gamers will bring to town.

/Odd that it hasn't been a problem for previous GenCons

apiarist: Last Saturday night, 10 people were shot in what has regrettably become a traditional last weekend of Indy Black Expo.

I personally don't believe it, but the Black Ministers said it was because of video games.

Were that true, I can only imagine the carnage that 30,000 gamers will bring to town.

/Odd that it hasn't been a problem for previous GenCons


It would be, but the only guns there are fake Stormtrooper blasters. And you know how accurate those are.

whoooohooooo....i just moved to indy today, start my job on monday...anyone know how far from speedway this is?...i cant imagine some of you people drunk...ill be there.

pattonx: chemrebel: I get to meet both Wil and Drew in the span of one day? The awesomeness, it burns...

/put me down for at least 2, maybe 4

Wil's coming?

That's the plan; don't know if he'll pop in for the Fark party but he's the con Guest of Honor along with multiple Guildies.

Rats, I'll be at Otakon the week before and I don't want to do Cons back to back to back. I'll place a rain check on the Fark Party until the one in Cincinnati for Oktoberfest come September.

/Enjoys Akira.
//There are better anime films than Akira.

You bastards - I'm scheduled to run Classic BattleTech games for Catalyst Game Labs that whole friggin' night! Ack!

On the bright side, though, a bunch of Catalyst Demo Agents are Canadian, and they're weighing down their car with hundreds of pounds of real Canadian beer. So enjoy your Bud Light, kids.

For anyone who hasn't been to O'Reilly's, it's good food. About standard pricing, too, for a MidWest bar; $5 appetizers, $8 burgers. Good place.

FightDirector: You bastards - I'm scheduled to run Classic BattleTech games for Catalyst Game Labs that whole friggin' night! Ack!

On the bright side, though, a bunch of Catalyst Demo Agents are Canadian, and they're weighing down their car with hundreds of pounds of real Canadian beer. So enjoy your Bud Light, kids.

For anyone who hasn't been to O'Reilly's, it's good food. About standard pricing, too, for a MidWest bar; $5 appetizers, $8 burgers. Good place.

Just set the table on fire, call it "Secret Clan Tech", and then go to the party.

Of course, the guys at Historicon that run the Battletech Grinders always seem to have a pretty good party and beer stash going at their tables.

Head west to Working Man's Friend (new window)if you want a really good burger,The neighborhood is a little rough but you should be safe in daylight.

Shaddup: whoooohooooo....i just moved to indy today, start my job on monday...anyone know how far from speedway this is?...i cant imagine some of you people drunk...ill be there.

About 15 to 20 minutes away, depending on traffic.

Aeonite: I'll try to be there unless you don't want me to be there. Then I won't be there. I'll go to the White Wolf party instead.

The White Wolf party two years ago was awesome. "OPEN BAR, DUDE!!!"

/Protip: Even though the drinks are free, make sure to tip the bartenders anyway. They'll remember you and give you faster service when the place gets crowded.

WOOOOOO! See you motherfarkers there!

I'm there!

Wait, I not only get to move to indy JUST in time to go to GenCon....

But I might be able to get to go to a Fark Party?

Holy crap, that's epic.

And Wil might be there?

The nerd is strong with this one.

((Anyone a GenCon Veteran who can help me have maximum fun for the weekend?))

Pay cash. O'Reilly's was a favored lunch spot when I worked downtown, until the bank statement came and the waitresses had been adding about $20 every time I went in.

See you there!

Weaver95: Darth Invictus: Aeonite: I'll try to be there unless you don't want me to be there. Then I won't be there. I'll go to the White Wolf party instead.

The White Wolf party two years ago was awesome. "OPEN BAR, DUDE!!!"

/Protip: Even though the drinks are free, make sure to tip the bartenders anyway. They'll remember you and give you faster service when the place gets crowded.

I was at that party. I had free drink tickets from scaring the piss outta people at the Mage larp earlier that day.

Was that at the Ugly Monkey? We were at that one, too. The party at the Lotus nightclub on Meridian Street had the open bar.

Disciple_of_Trogdor:
((Anyone a GenCon Veteran who can help me have maximum fun for the weekend?))


Here's my response to the same question posted on the Classic BattleTech forums. It should still be pertinent, if heavy on the BattleTech references.

1. What should I bring INTO the Con? Generally speaking, you want to bring as little as possible. If you're planning on gaming, bring stuff necessary for the games, obviously, but space moving through the hallways can be tight, and that says nothing about the dealer's hall. The less you have, the easier you'll move. Certainly, bring a backpack, a few bottles of water, and plenty of pencils and dice at a minimum. Anything else (notebooks, laptops, miniatures, etc), understand that every pound you bring in will feel like 10 at the end of the day, and everything has a decent chance of getting stolen. Last year, overnight, somebody actually used an acetylene torch to burn their way into a locked cage fulled with laptops and printers and stuff we used to run the games so they could steal crap. Fair warning.

2. What is normally done for food especially when you have games running from 10 AM to 8 PM without much of any break (or 2 PM to 8 PM)? Outside food and drink isn't "technically" allowed in the convention center, but there's some fair common sense involved. If you've got a bottle of coke and a pack of skittles, nobody's gonna bother you. If you've got a portable 20-gallon cooler filled with coke and a minigrill...well, there will be some issues. As for actually finding time to eat, we tend to break 15 minutes before the start of the next block (so a game going from 1000 to 1400 will actually stop at about 1345). This lets people grab food and allows the GMs to look over the game logistics. Group "food runs" are common. Finally, there is food onsite (mainly pizza, salad and burgers) and there's a fair number of restaurants in the local vicinity.

3. ...should I come prepared with stuff? For BattleTech events, bring Pencils, several matched pairs of 2d6 with ONLY pips on them (no symbols or numbers please), and I highly recommend a clipboard. Everything else is provided, unless a particular event specifically mentions you need to bring something. If you want to bring a copy of TW, you're welcome to do so - but I recommend you bring a CGL version with the errata slipped in. If you're doing something besides BattleTech events (but why would you?), check the event listing in the GenCon guidebook and see if you need to bring anything. Most folks supply everything aside from dice and pencils that you need, but enough don't that checking first is the safest bet.

4. Are all the Battletech games going to be in the same general area (so signing up for 2 back to back is ok)? All official BattleTech games should be in the same hall, yes. Generally speaking, all of a given company's games will be played in the same area, so even if you aren't playing BattleTech, if you find a group's events once, you've basically found all of that group's events.

5. What is your best suggestion for getting the most out of the Con, and what is a common mistake many make? Big question, because "getting the most" out of the con depends on what you want to do. If you want loads of gaming, sign up for lots of events. Shopping? You can spend all 4 days browsing the dealer's hall and auctions. Schmoozing? There's loads of events where the creators and designers will hold roundtables and talk to and answer questions from fans. If this is your first GenCon, I would allow at least 1 4-hour block sometime on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday to browse the dealer's hall. I would also allow at least 1 4-hour block to simply walk around through the various areas and look at stuff. Additionally, you should keep the 3,2,1 Plan in mind. That is, at a minimum, you need 3 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower per day.

Mistake-wise, probably the biggest three mistakes are:
1) Overscheduling yourself. Allow some time just to browse. This'll also help your mental state.
2) Not bringing enough money. A safe bet is $25/day in food, and $20/day in parking. You're going to see a HUGE number of things to get in the dealer's hall. Allowing $300 in "free spending money" is a "safe" number, at the low end.
3) Not bringing enough money and bringing credit cards. See the above point, and remember how easy it is to forget how much you've actually spent.



UNC_Samurai: FightDirector: You bastards - I'm scheduled to run Classic BattleTech games for Catalyst Game Labs that whole friggin' night! Ack!

Just set the table on fire, call it "Secret Clan Tech", and then go to the party.

Actually, saying "Secret Word of Blake Tech" and setting the table on fire kind of works. With all the nukes that the Blakists throw around, just setting the table on fire is certainly faster than rolling out all the damage.

You may be on to something here...