Losing my Convention Virginity: GenCon, Here I Come!!

I guess the sign says it all.   No game left behind.  It should actually say no gamer left behind.  As I ponder my upcoming trip to Indianapolis, I realize that it is only about 20 days away.  How awesome is that.  from the day I booked my badge to the event registration date, time flew fast.  Not to worry though, I am prepared; well prepared booking-wise, but not quite aware yet of all the awesomeness I am going to be subjected to.

I have been gaming for 28+ years and have never been to a gaming convention, whether it was in Toronto (when I lived there for 10 years) or any other place for that matter.  In essence I am a convention virgin, at the age of 38, and my first one is going to be GenCon: I am scared out of my pants.  I am extremely lucky though, cause this year I am travelling with a pro convention goer, Derek Myers (Ameron from Dungeon's Master), who has shown me the ropes on how to register, how to get the best events and how to make all the travel arrangements.  Without him, I would not be in a hotel right next to the convention centre, nor would I be attending some of the cool seminars I am actually signed up for.

Overwhelmed is not a word I use lightly for the amount of events going on at GenCon.  The hardest part about this convention was finding enough time to to the absolute minimum I would like to do.  There is so much stuff to do.  Seminars on building chain-mail, board games galore, new gaming systems tables(that I will unfortunately not have the time to try while I am there), and most importantly D&D.  Here is a look at some of the events I will be attending at GenCon as well as some of the things I would like to accomplish on this trip.

D&D Encounters Podcast: Web of the Spider Queen, Session 10 - Flycatcher Tangle

This is a weekly recap of the events happening every week at the sessions of D&D Encounters at my FLGS in Elliot Lake at Sights&Sounds Music Store.

This week and for the remainder of this season, I will be posting weekly recaps in the form of a podcast, to see how it takes off.  The feedback has been good so far and let's see how it goes until the end of the season.

Following the success the characters had in defeating the drow and defending the patrons of the Old Skull Inn, the characters receive a message from an important individual in town which bids them on to bigger and better things.

Rushing to the tower of Ashaba, tracks of the remaining drow lead them to the cellar under the tower. They encounter a dead-end, discover a secret entrance and battle an ambush party of Drow.  The party learns of Valan Jaelre. Having survived the ambush, the characters are put to the test before their grand entrance to the Underdark. The characters pass the tests of Lolth and enter into the Underdark proper and encounter an elite strike force of Jaelre. The characters storm the Demonspur trading post and manage to outwit two idiot Ogres.  This week the players find Tharinel and end up at the torture theatre.

Derek Myers from Dungeon's Master joins me again this week to talk about stuff that happened at his table at Hairy T North.

Follow us on this week's podcast of D&D Encounters Web of the Spider Queen, Session 10 - Flycatcher Tangle.

Stuffer Shack Presents:

Do you have a lot of ideas you have always wanted to put on paper?  Villains that just don't fit into your current campaign needs?  Sometimes you just need to get some of these ideas out of your head to make room for others.

Look no further....

D&D Encounters Podcast: Web of the Spider Queen, Session 9 - Gates of Zadzifeirryn

This is a weekly recap of the events happening every week at the sessions of D&D Encounters at my FLGS in Elliot Lake at Sights&Sounds Music Store.

This week and for the remainder of this season, I will be posting weekly recaps in the form of a podcast, to see how it takes off.  The feedback has been good so far and let's see how it goes until the end of the season.

Following the success the characters had in defeating the drow and defending the patrons of the Old Skull Inn, the characters receive a message from an important individual in town which bids them on to bigger and better things.

Rushing to the tower of Ashaba, tracks of the remaining drow lead them to the cellar under the tower. They encounter a dead-end, discover a secret entrance and battle an ambush party of Drow.  The party learns of Valan Jaelre. Having survived the ambush, the characters are put to the test before their grand entrance to the Underdark. The characters pass the tests of Lolth and enter into the Underdark proper and encounter an elite strike force of Jaelre. The characters storm the Demonspur trading post. This week is all about the ogres.

Derek Myers from Dungeon's Master joins me again this week to talk about stuff that happened at the table. We go on to comment about Chapter 2 of the encounters season so far.

Follow us on this week's podcast of D&D Encounters Web of the Spider Queen, Session 9 - The Gates of Zadzifeirryn

D&D Encounters Podcast: Web of the Spider Queen, Session 8 - Demonspur

This is a weekly recap of the events happening every week at the sessions of D&D Encounters at my FLGS in Elliot Lake at Sights&Sounds Music Store.

This week and for the remainder of this season, I will be posting weekly recaps in the form of a podcast, to see how it takes off.  The feedback has been good so far and let's see how it goes until the end of the season.

Following the success the characters had in defeating the drow and defending the patrons of the Old Skull Inn, the characters receive a message from an important individual in town which bids them on to bigger and better things.

Rushing to the tower of Ashaba, tracks of the remaining drow lead them to the cellar under the tower. They encounter a dead-end, discover a secret entrance and battle an ambush party of Drow.  The party learns of Valan Jaelre. Having survived the ambush, the characters are put to the test before their grand entrance to the Underdark. The characters pass the tests of Lolth and enter into the Underdark proper and encounter an elite strike force of Jaelre. This week the characters storm the trading post and many things can happen at this point.

This week, I join Derek Myers from Dungeon's Master at Dueling Grounds in Toronto to talk about stuff that happened at the table.

Follow us on this week's podcast of D&D Encounters Web of the Spider Queen, Session 8 - Demonspur

D&D Encounters Podcast: Web of the Spider Queen, Session 7 - Jaelre Elite

This is a weekly recap of the events happening every week at the sessions of D&D Encounters at my FLGS in Elliot Lake at Sights&Sounds Music Store.

This week and for the remainder of this season, I will be posting weekly recaps in the form of a podcast, to see how it takes off.  The feedback has been good so far and let's see how it goes until the end of the season.

Following the success the characters had in defeating the drow and defending the patrons of the Old Skull Inn, the characters receive a message from an important individual in town which bids them on to bigger and better things.

Rushing to the tower of Ashaba, tracks of the remaining drow lead them to the cellar under the tower. They encounter a dead-end, discover a secret entrance and battle an ambush party of Drow.  The party learns of Valan Jaelre. Having survived the ambush, the characters are put to the test before their grand entrance to the Underdark. The characters pass the tests of Lolth and enter into the Underdark proper and encounter an elite strike force of Jaelre.

Once again,  Derek Myers from Dungeon's Master joins me on the podcast to talk about stuff that happened at his table.

Follow us on this week's podcast of D&D Encounters Web of the Spider Queen, Session 7 - Jaelre Elite