Now, Wednesday was a Gen Con day, I guess. It was the day we all got in to Indianapolis, and it was a day for meeting old friends, but we didn’t really do anything “Gen Con.” I had used loyalty points to get an Air Canada flight, which meant it was cheaper but not free. Chris Bullock (the editor for Centurion: Legionaries of Rome, who became “Mother-Fucking” Bullock for Gen Con) and I hit town around 16:00 and were at the hotel and ready to head out by 17:00.
If you are travelling to Gen Con next year by air and don’t know about it yet, there’s a shuttle that leaves from the airport and hits most of the downtown hotels that costs $10. It was fast and convenient. We used it on our egress as well. It’s called GO Express Travel.
We stayed for the first night at the Comfort Suites on S. West St. It’s not right downtown, but it is only about a 10 minute walk from the convention centre. It doesn’t have the amount of gaming the lobby that the Embassy Suites or JW Marriot might have, but it’s about $80 – 90 per night cheaper. I mean, when you are dividing a $240 per night room among four guys, it doesn’t hurt that much, but if you are trying to do Gen Con on a budget, the Comfort Suites are about as good as the Embassy Suites, though their bacon is kind of scary.
MF Bullock and I were there for the official “tapping” of Flagon Slayer, the official beer of Gen Con.
Oh. My. God. That beer sucked. It wasn’t even really beer, it was some kind of unholy fruit ale mixed with mead – possibly including the urine of an unwashed Sherpa, but that is mere speculation. MF Bullock is a beer connoisseur (also a beer snob, but what can you do?). Dude knows his beer, and he had a lot of colourful comments about Flagon Slayer. I had only one. “This sucks.”
Being the brave lads that we are – and Canadian – we finished our beers in under 20 minutes. We had places to be.
One place, actually. I had a reservation at the Rock Bottom on W. Washington St. We had eaten lunch there during Gen Con 2011, and I remembered it fondly. There was no getting reservations at any of the usual places (the Ram, Scotty’s), so I made a reservation for 20 at the Rock Bottom and hoped it was as good as I remembered.
It was. The beer satisfied even MF Bullock. The food was great as well. A lot of the people whom I was really looking forward to meet were there, though there will be no name dropping going on. Rob and Chris from the Accidental Survivors also arrived after driving down. We didn’t go too late, and then MF Bullock, myself, and one of the Centurion Kickstarter backers hit the Ram for a late night beer.
I was warned at last call to finish my beer or the kind barkeep would punch me in the throat.
As if I needed motivation.
I really can’t comment on the beer from the Ram, because by that point – I am not ashamed to admit it – I was drunk. They could have fed me Coors Light . . . okay, wait, I was drunk, not lobotomized. They could have feed me Blue Moon and I wouldn’t have known the difference. (It’s a good beer, just not up to craft beer standards of downtown Indy). So, the Ram was fun. The beer seemed good. And then we went to crash.
Thursday was when Gen Con really began.
You can find more information on Centurion: Legionaries of Rome here and the Kickstarter here.
You can find more information on GO Express Travel here.
You can find more information on the Comfort Suites here.
You can find more information on the Rock Bottom here.
You can find more information the Ram here.