The Big Bad Gen Con 2025 Recap

Written by Kelly Gray on 8/22/2025 for

Mistakes were made, fam.

See, I made the honest mistake of scheduling my family vacation after Gen Con. While this doesn't seem like a massive L, it took me a hot minute to get back to my computer and write...

Kelly Gray's official Gen Con recap

And let me tell you—I have a lot to say. The good news about my delay is that I did mentally write and rewrite this post about 37,000 times. So, I'm prepared to give you the (nearly) full briefing on everything Gen Con 2025.

I'm going to start with leading up to the event. The general fanfare, complaints, comments, questions—all of that was typical. Like any other year, housing is the bane of our existence. I went for two days this year (Friday and Saturday), so I gave up my early housing lottery spot and ended up booking a cute little Airbnb. The downfall, however, and what I learned this year, is that Airbnb hosts are vultures during Gen Con. Do not make this mistake. At any time, the hosts can simply cancel your reservation and then hike up the rates in hopes of making more money off another Gen Con renter. It's awful and leaves you in a housing lurch. I did end up finding a nice enough hotel, but it was far away and there weren't gamers playing in the lobbies (which, for whatever, reason really adds to my overall hotel experience). Although there was a continental breakfast, so we're calling it a wash!

I'll leave all of the additional complaints to the Fans Of page, because my biggest caution is about housing. Oh, and if you have the opportunity next year to mail your badge, do not hesitate. Because when you get to the convention center, your heart will start racing with excitement, and the last thing you want to do is stand in the will call line. Trust me, I've been on both ends. 

So, let's talk about day-of-event general notes

Speaking of the will call line, and since it's most likely your first stop on the tour of greatness, just know that its bark is much worse than its bite. When you see that line wrapping around corner after corner, you'll probably want to puke. I panic every year. But let me tell you this with the utmost confidence: they have ticket and name badge pick-up down to a science. The line moves faster than that one chicken place's drive thru. Gen Con will call? Never change. Additional highlight of the will call line is that it always winds around one small performance area, so if you're there at the right time, you may be serenaded by a lute player, or lute player equivalent. 10/10 the performers are great. Definitely fun to stop by at any time and see who is performing. You won't be disappointed!

Standard Gen Con activities were available. Vendor's Hall is a favorite, along with the open gaming areas, events throughout the building, and the block party, to name a few. One small area we always love to visit (and the road less traveled) is the vendors alley in the lower level of the Colts Stadium. It's here that you'll find some smaller vendors selling their wares. Tea, candles, pins, 3D-printed dragons, and more! It's always worth a visit if you've never been.

But onto my days, specifically, at Gen Con. I was very fortunate to be able to do meet-and-greets and interviews with Fan Roll Dice, Ravensburger, and Dead or Alive Games. I wanted to include blurbs about each of those interviews—but I’d be doing you a disservice, because there’s so much to cover. So bear with me, I’ll be dropping more about each of those in the coming days.

One of the greatest highlights of my Gen Con 2025 experience was playing Old Gods of Appalachia, a one-shot TTRPG from Monte Cook Games. This was the only ticketed event I attended, and I’m so happy I did.

Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror RPG that takes your adventuring party on a quest to cure themselves of a curse that’s been passed on from generation to generation. From initial information-finding and strategizing to the eerie depths of the forest, this one-shot is fun and not overly complex. I was extremely fortunate to have a great storyteller GM, and a fun and intelligent adventuring party. We were all experienced TTRPGers, so there weren’t learning speedbumps in the beginning, and there were some great character development and roleplaying that happened in the short time we were together. It was such a memorable experience, and you’ll probably find me at a Monte Cook Gaming table next year, too!

I can’t not speak about the Block Party area. 2025 was the year for the Block Party. Why? Because we had picture perfect weather. The vibes were right, and the food trucks were, as always, plentiful and delicious. The downfall to the Block Party is that the lines for the food trucks are very long, especially at peak hours, so if you can avoid standard lunch timing, you’ll get to your food much quicker.

In 2024 I had a delicious burger, and this year I had waffle fries with pulled pork and queso. I’m still dreaming about it! My only wish for The Block Party is for more outdoor seating—but again, if you don’t go during peak hours, you’ll be able to find seating, or at minimum, standing at a bistro table. Worst case scenario (if you can consider it that), they also open up the Colts stadium and you can sit in stadium seating. It’s quite majestic, even if you don’t get to see the turf.

Now onto the vendor hall. I have honestly never seen anything like it. The vendor hall is massive, and nearly impossible to get through in one day (shout out to 2018 when we did it and my feet nearly bled afterwards). For the most part, there are little neighborhoods of similar items. At least I think so. The 2D artists, the authors, the dice makers—all of them are clumped together as best as possible, which makes it nice for the attendees, because I know which areas I haven’t yet explored. Now the game makers? They take up the whole space, so pack good, comfortable shoes.

Let’s talk about playtesting now

I think this is a very important component to speak on because I was so intimidated by playtesting that if I saw a game I was interested in, I would panic and just walk away. People: if it’s set out on a table, you can ask to playtest a game you’re interested in. Too shy? Walk up and start looking at the box. Read the instructions. If someone is free, and they are doing playtesting, they will absolutely get you started. If not, they’ll give you a fun pitch and show you the components of the game. Either way, it's a win-win in my book, because you'll get your eyes and hands on some games you may not otherwise pick up.

Playtesting at Gen Con is such a fun experience. Where else can you go and have the employees teaching you the games they know like the back of their hand? I hate reading the instructions, because I’m too excited to play. Here you have someone talking you through it—there’s no room for confusion. You’re tossed in headfirst with an expert. It’s fun, it’s educational, it’s free. I believe there are ticketed playtesting opportunities available for more popular games, and the ability to sign up for a playtesting slot, so if you have your eye on something specific, definitely check out the event registration page on the app, or see if there’s a sign up through the game maker’s website.

My favorite games I play tested included Squirrel Away, Get Baked, and Slip It In

Squirrel Away is a fun sleight-of-hand game where you’re working to fool your opponents and get the most acorn gems. This is a great end of the night game, when you’re feeling a bit silly and a bit tired. I got this one and I can’t wait to play it! Look for a review coming soon.

In Get Baked, you’re working to use the ingredients to make the best cookies and collect the most points. There’s a bit of resource management and strategy, and also the ability to sabotage your competitors with nasty ingredients or trying to get them to overbake their cake. This is scalable. You can play to make six cakes, or 12, and it can be as strategic as you make it. 

And finally, Slip It In is a small card game to play throughout the course of an evening or event. The cards simply have a saying on them that you have to slide into regular conversation stealthily. It’s all about finding the right time, or guiding conversation so you can slip it in. Get called out and you don’t get the point. Slip it in undiscovered and you get the point. We played this throughout the day at Gen Con and laughed quite a bit from it. 

Cosplay, cosplay, cosplay

You cannot ignore the cosplay! It’s genuinely all around you at Gen Con, and you don’t have to know who someone is cosplaying to enjoy the effort they put into it. One of my favorites (and I’m so sorry I didn’t get a picture), was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Not only was she beautiful, but I heard her talking in character to a little girl and my heart nearly exploded! On the opposite side of the spectrum, shout out to Joe Dirt, you genuinely looked like Joe Dirt. But the cosplay that won it all, in my book at least, was by far the StayPuft Marshmallow Man—my favorite fictional character of all time.

I have one more item on my list to speak about

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I had the best tacos of my life at Social Cantina. I don’t know how they did it, and I wish I did, because these tacos were amazing and the waitstaff were so friendly (they said Gen Con has the nicest people, and ya know what? I believe them). If you need a break from the hustle and bustle in the convention center, definitely stretch your legs and wander out to one of the bars or restaurants in the area! You’ll still feel like you’re a part of the experience because you’ll be surrounded by gamers and cosplayers, but you’ll be able to take your mind off things!

Overall, I had a great experience with minimal issues this year. I always love an excuse to get to Indianapolis with my friends and explore, learn about new games, meet up-and-coming game makers, and of course, spend too much money. If you have been on the fence about attending Gen Con, please take my word for it—it’s a great time regardless of how you con. 

Stay tuned for more from me as I break down my interviews, and review some of my newest games.