Gen Con 2025 Schedule

Hey all, Sam here.

This week(end)–as in Thursday thru Sunday, David and I will be in Indianapolis for Gen Con once again. We look forward to this trip every year, and every year we have a great time. David will be playing a bunch of different board games and such, and I’ll be spending a good amount of time at the Gen Con Writers Symposium, but I’ll be getting in some game time as well.

July has felt like a long chaotic slog through the work days to get to this vacation, but it is almost here…..and we should probably finish packing.

Usually around this time, I like to talk about my plans and schedule and hopes for the convention, so let’s go ahead and get started.

Thursday

How to Cosplay Your Character (with Ginny Di) 11am

Imposter Syndrome 1pm

Brainstorming 101: From Downpours to Droughts 2pm

Finding Your Character’s Voice 4pm

Writing with Emotional Intensity 5pm

Champion of Undeath – A Labyrinth Adventure 7pm (3 hours)

Thursday is probably the busiest day for me schedule-wise, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited for the Writers Symposium events, but I’m really ready for learning more about cosplaying your own character. And, both David and I have tickets to play the Tales of the Valiant adventure Champion of Undeath, which should be fun. We know we’re not likely to be at the same table, but we’re excited to sit down and play a session of ToV (since we have pretty much all the books for it).

Friday

Tripping on Tropes in Genre Fiction 10am

Drawing Inspiration from Religions and Myths 11am

Dealing with Writer’s Block 1pm

Writing Despite Existential Crisis or Despair 3pm (2 hours)

Friday feels like the day of some panels I really need to take. I’m excited for the religions and myths one because I think it will be cool, but the two I feel like I need are the writer’s block and existential crisis or despair ones. Oh, Friday is also the day we meet up with the Nerdparents (a couple who owns a gaming shop back in Ohio, and basically adopted us as their nerdlings years ago. We actually got married at their house) and eat dinner, so that’s always a highlight of our trip.

This day is also my birthday, so it seems like a pretty good way to spend the day.

Saturday

When to Stop Worldbuilding 11am

Structure 101 2pm

And I’m hoping to get into 21 Days to a Novel at 3pm (2 hrs). It’s listed as Sold Out currently, but I bought enough generic tickets to cover the cost if they can fit me into the room.

Critical Role Live: Indianapolis 7pm

Saturday is a more open day, but I’m hoping that means I get a little more time to wander the dealer’s hall. I know we can’t buy a lot this time around, but there’s still a few books, games, and accessories I’m hoping to pick up.

But Saturday is also the day we have to drive about a half-hour away from the convention center to go to the Critical Role Live show. This one is going to be their first Daggerheart adventure set in Exandria, and we’re really curious to see how they bring over their high-level D&D 5e characters to the Daggerheart system. Obviously we won’t be talking spoilers, but this one-shot will be shown in movie theaters next week, and then will probably be on the Critical Role YouTube and such in a couple weeks.

Sunday

The Sablewood Messengers 10am

All we have on the schedule for today is to play a Daggerheart adventure. Again, David and I don’t expect to be at the same table, but it will be nice to sit around with other players, as well as game masters who know what they’re doing so we can get more familiar with this new game system. We’ve been watching all of the videos and live plays on the Critical Role channel, but actually sitting down and playing will be really helpful for us, before we start playing the system at home.

Sunday is also our drive back home, so it still ends up being a fairly long day, but at least our souls will be filled with the energy of having spent four days surrounded by tens of thousands of other nerds.

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All right, well that is all from me for today. We’ll probably have a Gen Con Wrap-Up post sometime next week, because there will probably be a lot to talk about. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.