If you just don't get all the geeks and freaks dressed like every imaginable character running around down town Indy, well this is what I know, I am one of them. I love Gen Con, I love costuming, I spend hours on them every year and even just taught my husband to sew. I even have a different costume for everyday, but that's not the reason I go to Gen Con, I go because just like it's name General Convention it has everything, From Scrabble tournaments to true dungeon you will never be bored even if you go and don't register for any events you can walk around for four days and be constantly entertained by the amazing people, costumes and games you see.
So what is GenCon? GenCon is a general convention of everything gaming, if it comes with cards, dice, buttons, a map or a mouce you can bet your game is at GenCon in some way, But there are also giveaways contests and lectures. How I spent my GenCon Was
1; several true dungeons(yes I'm addicted we have more tokens than I care to speak about including actually buying a horn of plenty) If you've ever played D&D, try imagining walking into a life-size dungeon, kind of like a haunted house; anamatronic monsters, timed puzzels and simulated battles were you put little tokens (that symbolize your weapon)into sliders and slide them on the board (that has the image of said monster) to where you hit monster.
2; Lectures. This year I went to three different lectures and please do not think of them like a college lecture, thought they do have some really big lectures on things like how to write a book from your favorite authors. Many are simple 20 people classes with an intents view into That subject, taught by people that are so good at their hobbies that they became professionals, making a living off of doing this amazing fun stuff. Most lectures are an hour or two but they cram as much in to them as posible. This year I just got to three lectures, my first lecture Was on costume makeup (I suck at makeup The only style I knew growing up was 80's big hair bright red cheeks Texas style make up from my mom that does not work when you're trying to do anime) I learned some great things also the people who put on the lecture are great to watch on Facebook they are called sewing is half the battle They're so good at their costuming they actually won Goldenneedle(The Goldenneedle category is for costumes that are made completely by hand by you and your team and yes they can be more than one person usually that's because there's more than one person in the actual cosplay on stage). The next lecture that we went to was very small there were about 10 of us around the table with a professional mini painter. For those of you who don't know what minis are they are the miniatures that are used in games like Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer They usually come in plastic or pewter then you have to assemble the pieces, primar them, then paint them whatever colors you would like this Can be as simple as grey for zombies or intricate designs with hand-painted tapestries on flages and all kinds of amazing tinny things.
one of mineWell since my husband and I went in on the kickstarter for reaper minis we just happen to have about 200 extra minnies laying around needing to get painted, So we wanted to get a little bit better and find out some tips and tricks on how to make our minnies really amazing. This class was great it has all kinds of neat little tricks everything from if the casting seam go's straight throug the eye just carve it out or put an eyepatch on it, some different painting techniques like always pant the bad eye first that way your little tiny mini will look great. Everything from paint choices to magnifying eyewear and lighting.
one of the instructors minis http://www.crookedeye.netThe third lecture I went to was an advance sewing class This was great I learned things like draping, patternmaking, different ways to make a dart, alternatives to pins and a lot of discussion on how to make a homemade dress form. Sewing for Geeks
3; Take pictures and pose for pictures. I love taking pictures of all the amazing costumes, people go all out to make amazing things just because they love the art of crafting, and so do I, so at 4 o'clock on Saturday when the costume parade was starting we jumped in My costume was steampunk Amelia Earhart, more to make a statement on woman empowerment Then to emulate a character. I got completely burnt out of all the costumes for girls being slutty nurse, slutty firefighter everything is either your slutty or your a which! So I steamunked up a great women that blazed a trail in our history. My husband wore his Dovahkiin costume and Fus Ro Dahed until he had no voice left.
Our costumesIt was a nice leisurely walk we stopped about every 45 seconds for photos and moved on, keep in mind the walls are packed with people with cameras for oh about 1/4 of a mile you walk in the parade and people take your pictures or video tape the parade and when I say prarade it's not small it's something like 3-400 people.
4; Shoping, a good half of the Indiana convention center is taken up by the Vendors Hall any kind of dice you could imagine all kinds of new boardgames, Leather-working, Baffer swords, jewelry and a ton of geeky T-shirts It's all there! I get most of my Christmas shopping done at GenCon it's so full unique things, you really can find something for just about everyone and again it's a crazy atmosphere you just have to see it!
5; Shows, Some of my favorite shows are D 20 burlesque and whose line is it anyway as dirty as you want to be, I didn't make it to how's line but burlesque was awesome they take the best geeky things and make it into a funny show and there's a lot of geust interaction. It's funny, it's silly and of course it's sexy.
Anja Keister doing a Settlers of Catan skit www.d20burlesque.comSo that is a brief tiny little glimpse into the amazing thing that I love called Gen Con.
