GaryCon V Recap Post- Part III: The Weekend

Ladies and gentlemen, sorry about the delay. This is Michael here, and I kinda agreed a while back to write up my last two days of GaryCon to get the lead-in to Dave's last two days. Sadly, I've been having a host of issues, so I've kept things delayed... a few months. I really need to finish this up. SO! Where were we?

Saturday started pretty well honestly. It was the one day Dave and I were going to be sharing two games, and the first game was Mutant Future. Or to be more accurate, using the Mutant Future setting to play out an episode of THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN! Ah, nostalgia and kids' shows. And the GM honestly rocked. ( +Tim Snider of The Savage Afterworld- Dave) I won't go too heavy into details, god knows Dave might want to, but this was a GREAT game, with the GM playing up the motif with the opening credits played on his laptop, as well as a commercial break. Lots of fun, imaginative playing of the setting, and honestly we really abused some of the opportunities we got. Great game and great start. I think we kinda beat it a bit early, got handed free settings books for if we wanted to do Thundarr ourselves, and went off to eat some before our next game. (Long story short, I managed to quadruplicate Ookla to defeat the enemy. -Dave)

Again, that was intended to be our first game, and I was looking forward to my second as well. See, the followup was a game of Dungeon! I really love that game, and I do need to get a copy of it myself. (I got one! -Dave) Wizards of the Coast did a reprint of the game so if you like board games, pick it up. Again, it was hosted by the creator of the game, who's name escapes me, Dave will probably correct it in. (David Megarry -Dave) And he told again the story of the game, showing the first edition and the tables it was originally played on. Very cool stuff. Sadly, I got to feeling unwell by the time the history was told, and had to excuse myself. So I got to miss out on the actual game itself. Went back to my room and rested most of Saturday away, using my laptop to keep in contact with people online and post some in forums. Even sick, I did some role-playing. Shush.

And that takes me to Sunday, and the last game on my list. The one I'd been looking forward to all con. Call of Cthulhu. Honestly, I'd never played it and I'd wanted to for SO LONG. I love the Lovecraftian setting and I really had been looking forward to it. By the time I got there, there were about five other players waiting, and more showing up as we settled in to talk and chat. Friends and people I'd met from prior cons, I was really looking forward to the game!

And the GM never showed up. Nobody knew what happened to him, where he was. Talked to the con staff, they had no idea what was going on. Table was bleeding players as people went to try and see if there were openings in second pick games when yet again the awesome con staff came through. There was someone with some experience in Call who was willing to GM for us. Great man, I REALLY wish I could remember his name (I am HORRIBLE with names) (Don't ask me, I was playing Traveler at the time- Dave) who more or less ran us through a condensed form of one of his basic sessions. Dave came along during the game, his own game plans kinda shot, and he sat to watch a good deal of the fun as we tried to investigate through a mysterious death and tragic murder. (No, my game went pretty well actually -Dave) All of it looked to lead up to an occult conspiracy and a plan to summon an elder god, and two of our impromptu group got captured by cultists and held in a prison under their base. The rest of us came in, not knowing they were trapped, and confronted the leader of the cult...

And I will admit part of this was my just being kinda tired and feeling ready to head home, but... When the cult leader asked us if there was anything he could say to get us on his side? I sold everyone out, kinda. I'd been hired, NOT paid, and had been working this nonsense without any hope of recompense. I think it rather tickled the GM that I was more than happy to be paid off, and my detective left the rest of them behind to cash his check and get on the first ship he could find to France, get as FAR away from all that nonsense as he could. Honestly? Great end to my last day.

Dave and I had already packed up the car so, we left. Got lunch at a nice out of the way place with... Crap. Dave, tell the rest of the story, my brain is pudding for names.

Afterwards we hung out with +Christopher Stogdill, +Carolyn Stogdill, +Paul Raasch and +Scott Schwartz at Hogs & Kisses in Lake Geneva for lunch before heading home. Overall, it was a great time.

In related news, GaryCon VI has officially been announced for March 27-30, 2014. For more information go to garycon.com

The GaryCon V Recap Post- Part II: Friday

[This is a continuation of the belated recap of GaryCon V that took place in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin last month. This recap also features my brother Michael as a guest blogger.

Also, I need to get this done so I can move on and blog about other things.]

Friday

One of the things I told myself I was going to do Thursday was to get everything together for the Shootout. That didn't happen, so for the second year in a row I was scrambling to get building models assembled and paper minis cut out. The glue sticks I purchased for the models didn't work at all, so I had to run back to Wal-Mart to buy tape. As for the minis, it turns out that I didn't have them with me when I left upstate New York. And my attempts to print out copies from the hotel's printer failed spectacularly as they didn't have any PDF viewers on their office computer. I decided to make do with the fantasy minis I used the day before and continued on. My only interruption being when Michael came back from his 9am game earlier than expected. I'll let him explain.

Finally! The GaryCon V Recap Post- Part I: Thursday

Since I have slacked off on completing my blogging about GaryCon V, I decided that it would be a good idea to bring in a guest blogger. And who better than the man that shared a hotel room with me all convention long, my brother Michael. You know, this guy.

Since Michael and I weren't always in the same place at the same time, we should be able to give you a broader view of the convention. And in those cases where we were together, hopefully different perspectives. And we have both agreed to not go easy on each other, so this should be fun.

Pics from GaryCon V

These are mostly pics of some of the events I participated in and the people I hung out with. But they should give you a feel for what was going on at the convention.

My friend +George Fields 

+Jolly Blackburn holds court with some Kenzerites.

There Will Be a GaryCon V Post!

I was planning on vlogging my way through GaryCon V, but the presence of hundreds of people at the Geneva Ridge Resort put a damper on the wi-fi. My video of the events of "Day Zero" would have taken over eight hours to upload back in Wisconsin. And my constant worrying about the video on Thursday led to me not preparing for a game on Friday until the 11th hour. So I decided to eschew any "journalism" and focus more on enjoying my vacation, which is really what my trip to GaryCon was about.

Anyway, without further ado, here is Day Zero.

GaryCon is Tomorrow!

And I do have some content to add about it! However, I committed to doing a vlog about traveling from my brother's apartment to Lake Geneva and all relevant subjects about it. The video has been recorded, but now I'm waiting for the Flip program to finish compiling all the small vids into one video to upload to YouTube. So as soon as that's done I'll append it to this post for all to see.

But just for a Cliff's Notes version, things are pretty awesome right now.

Two Days Till GaryCon!

Ugh, I hate travel days. I got slightly more sleep last night than I did the night before. Then it's five hours of sitting in a cramped plane or hauling heavy bags throughout the airports. By the time my mother and stepfather picked me up at O'Hare, I was just plain miserable. I needed lunch and a nap and not much else.

However, fate would dictate there be more to today. That's because today's my 39th birthday, and there was celebrating to be had. So after a two hour nap, we were off to a nice restaurant for a great meal and one of the best gin martinis I have ever had. The second half of the day more than made up for the first.

Now, it's back to bed to get ready for tomorrow. I'm (hopefully) meeting an old friend for lunch tomorrow before picking up Michael and heading to Lake Geneva. See you all there.

Three Days Till GaryCon!

I managed to get a total of two hours sleep last night.

Yeah.

So now here it's almost 9pm Eastern and I have to get every last minute thing packed and accounted for before I catch my flight tomorrow. Ideally, I'll be at the airport by around 8am. Which shouldn't be a problem since I live about fifteen minutes away from it.

I did manage to get the last of the paper minis I need printed. Mad props to Ze Bullete at Dungeons and Digressions for all the work he put into his paper minis.

Hopefully there won't be any delays sue to the weather. It's finally warming up here, but I understand it's still cold back home.

Tomorrow's blog will most likely be a vlog since I'll be traveling. I'll be bringing my Flip camera along with my webcam to take video during the con. Hopefully i will have plenty to share.

Later.

Four Days Till GaryCon!

Okay, looks like I found the solution to my minis problem. If you are looking for some high-quality fantasy paper minis, look no further than The Fantasy Trip. There are tons of well drawn figures there.

Tomorrow is going to be a weird day for me. Due to GaryCon and my birthday falling within the same week, I decided to head out to Chicago a day earlier. But this means that I have a one-day workweek this week. And with my job, I'm not getting a lot of projects dropped in my lap since I won't be around to finish any of them. It should make things interesting to say the least.

Five Days Till GaryCon!

First, I can't believe that I didn't think of this sooner. But the solution to yesterday's problem was realizing the a mat that could be rolled up could also be folded.

Second, it looks like I'll be checking my bags after all, since I will be bringing a few of my pained miniatures with me for my HackMaster game. I suppose it is possible to get them by the TSA without issue. But I am seriously debating whether or not it would be worth the hassle. I am trying to find some good paper minis to bring with me. I'm having some luck with the PCs, but I need ones of kobolds and dogs for my adventure. Alternately, I could use some sort of token or pawn as a stand-in. but I need to get them fast and cheap.

Other than that, I just need to make sure I have all my other stuff (i.e. everything not game or clothing related) packed and ready to go Tuesday morning.

Six Days Till GaryCon! Off the Grid?

It just occurred to me that I won't be able to take my game mat to GaryCon. It's too long to fit in my bags, and when rolled up it could easily get lost on the plane. I forgot that I got around this issue last year by having a set of disposable grids printed on poster paper. But I used them all up gaming last year.

While most games don't really require the use of minis and mats to work, my Friday morning game does since all it is is a big combat for about a dozen people at a time. So now I need to figure out how to get a grid laid down for one game without shelling out a lot of money.

Any ideas?

One Week Till GaryCon! Getting Closer.

The first of my bags are packed for my trip. Five days worth of clothes are in this blue bag. Since I will be staying at my mother's house on Tuesday and Sunday I have the luxury of doing laundry before heading home. Just one more bag and I'll be ready to get on the plane and head home to the Midwest.

9 Days Till GaryCon! Now Is Not The Time To Panic.

Ever have a deadline for something that you are given notice months in advance, yet by the time that date is almost upon you you realize how much you have yet to get done?

Yeah, that's me finally getting all my buildings printed for my Aces & Eights Shootout.

And I still have a few other things I need to get squared away before next week.

Yipes!

11 Days Till GaryCon! Time to Start Packing.

First of all, The Dead Games Society will be throwing a 70s theme party in their suite on Friday Night at 9pm. I have a game running at that time, but I might be able to stop by late.

I'm in the process of packing for the con, and am having the issue of what size bags to bring. My big concern having to do with carrying books with me through the airport. While I can run HackMaster from HMB and D&D from the Cyclopedia, I still need to bring my Aces & Eights book for the shootout and my Hacklopedia of Beasts just to get it signed by the rest of the D-Team. Plus there's the unwritten rule of not checking any bag that has anything you can't live without on your trip. And since I don't want to pay and extra $25 on each trip, that means packing light so I can bring everything as a carry-on.

So it looks like it's going to be a backpack and small suitcase for this journey. Likely doable, but definitely stuffed to capacity. Thankfully most of the time my bags will in my room and not carried around. But it's one of those little things you have to deal with when you travel, even if it's just to game.

12 Days Till GaryCon! Good Signs.

You know that GaryCon is rapidly approaching when +David Kenzer takes a break from working on the HackMaster Game Master's Guide to see who else is going.

Now I just have to make sure I get him to sign my "Air Mail Stamp" Hacklopedia of Beats (top left).

13 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon IV: The Conclusion

Sunday was kind of a non-starter for me. Despite my intention to close GaryCon IV, I had the urge to get going early in the morning. So around 10am, Michael and I checked out and made the ride back to Chicago. Once we got there we kind of realized that my flight back to Elmira wasn't going to be for another 24 hours, so we had to find something to do.

We could have been gaming until 6pm. But you just had to get antsy, didn't you?

To be honest, there isn't much left to talk about after heading out. I hung out at my brother's apartment the rest of the day, and then headed back to O'Hare the next morning. I did realize that getting a rental car was a nice perk for the weekend, but the cost outweighed the benefits since it was parked in the hotel lot for four of the five days I had it. I also realized my need to pace myself in the future so I wasn't hitting the pillow before midnight. In all, GaryCon IV was the con where a lot of stuff should have happened, but didn't. And that's all on me. Hopefully, things will work out better at GaryCon V.

14 Days Till GaryCon! The Chalet.

So in addition to being the site of improv on Wednesday night, the new chalet at the Geneva Ridge Resort will also be the site of gaming during the con. Now this should be a good thing in that it gives more room for gaming and allows future GaryCons to stay at the resort. On the other hand, the chalet is new and it seems that a shuttle is required to get there from the main hotel. Since some games will be held at the hotel proper, I'm just a bit concerned that some people may not realize that there is a 'second site' for the con if that's where their game is scheduled to be.

Of course, there really is no way to know how things will work out until the convention. Hopefully there will be enough logistics and communications in place to make everything work smoothly.

15 Days Till GaryCon! Beer Run!

While Spotted Cow is the favorite beer of the Gygax clan, I am looking forward to imbibing other beverages upon my return to the Midwest. Don't get me wrong, the Southern Tier of New York State has plenty of microbreweries that produce great beer. But being there are a couple of beers that I miss that I want to have again. Though I may have to make a run to the liquor store to get them.

Leinenkugel is a beer that I started drinking when I went back to school in my early-thirties (as opposed to the late thirties I'm at now). It was the beer that was the 'step up' from the big name domestics that I drank before. Since I started drinking Leinie's, I moved on to some imports like Newcastle and got into a few more local brews.

1554 Enlightened Black Ale by New Belgium Brewing was my go-to beer when I lived in Indiana. I had already developed a preference for darker beers after drinking Newcastle. So this black ale that was served in a goblet caught my attention right away. It has a rich, dark flavor that goes well with heavier foods. And on top of that, it's a beer that I usually savor instead of downing a glass like many lighter beers.

So it looks like I'll be making a beer run the day my brother and I drive up to Lake Geneva. Michael doesn't drink, so I guess that will mean more for me. Though I'm sure I will buy enough to share with at least a few friends.

16 Days Till GaryCon!

With GaryCon approaching rapidly, I was reminded of the time +Jolly Blackburn came up with a bunch of Monopoly style "Get Out of Player Character Story" cards a few years ago.

I haven't had the need to use the cards yet, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

(And in case you are wondering, yes there are counter cards to get out of someone playing the "Get Out of Player Character Story" card on you. It's at the same link.)

17 Days Till GaryCon! Can It Be True?

I was looking over the website for the Geneva Ridge Resort for blog topic ideas when I came upon this list of accommodations.

Accommodations
Scenic Resort Rooms & Suites
Our 146 spacious guest rooms and suites are designed with the perfect balance of rustic coziness and all the technological conveniences, entertainment, and personal comforts of home. Reflecting Mission-style Arts and Crafts traditions, each room offers a function-friendly layout, warm earthy tones, wood furniture, and these homey amenities:

• Simmons Beautyrest® pillow-top mattresses
• Cotton covered polyester New Generation pillows
• Triple sheeting
• Iron and ironing board
• Expandable cable
• Refrigerator
• 4 cup coffee and tea maker with complimentary coffee
• Hair dryer
• Clock radio
• In-room high-speed Internet
• Flat screen LCD TV with DVD player.
• In-room dining

Notice what I highlighted there. My sinuses are hoping that this is for real.