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 1 – Nearly full gaming hall with my table prepped.Day 1 – Waiting for Players before I finish setup. Day 1 – Ray Otus with a refurbished Castle Grayskull DM screen and dice tower. With a Forrest Aguire sans fez.Day 1 – Pat Kilbane with the current cut of his documentary, “The Dreams In Gary’s Basement”.
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 2 – Running “Rescue From Fire Island” for the first time.Day 2 – Giant mini sized print of a Dyson Logos dungeon with two DMs on each end running different groups.Day 2 – Chgowiz running his battle for the moathouse from the module “Village of Hommlet”Day 2 – Closeup of Chgowiz’s 3-D printed Moathouse
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 3 – Full table of players for second running of “Rescue From Fire Island.”Day 3 – The Administrator himself, Merle Rasmussen of Top Secret.Day 3 – Todd Stashwick AKA Captain Shaw of the current season of Picard. We met last year and he recalled my name and my blog.
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.
I arrived Wednesday about lunchtime and went to The Pub Next Door and had one of the lunch specials – spaghetti.
I then made a Walmart run for a couple things I forgot before checking in.
My room was about as close as you can get to the lobby. I was on the building closest to the lobby on the Gary Con HQ side of things. My room was the first room next to the stairwell. I was on the top floor, the third floor.
The landing at the top of the stairs has a group of gamers that set up for the entire weekend. A group of AD&D players and they had a long game that was a continuation of prior years that they’ve come to Gary Con. I never heard them. This made it easy to just head back to my room to drop off stuff or get stuff if I wasn’t too far away.
I then went to see what was what and met up a few friends in the lounge and we then headed to the registration for badge pick up. We got there and the line was already long. We had to wait about ten minutes for the registration to open. It took close to an hour to snake around to the registration window.
Waiting in line. Registration window to left of 1st pitcure. Finally in sight in 2nd picture
While waiting I discovered that I was right behind a friend – hard to recognize with masks on and we caught up. I saw a few others ahead of me in line and said a quick hello.
Wednesday is the weekly OSE game I play in. This is campaign two and it was Session 87, I have made every session. I also played in the first campaign that was about 245 sessions. I never missed a session of that campaign and played a couple times on Wednesday night at Gary Con, and once they moved the game to Tuesday just because, so I wouldn’t have to play from the convention.
After the game, I went to the lounge and got in more visiting before turning in.
Thursday
I had a 9 am three hour slot. For Gary Con 12 – the first one to be affected by Covid, I signed up for all wargames and board games, as I wanted to get those in. I got into every game I wanted. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
I tried to repeat that this year, but there were not as many wargames, and the ones I wanted in were already full. I did find a board game, Diplomacy. We had a full roster of seven players. Five players, including myself had never played before. The guy running the game played Italy, and the other experienced player had Russia. I had Germany, and the other novices had England, France, Austria, and Turkey. Each of the other newbies were college buddies.
Not much movement mid-game.
The game is set in 1900 Europe and the idea is to use negotiation and deceit to grow one’s empire.
The only random element is determining who plays what country to start. For the rest of the game, the players talk among themselves, either as individuals or groups to discuss plans. We had a blast making alliances then stabbing each other in the back.
As Germany, I knew I was surrounded. The other novices decided we should gang up on the experienced players. So we hammered Russia and nearly knocked it off the board. Then we focused on Italy. Austria was wiped off the map.
Being surrounded, I had an initial alliance with Russia, but quickly took Warsaw, a control center. Having control centers determines how many units one can have on a one for one basis.
I also took Denmark and the Netherlands and made an agreement that I got the Netherlands and they got Belgium. I then mostly sat in place to hold my control centers. I did a bit of movement to the south to keep Italy off my territory.
It was only a three hour slot due to a mistake in scheduling so we only had time for four or five turns. At the end of each turn we’d write down our moves. Once all were turned in, the guy running the game would go through them and adjudicate them. Some moves couldn’t be adjudicated until other player’s moves were considered.
The last couple of turns are when I backstabbed Italy, when we all ganged up, and then I backstabbed France and took Belgium. England made an alliance with me to break our alliance with France.
We then ran out of time and when the score was tallied, I actually won! I wasn’t expecting to win. My use of a strategy to avoid a two front war is what saved me.
Diplomacy can never be the same game twice, even if you play with the same players and each end up with the same country.
We had the right mix of players and had a great time. I can see where people who take it too seriously could end up with hurt feelings.
Diplomacy was published in the 1959, so it is older than I am. Dave, Gary, and most of the old guard played Diplomacy both in person and by mail. I see how it influenced the emergence of roleplaying. If you’ve never played, this is something you should try.
WOTC still sells Diplomacy and you can get a PDF of the rules from their website. Since you can get the rules for free, you can use any map. You just need tokens for armies, navies, and territory markers. You’d have to add control points to the map. The Risk Board could work, or a fantasy map, or a map of your own design.
In the afternoon, I had lunch, then I took a nap, then I visited with friends and took a quick tour of the vendor hall and ran into a few more friends.
I ran into Yolanda Frontenay, owner of Gary’s old house where he wrote original D&D. See my prior post about the Indiegogo Campaign and the immediate need to take out two trees.
I then dressed up as my character Griswald, the namesake of “Follow Me, And Die!” for the wedding of Satine Phoenix & Jameson Stone. Griswald is the fellow with the raised sword and wolf’s head shield with red eyes that is my social media avatar by Satine. She recognized what I was dressed as.
Thanks to a friend I have these better pictures than the closet mirror in my hotel room.
It was a fun ceremony. There was a vinyl game mat for guests to sign and a stack of various creatures from Figurines of Adorable Power for prty gifts for the guests.
Satine & Jameson – Officiated by Luke Gygax
After the ceremony, Satine and Jameson had their picture taken with the wedding party and then the guests. They had two instant copies of each photo. One for the couple immediately placed in a photo album and each guest in the photo signed it. The guests then got a copy of the same photo.
We then had much talking among fellow guests until things wound down late in the evening.
Friday
From 8 am til Noon I played in “Skull Stack Crater” a Holmes Basic scenario by Zach Howard of Zenopus Archives. I played a lizardfolk warrior. We were all third level, the halfling thief was fourth level.
The mix of experienced players easily got through some obstacles. I played my character as a fearless warrior who would gladly go first. I think I had the most hit points.
It was a fun adventure.
I played in Zach’s Return to the Tower of Zenopus at Gary Con 11, the last in person con til now. One of the other players was in that same game and we remembered each other.
I then went to a seminar by Jameson Stone, Indie TTRPG Publishing & Kickstarter. He and those attending the seminar mentioned several helpful things for those doing Kickstarter or other crowdsourced fundraising. He mentioned several things I had not heard or read before in all my reading.
I then took another nap. I live in the Eastern time zone, so I keep waking up as if it is 7 am, when it is 6 am Central. That made for long days. I also hadn’t slept well the prior days.
After supper I attended GM Tips by Satine. I’ve been to several GM Tips presented by Satine, most recently at Gamehole Con last October. She always has something new to say.
The main thing is that there is no one size fits all answer anymore. There are three possible applications: live games, online games, and streamed games. Each of them is different, so the answers for the same question is different for each. Very insightful and something to think about.
After Satine’s seminar I had a brief moment to tell her something I didn’t get to tell her after her wedding. Then we got our annual Gary Con picture. She and Jameson would fly to England for D&D in a Castle the next day, so it was a whirlwind for them.
I then visited with friends in the lounge.
The next day, I didn’t have anything until 11 am so I was planning to sleep in.
Saturday
NARRATOR: “Despite his good intentions, he did not, in fact sleep in. He awoke at the same early hour as every previous morning. He realized this as he looked bleary eyed at his watch.”
At 11 am I had the two hour screening of the documentary, “The Dreams in Gary’s Basement” by Pat Kilbane. I saw a teaser of this at my first Gary Con – Gary Con 8. That was also the first Gary Con for both Satine and I and we kept ending up in the same seminars, and we became Gary Con buddies.
After the screening I bought Pat lunch so we could catch up. We met up with Dave Wesley and he joined us and regaled us with stories of his father’s WWII service. Near the end of that Grif Morgan of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary joined us.
I then took another nap.
On my way to get supper I talked with a table of younger gamers who liked my denim vest. (I got a LOT of complements about my sleeveless denim jacket with various pins and buttons, and a Death Dealer patch on the back.)
I got the three of them to play my card game. It was the first playtest I got in.
I then ran into Zach Howard and we got to talking about Holmes Basic. Pat Kilbane walked by and the three of us talked about how Holmes Basic was the first D&D for each of us.
I looked down at the desk with Gary’s books on it and realized that one of the books is the Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. I still have that book from college. I can’t find it to get a comparison picture.
Gary’s “Penguin Atlas of Medieval History”
I made another trip to the vendor hall. I missed the presentation of the Gary Con Lifetime Achievement Award, but figured out that it was Lou Zocchi of Game Science, when I saw the award at his booth.
I bought a 5 die set from Lou. I think that’s my fifth set of Game Science dice.
I bought a new dice bag from another vendor.
Next I bought a set of dice from Role 4 Initiative. I didn’t realize that they were a Michigan based company. They are in Portage, MI about 15 minutes from where I live. They are all online sales since they don’t have a storefront.
An online friend gave me a 3-D printed mini of Gary Gygax. He said that there were ten around the convention free to whoever found them. He had two.
I then spent the evening in the lounge visiting. I tried and failed to get any pick up games to try my card game.
Sunday
I sat at a table in the restaurant near the table where Todd Stashwick was having breakfast with someone. When his friend departed someone else walked up about the time I was finished. Todd mentioned he grew up near Lake Geneva (Chicago). I then struck up a conversation with him about old games, like D&D 1e. This was his first Gary Con. He then gave me a card with a Spotify bar code for his gaming/travel playlist. It’s a bunch of songs from late 70s & early 80s and got me all the way home with playlist to spare. He honored me by following me on Instagram.
I managed to get in two playtests with two new players and one of the players from Saturday’s card game.
I then did a playtest of the original deck and the alternate deck. I was glad to learn that the never before played alternate deck was not broken. I did find some phrasing that was wrong, and I used the wrong term on a card that didn’t match the correct term.
I had comments that the art is perfect and that they would have bought the game if it were for sale.
I think this means that I’m finally ready to put together the final deck. I’m not the one to do layout. I can make it look good enough for a playtest, but I need a layout person who knows cards. If you know someone who won’t cost me an arm and a leg, let me know.
I got in a great visit with Steve Winter and we talked about all kinds of things and other gamers joined in.
I talked to someone else and they went to follow me on Twitter and found out they were already following me.
On previous days of the con, I had several tell me that they read the blog, or follow me on Twitter. I met someone at the lounge bar Saturday night and they said that several people said that he needed to read my blog. That is always a cool ego boost.
About 3 pm, I found myself reluctantly ready to head home. I couldn’t afford it, but I could really use another week or two like that. I found my mood lifted, the drudgery induced by Covid isolation eradicated. My spirits were lightened and my creativity renewed. The drive home was easy and not too big of a pain. There weren’t too many drivers that were scary.
I made it home safe and after I unpacked I scripted and recorded, edited, and posted episode 199 of my podcast.
I have ideas ready to flow for more blog posts, podcasts, and more. I don’t have the time or energy to get them done as quickly as I want, but I’m pressing ahead as quick as I can.
For those of you who were at Gary Con and we didn’t connect, I’m sorry we missed each other. For those new people I met, it was wonderful to meet you. For all my friends who I did get to see, it was awesome catching up! I hope to see both those I didn’t encounter and those who couldn’t make it next year, or at Gamehole Con or UCon later this year.
My only negative is that one evening I left my black zippered hoody with my logo and “Follow Me, And Die!” in red letters. I reported it and gave regular updates via Twitter. No one turned it in. I hope whoever has it was able to keep warm and that they get a lot of use out of it.
Backers of the Patreon just got a link to the trailer, and it is awesome! Unfortunately, we were asked not to share it, so I can’t let you see it yet. See below, if you want to see it!
Footage will be shown followed by a Q&A at Gamehole Con in a couple of weeks. I’ve been a fan ever since I saw the footage shared at Gary Con 8. Due to football schedules, both Gamehole Con and UCon are often the same weekend. I decided to support UCon, since it is here in Michigan, before news of this announcement. [UCon has a Tekumel track that brings in people worldwide.]
Kickstarter
Pat has decided to launch a Kickstarter to put even more polish on the post production. There is a rough cut, and in a phone call, Pat filled me in a bit. The Kickstarter is focused on getting the film finished and no sidetracking add ons. The team on this has a lot of skill redundancy to help cover any eventuality, so if the primary person for a task can’t follow through, there is someone else on the team with that skill. They have a rough cut and the Kickstarter is to pay for editing and production costs.
This is a film of great passion undertaken by a small crew, with Pat guiding the process. It is here with far less buzz and drama than two planned movies by competing Kickstarters that settled their lawsuit, but have yet to communicate to their backers what is going on. I knew this would be the case, and I told Pat that I would do all I can to promote his film.
I’ve been an enthusiastic backer of his Patreon since it launched. Pat has paused pledges on months there was nothing new to show because he didn’t feel right taking our money. I don’t know about the others, but I told him, to take it anyway. I gladly backed the Kickstarter when it launched, even though he told me I’ve backed the Patreon at a level I’ll get the movie.
[EDIT: It funded in 12 hours and is now on to stretch goals for extras that are full interviews instead of being chopped up in the documentary.]
Images From The Trailer
Title card. Screen capture from trailer for The Dreams In Gary’s Basement. The Gygax home when D&D began. Screen capture from trailer for The Dreams In Gary’s Basement.Elastolin figures and dice. Screen capture from trailer for The Dreams In Gary’s Basement.TSR Sales Graphics. Screen capture from trailer for The Dreams In Gary’s Basement.
As I have mentioned multiple times [see below], I am a backer of the Patreon for the RPG History Project.
I got permission from Pat Kilbane to mention two dates in the latest backer update.
The last of the interviews will be recorded during Gary Con in March.
There will be an announcement of the film’s title in April.
It’s getting closer to the finish line, and the other two D&D documentaries are still in legal limbo. Support this Patreon and help get this one out faster!
Please consider helping Pat and crew get this film done sooner.
Pat also does other videos on various aspects of RPGs, such as how strength and hit points translate to the real world.
Here’s a write up from GaryCon 8 from back in March I hadn’t published yet.
I attended a session by Tim Kask on Riding the Rocket: TSR’s First 5 Years. I missed the first twenty minutes or so, but I enjoyed it immensely. Tim recommended that we read the book Orcs, and that it changed his view on orcs, and that he no longer sees them as just meat sacks.
Pat Kilbane filmed Tim’s presentation for use in his D&D Documentary. I had the honor of asking the last question, “What was the thing you like best about working at TSR, and what was the thing you liked least or might want to do differently in hindsight?” Others besides Pat also recorded his response on video, I wish I had. Basically, he voiced his disapproval of the Blume’s business acumen. He said that he loved working with Gary and having so much fun. The second thing he liked was the opportunity to go back to teaching.
Pat’s YouTube channel, Dorks Of Yore published most of the interview in a series of short snippets. You can see them all in this Tabetop RPGs playlist, along with their initial video about GaryCon. Alas, my question didn’t appear in these snippets, but will be in the final product. However, this screenshot from an FB comment I made and Pat’s reply is fantastic!
While at Gary Con, I attended a session titled, D&D Documentary Teaser and Q&A. Pat Kilbane is working on a D&D documentary. It is a third documentary totally unrelated to the other two documentaries now tied up in litigation*. There is enough about this documentary to impress me, that I decided on the spot to write up a separate article to give it the focus it deserves. In short, I will do what I can to promote it.
My new friend, +Satine Phoenix, is one of the interviewees in the three clips we were shown, and she happened to join in, as she was early for Frank Mentzer’s D&D game in the same room, following this 1 hour session.
I wish I had the foresight to record this. It was a good discussion, and my notes were only on the high points. As more comes along, I will mention it here on my blog.
+Satine Phoenix, artist and podcaster, and 21+ years as a D&D player. [Spoiler: She said yes to doing an email interview for this blog!]
So far, shooting for those on the West coast has been done. Next, while at Gary Con, he is interviewing all the old guard from the beginning to get their perspective. He filmed a session by Tim Kask on the first five years of TSR. I had the honor of asking the last question.
Rather than have yet another Kickstarter for a D&D documentary, when the previous two are tied up in litigation, Pat wants to focus on building trust with the intended audience. His idea is to do small two minute pieces as part of a Patreon to create a track record of delivering smaller bits, until there is enough trust to do some form of fundraiser, such as Kickstarter.
An example of the short videos he envisions is the Gary Con Two-Minute History video, featuring Luke Gygax explaining what Gary Con is.
You can follow Pat’s efforts on the Facebook page, Dorks of Yore.
*Full disclosure, I am in for and most likely out $50 for the second documentary’s Kickstarter, The Great Kingdom. The first film that Kickstarted is Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary, which I missed the Kickstarter altogether. You can find details of the trials and tribulations of these two films with your google-fu. I want to stay positive and show what Pat is doing. As with most of us, I think we just want any film, that is well done, to come out while the old guard is still available.
I got back from GaryCon VIII, about 8:00 PM Sunday. What a blast!
Not that they’d ever change the name, but “Awesome Con” sums up my opinion of Gary Con.
Gary Con, AKA Awesome Con!!
I only played three games all weekend, but I had a ton of fun meeting people, swapping stories, and sharing our mutual love of gaming.
I got signatures of tons of gaming celebrities, like Darlene, Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Terry Kuntz, Jeff Butler, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, David “Diesel” LaForce, Mike Mornard, Jeff Perren,Terry Pavlet, Stephen Sullivan, Jim Ward, Tom Wham, Lou Zocchi, and Ernie, Elissa, Heidi, Cindy, and Luke Gygax, and more.
I showed those artists from back in the day a stipple drawing my brother did of a dragon. It’s about 18 x 24. They were impressed, which I thought was cool.
On Sunday, I made the rounds of the original TSR artists and and bought something from all but Diesel and Darlene, who were not there. If Darlene was there, I missed her
I also ran into Aaron Yonda, who plays Chad Vader and Hal from the Chad Vader YouTube series. I also met Brad Knight, who plays Randy from the same series, and got their autographs on my copy of the program guide. Aaron even invited me to game with them, but our schedules didn’t sync up.
I also met Pat Kilbane, an actor some may know, who is working on a D&D documentary. See Dorks of Yore for future announcements. I got him to sign my program book too.
Really cool, I met +Satine Phoenix, who I had not heard of before, but does more than one RPG podcast: Game School, on the TSR Podcast Network, and is a 20+ year D&D player. She also hosts her own PodCast, Drawmelt. She is also the very talented artist behind New Praetorians. It was her first Gary Con too, and it’s cool that I now call her friend. She was so cool to do a video plug for this blog! She also just gave me a sketch of a dragon she did at a con when I showed her a picture of a print of a dragon my brother did. I also asked her to sign my program. She even drew her own portrait.
I made several new friends, most that I know from online, and we finally met in person.
I even have an opportunity that isn’t a done deal yet, that is just making me geek out!
One of my online friends, +Mark Hunt, bought the IP for Gang Busters, and great things are coming. I recall seeing something about Gang Busters, but I had a lot going on when I saw that, and didn’t realize it was Mark until I ran into him. He has NPC cards with mugshots, and they make great character sheets for convention and pick up games. Follow the G+ TSR Gang Busters Community for lots of cool stuff. I’ll mention them when it’s ready. We talked about collaborating on some things in multiple genres/rule systems, one of them being Gang Busters! Wow! I haven’t played in 30+ years, so I guess I need to brush up on the rules….
I was present when a Hollywood style deal happened. It was a verbal 30 second thing. One person said they had an idea for a Kickstarter, but needed voice actors for the introductory video, and a person who lives in L.A. said, “Send me the script and I’ll get X and Y to do it. They’d love to do it since they are gamers.”
There are so many cool things I learned that I can’t talk about, either because it isn’t a done deal, or not my place to discuss.
I bought 3 Jeff Easley pen and ink drawings that he did for some game company in Canada that folded and never paid him. Not only did I buy the originals, but he signed over the rights! He is a super cool and nice guy! I’m going to be making t-shirts and other things to sell online (CafePress). I told him whatever I make, I’m sending him a copy. Using Gimp I got the black image for light colored items to look great, but swapping the colors and getting the transparency right for a white image on a dark shirt, is a bit tricky for some reason. So I’ll put some more time into it tonight. Hopefully, I’ll have things good to go for doing shirts soon.
Everyday of the last four days has been the most awesome and unexpected series of right place/right time that I have ever had in my life! I am just so excited! Zach, my youngest, said he’s never seen me so excited. I was telling that to someone else and they said I ought to buy a lottery ticket. I hadn’t even thought of that, so I did. Not that I expect to win anything, but just in case….
I don’t expect to get rich or quit my job, but I think I could make enough to pay off some bills quicker, and have some fun money. Even if it’s only enough to support my hobby, and I just have fun with it, is all that’s important. Life is good!
I’m so glad I was off work Monday to recuperate after not getting enough sleep several nights in a row. I’m getting ready for the huge mental shift in gears that will come Tuesday morning. There’s usually some catastrophe that happened when I’m out of the office that I have to clean up. So I have decided to not let whatever it might be derail this great mood! Turns out it was Outlook not wanting to start and asking for the debugger. Thankfully, just start it in safe mode as per Google search results.
No emergency, things not crazy busy, This is the best return to the office after time off I have had in a long time!
I’m going to review my prior Gary Con VIII articles and find all the places I mentioned I’m doing a full article. I can think of at least three I proposed, but think it might be six or more.
See below for links to my other articles on Gary Con VIII.
Today was simple, and far shorter than all the other days. I’m now home and catching up on email and other tasks that got backed up while I was gone. Thankfully, I planned ahead and took Monday off from work when I signed up for the time off, so I can unwind before getting back to the grind on Tuesday.
Of course, I started by getting up, getting showered and dressed, and taking my stuff to the car, and going to the con.
I went to the TSR artists that were present, and bought something from each of them. My brother, Robert, is quite talented, but doesn’t want to do what it takes to make money with his art. I showed a picture of a print of a picture he did and all of the artists commented on how much they liked it. I’ll have to tell him, if I can ever catch him awake. He works third shift, so we’re not on the same schedule.
Unfortunately, Darlene wasn’t there, and I had hoped to buy one of her prints.
I bought several originals from Jeff Easley. Three of them were originally for a Canadian company that went bust and never paid him. Thus, he retained all rights, and actually signed over the rights to me! All I did was ask, and he said, “Sure, you can do whatever you want with them.” I asked him to sign something, just in case, and he did! I am numb! Of course, I told Jeff that whatever I do with them, I’ll send him a free sample of each. I’ll be doing t-shirts as soon as I get them scanned and figure out which online service will best meet my needs. My youngest son, who’s 19, lives with me and said his friends would all be interested. That was something I thought of on the drive home, give shirts to my sons so all their friends see them. I hope to at least pay for all the art I bought today….
I also bought three prints from PAV and one from Jeff Butler, and the first volume of Larry Elmore’s collected works. Larry Elmore liked that my name is Larry. He started a dedication and signing it, and I said, “I better pay for that since he’s almost done.” Then Elmore said something like, “That Elmore’s such an egotistical &%$%^.” LOL
I also bought the GaryCon VIII module, and Jeff Butler signed the cover, the same cover as the program, which he also signed.
I then attended a session by Tim Kask on Riding the Rocket: TSR’s First 5 Years. I missed the first twenty minutes or so, but I enjoyed it immensely. Tim recommended that we read the book Orcs, and that it changed his view on orcs, and that he no longer sees them as just meat sacks.
Pat Kilbane filmed Tim’s presentation for use in his D&D Documentary. I had the honor of asking the last question, “What was the thing you like best about working at TSR, and what was the thing you liked least or might want to do differently in hindsight?” Others besides Pat also recorded his response on video, I wish I had. Basically, he voiced his disapproval of the Blume’s business acumen. He said that he loved working with Gary and having so much fun. The second thing he liked was the opportunity to go back to teaching.
I managed to get a few more signatures in my program guide, but I missed several. However, I was not disappointed. I got the ones that I really wanted, and that meant the most to me.
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.
