On the Road with the Dead Gentlemen

10:30am. The doors to the Exhibit Hall opened a half hour ago, and already a few thousand gamers, sci-fi nuts, and fantasy buffs have wandered through. Whether to demo new games, learn about the newest expansion, or to merely soak in the wonder that is the Hall, all these people have one thing in common: a love to rock Gen Con Indy.

And damn, these attendees are rockin’ Gen Con Indy! Already I’ve seen, I don’t know, thirty or forty pick-up gaming sessions (in hotel lobbies, food courts, and restaurants). I’ve seen three Ghostbusters, five Stormtroopers, Legend of Zelda’s Link, and over two dozen individuals with capes. Frankly, I’d like to see a combo of all those costumes, but that might be a lofty wish.

Walking around the convention center, it’s easy to overhear conversations referencing some event that happened last year. Remembering booth locations, specific gaming events, and costumes, it’s evident that these people notice the details in life. Gamers’ memories? Top notch. Which makes sense if you think about it: many of them can give you the exact wording of any spell listed in the Player’s Handbook. An impressive feat, no matter how you look at it.

The excitement for the opening of the Con coalesced around 9:30am, half an hour before the doors to the Exhibit Hall opened. Eager to be among the first to demo the new City of Heroes card game or to see what new goodies Goodman Games has this year, the mass of attendees gathered around the Exhibit Hall doors. And damn, it was a sight.

There’s something inherently impressive about a few hundred people packed together with little regard to personal space. Granted such impressiveness made moving around incredibly difficult, but hey, that’s part of the fun. Increasing amounts of people meant the area around the doors became exponentially harder to navigate. It was great.

At 10am, Peter Adkison, the man behind the Convention, came out to yell at the seething mass of gamers. He did some stuff with two big fuzzy red dice (not sure what – I failed my Listen check) then opened the doors to the salivating cheers of the attendees.

Like an army of zombies, the attendees swayed their way into the hall. Like hungry dragonflies searching for food, they scattered to the far corners of the massive room in search of their future purchases. Like a bad writer, I just used two similes in a row. Awesome.

As always, the Dead Gentlemen booth is packed with fans. Nathan and Scott are working the crowd, answering questions about the first Gamers movie and entertaining inquiries about the up-coming feature, Dorkness Rising. Ben and Sarah are busy finishing up the Gamers survival gift bags, and Emily just showed up to say what’s up. Matt should come in tonight, at which point the contingent of Dead Gentlemen will be complete. Then begins the world domination, one Midwest city at a time. Look out, St. Louis, we’re coming your way!

And as I finish typing this, I’m sitting between a dude who’s over seven feet tall and a woman who has bat wings. This really is the best four days in gaming.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 18th, 2005 at 12:40 pm and is filed under GenCon Indy 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.