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I’d never heard of Gen Con before moving to Indiana. I’d never played Dungeons & Dragons, either. Nor had I ever truly cosplayed – the act of dressing up as and emulating a character from a movie, TV show, book, etc.

Years ago, my husband and I were invited to join a game of Dungeons & Dragons (commonly referred to simply as D&D). This opened a new world for us, one of fantasy and adventure, one filled with new friends and new addictions, like buying more and more sets of dice. When you jump into a tabletop role-playing adventure game like D&D, you need a lot of dice.

One of the things this new hobby introduced us to was Gen Con, an annual convention in Indianapolis focused on tabletop games. This is a gamer’s heaven. At Gen Con, you’ll find people demonstrating games of all shapes and sizes. Some games are cute and silly. Some are dark and mysterious. Some can be played in a single session or a handful of sit-downs, while others could potentially engage a group of players for years. Vendors show off these games, either tried-and-true or brand new, and they also sell everything one could ever want to make their tabletop experience as good as possible.

One year, my husband and friends and I bought maps, cards to represent monsters and NPCs (non-player characters), and, of course, a ridiculous amount of dice.

If you’re not part of the tabletop role-playing game world, you may be confused why one would need or want so many sets of dice. When playing these games, dice are the way you accomplish things. You want to persuade the dragon not to set you on fire? Roll a 20-sided die and you better roll high. You want to kick down the door? Roll for it. You attacked the orc, but how much damage did you do? Consult the dice.

Gamers get really weird about their dice. They have their favorite sets. They spend way too much money on these sets. They have dice jails (sometimes intricately made contraptions or maybe just a simple box meant to teach their dice a lesson if they roll poorly one too many times). They have trays in which to roll dice. I have to believe selling gear for these games is a very lucrative market.

Last year, I went a little wild buying dice. I bought a teeny-tiny set of glow-in-the-dark dice. They’re really too small for me to see the numbers, so I don’t use them often, but they’re cute. I bought one huge glow in the dark 20-sided die. I roll that for really important in-game decisions. I bought dice of various colors and materials. I bought a dice tray with the image of Cthulu, a creation by H.P. Lovecraft that has inspired its own popular role-playing game, Call of Cthulu.

In addition to trying new games and buying anything you could possibly need for a tabletop adventure, people also dress up in cosplay at Gen Con. Not everyone does; this isn’t the same as Comic Con or cons specifically designed to celebrate iconic characters from popular creative works like Marvel or DC comics. But many people do dress up, and it’s always fun to see the wide array of costumes.

My first year, my husband and I dressed up as Velma and Shaggy from “Scooby Doo.” People loved my costume, complete with thick-rimmed glasses, knee-high socks and a box of Scooby Snacks. Last year, we dressed as Zelda and Link, specifically from the most recent Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. I spent weeks sewing our costumes together, which were admittedly pretty basic but fun to wear none-the-less.

This year, we’ve decided to cosplay as Asuna and Kirito from the anime “Sword Art Online.” I spent almost every free moment I had for weeks putting Asuna’s costume together, which was more of an undertaking than I thought it would be. I mistakenly thought Kitiro’s coat would be simple, and I ended up having several late nights the week of the con putting it together for my husband to wear. I was worried the costumes weren’t very good, but while very few people in the “real world” have heard of these characters or the show, we weren’t even able to make it through the doors of the convention before people were stopping us to comment on our cosplay. At cons, it’s normal to ask to take a picture with people dressed as your favorite characters, and this happened to us quite a bit throughout the day. Each time someone asked to take our picture, I got a little more emotional. It made me happy that my hard work paid off and people were excited to see our costumes. We also snagged a picture with someone dressed as Carmen Sandiego, who handed us flashcards with pictures and clues and made us guess where in the world she was.

My advice to those who have considered attending Gen Con but haven’t done so yet: Do it! It’s a fun way to explore the world of tabletop games, and it’s filled wall to wall with people who genuinely want you to find a game you’ll enjoy. Also, be cautious. Because once you get into these games, you may find that more time – and money – goes to it than you ever thought possible.

If you’re looking for a local way to get more involved in gaming, I suggest The Kingdom Cards & Games in downtown Kokomo. Run by an inviting man named Jason, this shop sells board games, cards for games like Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon, dice, miniatures and more. They also regularly host game nights for games like Werewolf and Magic. This crew loves Werewolf so much that when I ran into them at Gen Con, they invited us to play the game with them on the second floor of the convention center. That is what I call devotion.

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