Reflecting back on Gen Con, it was easily the perfect convention vacation. While I had a blast at Gen Con, there are some things I learned or things I would do differently if I’m able to attend Gen Con next year. I wanted to share a few takeaways from Gen Con and what I might do differently in the future.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Sticking to Two Cosplays Instead of Three

I planned three different cosplays for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Most of my cosplays were comfortable for the most part. Although I didn’t think about how the summer heat would impact my comfort in cosplay. By the time Sunday came around, I was ready to wear normal clothes. I’m only going to plan two cosplays going forward.

My three cosplays this year were: Red Riding Hood, Daenerys, and a Splicer from BioShock. Oddly enough, the Splicer cosplay was the cosplay I got the most compliments on. This was a cosplay I put together myself, including staining my white gloves. I was talking with my friends, and we came to the conclusion that the Splicer cosplay was more niche, so the people who understood what my cosplay was were excited to see it. It was cool to see people come up to me and ask me if it was a Splicer cosplay. One person said it was “fan fuckingtastic,” and I was thrilled.

Bring Magic: The Gathering Decks to Play

It didn’t cross my mind to bring my Magic decks with me to Gen Con. I figured I would be so busy playing other games that I wouldn’t have time to play Magic. Gen Con hosts Commander Pods, which are events in which four players come together to play Commander or EDH, a type of Magic format. My group ended up playing in a Commander Pod during our downtime. I liked the way Gen Con handled Commander Pods. Each pod was made up of four players, and each player received 1,300 in prize tickets solely for participating in a Magic event. Those tickets could be redeemed for prizes. I ended up using mine on a booster pack from another Magic set.

The one reason why I didn’t bring my Magic decks is that I’m not a competitive player. My decks are casual, so they aren’t aggressive. I find playing Magic with random people to be a hit-or-miss type of experience, depending on the other players in a group.

I had way more fun playing Magic than I thought I would. I’m inspired to go through my Magic decks and revamp them by next year.

Booking a Hotel vs. an Airbnb

This year, my group participated in the hotel lottery. Fortunately, our group booked a hotel within walking distance of the Convention Center. This was a game-changer. It was so convenient to be able to walk to and from our hotel to drop off our purchases or to take a breather. Our hotel also had free breakfast, which is always a good thing.

I’m sure there are Airbnbs in downtown Indianapolis, I just don’t know enough of the area to know where they would be.

Don’t Book Roleplaying Sessions After 8 PM

I was ambitious when I was signing up for events. I had an event on Saturday for Vampire: The Masquerade at 8 PM. The event was five hours, meaning it would be done at 1 AM. I had no energy on Saturday, and I ended up not going to the event. It’s not great etiquette to skip an event, but I couldn’t motivate myself to go to a role-playing session for five hours straight. That was a lesson learned, and 8 PM will be my new cut-off for signing up for events.

I’m halfway through my Gen Con post series, and I’m not sick at all of talking about Gen Con.