This year’s Gencon was my second year attending. My first year, the decision to go was last minute and a few factors kept me from having a very good time. This year, I decided that i was going to make sure and enjoy myself. One of the ways I did that was by participating in Gencon’s VIG (Very Important Gamer) program.  A few of the Gnomes had done ...

Last year I wrote a series of articles on my experiences from Gen Con 2007 and 2008, focusing on my prepping to be a GM. This year was a bit different, as I wasn't sure that I'd be able to go so I made no GMing plans. That left me with a lot of time to play, so play I did! While I had a lot of fun, there ...

GenCon is just under 2 weeks away, and I am in full swing making my final shopping list, when I noticed that I had forgotten about all of you guys who are not going to be able to attend. So for all of you that cannot attend, I wanted to do something for you. One of the great parts to GenCon is the convention floor. It is row ...

This will be my 10th GenCon (I started in '97, and missed '98, '01, and '08), and every year for the past several years registration has been a whirlwind of testicle-smashing pain. Not this year. It started off looking pretty shitty -- the site's interface for event searches, and especially for sorting, sucks. Without gencon.highprogrammer.com, my group would have had a much poorer reg experience. And I whined about event ...

We all love GenCon, but few of us can say that they love Event Registration.  As a rite of passage, surviving Event Registration is one of the first steps on the path of GenCon nirvana. In years past, the Event Registration process has been agonizing with  sever timeouts and customers trapped in the payment system.  This year, GenCon LLC has rolled out RUBI, their new Registration system.  There have ...

For the past five years, I have attended GenCon with an average of 10 of my friends.  On the larger years, it has been as large as 14 people and on the smaller years around 8.  Coordinating a group that large, at the largest gaming convention of the year, is no easy task.  Over the years, I have figured out some tricks for organizing such a large group ...

Welcome back, ye tired, ye broke and ye awesomed-out! Here's what you missed on Gnome Stew while you were in Indy (thanks for suggesting this, Troy!): Monday ('cause let's be honest: Mentally, you started GenCon at least this early) D&D Burgoo (4.0): Remaking the Realms IV: Adventure Hooks Along the Rauvin, Troy's adventure seeds for the re-imagined Realms, and The Best Break from GMing: Playing, my simple recommendation for recharging your ...