There have been many good changes in my life over the past 2 years since the last GenCon, and with these changes have come a number of decisions I have had to make. It has been hard to make them but I am not just comfortable with them but excited to try a bundel fo new things in my life. With that, I wanted to take a minute and share one of the biggest things with you all, as you have been with me on this journey to make HiBRID a reality.
The biggest decision that I wanted to share with you all is that this will be my last foreseeable GenCon in
Indianapolis. While the experiences over the years have been great, it has become too
much: too busy enjoy the demonstration floor, too crowded to move or breathe, too
difficult to find parking and housing. If the convention gets back to a reasonable size. or my experience this year is much better than that of 2017, I may change my mind, but given that attendance continues to rise, I am not optimistic and do not want to raise anyone's hopes. My joy over the years was once having people play my game but now comes from seeing familiar faces of those who come to play year after year, seeing the younger players grow up, seeing the players get married, meeting extended families brought into the HiBRiD fold and playing together...those are the experiences that move me and bring tears of happness to my eyes as I look back over the years; those are what give all the work I have put in over the years value. The joy it has given me to make people happy and share their lives with me has given me joy, and I just want to thank everyone. I have to say I am a bit teary just thinking about it.
As for the future, instead of GenCon, I will be attending Origins in Columbus Ohio. I have embarked on a new career, one that has me working part time in Akron Ohio and at the same time given me more time with my family and more time to work on and finish the game.I have spent a lot of time in Ohio the last few years, in Akron, Cleveland, and Columbus. I am comfortable with driving to Ohio as well as flying there, and the city of Columbus is great with its smaller size, friendly people, the beauty of the Ohio River Valley, and Cincinnati-style Chili dogs-it has me excited to explore it more! From the convention standpoint, Origin's smaller size, tighter focus on gaming and novel games in general (which seems to have been lost a bit by GenCon in its desire to draw bigger crowds), and its larger number of available hotels, have convinced me to give it a try. I am looking forward to trying out its registration process and enjoying the experience as a convention goer, comparing it to both GenCon Indy and GenCon when it was still in Milwaukee.
I will miss all of my GenCon friends (and understand what a trek it is to drive to Columbus so would never expect them to come with me), but at the same time, in the HiBRiD spirit, I look forward to making new friends and introducing the HiBRiD spirit and the Canyonside characters to a new convention in a new local area. I know my games will not sell out in hours, maybe they won't sell out at all..heck, maybe no one will even come. But I am trying all sorts of new things in my career, and am excited to start a new adventure with HiBRID as well!
For those of you who have been with me over the years and would like to continue to follow me, our Origins games, and the game system in general as it moves towards publication, you will still be able to join me either on Instagram (@hujraadjohaansen) or on our Ite' Gaming Engine Facebook page, or email me at hujraadjohaansen@gmail.com.
Also, finally, I leave you with one last note: there are a number of smaller conventions up in Lake Geneva and Milwaukee, and on the even years, once the HiBRiD Spielbook is complete, I currently plan on attending one of the them, as a tribute to my years going to pre-Indy GenCon. Though I am unsure yet which one it will be (Suggestions are always welcome), I will keep you all posted as this develops right here on this blog page.
Until then, keep throwing dice, keep making things hapen, and I look forward to seeing you at the gaming table. If you ever find yourself in Mokena, IL, or anywhere close to that neck of the woods, give me a holler...who knows, maybe we can throw a game together and we can sling dice and stories together again one more time!!
Until then, may your Ite' flow wildly!!
