I’ve been attending New York Comic-Con since 2011, and every year I go, I always find something new to enjoy. At the start, it was all of the video game coverage, while more recently it’s been comic book news and cosplaying. But even beyond stuff like that, what’s not to love about a good convention? You get to hang out with a bunch of like-minded nerds, buy cool things, and potentially meet some of your creative idols. There’s never a dull moment. So, finally attending a new convention this year at Gen Con 2023 was a real treat, even if it was far what I expected (but that’s a good thing).
I’ll admit that I was actually a little skeptical about this one at first. By comparison with what normally goes on at NYCC, the idea of a full convention just for tabletop gaming seemed a little odd to me. I know plenty of people love this gaming medium, but I don’t think it ever really clicked with me just how many people that actually includes—I think it truly dawned on me when we finally arrived at the Indianapolis Convention Center. I also never could’ve fathomed how many people there are making games like this. Like, holy shit, there are so many games.
So, within our first few minutes of stepping through Gen Con 2023, my brother and I were basically hooked. Arriving at the convention late on the first day (Thursday, August 3rd), we knew we weren’t going to have much of a chance to play anything, so we elected to take in the sights, of which there were many. Entire halls were set up just for people to play games, like Warhammer, Magic the Gathering, and so many others. And as we would learn later on, the convention center is directly connected to several surrounding hotels, and it’s right across the street from the Lucas Oil Stadium; the hotels and stadium also featured plenty of space for gamers to hang out and play.
The show floor at Gen Con is markedly similar to NYCC’s, only instead of comic vendors and the like, there are way more booths set up for companies both big and small to show off their games. There are also plenty of vendors around selling things like cards, gaming accessories, dice (so many dice sellers), or entire games. I wound up spending a fair amount of time on day one just looking at booths that were selling Magic the Gathering cards. There’s also plenty of space for artists and authors to show off their work, which I was certainly eager to check out.
With the first day’s antics wrapped up after a little while, my brother and I decided to retreat to our quaint BnB not terribly far from the convention center. During our time in the suburbs, we spent a lot of time watching Top Gear (because it’s endlessly entertaining) and checking out some of the local food spots, which were also overflowing with Con goers. The two big establishments we ate at—conveniently located right next to each other—were Kuma’s Corner, a metal-themed burger joint (so, you know, obviously a big winner), and the Upland Brewing Co., a fantastic little brewery sporting both fantastic food and drinks.
For day two of Gen Con, my brother and I were set for some gaming. Our first order of business was checking out a demo for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game from Magpie Games. I’ve been eager to dig into this one lately, and the little demo we participated in was highly encouraging. Given that, I wound up purchasing a full bundle with all of the core game pieces, including the rulebooks, game cards, and dice. Wouldn’t be a worthwhile convention if I didn’t spend my well-earned money on some hot items, after all.
Following that and a bit more shopping, we grabbed a bite to eat at the extensive “block party” that Gen Con was hosting, featuring a ton of awesome food trucks. I treated myself to a “Critical Hit Cheesesteak,” which certainly lived up to its name. Another little gem was the Wizards of the Coast truck, which featured ice cream options inspired by Magic and D&D characters.
Shortly thereafter, we went to play some good old fashioned fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons. We each had to play at separate tables, but given we play in a regular group together anyway, that wasn’t a big issue. Plus, the adventure module we were playing was the same at either table, so it didn’t really matter. This adventure dealt with some fire giants terrorizing a city and harvesting power from something called the Star Forge. This obviously meant that us adventurers had to go kick some ass, with the help of some giant-hunting monks. Fun times, indeed.
It was at this point that we started to figure out just how extensive the convention was, since our sessions were being hosted in one of the adjacent hotels. The Marriott featured dozens of conference rooms filled with even more tables for a variety of games, such as D&D, Deadlands, Call of Cthulu, and many more; we were only participating in two small sessions out of hundreds going on all across Gen Con. And even beyond that, there were plenty of other people just hanging around the lobbies in the hotel and playing side games and such. Nerdom at its finest.
Day three for me was Magic day. I spent the majority of my time on Saturday playing different games of Magic the Gathering—mostly commander, which is more or less the game’s most popular format. For playing as many games as I did, I got a decent amount of “prize tickets” that I could use later to get Magic cards and accessories at the booth for the company hosting all of the games. I made sure to cash in on those tickets the following day, and I was lucky enough to get some decent pulls from the Magic packs I purchased.
But Saturday had another late surprise in store, as my brother and I were able to join in for a multi-table game of Deadlands. This is basically a TTRPG system set in the wild west, but also filled with stuff like magic, demons, zombies, and many other similar fantasy elements. Now, I had never played Deadlands before, but my brother was already abundantly familiar with the system; it was his go-to back in the day. And when I say multi-table, I mean that our game was being played in several different parts across three different groups. Little did I know going in that this would turn out to be one of the greatest TTRPG experiences I’ve ever had.
While I’m not so sure I fully grasped the rules of the game, which ultimately ran for six hours, our game master and fellow players were more than accommodating to me being a newcomer, which was very much appreciated. But even then, I’m not so sure it mattered, because despite my nonexistent game knowledge, I was still able to get right into the swing of things, thanks to our whole group being very open to roleplaying and just having fun with what we were doing. I was playing a mad scientist and basically just dug into the stereotypes of that kind of character, which paid off in spades.
Between fighting zombies, building a bomb, destroying a town, and nearly getting killed by a hulking abomination, there were plenty of memorable moments I’ll not soon forget. I mean, one of the other players was a priest, and he actually got several other players to sing a church song with him before the big final battle. That’s some dedication right there! And I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother so happy to be playing a TTRPG. So, now, I’m just wondering when I can play again. Time will tell, I guess.
Moving on to the last day of Gen Con, Sunday mostly served as our last chance for checking out vendors and seeing if there was anything else we might want to buy. Which, of course, we did, because why wouldn’t we? But other than that, there’s nothing much to report from the day. Although, we did cement our stance on coming back to the convention next year, so I guess that counts. After gathering our things, we grabbed lunch at a nearby Steak ‘n Shake (which I’ve determined to be “okay”) and then made our way to the airport (where there were also tables set up for people to play games).
During the flight home, I expected that the post-con depression would start settling in, but to my surprise, it didn’t. At least, not as much as I thought it would. Even now as I’m writing this post a week after the convention is over, I’m still not feeling all that bad that it’s over. I think it’s because we just had such a good time and are already making plans to go back next year. I’m too excited to be depressed. So, yeah, Gen Con 2023 was a complete success.
In recent years, my experiences at NYCC have been getting better and better. This has led to me wanting to expand my horizons and go to other events so I can feel that convention joy more than just once a year. For that reason, I’m really glad my brother and I wound up going to Gen Con. Seriously, I can’t overstate just how much fun it was. In truth, it was probably better than any year of NYCC, just because there’s so much more to do. It’s truly a full four days of nonstop tabletop shenanigans, and I can’t wait to do it all over again next year.
Hopefully next time, though, I won’t come home with COVID. Yeah, that happened, and even still, so worth it.