GENCON 2011 experience...

Well, as you all know by now, my favorite part of gencon is not a surprise. I must say that we had our fair share of mishaps, disappointments and all around frustrations. The trip out was an excruciating 11.5 hour journey from the Philadelphia area to Indianapolis. We arrived at the Days Hotel and were immediately disappointed by their lack of knowledge…not only about gencon, but about the surrounding area. We asked them if they had a map and the attendant said no, when there was one right on the end of the counter (which we found shortly after.) 

Then, after eating and sleeping on Wednesday night, we managed to catch a shuttle to the convention center. This was a miracle as well as we later found out that the shuttles were all done basically by one guy and he was servicing two hotels. You do the math.

We arrived at the convention center and were greeted by a line that must have been close to a mile long. WILL CALL! Argh! Next time, we take the cab the night before and get our badges. After that, it took us a little time to get acclimated and before I knew it, the day was gone and we had played our first two sessions of the Living Divine in the 4^th edition D&D game room. The games were fun.

 

Then we spent the next few hours waiting and calling for our shuttle, which did not arrive until 1:30ish in the morning. That sucked! Nick and I then arrived back to the hotel to find that our linens had not been changed. Strike Three, Days Inn! Next! And on top of that, one of our guys had to fly home Saturday morning as his wife went into the hospital. Turns out that she is OK (phew!) but it sucked, nonetheless. So, other than little sleep, which I had counted on, we got more than we bargained for in the way of fun-detractors.

Things did get better after that (despite the hotel’s numerous attempts to blemish my trip) and we managed to visit the amazingly vast dealer rooms, eat @ Loghmiller’s pub (our favorite eatery in Indy) and meet some amazing people! I met Jay Babcock, who was responsible for the 4^th edition Living Divine Event and the mods were fun. Our DM, Dave, was a pretty cool guy and so were all of the DM’s and marshals at the event. 

Then there were of course, the costumes and the statues…pics below. People at gencon are some of the coolest people I have ever met.

And despite all of the problems with the hotel, the travel and the expenses...I would do it 100 out of 100 times again.

See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit: www.ashenclaw.com to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios, LLC 2011 unless otherwise noted.