Create Your Own Dungeons And Dragons Convention
In 2007, we skipped Gen Con.
You see, my Dungeons and Dragons gaming group is an interesting mix of folks. We’ve got small business owners, health care professionals, a college professor, IT professionals, fast food workers, an electrician, housewives, and even someone in the printing business.
Oh, and then there’s me, but you all know what I do. I’m a writer.
We have single guys, engaged guys, married folks with kids, and married folks without kids.
At any rate, the stars were aligned in 2007 such that most of us either couldn’t afford Gen Con or couldn’t attend because of work or family commitments.
We realized, by July of 2007, that we were really going to miss Gen Con. So, we came up with a stopgap measure: Cabin Con.
What is Cabin Con? Well, we decided that one of the best parts about Gen Con was the gaming. Specifically, gaming with our friends. So, we rented two small cabins at nearby county park for two nights in late August last year. We spent the better part of three days gaming. We played Dungeons and Dragons, Three Dragon Ante, and even some board games.
We cooked our food over a campfire, and made jokes at night about who was sharing a sleeping bag with whom.
We did all of this on the cheap; with food and everything, I think we all got away for about $75 a person.
Cabin Con was such a damned good idea that we’re doing it again this October. This time, we’re renting a vacation home for 4 days to the tune of $600. Split between a dozen or so of us, we’ll still be under $100 apiece including food. Gen Con or not, I think Cabin Con is going to become a tradition.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because it would never have occurred to us to do something like this if we hadn’t missed Gen Con in 2007. Maybe it’s something your group could do, too.
So, if you want to organize your own convention, here’s what you need to do:
- Figure out how many people you have going. Get as firm a commitment as possible.
- Find a good location. Depending on your budget, you could have your Cabin Con in tents in the woods, or you could have it at the Hilton. For me, I think the vacation home or hunting lodge type rental is the best way to go.
- Divide your weekend up into time slots for games. These can be 4-hour slots, or they can be shorter or longer depending on your group’s preferences.
- Get your friends to commit to running games. If you’re like me and usually are the DM, GM, or StoryTeller, a Cabin Con can be a nice opportunity to play on the other side of the screen.
- Send out the list of games, and have everyone sign up for the games they want to play.
- Plan a menu and buy the food. You can live on sandwiches and cereal all weekend, or you can cook full-blown meals. Here again, it just depends on your group’s preferences.
- Set up a KP duty chart. Give everyone a chance to help out with the cooking, cleaning, and whatnot.
I’d love to hear from others. If you’ve done your own gaming weekend, what advice can you offer?
Vancian Magic and Dungeons and Dragons 4E
After an interesting play session last Friday, something occurred to me:
Fourth edition truly puts the nail in the coffin of Vancian magic. The wizard I ran in that game felt much more like a traditional fantasy wizard. I felt very Gandalf, at least in terms of combat, and rituals had my back when it came to other tasks. Very fun.
I suppose that’s one of the things, though, that some folks don’t like about 4E: the abandoning of the Vancian system.
I’m interested, though: What do you all think? Whether or not you like 4E, are there good reasons to go with a “fire and forget” spell system? Do you personally prefer Vancian magic to the alternatives?
How Does Indianapolis Feel About Gen Con?
You know, I lived in Indianapolis for a couple of years. I loved the city. There were plenty of resources for gamers, and the folks were, on average, just nice folks. My in-laws live in Indy, so when Gen Con moved to Indy I was stoked. It meant that, if we planned things right, I’d never have to miss another Gen Con.
You can imagine my chagrin when the infamous anti-Gen Con article appeared in the Indianapolis Monthly several years ago. What gamers failed to realize is that no one actually reads the Indianapolis Monthly except for bored, rich housewives in Carmel, IN. Still, it left the impression among many gamers that Indy hated them. (Strangely enough, that article isn’t available on the Indianapolis Monthly website any longer. Go figure.)
So, I thought it’d be interesting to see some of the news reports from Indy on Gen Con this year.
A couple things of note: 1)one article mentions that Gen Con is Indy’s biggest convention, now. 2) Several articles mention 85,000 attendees. If that’s true… HOLY CRAP. I know Gen Con was 35,000 the first year I went, when it was still in Milwaukee. That’s another 50,000 people in the last six years.
The one negative I could find was in the article from Anderson, I think, and it only talked about a conversation with one attendee who talked about gamer funk and the floor being “ripe” by the 4th day. Other than that, the article (and the rest) seemed pretty positive.
Indianapolis radio and TV coverage:
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8852885
http://www.wibc.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=97710
From the Star News, Indy’s newspaper:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/LOCAL/808160486
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/BUSINESS/808140430/1003/BUSINESS
A blogger from the Star News had several Gen Con reports. Here’s one cool one about dice:
http://blogs.indystar.com/geek/2008/08/rolling_bones.html
From indy.com, a feature of the Star News:
http://www.indy.com/posts/10627
From the paper in Muncie, about 30 minutes north of Indy:
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080821/ENTERTAINMENT/808210336
From the paper in Anderson, about 20 minutes north of Indy:
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/peopleandplaces/local_story_225223410.html?keyword=topstory
What’s my point here? Well, simply that Indianapolis doesn’t hate Gen Con attendees, by any means. They might thing we’re a bit odd (lots of folks do) but they like having us, and they’re treating us fairly in their media coverage.
Are there some jerks in Indy that treat con attendees poorly? Sure. There were in Milwaukee, and there would be in Chicago or anywhere else Gen Con might go. But as a city, Indy recognizes that it’s lucky to have us.
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