Day 003 of Gen Con I FINALLY slept in a bit. And by a bit I think I was up at 6:30am or something. I showered and ate my morning sausage and eggs that I’d been frying up.

What shocked me the most about staying with those four guys is that NONE of them eat much of anything in the morning. I’d sort of taken it as universal fact that everyone knew you need protein and fat in the morning — even if it’s just peanut butter and avocado — in order to have some fuel to power you through the day. But my guys were all sweet cereal and fasts until lunch.

Wild.

8am — I journaled and rode with them to the Crowne Plaza, where the Brotherwise and Dragonsteel teams were launching the cosmer rpg. All I can say is I was at GenCon for the release panel three things came to mind:

1. This game looks really beautiful.
2. It reminds me of the price point for Invisible Sun…
3. …and is similarly very, very open and collaborative with space for both improv role playing types and super crunchy mechanistic types.

I will be lobbying hard all my friends in NYC who both bought and played Invisible Sun to buy and play so that I can play at least once.

The coolest part was the Crowne Plaza, which is built into an old train station:

Yes, those trains are HOTEL ROOMS. Wild.

12pm — Tie-in fiction where I talked with several folks from the Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Battletech, and Star Wars IP writers. Keith DeCandido has encouraged me recently on this, yet this was the first time it seemed there was a practical path forwards. More to come.

1pm — Agenting panel along with Gabrielle Harbowy and Morgan Wilson. Friend of the site and contributor to OF GODS AND GLOBES II, Howard Andrew Jones, was there. The one thing I discovered came from a writer named Michael R. Underwood

2pm — Talked with Sheree Renée Thomas and her hubby Danian Darrell Jerry as well as Dedren Snead. I bought… okay so I bought all of their books. I think the last time I did that was with Marilynne Robinson or Denison Witmer’s concert. It’s been a long time since I’ve bought everything. But heck these are such lovely people I couldn’t resist supporting their work.

3pm — STUPID quick bite to eat. I eat too fast, but it helped here.

4pm — Pitched with Gabrielle Harbowy

5pm — Speculative Fiction Poetry open mic with Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Grand Master Linda D. Addison and Elgin Award winning poet Brandon O’Brien. I performed a piece from The Greenwood Poet, but also an unpublished piece about leviathans.

6pm — Failed MULTIPLE TIMES to get an uber to a friend’s so they brought dinner to me and we drove around for an hour.

8pm — I play tested Legacy at Sea DURING its kickstarter launch. Here’s the review.

(After that, we just networked with game designers and artists on Sunday and play tested Gunfights & Gamblin’  as well as Pirates of Maracaibo)

Gen Con 2024 was an excellent con.