Con survival pack

[dsatow]

What do you pack to take to your Con when travelling?  Note: My wife says I take an office to Dundracon.  I can't lie.  I almost do.

 

If I am travelling and staying at a con:

1. My laptop and wireless trackball - Most of my more important hero books are electronic and I have HD too, so I don't carry a lot of books.
2. My unlucky hero dice.  Sadly, any dice in my hands is unlucky when a player.
3. Chessex battlemat and vis-a-vis pens.  A small atomizer with dihydrogen oxide - the ultimate solvent.
4. Any figures and toy vehicles I might need if I am running at the con (I have a lot of heroclix remounted for gaming use).
5. A laser printer.  I found a Con hotel too obnoxious to print in their business center and since I always drive to the cons, taking a laser printer isn't much harder than taking other gaming stuff.
6. Some stuff for drawing.  (I get inspired at cons)
7. A pack of pop tarts and water additives in case I can't forage.  I don't take too much more.  The advantage of being a professional rather than a starving college student is the ability to eat out.  Though my wife sometimes likes me to pack more goodies.
8. A lot of gaming t-shirts.  I have too many and I sometimes get more at cons.  Its an addiction.

[Norm]

I do not host any games, so my list is simpler. 

• notebook
• note cards
• a variety of jerky
• downloaded copies of Con maps and schedules on my cell phone.  Sometimes cell reception can get congested.  It has been a couple of years since I have really worried about it, but I keep the paranoia alive.

A lot of my list for travelling is preparing for the worst, but hope for the best.  I get silly if I am travelling and it is in the summer (Gen Con).  I hate the heat and sweat a lot.  So I take:

• Tablet
  • downloaded/cached movies.  I am glad that Amazon and Netflix have this now.  lighter than a laptop.
  • Gaming books.  Love those PDFs.
• 2 extra sets of clothes in case I shower a second time in a single day.  Maybe even more shirts.  I have a gaming t-shirt issue also.  
• depending on how the taste of the water at the Con compares to the hotel, I could be lugging around two to four 1 liter water bottles
• a decent amount of cash so I can buy something if Square or whatever credit card transaction company has communication issues
• lots of Sudafed.  Allergies up the wazoo.

I am sure that there is more, but as I said above....  been about 5 years since I have been to a Con.  Needs to go back to Gen Con sometime and also check out some local Cons (Seattle) again.

 

[TjackFlash]

    For the first timers, do yourselves a favor and BEFORE the con,  hit a pharmacy and pick up vitamins or the little packs of multiple vitamins. Also get a strong daytime cold reliever that won't have you out on your feet. Cons are incredible breeding ground for illness so don't forget the hand sanitizer.

    Then off to the supermarket to the aisle with those breakfast bars. Make sure to get the ones that are high fiber and protein for mid day snacking and to keep away that sugar-crash feeling.  I also like getting a container of dry Gatorade mix to add to my walk around water bottle before I leave the room. Something other than plain (or nasty tasting) water and electrolytes to help balance off the sweat loss from overheated crowds and possibly bulky costumes.

[dsatow]

I always keep pseudophedrine in my travel bag but at the Cons, I haven't had any non-allergy problems since inoculating each year with the flu vaccine.

[lemming]

It's been awhile since I've gone to a Con to run.  (Holy crap, 2008...)

 

Stuff I'm bringing to Genghis Con:

Couple totes of Lego for the Lego Hero game

Binder with characters and printouts of game materials

Laptop and Wacom tablet

Camera gear  (Mainly because I'll be doing some photo stuff to and from)

Dice

Debating if I'm bringing the gaming mat & picking up pens.  Lego will be the main focus in one game and the second game can use Lego for representation purposes.

 

Food of an easily snacked nature, water bottle, packs of Emergency, and the usual supply of vitamins.

 

[wcw43921]

I don't have a laptop or a tablet, so I take pencils, pens and paper for writing stuff down.

 

Dice, of course.

 

Whatever rulebooks I need.

 

A travel-sized roll of toilet paper, in case the bathrooms at the con run out.  (Don't laugh--it's happened at a couple of GEN CONs I've attended.)  It's also good for wiping erasable marks off battlemats, and other stuff like that.

 

Food--that depends on where I stay.  If the hotel has a free breakfast, I eat as much of that as I can.  If breakfast isn't free, I will bring milk and cereal with me, and have fast food for dinner.

 

Hope that helps.

[dsatow]

On 2/11/2018 at 12:09 PM, wcw43921 said:

A travel-sized roll of toilet paper, in case the bathrooms at the con run out.  (Don't laugh--it's happened at a couple of GEN CONs I've attended.)  It's also good for wiping erasable marks off battlemats, and other stuff like that.

 

We used to game where we'd have an old wash cloth or sock to wipe the mat (not the other thing...ewww!)  That's not a bad addition to add to my kit.  The Marriott is pretty good at keeping the toiletry filled but then Dundracon is not Gencon.