Gen Con 2025

We went to Gen Con again this year, and I played with James, Nick, Diego, and Julio, our comrade from the D&D Open last year. There was more gaming this year - seven games - and less exhibit hall, costumes, and food.

Zac and and a few friends from his crew kindly ran Pirate Borg for us. Zac's game is always our favorite at the con.

James, Julio, and me playing Middle Earth Role Playing with our GM Richard, which I haven’t played since the 80’s.

Some games were in Lucas Oil Stadium, near the conference center. Here Diego, James, Nick, and I are playing D&D in the stadium’s west club room.

Games on the actual field.

Spiderman picking up his event tickets at the will call window.

Inigo Montoya at the stadium.

I picked up just a few books this year, but Margaret Weis signed hers for me.

Gen Con 2024

I went to Gen Con again this year with most of the regular crew - Buck, Dave, Karen, Lou, Nick, and Rob. James had to miss this year, but my cousin Amy joined us, and we drove back and forth from Appleton to Indy together.

Wednesday night dinner. Dave's old gaming friends also joined us.

For games, I did all D&D again this year. I played some with Amy and Nick, and played the 2024 D&D Open with Buck, Dave, Lou, and Nick. A new comrade Julio brought our Open party up to six. We started slow in the Open but came back to land right in the middle of the rankings, 25 out of 50.

We caught up with Zac at an early breakfast before the Open Saturday morning.

A lot of fun costumes this year...Dr. Evil was my favorite this year.

There was a series of seminars for D&D’s 50th anniversary, with some of the original gangster authors from the day, hosted by Jon Peterson. I was able to catch the seminars with Steven R. Marsh and Mike Carr, and Luke Gygax and Allen Hammack.

Jon signed some of his recent books for me. Steven signed my D&D Expert Set rulebook, and Allen signed my Ghost Tower of Inverness module.

Lunch by Lucas Oil Stadium.

Pinball alley between the convention center and the stadium.

Gen Con 2023

At Gen Con Indy again this year. Buck, Dave, James, Karen, Lou, Nick, Rob, and I were back, and Dave's friend Brandon joined us. We also linked up again with our favorite gamemaster, Zac, who ran a special Call of Cthulu game for us.

At the Fountain Room for Wednesday night dinner.

We played our normal official D&D - Dragonlance this year. We also got to play the second game in the Call of Cthulu side game that Lou ran for us last year, and Zac's game. The pics are Call of Cthulu with Zac and Dragonlance with our DM Dave.

Thunder Road: Vendetta is one of the big new games this year; playing it here with Lou, Buck, and Rob. Think Mad Max: Fury Road.

The exhibit hall.

A few goodies from the exhibit hall. The most interesting is the ginormous Judges Guild retrospective book, which presents some of their typewritten adventures and newsletters from the day in grand fashion.

Gen Con 2022

Went to Gen Con 2022, this year with the whole crew - Buck, Dave, James, Karen, Lou, Nick, and Rob. Our old college buddy Terry was there and we also got to meet up with Zac, our favorite DM from previous years.

We came into Indianapolis one day early and Lou ran a Call of Cthulu side game for us. He suprised us with characters that were 1920's investigator versions of ourselves.

We got in a lot of D&D - too much. My long-time character Aleister reached the max level (20), although as my friends will attest, it wasn't all smooth sailing.

The exhibit hall and a play hall. I was able to pick up the new big game this year, Ark Nova, and a big pile of vintage I.C.E. books.

Costumes.

Outside the convention center.

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument a few blocks from the convention center.

Gen Con 2021

Gen Con returned to Indianapolis this year after Gen Con Online last year. Rob, Karen, and Buck couldn't make it this year, but we had Lou, Nick, James, and me from previous years, and Lou's old friend David joined us.

I was in five games (20 hours) of D&D, and my longtime Gen Con warlock Aleister made it to 16th level. Three of those games were "the D&D Experience," where you play with the same Dungeon Master and players for all three games. Here's our table for the first D&D Experience game, including Lou, Nick, David, and our Dungeon Master Jacob. We're gearing up to ambush some goblins.

Here's our last game on Sunday morning.

Here's a pano of the big (non-D&D) play area in the conference center; gamers took over the lounge at our hotel too.

It was a good year for costumes. These plague doctors were a good pick for the covid pandemic.

The Dungeon Master from the 80's D&D cartoon.

Edgar Allen Poe.

King Arthur and Patsy.

We went to the costume contest this year - here are the finalists on stage. The kids' group winners won the overall contest too.

The exhibit hall was crowded but not as crazy as previous years. Most of the usual suspects seemed to be there except Fez-O-Rama.

Our favorite DM from 2018 and 2019, Zac, was in the hall at the booth for his company Drifter's Atlas.

I found some original 70s D&D boxes for sale, for $500. As crazy as that is, it's not as much as a lot of Magic Cards.

Eric Lang's new game, Ankh, was on sale about a month before release.

We kicked off Wednesday night with Lou’s traditional foodie dinner. This year it was Lou, Nick, and Nick’s gaming friends, and me. From left to right, Lou, Diego, Nick, Randy, and Daniella.

Also enjoyed a couple meals at the George Street food trucks - jerk chicken tacos + deep fried cheese curds, and a pulled pork bbq sandwich.