GenXnerd

Hi there!  Greymattersplat here.

Yeah, I know, we haven’t met yet, and I’m sorry for that.  It’s always nerve-wracking when your friend asks you to write stuff on his website, and you don’t really know what to write.  So I’d kinda been holding for this past weekend’s GeekGirlCon, for which I was there working for GrayHaven Comics, but thanks to a hotel not wanting to give me back some money, and a 750-watt power supply that decided to pick THIS EXACT TIME to stop functioning in my main PC, life has apparently just wanted to kick me in the nuts this week.  I still owe you all a writeup of GeekGirlCon, and you’ll get it.  It was a really great show, and I’d like to think I have some things to say about it…but that’s not what you want to hear about right now.

No.  This one’s all about GenCon!

First off, let me say this: GenCon is BIG.  If you’ve never been there before, I’m not sure I can accurately describe to you just how amazingly huge in scope this thing has become.  Maybe this will help put things into perspective for you:

Aren’t you glad you use Dial?

Join me after the break for more nerdy goodness…

So, I took that coming down the escalator in the Convention Center this morning, as the throng of newly-washed masses (the day doesn’t really START with gamer-funk, you know) all pressed against the doors to get in and see the wonders of the con.  That’s not everyone.  Not by a long-shot.  This year mark’s GenCon’s 45th anniversary, and it really does seem to get bigger each year.  I’m kinda dreading what the 50th anniversary is going to do to the city of Indianapolis.

When the doors finally opened at 10am (the exact time they were supposed to, but still…), the very first thing I did was go stand in line at the Dungeons and Dragons booth.  They’ve got some super-cool “Drow” dice that I really wanted to complete a set of for a friend.  The first two pieces were easy to get…the other four will take some doing, and I’m not sure if it’ll happen.  But I doubt any of you care about that.  They had some really neat stuff at their booth though.  Also, I WAS able to get a set of “45th Anniversary” dice from elsewhere in the con, so there’s that.

I have no idea who that guy is, he just ended up in my picture.

Yay Dice!!

Yes. I know. I tried to put them both on the same line, but it’s being a pain right now, and it’s almost 1am, and I have to go do this again tomorrow, so you get the messy version.  You’ll learn to love it.  Also, I got to meet Wil Wheaton.  Be jealous.

It is possible I took a derpy pic of Wil Wheaton and posted it on the internet. I may regret this later.

He really does appear to be just as nice in real life as you would think he is based on how he behaves just about everywhere else he doesn’t talk to me.  But seriously, he’s a bitchin’ guy!

After that, the day becomes a bit of a blur.  Lots of booths to be seen, lots of people to talk to.  Certain among our number (basically, I mean MuGumBo) spent a fair bit of time teasing me because of all the people I ran into that I already know.  Whether it be Brian and Rhonda of R Squared Studios (Table ‘N’ in Author’s Alley, go buy awesome stuff!), several folks I know who were doing stuff for Steve Jackson Games, or just random folks we’d walk by and say hi to each other.  I did get a chance to take a picture of both of the Lewis’ playing a game called Pentago.

MuGumBo actually WON this game

I’d never heard of the game until today, but it’s pretty great!  The basics are that each turn, you place one token, and rotate one quadrant of the board.  The goal is to make a line of five in your color.  They’re also doing a tournament this weekend that costs one “generic” ($2) ticket to play, but has a grand prize of $1000!!  I think I’m going to enter and take my chances.  I DID beat MuGumBo, after all.  Not that I’m rubbing it in or anything.  Much.  Anyway, if you’re reading this, and the con’s still going on, go check out the Pentago booth and tweet at them using the hashtag #lovepentago.  No, really.  Do it!

After more blurry booths, and a spectacular lunch at the Mac Genie food truck, It was time to go play Pixel Lincoln.  This is a game that I’ve been wanting to play for some time.  I have a copy of the ORIGINAL version of the game from back in the day, and after his incredibly successful Kickstarter, I’ve been really excited to see how it holds up!  There were a couple of bumps, mostly because we spent more time chatting than reading the rules, but I can safely say that the game is a blast, and you should all definitely check it out.

There was definitely more to see and do, but as I type this, it’s now well after 1am, and I’m back at it tomorrow, so I’ll stop for now.  There will be more pictures and stories as the weekend progresses though, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.  And my report from GeekGirlCon.  I promise, as soon as I get to have some sleep and all that, I’ll do that too.  But in the mean-time, if you wanted to check out some things like Kaiju Kaos, or Tim Thurmond, the Balloon Sculptor, or even a Kickstarter for some games by LM Studios that look like they’re going to be really good…well, I wouldn’t stop you.

At least go check out that Kickstarter.  Those games look pretty sweet, and I want it to succeed so I may have them.

Nope. Don’t know these guys either.