Geeking Out at Gen Con 2018

Tour members will be arriving throughout the day and everyone will have transportation arranged to take them directly to the hotel. A Geek Nation Tours representative will be waiting to greet you when you arrive. We will have a leisurely, relaxing free day to explore the area. Depending on your arrival time and your interests this can include taking in a couple of Indianapolis’ museums, which are just a short walk from the hotel (or of course gaming with those that have already arrived).

Join us in the evening as we get to know each other over dinner right at the hotel.  No need to head out into Indianapolis tonight as we will have a great meal at the hotel with plenty of gaming space as well…

For those so inclined, we have also been invited to the official Gen Con Keg Tapping party by the gang from Kentucky Fried Gamers. Each year Gen Con produces its own brew and this year will see some of the same goodness we had in the past. The KFG crew is a huge part of the Gen Con community and hanging out with them is always great fun.  If you would like to join in the night festivities join them at Scotty’s Brewhouse for a pint or two.

We will be staying at the beautiful Le Meridien just two short blocks from the convention itself.

Overnight Location: Indianapolis, IN

oday we will begin the day with some Sci-Fi gaming goodness!  Our first exclusive gaming experience will be with the Mantic Games crew as we experience their recently released Star Saga game. Ronnie Renton, the King Kahuna of Mantic Games, will be there himself to guide us on our Star Saga adventure as we journey to the nearby Yard House restaurant.

Today will see you pitted as intrepid Mercenaries battling against the twisted master of Eiras’s diabolical laboratories in a game of high adventure in a futuristic world of space travel, advanced technology, and myriad alien races. Will you be able to defeat the lab’s evil scientists, merciless Marines, and devious puzzles? Don’t forget you have to escape the death trap in order to spend that well earned loot…

This will be your first chance to mingle and game with those that bring you the games that you love.  Geek Nation Tours will be inviting people from the Gen Con community to participate in this Pre-Gen Con gaming event, so if you ever wanted to be a part of the Gen Con community, this is your chance!  You are sure to leave the tour with new gaming friends from all around the world as we game and mingle with like-minded people that love games just like you.

In the evening, join us for Geek Nation’s Welcome Dinner, which takes place right down the street at the creators of all things beef (and that other stuff of course) – Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. It will be time to listen to our traditional guest speakers from the D6 Generation Podcast and the upstart competition for them the Nerdherders (who wanted first billing btw). Who knows – a battle of the podcasters may break out – clubs may be part of the show (or maybe we should rent Sumo Suits)!

But what would be a Geek Nation Tours Welcome Dinner without gaming industry guests? The Mantic Games crew will join us again in the evening for dinner and a Q&A. They have tones of new games coming out in 2018 so be ready for loads of information and sneak peeks!  You might even want to ask them about their Hellboy (new for 2018), Walking Dead, Mars Attacks boardgames or their excellent miniature wargames like Kings of War or Deadzone.

As mentioned above, we also have WETA Workshop and Cryptozoic Entertainment coming to our Welcome Dinner to talk about all things Rick and Morty (and their special brand of space invasion) and other crazy cool stuff they have planned…

Geek Nation Tours and Russ and Craig from the D6 Generation podcast (and the crew of the Nerdherders if they make it in time), will get us into the Gen Con spirit with a couple of games as well!  Craig will lead us in his traditional Gen Con favorite – Werewolf!  Where as Russ and the rest of the crew will continue with the theme and play something Alien Invasion… Share a drink and mingle with the Podcast crews, game designers and the other tour participants to discuss all things Gen Con.

That’s not all though! Tonight we will be handing out your Gen Con weekend badges and event tickets so we will be ready to go once the convention begins! No Gen Con event ticket pickup line or postage fees – just roll out of bed on Thursday right into the con.

Overnight Location: Indianapolis, IN

As we will already have our badges, we will be able to jump right into the Gen Con 2018 goodness! At this point you will be ready for the spectacle that is Gen Con. If you have any questions at all, our Geek Nation representative will be there at the convention with you. As a matter of fact, he will even walk to the convention with you to ensure your Gen Con experience proceeds without a hitch. We will be starting off our Gen Con early as we head off to the opening ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. just outside the exhibit hall. Doors open at 10:00 am so be sure to bring a game!

Geek Nation Tours takes pride in getting people of like minds together to experience the finest in geeky events and our Gen Con tour will be no exception. We will meet each night to regale each other with our experiences, the games we played or saw, and to share other Gen Con “war stories”. Past Geek Nation participants agree that our nightly gatherings are a wonderful part of the convention experience – a time where you can get to know other geeks and maybe hear a great suggestion or two on what to do the following day. Not only that, you’ll be surrounded by a large and welcoming gaming community so you’ll have an opportunity to meet new friends and the time to discuss all those geeky things that you love. You can join us every night or you can do your own thing, it’s entirely up to you. Geek Nation Tours wants you to have the most freedom possible to “Geek Out”, so our meetings will be completely optional – you can come and go as you please. For those that can’t make the meals (because of a full gaming schedule) feel free to come later – and bring your dice – because we will have open gaming every night.

Tonight we will head out to one of our best loved restaurants for Brazilian Barbeque – Fogo de Chao! Eat until your belly is full and take in their beautifully cooked meats or sample their spectacular salad bar. Make sure you top up as you will need the energy for tonight’s exclusive gamers event…

Geek Nation Tours is very excited to offer you yet another awesome elite gaming experience. We have a particularly cool event planned tonight as we will be joining the NSDMG (National Security Decision Making Game) for their “Near Future” Science-Fiction FastPlay game to experience firsthand the boundaries between science–fact and science-fiction. Experience new technologies, world crises and the mysterious events of our near future 2035 scenario. Help deal with world challenges as leaders. Expect anything from crazed dictators, revolutions, pandemics, global warming, uncontrolled artificial intelligence, universal state surveillance,  new technologies, new genetic breakthroughs, artificial intelligences, or other surprises in our world that is not quite “as-you-know-it”. Who knows they might even include a touch on this year’s GNT theme…

For those that don’t know them, NSDM is an intense face-to-face immersive multiplayer seminar role-playing game. Players represent large social, industrial, political and military groups in real-world nations experiencing major domestic and international challenges where their interaction/negotiations with others drive world changing events.  Their staff’s in-depth knowledge of the military, political, economic and social aspects of world events allow for engaging believable and exciting play. In our games, player decisions make a difference—there are no inevitable outcomes. NSDMG provides a synthetic learning experience where participants can gain insights into the basics of international relations AND experience some aspects of the governance, culture, and circumstances impacting how other nations work.

Play along as a member of a country in crisis as the world as a whole continues to spiral out of control. Will you play as the President of the United States, Prime Minister of the UK, the Royalty of Jordan, or the multitude of other government officials in these and other countries around the world.  How will you deal with the threats inside your country, the issues outside your countries boarders or those coming from parts even further removed?

You can learn more about this amazing gaming experience via the GrogCast Podcast Season 2, Episode the Last or visit them via their Facebook page.

Overnight Location: Indianapolis, IN

You now have three days to completely geek out! You are free to experience Gen Con 2018 as you want, though there will always be a Geek Nation Tours representative on hand to deal with any questions or concerns you may have. Join a role playing game, demo a new boardgame, or get your picture taken with a cosplayer. Your schedule should be all set at this time, but you can always choose to head off to Gen Con’s boardgame area to grab a game with some new friends. Lost your GNT companion? Don’t worry – you can always find his exact location just by texting him.

Prior to registration, Geek Nation Tours will ask tour participants if they are interested in doing some gaming as a group. Many will be busy doing their own thing, but if you are interested be sure to sign up for any or all of these events. Some of the classics we did as a group in year’s past were D6 Gen’s “Play by Mob” event, and the famous “True Dungeon” – but even X-Wing had a huge following…

But those are the days…what about the nights, you ask?  Well each night you will be treated to dinner on Geek Nation Tours and have awesome exclusive gaming experiences.  Join Geek Nation Tours for four nights of social gaming, demos and prizes.  Bring your own game or play one of the games we feature that night, as we will have a multitude of tables and free gaming space open for all! We will even have several gaming companies on the ropes for a short Q&A prior to hanging out and rolling some dice with us well into the evening.

We are very excited to see the return of our friends from Stronghold Games to our guests honour lineup. Stronghold Games prides itself in producing only the best quality games produced, created and played by gamers.  Stephen and the crew at Stronghold love games and are always happy to share that joy with fellow gamers.  Stephen Buonocore himself will be stopping by to talk about all things Stronghold, but also to also to infect us with Dark Moon’s diseases and hunt us down as the alien from Not Alone… Scifi horror will abound and you will have to be brave to survive the meriad threats from all sides… For those that want a bit to fun in a lighter sci fi game, get Stephen talking about Space Freaks – one of their newer releases that allows you to take on self built alien monstrosities pitted against each other in the Arena of Annihilation!

But, just because you can never have too many alien invasion games, Geek Nation Tours has asked Braine Games to also stop by to tell us about their game Alien Entity. Austin and the crew will talk about their new company, what they offer and run us through a couple of games…

Who amongst our unassuming gamers has been infected by the alien viruses which seem to abound in this night’s gaming…

Overnight Location: Indianapolis, IN

Tonight we will return to the hotel for another awesome meal and gaming.  Our gaming focus will not only be a new Cyberpunk Role Playing Game but even more alien invasion games…

Osprey Games will join us to talk about their awesome books, their incredible and rapidly growing list of new and exciting games, and last but not least, another way to get eaten by aliens – Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space.  Imagine part the old Hasbro Battleship and part John Carpenter’s The Thing, as we run the maze trying to escape the space station SELVA and avoid our contaminated co-researchers…

If you would rather dip into a Role Playing Game, Anvil 8 Games will be just releasing their own brand of cyberpunk RPG called Aetherium.  An extension of Anvil 8’s miniatures skirmish wargame, characters enter the digital mindscape as anarchists, corporate agents, activists, hackers or spies. Struggle to maintain the impossibly complex machinery as your mind soars through the infinite worlds of cyberspace. Brian Niro and his crew will allow you to escape meatspace, Gen Con and your fellow gamers right at the hotel.

Geek Nation Tours will also invite podcasters to drop in this evening and so we hope we have another crazy night of rolling dice and mingling…

Overnight Location: Indianapolis, IN

Tonight we will be getting together for our Farewell Dinner at the Spoke & Steele restaurant right in the Le Meridien itself. Our Farewell dinner will be more of a casual affair and we will order right off the menu itself. We will meet at 6:30pm and have open gaming until close. The meal is on GNT as well as the first hour of beers so make sure you grab a few when you are setting up your favorite game… No spilling though! We would hate to have the games get ruined!

What about guests you ask? The Geek Nation crew is planning another guest and game filled evening… Stay tuned for more info soon!!!

Overnight Location: Indianapolis, IN

Today we will transfer to the airport and head home. The photos, memories and friends you made, even before hitting the convention, are yours to keep forever!