March 23-26, 2023 Gary Con 15 took place in Lake Geneva, WI. I didn’t take as many pictures this year.

What I Ran

I signed up to run 4 games of 4 hours each, one each morning. I used the same scenario for each. I used Delving Deeper the Original D&D clone I describe as OD&D but organized. While not perfect and there are a few things I would change, it makes for fast character creation and is simple to run, perfect for cons.

It was a higher level scenario with 8 – 8th level (or max level PCs). 4 humans: Fighter, Cleric, Magic-User, and Thief all 8th level. 2 Elves, one an 8th level magic user and the other a 4th level fighter/4th level magic user, 4th level fighter being the max level. A 6th level dwarf, max level, and a 4th level halfling, max level. The halfling saves as an 8th level fighter and gets +3 on hurled weapons, which I ruled includes slings. All fighters had magic armor and magic weapons, the others had some sort of magic item that included weapons. I randomly determined the magic items and some were quite powerful. I kept them.

My scenario is called “Rescue From Fire Island”. The evil princess of the Eternal Flame (a volcano) captured good queen Galvia of the Verdant Isles. In times of trouble, Galvia summons a dragon to help. Her advisors are keeping this quiet to avoid panic while the party, the “Special Projects Team” rescues the queen. The queen is to be sacrificed in a week to the volcano. So there is a timer. There is a hexcrawl element so the PCs can encounter various creatures on the island. Both groups I ran this for loved it.

The party would be teleported in but the princess’ castle and the dread temple on the volcano were blocked. The players got to choose where they teleported in. This difference guaranteed that no two groups would play the exact same situation.

Two things I used for this made it interesting that players in both groups appreciated. I used checkers for tracking days with the plain side being day and the crown side being night. The other thing was for each PC I had two game pieces for each player their own color. One piece went by the index card with their name and PCs name and class. The other went on the made to show marching order. I used mancala pieces to show where the party was and when they encountered certain special encounters.

I have a spoilers section at the end. Don’t read it if you want to play this scenario. I plan to write it up and will put it on DriveThru RPG [Affiliate Link].

Day 1

Sadly, no one signed up for the first day, Thursday, and no one was looking for a game, so I didn’t get to run it. Of course I was most worried about being ready for the first session, but I was ready.

Day 2

The second day, I had 3 people signed up, but they all cancelled, but three fellows were available. I had them each run two PCs, which was a good mix. They had a blast. One of them showed up and was asking about my game, and bought one of the Delving Deeper books I stock up on from Lulu. This year, I planned to use them as a roll off gift after the session. Which when he located his two buddies, I still did, and because I had more than I needed after no game the day before I did the roll off, and sold another to the other.

They loved the hexcrawl aspect and had a lot of random encounters. Their choice of where they teleported to got them quickly to the final encounter. The thief was turned to stone, but the rest of the party made some interesting choices in what they did and beat the princess and saved the queen.

They had a blast and every time I saw them they were still pumped and ready to run Delving Deeper for their home group.

Day 3

The third day, I had 7 signed up. Only one was a no show, but I had ran into a friend who had a younger friend looking for a game, so he joined in. They all had a blast and were also really into it.

They chose to come in closer to the pincess’ castle and encountered the Juggernaut, the toughest monster in Delving Deeper, but managed to beat it and the princess. They also had no random encounters so got to the location of the final fight and beat the princess. The elf mage saved vs petrification TWICE! Three PCs died in the end.

One of the players gave me a gift card to Target. They said they had one for each game they signed up for between $5 and $25 and they didn’t know which was which. That was a first for me, and I will use that to stock up on game materials like graph paper, etc.

Day 4

The final day, 3 were signed up, but one cancelled. One showed up on time, but had to leave early because of when his ride was leaving and another showed up an hour late, so we only had about an hour left. Even if I tried starting at the end fight and they each ran 3 characters, I’m not sure I could have made it work in an hour. So we played my card game. One of the players bought Delving Deeper from me a few years ago at Marmalade Dog, so instead of a roll-off, I gave the gift book to the other fellow. Sadly, both times I play tested my card game this Gary Con, I forgot to take a picture mid game. We had fun and they both enjoyed it.

I about lost my voice from talking loud enough to be heard over a crowded game room where almost every table was at play. By the time I got home Sunday evening, I felt bad and suspected if I didn’t have Covid, I had the flu. Muscle and join aches and increasing nasal drainage. I did a Covid test and I thought it might be a false positive because I didn’t notice the faint second line until after the 15-20 minute window to check it. The directions indicated that after 20 minutes if the second line showed up if is likely a false positive. So I was planning to re-test on Monday, but when my breakfast had no flavor and I felt worse, I knew I had Covid.

I am so mad at myself. I still wear a mask going to the store or to pick up restaurant take out. At Gary Con they only required a negative Covid test or proof of vaccination, but did not require masks. I only wore a mask in line at registration, because we were packed tightly. I’m feeling a lot better today. My voice is worse due to all the drainage, but the random aches and pains are gone and I have a lot more energy.

I’m resolved to wear a mask next year as I don’t every want to feel this bad again. It saddens me that I helped expose others to Covid. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone as I feel terrible. It’s only because of being fully vaxed and boosted that I’m already feeling better.

I’m really disappointed in those who were sick or had been exposed who showed up and didn’t wear a mask. That is so selfish. I don’t like that I can’t trust anyone with my health and that it’s all on me. The world will never be like it was pre-Covid. At least not for a long time.

But other than almost losing my voice and getting Covid, I had an awesome time. Gary Con is still my favorite convention. Not too big and everyone is happy to be there.

Spoilers

Don’t read this if you’d rather discover these things as a player in this scenario.

The dread princess is a lich and the queen is the dragon. She has a magical collar that prevents her from transforming. The volcano will explode and destroy the island by the end of the 7th day if the queen isn’t sacrificed.

Inspiration

My granddaughter and I play a free-form RPG we made up called “Dragon” where she is a dragon. My son and his family lives with me, so she will come to my room and say, “Grandpa, let’s play ‘Dragon’!”

So I thought for a moment and said, “OK, one day you wake up to the mocking laughter of the evil princess and find yourself in a dragon proof cage.” When I was thinking about what I could run at Gary Con this year, I easily made a more coherent scenario that would make for an interesting and challenging session.