Wow.
So, I should tell you what I want, what I really, really want to do at Gen Con? Man. That’s a serious question, that’s what that is. My first answer is ‘everything!’ But I’m sure that’s not what you were looking for, and so I’ll have to narrow it down somewhat. I’m going to have to approach this task with a list, to be sure. Also, I think I’ll give you some of those Jack-Handy-Deep-Thought kinds of answers. Luckily, I’m in sort of a ‘1/2 as cool as Dave Letterman’ kind of mood right now.
Without further ado…
From the home office in Indianapolis, Indiana, here are Patrick’s Top Five Things He Really Wants to Do While Attending Gen Con 2008!
#5. See The Chainmail Bikinis
I’m the most loyal boyfriend/husband a girl could have, but as I’ve said to my friends many times during the last 13 years or so, ‘I’m loyal, but I’m not dead.’ I think this social phenomenon, this cultural aberration, warrants further study, don’t you? Who wouldn’t want to know what would make a woman plaster electrical tape over her nipples and strut around in see-through metal links? I’d sure like to know. Hell, even Ed Greenwood has something to say on the subject. Count me in!
#4. Scope the Card Competition
I’ve played Magic: The Gathering for most . . . well, actually, all . . . of my adult life. I would say that I’ve been sort of a 78% player for most of that time, which probably doesn’t make a lot of sense for people who don’t live inside my head, so I’ll explain my statement.
I’m fairly spot-on with the rules, I own (either physically or digitally) what I would consider to be quite a few cards. I know the lore, I know the history, I know a lot of the combos. I’ve never actually become, well, an epic player of the game, though. I’ve known epic players – those guys that bought every new card, read up on every new strategy, and dominated anyone they played against, saw every combo and synergistic design months before the rest of us did. I’ve just never been that sort of player. I’m at about 78%.
So, I’m most intrigued to see what, by all rights, ought to be the best deck designs around. I’m really looking forward to watching some of these Magic games, seeing what sorts of decks guys who enter $1000 prize tournaments at Gen Con slap together, and comparing what I know of the game to what they know. My guess is it’ll be pretty ‘informative,’ which I suppose could also be read as ‘extremely graphic in its detailing of how little I actually know about the game of Magic: The Gathering.’ Oh well – I’m still excited.
#3. Dice. Seriously – Dice.
Psychologically, I wonder what it is about the Vat O’ Dice that draws us all so strongly. I mean, my guess is that they just sell those dice pitcher over mug for four days, but why?! Why is the call of the plastic polyhedrons so strong?
I think the dice are what many of us associate with that first role playing experience, that first time we sat down with our friends over paper and pencil and played some D&D (because let’s be honest, that’s what most people attending Gen Con are going to remember. I think I could carry a few bucks worth of pennies in my pocket for those three days I’ll be walking around the Indianapolis Convention Center, and if I gave one to each person in the throngs and throngs that hadn’t played D&D, I could still attend Hickman’s Killer Breakfast with what was left over).
“Wow, these are weird! What are these for again?” we all asked. The dice were special - we’ve all got dice stories. The dice are the strongest physical representation of the madness that has infected us all to differing degrees over the years. Going to Gen Con and not taking some dice home would in some sense be like going up for communion and refusing the host. Sorry - too sacrilegious?
Well, then, in conclusion, nobody likes Millhouse and I’m getting some dice.
#2. View the Current State of the Gaming Culture
Being a high school teacher, I have a unique opportunity to place my finger on the pulse of what’s currently considered ‘cool’ and ‘hip,’ (BTW - the new word for something we, as children of the late 80’s and 90’s, might have called ‘rad’ or ‘awesome’ or ‘neat’ is ‘epic’. I kind of like that, actually – in fact, as I look back, I see I’ve used it twice in context already in this post. I’m so damn epic. Yay! Three times!) and bring that information back for the rest of us.
Several times so far in my five year teaching career students have asked me to run campaigns for them. I’ve been asked to run a D&D campaign three times, twice to run a Star Wars RPG campaign, and once to saddle up and run some Deadlands. All this is in addition to the couple of students who pester me constantly to play Magic with them. So, it seems the gaming bug is alive and well – if anything, there’s a larger percentage of students playing these types of games now then when I was in school.
But I’m curious how that plays out in the larger scale. Is this something that’s just recently come back into vogue? In other words, will I see nothing but people roughly my own age at Indy, with my basic background and appreciation for the history of gaming (after all, how many of these young gamers today remember the name Avalon Hill? Or, for that matter, remember when TSR was actually TSR?). Or are the younger kids (a group that to me includes seniors in high school to seniors in college) coming to these things, getting into all the old games along with the new?
My guess is that I’ll see something in the middle. Specifically, my guess is that the ‘old guard’ will be doing more RPGA/board game type stuff, and the younger Gen Con-ers will be playing CCGs and hanging out in the anime section. But either way, it’s going to be very, very interesting to see just what sort of crowd something so huge (both in literal size and also emotional/psychological importance) will draw. I’m pumped to be a part of it.
#1 Do Everything Else
My friends, you must have realized that I would cop out at the top of the list! How could I ever encompass what I want to do during my first trip ever to Gen Con in a simple list of five things, or, for that matter, ten things, or a hundred things? The answer: I couldn’t possibly.
For me, this trip is just as much about the whole experience (a sort of taking my weltanschauung as it concerns the gaming culture and seeing how it holds up) as it is about doing any one particular thing or participating in any one single event. Kind of a spiritual experience, I guess you’d say. I’m blasted out of my mind just thinking that I’ll get to go and be a part of this.
Ok, just so that this isn’t a complete cop out answer – what are some other things I want to do? Well. . .see some famous people, get some autographs, eat some good food, hang with one of my closest friends for 4 days, talk about everything, take some pictures, laugh a lot, play some D&D, see some cool weapons, talk to folks, hear some important people speak, boff, make some chainmail…..
You know, plus everything else there is to do. I’ll be specific next year.
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