Reflecting back on Gen Con, it was easily the perfect convention vacation. While I had a blast at Gen Con, there are some things that I learned or things that 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 that 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 2 Cosplays Instead of 3

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 runs “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 that 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-a-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 Air BnB

This year for Gen Con, 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 Air BnB 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 at Gen Con. 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 roleplaying session for five hours straight. That was a lesson learned and 8 PM will be my new cut-off for signing up for events at Gen Con.

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

I’m back from Gen Con and it was amazing! Gen Con was everything I expected it to be and so much more. While at Gen Con, I was mulling around what I wanted to write about when I got back home. I decided that I would be writing four posts dedicated to all things Gen Con. This first post is going to be a recap post where I will talk about Gen Con as a whole. The second post will be some takeaways or things that I learned since it had been four years since I last attended Gen Con and there were things that I forgot. The third post will feature some of the games I demoed along with some of the roleplaying sessions I was a part of. The final Gen Con post will be centered around my haul because I bought a lot of different games, accessories, and merch. I’m so ready to recap all things Gen Con 2023.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that 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.

Traveling to Gen Con can be long at times. Me and my friend group started driving on Wednesday and it took about 9-10 hours to get to Indianapolis. Wednesday was a really long day, but it was nice to finally get to our hotel. This year, our hotel was within walking distance of Gen Con which was really nice. Me and my brother rented an AirBnB previously and having a hotel was ten times better. It was nice to be able to drop off things versus having to commit to being at Gen Con all day because it was a thirty-minute Lyft ride back. I am sold on the idea of getting a hotel rather than an Air BnB that’s not located downtown.

If there was a theme for Gen Con this year, it would be Disney Lorcana. For those who are unaware, Disney released their trading card game called Disney Lorcana. I’m told it’s similar to Magic: the Gathering, but Disney-themed. I don’t know much else because I chose to not camp out overnight to wait in line. You heard me right, the lines for Disney Lorcana were wild! It seems like Gen Con was encouraging people to wait in line early which I don’t think was a good thing. The lines were lengthy and fans were frustrated. It seemed rather unorganized and chaotic. If anybody was lucky enough to get their hands on Disney Lorcana, I’m happy for you! I was not one of those people and I’m okay with that.

For Gen Con, I had on average 1-2 events per day. Events can be shows, game demos, and roleplaying sessions. This was perfect! One of my friends planned a Grim Fairytale-type roleplaying session for our friend group. It was nice to be able to unwind with our small group after a long day at the convention. In between events, I roamed the vendor haul, went to a superhero music sing-along (I will write about this later), and tried the official Sun King Brewery Gen Con beer. I bought a four-pack, so my husband could also try some too.

This post is already getting slightly too long, but there was one more thing that I wanted to talk about. I wrote a post weeks ago about how Darrington Press, Critical Role’s game company was going to be at Gen Con. I made it a priority on Thursday to visit their booth first. I was towards the front of the line when the exhibition hall opened and I fast walked all the way to the Darrington Press booth. I was waiting in line as the booth only had so many copies of their newest board game, Queen by Midnight. I wasn’t planning on buying the game, but when I got closer to the front, I was sold. I ended up purchasing Queen by Midnight. On Thursday, Queen by Midnight sold out within an hour. On Friday and Saturday, Queen by Midnight sold out within fifteen minutes. I am shocked that I was able to get a copy of the game. I’m still in awe that this happened.

I could honestly keep writing paragraph after paragraph about Gen Con and everything that I did, but I think this gives enough of an idea as to what happened this year. The countdown to Gen Con 2024 begins.

By the time this post is live, I will be at Gen Con! It’s surreal because even though I’m leaving this week, it doesn’t feel like Gen Con is actually here. Gen Con is easily one of the best conventions that I have ever been to and I know that no matter what, I will have a blast while I’m there. I wanted to share a few things that I’m looking forward to about attending Gen Con this year.

Cosplay

I will be bringing three cosplays with me. I will share pictures once Gen Con is over. The nice thing is that only one of the cosplays that I’m bringing will require a wig.

Food & Drink

Gen Con hosts a block party right outside the convention center. There are so many food trucks that are packed right outside. Sun King is the official brewery sponsor at Gen Con and they will have an outdoor beer garden open throughout most of the convention. HotBox Pizza has a Gen Con pizza called “The Queen’s Hambit” that I definitely want to try.

TTRPGs! (Table-Top Roleplaying Games)

It will be a jam-packed four days of gaming. I have a few events throughout the days, but I tried really hard to keep my schedule open. Open time is great for panels, browsing the dealer’s room, and wandering around at the block party. I’m planning on bringing a few of my dice sets, my dice rolling tray, and a notebook to take notes of all my sessions.

Spending Time with My Brother

My brother is coming with me again this year. I don’t get to see my brother as much as I should, so this is going to be a great way to spend time together. With Indianapolis being a 9 1/2 hour car ride, I’m sure we will run out of things to talk about.

I can’t wait to be at Gen Con this year!

Minnesota is known for its harsher winters, but our summers here are perfect. If there’s one thing that I love to do in summer, it’s going to see live music outside. TC Summer Fest is an outdoor music concert held at Target Field where the Minnesota Twins play. On Friday, The Killers were the headliner and on Saturday, Imagine Dragons was playing. My husband went to both concerts while I only went to see Imagine Dragons. I don’t know every Imagine Dragons song and I wouldn’t say I’m their biggest fan, but they put on a great show.

The fun part about TC Summer Fest was that there was live music playing all day. While many chose to show up for Imagine Dragons only, there were other acts going on throughout the day. One of our friends was looking forward to seeing Talk who I knew nothing about. If I had to gauge my favorite act (besides Imagine Dragons), I think it would have to be Chelsea Cutler. I knew nothing about her before her act, but I felt she was vibing with the crowd.

Imagine Dragons took the stage at 9:40 PM ish. I completely forgot how many songs Imagine Dragons has. They played most of their well-known songs with a few songs I had never heard of before. The crowd was energized and looking around the stadium, people held up their phones with their flashlights on. It was cool to see a sea of white light during the set.

It’s funny, I didn’t take that many pictures throughout the concert. I know a few people nearby us would record the concert, but I tend not to do that. I would rather enjoy the concert in real-time and I find when I record it, I don’t actually end up re-watching it. Plus the audio is nowhere near as good as being at the venue, so what’s the point.

I haven’t been to a concert in a while, so I was reminded of how much I enjoy being around friends and listening to good music.

As I was writing my recap post about CONvergence, I realized something. It’s been ten years since I started attending conventions. I second-guessed myself because ten years feels like a long time ago, but it’s true. I went to CONvergence for the first time in 2013. I initially found out about CONvergence in 2012 when my friend’s mom was planning to attend. Me and my friend decided we wanted to attend the year after. The rest is history. I wanted to share a few photos along with sharing what I hope for in the future.

I remember being mesmerized by all the people in cosplay. It was so fun to walk around and take photos with other cosplayers. I talked with so many different people at my first con and cosplay in some ways acted as a way to help start a conversation without feeling the intimidation of talking to someone I didn’t know.

Besides cosplaying as Mario, I also put together a quick Lara Croft cosplay. This felt on point since the Tomb Raider game came out that year. As I was walking around CONvergence, I saw another Lara Croft cosplayer and I was really excited. Let’s be real, this cosplayer did a much better job than I did in cosplaying Lara Croft. It was a fun memory to see someone else cosplaying the exact same character but in a completely different way.

When I first started attending CONvergence, The Twin Cities Ghostbusters used to always make an appearance. They usually had a party room at CONvergence along with bringing their car out in the parking lot. I haven’t seen them at CONvergence in a while, but I hope they come back soon.

It’s funny looking at old photos. My first thought is how young I look! The other thing that I think about is where my mindset was at this time of my life. I had so much to learn whether that be about life in general or how I viewed myself. I’m grateful for all of the experiences I have had thus far and how I have grown as a person.

Looking into the future, I’m fully planning on cosplaying throughout the next ten years. I want to try colored contacts or body paint. Besides cosplay, there are a few conventions that I would like to attend including Emerald City Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and Dragon Con. Me and my husband have also begun having conversations about starting a family and I would love to bring my kids to conventions. Here’s to ten more years of cosplay and conventions!

After being out of town for the 4th of July and attending a convention, I took a writing break. In a turn of events, I could attend CONvergence this year. For those who are new to Bizarre Brunette, CONvergence was the first convention I went to. CONvergence will always have a special place in my heart as being my first con but also introduced me to cosplay, conventions, and geek culture in general. I wanted to share a little recap about CONvergence along with what it was like to be back post-Covid.

CONvergence was so fun! This year, I tabled at the Twin Cities Geek booth. I was able to connect with so many different people who came up to talk to me. I saw so many cosplayers walking by. One of the biggest things at CONvergence is ribbons which can be attached to your badge. I received so many ribbons from con-goers, I might have set a personal record.

Besides sitting at the Twin Cities Geek booth, I also went to the party rooms. Party rooms are hotel rooms that have been turned into themed rooms. The hotel rooms often serve alcoholic beverages that are on point with the party room. The drinks are free, but it’s encouraged to tip the party room as the organizers who throw the party pay for all the booze, mixers, and set-up. One party room we went to was Doctor Who-themed. There was a “Tears of the Tardis” challenge to take a shot that was really sour. If you completed the challenge, you could earn a ribbon for your badge. I am all for adding ribbons to my badge, so I did partake. The shot was very sour, but it was worth it for the ribbon.

CONvergence was slightly different than the other times I have attended in the past. This was the first time attending since the pandemic. It felt like nothing had changed which is a good thing. The other difference was that most of my friends that I used to go with weren’t there this year. Some friends moved away, and other friends simply couldn’t make it. I was a little nervous about finding and meeting new people. Fortunately, I ended up meeting quite a few new people and now I feel like I have a good group of people to meet up with and talk to next year.

Reflecting back on this past weekend, I realize how happy I am to have found a place within the convention scene. I feel at home and I feel like I can be myself. I’m looking forward to CONvergence next year.

Last weekend was Twin Cities Pride here in Minneapolis. If I’m in town, I always try to make a point to go to Pride for a portion of the festivities. As a cis, white woman, I attend to show my support and stand in solidarity with others. This year, I helped staff the Geek Partnership Society booth which meant talking to various people about Twin Cities Geek, conventions, and other nerd-related topics. A running quote that we would say is “This is the nerd side of Pride”.

I didn’t end up taking that many photos of Pride since I was talking to people who came to visit our booth. It was nice seeing people being able to exist as themselves.

As a final note, I wanted to share some of my favorite non-profits & charities that help support LGBTQIA+ people. The first non-profit that I give to the most is The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is focused on younger LGBTQIA+ lives and providing them resources if need be. The second non-profit is the ACLU. The ACLU is focused on all human rights and a lot of that fight is for LGBTQIA+ rights. These are the two non-profits I will continuously donate to as I support their cause.

The running joke of my trip to Winnipeg was “What’s in Winnipeg”. My husband was kind of along for the ride. He has been to Canada before specifically Toronto, but didn’t have an idea as to what could be in Winnipeg. Since Winnipeg is within driving distance of the Twin Cities, I figured it would be fun to go and check it out. As someone who has never been to Canada before, I wanted to be able to use my passport. For what it’s worth, I think Winnipeg was fun to visit and I’d be open to going back again.

To get to Winnipeg from the Twin Cities, we had to drive to Fargo, go straight north through Grand Forks, to finally cross the border into Canada. Winnipeg is in Manitoba which is the province directly above North Dakota. This was one of the most boring drives I have ever been on. I think I have burned my husband out from road trips. Oops. As we entered Canada, we were greeted with the Manitoba welcome sign which I politely asked my husband to take a picture of me in front of the sign. I can now officially say that I have been to Canada.

One of the first things we did in Winnipeg was to check out The Forks. The Forks is an indoor market with several local shops and businesses. We found several coffee shops along with a breakfast cafe inside. While The Forks advertises itself as an indoor market, it’s so much bigger than that. There’s a riverfront and a small stage for live music. It was cool to walk around and see everything. Inside The Forks, there was a bookstore which made me happy. Of course, I bought a few books.

Another notable thing to do in Winnipeg is the Canadian Human Rights Museum. The Canadian Human Rights Museum is the blue building off to the left and a core staple of downtown Winnipeg. There are seven floors to the museum including the tower that you can walk up to. This museum was gorgeous! There are glowing yellow stone ramps that lead to each section of the museum. There were several sections that included the Holocaust, missing Indigenous women, and a section on LGBTQIA+ rights. There were sections of the museum that were difficult to process. There was one story I read in the Holocaust section about a boxer named Johann Trollmann. He was forced to fight in a “German” style of boxing. In protest, he put flour on his skin and died his hair blonde to mimic the Aryan look. He was taken to a Concentration Camp where he was killed. Reading stories like this makes you realize how one small act of defiance can be so powerful. There were several stories that stuck with me and I still think about even weeks after visiting this museum.

In between various activities, me and my husband visited a few breweries including Brazen Hall Kitchen & Brewery, Lake of the Woods, and Barn Hammer Brewery. Barn Hammer had live music when we were there which was great to listen to. Lake of the Woods was right in the heart of downtown. Brazen Hall was a little more out of the way but had great food. I had a Juicy IPA that I liked.

The one other thing that I wanted to mention was we went to several board game stores and a board game cafe while we were there. Across the street from Barn Hammer Brewery was A Muse N Games. My husband commented that A Muse N Games was one of the nicest board game stores that he has ever been in. There were several shelves with board games, and all of the Dungeons & Dragons merchandise was located in the back. There were two people who came up to us asking if we were looking for anything specific. I ended up buying a new set of dice with seals in them along with a card game. I would go back to Winnipeg solely to visit A Muse N Games again.

The board game cafe that we went to was Across The Board. Across the Board was huge! There were a lot of tables and close to 100+ different games to play. There were a lot of menu options too which I wasn’t expecting. It was the perfect place to have lunch and unwind while on vacation.

Once me and my husband drove home, I asked him what he thought about Winnipeg and he said he had a lot of fun. I think Winnipeg is not the first choice when thinking about visiting Canada, but I do think there’s a lot worth seeing.

Last Sunday was the Gen Con Events schedule sign-up. Gen Con has hundreds of gaming and non-gaming events to choose from. To ensure that there aren’t too many players at one table, events need to be pre-registered in advance by acquiring event tickets. The Event sign-up process can be a little stressful as the sign-up opens at a particular time and everyone is trying to acquire their tickets at once. While I thought I clicked the button fast enough, I was still the 1100th person in the queue. It took about an hour, but I was finally able to sign up for events. I wanted to share a preview of my schedule for Gen Con this year.

Before I go into this further, I wanted to share what I’m doing differently for Gen Con this year versus the first year I went. The first year I went to Gen Con, I signed up for so many things! While that seems fun, it was overwhelming. Instead, I only have two events per day with Thursday being the day where I signed up for three. There will be plenty of time to roam around the convention, take pictures, and take breaks to eat. I’m feeling good about my event schedule.

Non-Gaming Events

While Gen Con is a gaming convention, there are events that aren’t gaming-related. On Thursday, I signed up for the “Decoding Downtown Indy Walking Tour”. Walking is one of my favorite forms of exercise and while I have been to Indianapolis twice, I don’t know the city that well. I’m looking forward to the activity and getting to know Indianapolis more. The tour is an hour and a half which I think will be a perfect way to start the convention.

Another event that I’m considering, but didn’t sign up for is the 5k. On Friday morning, Gen Con hosts a 5k. One of the main reasons that’s holding me back is that I’m not a runner. I remember the feeling of being forced to run a mile in P.E. class and feeling humiliated that I couldn’t run the full mile. Running carries a lot of shame for me. If that’s the case, why am I considering the 5k? I think the 5k would feel like I’m reclaiming running and doing it because I enjoy it, not because I’m forced to. I’m still mulling this around, so I may sign up for it or I may not.

Gaming Events

I have five gaming-themed events on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In chronological order, I will start with Thursday. I have two demos for Thursday. The first game is called Beer and Bread. Beer and Bread is a two-player game with each player trying to compete to brew the best beer and the best bread. I thought this game sounded so wholesome. Besides Beer and Bread, I am signed up for a demo of Distilled. Distilled is a one-five-player game about creating a distillery, upgrading it, and making craft cocktails. I’m not sure why I chose alcohol-themed board games to demo on Thursday, the theme was not intentional.

On Friday, I only signed up for one event called “The Beach Dolls Affair – Trail of Cthulhu 1st Edition” When I first started playing roleplaying games, I was introduced to Call of Cthulhu and loved it. I have no idea what I’m in for, but I’m looking forward to it.

Saturday will easily be my longest day. I am going to be in straight roleplaying games from 5:00 PM – 1:00 AM. The first three hours will be “Rise of the Separatists: Darkness Rising on Naboo!” which is using the Star Wars: Force and Destiny rules. It should be no surprise that I signed up for this. I’m a Star Wars prequel fan as I grew up with the movies when they came out. I haven’t played Force and Destiny yet, so I’m curious how this will be. After Star Wars, I signed up for “Survive – Vampire the Masquerade, 5th Edition” which is a story built around Vampire the Masquerade. It’s fitting because the first time I played Vampire the Masquerade was at Gen Con, so it will feel a little nostalgic to play a five-hour session on Saturday night.

On Sunday, I’m signed up for one event and that’s “Unlife as an Anarch – Vampire the Masquerade, 5th Edition” at 10:00 AM.

Now that the event registration has happened, it’s becoming more real that I’m going to Gen Con. I can’t wait for August!