Just reports about his visit to GenCon. Comment for a chance to win a FanLit bookmark signed by R.A. Salvatore.
Each year in Indianapolis, thousands gather for what’s called “The Best 4 Days in Gaming.” Gencon Indy was held from August 5th to August 8th, 2010. This gathering of nerds is the largest of its kind in the country. If you are into Dungeons & Dragons
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| Drizzt!! |
I arrived at the Indiana Convention Center at about 9am. I soon spotted what I would lovingly call a “Nerd Herd” heading east. It was easy to spot, as at least three people in the group were carrying foam battle axes, dressed in full armor complete with wire-framed glasses. I was able to blend in smoothly with my sandal-shod feet and a t-shirt featuring the FanLit dragon MettleStorm the Bookwyrm (get yours here). Don’t let me fool you, I was just as excited to be there as the myopic barbarian next to me. I’ve been attending Gencon for years, and I’ve rarely felt more amongst my kind than I did in the groups of slightly overweight warriors, wizards and pink haired Japanese school girls.
It was going to be hard to top greeting Felicia Day, but I was determined to try. I met up with my brother and his girlfriend, and we made our way towards Author Alley to meet R.A. Salvatore. The line was long, but the wait was worth it. Mr. Salvatore was gracious with his time. He
was chatty and friendly, and I walked away with some autographs and a free signed copy of The Ghost King. While in Author Alley I also approached Anton Strout, author of the SIMON CANDEROUS series and a Fanlit favorite. Anton was super awesome, and my copy of Dead Matter was signed “Deadly Yours,”. Whenever I go to meet an author, I generally try to bring along a paper with their promo photo and have them sign it. It goes up on a wall in my office. I’ve only recently started to do this, and it’s always fun to see authors’ reactions at signing a picture of themselves. The reactions have varied. Jim Butcher said “oh wow,” Pat Rothfuss was flattered and maybe a little frightened. Anton’s reply was simply “I’m such a beautiful man,” which is by far the best response yet. Thanks Anton Strout!
After harassing the literary talent, we made our way to the art gallery. Rows and rows of disgustingly talented 
artists were displaying their works, and all of them were very accessible. I met a couple of fantasy artists that stood out. Jessica Cox, an Indiana native, had many beautiful pieces, and was very nice to talk to. Alain Viesca (link somewhat NSFW) and his Asian-themed fantasy works blew me away. Everything he had was simply stunning.
Prior to going to Gencon, I did some research, looking for a few things the Fanlit readers would be interested in. One of the places I wanted to visit was the Evil Hat Productions booth. Evil Hat is the creator of the Fate RPG engine, and happens to be the company behind the DRESDEN FILES RPG. I’m a huge Dresden fan and I was eager to talk with Evil Hat and have a look at the game materials. The game looks to be incredibly detailed, making me wish I lived in a place where I might find a group that played these kinds of games. The team who created it worked closely with Jim, and Jim even wrote a few things exclusively for the materials. My Butcher library will always be incomplete as long as the Dresden RPG Volumes 1 and 2
Awesome! I love cons. Thanks for your report!
Sounds like fun. I’m not into gaming but I would have loved to see the art gallery.
Very cool, Justin!!
Thanks! I had a lot of fun. I can definitely see me doing the journalist thing at more conventions. I really had no idea what to do. The thing is at Gencon, the press pass looked like everyone else’s pass…so all I saw was accessible to everyone. Only the ambushing of Felicia Day was facilitated by having a press access. Next year they are supposedly going to have small rooms set aside just for interviews, and I plan to take advantage of that. I forgot to mention int he report, but i played a short round of DnD with dice larger than a basketball. I died…quickly, but it was fun none the less.