Gary Con V: The First Day

It was the dawn of a new age of classic role-playing, 20 years after the TSR-Wizards of the Coast War. The Gary Con Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent the end of old school role playing by giving gamers a place to play their favorite games peacefully . It's a port of call--home away from home for wizards, dungeoneers, investigators  and travellers. Gamers of all genres wrapped in a posh resort-convention center, all alone on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It can be a dangerous place.. for your favorite player character... but it's our last, best hope for decent gaming.

This the story of the first day of this year's Gary Con convention.  The year is 2013. The name of the place is Gary Con 5.

(Yes, I've been waiting all year to post that.)

Being an old hat at conventions, the first day's routine is pretty standard: get up groggy-and-early; quickly shower, shave, and get dressed; then hustle down to the convention floor for your first game stopping along the way for an overpriced coffee and doughnut. (No, I didn't take the one's topped with bacon.) My first game was Curse of the Weaver Queen run by its author and TSR alumni, Tim Kask.  We we're using original White Box rules, so play was very pretty free-form. Players were given medium level pregens--I, an open atheist, ended playing a human cleric armed with a magical shillelagh--and we wandered about an arachnid-themed dungeon trying to discover the fate of several lost souls from a nearby village.

I won't spoil the module with details it, but for our group it ended in a TPK. Tim is a shrewd DM.

After that I took some time up at the bar to down another hard cider and wolf down a decent Ruben sandwich with fries, when I decided that I was going to run a Savage Worlds/Realms of Cthulhu pick-up for Friday night. I sorted through the various .PDFs on my iPad and found something that could be suitably modified from the original Chaosium rules to the new ones. I tinkered around with the character stats until it was time to go down for my next game.

Next Up: West End's Ghostbusters, another game from my youth. This time around we were actually playing the characters from the movie, and I picked Egon. To play Dr. Spengler convincingly, you have to have to keep up an almost dead-pan tone of voice and use as many ten-dollar, sciencey-sounding words as possible. We're set lose in a New York museum trying to find out why their prized T-Rex fossil is tearing up the place. The highlight of the adventure was when the team was succumbing to the depressing influence of a mesoamerican  god of suffering when the unaffected Egon came upon the idea of trying to cheer up his comrades before they killed themselves. My solution: imagine Harold Ramis trying to sing "Rainbow Connection."

After that, I tracked down Victor Raymond and some of his friends, many of whom I played Empire of the Petal Throne with last year, for a discussion of the of the various themes of race, gender, and culture that arise within gaming. Pretty heady stuff, especially when you're nursing another cider. Along the way, my room mate, Anthony Roberson, arrived took up residence in our room. I said my hellos then rejoined Victor and his colleagues in his room to continue our discussion over Coke-and-bourbon. Buzzed--but not "drunk"--I returned to my room to catch some rack time before the next's days shenanigans.

Gary Con: The Pre-Game Show.

Rather than waste my time and yours with long, rambling accounts of my trip and the night before the con, I'll give you a few brief observations:

Weather-wise, this year is a stark contrast to last. It was unseasonably warm and sunny the day before last year's festivities. This time around, while it was still clear, it's cold with temperatures expected to dip into the teens. I've revved up my room's heater to make sure everything was nice and toasty for my first night here.

After unpacking, I ended up at the lounge for a tall rum-and-coke and a rest. Some enterprising barkeep brought the Firefly DVD set to play on the most of the flat screen TV (they had one set on ESPN for the mundanes). Soon more and more people started to drift in, including the legends of the hobby, I was sitting no more than 10 feet from Margaret Weis and Jim Ward. After a quick bowl of the pipe weed out on the newly-landscaped patio with the rest of the tobacco fiends, I returned to the lounge for FREE FOOD!

When I had my file of pizza, chicken wings, and nachos (Oh! By the way, Angry Orchard hard cider rocks), I returned buzzed, relaxed and happy to my comfortably heated room to watch Rifftrax on the room's TV. Now, it is morning and I'm finished my coffee and doughnut and I'm waiting for my first game run by Tim Kask.

More news to come as it develops.

Hulks & Horrors is Out!

Remember the ill-fated Hulks & Horrors Crowd Sourcing campaign from last year? Well, Bedroom Wall Press has just released a "Basic Black" edition on DriveThruRPG and is offering the .PDF rules free for the first week with the option for a PoD hard copy for $10.

Check it out, or else you'll make the hovering squid VERY angry.

Gary Con V: T-Minus One Week

One week from now I’ll be in beautiful Lake Geneva, WI for Gary Con, an annual glorious weekend of old gaming fun. This year I plan on being much more diligent in my day-to-day, on-the-scene blogging. Unlike last year, I’m going to have my laptop at the ready so I don’t have to try to blog using an iOS device.

My schedule of events is as follows:

Thursday

10 AM: Curse of the Weaver (OD&D)

Buried beneath the sands for generations, an ancient curse has re-awakened in the desert. Livestock and pets, babies and the infirm are missing. You are called upon to set forth and explore these depredations. Then a local seems to remember:" ...there is some sort of ungodly curse..." and a buried temple beneath the sand.

Run by Tim Kask. I’m going to have fun playing a game run by a TSR alumni.

6 PM: DGS Presents: Ghostbusters - Timmy the T-Rex

The Ghostbusters are back! After successfully busting the ghosts at Gen Con, they've returned to their beloved NYC for some routine hauntings. Things will be far from routine, however, when they boys in grey are called in to investigate a disturbance at the American Museum of Natural History. Just how does one bust a 40' long t-rex skeleton?

Run by Hans Cummings

Friday

Noon: Midday Star Frontiers - Another Crazy Job

So you've taken crazy jobs before... but you figure it takes a special kind of crazy to take this job. A new race has been discovered, and they've invited a team of UFP representatives to play in something they call, "The Game." You don't know if it's something like checkers, or a violent game that makes neutron-ball look like a pillow fight. But they're paying well. You just hope you and your teammates are up to the challenge.... Pre-generated characters provided.

Run by Ken Haylock. I'm looking forward to playing a session of the RPG that got me into the hobby.

Saturday

Saturday is going to be my day on glorious Tékumel with two games run by Victor Raymond.

2 PM: The Periplus of the Planes (Empire of the Petal Throne)

Nyélmu the Undying Wizard has set you upon a quest across the myriad planes to retrieve for him certain items necessary to his pleasures in the Garden of the Weeping Snows. Unfortunately, other forces are at work to stop you - Shunned Ones and Hokún possibly the least among them!

8 PM: The Jakállan Underworld

If you have never ventured across the River of Silence, or heard the sweet, high chiming of Ssú as they search for their victims, or faced the ghastly sight of ranks of undead defending a darkened shrine, this is your opportunity. Come venture beneath Jakálla, The City Half As Old As The World, the jewel of the Tsolyáni Imperium, the ancient capital of the Bednálljan Kings. Experience the World of Tékumel, created by Prof. M.A.R. Barker. Using classic Empire of the Petal Throne rules with pregenerated characters. (repeated session)

Sunday

10 AM: A Rock And A Hard Place (Mongoose Traveller)

Your downport liberty on a moon of the balkanized planet Alcost in the Far Frontiers sector has been going well enough, if you don't let the war scare news in the background bother you. But when the trouble does strike, it strikes close to you. Can you get yourselves and the children trapped with you to safety?

Run by John Appel.


When I’m not at these events, blogging, or taking a pipe out of by the fire pit (assuming they’ve brought the fire pit back this year), I’m be available to chat or pick-up games or whatever. Just look for this fat asshole:

A face only Shub Niggurath could love.

See you all there.

Help Ernie Gygax.

Terrible news today: Ernest Gary "Ernie" Gygax Jr. Lost his home in a fire early this morning. Fortunately, he, his roommate, and his dog are all unhurt, but he has last aloof his possessions. A Facebook page has already been setup to co-ordinate efforts to help Ernie pick up the pieces. If you can contribute anything at all, please do so.

Thanks.

“Achtung! Cthulhu” Kickstarter Underway

Last year, new English RPG publisher, Modiphius, produced their first two their Achtung! Cthulhu series of World War II/Cthulhu Mythos stand-alone campaigns for Savage Worlds and Call of Cthulhu. As expected, the explosive combination of the two awesome genres made them instant hits. Now Modiphius is further fleshing out the Achtung! Cthulhu line with Investigator’s and Keeper’s Guide that expand upon the setting and they’ve got a Kickstarter going to help:

Now, the campaign is already funded, and the first stretch goal—full Savage Worlds support—has already been met. However, as with all these campaigns there are always more stretch goals to meet and there is plenty of time left. 

Belated Happy Birthday, Thin White Duke!

Best birthday wishes, my master!