GenCon was AMAZING! (Patreon)

I'm sitting in the airport, about to fly home from GenCon, and I can't stop thinking about what an amazing weekend we had! A few months ago, when Chris from Wyrmwood called to invite me to GenCon as Wyrmwood's guest, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I'd never been to GenCon before, despite friends telling me I would love it. But I said yes (because I love Wyrmwood!) and started to prepare!

I originally was going to bring Josh (my fiancé) along as my helper, but he got a new job just a few weeks ago (woo! congrats to him!!) and could no longer make it, so I brought my mom along instead!

From the first moment on Thursday, GenCon exceeded and dismantled all my expectations. The con was absolutely packed the entire time, with people playing games around every corner. When we went back to the hotel, no matter the hour of the day, the hotel bar was full of people playing games over beers. There were whole rooms full of long tables of people playing every kind of game you can think of, and game designers and companies had game demos going on all weekend at their booths. One night at nearly 2 in the morning, I was playing a card game with some of my new Wyrmwood friends at the hotel bar, and a stranger came over and joined us. It was crazy wholesome tbh.

The best way I can describe the experience is this: You know if you go outside and look up at the stars in the city, you're like "cool, stars! I like stars!" and then you go camping and look up at the stars, and there are a million more stars than you've ever seen before, and you realize you had no idea what was really out there? That's how GenCon made me feel about board games.

As for the meet-and-greets, they completely blew my mind!! I wore regular clothes on Thursday because I figured it would be a sleepy day, but I still had a line of people excited to meet me — me, not wearing a costume! Just me! WHAT!!

I was also so happy to get to meet a few different Patrons in person! For those of you who came out and said hello, thank you so much for taking the time, and it was such a pleasure to get to say thank you face-to-face. (And oh my gosh, for those of you who brought gifts, I'M SORRY IF I FREAKED OUT you were just so generous and kind and I didn't know what to say!!)

Even outside of the meet-and-greets, I was being recognized all weekend, even out of costume. It was a completely new experience for me to be stopped on the street or in a bar and asked for a photo. It was such a warm and loving group of people, I felt like I spent the weekend in a big board game themed hug!

Of course, I got to attend the Critical Role live show, too!! The energy of the crowd there was INCREDIBLE. We all sang along to the theme song and you could tell that the cast was totally shocked (which is adorable... it's so cute how they keep just not getting how much we love them).

I also got to meet up with April Gloria, Jedimanda, and Alex (A Lee Studios) and we grabbed some mother-daughter shots with April's Ruby of the Sea and my Jester! I'm so excited to share those with you when Alex sends them along.

Finally, when the con was over, some of the Wyrmwood guys took me and my mom to the canal and the zoo on Monday for an episode of their vlog-style YouTube show Wyrm Lyfe. I already really liked the folks I'd gotten to meet from Wyrmwood at ECCC, but this weekend was such a fun opportunity to get to know some of them better and we really hit it off. I so hope that we get to work together more in the future. (And I think you guys are gonna really like that episode of Wyrm Lyfe!)

Overall, easily one of my favorite convention experiences of my life, maybe even the number one!! I can't wait to come back next year and bring Josh, who would absolutely love it... and maybe bring an extra suitcase for all the board games I wanted to buy!