GaryCon 2024

[Necron 99]

Saw this posted on the GC Facebook group:

Hey folks. I see lots of questions on when is Gary Con 2024. I am working with Visit Lake Geneva to make this an all city event with several negotiated blocks at area hotels. This will help us limit price gouging. So please be patient as we work towards this goal. We know it’s typically at the latter half of March. Thank you.

[Ancalagon]

Good on the GC folks for trying to limit price gouging against attendees.

BOOOO on Lake Geneva for price gouging attendees in the first place!

[Necron 99]

Some news from the newsletter that was recently sent out:

Gary Con XVI First Guest of Honor Sneak Peak: Mike Pondsmith

We are welcoming Mike Pondsmith as a Guest of Honor at Gary Con XVI. "Maximum Mike" is the founder of R. Talisorian Games (1982) and author of Mekton, Cyberpunk, and Castle Faulkenstein. He contributed to Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms, and Oriental Adventures during his career, and is in the Origins Hall of Fame. His Cyberpunk game has achieved massive success over the past 35 years and is adapted to video games, Cyberpunk 2077, and an animated TV series on Netflix, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. We are extremely excited to have Mike as a Guest of Honor on such a landmark year!

Unless you've been captured by orcs, or had your brain eaten while you were turned into a mind flayer, you are likely aware that 2024 is the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. In celebration of that historic anniversary, we are adding to the event calendar a number of exciting, expanded experiences in Lake Geneva next year.

Gary Con XVI is celebrating the life and works of Gary Gygax, the person who brought Dungeons & Dragons to us, on the 50th year of its publication through his company, that he started with Don Kaye, in Lake Geneva. We are working with Visit Lake Geneva to include the City of Lake Geneva into our celebration. We are discussing activities we can do on the "shoulders" of Gary Con for attendees that wish to come in a little early or stay a little longer. We would love to include the Lake Geneva Museum, driving tours, special events at the Horticultural Hall, 330 Center Street and the American Legion Hall. More to come as the situation develops.

As you all know, 2024 is a very special year for role playing games. Gary Gygax published Dungeons & Dragons, in 1974, through his company Tactical Studies Rules, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of this revolutionary game that changed the gaming world. We decided we needed to do something special for this occasion so Luke decided to leverage Gaxx Worx to bring Founders & Legends to Lake Geneva as a special event the weekend prior to Gary Con XVI. This will be a separate event from Gary Con with Guests, special events, great games and seminars with only a few hundred badges available. This event is meant to stand alone or be paired with Gary Con for those who want to really celebrate this once in a lifetime event. Stay tuned to our website, this newsletter, and social media for more information as it develops.

I'm wondering how this one is going to affect the hotels. If you have people planning to attend the weekend prior, but stay for the regular convention, how is that going to affect registration?

And:

Finally, we'd like to provide more detail around one of our most desired GM rewards. The GMs who earned the GM Hoteling reward have been notified (so check your spam filters). The first 50 GMs to submit 18 hours of games (and run them) get access to book a hotel at the grand for the next Gary Con (GC XVI). We appreciate our GMs and are always trying to show it. They're the backbone of Gary Con.

And even more rooms being reserved, not sure if this is going to be seen a good thing or not. I have a sneaking suspicion we may not be staying at the Geneva Resort next year.

[Ancalagon]

Some news from the newsletter that was recently sent out:

<snip>
Gary Con XVI is celebrating the life and works of Gary Gygax, the person who brought Dungeons & Dragons to us, on the 50th year of its publication through his company, that he started with Don Kaye, in Lake Geneva. We are working with Visit Lake Geneva to include the City of Lake Geneva into our celebration. We are discussing activities we can do on the "shoulders" of Gary Con for attendees that wish to come in a little early or stay a little longer. We would love to include the Lake Geneva Museum, driving tours, special events at the Horticultural Hall, 330 Center Street and the American Legion Hall. More to come as the situation develops.

As you all know, 2024 is a very special year for role playing games. Gary Gygax published Dungeons & Dragons, in 1974, through his company Tactical Studies Rules, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of this revolutionary game that changed the gaming world. We decided we needed to do something special for this occasion so Luke decided to leverage Gaxx Worx to bring Founders & Legends to Lake Geneva as a special event the weekend prior to Gary Con XVI. This will be a separate event from Gary Con with Guests, special events, great games and seminars with only a few hundred badges available. This event is meant to stand alone or be paired with Gary Con for those who want to really celebrate this once in a lifetime event. Stay tuned to our website, this newsletter, and social media for more information as it develops.

I'm wondering how this one is going to affect the hotels. If you have people planning to attend the weekend prior, but stay for the regular convention, how is that going to affect registration?

And:

Finally, we'd like to provide more detail around one of our most desired GM rewards. The GMs who earned the GM Hoteling reward have been notified (so check your spam filters). The first 50 GMs to submit 18 hours of games (and run them) get access to book a hotel at the grand for the next Gary Con (GC XVI). We appreciate our GMs and are always trying to show it. They're the backbone of Gary Con.

And even more rooms being reserved, not sure if this is going to be seen a good thing or not. I have a sneaking suspicion we may not be staying at the Geneva Resort next year.

If Founders & Legends folks show up the weekend prior and decide to stay for GC then, yeah, I can see it impacting room availability. At Dragon Con, Gen Con and Origins, all of the hotels are within easy walking distance of the convention activities. Not the case for Gary Con. I definitely prefer to not have to deal with the to-and-fro of an offsite hotel. Plenty of time to discuss this...

[grodog]

Huh: I never received this email/newsletter/spam/announcement/whatever.

Thanks for sharing it, Jay!

Allan.

[Necron 99]

New GC email dropped:

Gary Con XVI Dates

You've probably already figured it out because we put the dates in our new banner, but Gary Con is officially announcing that our 2024 dates are March 21st through the 24th. It feels like it has been so long since we were last together and we already can't wait to see all of you in Lake Geneva!

Badges will officially go on sale July 29th.

Badge Prices

Silver badges have increased to $115, and Gold badges have increased to $250. As we get more information on additional badge types, we will be sure to communicate it as soon as we can... (like right NOW!)

New Student Badge Type

Are you still in school? For Gary Con XVI, we're going to offer a Discount Code to the first 150 students who send proof of enrollment (bursar's office receipt, current student ID) to customerservice@garycon.com.

You will be given a code and will apply that code during your purchase of a Silver badge only. The code does not guarantee a badge and we're expecting Silvers to sell out this year, so make your arrangements for the code now and be ready for checkout when badge sales begin.

The price for badges is getting ridiculous. If this were a five day convention, then yeah, maybe worth it, but for 4 days, it's getting to be a price gouge.

[Ancalagon]

New GC email dropped:

Gary Con XVI Dates

You've probably already figured it out because we put the dates in our new banner, but Gary Con is officially announcing that our 2024 dates are March 21st through the 24th. It feels like it has been so long since we were last together and we already can't wait to see all of you in Lake Geneva!

Badges will officially go on sale July 29th.

Badge Prices

Silver badges have increased to $115, and Gold badges have increased to $250. As we get more information on additional badge types, we will be sure to communicate it as soon as we can... (like right NOW!)

New Student Badge Type

Are you still in school? For Gary Con XVI, we're going to offer a Discount Code to the first 150 students who send proof of enrollment (bursar's office receipt, current student ID) to customerservice@garycon.com.

You will be given a code and will apply that code during your purchase of a Silver badge only. The code does not guarantee a badge and we're expecting Silvers to sell out this year, so make your arrangements for the code now and be ready for checkout when badge sales begin.

The price for badges is getting ridiculous. If this were a five day convention, then yeah, maybe worth it, but for 4 days, it's getting to be a price gouge.

Emphasis mine.
Agreed. I've paid $140 to attend Dragon Con in ATL which is 5 days and a helluva lot bigger with hotels in easy walking distance. This year a 5 day badge for Dragon Con is $155. Not that I'm interested in Dragon Con anymore but just throwing that out there for info.

Perhaps we should start doing some research on alternatives....

[Ancalagon]

New GC email dropped:

Gary Con XVI Dates

You've probably already figured it out because we put the dates in our new banner, but Gary Con is officially announcing that our 2024 dates are March 21st through the 24th. It feels like it has been so long since we were last together and we already can't wait to see all of you in Lake Geneva!

Badges will officially go on sale July 29th.

Badge Prices

Silver badges have increased to $115, and Gold badges have increased to $250. As we get more information on additional badge types, we will be sure to communicate it as soon as we can... (like right NOW!)
<snip>

OK... since badges go on sale in roughly 6 weeks, how does everyone feel about it? Still want to attend in 2024?

[Necron 99]

OK... since badges go on sale in roughly 6 weeks, how does everyone feel about it? Still want to attend in 2024?

It is the 50th anniversary of D&D, and even though I don't give a rip about the current owners of the brand or the current edition of game, I think we should plan to attend to commemorate Gary. The Trolls will most assuredly be there, not to mention hobby friends attending as well. I'm fine with going and since I'm only planning for a Silver, I'm not concerned with costs. This year I had a lot of fun and was able to get the games I wanted, next year, aside from planning to run, I'm going to look at playing in some games that are less taxing. Board games, miniatures, etc. with a couple RPGs thrown in. I also want to make time to get food like we did at the pizza place and hit up the fudge shop. I enjoyed getting out for a bit.

The biggest issue will be lodging. I had planned to try and get a suite next year, instead of the two bed smaller rooms. I think Quinn got sick sleeping on the floor where it was colder. The suites have 2 beds in separate rooms, and a pull out couch, which means we would all have our own place to crash out. However, if Jared sticks to his plan of wanting to attend, they he'll have to grab floor space, or it means we'll have to try and get two separate rooms, one for me and Quinn, and one for you and Jared.

It's going to be a mad dash to get rooms for sure and we've been lucky so far, so I don't know, we'll see how it pans out. Hopefully renovations will be complete by next year and more rooms will be available on site. I'm thinking of shooting for rooms at the Geneva Resort and also at the Ridge down the road, and just cancel whichever we don't need after we've secured something. Even if we're at the Ridge, the shuttle service runs back and forth which is maybe 10-15 minute wait at most.

I took a look at the Origins event list for this year, it seems hit or miss for RPGs, definitely not much in the way of old-school. Lots of board games and such offered though.

[Ancalagon]

Some ideas...

1. You , me, and Jared each try to get a reservation at the Grand Geneva. You go for a suite and me and Jared each try to grab a 2 bed room. Or everyone tries for a suite. We can discuss further to optimize chances.

2. We arrive on the Tuesday of the week of Gary Con instead of Wednesday like we usually do. This allows us to spend time in town for dining, fudge shop, and relaxing. It may also be an option to help with room reservations by checking in a day before the crush of people show up.

3. Stay until Monday like the last couple of times.

4. Any interest in flying in to Milwaukee to avoid the chaos and crush of O'Hare?