Gen Con: Day 2 (Friday for those keeping track of such things)

Right from the start, days at GenCon bled one into the other. I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep when it was time to wake up and take care of my dogs again. 5 bells found me getting showered and then heading back to my house for the dog feeding/walking ritual. Needless to say, I was tired. I figured it was prudent to get some more sleep, so I grabbed a few more hours and headed out at about 11 AM for some food. I skipped my morning Pathfinder game. One thing I've certainly learned this year is to only schedule things at 8 AM if you know you just can't bear to miss them.

My initial plan was to spend some time in the dealer hall and see if I could find a pick-up game. Thankfully I checked twitter that morning. I'd scheduled a Hollow Earth Expedition game at 4 PM on Saturday, but I knew there was absolutely no way I could play in it now with my dog care duties. HEX is one of the games I was really looking forward to trying a GenCon, and I knew one of my only real chances was a rumor that @KJBauman was going to be GMing a pick-up game sometime during the con. I'd gotten this info from @d20Blonde, and she'd recommended him as the best HEX GM she'd played with. Sure enough, today was the day. There was one spot left in @KJBauman's "Danger in the Arctic" game in the Embassy Suites' lobby at noon. I responded (as soon as I saw the tweet) that I would really like to play in the game, and managed to be lucky enough to get the last spot. See how useful social media (Twitter in particular) is at a con? I grabbed a quick sub at Subway in the food court at the mall, and headed to the game. After a little trouble in finding the group, they found me and we sat down to play.

This game was an absolute blast. Without spoiling this for anyone that might get the opportunity to play it in the future, the pre-gens form a shameless rip off of the Johnny Quest team with the same interactions built in to your motives. I played the brilliant scientist who can't quite get everything from paper to reality without some issue. There were rockets and Nazis and zeppelins and snowmobile chases and dogfights and portals to the moon and Hitler in a jar. The game was over-the-top pulp at its best. While we didn't play strictly rules-as-written, @KJBauman's modifications worked wonderfully for this scenario with new players and experienced. In my last post I talked briefly about being able to tell a good game by looking at the players. Our GM was up on his feet constantly, animated, and made every situation (bad and good) into something fun. The players were smiling most of the game, and grinning a good portion of it too. There was at least one good full belly laugh every 10 minutes (honestly, I'm surprised we didn't get asked to calm down). As you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. If you EVER get the chance to play in one of @KJBauman's HEX games, just make the time and do it. He gets nervous about GMing it seems, but I think that's because he puts a lot of pressure on himself to make sure everyone has fun. No need to worry, he's brilliant at what he does and it was again educational for me to watch such a good GM in action (when I managed to briefly break my immersion with the specific intent of trying to learn some techniques). This was absolutely one of the best twitter tips I got all con. So glad I was able to be a part of this.

As for the game, the Ubiquity system really plays smoothly. Sure, you need a GM who can come up with good numbers for target successes on the fly, but the skill and combat resolution is fast and smooth, keeping the game moving and exciting. The HEX system of rewards for playing built in motivations and flaws, even when doing so might cause a temporarily bad outcome, really adds roleplaying depth to the game. Yes, this system absolutely encourages RP. Even if you just don't RP, you're still going to gain significant advantages for staying in character because you're going to get rewarded with extra dice when you want them for doing so. This is a game I'm really glad I got a chance to play, and I am happy to have purchased the core rulebook in advance. I'd play a full campaign if the opportunity ever came up, and I'll probably look for another HEX game at GenCon next year.

I got out of this game at about 4 pm, and had a little bit of free time, but not a lot. I knew I wasn't going to my scheduled HEX game on Saturday, and I'd made plans for the night so I wasn't going to the Pathfinder GenCon special at 7 PM. Armed with this, I stopped by GenCon customer service and returned these tickets so they would know there were places for generics. I also got some money back (I think there was a 5% return fee...it was something small and very reasonable). At this point I didn't have to wait long in line, and everything went very smoothly again. The GenCon staff really has this down.

I think I may have wandered the halls a bit, but soon I headed back to my car to drive home and take care of the dogs. I was also picking up my girlfriend so we could walk around and admire the cosplayers. She likes seeing what people have come up with, so this was a great way to show her some fun at the con. We were also going to go to the Goth/Industrial night at the Ugly Monkey though we weren't planning on staying long. I had to be up early on Saturday and she couldn't be out very long with her back injury.

I don't remember what I did for dinner, but what does that matter? I know we headed back downtown and I changed into my goth clothes. We then walked around the convention center admiring the costumes. The Westin convention rooms are where all the film and anime events are held, so it's a great place if you want to see cosplay. We spent a significant amount of time there, and talked to a few folks about their costumes. We were heading back to the con center on the up escalator when I actually started listening to the performer who had set up his keyboard by said escalators. I heard Japanese, and it suddenly struck me that he was, for all intents and purposes, playing lounge versions of anime theme songs. Needless to say, we turned right around and headed back down to listen for a bit. Turns out he had a huge book of music, so when my girlfriend requested Gessekai by Buck Tick (the theme to Nightwalker, and one of the most goth sounding Japanese songs I've heard) he found it in no time and launched into a very respectable rendition. What a find. These are the cool little things you can see at GenCon by just being in the right place at the right time. The artist in question is Gavin Goska, and you can find out more at http://www.subtleinversion.com/gavin (unfortunately his page is locked behind some ridiculous login wall that even site registration doesn't seem to get you access too. Not the best marketing tool). I recommend catching some of his act if you ever get the chance and like anime themes or J-pop.

A really well done Hit Girl. Wish this
picture was better.

An orc...and a good one.

At about 10 PM we headed over to the Ugly Monkey for some dancing. As I should have expected, 10 to midnight was just too early, and very few people had shown up by the time we got there. The music was mediocre at best, so I'm not sure we missed much (though it may have improved later). Indy's goth/industrial scene leaves a lot to be desired, but it's nice to see them still trying. Maybe I'm just too old, but the music that gets played just isn't my thing for the most part. I got to dance to all of one song, so this part of the night felt like kind of a waste. We headed back towards my car at about midnight, and of all the flattering things, I got stopped by a bunch of much younger women so they could snap a picture and compliment my on my look. My girlfriend gets stopped a lot..she's significantly more attractive than I should be with, so it was a nice ego boost to be the one stopped for once.

I knew I had an 8 AM game, so we headed home and I got to sleep as soon as I could. Another great day of GenCon had passed, and I'd kept busy the whole time and had a blast.

Gen Con: Day 0

Wednesday was really the beginning of GenCon 2011 for me. I woke up early because I couldn't sleep (thanks to a somewhat rough Tuesday) loaded my van, and headed downtown. One of the great things about my job is that I get to use the Indiana State parking garages, so I pulled up within 20' of the door to the overpass (hereafter referred to as the gerbil tube) between the J. W. Marriott and the convention center. On a whim I walked over to the Westin and asked if they had a room, and they did. I was able to check in at 10 am and move all my stuff right away, which made the day a little more relaxing. The room key was a Neverwinter special, which I thought was pretty darn cool.

My roommate (David Flor, @BrainClouds) was scheduled to arrive at 11:20, so I had some time to explore the convention center and get some breakfast.  Seeing the banners and WotC's statues really increased the excitement level, as it was clear GenCon was finally here for me.

Trolls!

Love him or hate him, he was there

I dropped in to Scotty's for some brunch and to pick up my Wednesday die. I figured I wasn't going to get back there on Wednesday, so it was a good way to have a nice meal and check Daily Die Quest off my list. By that time it was time to head back to my car and drive to the airport. The airport featured more WotC advertising in the form of a huge 3D dragon display and Neverwinter ads on the monitors at the baggage claim. Yep, Wizards really spent some money to get their message out, and since the ads were cool I was really happy to see such a imposing presence. After picking up David, we headed back to the hotel and then out for some lunch at the food court. I also stopped by Will Call, since it was open at this point, and got my badge, tickets, and swag bag.

Scotty's Wednesday die

At this point there wasn't all that much to do in the remaining time for me, so I headed home for a bit to take care of the dogs and get some food. I had a significant amount of pizza left over from the previous night so that was a free meal I couldn't pass up. After that it was back down town and time for the fun to really start. Wednesday night is Critical-Hits Drinking Dungeons and Dragons (DD&D) night!

Airport GenCon Welcome from WotC

DD&D really set the tone for my GenCon experience. An amazing night all around. I met so many of my friends from twitter, I don't even feel like it would be right to attempt to name them all here. The night was like a who's who of the D&D world. In addition to many of the best bloggers and podcasters out there, a goodly number of the Wizards of the Coast employees responsible for the game and big name freelancers were there. Everyone was super nice, and it was great to just hang out and talk gaming. When the game itself got rolling, it was great to get to watch the masters in action (@Davethegame, @chattyDM, @Slyfourish and @SarahDarkMagic were the DMs). Without spoiling anything, the game consisted of 4 encounters/rounds. The first was relatively normal, and there didn't seem to be all that much drinking going on. The second round really took off when the roles of DM and player were effectively reversed and people really seem to enjoy this. By the time the third round rolled in, everyone was clearly having a great time. The final round was a sudden death round, but seemed to go well despite it being pretty late.

It was all I could do to roll back to the room and crash at that point. Technically the con hadn't even started yet, and I already had a great night. I hadn't even played a single game yet.

The Beer is here

Nine days folks.

Today Thr3e Wise Men brewery held the tapping party for Long Fang Abbey Ale, the Gen Con beer that will be served at Scotty's Brewhouse (Thr3e Wise Men and Scotty's are sister pubs). It was right after work for me, and on the way home so I had the opportunity to swing by and try it. The beer is an abbey style ale, which I have to admit is not a style I'm familiar with. For this reason, I can't tell you if it's typical of the style, but I can tell you it was tasty. The beer definitely has a bitter bite to it, but it's not an IPA. More like a slightly stronger bitter or ESB. It's got a very rich flavor, and goes down very pleasantly.  Technically, for those who are better zymurgists than I, it's ABV is 7%, and it measures in at 34 IBUs. To me, it seemed more bitter than I would expect from 34 IBUs, but its a pleasant bitter not a biting bitter. I will be drinking more of this next week.

Monitor at the Indiana Convention Center

Look what else happened today. The last event prior to Gen Con dropped off the calendar at the convention center. Technically it should still be there since it's on July 30th, but we're now the next event on the list.

They've been gradually going around and replacing all the carpeting in the old side of the convention center to match the new addition. They have one small spot left, and since they're moving forward again there's a decent chance that come Gen Con there will be completely new carpeting. If they don't make it, the area that the registration desks will be is that last area with the old carpeting. I wouldn't say the new stuff is attractive, but it is better than the old I suppose.

Today was also the day that reservations for Gen Con were released to the hotels. If you feel the need to confirm your reservation with the hotel, now is the time. If you need to make changes, you now need to contact your hotel, rather than the housing bureau.

Nine more days folks.

Gen Con Survival: Assorted Suggestions

I was originally going to write yet another Gen Con survival guide, but there really are enough of those out there. Let me link to some fine ones right from the start:

Gen Con Survival Guide
Sean's Gen Con Tips, Rules, and Things to Bring--Indianapolis Version
Gaming Convention Survival Guide | Sly Flourish

These are some great write-ups on making the most of Gen Con and conventions in general. I can't agree 100% with everything, but those items I think aren't 100% are close enough so as not to matter.

What I have noticed is that the city changes gradually from year-to-year, as does Gen Con. That means tips for the year are always handy, so I'll put a few down here as well as some things I thought up to make my own experience better.

There are a few things I'm definitely packing for the con. I've already bought the first, and it's a 24 pack of 5 Hour Energy, Extra Strength. I could guzzle energy drinks and/or coffee all through the con, but I've found that 5 Hour Energy actually lives up to its promises for me. It perks me up in about 20 minutes and keeps me going for 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours. It's mostly vitamins, so it has never given me the caffeine jitters, and isn't harsh on my stomach. I have to face that fact that I'm not as young as I used to be, and pulling an all-nighter or even getting less sleep than normal no longer comes at no cost.  Something is needed to help me, and this is my choice. I consider it a major bonus that these bottles are very small and so they're easy to pack and I can keep one or two in my backpack with no issues. It's just about perfect as a supplement to keep my mind and body going. I really don't want to lose massive time because I need vast amounts of sleep or I nod off while trying to enjoy gaming.

Speaking of sleep, let me highlight one of the best rules I've heard yet. I think I heard it first from @SarahDarkmagic, but have seen it repeated many places. Mostly, it's known as the 5:2:1 rule: Every 24 hours, make sure you get 5 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower....MINIMUM. Following this will keep you alive through the convention, maximize your time for gaming, and allow for the comfort of those who you are gaming with. Please, please take a shower and use deodorant folks. Also, no matter what you think, cologne/perfume cannot make up for lack of showering. In the levels you would need to get close to this goal, the fragrance itself becomes so overpowering as to have opposite the desired effect. I actually recommend toning it down on the fragrances. There are a lot of people out there allergic or sensitive to these, and you will force them to leave a game if you make their throat close and lungs shut down. Below is a little PSA. Thanks to @rosemaryjones for sharing this on Twitter.

Savage Gypsy - Shower for Me

I'm also bringing several "airplane" sized bottles of hand sanitizer. Con crud has to be the most frustrating thing. You spend your money, get to the event, play a few games and spend the rest of the time quarantined and suffering in your room. It's not always avoidable, but you can minimize your risk. Hand sanitizer helps a great deal with this. Get in the habit of using it on a regular basis, and use it right after you've shaken a few hands (discretely is best here, just to be polite). There's a lot of airborne stuff that can't be avoided, but a major source of infection is from hand to mucus membrane transfer. Don't believe this? Ask anyone who's gotten Norovirus on a cruise ship...someone like me. Keep your hands clean, wash often, use hand sanitizer, and touch your nose, eyes, and mouth as little as possible. Honestly, this could save your con experience. The small hand sanitizer bottles are designed to carry in a bag or purse, and take very little room.  I'm getting a few so I can replace those I've used or lost, and I can be generous with handing it around to others who would like to use it.

Bring something to eat and drink. Here's a free Indy Convention Center tip: the vending machines vend 20 Oz. Daisani water bottles with green or blue caps for $3.  $3 is expensive, so I recommend buying one at the start of the con and refilling it often or buying one before the con. If you have one of these bottles the convention center staff is going to be hard pressed to make you get rid of it as you can claim you bought it at the convention center. I actually advocate buying one from the vending machines and reusing it. You've fairly give the center some money at that point, and are sticking to the rules as far as I can see. Doing this will also allow me to carry the bottle in the drink holder on the side of my backpack. This leaves more room inside and removes the risk of spills and leaks in my pack. I'll also be adding Emergen-C Immune Defense formula to my water from time to time for flavor.  It doesn't taste great, but my personal experience has been that if I do get sick, my cold goes a heck of a lot faster, and is way less debilitating. There's no medical evidence for this, just anecdotal evidence like mine. For snacks, I'm buying a bunch of Met RX Colossal bars. These are fairly good tasting, fairly filling, and about 300-450 calories each.  It's enough nutrition to keep me going until I can get a real meal should I need to delay or skip a meal. Here's another tip: eat something for breakfast. Breakfast is the one meal you are sure to burn off during the day, and starting by giving your body something to create energy from will make your whole day better.

There's always a lot of talk about what to bring in terms of RPG books. I'm bringing my laptop. I readily acknowledge that this is a risk, so I've made sure all my data is backed up at home and on a cloud backup service, and all personal files are locked in an encrypted area of the hard drive that I can seal remotely should my laptop be stolen. My materials will mostly be PDF copies of rules I might need, and I'm going to try to afford Hero Lab for my Pathfinder Society characters to avoid as much paper as possible. I've got adventure information for 4E in Masterplan just in case I want to run a pick-up game.  This limits the number of physical books I'll need to bring, risk, and lug at Gen Con. It is also much kinder on my shoulder and back as it's much lighter. Cons are the perfect excuse to embrace electronic media in gaming.

This does bring me to a final cautionary word. Indianapolis is a fairly safe city, and Gen Con has a good track record for safety. This doesn't in any way mean crime can't happen to you. It happens to a few people every year. Just be smart and you'll probably be OK. A criminal will always go for the low hanging fruit...don't be one. Always know where your stuff is, and keep an eye or hand on it whenever possible. Store your bag at your feet rather than behind your seat. Keep your wallet where it's hard to get at on your person, and always keep an emergency stash of money and/or an extra credit card hidden somewhere on your body. Be savvy when it comes to distractions. If someone asks for help finding something, please help them if you can, but be extra careful during these times as that's a classic way for pickpockets working in teams to distract you and steal your loot. Walk in groups in the city, especially at night. Be wary of strangers in bars, especially (I hate to divide the sexes this way, but this is true) the ladies. Keep your eye on your drink. None of these precautions need to be obtrusive, and none of them need to in any way limit or prevent your fun. They are simple things you can do to stay safer in a fairly safe city.

Another thing you can do to stay safe is watch the area of the city you are in. Indianapolis is very odd in that it can go from luxury mansions to crime ridden streets back to low crime areas in just the space of a few blocks.  There's no one "side" of town that's bad...just areas. To the north of the convention center it's fairly safe all the way to the I-65 raised highway.  North of that, it get's iffy. To the south, things get iffy as soon as you cross the tracks that are on the south side of the convention center, except for the area around Lucas Oil Stadium and probably the new hotels next to it. That area is changing for the better, but be cautious. To the west, everything is safe until you cross the river, then it goes downhill fast. The zoo area is safe, but I would recommend against walking any further than that. Finally, to the east is downtown, which is fairly safe. Things do take a sudden turn for the worse when you go past the I-70 raised highway though, so stay west of that to be safe. In short, there's a very large safe zone around the convention center except to the south, and the south is probably the least dangerous of the not-entirely-safe areas.

I hope this information is helpful for all the Gen Con 2011 con goers. Feel free to drop additional questions in the comments, or ask me on twitter. I'm not a huge fan of Indianapolis as a place to live, but it's a really great city for a con like this. I hope any information I can provide will help people really enjoy their time here.

My Current Gen Con Schedule

Now that the dust has settled, I figured I'd post my Gen Con schedule for anyone interested.  I know there are a couple of you out there that I definitely want to meet up with, and a few that have scheduled some of the same games as me.


View Gen Con Locations in a larger map

Wednesday


Wednesday is technically trade day at Gen Con, and the convention hasn't really started yet.  That's just a technicality though.  A lot of folks will already be in town, and unofficial gaming starts up Tuesday for the most part.  My  current plan is to get down town pretty early and game with Kentucky Fried Gamers for most of Wednesday.  They set up in The Ram and Scotty's Brewhouse and game from morning into the night.  At some point in this day, I'll take a break and get myself checked into my hotel room and retrieve my badge and event tickets from will call.  Might also stop gaming to meet folks as they come in.  Overall, it's a casual day and I hope to meet a lot of people and have a good time doing some open gaming.

Thursday:

Thursday I hope to not be too hung over from Wednesday :).

Time	Event	Location
10 am - noon	True Dungeon: The Lair of The Sea Lich (Puzzle Oriented)	Marriott Ballroom
4 pm - 6 pm	Tower of Gygax	JW Marriott, 303
10 pm - 4 am	Tower of Gygax Presents: The Howling Hills	JW Marriott, 303

Thursday morning I'm getting my True Dungeon run out of the way.  I'm really psyched that I got in this year, and I'm hoping it'll start the convention off with a bang.  I've got a pretty big slot open between noon and 4 in which I plan to head over to the dealers' hall and wander through it.  I've got plenty of time to stop and play a demo game if I find something really interesting.  I'll also grab some food in this window, and hopefully meet up with more friends.  If someone happens to be playing an open game, I may just join that too.  Finally, if I feel like it, I might run an hour or so of the RPGA D&D delve.  I wanted to make sure I got a good bit of time for Tower of Gygax, so I went ahead and got tickets for a two hour slot.  Once this is done, I plan on going and grabbing some dinner.  Hopefully I will have met enough folks that I won't be eating alone. This would also be a great time to grab a beer. I can't have too much to drink, because I have to be back at the JW for the overnight Lich event with the Tower of Gygax folks.  @saveversusdeath is running this event, so I know it's going to be a blast.  After that, it's off to catch a few precious Z's.

Friday

Friday is Pathfinder day.

Time	Event	Location
8 am - 1 pm	First Steps, Part II - To Delve the Dungeon Deep	ICC 231-234, Paizo HQ
7 pm - midnight	Gen Con Special: Blood Under Absalom	ICC 231-234, Paizo HQ

I'm a little miffed that I didn't get into the first adventure in the First Steps series.  That's just the way it happens with Gen Con scheduling though.  I may stop by Paizo HQ and see if there's any way I can get to play this prior to 8 am Friday.  In any case, I'm planning on starting a Dwarf Cleric I've made in this game, and if he is as fun to play as I think he'll be, he will be my new main Pathfinder Society character. I'm not sure what the special event is going to look like, but I've got a monk I can use if it's more combat oriented.  I've got a huge block of time on Friday for open gaming, hanging with friends, hitting the dealer hall, and anything else that strikes my fancy.  I'm pretty glad it worked out this way.  There's going to be so many things to do that I didn't want to have the majority of my time locked down with pre-scheduled events.

Saturday

Saturday is all over the place

Time	Event	Location
8 am - noon	SND01: Revenge of the Iron Lich	Crowne Plaza, Conrail Station, 1
1 pm - 2 pm	TerrorWerks 2011: The Holy Code	ICC, 107-110
4 pm - 8 pm	The Lost Logbook of Wei Pei	Crowne Plaza, Pennsylvania Station B, 4

Up early again on Saturday morning for some FourthCore D&D.  I've been looking forward to playing this for a while, and I'm eager to tackle this adventure.  Many energy drinks will be consumed to jolt me into working form I suspect. I've got a short lunch break after this, then it's off to TerrorWerks.  This sounds like the Sci Fi horror equivalent of True Dungeon, and I'm eager to try my hand at this.  Once that's completed, I collapse...or not.  I've got a two hour slot where I'll probably try to get some more food in me and maybe rest and hang out with friends.  At 4 pm I've got one of the games that I'm trying out at Gen Con: Hollow Earth Expeditions.  This looks like a lot of good, clean (or not) fun.  It's a tropical setting adventure, so I'm hoping I can really send my mind on vacation with this one.  I've left Saturday night free for socializing and open gaming, but probably not much sleep.

Sunday

I live here.  There's no reason for me to stop gaming Sunday.  I'm going to pack up, check out of the hotel, then back for more gaming.

Time	Event	Location
8 am - 1 pm	First Steps, Part III - A Vision of Betrayal	ICC 231-234, Paizo HQ
2 pm - 4 pm	Arkham Horror	ICC Hall E, White, C-D

Today, I finish up my Pathfinder series, and try out Arkham Horror.  Arkham Horror will be another new game for me.  It looks pretty cool, and I've wanted to give it a try for a while.  It's also a nice, quiet way to end Gen Con.  I'm sure I'll be sad it's over, but I'll also be ready to hit my bed at home for a marathon sleep session.

Pictures: The New Areas of the Convention Center and the J. W. Marriott

It's been a big few weeks for Indianapolis in the facilities arena.  Both the expansion to the convention center and the new J. W. Marriott hotel have been completed, and are open.  I stopped by and took some pictures of what I could.  Without further ado...

This is shot just inside the new, main conference center entrance.  There's a lot of glass and light in this area. It's nice and bright.

There's a nice little eating area right by the entrance.  It's the same places as the similar area by the overpass to the Marriott, but with much more seating room.

Here's the corridor that runs north-south.  It ends in an escalator that goes below the street and ends up in Lucas Oil Stadium.  This means possible easier access to surface parking.  I think there's also access to the Crowne Plaza hotel down this direction, but I haven't checked it out yet.


















Looking the other direction (east-west), we have this corridor.  It runs parallel to the main corridor in the old section of the convention center.  There's lots of new space on both sides of this.

Under the escalator you can see in the distance in the last picture is this nice, cozy little area.  Not sure what's going behind the bar, but hopefully something good.  Not a bad place for a quick game of something between events.

This is taken on the far west end of the hall, looking east towards the main entrance on the second floor.  the space is very light and well done (depending on your opinion of that industrial carpeting, lol).

This was a hard shot, but it's looking from the new area, back north to the old portion of the conference center.









Stats..you want stats?  Here you go.  New addition doubles the size of the conference center.  254,000 sq. ft. of new exhibit hall and 63,000 sq. ft. of new meeting rooms for a total of roughly 930,000 sq. ft. of space for Gen Con now :).

Here at the west end of the old center is the set of overpasses that takes you to the new J. W. Marriott and the assorted Marriott suite hotels.  This thing looks like a booze flask.  All it needs is a big silver water tank up top to complete the image.  Seriously though, it's very nice inside.




This is the main entrance to the new J. W. Marriott.  Very swanky for those staying here.  I think they even have a parking garage, so you can put that car you pulled up in someplace (parking has traditionally been an issue downtown).

The J.W. is designed with a very modern feel.  The lobby is well laid out, and currently bursting with helpful staff.  What you can't see in this picture is the very nice sports bar you will run into if you continue in the direction the camera is pointing.

Turning around from the last picture, there's this cozy area.  Lot's of areas to lounge in.  If we don't have gamers at least playing Zombie Dice back in here, we've all failed as con goers :).

The conference center area of the hotel has a lot of these little sitting areas.  Each is done differently, with a different style.  Again...we need to put these to good use I think.

Finally, from the conference center portion of the J.W., you have a great view of Victory Field.  If there are any games going on during Gen Con, you'll be able to see them from here, should you care to.  All you  can see now though, is the remnants of the ice storm we just got hit with.


I hope you all enjoyed this little photo tour of the new facilities.  I'm no "member of the press", so I didn't get inside any of the halls, or get to see the rooms (or even the biggest ballroom in the midwest, located at the J. W. Marriott).  Still, this should whet your appetite for some awesome gaming coming in August.

Construction Updates

This will be a short post.  I've been meaning to get to it for a while, but it's amazing how these things slip through the cracks.

Construction continues on the convention center.

The Indianapolis Convention Center construction seems to be proceeding on schedule.  It's been very hot in Indy these past few months, and some construction projects were delayed a bit due to the heat.  It looks like they're fairly close to moving to completely indoor construction on the convention center though, so it's certainly on track for being complete for Gen Con next year.

The new J. W. Marriott hotel

The J. W. Marriott is moving along nicely as well.  I can't wait to see what this hotel is like when it's done.  They recently put the letters on the hotel, so it's no longer just a curved sheet of glass.  Peeking through the windows it looks like construction on the interior is moving at a good clip too.  I can't see much that could hold this hotel back from being completed on time.

This hotel will be a two gerbil tube hop from the convention center just like the Hyatt is, but on the opposite end.  There's a whole "Marriott Compound" sitting behind it, and it looks like they'll all be joined.

The west side of this hotel looks down on White River State Park.  This would be a great location to have w00tstock come during Gen Con.  As we get closer, it would be great if everyone hopped over to the w00tstock page, and followed the links to "demand" an Indianapolis w00tstock.  I think this link will get you there.  Sure, the orchestral video game music concert was nice this past year, but w00tstock during Gen Con would be epic.