Dear GenCon,

I would like to give some constructive feedback on my experience playing True Dungeon this year, and some of the experiences I had around the event.

This year as most know True Dungeon was moved from Exhibit Hall A to Lucas Oil Stadium.  This was a big change for True Dungeon and I believe that the space worked well for the Dungeon itself, but there were some areas that most that I talked with could use some improvement.

1. Signage to True Dungeon - The signage was pretty lack luster.  There was a sign that said "More Adventure this way" on the bridge to the crown plaza, but it really didn't give any indication of what was down there.  If you walked down the hallway there were signs that were 3x5 off to the sides that mention True Dungeon, and the one lonely floor sticker that was 2x2 that said True Dungeon this way if you walked almost down to the escalators.  I talked with many TD players and many mentioned friends that had to be guided to where TD was because it was unclear.
   
2. Signage exiting the Dungeon -  There was a hallway split when you exited the Dungeon this year, that if you didn't take a left, you would wander into the Cosplay area.  It was so prevalent that I overheard the Cosplay people asking if TD would put up a sign to help direct the people back out to the tunnel.  Unfortunately GenCon controls all signage and none was put up.  Proper signage on the exit would have been very helpful to lessen the confusion.
   
3. Food choices in the area -  There was one food cart area right outside of TD entrance for people to eat at, which was nice, but it was only open a few hours around lunch and 2-3 hours at dinner time.  The costs of the food cart were also twice as much as walking all the way to the Georgia Street Food court.  I hope that next year this is improved, as it was not adequate in choice, price, or time open to cover the needs of the TD players, and Cosplay people.  There was a stadium food vendor area right as you exited TD dungeon.  This could have sold water, or soda/gator aide like crazy as we were all tired and thirsty after our 2hr dungeon runs.
   

Thank you
FiannaTiger

 think I only saw one TD sign, it was on the floor with an arrow pointing the wrong way. The guy fixed it(who had just finished putting it down)

the food choices were crap...you couldnt go to the food trucks and bring down to the TD area( i was stopped and had to eat it before I went down)
i dont even want to get started on the cos players...they acted like they owned everything..were rude and overly obnoxious. 
Trying to check in for a TD run and they just kept getting louder with their "music"

Ive typed this 2 times and the gencon site ate it but 3rd times the charm.

I did not like the new space. It was to far from everything, the consessions were frequently closed for no reason, and the staff was flat out rude.

It felt like gencon had banished us because what are they going to do.

Hope they can find a better solution because LOS doesnt feel like part of the con.

PS I know the writers symposium also got kicked out to the boonies. What hot new events got all that prime space near the dealers hall anyway???

This is also on the TD forums for those that frequent there!

I for one liked the space down under the stadium! It would be really cool if TD had the hallway and set up everything in the hallway! Have it like a dungeon entrance would have be great. I did like the fact it was not crowded with people blocking the entrance like when it was in Hall A. While Hall A was a great space was just crowded!

I know the walk was a pain for people, we were coming from the JW Marriott but we like to walk.

The food was an issue... trucks are close enough but not being able to openly bring the food into the hall was another issue. We put the food in our backpacks. :)

The staff going down under the stadium was just... well rude.

As for the cosplayers... they were rude... loud for no reason... and played music that, while they may enjoy it, not everyone liked their taste in music.

This was my first year doing True Dungeon. So I can't compare it to years prior.

As for the signage on the way there, I didn't think it really mattered. I knew it was at Lucas Oil and I knew there was an underground tunnel from the maps. So it was a rather straight shot with no room for deviation.

They could definitely have used a sign for the split when you walk out though.

As for the food; I only ran one campaign, so I don't think I'm part of the crowd that needs close proximity sustenance. But if you are someone who has back-to-back runs, then I could definitely see that as a need. Something more than a pretzel cart would have been nice.

https://truedungeon.com/forum?view=topic&catid=590&id=243722&start=24#258584

As for the issues posted about for TD, I think this was a learning year for it. There will always be some growing pains and things overlooked when you start something like this. Hopefully they will take constructive criticism and learn from it for next year... and I do believe they will!

I really do not like the location.  It didn't feel like the additional space was used for much and it was a pretty decent walk for one of Gen Con's most popular events.  

My hope it that they bring it back to the main ICC next year and it would be great if they could open up a bar again and make the entry area more like the social gathering place it used to be.

Still, even if the event stays where it is I'll still play TD.  The location is bad but the event is still great.

Lack of directional signage, something like arrows on floor up to main dealer hall of TD this way spaced out would've been handy.

Yeah, think we should have had door propped open between signin and the storyscape area would've helped. Can't begin to count the # of times i was passing through between runs/on bubble and helped people find their areas this year.

I remember when Fri night or Sat morn helping a guy on his phone through the gencon app to find an purchase tickets. A closer spot to get tickets or at least generics wouldn've been nice.

Food, to echo others, it sucked. Damned near lived off family sized box of nature valley most of con.

Location as a whole, i liked the new space, walk sucked coming from Embassy and momument circle hotels. Did like the airwall between coaching and dungeons. If we can open up the storyscape area better and have a loop for better management/flow through of dungeon exits i think we can make our new home more habitable with better marshaling points and open trade areas. Just not enough table/functional layouts to sit and trade and talk with people i only see once a year.

Why o why did we loose the photo area? Didn't realize how much i liked it till it was con. Usually the only pic of myself that gets taken during con.

Tunnel it self not as bad a walk as feared but still bad.

Overall can we live with LoS? I think so but changes need to made to adapt to community needs and desires.

Last but not least, i truly felt that we got stuck with cosplayers and we paid a price. I felt sorry for any volunteer working sign in/treasure/ag/waitlist. Miserable, bad enough when i was killing time on wait list. Majority of cosplayer's alright in theory, the sheer useless noise of groups was frustrating this year. To be honest if it wasn't for TD i would seriously skip gencon anymore and cosplay a big part of that now. Spend way too much money to deal with shrieking preteens and wannabe teens. Friend of mine commented that cosplayers spend more money then average td player at con. I about choked with laughter. Even your average non formite td player spends 100 plus a con just on td. Like to see math on what cosplayers spend at con...

Overall can we live with LoS? I think so but changes need to made to adapt to community needs and desires.
 

So the Dealer Hall itself is what got TD's old space.

Looking at the 2016 maps, the 2nd floor rooms that were Writer's Symposium last year were all RPG's this year.