The Idea
On April 30, 2021 I posted on Twitter:
Soon people commented that they liked that idea, so I took the plunge and created a private group on Facebook and invited people who live in Michigan, in other states near Southwest Michigan, and others who might make the trip, plus family. I invited over 50 people and nine showed up, making ten with me, eleven when my granddaughter helped roll dice for my character in Numenera.
Mark Clover suggested the name right in front of me, Garage Con.
I found a public domain image of a garage from Unsplash and a font based off of the outlines of tools.
Clayton Williams provided an image based on the picture and font that I used to make a T-shirt signs and posters.
I put up an FAQ, and a poll listing the dates I would be available. The date most voted for was Saturday, July 17.
I also ordered a port-a-potty since my 10 year old house only has one bathroom.
I updated the group page with more information and progress on getting the garage ready.
I then spent a ridiculous amount of time cleaning and organizing my garage. Long story about why it was so bad. I lost track of how many hours I put into it.
I planned to be done with the heavy lifting long before the day of the event, but I was still moving stuff to the basement the day before, but I finally got it all done with some help for a couple hours at different times from each of my two sons.
The Big Day
The day arrived and I, of course, kept waking up thinking about all the things I hadn’t done yet. None of which were critical. All of those things could be done as they came up during the day.
But I was awake and not falling back to sleep at 5:30 AM. This made for a very long day and running out of steam a few times, once almost falling asleep during a game.
I set up two shop fans to keep the air moving and they did a great job keeping us cool. thankfully it was a mild sunny day that got better as the humidity decreased once the rain stopped about 8:00 AM
Nine guest showed up, plus me. My granddaughter helped roll dice for my character in the Numenera game. She also joined in the final game of the evening, Lizards & Wizards [Affiliate Link].
I ran the first game, my Boot Hill 2e [Affiliate Link] scenario, A Posse For The School Marm.
There were two games in the afternoon, Numenera [Affiliate Link]with 4 players plus the GM, and Weird Frontiers [Formerly Dark Trails] with 4 players plus the GM.
I closed out the day with Lizards & Wizards [Affiliate Link] by James V. West. My granddaughter played in that and had a great time. I wrote up a review about it a few years ago.
We ordered burgers for lunch from the local chain restaurant, and pizza for supper from the local pizza place. Both are less than a mile from my house.
People chipped in to help with the cost of the port-a-potty and food even though I told them it was cheaper than a weekend at a convention. All I really wanted was people to come and game.
Gaming started about 10:00 AM and the last guests left about 10:00 PM, about an hour earlier than initially planned. It was a full day, so that was a good point to end it.
By 10:30 pm I had finished bringing my game materials into the house, along with the leftover food items. The final sweeping and putting the folding tables away can be done tomorrow.
By 11:30 PM I had this article written.
The Future
All agreed it was a fun time and that my garage was perfect for a one day con. Talk soon turned to next year before the day was half over.
I had a great time and the stress and frustration of getting my garage in shape to host this event were well worth it. I had to get my garage organized so I can have an appraisal to re-finance while the mortgage rates are still so low. It was a win-win for me.
I am definitely planning to do this again. Next year will be a lot easier because I can focus on preparing to run games instead of making room to play games.
Others have commented that some well established conventions started as self hosted gaming events. I’m not looking to grow into the next big convention. I just like having people to game with. My normal gaming happens online via Roll20.
I much prefer in-person gaming, but I just can’t seem to get a group together, or find a group that lasts so I stick with Roll20 for regular gaming. But over a year without in-person gaming has been really tough.
Today did a lot to re-set my attitude and re-charge my batteries.
I cancelled my weekly Sunday AD&D game on Roll20 because I knew I would be exhausted and need to rest. While I could probably run a game tomorrow, it would not be wise to keep pushing. That leads to stress and increased chance of getting sick. I’d much rather take a break and re-charge my batteries and rest up after pushing so hard for the last several weeks to get ready.