Gary Con Planning

Necron 99 · Post February 14th, 2019, 7:08 pm

grodog wrote: ↑February 14th, 2019, 1:30 am My GaryCon schedule (before the new Featured Events come online on Tuesday for silvers):

Wednesday - arrive between 11am-3pm, set up booth, eat food, game perhaps (or got to sleep early!)

Thursday
- booth all day
- food before game?
- The Last of the Sea Kings - Chainmail miniatures with Kevin Cabai

Friday
- booth in the morning
- running the Greyhawk seminar 1-3pm
- booth/food?
- running Paul's Discovery of the Unknown tourney 6-10pm

Saturday
- booth all day except:
- 10am-Noon Dungeon! with my son Henry and Dave Megarry
- gaming in the evening, but if that doesn't work out:
- Secrets of Blackmoor screening 10pm-1am

Sunday
- booth all day
- pack up booth
- eat food
- gaming vs. sleep?

Monday
- sleep in
- drive home after food!

Looking forward to seeing all of you in a few weeks!

Allan.

Most definitely, Allan, can't wait! Less than three weeks and counting.

Ancalagon · Post February 20th, 2019, 10:40 pm

I just read a post on the GC page about a certain Guest of Honor who will no longer be at the con. At the end of the piece was this, "[...]the safe space we as a gaming community strive for."

Really? I had no idea until now that GC was such an unsafe environment! I guess I'm lucky I survived my numerous trips to Lake Geneva before the "safe space" was established. Safe spaces are what SJW snowflakes want for whatever their warped reasons.

This has got me thinking about other convention options.

grodog · Post February 21st, 2019, 3:53 pm

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 20th, 2019, 10:40 pmThis has got me thinking about other convention options.

You're not the only one. I think GC has jumped the shark with this, if not several years ago now, and am really looking to the NTX con for my solidly-old-school convention experience these days.

Allan.

Arashi · Post February 21st, 2019, 6:41 pm

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 20th, 2019, 10:40 pm I just read a post on the GC page about a certain Guest of Honor who will no longer be at the con. At the end of the piece was this, "[...]the safe space we as a gaming community strive for."

This doesn't really surprise me.

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 20th, 2019, 10:40 pm Really? I had no idea until now that GC was such an unsafe environment! I guess I'm lucky I survived my numerous trips to Lake Geneva before the "safe space" was established. Safe spaces are what SJW snowflakes want for whatever their warped reasons.

Your physical safety at a convention is only in question if you voice dissenting opinion/beliefs too loudly. Then you might get jumped from behind by a peaceful, well-mannered "hero".

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 20th, 2019, 10:40 pm This has got me thinking about other convention options.

Not to defecate in your Wheaties, but you're going to find this sort of thing with pretty much every con held these days. I can't think of a major US or AU-based con that hasn't had to remove speakers, guests of honor or attendees in order to create the "safe space" that they strive for.

This particular travesty is worse than what I had discussed with you pre-game a month or so back, but there's speculation it stems from I'll from continuing hard feelings on the part of a few people involved with the Jessica Price/Mentzer (so-called) "scandal" back in 2015. Or threatening someone with a team of lawyers over on the Dragonsfoot forums if they didn't disappear form the forum, which resulted in his own ban from Dragonsfoot. Or it could be about his interaction with the creator of Playing D&D With Porn Stars... can't remember the fella's name. Most likely, it's a combination of all of these things, and then some.

But when I con I don't con for warm fuzzies from guest speakers. I con because I love gaming and love the gaming industry. Anything beyond these two points of interest I don't really concern myself with. Mentzer is one of the people behind the most successful role playing game ever created, one that thrives almost four decades after it was first conceived as an extension of Chainmail. That he would receive this treatment from GaryCon, of all cons, borders on criminal.

I had been feeling bad that I couldn't make GaryCon work with my schedule. Now? Not such much.

Even if it hadn't been Mentzer this happened to... the words "safe space" make it a no-go now and in the future.

Necron 99 · Post February 21st, 2019, 9:48 pm

I'd like to hit NTRPG, but more often than not it falls on the same weekend closest to my daughter's birthday. Until she gets a bit older and things change, I'm not sure when I'll make it.

Anc and I have discussed maybe attending Origins in 2020. We've been in years past and always had a fairly good time. Not quite as big as GenCon but not as small as Gary Con, something in the middle. They have some cool restaurants and sights right around the convention center and it's in the summer which means no snow and ice.

May have to discuss it further after we wrap up GCXI.

Ancalagon · Post February 21st, 2019, 11:31 pm

Necron 99 wrote: ↑February 21st, 2019, 9:48 pm<snip>
Anc and I have discussed maybe attending Origins in 2020. We've been in years past and always had a fairly good time. Not quite as big as GenCon but not as small as Gary Con, something in the middle. They have some cool restaurants and sights right around the convention center and it's in the summer which means no snow and ice.

May have to discuss it further after we wrap up GCXI.

I hit Origins in 2010 and 2011 and enjoyed both trips. Each year there was one night with some "hellawesome" thunderstorms that just lit up the sky for hours. It was just a really cool vibe to take a few minutes and watch between games. Also, within walking distance of the convention center is BD's Mongolian BBQ - the best Mongo BBQ I've had! And... no snow and ice.

rredmond · Post February 22nd, 2019, 9:18 am

NTRPG seems to be the Con to go to for me. Most of the folks I know go there.
As for Gary Con, apparently there's more "behind the scenes" stuff youdontknowabout [shrug]
When I can finally get to a Con that isn't in Philadelphia or NJ

I won't be going to play with "legends of the game", but to play with friends I've made online (and IRL, there's a lot of us in Jersey!) who I really want to roll dice. Jokers who were OSR before there was a frikkin' label/logo/trade mark. One day the stars will align! Four young daughters, a missus, and being a social worker... well, I might have to start those sacrifices to Cthulhu now to be able to go when I retire!

Ancalagon · Post February 22nd, 2019, 8:49 pm

I'm intrigued by the option of NTRPG with its focus on old school TSR era games that GaryCon seems to have lost with the WotC sponsorship and overwhelming number of 5e games offered. A guy on the GC forums posted the numbers of events offered. 5e had far and away the most with 455. AD&D came in a distant second at 79. PF was fifth at 49. Kinda lessens the old school vibe, IMO. Maybe GC should just rename itself as WotC Con and be done with it.

As for "stuff behind the scenes" about which I lack info, all I can say is that the "safe space" comment turns me off. I don't know LG and find FM to be self absorbed and overly desirous of adoration. If there are issues between LG and FM then so be it. When that situation resulted in the "safe space" proclamation outside the confines of the anti-harrassment policy, it was just another example of how GC is getting away from the awesome vibe it had in 2015. I'm still confident for a great time with friends, old and new, in a few weeks at GCXI. But as the list of things I have to ignore continues to grow, my passion for GC wanes.

The only "legend of the game" I'd want to sling dice with now died in 2008. I played in a "legends of the game" event a couple of years ago. While the gentleman running the game was friendly and fun to chat with, the game itself was probably the most disappointing session I've had in the years I've attended GC. I always try to get into a session run by Necron99, but other than that I look for fun sounding events to sign up for and hope that mine sound fun to others.

If we do ever end up attending the same con, rredmond, we'll definitely have to get in an event together and roll the bones!

Necron 99 · Post February 23rd, 2019, 6:35 pm

Well, I was supposed to be running my Gary Con adventure tonight, for a new local group I played with two weeks back, but this morning when I was in the middle of actually getting characters printed and other things ready to go, I got a message that the host wasn't going to be available due to unforeseen schedule changes related to family stuff.

DOH.

I understand that things happen, I was just really hoping to give this a run before taking it up to GC and running it cold. On the upside, the character sheets looks really good and personally, I think my map for Jamestown Fort turned out nice, since I did the entire thing from scratch and by hand in Powerpoint, of all applications. LOL. Based on the maps I could find on the web, it's pretty damn close to historical accuracy.

Necron 99 · Post February 23rd, 2019, 8:55 pm

Something else I just noticed. Maybe it's just me, maybe I've not passed my perception checks in previous years, but I was out on the Event Schedule this evening and it seems like there are an awful lot of games either without any seats taken, or less than half taken. This applies to all events whether cards, board games, miniatures or RPGs.

I'm wondering if the con, having gained so many attendees now, is reaching a point of over saturation with hosts offering games. Some of them I can understand not getting players, their descriptions just sound completely ridiculous and, pardon the harshness, but flat out dumb. But some seem to be legit and I guess just have the bad luck of being in a slot when players are interested in other options. If this is the case, though then I'm going to say this is partly at fault because of the non-focused path to old-school games that we've had prior.

If your con is focused on old-school, 80s era RPGs, BGs, minis, and similar games, then most often the people interested will show up to both run and play those specific types of games, it seems like it should be a pretty equal ratio, occasionally dipping to one side or the other. When you start opening up, allowing anyone in, then it becomes a crap shoot, a roll of the dice as to who will run what, and who will want to play in what. At least, that is how it makes sense in my mind. My guess also is that this could just as easily happen at your larger cons, Origins and GenCon, but that they are so big, there may be enough attendees that you get more players than GMs; I've never looked at their data or events so I can't speak with any certainty. From the look of what's is still open currently in the event schedule, I imagine quite a few GMs are going to be running gimped games or looking for something else to do during those 2-4 hour time slots they originally planned to run in.