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.
These banners went up today along the length of Maryland St. out in front of the convention center. Each has a different picture on the side. For me, this officially marks the warm up to Gen Con. Last year, when I was still a gamer in deep sleep (if you will), it was these banners that got me interested enough to check out the con.
Over the next few days, I'll try to post something short each day with the latest info I have on details about what's going on. I expect to see more prep as the week goes on. If you have any last minute con questions, ask in the comments and I'll try to get an answer an post it the following day if at all possible.
Currently, it looks like the weather is going to be reasonable. We're on a near record hot streak right now, but we're slowly coming out of it thankfully. It is currently looking like high 80's and mostly sunny for the con.
Tomorrow is the tapping of Scotty's Gen Con beer, Long Fang Abbey Ale up at the Thr3e Wise Men brewery in Broadripple. It's from 5-6 pm, so hopefully I'll be able to swing by on the way home and grab a small sample.
Yeah..I got an article of mine posted on the ENnie nominated Critical-Hits (Two more days to vote as I write this..go vote for them here. Best Blog category). What an honor. I frankly can't really believe it. I was originally going to post it here, but I thought that they might be interested in it since they're talking a lot about Gen Con now, and it seemed like a better fit there since they get way more visits than my blog. I really wanted Scotty's to get maximum exposure because the place is doing so much for us gamers this year.
As this became a reality today, I looked back on my first post and how this blog came to be. I "visited" Gen Con for a few hours last year and wanted more. I thought I might be able to provide people coming to Gen Con with a little more information so they would have a better trip. There's also a healthy dose of personal stuff about my adventure in returning to gaming. To recap: 1 year from nothing to publishing article in one of the most respected gaming blogs out there (maybe someday I'll even post an article actually about gaming somewhere :) ).
Thank you all for reading my musings. I am going to call this experience a complete success, and when Gen Con starts (for me) in 11 days I'm going to pursue fun with all the energy I have. For those who think you'll never achieve your goals, you won't. You won't unless you put yourself out there, take a risk, and TRY. Do that, and who knows where you'll end up?
This isn't a final post, though it does have that sort of tone. It's just a milestone. Not sure where I'll go from here, but I will continue on.
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:
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.
One of the pieces of advice about cons that I see a lot of is "find a restaurant that's a little farther from the convention, or not as popular." It's true that the restaurants nearest the convention center get crowded pretty fast during Gen Con, even though there are a whole lot of them. The good bars get that way at night too. With that in mind, I took a little hike and visited a place I don't get to go that often: Mass Avenue.
Massachusetts Avenue (locals just call it Mass Ave) is one of the four diagonal streets heading out of downtown. It's a 15 to 20 minute walk northeast of the convention center, but very easy to find. It's an arts and eclectic shopping area, and from what I've seen of it lately the economy has taken it's toll. There are a few places of note though, including Bazbeaux's Pizza, The Rathskellar (just off Mass Ave), and MacNiven's.
I'll mention the Rathskellar in passing, since I haven't been there in a few years. It boasts an extensive German/Austrian themed menu and a biergarten out back. There will be live music every night of Gen Con. The beer menu was really broad last time I was there, but this is at least a 20 minute walk from the convention center.
MacNiven's Scottish American Restaurant & Bar | 339 Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46204
MacNiven's is a fantastic little Scottish pub serving a variety of menu items including some serious Scottish fare. Yes...they have haggis. I repeat this for all you kilt wearers out there...MacNiven's has haggis. They also have scotch eggs. Heck, they even have a vegetarian haggis, though I'm sure that would make true Scots cringe.
I stopped by recently, and had the most Scottish of the combinations, "Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties." While I can't vouch that the haggis was cooked correctly in a sheep stomach, it certainly was organ meat, and very tasty at that. Neeps, for those unfamiliar with them, are a seasoned, mashed yellow turnip and tatties...well, you know what tatties are. These were mashed as well. The whole meal was very good, and the service was excellent. The staff is very friendly and really made my lunch a very pleasant experience. Since there was an empty seat there, they put me by one of the windows. You can see in the picture that these are open in the summer, and very comfortable with a slight breeze on a warm summer's day.
If you're looking for a liquid libations, they have a fantastic beer menu and a fairly extensive single malt scotch menu. You could absolutely spend several nights drinking here without having the same beverage twice.
Let's face it folks, for a short walk and a few extra dollars MacNiven's is the kind of establishment that screams "Gen Con crowd". Authentic food and drink from the British Isles and a variety of other items for those with no interested in escaping to the moors. For that extra labor, you also get a place the probably will not be overcrowded. If you have the time and inclination, I highly recommend the journey.
It's been a while since I posted anything. I guess there hasn't been much to say that I though would be of any interest. It's just a little over a month until Gen Con, and I'm starting to get into final prep mode.
One of the first things I'm doing is trying to decide what I want to make sure I've read before con time. I'm pretty much where I want to be. I'm close to finishing the Pathfinder Inner Sea Guide so I have a feel for Golarion. It's such a well done setting, that the book is just interesting to read. It doesn't hurt that I have more Pathfinder games scheduled than any other game. I'm also going to try to read through the Eclipse Phase rules, as that looks like an interesting game. I read rules some times just so I can join a pick up game if I happen upon one.
My Wednesday schedule is giving me issues. There's a surprising amount of things I could be doing with that day. I think I've decided that the best use does not include scheduling much of anything. I'm going to go to the Critical-Hits Drunken D&D game party Wednesday evening to watch the game and mingle. That's about all that's set in stone now (that and making sure my roommate doesn't have to take a ridiculously expensive cab from the airport). I think the best thing for that day for me is to use it to meet people I know from twitter and other places and maybe get involved in a pick-up game or 10. Yes, Wednesday has officially become a socializing day for me.
I had the last second possibility come up last week to bring Abney Park to play during Gen Con. After looking at the costs and time I'd have to commit, I decided against trying this year. It's just too close to try to plan and pull off something like that. I have to say, Captain Robert was very interested in playing the con, and very helpful in making booking the band as easy as possible. I want to try to do this next year when there's time to plan everything and when I might be able to get the Gen Con staff involved. There's an awesome 1500 person venue a block north of the convention center. This year would have been perfect since they're releasing the Airship Pirates RPG. I just wish the twitter conversation that started this had come a month earlier. Might have happened then.
My next post will probably be a discussion of what I'm bringing to Gen Con. Sam's Club sells cases and partial cases of 5-hour energy, and I know that's on the list. I'll also be scouring con survival guides and trying to pull out the gems from there. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment. I'd like to make the post a very useful guide targeted specifically at Gen Con.
Oh...a final note: Indianapolis is in full construction mode. They're doing a lot of work preparing the city for the Superbowl that may or may not happen this year. The city should be really pretty by Gen Con time as a lot of the beautification projects will be complete. There will probably still be significant roadwork going on though, so plan accordingly and check for construction updates if you're driving in.
The internet is a wonderful place sometimes. I have little to no ability to play in a local game, but I have just recently started two online games that fit my life perfectly. I'm also really enjoying myself.
The first is @DnDPrincessAria's Real Time D&D. This game is done as a play-by-skype-chat game with an Obsidian Portal site to keep everything together. It's designed for those of us who love the hobby, but don't have a lot of time to play. A few minutes every few days, and thanks to the internet we're adventuring. DnDPrincessAria has placed us in a truly high fantasy world using the D&D 3.5 system. While I don't own any 3.5 material, I do play Pathfinder so making a character was no problem. I am playing Ryfar, a Fetchling rogue sniper with his trusty repeating crossbow. That character was made with Pathfinder rules, but I altered the skills to correctly fit the 3.5 edition character sheet that was available on Obsidian Portal. So far, I've been the only player able to get a few sessions in, but that should change now that summer is near. I can't wait to see where this goes as others get more involved. DnDPrincessAria has a lot of GMing experience, and it shows in how she handles this odd game format. I also like that the world itself is a collaborative work, with players adding location details with story hooks.
My second game is my challenging game. @MilwaukeeJoe is running the fourthcore weekly Grind4E as a play-by-blog-post game. This is a great format for this challenging delve, and I'm really having a blast even though we just started. The blog is at http://grind4e.blogspot.com, and it's really set up nicely. The players seem to all be experienced gamers ready not only for the challenge, but also ready to really roleplay it. By adding a "tech" section to any post, there's an easy way to separate meta talk from in character sections, and everyone is taking advantage of this. Playing is really like being part of an interactive novel. Right now we're not in a very good position, and I'm going to be pleased if I survive this first chamber.
Despite my lack of a local game, I've found places to play thanks to the work of these two fine DMs. I really appreciate all the work they're putting into this, and I'm glad to be playing again.
