All Year I Dream About Gaming Conventions

It's the night before Gen Con Eve, and all through the house, a not Quarex was stirring... because he's already in Indianapolis for day negative four of the best four days in gaming. On this episode, Quarex and Ben bring you: A traffic report straight from the heart of Gen ConA weather report that seems less dire than last weekA cashless ICC -- except for the exhibit hall -- and where to find ATMs in the convention space A trip to the Indy farmer's market might be in order! A brief review of the Gen Con 2025 program! A short comparison of the Official Block Party and the less official Stink!A long form review of all the official beverages and foods for Gen Con this year! 6 songs that will help manifest our Gen Con experience! And you can bet that we do a deep dive into some more food recommendations, including the finally official food trucks!Don't forget to come to our live podcast recording in the WOTC Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night at 9 pm.

You can find the interactive list of exhibitors for Gen Con 2025 here. Check out: AMIGO Games at booth 19071985 Games at booth 1459Hammerdog Games at booth 2309Q-Workshop at booths 149 and 1749Rowan, Rook and Decard at booth 455Pelgrane Press at booth 623 Two Little Mice at booth 1929 and 2029Family Time Fun is at booth 459, where you can find the promo card for Calliope Bush. Lisa Falkenstern is at table 65 of the Art ShowSchmandrewArt is at table 61 of the Art ShowGoater Mac's Funhouse is at the Entertainer's SpotlightOne Page Rules is at booth 7104 in Maker's MarketFor new and demoable games, check out: Up or Down from Capstone Games, booth 3027Boom Patrol from Smirk and Dagger Games, booth 429VNTYPL8S from 25th Century Games, booth 1457 Umami from HeidelBaer Games, booth 1003 for demosTwinkle Twinkle from AllPlay, booth 1849Lucha Lucha 3-4-5 from Whales Entertainment, booth 2860Necromancer from Kobold Press, demo at booth 1649Tamagotchi Collection from Kess, booth 521And for some last minute ticketed events: Blood on the ClocktowerMunchkin Charity GameGreat Big Convention Panel about Conventions

On this episode, Quarex and Ben introduce you to three content creators that we're big fans of -- and not just because they'll be at Gen Con 2025.First up, we interview Correy from the YouTube channel Travel the Board. Correy who vlogs about his travels across the US on conventions and cruises with real life not-internet human partner and his regular probably cohost, Scott the Bard! (We're trying to make fetch happen on this one.) Adding a layer of slight jealous: Correy is also an official Gen Con content creator for 2025.Next up, we speak with Ross from Roleplaying Public Radio, one of the O.G.-est of the gaming podcasts out there. Check out their main podcast as well their spin off RPPR Actual Play (which predated most actual plays by years, Matthew Christopher Mercer). Ross and Co. have five seminars and one live episode recording on Saturday at the JW, which is the only event that you're allowed to attend instead of our live podcast recording. Check out all the events here.Last but not least, we talk with JP Coovert, record label owner and former designer of Target kids t-shirts... who is currently one of the best YouTube channels out there for system neutral RPG content! JP is probably the living embodiment of a happy little tree, and he creates maps and adventures, plus zines and quirky content that are just the greatest. You can hop onto his pre-order for Flik Silverpen's Guide to Dragontown and the Darkness Below on BackerKit, and listen for his calming voice around the convention while he hands out zines like a Vloggy Applezine.You won't want to miss it.

On this episode, we're joined by the esteemed author Maurice Broaddus. An Indianapolis local, Maurice has attended Gen Con since 2008. This year, he's taken an active leadership role in the Writer's Symposium -- the convention within the convention where authors and aspiring authors hone their craft, learning how to tell better stories, and maybe even how you get those stories published in a way that you're proud of. The Writer's Symposium2025 Writer's Symposium EventsMaurice's Books Maurice's WebsiteThe Kheprw InstituteUnlike Trade Day, you don't need a special badge to attend Writer's Symposium events, and you can dip your toe into attending a single event or even a Coffee Klatch with one of your favorite authors who attend the Best Four Days in Gaming.

On the third of our Gen Con topicsodes, Quarex and Ben step away from the interviewing racket to talk about the lockers in the ICC that have returned after almost 20 years. It shouldn't go without saying that your hosts spend time talking about what led to this change — the proliferation of makeshift shopping carts in the exhibit hall. If you're outside the downtown block, you're going to want to make sure you listen in.

While once the domain of Renn faires and Eras Tours, trinket trading has exploded at Gen Con over the past few years. To better understand this new phenomenon, we talk to Bri Pettegrow-Lajoie, the head of the official Gen Con Trinket Traders Facebook group! On this episode, we discuss what trinket trading is, what qualifies as a trinket, the etiquette for trading, and exactly how fun it is to drive from Maine to Indy and back again! Join the Facebook Group!Attend a Trinket Trade Meetup at Gen Con 2025!Maybe play a game that Bri is GMing for Kobold Press?Shoutout to artificer of the pod Shawn for suggesting this topic -- and reach out to us if you want to hear more about any topics!

When he was last on the show, Matt Shoemaker was the man who was writing a book on Gen Con. Dreamers, he's done it — he actually wrote the book on Gen Con, and A Gathering of Gamers is releasing later this year. You can sign up to find out more at the Play Story Press website. At Gen Con this year, you can come to Matt's seminar with Jon Peterson entitled "Exploring the Process and Sources for Writing Gaming History" (link). If you have a trade day badge, you can go to his seminar on "Teaching With Games That Challenge Gaming Norms" (link). And of course he's going to be at everyone's favorite Saturday night event at the WOTC Lucas Oil Stadium: our live podcast recording, where tickets are going fast. Matt has been busy with more than just the book and the Gen Con events, as he documented the oral history of Origins 50 (link). You can also find him at PAX Unplugged, the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo (PAGE), Gary Con and Adepticon.

Did you know that, when he isn't writing elfgames and Gumshoe tales, renowned RPG author Kevin Kulp is a consultant on fatigue, alertness, and shift work? We are absolutely blessed that he joined us this episode to talk about the most important thing to prepare for Gen Con (or any con)-- making sure you get safe amounts of sleep!While Kevin can't make it to Gen Con 2025, you may still pick up his work from our friends Pelgrane Press at Booth # 623!You can also check out Kevin's other work at the following links:Swords of the Serpentine, the Ennie winning GUMSHOE game of swords and sorcery (link)Time Watch, where you play as secret agents defend the timestream from radioactive cockroaches, psychic velociraptors, and human meddlers (link)13th Age Bestiary, which is everything you want in a lore-laden and beautifully illustrated monster manual (link)Hoot Owl Trail, a fantasy steampunk Wild West shoot 'em up that's "D&D with spurs" (link)And yes, if this sounds a lot like episode 57, it is. Sleep is so very important to our Gen Con dreams, and we couldn't improve on a perfect episode — we could only make sure it reaches your ears again.

On the fourth of our five Gen Con prepisodes, we're looking at all the ways you can move around the greater Gen Con convention center. From skywalks to escalators, from alarms to calendar events, you'll want to listen in for all the best tips and tricks when it comes to moving around the convention spaces.