What does everyone do when the next Gen Con seems so far away? 

Do you go to other gaming conventions?  If so, which one's?

I've been to Origins a few times and really liked it and have even gone to a few small local gaming conventions in my area, but nothing comes close to the experience of Gen Con.  The amount of people, the variety of things to do, the massive dealer hall, etc makes Gen Con feel like the one "can't miss" event of the year.  However, from now until late summer of 2018 my gaming life is pretty bad.  I was wondering what everyone else does?

My game group, Wife, friend, & myself, just play games every Friday and Saturday. We've been to Gen Con the last two year and have never been to another Con. We've kept Origins and Grand Con in mind, but for now are not going to either. We bought 50 new games and expansions between the 3 of us at Gen Con and those alone will keep us occupied for quite awhile. The next time we will look at buying games will be Black Friday. There is a game store by us that goes all out for Black Friday with better sales than you will see online. We will celebrate my friends birthday in Sept, mine in Oct. then the holidays will be here, then when early 2018 comes around we will be buying Gen Con badges and housing again. Also with a 3 month old at the moment, time is flying. At least for us, it will be Aug 2018 before we know it!

Every time I go to GenCon, I'm reminded how fortunate I am to have a large gaming group (8-12 people) that gets together every week. We play boardgames, card games, and miniatures games (no RPGs, though), and we have a lot of people who are willing to teach and learn new games. So I don't need to go to GenCon to try a lot of new games, because we already do that. Instead, I go to GenCon for the big role-playing events that I don't normally get a chance to play during the year. When the convention is over I do miss playing them, and I look forward to coming back to GenCon every year for the next games.

If your gaming life is pretty bad, I'd recommend checking out your Friendly Local Game Store and join a group there, or start one of your own. That's what we did!

I went to Gary Con for the first time last year and highly recommend it if you want to play games (as opposed to all the other stuff going on at Gen Con).

Resealed the "box" and started to put $$ in once again...I managed to stuff $3400 in it for Gen Con 50...my goal for Gen Con 2018 is $4400...

The day after I got home last year I made a really nice box out of Corian scraps...actually a hollow cube 6" per side with a 1/2" diameter hole in one face. Over the last year I have scrolled up and dropped money into the box (I set a minimum of "x" dollars per week, usually more,  along with a large portion of any $$ earned during the year doing small side jobs). It was tough to put money in...since it was fairly stuffed. Once the money went in, it wouldn't come out without cutting the box open. The Sunday before Gen Con 50 I opened it...I had averaged $65 per week...I know I can do better...

Start planning for Gary Con!

I start planning for the next Gen Con.
Figuring out which flights/airports to go for, how to get to the US, how to get to Indy, that sort of thing.

We get our cosplay geek on at Youmacon in Detroit, which also has some gaming(but not much) and Winter Fantasy which is almost all D&D.

I am considering poking my nose into GrandCon in Grand Rapids which is only an hour away this weekend but I dunno.

Also considering Origins.

I do allot of Civil War Reenacting, and am in a working Rock Band, so that keeps me pretty busy. Though I am considering hitting several of the smaller Cons this year. Dang it, I'll make time!

I'm part owner of DunDraCon, and work as the Minis coordinator for Kublacon (both in California). Other than that I edit for RPG companies, and am half owner in Pulp Action Library, a minis rules studio. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get a gaming group together at a shop up in town, to see if I can get gaming in the rest of the year. 

While I don't actually game much, my year is filled with gaming...

I basically play games online to get my gaming fix. :)

It takes us a full year to write and playtest the Nascrag events.  Our first playtest will be in a month.

Go back to gaming with my local group where i DM a 2nd edition ADND game..

I stay busy with local gaming...

My current gaming schedule is as follows;

Monday: None official, but sometimes a board-game before work/ends by 7pm.
Tuesday: gearing up to start running a Fantasy Age campaign.
Wednesday: D&D Encounters, 5th Edition.
Thursday: 5th Edition D&D game with friends.
Friday: No gaming, usually...
Sat: 1/month Tier 4 D&D game.
Sunday: 5th Ed game with different group a of friends (Currently Curse of Strahd).

I attend KublaCon, here in the Sf Bay Area. I might go to Origins as well this year.

-Uriel

PAX Unplugged is 65 days away. It looks like it will be awesome! The dealerhall list is on point, WotC is even there (when they haven't been to GenCon in a few years). Then I can start prep for Gen Con after that.

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Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group

I, too, am excited for PAX unplugged. Also starting to check out the local cons, like DundraCon and KublaCon and a few other much smaller cons. 

Origins is a nice preshow to Gencon if you can swing it and at least get a good feel for what'll be hot at Indy. Really liking Game hole con up in Madison Wi for the inclusive feel. Plus if you drink beer Madison is a awesome city and worth the drive. Otherwise it's local stores for a bit of magic and wait for real gaming at cons. The downside to living in Amish country unfortunately.