O-M-Gen Con!

This was the best Gen Con we’ve had yet, and we came home with fond memories and a few new games. If you’d like the run-down of how the con went, then read on!

Tuesday: We hit the road in a rental car and a 20-foot U-Haul filled with Tinker’s Packs merchandise! On the way, we stopped at Anne’s mom’s place for delicious chicken tacos (thanks Anne’s mom!). We made it to the loading dock 30 minutes before they shut down for the day and unloaded in 26 minutes!

Wednesday: Everybody got up bright and early to set up the booth. Amanda and Brett drove the U-Haul to John Scalzi‘s place to pick up some books he wanted to donate to the Lottery. And when we say “some books” we mean 95 boxes filled with all sorts of amazing books.

Thanks John!!

Once we reunited, we had a quick meeting to go over our work schedules, then it was off to meet Pat for delicious Italian food! We are very motivated by food, and delicious food is even better. While we ate, we chatted about what we were going to do, listened to Pat tell stories, and generally had a relaxing time before the hustle & bustle began. Pat told a joke to Amanda, and they both laughed so hard they cried. Just them laughing was funnier than anything they actually could have said.

Thursday: Gen Con! We were set up right across from our friends at Badali Jewelry, and it was awesome to see them again. Lone Shark Games dropped off a copy of their new game, Apocrypha, as well as some special Mr. Whiffle promo cards for it. We really wanted to play it, but we kind of had a booth to run. So we met a bunch of awesome folks, talked about Tak, explained all the cool programs Heifer International and Mercy Corps do, said hi to some of the authors and game designers who stopped by to meet us, and had a blast! Jenny joined us briefly before she had to run off and get the Worldbuilders Party organized.

That night we ate sammiches, then ran to catch True Dungeon. We had all bought tickets to the Dancing Among Stones puzzle run, and it was Anne, Mike, and Jenny’s first time playing. We had a great crew with us, but the puzzles were hard, the battles were fierce, and half of us died. Was it worth it? YES.

Friday: With the help of a few of our volunteers (hi Jake, Patrick, Asa, and Rick!) Jenny got the Worldbuilders Party ready to go while the rest of us covered the booth. Everybody had a blast, including the creators running the games. Many games were played. Many snacks were eaten. Big thanks to everyone who attended, everyone who volunteered, and everyone who donated cool stuff for our silent auction!

Susan Morris and her group of warewolves.

That night we ate more delicious food. Have we mentioned we like food?

Saturday: Rachel, Amanda, Jenny, and Brett all donned cosplay of their choice (Taako, Angus, Wonder Woman, and a steampunk mechanic, respectively). We descended on the booth with Anne and Mike to sell stuff, talk about charity, and entertain folks with our antics. Amanda and Rachel struck out on a mini-quest to find the real Caleb Cleveland, who was there, but they just missed him. They did run into other Adventure Zone fans and much mutual adulation was had.

They’re the two on the right…

Brett also did his fair share of geeking out when game designer James Wallis stopped at the booth to ask if we’d be interested in a donation to the lottery again this year. Brett has loved James’s “The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen” game since it came out, so we’re glad he didn’t make too much of a fool of himself…

To see why Brett geeked out, take a look at James’s game in action!

That night we were invited to the Writer’s Symposium hangout where we were able to reconnect and chat with our author friends. Our buddy James Sutter was there, and Amanda got the chance to talk to Travis McElroy for a while to prove she was a real person (he had seen her earlier in cosplay). We caught up with Steve Drew and Brad Beaulieu, met Erin M. Evans and her husband, and generally made the rounds. It was very nice and chill, and so cool to see everyone again. There was an announcement that evening as well, so we’d like to thank Marc Tassin for making the Writer’s Symposium such an educational force for good over the years, and we’d like to welcome Melanie Meadors and Kelly Swails to the conductor’s chair!

Sunday: After getting to bed at around 2 a.m. every morning, we were ready for a short day…but we weren’t ready for Gen Con to end. We met more awesome people, sold out of Tak, Draccuses, and some of Pat’s books, and then grudgingly packed up the booth until next time.

After the con, we went out for magical soup with Pat and our friends Caylie Sadin and Amy. That night, we joined Cards Against Humanity for their afterparty, where Max introduced us to a tiny game called “Insider” that we played until everything wound down at 2 a.m. Brett and Rachel immediately tracked down the game company’s website, because addicts gonna add.

Rachel, James, and Anne, with Mike in the background.

Monday: Still sleepy and a little giddy from the awesomeness of Gen Con, we packed up the U-Haul and we-hauled our butts back to Wisconsin. Rachel and Amanda cried themselves silly listening to the final episode of The Adventure Zone, and we had to stop a moment near Bloomington to refuel and admire the eclipse. There were a couple families at the filling station, so we passed our dark glasses from hand to hand and everyone had a great time sharing a really cool experience (really cool–the temperature dropped about 10 degrees).

Rachel, Mike, and Amanda, waiting for their album to drop.

We all made it back to our families without incident and in pretty good time, and that’s our Gen Con story! If you have stories of your own or photos to share, feel free to post in the comments or on our Facebook page. Thank you again to everyone who stopped at the booth, asked about Tak and Heifer, ran or played games at the Worldbuilders party, volunteered at a wonderful True Dungeon, brought us food, or paused to visit. You’re all the best!