GenCon 2008 Wrap-Up!

As promised, here is my quick run-down of GenCon 2008! The StupidRanger crew had a great convention this year, here are the highlights according to me!

The Usual Suspects

Each year, near the end of July I start going slightly crazy. I wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, speaking strange languages that consist of names such as Chessex and Intimagik. I have a problem with GenCon shopping, however it is getting better as years go on. This year I purchased a scarce few gaming supplies, settling on some fancy-pants synthetic opal dice from Crystal Caste and a new battle mat from the aforementioned Chessex.

The sales floor this year seemed a bit smaller and less spectacular this year than in years past, but there was one noteable shining star: the Sultan gaming table by Geek Chic. This thing is gorgeous and appears as if actual gamers helped design it (which they did). It is expensive though, tipping the scales at nearly $9700. I won’t be getting one any time soon, but I hope if they get enough orders they will produce a slightly less spectacular version for The Rest of Us.

The Main Events

Truly my main event for this year was getting to meet all of our blogging buddies in real life: the guys from Critical Hits, Phil from Musings of the Chatty DM, and Yax from DungeonMastering. We got together for two sessions of drunken D&D (a truly epic sight to behold), the RPG Bloggers Unite! panel, and our Out of the Box roleplaying event.

Speaking of, our event went off quite well. The energy level in the room stayed sky-high for the entire two hours, much zaniness, dancing, prize-giving, and hilarity ensued. Special thanks to all of the aforementioned guys that sat in with us to make that event a success. There are plenty of things that we intend to do differently next year, but one thing will be certain: E.L. Fudge cookies will fuel our engines of insane roleplaying!

My convention experience this year would have been mundane if not for the company we kept this year. Even though I was meeting all of these people for the first time, it felt no different than sitting down with a bunch of my college friends for a great gaming session.

And the rest…

This was my first convention doing a costume, I went as Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as a counterpoint to Stupid Ranger’s Trillian costume. It was great, I got my picture taken by a bunch of people and it was fun.

Also fun: meeting Shelly Mazzanoble and Ed Greenwood, talking with Dave Arneson for the second time, and shaking David Faustino‘s hand. The urge to call him Bud was almost overwhelming.

Last, but not least, I got to see the guy playing Daredevil at the WizKids booth accidentally send a Force FX lightsaber blade sailing 30 feet into the air across the convention center… luckily nobody got hurt, but the look on his face was certainly priceless.