Gary Con XII

[Necron 99]

Yeah, with the amount of events, "modern D&D guests", and sponsoring that WotC is throwing at GaryCon, Luke should just go ahead and change the name to WotCon or something. However, I will say that if you look at just the RPG events, there are a fair number of old-school games being run and they still haven't loaded in all of the events. We'll see what happens, with the move of 5e down to the Forums, I'm hoping the main convention space will fall back into the feel of prior conventions.

[grodog]

Thanks guys! I should have my act suffiiently together to get my Thursday Castle Greyhawk event submitted soon as well. Friday night I'll be helping Paul Stormberg DM his Legends of Role-Playing tourney.

What start time are you eyeballing for the Thursday Castle Greyhawk event? I'm thinking of running my game @ noon on Thursday so if yours if that evening I can keep it in mind.

Evening all around, starting at either 6pm or 7pm depending on how late the exhibit hall remains open.

I decided not to submit other official events, so I'm just running Paul's game on Friday night and the Lost Caverns on Saturday night. I'll either run or play stuff off-grid on Wednesday (pending booth setup stuff), Thursday, and Sunday nights.

Allan.

[Ancalagon]

<snip> ho-leeee shit <snip>

What he said!
Just looked again at the events schedule and counted 74 D&D (5th Ed) events. That brings the current total to 662 5e offerings. This is spreading like the plague. I find it difficult to believe all of these events are going to fill up. Looks like WotC Is trying to spam GCXII and make it a WotC Con.

[Ancalagon]

Hells yes. I shall be playing.

Most kosher!
A message came in tonight that my event was approved. I was hoping the use of "damned" in the description would not trip the family friendly fire alarm since GC is going out of its way to try not to offend anyone in any fashion. Heh.

My event is now on the schedule. Both sessions are in the Galewood room.

[Necron 99]

Logged into the site to check out updated events. Some of the 5E aside, there are some really great sounding events offered this year. I'm doubly glad I decided to just play and not run this year. It's going to be tough to decide in what, to play, but I'm hoping for some great game sessions.

[Necron 99]

So looks like flights for Quinn and I have changed.

American changed my arrival to ORD on Wednesday, Mar 25th to 3pm.

I'm also having to completely get new flights for Quinn, since he and his folks are moving to Huntsville, AL in about 2 weeks, so his flights out from St. Louis will be bunk. Thanksfully, I only used points for his original trip and can cancel them without losing actual money. Right now flights into ORD at the cheapest rate may mean he doesn't arrive until just after 4pm. <sigh>

Will post when I get things finalized.

[Ancalagon]

So looks like flights for Quinn and I have changed.

American changed my arrival to ORD on Wednesday, Mar 25th to 3pm.

I'm also having to completely get new flights for Quinn, since he and his folks are moving to Huntsville, AL in about 2 weeks, so his flights out from St. Louis will be bunk. Thanksfully, I only used points for his original trip and can cancel them without losing actual money. Right now flights into ORD at the cheapest rate may mean he doesn't arrive until just after 4pm. <sigh>

Will post when I get things finalized.

Copy that.
I'm booking my flight today since we're about 2 months out. Once that's done I'll start looking at rental cars. Since its just the three of us, we can save some $$$ by not needing a SUV for higher head counts as in years past.

[Ancalagon]

Awright - flight is booked. The Zombie Master's schedule is

Wednesday, 25-Mar
Arrive at ORD @ 1:04 PM

Monday, 30-Mar
Depart ORD @ 12:45 PM

[Necron 99]

I was going back through events and realized there is a new location, the Cascades. Doing some research, I didn't see this on any map for the Geneva Resort. Then today, I happen to catch a mention of the Cascades on the FB group, and it was said that this location is actually located at the Timberline Ridge hotel down the drive.

So, just an FYI for anyone who's planned events are at this location, you'll have to weather the outdoors or take a shuttle to the Ridge and back (or drive if you have a rental) if you're staying at the Geneva, apparently walking there would take about 15-20 minutes.

[Necron 99]

Alright. So after much deliberation and belly aching over not having enough time to play everything I want, here is break down of the events I'm looking to grab when the time comes.

Thursday starts with a simple event for Milton Bradley's The Dark Tower board game, at 8:00am; the game only lasts an hour and a half, which is fine. Back in the 80s, Dark Tower was a board game I had seen played only once. My first introduction to D&D was by the same group of older guys, when I watched them playing a session of Basic (Red Box) D&D and like D&D, I was rabidly curious about this crazy looking board game with the rotating tower of sound and glowing panels. Alas, also like the D&D game, they never had the time to teach me or actually let me play either one. Seeing it offered at Gary Con this year means, assuming I can get a seat, I'll finally get to play and tick it off my bucket list.

If that works out, I'll wrap up around 9:30 which will give me time to grab the rental car and run into town to grab breakfast at the Egg Harbor Cafe, then drive back and have some time to hit the dealer room for a bit.

At noon, I'm hoping to have a seat for the OD&D game, The Valley of the Dead.

For 500 years the living have avoided the valley of the dead. The ancient city of Durindall lies at the center of the valley, the victim of a curse that turned its inhabitants into the undead centuries before. Are you brave enough to seek out the Tomb of Harkeen that can rid the world of this undead plague? 1974 original D&D rules & Greyhawk, Erol Otus' Necromican, and The Arduin Grimoire.

After that, I should have a couple of hours to grab something to eat and walk around to snap some pics or chat with anyone I run into. The final event on Thursday I'm planning to get is The Golden Disc, (7:00pm) an adventure set in Tekumel and the Empire of the Petal Throne. I've never played in this campaign setting but have always been curious about trying it out since it's touted as one of the earliest campaign settings for RPGs.

Getting lost in the Underworld was always a possibility. But getting this lost? With enemies blocking your way out, you are forced to do the unthinkable - escape using a tubeway car of the Ancients. Who knows where you might end up!

This is an introductory adventure for The World of Tekumel and Empire of the Petal Throne.

The vast planetary transportation network of the Ancients was considered mythical—but is still maintained by enigmatic robotic servitors across the uncounted millennia. Now used by the Enemies of Humankind—the dreaded Ssu, as well as others knowledgeable in the ways of Ancient technology.Adventurers learn to fear the smell of musty cinnamon, the sound of high, sweet chiming alien voices, and dim blue lanterns approaching from afar. Come experience the magic of Tekumel—the first world published for a roleplaying game! No experience is required.

Friday morning, I'm going to start off again at 8:00am, playing in a session of Fate of the Norns. I've enjoyed everything I've read for this game and definitely look forward to giving it a try.

Ragnarok has consumed Midgard. Old gods awaken, primordial evil crawls from the sea and a revenant queen returns to reclaim the land as her own. Embark on an epic journey that will be played in chapters (4 hours each) over the entire convention weekend! You can jump in any time to enjoy a self contained chapter, or stick around for a much longer and epic story arc.

The FotN session should wrap up at noon, assuming the rental car is handy again, I'll probably drive into town, get lunch, then drive back for my next session at 2:00pm, which is in the Cascades room at the Timber Lodge. I'm hoping to get a ticket to DCC Dark Trails: A Westward Journey (Part 1) to give Dark Trails a shot. The session will run for four hours and then I'll have an hour to grab something to eat, then jump back into it with DCC Dark Trails: A Westward Journey (Part 2) at 7:00pm.

“You are no heroes. You are miscreants, vagabonds and ne’er to do wells used to life of on the tough streets of Victorian England. Sentenced to seven years ‘transportation’— you're being sent to America, where rumor has it the strange events of recent times began" Part 1 is a stand alone level zero funnel for Dark Trails (A weird west game based on DCC RPG) Play in Part 2 (PM slot) is optional.

An unlikely band of vagabonds and ne'er do wells beleive the site of the abandonded mine holds answers to the strange visions compelling them to push back against a long forgotten ancient evil. This is is a stand alone level 1 adventure for Dark Trails (A weird west game based on DCC RPG) Previous play in Part 1 (AM slot) is optional but not required, pregenerated characters are provided.

On Saturday, I'm shooting for a slightly later start with a 9:00am game, Hyperborea: Lost Cairns of the Savages. I wanted to play a session of this last year, but schedules and events just didn't line up. Glad to see Del is running it again and hoping to get a chance to jump in.

A sandbox adventure to the fog shrouded Black Feather Island where rumors persist that pre-historic savages built burial cairns which hold untold riches, but are they ripe for the picking or are they deadly ripe? Loosely based on Howard's "Wolves Beyond the Border" "The Black Stranger" and "Beyond the Black River" this game is refereed by AS&SH Illustrator Del Teigeler.

I won't get a break this time, at 1pm I'm going for a seat in the event Ruins of Kazad Maloch, an adventure using Savage Worlds, another easy system I enjoy playing. I've never played in a fantasy themed adventure using SW, so I want to see how well it handles it, this one specifically since it has a Conan-esque theme. I played with Paul, the GM, last year during his Solomon Kane themed adventure which it was a lot of fun, hoping this one is too.

Welcome to the sword & sorcery world of Beasts & Barbarians. The Dread Sea Dominion is filled with adventure and peril. The ancient ruins of Kazad Maloch have stood empty for hundreds of years as the final resting place of the witch king Malkavous. Rumors say the spirit of the warlock roam the ruins defending his untold riches.

After the session ends, I'll have about two hours to grab food, or maybe order in pizza since we did that last year and it worked really well, then ready for my final game of the night. I'm going for the 7:00pm session of Blackmoor. I've not played in Arneson's setting prior, so like Tekumel, I want to see what it's like.

Legends of Roleplaying event! In May 1971 Dave Arneson invited friends to play a Middle Ages Braunstein and they were hooked! A year and a half later he would demonstrate this new game to Gary Gygax who would use it to create Dungeons & Dragons! Experience what it was like to play early Blackmoor Castle dungeon adventures with original player, Bob Meyer! Just bring a pencil and two 6-sided dice.

And finally, on Sunday, I plan to sleep in a bit late since we have the dreaded time change to deal with, get up and get ready, then hit the breakfast buffet in the lodge. I'll wrap up the "official" events with Anc's AD&D game at 11:00am, The Skull of Tamoachan.

A day’s walk from the ruins of Tamoachan, your party found a valley that holds an unexplored temple of Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of Mictlán, the Land of the Dead. The natives spoke of priceless treasures of gold and gems within the temple. They also fear the valley, considering it damned and a place of certain death. Can your team reach the temple, gain entry, explore, and return alive?