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?
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.
Sunday Link Smashup for August 24, 2008
photo credit: disavian | Got Links?
Lots of amazing links for you today, in the wake of Gen Con. Let’s get started, shall we?
I want to take a moment to welcome Mike Mearls to the D&D blogosphere. Mike is one a handful of truly GREAT game designers, IMHO. Check out his inaugural post entitled In Praise of Wandering Monsters.
Speaking of designers, another favorite of mine is Jim Wyatt. Check out the podcast interview that the boys from Critical Hits scored with Jim: Critical Hits Podcast #7: Interview with James Wyatt.
I have to link to this post:YA5WKEPACLB*: What Gen Con 2008 meant for me from Chatty DM, only if it proves he can actually write a post with less than 200 words. He just doesn’t usually want to 
James at Capturing Fantasy offers us an excellent post on Letting Go of You When You Play. James tells us how to become immersed in our characters, and truly stretch our roleplaying muscles.
I got a link back from the Wired.com blog earlier this week when I pontificated on the McCain staffer’s comments on D&D. Check it out! I’m in the big time 
It occurred to me that maybe not all of my readers here are familiar with my writing blog, The Writing Journey. I mention it here for those of you who may have attended the RPG blogger seminar at Gen Con, or if you listened to the podcast of that event.
Back in July, Dante over at Stupid Ranger had an excellent piece on The Silmarillion. If you haven’t read that particular Tolkien classic, give Dante’s insights a look and see if he can convince you. I personally think it should be required reading for all game masters.
In light of my recent discussion on trying to rediscover my gaming identity, I offer you Yax’s thougts on My golden rule is more golden than yours - which describes, essentially, why Yax keeps coming back to D&D over other RPGs.
Finally, check out Gnome Stew’s First Contest: Win Custom Sound Effects for Your Game and, well, win custom sound effects for your game.
Make sure an visit these folks, and tell ‘em Bob sent you!
What I Learned from Gen Con 2008 - Part 2
Last time, I offered a few observations on Gen Con 2008. Today, I want to continue that theme, but focus in a bit on the RPG side of things. I want to tell you what Gen Con did for me, in terms of my approach to gaming.
Back in March, I wrote about The 4E Malaise, and how things have changed for our group, gaming-wise, over the last year or two. I also wrote about my Thoughts on D&D 4E, and offered some thoughts from our group’s other DM on the topic, as well.
I’ve been at a crossroads, for a while, in terms of my game, and what my next campaign would be. That’s been due, in part, to the 4E announcement. Or so I thought.
My assumption going into Gen Con was that I’d come out with a clearer picture of where I wanted to go, in terms of our group’s game. Would I stay with D&D, or would I go backwards to 3.5? Would I cave to peer pressure and go with Pathfinder?
I discovered, however, that there are no easy answers. I was looking for something that I’ll never find. I was looking for an experience to define who I am as a gamer these days. Gen Con can’t do that for me.
In fact, no one else can do that for me.
You see, I’m having a gamer mid-life crisis. I haven’t run a regular campaign in a year and a half. And many of our local gaming group are in the same funk. Not all of it can be blamed on 4E, either. We’ve had folks move away, we’ve had career changes, we’ve had all sorts of lifestyle disruptions. Whatever the reasons, it’s happening to all of us.
I want to play an RPG, to be sure. I want to play something that is more than hack-and-slash. I wan an immersive game where my players get majorly geeked about playing. I want something that’s role-play intensive, with rich character histories and plenty of intrigue.
I’m not sure if that can happen in D&D anymore.
Now, I’m not blaming the system. I’ve always said that rules can do very little to encourage roleplaying, and I still believe that. But our group dynamic has gone all screwy. One of my players is so anti-4E that he actually told the guys at Paizo “I hope Pathfinder puts WotC out of business.” That’s hatred, plain and simple. And, while he’s entitled to his opinion, it creates this cloud over any discussion of a 4E game.
Even if I were to stay with the outdated 3.5 system, there are problems. We are all creatures of habit. I believe a 3.5 game would lead us into old patterns, where players are min-maxing and finding infinte combos, and I’m struggling to keep up and find anything that’s a real challenge.
Add this to the mix: I asked a couple of my local guys who were at the con this question: “What game would you play if it were up to you?” One answered, “probably something by White Wolf.” The other said, “I don’t know. Maybe Vampire.”
- So, what to do? I’ve had to ask myself the tough questions. Here are some of them, in no particular order:
- Am I willing to give up gaming altogether?
- Am I willing to run another system?
- Is there a better game than D&D?
- Can I pull off something big, like a new Mind’s Eye Theater troupe?
- Am I better off sticking with some flavor of D&D, because it’s comfortable to me and to my players?
Gen Con answered a couple of those questions for me. I’m not willing to give up gaming, I know that for certain now. I’m also willing to run something other than D&D. Based on my interest level and that of my players, it sounds like Vampire would be the way to go. I do have at least one player who won’t play anything that’s not D&D, but there’s no game right now that I can get everyone to agree to. I’m going to lose someone no matter what.
So, I guess the only question I really have left is this: do I do live action or do I do tabletop?
The more I think about it, it probably makes sense to start with a tabletop game. If that goes well over time, maybe we could expand it into a live action game. I’d say there’s about an 80% chance that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Does this mean I’m giving up on D&D? Hell no.
Does this mean I’ll write less about D&D? Some, I’m sure. But part of the reason for the name change a few months back was just that - to open up possibilities.
I’m still very interested in D&D and what happens to the game. My suspicion is that, after a couple of years, the dust will settle. These violent emotional responses to 4E will wane, and our group might actually consider playing the thing.
I’m sure I’ll continue to buy D&D books. I want to be ready for when we come back. On top of that, I just enjoy reading them.
Will it be too late? Maybe. It could be that edition wars have splintered our group so severely as to put us off D&D forever. I hope not. The fact of the matter is that D&D is likely to be around for a long time, and I’m not ready to give it up forever.
Heck, I’m not entirely sure that the next game will be Vampire.
Ask me again in 2 weeks
What I Learned From Gen Con 2008 - Part 1
Well, Gen Con it’s done for another year. I can truly say I already miss it. Only 361 days to go, I suppose.
I want to share some of my Gen Con thoughts over the next few days. I know the D&D blogosphere has been hopping with Gen Con posts, and that makes me slightly late to the dance. I’m OK with that; I leave the cutting edge to folks like The Game and Bartoneous at Critical Hits, leaving me to sort of hang back and give more of a hindsight view.
So, what did I get out of Gen Con this year?
I really miss playing Magic: The Gathering.
I haven’t played regularly in a couple of years, and so I jumped in to a sealed tournament on Friday. It was a blast. I was eliminated in the second round to a kid half my age, as is usually the story, but it was still fun. I won a booster, which had cards in it that I sold for $16 - enough to pay for the draft. All in all, a good deal.
While I was playing, some friends played a round or two of the World of Warcraft TCG. That’s not a bad game either, and I’m hoping that the bug will really hit the guys back home. A TCG is one of the best group games in that you only need 2 of you to play and they’re extremely portable. We’ll see if it sticks.
You can make a killing at the Gen Con auction.
I sat in line on Thursday morning with a bunch of guys waiting to check in their auction goods. While my auctions made me a mere $200, there were folks there making $10,000 or more, all from games they collected at garage sales over the past year. Very cool.
The Chatty DM is, well, Chatty.
I had the privelege to meet several other RPG bloggers at a seminar on Saturday. I was humbled to be there, honestly. I felt a little bit out of place. I was like the dopey little geek that the cool kids let hang around because they feel sorry for him.
At any rate, I want to take a minute to send you all away from here with some great links from my fellow RPG bloggers from the Gen Con panel:
The Gen Con 2008 Rambling (Semi-Live blog) from Phil at the Chatty DM. It was very cool to meet Chatty, mainly because we’ve talked so much online about not just gaming, but writing, as well. Check out his
post for a play-by-play of his Gen Con 2008 experience.
The aforementioned boys at Critical Hits have all sorts of GenCon 2008 Coverage. Checkout Dave and Bart’s exclusive interviews and astute observations.
It’s not live yet, but Stupid Ranger and crew will have a full Gen Con round-up on Tuesday or after.
A special congrats to Yax at DungeonMastering.com, as he won an Ennie this past weekend.
Next time, I’ll offer some thoughts on my gaming experience at Gen Con 2008, and how things look going forward from here.
Wizards of the Coast WILL be at Gen Con 2008!
Graham from Critical Ankle Bites, in his awesomeness, has discovered this post from the Wizards Message boards, from Chris Perkins:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=15876256&postcount=1
Here’s the relevant Gen Con excerpt:
“I learned that we are, indeed, goin’ to Gen Con! Clearly, one of the big thrusts of the show will be 4E. We have a cap on the number of R&D people we can send, and I *did* attend last year, so I’m not sure whether I’ll be attending this year. I should know in the next few days, one way or the other.”
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
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Now, as important as that news is, don’t forget to give me your thoughts on these last couple of posts:
and
Building a New Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Diary #15 - Specifics
Hooray for Gen Con!
photo credit: Templarion
This is the part of this campaign setting I’m excited about. As you may or may not know, I’m going to be running the very first game in the world of Lenryn at Gen Con. Event registration for Gen Con begins next Sunday, April 20 at 1:00 PM, PDT. I’m running four identical sessions so as to accommodate as many of my readers as I can. Here are the four sessions, along with their event ID:
Thursday, 6:00-10:00 PM, RPG00402
Friday, 12:00-4:00 PM, RPG00403
Friday, 4:00-8:00 PM, RPG00404
Saturday, 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, RPG00405
Here’s the description, from the GenCon catalog:
Be the first to play in The World of Lenryn, the newest campaign setting designed by Bob Younce of dndreviews.com. Bring your own characters, as per guidelines on the web site. Role-play heavy. Free book, “How I Developed my New Campaign World, and How You Can Develop Yours” provided to each participant. Prizes will also be given for best role-playing, and best character concept.
As is always the case, spots will fill up quickly. Be sure to register early to reserve your seat.
For my local group, you guys can sign up if you want, but my hope is to run the same game for you all (after Gen Con, of course.)
Starting next week, I’ll be posting guidelines for character creation, and begin providing you with some of the back-story specific to the GenCon adventure. In the meantime, if you’re just arriving here for the first time, feel free to start at the beginning of the new campaign diary, and get a feel for what you can expect at Gen Con.
Also, check out my archives page if you want to pop through each of the campaign diary entries.
4E at DDXP - Get the Down-low.
Just a quick entry this morning.
Get your asses over to critical hits NOW and tell the boys what you’d like to have them talk to the WotC designers about this weekend. Bartoneous and The Game have scored press passes for the event, and have promised to be eyes and ears for those of us stuck somewhere else.
Thank you, drive through.
Update on GenCon Bankruptcy - Letter from Peter
From The GenCon Community Forums:
Friends:
Today Gen Con is filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.
Essentially what happened is that we lost a lot of money this year running a licensed non-Gen Con event. We owe several companies money from this show and it’s going to take time to pay them off. To protect ourselves from the more aggressive companies we have been forced to seek protection from the courts.
While this is certainly an unfortunate development it will not impact our ability to operate Gen Con Indy, nor should it affect our licensed Gen Con events in the UK, Paris, and Australia.
The way a Chapter 11 works is that we negotiate a long-term payment plan with our creditors with the assistance of the US judicial system. The courts will closely oversee our business affairs to make sure we are running the company prudently and that we have a reasonable plan to pay everyone off. Which we do. The courts also protect us from aggressive creditors so that we can continue operating.
Gen Con LLC will get through this strong at the other end. Our fundamental revenue generating asset is our Indianapolis show, Gen Con Indy. This show is profitable enough to cover our direct costs, our overhead, and have some funds left over to pay off the debts from the licensed show. It will take some time, but this is one of those situations that the Chapter 11 filing was designed for, to help good companies get through a rough situation. Everyone will eventually get paid and business will return to normal. In the meantime, Gen Con Indy carries forward without interruption. Heck, if the airline companies can do it, why not us!
I’ve learned some hard lessons about the event business over the last few years. After trying to get Gen Con So Cal to work, and then losing money on this non-Gen Con event, I’ve learned how difficult it is to run a “big show” and make money. It’s a highly speculative affair where you’re never quite sure until the show’s over whether you made money or lost, mainly because you just don’t know how many people are going to come and for how long.
So, going forward our organization is going to focus on what we do best: managing Gen Con Indy, a healthy, vibrant show that has been growing nicely ever since moving to Indianapolis.
Here is a link to the press release we are issuing today describing this filing:
http://gencon.com/2008/corporate/news-pr/releases/2008/2008.02.15.Press.aspx
As you can probably guess, there’s not a lot I can say about this publicly, due to it being a sensitive legal matter and all. I’m traveling this coming week to New York Toy Fair, so my access with be spotty, but I’ll be sure and check in at least once a day to field questions best I can.
Peter D. Adkison
CEO, Gen Con LLC
Monday Morning in Iceland
Hey all!
Dang, it’s cold here. And icy.
I will admit it. I was a bit cranky last Wednesday. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was the vodka. Either way, I’m over it. I think I’m ready to take this gamer contract thing seriously. The Philippine Gamer has done some excellent legwork on the question, looking at the social contract from the player perspective. While I’m going to take a day or to and work up my version of the DM’s commitments, why don’t you visit Philie G. and give him your thoughts on the social contract.
On another note, I don’t know what it is, but Yax seems to send his best stuff out on Sunday and Monday. This Sunday’s quiz was on gnomes “rarrr, I’m a monster” and hobbits halflings. I scored 60% - see if you can do better.
———-
At any rate, I’ve spent some time thinking this weekend about the whole GenCon situation. Something occurred to me: I’ve only been going to GenCon for six years. Yeah, I’ve been DMing for more than 20, but the Con is a fairly recent thing for me. So, why am I bothered by the hint that there might be trouble with GenCon? I feel like the experience has really enhanced my gaming, and my love for the game. It also broadened my horizons. For example:
- Prior to attending GenCon, I barely noticed the release of a new edition of D&D; I was a full year late to that dance. This time around, I was aware of the new edition announcement within hours, and have spent months researching it and planning for it.
- Prior to attending GenCon, I only ever played D&D with friends. Since then, I’ve found people to play D&D with that are, essentially, acquaintances that share a love of the game. To be sure, they almost always become friends, but this is a reversal - I used to have to introduce my friends to D&D, not be introduced to friends via D&D.
- GenCon provided me with the opportunity to explore other games. The short list of games I tried at GenCon that I never would have otherwise tried includes Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer, Heroscape, Axis & Allies, Vampire (tabletop and LARP), and even Are You a Werewolf.
- I’ve met people at GenCon who seemed larger than life in the past. Gary Gygax, for example. He’s just a regular dude. I’ve had a cigarette with him. Ed Greenwood. He’s a dirty old man. Not really. But he is funny as hell.
- I’ve learned a lot about my fellow gamers. Not all of it has been good; hygiene, for example. But overall, its been a positive experience, and I believe today that gamers are, on average, more polite than the common populace. They are also more annoying, on average.
So, what’s my point here? GenCon has been a fabulous experience for me. If you can wing it, you should go at least once. Your game will never be the same.
OOH! Before I forget. I put up an article with some ideas for traps to use in your D&D game. It’ll get buried soon with the GenCon posts, so check it out before you miss it!
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Updates
