When I started my journey into tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) almost two years ago, one of the first things I made sure to have on my to-do list was to attend Gen Con. Not only did it make sense for me to attend as a resident of Indianapolis, it was a great way to be able to check out other TTRPGs and board games. So last year was the first time I attended Gen Con, and I was able to try out Candela Obscura from Darrington Press as well as picked up Dragonbane from Free League Publishing (even though I got it for the medieval Darkwing Duck assassin, it ended up being one of my top fantasy TTRPGs). Needless to say, Gen Con has become one of my favorite conventions to attend.

This year’s Gen Con had a record-breaking 71,000+ attendees, exceeding its previous year’s record of 70,000+. It also marked a major milestone with Dungeons & Dragons celebrating its 50th anniversary with new exclusives and reveals at the convention as well.

Though last year I was a passive attendee, roaming around the vendor halls for the most part, this year was different for me personally. I was able to interview more game publishers, participate in more gaming events such as D&D and Kobold Press’ Tales of the Valiant, and meet with a few people that I connected with on social media.

Here are some of my personal highlights from this year’s Gen Con.

Watch my Gen Con 2024 recap video below.

Dungeons & Dragons’ 50th Anniversary

Wizards Of The Coast pulled out all the stops at Gen Con to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. They kicked off Gen Con on Wednesday by holding an event for the press that I was fortunate enough to be invited to. (Side note – I asked someone at Wizards of the Coast if I was invited by mistake because I had no idea how they knew who I was or why I was in the same room as some of the other people who have built a large audience in the D&D space. They assured me though that it wasn’t.) At the event, they revealed a lot of upcoming plans for the tabletop roleplaying game, such as updating the SRD, the changes in the 2024 Players’ Handbook, the upcoming 3D Virtual Tabletop, named Project Sigil, and more. For a highlights of what was discussed at this event, check out 50 More Years Of Adventuring: What To Expect From Dungeons & Dragons. I also live posted the event from my Threads account as well.

In addition to this event, Wizards of the Coast also held a variety events and programming, such as:

• Public early access to purchasing the 2024 Player’s Handbook (limited quantities)
• Debuting the United States Postal Service commemorative Dungeons & Dragons stamps
• A Dungeons & Dragons Live! actual play that featured Aabria Iyengar as the Dungeon Master, players Anjali Bhimani, Brennan Lee Muligan, Neil Newbon (who played his Baldur’s Gate 3 character, Astarion), Samantha Beart (who played their Baldur’s Gate 3 character, Karlach), and a sneak peak into Project Sigil
• A museum with historical artifacts of the 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons

Check out the D&D Museum at Gen Con below.

Branded & Exclusive Dice Sets From FanRoll Dice

Originally created in 2014 as Metallic Dice Games, the company rebranded to FanRoll last year to bring people high quality dice sets. I had a chance to meet with the CEO, Neal Hoffman, and to say that I was really impressed with his presentation and dice sets would be an understatement. Before this year’s GenCon, I never had a particular interest in quality types of dice since I was only planning to roll them in my TTRPGs. But FanRoll is changing that for me. Their focus, according to Hoffman, was to bring high quality branded dice sets that stands out from other companies that make it unique and worthwhile to the consumers. He presented dice sets that FanRoll created with partnerships from Dungeons & Dragons, Skybound Entertainment’s Invinicble, a two, six-sided dice (2d6) set and meeple for Settlers of Catan, a hollow metal Pathfinder set with the popular goblin inside of it, and more. In addition, they sold their Gen Con exclusive dice sets as well as dice storage plushies.

If there is only one dice maker company you should check out, this would be it.

Gnome Hollow, Stalk Exchange, & More From The Op Games

Known for its popular games like Clue, Monopoly, and branded games such as Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, The Op Games continues to bring popular family party games to Gen Con and to our homes. This year, the two popular games that stood out from the game publisher was Gnome Hollow, a tile/worker placement game where the players grow mushrooms and flowers, and Stalk Exchange, where players are gardeners that try to grow their garden and profits before the market crashes (see a theme for this year?). In addition, they also highlighted a new deckbuilding game called “Avatar: Aang’s Destiny”.

I spoke with Senior Product Marketing Manager, Andrew Esposito, and he gave us a quick break down of each of these games and a list of other party games they highlighted at this year’s convention (he also gave us a sneak peak into next year’s Gen Con game as well). They continue to bring to the gaming community unique games as well as popular IP games from brands such as Disney, Harry Potter, and more that has become a staple in many gaming communities as well as family homes.

Check out my interview with The Op Games below.

Upcoming TTRPGs From Free League Publishing

Known for tabletop roleplaying games such as Vaesen, Dragonbane, The One Ring, and ALIEN, Free League Publishing is a Sweden-based company that continues to bring high quality, exciting games to the TTRPG community around the world. During the convention, they promoted the recent release of The One Ring: Moria – Through The Doors Of Durin and announced the Kickstarter for the 2nd edition of ALIEN (this was announced during the convention but online through their social media and communication channels).

I got to speak with Tomas Harenstam, the co-founder and game designer for Free League Publishing, about these games as well as the upcoming campaign book for Dragonbane, Path of Glory.

Check out my interview with the co-founder of Free League Publishing below.

Rollacrit’s Bag Of Holding and Heroes For Hire

The official mechandise store for Gen Con, Rollacrit, has been on a roll for their latest games and products. Their popular liquid life system game, Heroes of Barcadia, debuted at last year’s Gen Con and will have a follow up Kickstarter expansion pack campaign later this year called Heroes For Hire. Earlier this year, they also kickstarted a Bag Of Holding that consumers can purchase that has over 20 pockets and configurations that can be used to carry games and every day items around that’s designed to be durable, protective, and stylish.

I spoke with the Game Master of Rollacrit, Erin Zipperle, about the company, how it started, and what they’re promoting this year at Gen Con.

Check out my interview with the Game Master of Rollacrit below.

WizKids Continues To Up Their Miniatures Game

WizKids, The gaming and collectables company known for their TTRPGs miniature product line, displayed some of their new and upcoming products to customers from their TTRPG and board games, which included a Gen Con Genevieve meeple (Genevieve is the official Gen Con dragon mascot), as well as D&D 50th anniversary exclusives such as the birthday cake mimic and the popular D&D characters Minsc & Boo. Chris Walz, RPG Marketing and Public Relations Manager for WizKids, gave a presentation of their minis they had at the convention. Two of their most eye-catching minis were their glow-in-the-dark miniatures, the Pathfinder Battles: Death Coach and the D&D Icons of the Realms: Red Ghost Dragon. In addition, they also displayed a set of D&D classic monster collection minis, celebrating the creatures by creating their original look (such as the Owlbear) as well as their newer ones.