This year will be the first time I attend to GenCon in Indianapolis. For quite some time, fellow RPG bloggers like Zachary from RPG Blog II and Michael from Mad Brew Labs have been bugging me about when I am finally coming to GenCon. While I always loved the idea of meeting a lot of the great people I know from the internet, I always shied away from the idea of actually going to the GenCon (or any other con).

There are several reasons for that. First and foremost I am usually not comfortable in large crowds. It’s not that I get anxiety attacks or something that serious, but I just don’t like it. The next reason is that when I go to GenCon I will be forced to talk English all the time. While I have no trouble writing in English, speaking the language is a totally different matter. I think my English is definitely good enough, but I just don’t feel that confident. The last reason is that a trip to the US is pretty expensive when you live in Germany. The dollar has gained on the Euro recently and so the flight will set me back something between 900 and 1200€ which is a lot of money.

Zachary was kind enough to offer me a place to stay during GenCon and a lot of people told me that they would love to meet me at GenCon, so I gave it some thought, talked with my family and my girlfriend and then decided I should definitely go. The opportunity to meet a lot of my fellow RPG bloggers, game designers and thousands of fans of our hobby is just too good to pass up. And I don’t want my lack of confidence in certain areas hold me back from having a great time. I think each gamer should attend GenCon at least once!

So, what are my plans for GenCon? As a RPG blogger covering the GenCon for people who haven’t had the opportunity to attend this year will one of the priorities. I actually bought a digital video camera a while back, so that I can do video interviews etc. if everything works out as planned. I will definitely meet with some fellow RPG bloggers and I will try to track down some of the industry people I know to shake hands and chat. And the rest of the time I will just try to enjoy everything GenCon and Indianapolis has to offer. This trip in August will actually be the first time I visit the US and I am already very excited. If you have any tips for me, or if you are at GenCon yourself and you want to meet up with me, let me know. If you have any other thoughts you want to share, feel free to post in the comments below!