My first Gen Con, first xwing Nats. I'll be playing a bunch of Pathfinder the other days. And spending tons of money when not rolling dice!

My first Gen Con, first xwing Nats. I'll be playing a bunch of Pathfinder the other days. And spending tons of money when not rolling dice!

My advice for the savvy GenCon shopper is have the Amazon app or Miniature Market website up on your phone. Unless it's a special/limited edition, most things can be ordered online for way cheaper. You can even have the stuff shipped to your house by the time you get home. I've saved myself a lot of money this way since prices are usually not cheaper at the con, so I reserve my purchases to a "only can get here" or one or two "ok, I'll get it now" type purchases.

Quick (random) GenCon advice:

Buy more generics! You can return generics on Sunday and get their value back as a refund towards stuff you buy next year, so it's kind of impossible to have "too many." It is, on the other hand, very possible to have too few. Get a bunch! Get to sold out games 10 minutes early, let the GM or ref know you want in, and very often you'll be able to get into a game. Yay, generics! Then just give 'em back at the ticket booths on Sunday if you have leftovers.

Remember the 3-2-1 rule; three hours of sleep every day, two decent meals, one shower. For yourself, for those around you. 3-2-1.

Quick (random) GenCon advice:

Buy more generics! You can return generics on Sunday and get their value back as a refund towards stuff you buy next year, so it's kind of impossible to have "too many." It is, on the other hand, very possible to have too few. Get a bunch! Get to sold out games 10 minutes early, let the GM or ref know you want in, and very often you'll be able to get into a game. Yay, generics! Then just give 'em back at the ticket booths on Sunday if you have leftovers.

Remember the 3-2-1 rule; three hours of sleep every day, two decent meals, one shower. For yourself, for those around you. 3-2-1.

is that 1 shower for the entire con, or 1 shower per day?

ONE SHOWER PER DAY. :-)

As for pickup games, I'm free most of Friday and Saturday daytime (~8 AM-4 PM). I've never been to GenCon, so I'm not sure where to meet.

Can generic tickets be returned before Sunday?

Can generic tickets be returned before Sunday?

I'm...actually not sure. It never occurred to me to return them early, because most of the time if I have a few left, I just go to the Battletech Pods and play that giant stompy robot arcade game.

Here's a link to their refund/exchange page, I'm not seeing anything about Sunday only. I see that Sunday's the last day, but nothing about NOT being able to before that: http://www.gencon.com/attend/refundpolicies

I'll be there!

Remember the 3-2-1 rule; three hours of sleep every day, two decent meals, one shower. For yourself, for those around you. 3-2-1.

i'm on the 5-3-1 rule myself, but that's just because i'm fat and old...

I shall be there the entire con. I'll be playing in the X-Wing Nationals. I'm looking forward to it.

Sable are you also gonna go for "Best dressed X-winger" award like you did at worlds?

Remember the 3-2-1 rule; three hours of sleep every day, two decent meals, one shower. For yourself, for those around you. 3-2-1.

i'm on the 5-3-1 rule myself, but that's just because i'm fat and old...

I'm on the 8-3-1 rule, because frankly no one wants to be around me when I'm running on less than 7 hours of rest. And I'm only moderately fat and moderately old.

As for a meetup, I'd be interested in some pickup games on Thursday after the tournament breaks up. Of course, that's assuming it ends anywhere close to on time... which, let's be honest, it won't.

To GenCon again. Thursday, Xwing. Friday, Battletech... Saturday and Sunday are a bit unknown still... Likely some pick up games and some mandatory booth sitting time...

Remember the 3-2-1 rule; three hours of sleep every day, two decent meals, one shower. For yourself, for those around you. 3-2-1.

i'm on the 5-3-1 rule myself, but that's just because i'm fat and old...

I shoot for a 5 or 6 or 7 or 8-3-1 rule myself, mind you, and for much the same reason (but also because a lack of sleep doesn't do an immune system any favors, and Con Crud is something I try to avoid).

But as a rule, for some spry little 19 year old in the prime of their life and eager to be going to their first con, I still think 3-2-1 works (and remember, it's a minimum, not a maximum!).

Yeah, when i first started going 3-2-1 was the con lifestyle. then i switched over to 3-3-1 when i kept getting hungry. Then i got the ConCrud one year and that was that... 5-3-1 are the minimums now. i'm sure in another 5-10 years it'll go up to 7/8 - 3 - 1. Although in another 7/8 years, my daughter will be old enough to go so all of those numbers will get messed with...especially the expenditures on my end.

I made a blog post on TC to list the help as I (and if I) receive it

http://teamcovenant.com/mu0n/2015/07/22/road-to-v5-4-0-spoilers-we-still-need/

I started a thread in Organized Play about getting a community based tournament going since the Xwing quilifier is 10am on Thursday. (Thats why I couldnt do Nat. Wont be in Indy till noon).

Would 9pm Saturday in the card hall work? Most of the lesser known card games should be done for the night. Raid some table space. The mob of card players will be over at the Magic section.

That's pretty late for me. I'm available most of the day Friday/Saturday.

I'd like to, but 9:00 on Saturday I'm playing in a demo session of a game I helped throw some fiction at, but that I haven't had a chance to play yet; so the geeky freelancer (geeklancer?) in me can't pass that up.

Ah seems I have made Saturday evening bad for myself aswell. Going to the Cards Against Humanity concert.

Anyone who wants to orginizer something take charge.

Meh, sounds like time and place is announced so all that's left is to actually show up. Not like there are prizes or tickets to worry about in a pick up game

Generics? Did I miss something? A tournament for Generics only?

Probably don´t want to know what Con Crud is

Anyhow, from across the big pond; have fun!

Time and place announced?

Generics? Did I miss something? A tournament for Generics only?

GenCon requires you to preregister for many events, and you get specific tickets for those. Overflow space, as well as some more casual kind of events, just accept some number of generic tickets instead (which cost $2 each, and you can buy as many as you can stuff in your pockets).

Probably don´t want to know what Con Crud is

It's what happens when you have 50,000 people in approximately the same space, breathing the same recirculated air, sitting next to one another at tables, touching the same game pieces, etc.

Basically, a huge proportion of people at any big con will go home with some kind of mild viral syndrome. The best defense is to minimize the physiological stress by getting enough sleep, on as close to your regular schedule as you can manage, and eating regular meals.

Oh, and hand sanitizer.

Anyone want to do some pick up games of X-Wing on Wednesday? My flight gets in at 10 am that day and I'll be in Indi with no plans until the Prelims start Thursday morning.

This will be my first Gen Con and my first nationals tournament. Can't wait!