This August I will be attending Gen Con for the first time with a press badge! Instead of attending under Bizarre Brunette, I will attend on behalf of Twin Cities Geek. As a board game and DnD player, I cannot wait for Gen Con. I have already started putting money aside to spend at the con because I want to purchase all the board games. This will be the first road trip me and my brother take together because I invited him to attend Gen Con this year. I’m already counting down the days until Gen Con begins.

The road to attending Gen Con began in January 2019. I have a friend from college who used to own a game store. He has been attending every Gen Con for years. I had always wanted to go, but being in college made that difficult to afford. He reached out inquiring about whether I would want to go this year. For shits and giggles, I decided to fill out a press badge with the full intention of paying full price for a badge in case it didn’t work. In February, I received confirmation from Gen Con that I would be receiving a press badge. I was elated and began to research where me and my brother would stay for the convention.

Speaking of hotels, I started looking too late for a hotel room. Hotel rooms usually sell out when Gen Con badges go on sale in January. Virtually every hotel I had checked was full. This is where I decided to look for an Airbnb. I found an affordable Airbnb northeast of downtown Indianapolis. I’m slightly worried that it’s too far from the convention center, but that’s what Uber is for. My lesson was learned if I want to attend Gen Con and have a hotel downtown, I need to book it early.

Last month, the event lists were released. These include various DnD campaigns, MTG 2020 Core Drafts, and a group fitness class titled Buff Barbarian. You better believe I signed up for the Buff Barbarian class. Besides the Buff Barbarian, I also put down a couple DnD campaigns. However, when I clicked to register for events, I was 6,119 in the queue line. 6119!!!!! It was safe to say I didn’t get many of the events I pre-registered for. I also didn’t realize events were paid. Each event costs anywhere between $2-12 dollars. I wonder if that’s to pay for the DM hosting the event? I’m not quite sure. This limited the events I wanted to do because of the cost per event.

As far as cosplays, I haven’t quite established which cosplays I will bring. I’m my Viking Wonder Woman-inspired cosplay and my Harry Potter Gryffindor student cosplay. I’m not sure how many people cosplay at Gen Con or if it’s more of a gaming convention meaning fewer people cosplay. No matter what I will wear a cosplay because cosplaying is fun.

I cannot believe I’m attending Gen Con as press this year. This is an amazing achievement for me and I hope to spread the word about Bizarre Brunette while I’m there. If you’re going to Gen Con as well, I’d love to meet up! Let me know in the comments below.