Few things are as rare as a chatty Klingon warrior.

Ben Moore -- that's "Toq Thor Amra" to fellow Klingons and the Star Trek literate -- is decked out in full alien regalia, including prosthetic forehead and leather vest. Surprisingly inconspicuous on the third floor of the Midwest Express Center, Moore sits casually behind a table at the Klingon Jail 'n' Bail, a service that, for a nominal donation to a local charity, will "arrest" a convention goer of your choice for a brief time before letting them go (usually after making them sing).

"I went to (a Star Trek movie opening) and saw these guys dressed as Klingons, and I just said, 'Hey, how can I get into that?' And it wasn't long after that that I joined a Klingon ship..."

Among the few places a Klingon can blend in seamlessly, last weekend's Gen Con Game Fair brought 20,000 visitors to Milwaukee. Attendees had their pick of board games, card games, role-playing games, war games, video games and every conceivable hybrid thereof.

A longtime staple of Milwaukee's downtown summer, Gen Con assured that elves and Jedi Knights were a common sight on Kilbourn Ave. for at least four days out of the year. After 35 years in Wisconsin -- 17 of those in Milwaukee -- Gen Con will pack its bags and head to Indianapolis in 2003.

Peter Adkison is the owner and CEO of Gen Con LLC. Adkison, a gaming industry veteran, purchased the convention from his former company Wizards of the Coast, makers of "Magic: The Gathering."

For Adkison, the decision to move the convention to another city came down to one consideration: "It's been a great 35 years in Wisconsin--since 1985 in Milwaukee -- and the city's been great to work with, the hotels, the convention centers, all great -- it's just a matter of space."

Space has always been a Gen Con problem. From its earliest days in a rented hall in Lake Geneva -- the source of the name--the convention expanded to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus before making the move to Milwaukee's MECCA convention center and eventually the Midwest Express Center.

With various events, including seminars, game sessions, lectures, an auction and an art show stuffed into the MEC, the U.S. Cellular Arena and the adjacent Hilton and Hyatt hotels, Gen Con requires a lot of space (a promotional piece for the Indiana move, printed in the convention program, reads, "We're no longer the one convention that strains the city's system to the breaking point").