I had a great Gary Con 14 in 2022. The con ended yesterday and I got home last night.
My Gary Con recap will be in the next episode.
For now, I am being laser focused on a place that is at the heart of the Roleplaying hobby’s birth as a commercial venture that was original Dungeons & Dragons.
Gary Gygax was a prolific reader, gamer, and writer of war game rules. He was a father of five living in a small house when he typed up rules inspired by the vision of how Dave Arneson developed a fantasy Braunstein from what Dave Wesley did as a game where the players were individuals on the map of a fictional town that would be the center of a battle set in the Napoleonic era.
The current owner of the house where Gary Gygax wrote original D&D, Yolanda Frontenay and her husband, have discovered that the two large trees on the property are affecting the plumbing and the limbs overhanging the house are a hazard.
The house is also 100 years old and needs a new roof and many other things repaired so that this landmark can endure long into the future.
The immediate need is for taking out the trees.
I first met Yolanda back in September, 2019 when I was part of an Extra Life event organized by John Gilbert. We had the first 4 streamed games from Gary’s old house. I played in 3 of those games and ran one.
There were initial plans to do it again in 2020, but Covid changed everyone’s plans.
I learned of the Indigogo campaign a few days before Gary Con and shared it on social media.
When I was at Gary Con, I saw Yolanda outside the vendor area. She told me of the challenges of the trees. All the bids she has gotten seem high to me. I had to huge maples taken out of my yard and with nearby power lines they had to use a crane. The low end quotes she has are close to double what I have.
I just can’t believe it needs to cost that much.
I met her at the house on Saturday to pick up a shirt that is another fundraiser for the house. The trees are much smaller, that is shorter, than my trees. One tree is close enough to one street that it shouldn’t be that hard to take out. They may still use a crane, but it’s not that big.
The other tree is between Gary’s house, the neighboring house she also owns and rents out like an AirBnb, and a neighboring house. It is about equidistant from both streets, since Gary’s house is on the corner. It definitely needs a crane. It is further from both streets than the other tree and bigger than the other tree in both height and diameter. It is still shorter than the two trees I had removed.
So I’m making an appeal. I’m hoping to help raise funds by getting the word out.
If you can’t donate money, please share the link to my podcast and the Indigogo campaign to get the word out.
I had a couple of thoughts on how we can use the collective of gamers to source a solution.
Other than the obvious of raising a whole lot of money, we can see if we can identify a tree service who has a fair price and not gouge. The other idea is if there is a gamer out there with a tree service that can either give a huge discount or help connect to a tree service with a lower quote.
Other than those ideas, we need a lot of small donations, or perhaps someone with a lot of money who’d be happy to help.
Please keep this in mind and maybe we can get word to the right person or persons who can make it happen.
I told several people with a large social media presence and some famous people about it to help get the word out.
I hate taking out trees, but when they are too big for their location or dead or dying, they need to come down for safety’s sake.
If you think this is a landmark that should be around for future generations to enjoy, please do what you can.
Some just rent the house, those who know about Gary’s house stay there and then play at Gary’s house.
I’m always advocating attendance at game conventions, especially the ones in your home state, or even in the town where you live.
Today’s podcast talks about UCon and Gamehole Con, and shares links to websites that list known conventions. I include the past two posts on the blog, plus one new to me site. If you know about a convention listing site not listed below, please let me know.
This year’s Gary Con was awesome. Other than some trivial issues it was all good.
I arrived Wednesday, picked up my registration pack and saw a few friends. I also wandered around the vendor hall during setup. Black Blade Publishing/Goodman Games had a spot inside the door across from registration. I immediately say a lot of things I wanted. After going to our hotel (NOTE: Don’t wait, if you want to go, call the Grand Geneva now. We had rain the last few days and walking in the rain to the con is no fun.), we went to Frankenparty IV. Frank Mentzer opens his home to attendees, and just asks for a small donation towards the food.
Frank had out a painting that was suggested for the original red box cover with a full adventure party, and not the lone fighter facing the dragon. That picture had not been made public before. He also has Gary Gygax’ old TSR desk. I got to sit next to Darlene the artist while I ate. Later, while I was in Frank’s office listening to him tell stories Darlene walked in to say her goodbyes and Frank told her things were a go. Then he turned to us and said that he is launching a Kickstarter in a few months for his campaign world. Darlene will be doing the maps. (So much for avoiding Kickstarters….) Frank says that he has a letter by Gary Gygax that says his campaign is in a certain location in Greyhawk. Obviously he can’t use any names owned by WotC, but this should be cool!
Red Box Alternate Cover
Red Box Alternate Cover – Info
We stopped by the Grand Geneva and met a few friends and had a drink before going to our hotel.
Thursday before my first game, I wandered by the vendor hall. The doors were open early so I went in and picked up my Epsilon City Kickstarter and the one for How To Write Adventure Modules The Don’t Suck. I also bought Dungeon Alphabet, Monster Alphabet, and the OSRIC Monstrosities book. I also saw these cool map pads that I knew I’d be back later.
Across from that I visited with Jeff Talanian of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. He managed to easily sell the last of his first edition boxes.
He was next to Frog God Games, so I stepped over and met Erik Tenakar. Nice guy. I also saw Zach Glazer & Bill Webb, and met Mike Badolato.
Erik Tenkar
My first game was in Ernie Gygax’ Hobby Shop Dungeon. He had a laminated copy for us to see. It is a HUGE dungeon. He put up some video on Facebook, where you can see me scribbling notes as he reads his intro.
I didn’t have anything else scheduled until 6, so I wandered around, bought more stuff, got some signatures, etc.
From 6-8, I attended a Seminar by Satine Phoenix and Ruty Rutenberg where they explained how they do their Maze Arcana livestream. They explained how you can do it with good enough webcams, but you have to be careful not to overload the computer. Very informative. It was also great to catch up with Satine. I had no idea who she was when we met at last year’s Gary Con, also her first time there.
Ruty, Satine, A.J., and me
Friday I started off with Mark Hunt’s Gangbusters. The premise was that “The Masks” were putting on too much pressure, so it was time for one last job. He gave us Penguin, Two-Face (who had to flip a coin), Poison Ivy, Riddler, Flat Top, Joker, and two characters he generated. We found out that we were up against Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and Batman. We laughed so hard that I got a headache. Flat Top managed to kill Dick Tracy and take his watch, hat, and coat and drive away. Sean, who played Two Face got tails like 11 or 12 times in a row, which was hilarious!
Mark announced his Gangbusters Kickstarter this summer. He had a mockup of the rules which is complete with place holders for art. Mark had one game each day for 8 players and each had a waiting list. He asked me to run two games next year. I and others told him to go to Gamehole Con. I told him that I planned to run at Gamehole Con this year, and will run a session of Gangbusters. I will also run at UCon in Ypsilanti, MI.
Gangbusters – Mark Hunt
That night, I got to play in Satine Phoenix’ first time running a convention game. It was my first real time playing 5e. She did great and kept us entertained and busy. We had something happen that initiated a timer, so we had two hours to get a resolution, and we made it with 1 minute and 22 seconds to spare! We had one character die, which was also the first time one has died when Satine ran the game. Later at the bar she told me that she was glad I was there for a friendly face, and moral support. Zing! Straight to the feels! She took a picture of our group that got re-tweeted by Geek & Sundry, which was cool!
Saturday morning, I played in a party of adventuring monsters who went “Against The Dwarfs”, for taking out their allies the giants. Ryan, the DM plans a sequel to that for next year. His premise, plot, and NPCs and the voices were all memorable. I have to get into that sequel next year!
AD&D – Against The Dwarfs
That night I played in Michael Shorten’s AD&D game set in his campaign world. He had a very interesting setup. At one point we ran into a cave of shriekers and he started wailing, he can really hit those high notes! Every other table in the room stopped what they were doing and imitated him. He then said, “And that is what you hear.” It was epic! It is one of those moments that you wish you had it on video to share with the world!
AD&D With Michael Shorten
On Sunday, I played Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. It was a scenario by Goblin Punch, The Meal of Oshregaal. We failed in our mission, but had a blast.
Sometime during the week, I also talked to Pat Kilbane a couple of times. He was getting in several final interviews for the documentary. It was so cool that he was appreciative of my banging the drum to bring attention to the Patreon. This movie will happen, and if you can give something towards the Patreon, it will speed up that process.
I took a bunch of things to get signed, because Jeff Dee was there, but I never saw him when he wasn’t running a game or I didn’t have the books with me. I picked up the Holmes Blue Box rulebook a couple years ago, since I gave my original to my youngest brother when I went to college. I asked Tom Wham to sign it and he said, “I didn’t do anything in that.” I said, “You’re in the credits,” and handed it to him. He flipped through it and said, “That picture looks familiar, I guess I did.” Lots of fun moments like that.
James Ward made it and looked OK and was always his pleasant self. He signed a book I bought and the two Kickstarters I picked up. I sat and watched the final moments of the last two characters in his Metamorphosis Alpha game fall resulting in a TPK.
MA with Jim Ward – TPK
Tim Kask recieved the second annual E. Gary Gygax Lifetime Achievement Award, which James Ward had received last year.
On the way home, we stopped by Lake Geneva Games and had a tour from Mark Clover. He encouraged us to come early next year and game. We then went 30 miles out of the way for my passenger to pick up a package at Noble Knight Games and save on shipping. They have a small storefront with a huge warehouse in back. The storefront was unimpressive. If you are local, or in the area, go pick up a package. Otherwise, see their booth at a con, like Gamehole Con, or order online.
Lake Geneva Games
Noble Knight Games
When I woke up one morning and had the half awake thing where an idea can come, I had an idea for a card game, so I sat up and typed all the high points into my phone. I think it might be good enough to Kickstart. It depends on how well I can execute the mechanics….
I always take off the Monday after a con to rest up and run errands. While out running errands, I had an idea for another card game, that is even better than the first one. It is also more clear in my mind, and the mechanics just write themselves, it seems. When inspiration strikes, it often comes in truckloads. More about both ideas later.
I still have a lot to write about, and a lot to write about once it is OK to go public.
Last year, there were about 1250 attendees. This year there were about 1300 pre-registered, with over 1700 total attendance. At some point, we will reach the limits of this largest venue in Lake Geneva. I hope they always keep it here. Time will tell.
I am so ready for next year, where I know I’ll be running two sessions of Gangbusters. Not sure I’ll run anything else, as I also want to play.
I almost left out playing in Frank Metzer’s OD&D game. I’ll have to write about his old school mechanic for everything.
Today was a slower day, as far as events scheduled. I didn’t have anything scheduled until 1:00 PM. I planned to sleep in, but since I live in the Eastern Time Zone, I was wide awake at 6:30 AM Central time.
I went ahead and got ready and went to the Con.
I saw a few friends in passing in the hall, and visited with Jeff Easley to show him a picture my brother did, that I mentioned to him yesterday.
I then stopped by +John Reyst’s Open Gaming Store booth, where I met +Mark Hunt. I recalled seeing a post about Gangbusters, but had not clicked that it was back. Mark is now the owner of the Gangbusters IP! I first learned of Mark with his prolific postings of items for White Star. Many know him for his DCC setting Drongo. With Gangbusters, he has little booklets filled with location ideas, like a diner, and NPCs that could also be used as pregens for con games.
Mark shared some of the reasons he is so prolific, in addition to being retired, but that’s a long story for another day.
While John, Mark, and I were visiting, Frank Mentzer comes up and signs copies of Razor Coast by Frog God Games, one a Swords & Wizardry variant and the other Pathfinder. I gave in and got the Swords & Wizardry one. However, I wasn’t able to get a massive discount for the defaced book that had been written in….
I then had to get something to eat before my 1:00 PM session: D&D Documentary Teaser and Q&A. Pat Kilbane is working on a D&D documentary. It is a third documentary unrelated to the other two documentaries now tied up in litigation. There is enough about this documentary, that I’m going to write up a separate article. In short, I will do what I can to promote it. My new friend, +Satine Phoenix, was one of the interviewees in the clips we were show, and she happened to join in, as she was in Frank Mentzer’s game following this 1 hour session.
Next was the big fun I was waiting for, playing D&D with a play test of a new adventure by Tim Kask. Only three players showed up and we needed more, so instead we played War of Kings. You can order the game here. Tim said that he supported the Kickstarter because of how nice everything looked, but it is a good game and he really likes it. It is a strategy and resource management game. It has some different mechanics that are simple once it clicks how they work.
I then nearly missed a presentation on dice by Lou Zocchi. I put into my Google Calendar the wrong room name, and got discouraged, when I thought to check my registration information and learned of my mistake, and got there 20 minutes late.
There was supposed to be an artist’s gathering in the bar, but there was no sign, and there are two bars, so I didn’t find it.
The one suggestion I would make for the next GaryCon, is to have the room names and a map of the facility in the program booklet. Another suggestion would be to have a printout of events by slot. there were several printouts in each game area that listed events by event name. However, it would be helpful to find games in a given time slot.
Finally, I met up with some friends and we talked. Mention of a game was made, but we just talked. I ran out of steam, so left for my hotel.
I decided to hurry up and post this, and will make new articles with all of my GaryCon pictures and topics that need their own article.
Day one of GaryCon 8. I found Jeff Easley in the dealer’s room and got him to sign my DCC book on one of the pieces he did in it. I also asked him to sign my program booklet on his blurb in it. I then repeated that as I came across different people in the book.
I then located Jim Ward, across from Jeff Easley, and he graciously signed his blurb in my program booklet. He was also kind enough to wait while I ran to my car to get things for him to sign. He was surprised at what I had, but let me drag each piece out. Metamorphosis Alpha re-print from Lulu, the MA GM screen, Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes, my two Dieties and Demigods with Cthulhu, Greyhawk Adventures, and Legends & Lore, and finally the 2nd edition Gamma World I bought last summer.
Lou Zocchi had the clear crystal dice, similar to my original Game Science set that a couple disappeared when I think a kid at a con accidentally got a couple of mine. Lou was kind enough to sign my program and my 50 Things To Do With A d50.
Tim Kask came by the Game Science booth and was kind enough to sign his place in my program, and his forward in my hardcopy Swords & Wizardry.
Next I got Tom Wham and Ernie Gygax to sign their blurbs in the program. On the way in yesterday, I realized that I left my copy of Awful Green Things From Outer Space with my other board games, since I keep them separate from my RPG materials. Just a matter of storage. Oh, well….
I signed up for mostly panels on things that caught my interest, and only one game for the whole weekend. I knew I’d get in on other games.
Lou Zocchi asked me to go get him a program after he signed mine, so after I took all my newly signed books to my car, I did so. While there, I got recruited to play in the Castles and Crusades Tournament, starting in ten minutes. I had never played C&C, and this was only the second RPG tournament I had ever been in. The first one was 30+ years ago at ConQuest in Kansas City, MO.
The tournament did not have a lot signed up, so we started late, between delays in finding the table and the guy who recruited me getting enough other players. It was fun, and different. I just went to long without eating, and ran out of energy, until the table side service finally showed up, and hour after I asked a server to find someone to take my order.
Next I attended the Podcast Panel, with hosts from Game School, Gaming and BS, Cube of Death, Drink Spin Run, and Dead Games Society. +Satine Phoenix was one of the 8 panelists and only woman. Afterwards in the bar, I commented to her that the ratios of women to men seemed about right, and she pointed out that it is closer to 50/50 but a lot of women have husbands and boyfriends that don’t want them to play, or do things to discourage them, like kill off their characters. She gets a lot of women players out in Hollywood. We had an interesting conversation going, but the conversation got derailed with others coming up to speak.
Satine gave a bunch of us these d20 rings, that you can wear and roll a d20. Very cool.
I then asked for a picture, since others were getting pictures. I asked her if it was OK for me to post the picture on my blog. She said, “Sure, what’s the name of your blog, we’ll do an intro.”
Me and Satine Phoenix
It took 5 or 6 takes because she stumbled on my name and the blog name the first time, and it took a few more for her to get the blog name right. I’ll post the blooper reel after I get home. It’s multiple files, but I want it in one video.
Later in the evening after the TSR Artists Panel, I got Steve Sullivan, David “Diesel” LaForce, and Larry Elmore.
Arter the panel, I ran into +Aaron Yonda, AKA +Chad Vader, and asked him to sign my program. I had met him in the morning at the con registration area, and talked with him a bit while we waiting. Aaron said, “Randy’s here, from the web series, we’re in the game library, he’ll be glad to sign.” So I added Randy Knight, who played Empire Market’s manager. Cool!
I then got something to eat for supper just before 10:00 PM. I waited too long to eat, so I ran out of steam. It was a long day, and a good one.
Well, here I am in my hotel room in Lake Geneva, WI. I got into town about 12:30 local time and first found the location of the con, since I am staying off site.
I didn’t realize just how big this combined property is, with various other places to stay, many appear to be as big as the Grand Geneva itself.
I was a big surprised to find a sign saying event location parking here, i.e. if you are not staying at the Grand Geneva, you have to park here. It announced a shuttle service. It is down a hill from the convention center, so if the weather turns bad, it will be “fun” if one elects to walk rather than wait for a ride. I found the front desk and asked if I was correct about that being where to park, and was told “yes”.
It is not a problem, other than an inconvenience for me personally, based on how much stuff I brought with me. I was hoping to get some things signed, but didn’t realize I’d have such a hike to haul it. I did get a cheap folding dolly on the off chance I had to use it to haul stuff a long distance. I’ll just have to plan things out and determine when is best to approach people. I have a lot of unscheduled time, so it should not be a problem to haul that stuff. I do know a couple of vendors, so I might be able to stash my stuff with them.
Yes, I used my busy schedule as an excuse not to do more due diligence.
So let’s pay the Joesky Tax and use this as an example of how adventurers should plan their trips with all of the available knowledge of those who have been there before, to alleviate and minimize the unexpected.
On to the fun stuff. The planners were busy going through stuff in boxes, like t-shirts, that will be at the registration booth
I then found at the end of this hallway it had a ‘T’ junction and to the right was some unrelated meeting in one room, and across from that were several people in a coat check room. I recognized one as Luke Gygax. I’ve never met him, but have seen his picture online. I knew he was busy, so I didn’t take the time to meet him.
One cool thing, is on the floor were several posters of covers of various modules and the TSR Lizardman logo, plus banners for KOTD and others.
I then took the hall to the left and at another ‘T’ followed the signs to the right to the registration desk. On the way, I noted how the squat, square structure indicated this was probably built in the late 60’s/early 70’s, or at least designed in that time frame.
I also noted the squat, squarish hallways were very dungeon like. The ceiling might be 10 feet, but the hallways were 20 feet or more wide, with support pillars at one ‘T’ intersection.
As this building was once a Playboy Mansion, there was a display of items from that era of its history. (Yes, there’s a mirror in the back of the display case, so if you take a picture, you’re in it too….)
It looks like things are quite busy, and will only get busier as the day wears on.
It would be cool to get in on some impromptu gaming, but this is Wednesday, and tonight is Session 98 of the Wednesday night AD&D game I’m in on Roll20. Session 100 will be the week of the 2nd anniversary of the campaign. I’m the only player who has made every session, although had to be late to a couple when travelling for work, or the day after my granddaughter was born last year. One of the players is caught in a time trap, that if we can’t figure a way to save him, he is dead.
I look forward to finding out if we can beat the trap, or lose the only character in the group, besides mine, who has been here since session 1. That other player, Antony, and myself are the only players who have stuck with it since session 1. If Antony’s character, Axel dies, we loose our 6th level dwarf fighter. My character, Thorfus, is a 7th level dwarf fighter.
What is so cool, is that this campaign was Antony’s introduction to playing table top RPG’s. Had he not told anyone he was a novice, we would not have known. He is a natural, and is now running his own campaign, with our DM, another player, and myself from the Wednesday night game. Better yet, Antony lives in England and games in what are for him the wee hours. He is not upset about the possibility of losing a character, who would be 7th level by now if not for a wight.
Antony sees the death of his character, whether by the time trap, or those who trapped him as a glorious story to tell. All this while I feel bad that I can’t think of a way to save him…. Anthony has remained quiet, not meta gaming his thoughts, so he is reveling in the anguish of the other players. The worst part is that Antony started a new job and is travelling and may not be able to join the game when we learn the fate of Axel. Just a few short hours until we learn what happens…..
[Updated with pictures and links to the rest of the series.]
