Knights & Knaves Alehouse

GenCon SoCal is happening next week (Nov 16-19), and since I live about an hour's drive from the site (Anaheim Convention Center) I'm thinking of perhaps going down there on Saturday (though plenty of things could still affect this decision, including how much single-day admission costs, how much parking costs, what time I wake up on Saturday, what the weather's like (don't want to drive all the way down there if it's raining), etc.). Are any other K&K members planning on (or even considering) going?

Also, I haven't been to a gaming con of any sort in almost 10 years (not since GenCon '97), so I'm not even sure what they're like anymore: is there an auction at GCSC, and if so does it have anything good (meaning stuff from the 70s/early 80s at reasonable prices)? Are there any oop dealers in the dealer room (and if so do they have decent stuff at reasonable prices)? Are there any cool seminars at GCSC (or, for that matter, any seminars at all)? Are there historical minis events (meaning something other than Warhammer and DDM)? Are there any oop-D&D games/tournaments? Is there open gaming (i.e. where you can sit down and start playing without having to pay $)? Would I recognize anything from the cons I went to in the 80s and 90s? I suppose a visit to the GCSC website (which I haven't yet done) would probably answer most/all of these, but I'd rather hear it first hand from somebody who shares my perspective if possible.

UPDATE: $35 for a one-day pass to get in the door (+ parking + gas + food + separate tickets for events)? Screw that. Back when I was going to GenCon in Milwaukee a 4-day pass was $40, one-day pass was $15, and you could get a shopper/observer pass (which lets you into the exhibit hall and demos but not paid events) for $5 or 10. Yeah, I regularly pay $35 or more for shows without thinking twice, but at least with those I know I'm going to have a good time, while with this there's a very good chance I'd walk in, spend 15 minutes in the exhibit hall realizing there's nothing I'm interested in, spend 15 minutes walking through the tournament halls realizing there's nothing I want to play, and be ready to go home. I'd probably take the chance at $20-25 (pass + parking) but not $40-50.

Thanks for doing the research on this one. I was about to hit you up and see if we wanted to carpool there, but after what you just wrote I will simply enjoy this Sunday's game knowing that I'll be having a better time doing that for free than I would spending $35+ to slog though all the 3E-tard crap and not find anything I'd be interested in.

BTW, went up north this weekend to Santa Cruz and revisited one of the best record stores I've ever been to, Streetlight Records. If you get up that way you definately have to check them out.

- Wheggi