To be clear, this is not me claiming to be an expert at convention-ing or anything else in life, just acknowledgement that any noob going through just ONE of my ten worst convention weekends would never even think about going back again.  You gotta grind in the early maps and level up first, THEN take on the really punishing dungeons.

No, but seriously, even before lockdown happened, I’d already been making a point to focus on all the newer, smaller cons that had sprung up around the North Carolina area, and I kept getting “beginner tier” vibes from them all.  Relaxing, sure, but also kinda boring in their various ways.  I guess I only feel like I’m at a “grown-up con” any more if there’s days of travel and insane distances to walk and basically an entire weekend of work involved.  I’m like those players who can breeze through the regular game by heart, so they need absurdly difficult rom hacks to have any kind of challenge anymore.  Send me to Kaizocon.