Bracton wrote in Gencon 2013:And, with the lovely wife's blessing, I have put down an order for a Geek Chic gaming table.  Unfortunately, delivery will be about a year off.  Sigh.

That's awesome!  Been admiring those for quite a while, especially The Sultan.  Wow.  As you mentioned the backlog is extraordinary though!

It was good to see everyone at Gen Con.  Looking forward to next time.

Once I've had a chance to recover, will post some tidbits and perhaps some photos we took.  There seemed to be a lot of costumes this year.

I'll also compile more thoughts and pics within the week but here a re a few highlights...

As a GenCon First-timer and relatively new Acaeum member, I was completely overwhelmed the moment I arrived Thursday morning.  Not because I'm unfamiliar with large conventions (I attend Oracle OpenWorld every other year in San Fran), but because of the amount of stuff I wanted to see and/or buy.  The auction store was awesome on Thursday morning - I couldn't believe the amount of TSR product for sale.  I was able to get 4 Planescape books [complete] for super cheap plus several other great items; with the additional vendor pre-release buys, I soon lacked room in my bag and hands to carry all the stuff I bought!  Thank goodness for the convention business center and UPS!

Meeting the many Acaeum members was a definite highlight!  A few private sales with Invincible Overlord and dbartman added a few nice pieces to my collection, thanks guys!  When meeting Frank M for the first time, he replied by saying that I was the new guy that posts alot!  Thought that was pretty funny.  Meeting him and Tim Kask was really cool.  Not so cool was nearly knocking over Ed Greenwood in the hallway as I crossed traffic.  Close call for Ed, I had him by 50 or more pounds.     I met so many Acaeum members that I have to try to remember handles, real names, and faces!  I ran through True Dungeon with Blackmoor and Mrs. Blackmoor thanks to a ticket from Prufrock, thanks!  Also, thanks to Stratochamp for my numerous questions, bothering him behind the counter!  Met with Ligmancer and Cthluluoid Thursday morning and the auction hall!  Met up with Bracton in the auction hall, had some great collecting conversation.  Also met rabbit_67 and bbarsh at the OSR booth.  Donated quite a bit to Bill at his booth.    Also, met the Burntwire Brothers in the auction hall (was envious of one of their snags).  Several other Acaeum members were pointed out to me that I didn't get a chance to meet - hope to meet more of you next year!

Although I had to step out for a bit for the ENnies Friday night (my work didn't win unfortunately), the auction was real fun to watch.  I tried to bid on a few of the higher ticket items, especially the EX+ OCE white box and the 3rd print woodie but lost out when the $ was really too high for the item/conditions.  I asked the woman who won the woodie for $750 (I bailed out at $725) what she was willing to go to - she would have gone to $1000 - way too much for the condition I thought.  Other members said that the auction was light this year (number of items and conditions), so I'll take their word for it.  There was one guy in the front row of the auction on Friday that bought so much stuff, there was hardly anything left for the rest of us!  

Thanks to Stratochamp, Bracton, Ligmancer, and Cthuluoid for buying my guidelines!  overall, I sold 9 copies.  That money went right back in to the Con!  

My hotel sucked but I knew that it would, booking it last minute, and all my flights were delayed and missed, making my Sunday travel twice as long as it should have been.  But all in all, my first GenCon experience was excellent!  Thanks to all the Acaeum members that made my experience that much better!

~throwi (Thom)

Just chiming in to say it was a great con and I was happy to meet all of you I had not run into at other places.  The auction was fun, though I didn't snag too much that wasn't in the auction store.  Maybe not the best thing but my favorite surprise item I was able to get was a 1981 t-shirt from Gencon 14.  I stacked everything up when I got home and it was a bit over 4 feet tall of mostly books.  Still not sure how I got it all in the plane with only one checked bag.

Zenfinite wrote in Gencon 2013:Which table man!?!?!? I've been a fan of Geek Chic for a few years now, and will be able to get one, but only after we buy a house (wife already rubber stamped the yes). I'm looking at a pimped out Emissary, and I also want the Alexandria Codex bookshelf. I realize I'm looking at ~8k of furniture, but I figure it will outlive me...plus they look SO nice.

Spot on -- the Emissary.  The problem is I want it in the basement, and we've got a pretty tight turn half way down the stairs.  So I don't know which size table yet.  Once they get back to me, I'm supposed to take a video walking down the stairs, and take a few measurements, and they'll tell me the largest size that will fit.

They really are nice pieces of furniture. With the top leaves in, it would be hard to tell that it isn't just a dining room table.

OH... that's the other cool thing I forgot to mention about the auction...


No More Half Dollar Increments!!!  


I'm sure that made things much smoother...

Bracton wrote in Gencon 2013:While the collectors auction was weak, I think this was (at least from the outside looking in) one of the best run Gen Con auctions.  Last year, it took me almost two hours to check in the items I brought for sale on Wednesday.  This year -- about fifteen minutes.  Friday night we were done well before midnight, compared to prior years finishing past 1 am.  So kudos to Soren and Katie, who run the auction, for a job well done.  And to Frank and Tim, who as always brought their special panache -- and great stories -- to the auction.

Again, I have to completely agree. I have not sold anything at the auction in 10 years, but I did this year. I used Mark's tip to log onto the auction account and create slips for all my items. I then just showed up Thursday afternoon and they logged them into the system in a few minutes! Awesome efficiency. And of course, Frank and Tim were excellent.

My two youngest kids (13 and 15) came to their first Gen Con (and first convention ever) with virtually no gaming experience at all. They loved the auction. We spent of ton of time there. In fact, my 13 year old, Anna, won a seventh print Greyhawk for $7!!!!!    Frank made a big deal of the fact that she won. And too add more joy, the Greyhawk was being sold by Stratochamp!! He came by right away and congratulated her on a huge win!

Again, what a fantastic job the auction crew put forward every year.

Great photos.  Really captured the wide array of costumes.  The fairie stormtroopers are just wrong!

Martin

And someday I might even be able to autograph the "Pearlman AD&D Book"...  

Not a bad first mini.  Congrats to your daughter.

On another note:  Official attendence was 49058.  Thats a 20% increase from last year and a 75% increase over the course of the last 10 years.


Martin