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.
WOW! D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house was a huge success! We raised $3,140! We played 4 games of D&D 5e with 4 different DMs. See my prior article announcing the event here.
A very common question while we were still streaming is when and where can people see the games if they missed it live. According to Bill Allan, it will be about a week until the VOD (Video On Demand) will be available for posting on YouTube or other sites. Each DM that has their own YouTube will post it there, or Bill will post on his YouTube Channel. I will host my session on my YouTube channel.
The Venue
Yolanda Fronteny and her husband are gracious enough to open the house to gamers. They gave the house a Facebook page: Center Street Dungeon. Yolanda is a great advocate for the game and brought one of her neighbor’s kids to Gary Con.
We were all amazed at how tiny this house is and that a family of 7 lived here when D&D was published. The basement is a lot bigger than I expected.
We were slightly surprised that Alex had never been in this house. He is Gary’s youngest child and only child of his second marriage.
I brought my original AD&D Player’s Handbook [Affiliate Link] and 5e Players Handbook for all players to sign. Several others did the same.
The Line Up
Game 1: DM: Bill Allan Players: Fenway Jones, Alex Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, and me.
UPDATE: August 28, 2019 – D&D at the Gygax House for Extra Life – DM Bill Allan
Game 2: DM: Fenway Jones Players: Alex Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, Bill Allan, and me.
UPDATE: August 20, 2019 – Game #2 Ran by Fenway Jones is not online.
Game 3: DM: Me (Larry Hamilton) Players: Mike Gygax, John Gilbert, Mark Clover, GM Travis, Bill Allan, and Fenway Jones.
UPDATE: August 28, 2019 – Game #3 Ran by me for D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house is now online.
Game 4: DM: GM Travis Players: Mike Gygax, John Gilbert, Tony Klaczynski, Bill Allan, and me. We only had 5 players for this game. Tony was one of the two crew. We tried to get Yolanda to join us, but she had never played.
UPDATE: August 20, 2019 – Game # 4 Ran by Travis Taub for D&D for Extra Life at Gary Gygax’s old house is now online.
The Stream Experience
Game 1 was the first streamed game I ever played in. There were three cameras and three panel lights around the dining room table. Bill Allan is the one who ran streaming for Gary Con 10 and GenCon 51 this year. I met him online a few years ago, and finally in person at Gary Con 9. We had never managed to game together, but we finally got to play in games each of us ran as well as co-players in the other two games.
Bill led with running the first game and then had me start as the first player to introduce themselves. Even though I had seen the 3 cameras being set up, I looked at the DM camera and had to be directed to the camera I was generally facing. I wasn’t the only one to make that mistake. For those who have never streamed, and it’s a multi-camera stream, tell the players (especially those who have never been in a streamed game) which camera to look at.
I had one other faux paux. A fidgeting habit when I’m waiting for my turn to do something is to twist my pen open and closed and it was squeaking. Another player handed me a note. I stopped, but still found myself doing it a few more times throughout the evening. Again, something to consider warning new streamers to find a quiet fidgeting device to not annoy those watching the stream.
I was not nearly as nervous as I expected to be. Just like running a game for a con, I forgot about nerves as I was so into each game.
Game 2 by Fenway was a great mystery and we had a couple of combats. I met Fenway at the first Jasper’s Game Day last year, and interviewed her for my podcast at the second Jasper’s Game Day. I’m glad we finally got to play in a game ran by each of us. She’s a lot of fun. We had some puzzles and a mystery to solve with a final combat.
Game 3 ran by me was not only my first time DMing a streamed game, it was the first time I ever DMd D&D 5e. The other players and crew couldn’t believe it when I told them. Of course, if you know how to GM any RPG, you can take the general skills to all RPGs. One just has to learn the differences. I ran my scenario, No, Realy, It’s Me [Affiliate Link] and we had a blast. It was roleplay heavy and the players avoided getting into combat. I cut my game to two hours as the first two games went 3 hours each instead of 2.5 hours each. This left time for Travis to run his game.
Game 4 ran by GM Travis was a dungeon delve and we had puzzles, challenges, traps, obstacles, and creatures to fight. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the evening.
The Extra Life Donation Method
They had an option to give a name to pregens that didn’t have a name, for those who came without a ready character. People donated $25 to name those characters. We should have had all characters start without a name. Something for next year’s list.
A fun thing was different levels of donations could give a re-roll, advantage or disadvantage, higher amounts a natural 1 or 20, and $100 a magic item for a player.
It was hilarious to see regulars from Bill’s and Travis’ streams and games give them a slew of natural 1’s and that party a bunch of re-rolls, advantages, and nat 20’s. It really broke some of the games, but it was hilarious. Several donated a lot of natural 1’s to the DM, but some also gave the DM some 20’s.
I had a bunch of advantage, re-rolls, and natural 20’s given to me as a player in the 2nd game, but I couldn’t use them as DM in the game I ran. So all those carried over to my character in the final game. Each player then had another slew of re-roll, advantage and nat 20’s and I was given a ring of 3 wishes! I was doing everything I could to use all those rolls and wishes. I didn’t want to break the game too bad. I only managed to use 2 wishes to hilarious results.
The Aftermath
Yesterday was a long day. I live in Eastern time, but the venue is in Central time, an hour behind. I was wide awake long before I needed to be, and haven’t slept well several days before that. A lot of caffeine got me through. We got done about 10 or 10:30 and were packed up and cleaned up quickly. I left about 11:00 PM Central/midnight Eastern to start the 4 hour drive home. I drove until I got to the Michigan rest stop just over the line. I got there about 2:20 am and slept til 10:30. I then headed home and stopped for brunch along the way. I’m so tired, I am looking forward to a sound sleep tonight.
Bonus
I arrived just before 11:00 am Friday and met Mark Clover, Tom Wham, and Brad ???? we played Sushi Roll. It’s a quick and fun game.
After that, we went to Lake Geneva Games, where Mark is the manager and played a new Tom Wham game, Felithian Factories. That’s the only copy Tom got from Game Crafter. I’m impressed with the quality of the pieces and game board. I use them for the play test decks for my card game.
Mark Clover, Tom Wham, and I playing Felithian Factories at Lake Geneva Games
It was a 3+ hour game, but I liked it. After that Mark encouraged me to play my card game with Tom. So Tom played my game, gave some great feedback, and said, “It’s got a nice fame work.” So he liked the core of it. This was very cool as I am a fan of both tom’s art and his games. My brothers and I played Awful Green Things From Outer Space like crazy. That is one thing I still have my original and I got Tom to sign it this past Gary Con.
Tom Wham playing my card game at Lake Geneva Games.
Gallery
Here are all the pictures I took and several I downloaded from other participants.
John Gilbert – Event Organizer
The Dining Room serving as studio/game space
David – one of the crew verifying internet connectivity to ensure this will all work. Yolanda with her T-Shirt (She’s planning for more. No Details Yet.) Bill Allan DM of the 1st game & Fenway Jones with last minute social media posts before going live.
Fenway Jones took this picture right after the first game ended. I’m intently catching up on my socials.
Yolanda chatting with the crew from her spot to watch our games.
John checking the Twitch channel for updates and Travis & Fenway handling their socials prior to game #2.
Me, Alex Gygax, and Mark Clover prior to game #2.John, Travis, and Bill for game #2 ran by Fenway Jones.
Fenway, DM, and the others in final prep prior to game #2.
Picture of Fenway’s game by Mike Gygax.
My view from the DM seat prior to game #3. Mike Gygax and Travis. My view with all the players. Fenway Jones, Mike Gygax, Mark clover, John Gilbert, GM Travis, and Bill Allan.GM Travis running Game #4 by Yolanda FrontenayAlex & Mike Gygax with Yolanda before Alex had to leave for work.
Old School
Both Alex and Mike learned AD&D from their father and grandfather respectively. It was cool to be able to help introduce them to the game. I’m no expert, but before their first game, I knew more than they did. Now they’re as proficient in 5e as I am.
Suggestions For Next Time/Others Doing Streams
There are all minor points that will improve the over all experience of the stream and maximize the social media impact of social media postings between sessions.
Ensure those new to streaming know where to look prior to starting in a multi-camera setup.
Advise those who fidget to bring a quiet fidgeting gadget and not one that squeaks.
Pre-plan for the live social media slam prior to each session for each participant.
Ensure all participants are following each other on all mutual social media platforms and tag each other in all posts leading up to, during, and after the event. Have a print out with the stream link to use in postings. Have a list of hashtags for consistent use by all participants across their social media. Any available social media packet from Extra Life would also be helpful. Messages that one can copy and paste can save time and allow for rapid posting on multiple sites.
Ensure all participants are photographed as DM and player in each game for any follow up articles or posts.
This also ensures each person who DMs has a memento of the occasion. Especially nice if their first time streaming or the location is memorable.
Use a small white board to relay messages to the DM running the game, or explain hand signal methodology in advance.
UPDATE: Of of August 25, 2019, our Extra Live event is 76th overall for YTD funds raised and 2nd for Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin!!
UPDATE: August 27, 2019 :
WOW! We made the top of the Extra Life page! I’m not in the picture because they used the picture I took when I was in the DM seat!
