My husband and I go to GenCon every August, and this year was no exception. We drove out to Indianapolis with our friend Justin on Wednesday. We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel and had dinner at P.F. Chang’s, as is our tradition.
After dinner, we went to go get our badges, but Paul and I weren’t able to pick up ours. We were running games, so our badges were at GM HQ, and even though the Will Call line was open 24 hours, the GM HQ was not. The convention started on Thursday, and Paul and I had to get up early to go snag our badges. Luckily, there wasn’t a crazy line, and we were back in time for the complimentary breakfast at the Embassy Suites.
Paul and I each ran three games. I ran Dragon Age, GURPS, and Star Wars Saga Edition, and Paul ran Star Trek, Full Moon, and GURPS.
I started with my GURPS game, which was set in the world of my novel. Two of my players knew the system, and two didn’t. I think everyone had a good time. After that, I played in a Cortex-based game based on Sentinels of the Multiverse while Paul and Justin played in a Start Trek CCG tournament.
The next morning was my Star Wars game. That also went well. After that, all three of us (me, Paul, and Justin) played in a fantasy GURPS game together. I was a dragon! I threw fireballs! It was a lot of fun. Then, after a quick dinner, we finally got to try Artemis out. That was a lot of fun, and I would really like to try it out with a party completely comprised of people that I know.
On Saturday, I ran my Dragon Age game. It also went well. It was the last organized game slot I participated in at the convention, and I was the only woman in any of the games I played. That’s not normal. I’m not sure if it was just weird luck, or if there were less ladies gaming at the convention this year.
That afternoon, we attempted to get into a game at Games on Demand, but that didn’t end up happening and was overall a stressful and unpleasant experience.
Then, Justin and I went to the hentai dubbing. They do it every year, and it’s always sounded like silly fun.
The actual dubbing parts were kind of entertaining–one guy did a Morgan Freeman impression, and another did Sean Connery, and those were both funny. The girls didn’t get many good lines and I was expecting more tentacles (there wasn’t a SINGLE tentacle). It was hard to enjoy the show because the host was so painfully misogynistic. He referred to every woman as “boobs.” Every. Single. One. And the whole crowd played along enthusiastically. It was not a comfortable place to be, and I was relieved when we left early.
We didn’t spend too much time in the dealer’s hall, but we did a bit of shopping. Paul and I each got a dice ring (mine rolls 3D6, and Paul’s is 4DF). I picked up the first three print volumes of Questionable Content and a copy of Cogs, Cakes, & Swordsticks, and Paul got four books from Pelgrane Press and a copy of School Daze.
It was a good con, and it went too fast, but I hope next year is better.