Gen Con Day 1

I have arrived in Indianapolis for my first Gen Con. My husband has been going for many years and this was my first opportunity to get to go with him. Given my recent obsessions with LARPs, I think I was a little more ready to take the big leap.

The drive down was nice and productive; I got some knitting done. We arrived last night and went out to dinner at Buca di Beppo which was really good if a little overwhelming. It is family style Italian and there is an unbelievable quantity of food. I really enjoyed their garlic mashed potatoes and while everything was very tasty I think I enjoyed the red wine sangria the most...or at least that was the thing I was craving the most. By the time we were done with dinner it was too late to stop in and get my swag bag and the pool had closed do I just took a shower and went to bed.

Saturday morning, I played the ever popular "stand in line for an hour and a half" game. I think it was the most well-attended event of the Con if perhaps not the most loved. I did a quick browse through the exhibit hall and spotted a few things I liked and a few demos I want to try later on (I didn't have enough time today; There was a lot I missed but I get overstimulated pretty easy). I got to meet Echo and I did buy a few of her prints. Her work is so amazing. I was really shy though and a total fangirl but she was gracious. (It looks like she updated her website and I just realized that some of my favorite pieces of visual advertising have also been her pieces. Not surprised at all).



LARPs generally take place in Union Station which is such a gorgeous space to play in.

I participated in my first LARP this morning. It was loosely based upon the Girl Genius comic. I played a spark/heir. It was enjoyable in that they made some really interesting puzzles to play with. It was a little hectic for me so I am not sure if I was very much fun to play with. I had a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time, so I didn't succeed on some of my goals. All the puzzles were so distracting, and I wanted to fix them all. At one point we couldn't find the pieces to fix a puzzle so we started improvising and at one point there were 5 characters holding times onto the grid to complete the circuit. It was appropriate if you know anything about Sparks from the comic and the GM considered giving us the win except that it would have really rearranged the storyline. While looking for clues, I also overturned a chair and found a "You are a winner" sticker on the bottom. Sadly it was only a coincidence.



It finished earlier then expected so I had time to go for a swim and take a shower. I am going to wrap a few things online and then go grab some dinner. I rushed through my lunch because of timing constraints and I would like to take a more leisurely time of it with dinner. Then it is on to the next LARP of the evening.