Conventions

>Is there a signup/waiting list for games? Do you have to pay to join?
At GenCon/Origins, the way it works is that there is a booklet/online table of books that are being run during the show. You then buy tickets to enter them, most games have limited slots so you have to be quick off the ball to get into games.

There are also usually free demos at dealer booths in the dealer's hall. These are exactly what they sound like: demos. Just show up, sit down if there's a free seat, and learn to play something.

>What kind of scenarios do they run?
Everything you can imagine. RPGs, wargames of every stripe (including 50 games you've never heard of), random shitty dice games, card games of every kind, literally everything. I generally keep to BattleTech and free demos though, but that's just me.

>Are they usually one-shots of a couple hours or spanning multiple days?
Typically the RPGs are one-shots. Wargames are usually tournament-style, with some games having "story" games that take place across the entire event. Card games are tournament or grinder style. Board games are generally just "play a game of X". It's pretty varied.

Thanks for the help. I'm mainly interested in RPGs personally.

One of the coolest things is meeting game designers. Some of them are pretty great in person. Lots of the artists, especially webcomic artists are not so great.

One thing I still feel bad about was the lvl 99 booth had someone in full cosplay and I told her I didn't recognise her character at all from the game and she got sad and months later I was HUGE into their games and knew the character really well...

Con RPG games have a reputation for being fucking terrible, be warned. You tend to get spergs and shit DMs and other various flavors of terribleness. Sometimes, con RPGs are amazing. Most of the time, they're fucking awful though. Be warned, friendanon.

I think I could maybe reduce the severity by trying to land games that self-select for fun people and avoiding the lowest common denominator like Mathfinder

Oof, you would be in for a RUDE awakening user.

Your self-select games are what all the normal sociable people play.

I'm not actually sure, I've run several dozen and only had a few players be the worst. One time at Gencon a big fat player ended up at my table and he just glared at me as hard as he could the whole game from the moment he sat down.

...

>I've run several dozen and only had a few players be the worst.
Usually, in my experience, the source of the terribleness is the DM. Often, con DMs can't manage the group, can't into pacing or RP or combat, can't not run their mouths about stupid shit like politics or gender, etc. I want to play a game run by someone competent and who is focused on the game, but oftentimes what I get is someone with an agenda who can't actually do the thing I paid them to do. Years of bad experiences turned me off con RPGs forever. Just trying to make sure that OP goes into this with a clear head and knowledge off the risks.

>Oof, you would be in for a RUDE awakening user.
>Your self-select games are what all the normal sociable people play.
No, that's what I meant, avoiding Pathfinder.

No, you misunderstood me.. unless you mean you WANT the bad people.

Good games get lonely autists playing them, popular games get friends and groups of people who are there because other people wanted to hang out with them.

It's the tragedy of Veeky Forums

Ah, I'm a perma-DM by choice and I'd say I prefer con games to roll20 or a gamestore anyday. I can imagine a lot of GM's don't go out of their way for it as much as I do.

A lot of cons also offer "Games On Demand". Basically, there's an area with open tables and GMs. Each GM has a list of what games/scenarios they are willing to run. You pick one, get a group together, and they run the game. If you have a group of 4 friends at the con, it's a great way to quickly get into a game. If you don't have friends, you can just hang out for a few minutes and wait until enough people show up to fill a group.
Also, most of the Games On Demand GMs run lighter, shorter stuff like Dungeon World, Fiasco, Dread, Microscope, etc. If they're running something heavier like D&D or GURPS, it will usually have pre-built characters and sometimes rule simplifications. So you generally don't need to bring any system knowledge, dice, etc. for a game on demand.

It's really about what you pick.
You can tell a lot about a GM based on how they write their description, so read it very carefully. Don't pick super-crunchy systems, or scenarios that assume a lot of setting/lore familiarity. Look for a description that's very specific about the tone of the game. If the description is too vague, don't even bother joining.

Don't listen to this. Random PF or D&D groups are gonna be very hit-or-miss. Especially if they're running official adventures and such. Yeah, you might get some chill normies, but you can also easily get a bunch of That Guys who keep asking the GM if they can play as a bear with high bluff skills, or if they can stick a katana up the dragon's asshole, or if they can rape the barmaid, etc.
Look for cool ideas, not systems.That's a much better way to filter out bad players/GMs.

>Don't listen to this
Nothing you said contradicts what I said. But is still good advice.