-Good-
Had so many good sessions for RPGs my group 
Call of Cthulhu, Cartel, Aetherium, Crawlspace, Clockwork etc.
Between the GM's being able to adapt and work on things on the fly to giving players options and the illusion of choice etc. So many laughs and memorable moments great fun!

-Bad-
One of my RPGs seemed too railroaded for my group, the GM was reading most everything of the adventure from the book. Also on top of being a 4 hour adventure we didn't even come close to finishing the adventure. Now the DM did seem a bit inexperienced it may have been the first session he ran, with all that said it wasn't really that "bad" per se just the weakest of all my game sessions.

-Ugly-
Cosplay Deviants Party- not the event per se but something that happened there. Going to the party it was as much as you would expect to be honest i went more for the open bar than anything else. All was fine i was having a good time just chatting and remembering with friends the good old times as men of a certain age do.

The problem started with a random drunk guy barreling into me and my friend, hey i've been there i get it i brushed it off and let the guy order his drink. The guy proceeds to yell 'TWO TWO TWO" to the bartender who was serving other people and was finishing up. The guy proceeds to just scream and curse at our bartender and thats when i started to think something was off with this guy. Finally the bartender comes over and the guy keeps yelling "TWO TWO TWO" to his face the bartender asks "two what?" before the guy's friend comes up and politely asks for two whiskeys and go off to drink.

Thinking it was the last of "that guy" I resume my spot and keep drinking.. but alas as i am enjoying my drink the drunken guy comes up to me puts his somewhat empty plastic cup on my head (upside down on my head) and laughs. I bat it off and go "hey thats not cool what the hell?!" he gets the cup and tried to put it on my head again so i swat it off then he squares up and goes "you know who i am? i will fuck you up!". I look at him in the eye and i tell him i'm not stupid enough to fight (knowing that well for one being Latino and him being Caucasian well...). His friend apologizes and i tell his friend that he better watch his friend because it's not quite polite to pull shit like that as he ferries him away.

It still kind of bothers me and my other friend who went to walk around the crowd comes back, i describe the guy (about 5'6 caucasian, blue hat with a square in the middle, medium build and greenish shirt) and he tells me the guy was drunk fell down the stairs and when he helped the guy up the guy wanted to fight him. At the time i didn't see club security so i told one of the event staff and they instructed me to point the guy out for security. Well it seems Karma IS a thing because just as i walked back into the club i see our "little friend" getting escorted/dragged out of the club by three of the security staff lol.
 

Good:
Fogo de Chao - Tried this for the first time and oh my goodness the food was so amazing. I was expecting good, but was blown away at how awesome it was. The staff was top notch, the food was delicious. Absolutely recommend the short walk to try this place.

Hyatt Regency - 3rd year in a row we stayed here. Its one of the most expensive hotels, but the location is great, easy to use the tubes or walk outside and hit most food options.

VIG Staff - Everyone who works in the VIG lounge are the best of the best of the best (sir!)

Puzzle Hunt - This returned this year. And my wife won a free badge for 2020!

Wifi - The Wifi seemed to work very well inside ICC.

Bad:
The loss of early entry for VIGs - Nothing we can do about it anymore, but it was a downside.

Those damn giant square backpacks in the hall. I had no issue with people in wheelchairs or strollers, but those backpacks were awful.

Ugly:
I went to Luma games to check out King's Dilemma on Saturday. I saw they had a couple of copies but was told they were preorders. No worries there, I brought my group by on Sunday and noticed there was still a copy on the floor, slightly hidden behind other boxes. I asked the man if he still had a copy so I could show my friends, and I knew all he had was preorders. He looked me in the eye and told me he didn't have any copies left, even though I was looking straight at the box. I explained that I wasn't trying to buy the preordered copy, but just wanted to show my friends so we could see if it interested us. Again he told us he didn't have a copy. So he lied straight to my face. This immediately made me never want to buy that game or any game from that company again. The game sounded interesting from the little I knew, but now I will never play it.

If they have to wait until the hall opens to get in line to go buy items they want, they won't be at their own booths when you show up to buy the thing you want from them. And if they wait until they have some 'free time' later on, A) they won't have it, and B) any limited items will be gone.

Good:

• My wife and I are finding our stride on what events we'd both like to do, and we both came away feeling that we mostly did everything we wantedand we'rent excessively rushing around
  
• All the oddball events that make Gencon a unique experience for me this year included: Hungry Hungry Hippos, Clay-o-rama, the Late Night Puppet Slam, and Oregon Trail Live
  
• Getting in on Wednesday and enjoying a night out for dinner.
  
• Playing MCC in the Goodman Games room with an enthusiastic GM and fun table group, and so much gonging.
  
• Bathroom cleanliness - for this many bodies moving through they do a great job most of the time.
  
• The blood bus, their crew are always a source of pleasant conversation mid-saturday.
  

Bad:

• People who cant keep their nerves down, like the guy playing RPGs in the conference room of the Westin friday night that shouted at his wife/partner about spellcasting and completely killed the vibe and clearly hurt her. I hope you're reading this and get a grip buddy.
  
• The only tickets I desperately wanted but couldnt get were for a chance to play Honey Heist. But I had lots of great RPGs anyway. 
  

Ugly:

• The walk down to McCarty parking lot with all our crap on sunday afternoon. Oi.
  
• Some of the scooter dodging.
  

[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6ijhgv74gp6w83/20190801_062145.jpg?dl=0[/img]

Overall one of my more awesome Gencon experiences.

GOOD:

1. My 35th year attending Gencon without a miss.
2.Paizo rocked it again this year. From the Pathfinder and Starfinder events,
to the fantastic table groups and judges, it was fantastic!
3. Primanti which replaced Chicago Pizza kitchen at Circle Center
entrance on Maryland. Tasty and reasonable sandwiches, salads
and drinks, as well as great staff.
4. Scooters(this will also be in bad column) became quite convenient
for some of our group in a few instances.
5. Volunteer staff. Your helpfulness, friendly enthusiasm, and efforts
to be a huge part of keeping the potentially clunky engine of Gencon running smoothly
does not go unnoticed. A huge hand out to those folks!
I could likely fill a page with more good entries, but these stand out.

BAD:

1. The usual, (insert Patsy from Holy Grail sized backpacks, or Rickshaw sized
towed luggage in the Dealers room) but this really got me this year. Parents
who weaponize their kid's strollers to get through the crowd. Once or twice
wouldn't really merit mention. But I saw/experienced it more than several times.
2. Scooters. Not only were they laying about everywhere like giant pick-up sticks
but there are too many examples to count of people all over the sidewalks, and
weaving badly through crowds. 
3. Dealers room layout with broken up aisles. Now I now space is probably at a
premium there. But it's SO much easier to navigate straight up and down aisles.
4. Convenience stores. This is more of a wish list item, but it would
be nice to have a decent convenience store, right outside the Convention center.
Seems you always need one for something or other.

UGLY:

1.The only really ugly I can think of is the behavior
of a few over served people at the Cosplay open bar party.
Now I'm a fat guy, but also have been doing a lot of lifting
and gym visits for rehab and health reasons. So there is some 
good bulk there too. I'm also very laid back, and would rather laugh
than fight anyone. I had a few occasions of biscuit heads intentionally 
ramming into me,(shrugged, resumed conversation with friend)Had my drink
grabbed from in front of me with starting something intent. (smiled, shrugged,
ordered another drink) Or just plain "are you really doing THAT? " kind of behavior.
Again, water off a duck, but it does get incredibly tiresome for everyone.

The Good:
Brought my 14-year-old son for the first time, and he loved it.
Finally got to meet Cherie Priest, one of my favorite authors.
The BYOV LARP events were fantastic, as usual.
Tried the food trucks for the first time, and they were really good!

The Bad:
We need a Starbucks in Lucas Oil Stadium.
One of my board game events went beyond the time limit, and I had to leave in the middle to get to my next event.

The Ugly:
My hotel reservation & bill also got screwed up.

The good:
Top one is Andy & Eric running Bolt Action, they were awesome. Next up is The Megagame Coalition running Survival Systems and the other players that were there.

The bad:
The dealer hall. Just nothing there to really be excited about and too many dealers with multiple booths. Also felt that certain types of games weren't well represented this year.
PanAm Plaza sitting empty while there isn't enough good trucks to feed the people there.

The Ugly:
The board game library and the lack of ability to find people to play with there.
No live music any more in the beer garden.

The Good:

*This was the best year ever for my entire family.  

*Met really wonderful people.  Every game we had solid players who were kind, funny, and good sports.  The social aspect of this year was the best.

*Staying at the JW Marriot.  Emotionally so much easier than walking home at 2am to Hilton or Home2suites.  It was significantly more expensive than in year's past - but worth it for us.

*My daughter seeing friends she made in year's past and playing Werewolf to 3am.

*Comfy bed.

*Riding bikes along the canal Wednesday and Sunday.

*The quality of games played - nothing was a slog.  Had fun and felt engaged.  Played - Agricola Farmers of the Moor, Fiasco, Scythe, DCC Tourney, TIME Stories, Rising Sun, Aliens RPG, Werewolf.

*My husband winning DCC  Leather-bound version of Dungeon Alphabet,

The bad:  Nothing was bad enough to comment.  Absolutely nothing.

The ugly:  Indianapolis still smells like sewage:)

Our takeaway - Gencon is better when you don't over schedule events.  Some of the best times were made in pick up games or events like Games on Demand.

Yes - my family is depressed it is over.

Our bill got messed up at the Sheraton a few years ago. Nice kid at the desk, but it took him 45 minutes to get the bill split and get us receipts printed with all of our names on them (which is what GC wants for GM reimbursement).

The Good:
Finished the Orc Stomp, in walking mode.
Did not have a bad game. Had some that were slow to start,  and took a while for the group to gel, but no bad ones.

The Bad:
Feeling ill on Saturday. Didn't stop any games, but did stop me doing anything on Saturday night.

The Ugly:
Being admitted to hospital on the Monday.
​​​​​ :(

I would like to give a shoutout to the Wi-Fi. It did work great and much better than I expected. Good job guys on the Wi-Fi.

Also another shoutout for our AWESOME DM Alex in our DDAL game with us noobs. She was great, very patient and explained everything. I was so into it I bought myself a copy of the players handbook. Lol.

Who says girls don’t play D&D :)

G
 

Let me paint you another picture...there are more than 500 vendors (I believe) and if each one of them let 1 employee loose to go around and get in line then 500 people would be in the lines before we ever set foot in the hall. No one would have a chance to get any of the new “hotness”. Does that seem fair?

I don’t have a problem with Exhibitors getting in line for games, but either they should be outside the doors with the rest of us or the number of games that can be sold to them should be limited to say the first 5 to 10 in line. Make them “earn it” like the rest of us.

The Good:
- The wifi worked!
- Gaming with friends Sunday after the con closed
- Renegade booth giving tickets to those in line so you don't waste time not knowing if you'll get the game you want. I assume other booths did this too.
- VIG swag bag was great this year. Maybe they were making up for removing the Thursday 9am VIG hall access, or maybe the swag games were just more up my alley this time.
- CG room was a nice break from the vendor hall and had great demoers. I played Letter Jam with some nice strangers.
- Bee's Coffee specialty 2019 drink "Daenerys Burns Kings Landing" was extra tasty
- AEG Big Game Night was more organized and it was cool to do the town hall format of Tiny Towns. BUT (see The Bad)

The Bad:
- Despite AEG Big Game Night being more organized in terms of moving from game to game, there was a massive line to get seated. Never experienced that in the years I've done it.
- Fantasy Flight owning so many companies gets confusing and fosters a feeling of disconnection. 

The Ugly:
- The air conditioning seemed even more ridiculous this year.

I love how you're coming just short of blaming the exhibitors for 'making money off you'. As if you wouldn't be complaining if you stopped at the booth at there was no one there?

Exhibitors pay for a booth, just like VIGs pay for their status. VIGs used to get early access as well.

So yes. Some people will be able to "severely limit" your ability to buy a game. It's a travesty, I know. But I'm sure if we buckle down as a community, we can work our way through this without long lasting PTSD.