Dungeons & Gen Con

On this episode, Kelly is joined by two members of her adventuring party, Pepperina Sparklegem, and Tari Waves, as they discuss their history with streaming Dungeons & Dragons and what it's like to be a female tabletop gamer. Then you get a front row seat for the recap of Gen Con 2025!

Episode Transcript

(00:15):
Welcome to the Gaming Nexus Show.
You're number one spot for all things gaming.
I know this because I took a oneperson survey with myself and it
was voted unanimously by me. Yeah.
So technically, technically we're the number one.
Gaming and that demographic. Yeah, so welcome.

(00:38):
I am a long, long time Co host, first time host Kelly Gray and
I'm happy you are tuning in for today.
I am so fortunate to have two ofmy really close friends
alongside me today. We have Pepperina, Sparkle Gem

(00:59):
and Tari Waves if you are wondering why the weird names.
I will explain now that we are. This is my original adventuring
party from Dungeons and Dragons.Well, not the whole adventuring
party, but two members of our adventuring party and we were an

(01:20):
all girls streaming group back in 2018 playing Dungeons and
Dragons. That's crazy that those were.
That long ago. I'm so sorry but it's crazy.
The 2018 part really messed me up.
I'm so sorry. Yeah.
I know it's so I feel like Kovidlike made me lose all track of

(01:43):
timing so. It was a whole different
lifetime, like anything pre COVID was an entirely different
life. Yes.
Yeah, and also too, like when wefirst, OK, so we were a
streaming, all girls streaming group, but we originated as just
regular people playing Dungeons and Dragons in a basement.

(02:07):
And so people started coming over and watching us and they
were like, you guys should be streaming.
And we're like, well, if you're coming over to just sit in a
basement and watch us play, you're probably right.
Yeah, it might have had a littlebit to do with the food that I
made too. But I always tell people that I
was like, you don't know how great an all girls Dungeons and

(02:30):
Dragons campaign is until you have seen the entire spread of
food. Yeah, that we would have.
And it would be themed. We would theme our outfits based
on like the food we made, like we had a full on costumes when
we weren't streaming, like we would dress up for ourselves in

(02:53):
costumes and like themes. And I.
Based on that. I definitely have a picture that
pops up and it's me in my blue makeup for my water Janossi and
yeah, so. Oh yeah, the our Strad finale

(03:15):
when we all dressed up as our characters.
Yes, that's what it was, yeah. That's what it was, yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah, Joanne Fabrics hated to
see me coming. That was, it was so much fun.
And it's, I think the craziest part for me about like starting
in 2018 was that was really whenmy gaming started like that was.

(03:40):
And I didn't realize at the timewhen we all went into
Pepperino's basement that I was opening this chapter of my life
that was going to be like such abig portion of like who I am as
an adult. Yeah.
And I think like for you and I probably more than the rest of
the girls, like that is very true.

(04:02):
Like you and I took on these Internet personas and really
like drove into that and like it.
It honestly saved my life. Like in the situation that I was
in, getting into this community and like meeting all the people

(04:25):
I met and becoming Pepperina Sparkle Gym, I became my true
self and that saved my life. I love that I, I like I and to
like this is not even close to comparison.
But like, we were not the the bestest of friends when we first

(04:48):
started playing. It was just this random, like
collaboration of women that werelike, yeah, sure, I'd like to
play. I'd like, sure, I do things for
the plot. I was like, I will do it for the
plot, you know? And we have grown into, like,
one of the strongest, like, friendship groups, I think.
And I'm so lucky because I have these amazing, smart, funny,

(05:11):
talented women that how on earthdid I get so lucky to have you
in my life? I don't know.
Yeah. 'Cause we just wanted to roll
pretty dice and a basement. Yeah, one day.
Like we all just decided that yeah, Yep.
Yep, it all was meant. To be for sure, I think.

(05:32):
So let's let's start out Tari, because we have kind of already
talked about our history with gaming and we'll go in a little
deeper with you, Pepperina, but why don't you tell us your
history of gaming? Oh my goodness, I so unlike you
2. I've actually been gaming since

(05:53):
high school. I started because I was in the
marching band, and with marchingband comes nerds and with nerds
come nerdy hobbies. So I my first game was Star
Wars. It was Star Wars and then I

(06:17):
moved into various White Wolf. We played a Warcraft campaign
that was roughly 20 people rotating in and out at one
point. And then from there in college I
actually moved into Larping in the Camarilla LARP.
So that was definitely interesting.

(06:39):
And then after I, I moved, I took a, you know, pretty decent
hiatus after I stopped Larping until I moved to where you guys
were and joined our little little group of gaming ladies.
And it reignited my love of gaming so.
Yeah, 'cause we didn't know you before that you came in with

(07:05):
ACTA. Yeah, so I've been who's I've
been friends with since high school.
Yes, yeah. So you were one of the like when
Bunny said that like we didn't really all know each other.
Like a couple of us were connected in various ways and
then brought in other people. So previous to playing and

(07:26):
rolling dice of you coming to the table, we had not really met
you or knew. You right, well, and Octa is
kind of the, the invisible thread for all of us.
You know, you know, when I movedback, you know, we'll call it
back home. I, I moved in with Octa cuz I

(07:46):
had, you know, been in a pretty terrible relationship.
And so I moved in with her and she's like here meet all my
friends and hey, I bet they would like to game.
Yeah. So I always kind of thank her
for that. Yeah, yeah, I love that.
All right, Pepperina, same question.
What is your history with gaming?

(08:08):
So yeah, I started D&D with all of you ladies.
My now ex-husband played before that.
He had kept trying to get me into it and I was like, no,
that's too nerdy for me. Like not gonna.
And then it's it's really intimidating, honestly, being a

(08:31):
female in the space and coming into a table of all men.
And so I just didn't ever feel comfortable until all of you
started saying, well, I'd like to play that.
I'd like to do that. I'd like to try that.
What if we do an all female group?
And so that's how I got comfortable was playing with

(08:51):
females who also did not know what they were doing.
So I didn't feel like stupid, you know, coming into a table
and asking questions because we all had questions.
I think two of us being Tari andAkhta were the only two who had
actually played before. So started with the 20s.

(09:12):
From there I joined various communities.
I've been on Evermore which is run by Got DM on Instagram.
I joined the crit storm cast andlive streamed an actual play
I've done. I joined TIO, the initiative

(09:34):
order and did social media for them for a long time.
I ran games on streams for that.I did community games and was
just a huge part of that community and got to meet so, so
many awesome people. I got to try so many different
games called Cthulhu, Animal Adventures, Wander Home, Spice

(09:57):
Punk which is a Spice Girls RPG that's amazing and we should all
play some time. Yes, please.
Thank you. I.
Love that. Yes, it's you know what I said?
Cuz I said today I actually saidto you, Pepperina, I don't care
about your Hogwarts. Yes, tell me which spice.
Girl. And so now I am primarily found

(10:22):
on the It's a Mimic podcast where I am their dragon expert
and I run all of our dragon episodes and we do various
female episodes that are all female rayon, some about undead.
We did drow. We're doing a series called the

(10:44):
Blood Wars that pits like demonsversus friends and stuff against
each other to see which one's better and just a lot of fun
stuff over there. So that's mostly what I'm doing
now other than my Instagram where I paint minis and build
terrain and all that, all that fun stuff.

(11:05):
I dove hard. I dove in hard.
I was not wanting to play at all.
And then I like I now have over 100 Dragons in my house.
Yeah. I was gonna say Pepperina like
catapulted herself into D&D culture.
And just like. Tabletop RPG culture.
She's like, this is my, this is my identity now.

(11:26):
Yes, that you know the hyperfixation took over and.
Yeah, yeah. So what, like in 2018, gosh, so
many so long ago, we had starteda group page for our streaming
group and Pepperina really like went into that full force and

(11:52):
made so many amazing DND memes. Yeah, that I wish we still had
access to because they were so clever.
They're probably still floating around out there in the DND
estates for sure. What do you what, what do you
think it I know you talked a little bit about being

(12:16):
intimidated by men and I see this a lot on like threads where
women are really interested in playing but they feel like
threatened by a table of men. What do you think that is like
and what can people do to rectify that?
Yeah, and we've done like an in depth episode on this on it's a

(12:40):
mimic with the female cast members and all of our
experiences. And I like in talking to them
and really any female in the space.
We all sort of have that same starting story where like I was
worried about starting at a table with all men and and that

(13:01):
kind of stuff. And I think it just is like the
fear of slowing down the table, of asking questions, of feeling
dumb, of not knowing what you'redoing and not wanting to ruin
other people's fun by not knowing what you're doing.
Like you feel like, well, I haveto ask questions and I don't

(13:24):
understand. And they've all been playing for
years and know what they're doing.
And so I'm going to ruin it. And it's like getting out of our
own headspace and like realizingin most cases, I know there are
terrible tables out there and I know people have had terrible
experiences. But in most cases that I have

(13:45):
encountered, like they want to teach you, they want to share
this, they want to include people and continue the joy by
bringing people in. Yeah, I think like, that is the
biggest thing that I've learned about this community is that we
we love, we love tabletop RPGs, right?

(14:07):
And we just want other people tolove tabletop RPGs.
And I think it's because there'sbeen a stigma for so long about
like nerd culture. And I don't want how it's
perceived and I don't want to bea nerd or whatever.
And it's like, no, no, come learn about it.
It's it's just telling stories. Yeah.
And like being a part of the story, it's so fun.

(14:32):
And if there's one thing any DNDplayer loves more than anything,
it's talking about their game. So if you want to learn and you
start asking questions to any person that plays DND, they will
tell you so many stories about their characters and the
adventures they've been on. And like they will go on a deep

(14:54):
dive. Like if you truly ask me like,
oh, what was your favorite storythat you did or favorite
campaign? Like I will deep dive if like a
sit down. I hope you have three hours if
you. Ask somebody there.
Go ahead. I was going to say I think
that's anyone though, who reallylikes to, you know, share about

(15:14):
their stories and share about their characters in particular.
Like look at my dots or here's this heroic way that I died that
you'll find that a lot. And that's the hook for how I
hook a lot of people I think or have in the past to try again.
Yeah, you ask somebody what their race in class is and

(15:36):
you're not just going to hear their race in class, you are
going to hear their entire back story.
But. I do know like I've had a lot of
people in my DMS, especially when we were streaming very
heavily like thanking me for us being out there because it made

(15:57):
them feel more included. Like females especially like I
love what you're doing and like it has given me the confidence
to try it myself. Or I've had a lot of men saying
I love what you all are doing. Do you have any tips for me to
get my wife into it? I would love for her to play
with me. And like, just, I think in a

(16:23):
way, like back in 2018, there weren't a lot of female groups
out there. There are vastly more, but I
think that the six of us really like paved away for a lot of
other females in this space. That's nice.
Yeah. I think piggybacking off of what

(16:43):
you were saying earlier, it is if you if you are listening and
you have never played Dungeons and Dragons, it is intense with
the rules and how the game is played.
It's a very structured game. And you step outside of Dungeons
and the Dragons into a differenttabletop RPG, and it's like,

(17:04):
basically the easiest thing to pick up because D&D is just so
intense, Right? And a little known fact is that
we did have somebody else who joined us on the first day and
was so overwhelmed. Do you remember this Jackaroo
was there the first day, and shetried to do a character build

(17:28):
and got so overwhelmed by it that she was like, this is not
for me. Yeah, right.
But I think being on camera and admitting that we don't know in
front of a live audience, in front of people who are actually
viewing us, I think that made iteasier for people to be like,
OK, you don't have to know all the rules.

(17:48):
You don't have to know. I remember distinctly modifiers
and being like, I don't know where on my sheet that a
modifier is. Like on my character sheet, I
had to keep doing that. Like where's my Charisma
modifier? I have no idea.
And people would have to point to it.
And I'm like, I would be embarrassed too.
But if it makes somebody less embarrassed when they have to do

(18:09):
it, then I'm glad. Yeah, yeah, cuz we were so just
very raw in ours. Like like it was, it was chaos.
It was horny. I was often drunk because we
took shots every time anybody rolled a Nat 20 and it was full

(18:31):
of mistakes. But we had so much fun.
And anytime anybody asks me whatmy favorite campaign one, it's,
it's that one. It's our first.
It's the curse of Stride. Like, I've had amazing stories
and campaigns and characters after that, but like that story
and all of us just having fun together and being silly and not

(18:53):
knowing what the fuck we were doing.
Like was magic? Like that was magic that can
never be recreated. Well, that should be the number
one rule of any table, I think, is that you should just be
having fun. And I, I loved it because we
weren't also concerned about thedots.

(19:13):
I think that's another thing when kind of going back to a
male dominated table is that, you know, a lot of male
dominated tables that I've played at, they're so worried
about the dots and min maxing and trying to get the best
character out of what you're given.
And I loved it because this was a table where that didn't

(19:35):
matter. We had dots and yeah, they were
great. And you know, as we levelled up
and we got more powers, then those dots got even cooler.
But really what it came down to was what we were doing, the
interactions of our characters. And I think that's just really
the most important thing of any table.

(19:58):
Because we couldn't mend Max to save our lives.
Because none of us knew what they were doing to be Ken What?
I'm not gonna lie, I still have no idea what I'm doing.
Like I'm like, I like, I have been playing since 2018, like on
and off and I get into a campaign and I'm like, I have to
build a character and I don't even know what I'm supposed to

(20:18):
be doing. You.
Let me know, I will help you because I've built so many, so
many characters. After all the years of me
playing I still couldn't min Maxa character.
I look at things and I'm like this sounds good, this sounds
fun. And with the actually the
current DM that I play with, he makes us actually build our

(20:40):
characters based on our background.
So we choose things based on what our background story that
we've role played with him is. And I think that yeah, dots are
fun. Dots are cool.
I like to hit things as hard as I can.
But it's way cooler to maybe have this special power, this

(21:01):
special situation, because I role played that.
Yeah, it's just such a fun world.
If you are listening and you have never played Dungeons and
Dragons, you should get into it.OK, But that's that brings up a
good question. If somebody is listening today
and they're like Wow, I feel really inspired to Start

(21:21):
learning to play Dungeons and Dragons.
How would you recommend somebodyget into Dungeons and Dragons?
That is a question that I'm actually I've been pondering
because, you know, we were talking about me moving into
town with you guys and now I've moved out of town from you guys.
So I can't just pop over to Bunny's house or Pep's house.

(21:44):
And, you know, we sit and roll dice, you know, or play a game,
you know, with the girls. So I've been looking because I
don't have a lot of friends in this area that I live in now
that are nerdy. So I've been looking on Facebook
groups. I've been looking at our local
library actually has AD and D night twice a month.

(22:06):
However, that coincides with my daughter's dance class.
So I haven't been able to try itout yet, but yeah, I've just
been basically looking for a group and trying to figure that
out. So those are my my ideas so far.
I'm not very discord server though Techie.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would say like how we

(22:31):
all started. We'd literally just started
talking to our friends about it.Like, like it literally was, I
think B just say, Oh yeah, you know, my spouse plays D&D and
somebody say like a friend saying, oh, I wouldn't be

(22:51):
interested in learning that. And then, you know, talking
them, talking to their friend and then saying, oh, I'd be
interested in that. And like the more you talk about
it, you will find people like you will, you will just find
people. I talked about it at school pick
up when I had young children andhad to stand outside with the

(23:12):
other moms and stuff. And like that's how we got one
of our players. Just just bring it up in
conversation and like, hey, haveyou heard of this?
Would you be interested in that?Or another alternative is going
to like a game room if you have a local gaming store, they often

(23:34):
have people looking for players or DND nights or like beginners
nights and things like that. Getting into the DND Instagram
world, I have found so so so many groups through the DND
Instagram world and just like forever friends now through that

(23:57):
world that I would not have otherwise.
So you just, you just got to look and it's out there.
People are out there all the time looking for players and
looking for people to join theirtable.
And the books. Are out there.
Too, as I say, the books are outthere too.
Go to half Price books. I mean they're they're
everywhere. I think they even were selling

(24:18):
them at Target for a while the the starter set for D&D.
And there is a new because people think you have to have a
huge group like that. You have to have six people to
play a game. There is a new book out Dragon
Delves that is 10 different dragon themed adventures like

(24:40):
one shots and they have in that laid out how you can play with
just one person. So it doesn't have to be a huge
group if you're just starting out, you can play with just one
person. And I know Call of Cthulhu also
has different tools where you can just play by yourself and it

(25:01):
takes you through like a choose your own adventure.
Like the Goosebumps books back in our day, where like, do you
take this path or this path, turn to this page and like it's
kind of that sort of vibe. Like you choose your path and it
takes you in different directions through the book.
So you can even search out things like there are tools to

(25:22):
play by yourself or with just one other person.
And not to bring up a dirty word, but it's interesting for
me to think about what the future of any tabletop RPG is
now that AI is like in its, you know, Surge, because the hardest

(25:42):
part about forming a group is finding a Dungeon Master.
Adm because I don't know about you guys.
I like there's nothing more intimidating than the thought of
DM ING because you as Adm, you have to do a lot of homework.
You have to do homework before you get to the session.

(26:03):
You develop a world and you start to think about if they go
this way, if they go this way and like what monsters will they
encounter here or here or here. And the campaign really leads
that. So if you do a structured
campaign, you know, it leads youalong those paths and it's kind
of written for you, but there's still homework involved.
And then there's also called a homebrew, which is you're

(26:27):
basically taking like, bones from different, you know, worlds
and creating your own story, which some people prefer.
I love playing somebody else's homebrew, but the thought of
like building my own brew homebrew makes me want to throw
up. Yeah, I when I do DM, it is
always home brew. I tried running a couple of Call

(26:54):
of Cthulhu one shots that were in a book and I just found the
pacing to be like clunky and slow because I would have to
flip pages. Like they would do a thing.
And I'm like, I know there's a reaction for that thing, but you
guys jumped 5 rooms ahead. So now I have to figure out what
page that's on. And I would be like flipping
through. And when you're home brewing it

(27:16):
yourself, you're not following the lead of a book that somebody
else wrote. And you can adapt to it a little
bit quicker and like, okay, wellI know what's in this room
because I made it up. Or I can make something up on
the fly that's not going to ruineverything because I don't know
what the ending is yet. Well, and then going back to AI

(27:40):
and then going back to AII mean actually AI is a way that I've
written backstories before. You know, I, I put in all of the
things that I've wanted my character to do and I actually
just kind of talked to AI and I build this back story.

(28:00):
And then what's interesting is that I'll send that to my DM and
then he puts it into AI and he kind of helps build the
reaction. So we're building the story and
we're using AI to tweak it or we're tweaking what AI is
feeding us basically. And we've been able to tell a
story together in that way. So that's been really

(28:21):
interesting and fun. And then knowing that AI has
that capability and I could do that for myself if I wanted to.
DMI think, I think it's actuallygiving me courage to maybe even
try running a game myself 'causethat's been a very big hurdle
for me for so long and I really wanted to try it, but it just

(28:42):
gets so anxious about running a game for all the reasons that
we're talking. What if I mess up?
What if I do this? So using that as an actual tool
as well. And then running it like you
feel like you have to like even more so than when we were
talking about when we started and being afraid that we didn't
know the rules and stuff. Like when you step into the DMC,

(29:06):
you really feel like you have toknow all of the rules because
you're the one running it. So it's very intimidating if you
don't know them all. And even after I played for
years and was on streams and on a podcast and new, you know, had
built 12 different characters inevery class and new do all these
things, it's still like becomingAdm was very intimidating still.

(29:29):
So I started with Call of Cthulhu and formed a group that
had never played Call of Cthulhubefore.
So it didn't matter if I knew the rules or not because none of
us did. And they want to know if I was
fucking enough. Perfect.
And then when I stepped into DM ING D&D, it was with my kids,
because again, they didn't know any better, you know?
Perfect. I think the biggest thing to

(29:51):
remember like as Adm is that if you go in knowing that you don't
know everything, that is like the healthiest way to DM because
you, there is that stress. And I think that's like a self
induced stress that you have to be the one who knows the
answers. You have to know everything.

(30:12):
And I think that's why a lot of people are intimidating,
intimidated by DM ING in the 1stplace because they're like, I, I
don't know all the rules. And then you get in there and if
you are willing to crash and burn, then you'll be fine.
Yeah. And I think that's the, I think
like out of everything that we've talked about, the general,

(30:34):
you know, Cliff note is to be absolutely vulnerable and just
be open to failing because that's the reality.
And if you. Don't know the answer?
Google knows the answer too. That's the other thing.
Yeah, yeah, it's a quick Google search.
It's a flip through, you know, any of the books or it's also as

(30:57):
Adm, it's listening to your players because one of them
might know the answer to it. Like if you don't know the rules
for grappling and somebody gets grappled, listen to your players
and trust what they're saying too.
If one of them is like, oh, thisis how you do that, 'cause I
have had DMS that have argued with me at a table over like a

(31:17):
spell that I cast and like, well, I didn't know it did that.
And I would have to read out theentire spell and well, but that
doesn't that. That makes it so I can't do
this. Like, well, but that's what it
says right here. So I can do that.
So so the Cliff Notes are to be open to criticism, to be

(31:42):
welcoming of nerds and talk to as many nerds as possible, or
try to convert nerds and #3 is to play in person so you can
have the best potluck ever. Yes.
So if you wear a shirt with a dragon on it, someone will talk
to you and that's how you start a group.
Yep, with that, with that, I think we're going to go to break

(32:05):
right now and when we come back,we're going to dive into Gen.
Con 2025 and just Gen. Con in general and give our
overview and all of the fun tipsand tricks to Gen.
Con. So stay tuned for that.
You're going to love it. Hello, welcome back, I hope you

(32:44):
had a great break. As you recall, I am here with
Pepperina, Sparkle Jam and Tari Waves, and I didn't even say at
the beginning that I'm buddy rolls dice.
So I was like, I'm Kelly Gray, but in the D&D world, I am Bunny
rolls dice. Yeah.
So when they're saying Bunny, they're talking about.

(33:05):
Me. So for years we only referred to
each other by our names in game.I still do.
Like, I'll be talking to somebody who'll be like, Oh
yeah, Pepperina da da. And I'm like, I mean.
Oh, yeah, that's what I'm exclusively known as in the DND
world. And like, when I go to gin con

(33:26):
with my husband, I'm like, be prepared.
Nobody's going to call me by my name.
I am Pepperina for this entire weekend.
Yeah, I don't think. Anybody called you by your, I'll
say government name and other than maybe us?
Yeah, nobody, Nobody he does. No.

(33:46):
The entire D&D community only refers to me as pups.
It was the same when we went to the wedding of my podcast.
People like I was like, listen, no one's saying my real name
here. Just the whole week, the whole
time we're here. Not once will you hear my real
name. I love it.
The first time I realized that we were legitimate streamers,

(34:10):
like I knew that we kept like growing in tears right on
Twitch. But the first time I realized
that we were legitimate streamers was when I was at my
first Gen. Con, I think it was, Gen.
Con 2018 I think it was, and 20/19 it was. 2019, yeah. 2019
And somebody yelled Bunny and I like turned around and like

(34:35):
somebody was calling me because I was like a celebrity sighting
and people were taking pictures with us and it was so weird to
me. It is wild being in a room with
75,000 people and somebody recognizing who you are.
Like, it's so wild. Like, I get it.

(34:56):
Like it's famous for the D&D community and Pepperina way more
than any of the others. I mean, Pepperina really kept it
going. Like your personality going and
your and your gaming personality.
But it's so fun. Let's let's.
Chat about Gen. Con How many Gen. cons have you

(35:17):
been to Pepperina? This was my let's see, there's
one with you guys. There was one solo.
This was my second with Dylan so4. 4 This is my fourth too.
What about you? I think that this year was my
fifth because I did not go with you guys that first year for

(35:41):
other reasons, but I spent a dayat the lake instead.
But I went, I, I looked back andsaw pictures of me in 2013 and
then I know I went probably like2017 as well.
And then I've been the last three years in a row.

(36:04):
Wow. And always with me.
We're we're roomies. Yeah, I was going to say you've
been my, you've been my Rd. dog in the last three years.
Yeah. It was nice this year though,
because like we, we had our own beds, which is like the first
year that we've had our own beds.
I. Know.
And it was quiet and I liked it,yeah.

(36:25):
I mean, we're, we're talking about the hotel.
Should we talk about housing? Yes.
Yeah. OK, so the way that Gen.
Con does their housing is like buy a lottery.
So any of the nearby hotels are like in a lottery system and you
have to wait for your you to be.Called, yeah, you're like to

(36:47):
start reserving specific time slot that you can then log on
and hope to get a room. Yeah, yeah, and they're like
vultures for the rooms, right? Yeah, because like, I've had a
noon time slot before and all ofthe rooms were gone, Yeah.
And that doesn't necessarily, that doesn't mean that you're
not gonna get a hotel. I mean, you're just not going to

(37:09):
be right there in Dallas, in Annapolis.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, Tari and I, we were like20 minutes out this year and it
wasn't, it wasn't optimal, but it wasn't terrible.
Yeah, it was a little bit further out.
I I think it was more like 25 minutes.
But frankly for the quiet to nothave to pay premium pricing

(37:32):
because I'm sure you know, staying in the downtown areas,
you know prime, they price that prime real estate.
But we were further out. It was quiet.
There was lots to do around there if we, you know, needed to
we, we got dinner out there. So I, I don't really mind it.
And then also being able to drive in and then the second day

(37:56):
we were there on Saturday, we decided to drive in and park our
car downtown instead of Uber in.And I'm going to say that that
was the right decision because then we were able to just take
our stuff back to the car when it like what bunnies, everything
got so heavy. Yeah, yeah.

(38:17):
I would have never survived Gen.Con.
I would have had a bag check forsure.
They did. So this year was the first year
they did the bag check, right? Yes, I believe so.
And I did not bag check but theydid have a bag check area and I
heard it was not as smooth as itcould be but I mean it's their
first year. Yeah, right.
Work out the kinks and there's so many people, yeah.

(38:39):
And it's run all by volunteers. I mean, I think that's the
biggest thing to remember about Gen.
Con is it is a massive amount ofvolunteering.
And the nicest volunteers too, like.
Yes, the gentleman who took our very, very, very, very vague

(38:59):
description of where we had parked, which was what was that
by a Starbucks? In a shiny building.
In a shiny building and these, they found us.
They they got us right where we needed to go.
He was like, I know exactly where you're going and.
Like. God bless their hearts because

(39:22):
they, those were the nicest guys.
Yeah. They were so cute.
Yeah. No, but everybody, I mean, like
you're lost and like somebody, an event staff person will come
up and be like where you where you hadn't.
Can I help you get there? Like they're just so nice.
Yeah. Because it is massive.
I think if you've not been there, I think one thing that is

(39:48):
surprising is how many buildingsit exists in because it is not
just the Convention Center, it is the Convention Center, it's
the stadium, it's multiple hotels around the area.
It's Union Station like, and thebasement of Union Station, not

(40:08):
just like upstairs in the ballrooms.
Finding your way around it to any event that you have can be
very daunting if you like have no clue where you're going cuz
it's massive. And just to bring it back to to
the scope, you know, you said stadium and this is an an NFL

(40:31):
indoor stadium. So yeah.
And it's not just the field, it is the field.
They use the stands for places where people can sit and eat and
just take a break cuz that's definitely needed.
They use the tunnel systems, they use the back rooms, they
use everything. All the thorough ways where you

(40:53):
would typically have like vending are just going to get
food or drink when you're at a football game.
All that's used it's it's reallyincredible.
It's very. Very tippy top.
They do a blood drive every yearand you take escalator, you take
the scariest escalator of your life, if you're my husband, all

(41:15):
the way up to the top of the stadium and that's where they
have a full on blood drive with the Red Cross that you can
donate blood to. And what's also interesting
about the scope is that it's notjust, I mean, hearing all of
this and hearing all of the locations that we've described,
it's not just Dungeons and Dragons either.

(41:36):
So it's any card game that you've ever seen.
So your magics, your Pokémon, the Disney game I I can't think
of. Villainous.
Something like, yeah, there's Villainous Orkana.
Yeah, I mean, and they have tournaments so you can play.
They have miniatures where like Warhammer, you could basically

(42:02):
picture miniatures against each other.
They've got table tops, they've got board games, they have
LARPS, they have just fun eventslike especially in the evening
hours like. Oh yeah, we saw a drag show.
We've seen, we've been to a burlesque show.
We went to a bingo. Like they teach like, and

(42:22):
there's random classes too, likecupcake decorating and sewing
and like, so there's like workout classes and morning yoga
and stretching breaks and I get just D&D or games like there's
so much going on. I get so overwhelmed by the

(42:46):
amount of events when I'm registering.
Yeah, there's like 30,000 events.
I'm like, first of all, number one, of course I want to do it
all. Like even classes that like do
not even pertain to me, like howto be a better DM.
I'm like, yes, I would love to go to that, but yeah, but I have

(43:07):
gone by the rule of whatever Tari signs up for, I'm just
going to sign up for it. It has not failed me.
We Larped last year. We played old Cods of Appalachia
this year. Just so fun.
What's your favorite event been,Pepperina?
Like, what's your favorite thingthat you've done?

(43:32):
During this year I really enjoyed the drag show that was
so much fun. And we also discussed this is my
fourth time going and I've neverplayed a game there.
So this year our goal was like, we need to play a game of some
kind. Like we need to sign up for a

(43:52):
game of some kind. And they have a test room that
you can sign up for where it's game developers bring in their
games and you can go and test play them for like an hour and
they tell you all about their game.
And you sort of. So we played this one where they

(44:14):
had us like build a character and then ran us through like a
quick combat so that we could see like what it was like to
build a a character. And if it worked.
And you know, how easy that was and how accessible it was and,
and that kind of stuff to help them come up with ways to like
streamline that process and thatkind of thing.

(44:36):
So it was very interesting getting to play a game that was
still in development and talk tothe actual creators of it and
have feedback. And like they've even reached
out to me and emailed me and, and that afterwards and like,
please let us know if you so, you know, they gave me the book
of their game and their rule setand stuff and let us know if you

(44:58):
find anything else, if you have any other suggestions and that
kind of stuff. So I thought that was very cool
and interactive. That is.
Fun sounds incredible. So they actually gave you, they
gave you the game. Yeah, yeah, they gave me their
set of dice and they gave me thebook with the, like, rules and

(45:18):
all the different classes and like races and stuff that you
could be and like how to start up your own game.
So I could take it home and we could play around with it and I
can show it to other people and work stuff out.
And my favorite thing about thatgame is they have a class called
a Chocolatier where like you turn bad guys into truffles.

(45:41):
So what game? What game was this?
Now you've now you've really intrigued me.
I've I've piqued your interest. Let me.
See if we have. That next to me or not.
It is called Proto. Oh, this is the book they gave
me. Oh wow, I and I have a feeling.
This bag of dice with it, so there's like a bunch of

(46:03):
different dice in it. Wow.
Yeah. I mean, if we know anything
about tabletop players, it's that we collect dice.
So. Any dice?
Yeah, if you. Give me any dice, I'm going.
To love your game. Yeah, how to make friends with
D&D people. You just give them dice.

(46:27):
Atari. What is your favorite event that
you have attended at Gen. Con?
That's really hard. I really enjoyed the true I I
always enjoy playing True Dungeon, which is the live
action. It's Dungeons and Dragons meets
an escape room essentially and they have a massive setup where

(46:49):
you can basically walk through sets that they have put in.
I think it's actually in the liquid soil stadium basement,
but it's these massive sets and you walk through and you have to
figure out puzzles or defeat a monster in a room.
And it's just a really interesting game.

(47:11):
And I like I like when I am gaming and it's an immersive
experience. And then, you know, I used to
LARP when they would have Vampire Camarilla larps.
So I would say that, you know, one of those games back in the
day was probably good and I don't know if they still do it,

(47:32):
but I recall at some point in myhistory going to a rave.
So I'm wondering if that is evenstill like a techno rave.
I wonder if that's even still a thing.
I. Think I think I saw they had a
silent disco this year. I think I saw they had a silent

(47:53):
disco which sounds fun. Yeah, I know.
The one year we went to like a cyberpunk party that we dressed
up as, and Tari was way too pregnant.
I was. Extremely pregnant.
Yeah, and you said Tari? Atari was gonna go and she was
like, no, I did get to borrow. I did get to borrow her awesome

(48:15):
necklace for it. So it was a win in my book, even
if you weren't there. I did, I did bring a costume.
I did bring a costume but I justno Gen.
Con is not for the week. It's not you have to.
It takes a whole week to like, recover from Gen.
Con. Yeah, I absolutely took the day

(48:37):
the Monday after and that will be my practice from now on is
taking a day off after just to sleep.
Yeah. Yeah, it's exhausting.
I I booked a family vacation after Gen.
Con and I was like, I was home for like a day and a half and I
was like back on the road. I was like, what am I thinking?

(48:57):
Yeah, I'm still tired. Oh, last year I started a job.
As soon as I got back from it, Istarted a brand new job like the
day I got back from Gen. Khan.
Last, Last. Year.
No, last year Okta and I went tosee, I think it was Creed.

(49:18):
Yeah, it was Creed. We went and saw Creed on Friday
night and then got up really early on Saturday and drove into
Indy. And yeah, I don't I don't
recommend that either. Yeah, well, it's really bold
going back to housing. That was what this was the first
year we actually had a hotel downtown.

(49:41):
And like, we loved it because myhusband and I both have really
shitty backs. So like going being able to just
be like, OK, we have two hours before our next event, let's go
die in bed for a little while. I remember we this year we had

(50:02):
to go to your hotel room while you were dying in bed just to
hang out. Yeah.
Like it like the the grandpa, the grandparents, and yeah,
Willy Wonka. Oh, and we were supposed to go
to an event later that night andwe did not make it.

(50:22):
We did not make it to that eventthat it was like Saturday night.
We we, we really need to learn our lesson that Saturday night,
our last event cannot start at 9:00 at night because we are not
going to make. It.
That's impossible. That was the thing.
Tari and I have the best time atGen.
Con because both nights we were in bed by night.

(50:45):
I don't know how people do it where like there are a lot of
people that I know that do San Diego Comic Con and then go
immediately to Gen. Con.
Like I, I don't know. That sounds like my personal
hell. That's my personal hell right
there. That's too many people and too
much on my feet. Time back-to-back.

(51:07):
Yeah. Well, that's the thing.
I don't think that you can possibly comprehend even just
how large the like like the vendors hall is.
Like you cannot even comprehend.I would love to see that space
empty because it's just aisle after aisle after aisle after
aisle after aisle. And like to the point where they

(51:29):
have to hang signs that tell youthe aisle number so that you can
find it. And you have Hasbro, like you
have the names of the of the game companies that you know,
like I, mine was Ravensburger. I was so excited about
Ravensburger. And like, you know, and then you
have these little, tiny little game makers that are just trying

(51:53):
to make it. And some of the best games that
I have found have been from these tiny little game makers
that otherwise I would never know exists.
But you got to wear good shoes. Yeah, deal.
Yeah, 100%. I remember the first year we
went all together in 2019, that's all we did was the vendor

(52:15):
hall. Like we were there for one
entire day and we only hit the vendor hall.
That's all we had time for that day.
I I was telling Tari the when wewere at Gen.
Con this year, it's because Reese wanted to see every booth.
Every. Single and that is.
We had to go up and down every single aisle.

(52:36):
I said oh. No, I was so tired.
Yeah, that's one day going up and down.
Every aisle is probably walking 19 miles.
Yeah, like, yeah, it's so huge. Yeah, but well worth it.
Well worth it. Yeah.
And then like the second year I went, when I went solo, I had, I

(53:01):
was there for four days that time, which like I said, the
first time it was one day. And so the second time I had the
whole weekend pass and I had, I didn't book any like experiences
or anything that I didn't sign up for anything at all.
It was just like, I'm going to walk around and wander and see,

(53:23):
you know, what I see and who I see.
And because like I said, I have so many friends in this in this
community, that Gen. Con is the only time I get to
see them from, you know, people from California, from people to
England that I know. Like, this is the weekend that I

(53:43):
get to see them each year. So that year, I didn't want to
do any, like be bogged down by being assigned to anything.
So I just wandered around and itwas equally as fun.
And if you don't have any plans and you just wander, like it's
still so much fun to just see people and meet people and.

(54:04):
I think this year specifically, even though I had interviews
with, you know, some of the gamecompanies and, and we did have
the Old Gods of Appalachia, I feel like this year, Tari and I,
we just really roamed and that was kind of the vibe that we
had. We're just like wherever the
wind takes us and it was real chill and probably my favorite

(54:29):
Gen. Con experience thus far.
Well, I liked, I liked that we had two days because I think for
the last few years we've only been going for one day.
I really enjoy having a structured game to play and
trying out a new game. Like we tried Old Gods of
Appalachia and it was fantastic.It was a fantastic tabletop

(54:52):
game. I actually bought the book
myself. It's pretty sweet.
I haven't even read it yet, but I plan to and hopefully run that
eventually for some somebody, I don't know who.
But then we also, we got to go and look at the different places
inside of the vendors hall and then we went to the makers area,

(55:13):
which is more of craft. We got to play test a couple of
games on the floor in the vendorhall, just random indie games.
That ended up being really awesome.
And I like having some structuretime and then some unstructured
time with maybe like a focus on I'd like to see this or I'd like

(55:33):
to do this. Yeah.
And that if you don't have any plans, there are like so many
gaming companies that run demos on the vendor floor.
So you can definitely fill up that time just playing random
demos and stuff. There's also stations where you
can just sit down and paint themany if you've got 2 hours to

(55:54):
kill. Like there's just tables that
have minis and all the supplies and you can just sit down and
paint those. You can look at the cosplayers
and take pictures with them, assuming.
They cosplayers. The cosplayers are like a sight
to behold. They are so talented and so fun.

(56:16):
You'll see funny cosplayers, you'll see serious cosplayers,
you'll see anime that you have no idea what they're from and
everything. It's just so fun to look at all
of the cosplayers. There was one day there was just
like we kept running into peoplelike French people with like,

(56:37):
yeah, like berets and like the white and red stripe shirt and
they had like stuffed baguettes.And we were like, what is
happening? That was there has to be an
event cuz like there's so many French people.
There's a game. There's a game out, I don't
remember the name of it, but. Dylan had to look it up.
Yes, we had to look it up. Cuz we're we're like, I have no

(57:00):
idea. Cuz I was seeing him too.
Like yeah, cuz your husband started seeing him and then he
started pointing them out. I'm like, they're everywhere.
What's happening? Everywhere you almost I work
like I work in a French bakery and make pancakes with people
from France and I was like what is happening?

(57:21):
Am I at work? What's going on?
Yeah, but we all know that the best cosplay of all time this
year was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, right?
I disagree. I I disagree because you didn't
catch the reference, but hopefully there's some South
Park watchers that are listeningbecause I saw a young lady, she

(57:48):
was dressed up as Randy Marsh asLord, which is a pretty deep
cut, but that was my favorite. I saw her and I said, excuse me,
are you Randy Marsh to a young lady?
She loved it so and I got to take a picture with her.
Oh yeah I got pictures with there was 2 ladies that were

(58:10):
dressed like Dragons and like their costumes were amazing and
I so I of course being the queenof Dragons had to take my
picture with them. Yeah, I swear you cannot.
You can't be shy if you're a cosplayer because people are
just going to approach you. I mean, even if you have just a

(58:30):
simple cosplay costume, people are gonna approach you and take
pictures, so you better be readyto be chatty.
Yeah, I have friends that are like professional cosplayers
that get hired to be there each year and dress up and like,
they're exhausted by the end of the day and all they do, like,
they just stand in a doorway andtalk to people as they come in

(58:53):
to play games. But like, it is so exhausting
being in, you know, these full costumes and character all day
long and talking to people and taking pictures and stuff.
Like we see them at the end of the day as they're coming out
and they're like, oh man, like Ineed to go take the suit of
armor off and go to bed. That's when I was interviewing

(59:16):
some of the companies. I was like, are you tired?
And they're like, Oh my God, I'mso like that.
Like it was almost like watchingtheir character break and
they're like, I'm so tired. I have, I only have four more
hours left and I'm like, I see you.
I I see you. I understand because I've been
here for two days and I'm exhausted.

(59:37):
So I can't imagine because they have to be odd.
And they're there before we're there, they have to do all the
setup and stuff. So I also have friends that work
for gaming companies and like the very first stop we made
Thursday morning was to say hi to them and unload a bunch of
the scones that I brought. And it just the first thing they

(59:58):
say is like, oh God, I'm alreadytired.
Like I'm already exhausted, my feet already hurt.
And like this is 10 AM on Thursday and they have four more
days of it. Yeah, you definitely see them
petering out towards the end, like when you're going, when
you're walking around and you like pick up a game and you're

(01:00:18):
looking at it and they're like, you can tell they're secretly
hoping that you don't want to demo it because they're so tired
playing the rules. Like the guy who was like, yeah,
hold on. And he just like slammed AI
think it was like an Italian sausage.
I have no idea. It was a very odd food to be
eating on its own. But yeah, like, he just slammed

(01:00:40):
that in his mouth rather than. Show me a demo on Saturday.
See, that's why I bring scones and just hand them out to people
randomly. Like I just started handing them
out to people in booths like that where they're working as I
talked to them and stuff like here, do you want a box of
scones? And they got so excited, like.

(01:01:02):
Pepperina Pepperina is a professional Baker, and she has
learned that she can make a lot of friends at Gen.
Con by bringing baked goods. Well, just as.
Life, really. That's just my life, I guess.
I bring baked goods. So if you ever see Pepperina,
you'd be like, cozy up to her, be like, hey, Pepperina, I know

(01:01:24):
you. And then she'll give you a baked
good and it's like a double win because you get to beat
Pepperina. And you get a baked good.
Yeah, I've even gotten a free tow truck driver by giving him a
scone when he came to save me onthe side of the Expressway.
It's amazing, the power of sugar, am I right?

(01:01:47):
I think next year I will bring slim Jims and hand them out so
they could have protein. Yeah, that's a great idea.
I did cookies for two years and I thought like scones are a
little more substantial so I decided to go that route this
year. Atari You could cosplay as Macho

(01:02:08):
Man Randy Savage and then. Hand out, yeah.
Actually you're on to something right now.
I was just thinking I would loveto cosplay.
I've never cosplayed before. I used to make costumes when I
Larped for my characters, but I've never actually cosplayed
so. Yeah, I'm only committed to like

(01:02:31):
generic characters. Last year I did like teefling
horns. This year for the first day I
dressed like a fairy and cuz I was handing out scones like a
little baked good fairy and I ran into Matt Mercer dressed
like a fairy. And like we just randomly walked

(01:02:56):
by him in the street and my husband yelled out Oh my God,
it's Matt Mercer. And he looked up and waved at
us. I was like Oh my God.
And then we walked by and I looked down and I was like I
just I just met Matt Mercer and I'm dressed like a fairy.
OK. I have never seen a celebrity,

(01:03:17):
and I'll tell you the one celebrity that I would love to
see at Gen. Con is Matthew Lillard.
Yeah, and he was there. I know I saw a lot of pictures
with other people that I know that hung out with him.
We ran into a lot of celebritiesthis year.
This was like the most that we ran into this year and it
started first thing Thursday morning with Matt Mercer and

(01:03:40):
Travis from Critical Role. And then we saw a bunch of
people from drop out and we Deborah Ann Wall was behind us
on an escalator. From True Blood.
From True Blood. Yeah, yeah.
And I recognize the guys she waswith as people I follow on

(01:04:05):
Instagram. So I turn around.
She's in a COVID mask, so like, you could only see her eyes.
And I turn around and I'm like, oh, are you guys?
You know, so and so and they're like, yeah.
And I'm like, oh, you know, I follow you on Instagram.
I'm Pepper in a sparkle gym. This is the content I make.
And I had those little badge tags that I was handing out.
You know, it's like when we get off this escalator, I have

(01:04:25):
something to give you. And Dylan turns around to see
who I'm talking to and then kindof turns back.
And then I clocks who's standingthere and turns back around and
was like, oh, my God. You're, you're her.
And she's like, yeah, He's like,Oh, my God.

(01:04:49):
And then we, like, walk down a long hallway just chatting with
them. And I gave her one of my tags
that said she's now officially one of my Dragons so.
Perfect. Yeah, I like.
That that was something I was telling on the last podcast
episode I was on with Joe is theis the badge tags and like, that

(01:05:11):
is something that you don't understand until you see it.
Yeah, because people and it I feel like over the last couple
of years, it's really, really grown into a thing.
And so basically you have your name badge on your lanyard and
then it's like a little like banner ribbon that hangs on the

(01:05:33):
bottom. And you there's just normal ones
that you get like ask me about my pronouns is a big one or like
your pronouns on there or the gamer.
But then regular people like Pepperina, not that you're a
regular person, you're not a regular person to me, but
regular people like Pepperina will make their own and hand

(01:05:55):
them out and people collect them, including Pepperina and
her husband this year collected them.
And you guys were battling over who had the longer.
We started as battling and then at the end decided to join
forces and work together. Yeah.
So we and how we ended up with over 60 of them.

(01:06:20):
And from from floor to ceiling? How tall do you think that is?
It is taller than me and I like I said I have some friends that
work for game company and they are both very tall, over 6 feet
tall men and I held it up next to them and it was taller than
them and then I got more so it is over 6 feet long.

(01:06:46):
Then you have to walk. You have to have your name tag
on for anything you do. So then for the rest of the
weekend we have to walk around holding these tags and like
wrapping them around our arms. Somebody saved you though with a
paper clip, right? Yeah, that's the tray.
Paper clip that lasted for a little bit until like it got too

(01:07:08):
weak to hold them. Was it worth it?
Will you collect the ribbons again?
Yeah, yeah. Well, we might.
So we might. Pause after they like, hit the
floor, but yeah. And something to note, something

(01:07:28):
to note about the ribbons, too, is that they have gotten
progressively funnier. Like companies know they're,
they're they know what they're doing with these ribbons.
Yeah. Like they, they make them so
that you want their ribbon to wear.
Yeah. And then they're like, you have
to, you have to buy something. And then you get a ribbon.
Yeah. And you're like.
Yeah, that got us on a couple ofthem.

(01:07:50):
Yeah, We did end up buying some things that we didn't really
need to buy just so we could have ribbons.
The best moment was there was a guy who had 100 ribbons and we
stopped to talk to him. And this was before we had like,
very many and it was like maybe day 2, like early day 2, and he

(01:08:13):
had over 100 of them. And we stopped to talk to him
and I handed him one of mine andhe looked at it and he was like,
oh, I've been looking for this one.
I saw it on somebody else's tag.And I was wanting this one I
love. That OK, we should pause and go
to another break and when we come back, I think that we

(01:08:37):
should give our best advice to future Gen.
Con goers. So you should stay tuned for
that portion and we will be right back.
Stick with. Music Maker.

(01:09:16):
Welcome back to the final portion of this episode.
I know you're sad because you'relearning all things Gen.
Con and D&D from the. Experts.
Awesome, but just a pleasure to be with.
I Yeah, yeah, who can deny it, right?

(01:09:39):
I think we should give some tipsto future Gen.
Con goers. So like my big tip is register
early enough that you can have your badge shipped to your
house. Yes, because you can avoid the
will call line. And I wrote about this in my big
bad Gen. Con recap blog or post on Gaming

(01:10:02):
Nexus is that the will call linegoes way faster than you expect
it to. They have it like down to a
science, but it's still like when you get there, the last
thing you want to do is get in line.
Like you want to go in and see things.
The last thing you want to do isget in a We'll call so.
And it can get long, like if youare there first thing in the

(01:10:27):
morning, it is wrapped through the entire building and out the
street and around the outside ofthe building.
Like it it can get very long. You can find times where it is
less long, like if it's later inthe afternoon and stuff.
But if you need your actual badge to get into anything, you

(01:10:51):
have to stand in it. So that kind of piggybacks that
into my advice, which is to register early.
If you buy your badge after a certain period, they won't mail
it to you. You'll have to get it through
will call. But registering early is really
important. So you can also look through the
full massive catalog of games and really just have your pick

(01:11:16):
of what you want to play. By the time I was looking at it
in July, which was the month before Gen.
Con, so many things sold out, Events sell out, and in fact,
this year they sold out of badges.
So the best way to, you know, really get ahead of things is to

(01:11:37):
make the decision that you're going to go and get cracking on
it. As soon as they open up those,
you know, those doors to open and you can buy your ticket.
I don't remember why that is, but I think maybe in May.
And they also do like housing fairly early too.

(01:11:57):
So if you are looking to get into the housing lottery, if you
wait too long to get your ticketthen it's gone.
Like, it's all like, if you buy your pass after the housing
lottery opens, there's almost nochance you're getting into that.
And so you can still find hotelsand stuff.

(01:12:19):
But you do have to pay a more premium price because the hotels
do cut deals with Gen. Con for the housing lottery to
have lower prices than if you were to just buy it online
through their website. Yeah.
And they do mark up the prices. And I made the mistake this year
of trying to book an adorable Airbnb for Atari and me.

(01:12:45):
And what happened and what I heard has been happening after
the fact, obviously because theywould not have Airbnb booked had
I known before. But what I, what I found out is
that they like to the host like to cancel your reservation and
then hike up the price and then get somebody else to pay.

(01:13:06):
And they like, it's kind of the gamble that they take of, you
know, waiting until they get thehighest pay that they can.
And so I had booked a hotel or an Airbnb and then got booted.
And I had to find a hotel. And by the time I got booted, I
had to go and look for a hotel. And that's why we were 25

(01:13:29):
minutes out, because anything closer wasn't available.
Yeah. But it was nice anyway.
I liked it. Yeah, that was a good one.
Yeah. I would say another big tip is
stay hydrated because it is so much walking and there's so many

(01:13:51):
people and you're inside and outside.
And like this year, the weather was very nice, but like past
years, it's been so ungodly hot.But there are water stations all
over the place. So keep like, don't feel like
you have to buy a $5 bottle of water like throughout the entire
day, every, you know, hour. There are water stations

(01:14:15):
throughout the entire conventionand Union Station and the
stadium and all over the place that they keep up on very well.
So keep an eye out for those. I've seen people Campbell backs
before. That's smart.
Yeah. Speaking of beverages, food,

(01:14:37):
there is like the the block party and there's like a ton of
food trucks. Yeah.
But if you go at meal time, if you go at noon, you're going to
be standing in line for a long time.
So if you can figure out how to adjust your food throughout the
day, you can avoid those lines. And let me tell you, I we had

(01:15:00):
Hari and I had this year like friend like waffle fries that
had queso on them and and pulledpork barbecue and they were so
good. I still think about them.
I just had a couple of yours andI still think about them.

(01:15:20):
I still think about the wonton. It's fried wonton nachos.
Yeah. And I had it last year and I had
it this year, and it is hands down some of the best food I
think I've ever had from a food truck.
Yeah, Yeah. The food truck, they have some
good food trucks. We did discover sort of on

(01:15:44):
accident this year, if you get to the food trucks around 11
when they're starting to open, that is the best time because
the vendor hall opens at 10. And so that's the big thing that
everybody stands and waits to get into the vendor halls
because a lot of the vendors have like very specific things

(01:16:06):
that they only bring so many andrelease that many per day.
Like they'll only bring 100. So they sell 20 each day.
So people will go into the vendor hall first thing to get
those things to stand in line. So while they're all doing that,
go get your food. They're in those lines, go get

(01:16:28):
your food. There's nobody out there and go
to the stadium to eat because it's air conditioned and there's
a ton of seating. Right.
The stadium I like, I didn't know until I think last year
that the stadium was an option. And the stadium is a game
changer. Even though it's a little like
when you're sitting in those stadium seats, it's it's
disorienting because you're likeso steep and so high.

(01:16:52):
But it's a great place to get some air conditioning for sure.
Yes, the the stadium there is one of the coveted indoor
stadiums for football. So it's it's perfect in there.
And I love kind of getting that taste of football season coming
because it's Gen. Con's in the beginning of

(01:17:14):
August. So feeling the rush of that,
watching whatever card games they have going on down on the
field too is really cool. Is it too late to say that this
is in Indianapolis? Because I.
Don't think we've had that yet. We're like.
That one professional football team, It's the Indianapolis
Colts. It's in Indiana.

(01:17:36):
Colts, I don't know what sports ball they play, I did say.
Lucas Oil Stadium, I said Lucas Oil Stadium.
So if anybody is a Colts fan or a, you know, maybe.
Pepperina's like, I don't know, maybe the Olympics were there.

(01:17:58):
I don't know. There's like a horseshoe on the
side. That's all I know.
I play some kind of sports ball.I'm not sure.
OK, I'm gonna I'm gonna throw you guys a curveball.
If you had one complaint about Gen.
Con, what is it? That's so tough.

(01:18:20):
I feel like one of the biggest complaints has been that they
used to allow carts and wagons in the vendor area and this year
was the first year that they didn't allow that.
So it was much less congested. I feel actually.

(01:18:41):
And in that statement, I just realized my biggest complaint is
when guys or girls, but mostly men wear those very, very large
backpacks. And these are not backpacks like
a Jansport. These are backpacks that are
carrying volumes of board games.And then they swing that thing

(01:19:04):
around and it just smacks you inthe side.
And they don't do it on purpose,but I wish.
It's like be aware, like be spatially aware.
I. Think those things are the size
of a mini fridge on somebody's back.
Like they are very large. And then they just stop in the
middle of a hallway and like turn and block the entire

(01:19:25):
hallway. Yeah, my biggest complaint.
I have two. Tari had two.
I get 2 #1 not enough coffee, weneed there.
There is not enough access to coffee there.
And like I don't know if it's just cuz I'm a you know, basic
basic ass bitch but I need more coffee.

(01:19:49):
It's so hard to find. Yeah, there's like 1 coffee tent
outside which is amazing. I went there every year now and
they have excellent coffee. But yeah, 11 tent that you have
to walk a mile to to get coffee is not enough.
Coffee, you know what my problemis, is that by the time I get

(01:20:09):
outside in the blazing heat, getin line and stand in line, I
don't want coffee anymore because I'm so hot.
I'm like, I can't do that. My second one, and this is I've,
I've seen other women posting about this on the Fans of Jon
Khan page on Facebook, is that name badges have your first and

(01:20:30):
last name on them. And as a female, it is a little
bit like scary for me to have myname on my badge like that.
And I did talk to them about it this year cuz I was like, I
don't need randos knowing my full name.
Yeah, right. So.
Especially if you're like us in the public eye.

(01:20:53):
Right. And like, and having like for a
long time I was Bunny and your Pepperina.
And it's like that's who we are and people know us and they
follow us and they're excited tosee us.
I don't want them to know who I am.
You know what I mean? Like I'm not ready for that.
So he was like, well, it's a safety concern for us to not

(01:21:17):
have the names on the badges, but he was like, you just take a
post it no and you cover up yourlast name and then you can show
it when people want you to. And I'm like, well, you know,
it's not the best scenario, but I guess it works.
Yeah, yeah, that is tricky, especially for the amount of

(01:21:38):
like Tik Tokers. Like, I saw so many people that
I recognize from TikTok there and streamers and podcasters
and, you know, people on Instagram who, like I said, I
don't know quite a lot of their names and they don't know mine.
Like the first year we went, nobody knew our real names in

(01:21:58):
this space at all. So having to put that on there
was like, well, I'm going to have to walk with it, like
turned around the entire time. And I'm going to have to be very
cognizant of that. So I don't know necessarily what
the solution is for that with like their reasoning for safety

(01:22:19):
and having to check ID's and stuff like that.
Or maybe just putting it smalleror on the back, you know, and
not such a right in the middle. Like maybe you could put a
preferred name on the front of it and then your actual name on
the back would work for when they have to check ID's, but I.

(01:22:43):
It was just interesting when I was telling them like it had
never crossed their mind becausethey were men and I was like,
like clearly as a female, I mean, there's a lot of men there
and I've never felt threatened by the men there period.
But I'm but like, it still is a threat, right?
Especially knowing that there's a presence online.

(01:23:05):
Like I have a presence online, you know, that's I've had
stalkers before. I don't want more.
Yeah, you know. Yeah, and if you're taking your
picture with people and your name, you like your full name is
right there, you know? Right on your and so easily, so
easily get docs now. Like so easily, somebody can

(01:23:27):
destroy your life. Yeah, and if anybody takes a
picture with you and posts it, you have no clue who's seeing
that with your full name. Yeah, Yep, right there.
What about you, Pepperina? Any complaints?
I find they're like, there isn'ta ton of places.

(01:23:52):
I mean, I know we said the stadium's a good place to rest,
but like, within the Convention Center, you just see people
literally sleeping on the floor in every single corner of the
Convention Center. Like every single corner.
People are just trying to find places to rest because it is

(01:24:13):
such a long day. And like we said, your hotel
might be 30 minutes away and youmight have to Uber to and from
it. And you might have an event at
9:00 in the morning and then oneat 4:00 PM and then one at 9:00
PM. And you have to be there then
the entire time. Like I wish there was more

(01:24:34):
spaces for rest. Or just.
Seating, yeah, seating and rest and, you know, you can go to the
stadium, but a lot of people don't realize that's a place.
I didn't go into the stadium until my third year there.
Like I had no clue that that wasan option.

(01:24:55):
So just, I don't, you know, moreseating in in the halls and
there's just, there's so many people.
So it's like trying to find a quiet space or just a space
where you're not in the way of people trying to get by you when
you're just trying to, like, rest for a hot second.

(01:25:18):
Yeah, it's very difficult. And once again, just for scale,
the numbers came out this year. I think I saw it was 80,000
people this year. So just to kind of envision the
amount of humans in one area, it's it's wild, it's so wild.

(01:25:40):
Did either of you guys end up with con CRUD this year?
No. No con crud, for those of you
that do not know is just like getting sick after a convention
because you're like packed like sardines into a small space.
And I mean, obviously your chances of contracting COVID are
higher and there were, you know,there were people who got COVID

(01:26:02):
from Gen. Con, but a lot of like colds
flus, you know, just tend to happen.
So keep a hand sanitizer on you as well.
That's I guess another good tip is to because you know, avoid
the con crud. One of our friends that was
there did have to leave early because he was really sick, so

(01:26:25):
they left like a day or two early.
Because he like. Halfway through got real sick,
which is like it's wild that like we were there with that
many people and there's two of us and we didn't get sick.
And now our kids have been in school for less than a week and
we're all like everybody in the house is falling 1 by 1 the

(01:26:48):
dominoes. But like totally fine.
Around 80,000 people. Well, ladies, I know we could
talk all night about D&D and Gen.
Con, but I think we're going to have to cap it here.
This is the longest I've talked about D&D without going on a

(01:27:08):
dragon tangent, so. I'm really proud of you.
My one regret about this whole, my one regret about this whole
podcast episode is that Tari admitted to going to a Creed
concert, which is a very bold move, she said.
It was a mistake to go to the Gen.

(01:27:28):
Con afterwards, but I think it was a mistake to just go to a
Creed. Con it was the most incredible
experience creed is Taylor Swiftfor like 40 year old Ben so to
see these men just absolutely hero worship Scott staff.
I actually went because Finger 11 was the opener and that's

(01:27:50):
been one of my favorite bands since college.
But my husband wanted to see 3 Doors Down and yeah, Creed.
Creed sounds incredible. So my recommendation is also if
you can go to a Creed concert, just do it.
Just do it. Active was like, do you want to
go to Creed with us the night before Gen.

(01:28:12):
Con and then we'll all go to Gen.
Con together. And I was like, absolutely I do
not, Absolutely not. I would definitely separate
those events from now on. Well, thank you so much to
everybody who has made it this far into the podcast.
I know we are a handful. We get told often that we're a
handful. So thank you for sticking with

(01:28:33):
us. We appreciate it.
I hope you all have a great day,night, week, weekend, all of the
above. We'll talk to you soon.
Bye.