For every convention, I always set aside a certain amount to spend. For Gen Con, my budget was substantially more than other conventions that I attend. I was fully aware that this would be a more expensive convention due to all the cool things that you can buy at Gen Con. To end my blog post series, I wanted to share my haul from Gen Con this year.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette when I applied for my press badge. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own. Additionally, everything in my haul was purchased with my own money, nothing was given to me for free.

Queen by Midnight – Darrington Press

I alluded to this already, but the first thing I bought at Gen Con was a copy of Queen by Midnight by Darrington Press. I wasn’t planning on buying Queen By Midnight, however, by the time I made it to the front of the line, I was intrigued by the concept of the game. I do wish that Darrington Press had more merch to sell. I would have easily bought a Candela Obscura t-shirt or dice set. There were also a lot of fans waiting in line who weren’t able to get a copy of Queen By Midnight, so I think it would have been neat if there was additional merch that fans could buy if they weren’t able to purchase a copy of the game.

Vagrant Song + Malifaux Starter Set – Wyrd Games

The second purchase I made was at the Wyrd Games booth. Vagrant Song is a board game that reminded me of Bioshock and Cuphead. It’s a cooperative game in which players face off against rogue ghosts on a train. I liked the spooky aesthetic of the game and I look forward to playing this game closer to Halloween.

The second purchase was a Malifaux Starter Set. My brother actually bought me this starter set as a late birthday present. One of the booth employees was explaining the concept of Malifaux to me. I will say, I have struggled to get into miniature games, but what intrigued me about Malifaux was the idea that you could still win the game even if your minis are killed in battle. I played Warhammer once and once my minis died, it felt cumbersome to try and remain invested in the game. Malifaux also has a spooky element as well which I love. I convinced my brother to buy a starter set too, so I would at least have someone I could play the game with.

Trail of Cthulhu – Pelgrane Press

I mentioned Trail of Cthulhu in an earlier post. I won’t say much else except that I’m looking forward to paging through the rule book and eventually writing my own story.

Laudna Dice Guardian + DnD Notebooks – Dice Guardians

This was my last purchase at Gen Con. I walked by the Dice Guardians booth on Thursday and made a note to myself that if the Laudna Dice Guardian was still available by Sunday, I would purchase it. Sure enough, I was walking by their booth on Sunday and saw they had some left and I couldn’t resist. I plan on taking it to work with me and setting it on my desk. Besides the Laudna Dice Guardian, I also bought some new notebooks. I tend to take lots of notes in my DnD sessions and I had been using a regular standard notebook to write in. The issue is that it’s bulky to carry, so I like that these are a lot smaller. They had a deal if I bought three at once, so I figured why not, now I will have backups.

Besides gaming stuff, I ended up finding a local comic book store in downtown Indianapolis called Downtown Comics. It was within walking distance of the convention center, so I ended up purchasing a few comics. The final purchase I made was at Sun King, a brewery that’s a sponsor of Gen Con. I purchased a four-pack of their beer, so my husband could try some.

Gen Con will easily be a highlight of 2023. I hope to attend Gen Con next year.