A week from today...

...I will have new posts on this blog. Relevant posts hopefully. With pictures, maybe video too.


Stay tuned.

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

24 Days Till GaryCon! Writing a One-Shot

Out of the three games I'm running at GaryCon, only one is self-written. Writing a one-shot adventure isn't really that hard. It's just a matter of keeping a few things in mind.

Have a clear goal presented
Sandbox games work great for your home game. But for a one-shot game, having a plot of "You good. Monster bad. Save princess." is okay. Just make sure that you spell it out for the players as soon as possible so things get on track. At a con, you usually don't have to worry about people trying to derail your game.

Lose the random encounters
Again, another home game device that adds little to the convention game. Random encounters just slow the game down when you're doing a one-shot. Don't put an encounter in that isn't directly applicable to the plot, and your players won't feel that they're wasting their time.

Don't rely on any special abilities or skills to resolve things
Players can be funny in what they choose. As a result it's hard to predict whether or not they'll choose an ability or skill needed to complete the task you set out for them. If the players roll up their own characters, they may be out of luck come the finale. If you're using pregens, then you risk making the final encounter dependent on one individual. Keep your resolution dependent on the actions of the group and not an individual. That way you make it easier for everyone to have fun.

30 Days Till GaryCon! Time is Running Out!

Two things:

Early Registration for events ends on the 23rd. In somewhat unrelated news, I still have slots open in my HackMaster and Aces & Eights games.

If you used up all your SPs and have some GPs you aren't going to use, you have until the 18th to trade them in. 1 GP traded in gets you 4 SPs to spend.

46 Days Till GaryCon! Event Registration is Live!

Outside of some technical difficulties, the event registration for GaryCon V has now begun and will be running until February 23rd. You also have until January 31st to register for the convention with a Copper Badge that gives you 15 SP to register for events.

In good news, I got all the events that I wanted to sign up for. So I will definitely be doing stuff at the convention whether it's playing or running a game. My itinerary looks like this:

Thursday:
8am-2pm (GM) HackMaster- Monsters in the Barn
This is the event I wrote for GaryCon II that was published in HackJournal #39 last year. It's an introductory session for those that have never played Hackmaster before.

3pm-5pm (Player) TSR with Gary Gygax
One of the seminars I wanted to attend. I played in an OD&D game with Mr. Mentzer last year and the stories he told were the best part of the game.

6pm-10pm (GM) Basic D&D- Steaks
This is an AD&D adventure from A1 that I have converted for the BECMI rules. Not heavy on combat, but should still be fun.

Friday:
10am-2pm (GM) Aces & Eights-Last Varmint Standing
This was another fun game I ran last year. Just a big shootout amongst all the players in a last man standing situation. Walk-ups are greatly welcomed here as things will go up and down at a moments notice. No experience necessary.

7pm-10:30pm (Player) Advanced D&D- Quondam Fount
I  had fun at Frank Mentzer's table last year, why not do it again?

Saturday:
8am-Noon (Player) Mutant Future- Thundarr the Barbarian: Warlord of the Sacred Library
Ariel! Ookla! RIDE! (This is going to be so awesome)

2pm-4pm (Player) Dungeon!
Never played this game before. My brother highly recommended it. Gonna give it a shot.

6pm-10pm (Player) HackMaster- The Temple of Unrelenting Despair
My friend Paul is running this game. I always make it a point to support my friends at GaryCon.

Sunday:
10am-2pm- Mongoose Traveller- A Rock And A Hard Place
An old-school game that I never heard of until a few years ago. One must always be open to new things.

So, has anyone else registered yet? What did you sign up for? The clock is ticking, so be sure to get signed up as soon as possible. And I will see you at GaryCon V.

47 Days Till GaryCon! Closing the Con.

One of my goals for this year is to "close" GaryCon (i.e. stay until it officially ends). I regret not doing so last year since I ended up having way too much down time between the time I got to my brother's apartment and my flight the next day. I'm not planning on staying at the hotel Sunday night, so I'll need to check out before my (hopeful) game at 10am. If the game ends at 2pm like it's supposed to, that still leaves four hours before things end at 6pm. Assuming I spend 30-60 minutes getting something to eat, that leaves me with three hours needing something to do until GaryCon V closes.

Part of me says to wander around and see if anything opens. Another part says to grab my books and see if anyone is interested in a pickup game. I know my brother will try to bring one of his board games to GaryCon V, so that's an option. And I already mentioned bringing Give Me The Brain to play the night before the convention. Would anyone be interested in a round or two Sunday afternoon? Who else is planning on "closing the con?"

53 Days Till GaryCon! Priorities.

This was from a Skype conversation with my brother this afternoon.

[12:12:17 PM] Michael Lawson: Remind me, if Monsters doesn't get many signups for it, I'm gonna sign in. I know the thing yes but at least it helps to have someone more there jic.

[12:17:00 PM] Michael Lawson: but, and this is terrible, I hope I don't have to because the Dead Game society is running a DC universe game in that morning. xO

[12:18:00 PM] David Lawson: Play your game. My game is the first RPG of the entire con. At the very worst I might need a co-GM for chargen. Just show up for Last Varmint Standing.

[12:18:18 PM] Michael Lawson: kk. And... ****. Can't sign in till the 27th anyway.

[12:18:21 PM] Michael Lawson: XO

[12:18:26 PM] Michael Lawson: I wanna buy seats now!

[12:18:47 PM] David Lawson: Me too. I'm playing Thundarr on Saturday.

[12:19:04 PM] Michael Lawson: I'm going to the noon seminar on Gary Gygax and TSR.

[12:19:11 PM] Michael Lawson: Because DAMN that's something I wanna hear.

[12:19:21 PM] Michael Lawson: I'm a huge nerd.

Heh. We all are Michael, we all are.

[12:47:38 PM] Michael Lawson: Blaaaah. That first day has too many good events.

[12:47:41 PM] Michael Lawson: I must look away.

Have strength baby bro.

62 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon III: Part II

Friday started with two things, sleeping in and rushing to get the store and back before noon. This was the first year we did a Wal-Mart run while staying at the con. It was necessary for two reasons. First, prices for food at a convention are always pretty high. And second, GaryCon always falls during Lent and as a practicing Catholic, I don't eat meat (except for fish/seafood) on Fridays during Lent. Since the hotel's dining selections consisted of burgers and hot dogs, I would have to go elsewhere for a decent Friday meal. The nice thing about this trip was that we were joined by +Derek White and +Emanuel Nordrum who also needed to hit the store.

Getting back before noon was also an issue because that was when my first game was. Unfortunately, a misprinting in the catalog meant that unless you pre-registered for the event, you didn't know that it existed. That meant only two people showed up for the event. Emmanuel and Paul, a person I knew from the Kenzerco forums. Michael graciously filled the third spot even though he had played the scenario before. This time I had pregens available and a balanced party quickly arose. The game went fairly well as I had made a few tweaks from the previous year. I almost has a TPK going but the players wisely retreated and regrouped to win the day.

Later that night, I traded my GM hat for my less-used player one and played in a HackMaster game. Everyone from my earlier game was there, which allowed me to get better acquainted with people. The game was run by the same guy that ran the Aces & Eights game I played in last year. I have to say that despite the 4 hours we were given, it felt short. While there was a bit of role-playing, the majority of the game was taken up by two combats that I guess ran longer than I thought they would. It did give me an idea of what to expect from higher level encounters in HackMaster.

Afterwards we hit the bar for a little bit. But sleep quickly tapped me on the shoulder and told me to call it a night. Michael, on the other hand, headed for a game of Are You A Werewolf. By the time he got back to the room I was asleep, getting much needed rest before my game on Saturday.

Next week: Top Secret!

69 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon III: Part I

I got rear-ended on the way to work yesterday, so I'm trying to get this blog written before the side-effects of the muscle relaxers kick in and it's nap-time for me.

GaryCon III was another one of those bittersweet cons. Much like GaryCon I, I got laid off before the convention. This time it was three weeks before the con that I got the bad news. Despite my predicament, I had already made the commitment to go both emotionally and financially. So on a Thursday morning, I got in my car and drove from South Bend to the Chicago suburbs to meet up with my brother and prepare to make the drive to Lake Geneva.

I already agreed to split the hotel room with you. Now you want me to drive you there?

Now this is where things take a turn for the nerve-wracking. Once in Chicago, I convinced my brother to drive the last leg of the trip to Lake Geneva. I figured that since I had already driven for almost 3 hours to get out there, it was the least he could do. The thing about Michael that you need to understand is this, he hates driving. Driving is something he does when there is absolutely no way that he can conceivable walk somewhere. And his tension gets worse if it's someplace he has never driven before. So, with the aid of my GPS, we took a very quiet, hour-long drive to Wisconsin.

Outside of the silence, the drive was uneventful and we got checked in right away. We also got in about an hour after everyone else had left for the Next Door Pub. So once again we got in Michael's car and headed out. This time around, we picked up a passenger who unfortunately would not shut up. Once again, Michael is trying to depend on the GPS to tell him where to turn. So with this guy in the backseat, he nearly missed all his turns because he couldn't hear the GPS. We got in on the tail end of the buffet that was set up and managed to get our fill before heading back to the hotel.

Once we were back, the person we gave a ride to introduced us to Small World. Afterwards we ran a few pick up games of Give Me The Brain before finally turning in for the night.

Next Week. Games played, games ran and games blown-off.

72 Days Till GaryCon! So it's 2013.

I stopped making New Year's Resolutions a while back when I realized that anything that was important to do was worth not putting off until January 1st. But the start of a new year does provide some impetus to start up new things and make changes that we really need to make.

Now, most of my 'resolutions' revolve around non-gaming stuff. I need to lose 50 pounds. I need to study for the PE Exam. I need to save money. I need a girlfriend. You get the idea. But since this is a gaming blog, I should probably get a few gaming resolutions set as well.

So here goes.

I will find myself a regular gaming group.

I will introduce someone to tabletop gaming that hasn't done it before.

I will stay at GaryCon until it closes.

I will make sure to hang out with people at GaryCon.

I will try to attend another con this year.

I will try a new game I haven't played before.

I will try an old game I haven't played before.

I will get a decent bookshelf to carry all my gaming stuff (the one I bought at Target is falling apart under the weight of all my books.)

I will find a Friendly Local Game Store.

And finally, I will try to keep up with the rest of the online gaming community even after this 100 day challenge ends. Lord knows I have enough people on my Google+ account I should be connecting with.

88 Days to GaryCon! GM Prep Time- Part One

I've decided that Sundays will be spent detailing the process of preparations for each game I'm running at GaryCon. Out of the three games, I have run two of them in the past. So I'm going to start this series on the D&D game that recently added.

Now, the adventure was designed for 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. But I'm going to run it under Cyclopedia rules since that will reduce the number of books I have to bring with me. Plus it will also make it easier to create pre-gens since the Basic Rules have race-as-class as a feature.

I allotted for six seats at the game, but I'm going to create eight pre-gens to give the players more choice and account for possible additional players. This should give me one of each class for everyone to choose from, plus one extra which I have yet to determine.

90 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon I

As they say in writing circles, "Start at the beginning."

It was March 2009. It had been nine months since I graduated from college and one months since I had been laid off from my first job out of college. I had no job, no leads and no game. It sucked. And when things suck you desperately need something to improve your mood to keep you from tailspinning into even more suckness.

So one day I was on the Kenzer & Company Forums where I read a post from Jolly Blackburn about GaryCon. Gary Gygax had passed away the year before and his children decided that celebrating his life with a gaming convention a la the original GenCon was preferable to mourning the anniversary of his death. I read this post and decided that a) I needed to get out and do something and since b) it was free I would make the drive up to Lake Geneva for GaryCon I.

Getting there was an interesting experience. It was cold and dreary as March in Wisconsin can be without snowing. The hall was small but filled with energy, I walked in with trepidation, even though it was free I was worried about just walking in and sitting down just anywhere. I looked around at all the packed tables until I saw the Kenzer and Company Table. There was Jolly Blackburn, playing what would become the now current version of HackMaster with my future friend the Geekpreacher. I wanted to say hello and tell him i was a fan of his work, but I didn't want to interrupt him while he was gaming.

But then, luck came up and gave me an opportunity. While I didn't have money for a donation to the convention, I did have enough to purchase food and drink which also went to the con. A woman came by selling small brownies for a quarter a piece. On impulse, I bought two and gave one to Jolly as a token of appreciation. He responded by inviting me to game with him and the rest of the D-Team.

For the rest of the day I had a blast. I learned the new system and got to meet the people behind one of my favorite games and magazines. In another bit of luck, I mentioned to Brian Jelke about my job situation and it turned out that the company he works for was hiring structural engineers and he agreed to forward my resume to their HR department. At the end of the day I swore that if there was another GaryCon the next year, I would attend it.

Next Friday: GaryCon II.

94 Days Until GaryCon!

Dear Amazon.com,

I realize that I have yet to play Pathfinder outside of that one time at GaryCon, but that doesn't mean I am ready to sell my Core Rulebook back.

Note to self, play Pathfinder at GaryCon again. Just because.

96 Days to GaryCon!

As I mentioned three days ago, I am running two games at this year's GaryCon. But I'm debating adding a third game. Specifically running the adventure "Steaks" from AD&D 1e's Adventure Pack I. The only thing that's keeping me from committing is deciding when I would run it. One of the problems I have had at past conventions is trying to fit too much in and burning myself out. So if I do run a third game, it will either be early in the weekend, or early on Sunday when things are dying down. I'm also debating tweaking things a bit and running it using Engines & Empires. But as I said, nothing is decided just yet.

97 Days to GaryCon! Little Things You Need To Know Before You Go.

It's always the little things that serve to derail things when you are on a trip. Especially the ones that never occur to you until you get to your destination. You can remember to bring extra pairs of underwear, your phone charger and spare cash. But some things won't occur to you until after they have occurred.

The Lodge at Geneva Ridge is a great place to stay and has been a gracious host for GaryCon for the past four years. But there are a few things you should know about the place that could make your stay a bit more enjoyable.

98 Days till GaryCon!: How to Stay Healthy at a Con.

While there are benefits to having people from all over the world gather in a small town in Wisconsin for the love of gaming, there can be a few drawbacks. It's great meeting new people, but I prefer my cultural exchanges to not be of the bacterial variety.

Despite my history of respiratory problems, I have been able to dodge the 'con flu' every time I have gone to GaryCon. This is not a case of luck or superior resistance to illness. It's all a matter of preparation. Here are a few steps you can take to make sure you get through your convention experience without spending the next week sick.

Hygiene
Your skin is your bodies first line of defense against infection. But if you touch something (or someone) that has germs on it, and then touch a more vulnerable area, such as your eyes or mouth, you will get sick. Get in the habit of washing your hands after every game, meal, and trip to the bathroom. And make sure to shower daily, the rest of the convention will thank yo for it.

Diet
Con food tends to run towards the junk food end of the dietary spectrum. I'm sure that for some people having nothing but donuts for breakfast and fried cheese for lunch and dinner sounds perfect. But the truth is, you need to get your daily supply of vitamins to help fight off infection. Hit the store in town for a veggie plate to snack on at the least. I carry a bottle of Vitamin B & C tablets as well to keep the immune system running.

Hydration
Water. Not pop. Not energy shots. Not coffee. Not alcohol. Water should be your primary drink throughout the day. Not to say you can't have a rum and cola after hours. But keeping yourself replenished with fluids is a must for keeping your body running smoothly and avoiding getting sick.

Stress
Even though most people go to gaming conventions for vacations, that doesn't mean people automatically relax once they get there. The pressure to get a bit of everything can raise the stress levels of any person, which in turn can lower your immune systems ability to ward off infection. Just remember, it's okay if you don't get to do everything at the con. Just do what you can and leave yourself some down time in between events to relax. And if there is something that you do miss, just remember to make it a priority the next year. You're there to have fun, and stressing out and getting sick afterwards is not my definition of fun.

Sleep
I'll be 39 by the time GaryCon V comes around, and my days of all-nighters are long over. You may still be young and full of energy, but it's still a good idea to get 6-8 hours of sleep every night to keep your body working right.

In the end, use some common sense. If you're feeling run down or under the weather, take a break and get some fluids in you. And remember that as much as you are trying to avoid getting sick from others, they are trying to avoid getting sick from you as well. Do your part and you'll be helping more than just yourself in this matter.

99 Days till GaryCon!

Laserbeak: Prepare to Roll for Initiative!

Prepping for a gaming convention means figuring out what you will and will not be bringing with you on your trip. There are a lot of essentials that one must remember to bring to a convention. And since I have 100+ days to blog about it, I'm going to stretch it out as much as I can. But I guess a good place to start is deciding what books to bring.

As you can see from the above picture, I have a decent collection of game books. This year I am running two games, a HackMaster 'Learn to Hack' session and an Aces & Eights shootout. Now for the shootout, I'll need my Aces & Eights book since I'm not as innately familiar with all of the rules, plus I'll need to verify things from the tables. For HackMaster, I'm running the same adventure I've ran at the last three GaryCons, Monsters in the Barn (which you can get a copy of in HackJournal #39 if you are so interested). Since I know that adventure like the back of my hand, I won't need to bring as much with me as far as needing material to refer to, HackMaster Basic is more than sufficient. However, I will likely be playing in a few games as well, so bringing my Player's Handbook is going to be a priority. I also have a 'unique' version of the Hacklopedia of Beasts that I would like to get signed by the rest of the Kenzer D-Team, so I should bring that too.

As for the other books, I am planning to play in quite a few other games while I am there, otherwise why show up at all? But in a lot of those games, I probably have the rules down pretty well, or I'll be sitting down as a newbie and learning from the other players. At best, I might bring my Rules Cyclopedia or Pathfinder Core Rulebook. But I don't know how much use I'll get out of them.

There's one other book I'll be bringing with me to GaryCon, though it has little to do with gaming.

Since I moved to upstate New York, my only way of getting to GaryCon is by plane. But since there are no direct flights from Elmira to O'Hare, that means a layover in Detroit. I got into the James Bond novels after Casino Royale came out a few years ago. Nowadays, I only seem to read the books when I'm at the airport. I'll probably need to grab The Spy Who Loved Me before I leave since I'm sure I'll be done with Thunderball over Christmas.

Any other game book/reading suggestions? I do have plenty of time before GaryCon to grab a few more.

100 Days till GaryCon V!

I was looking at the calendar today, most likely in anticipation of my annual trip back to Chicago for the Holidays, when I came upon a realization that led to some inspiration. That realization being that GaryCon, the only gaming convention I have ever attended, is exactly one hundred days from now. I also realized that I had been slacking off on the blogging. I decided not to do another Undead Anonymous week like I did last year in October, and I certainly didn't do even a token amount in November. I guess I'm the kind of guy that blogs only when I am truly inspired, or when I am challenged to do so.

I think I have found my challenge for the next three and a half months. I am going to blog every day, from now until the end of GaryCon V. And on top of that, I will be blogging about my preparations, planning and attending GaryCon V.

A blog post a day.

For 104 days.

Dear Lord, what have I gotten myself into?

GaryCon V Dates Announced!

Same location as this year's convention, but the date has been set for March 14th through the 17th of 2013. Another four days jam-packed with friends and gaming.

GaryCon Official Website

C is for Conventions

I have only attended on con in my entire life, which would be GaryCon. It's a con that started small and got big. And much like the con itself, my approach to attending it started small and got big. In fact, I think I may have overstepped my endurance in the last couple of years. But that's a different subject for a different time. However, after attending GaryCons I-IV, I can't believe that I waited until my mid-to-late thirties to attend a convention.

Tabletop gaming is a social hobby. Usually the groups one runs in are pretty small. You may get half a dozen at the table and a few more in your local game store. With the hobby moving from the tabletop to the laptop, we've been getting more isolated from our fellow gamers. as my friend the Geekpreacher would say, "Gamers are not socially awkward, they are awkwardly social." Like a lot of people we need human (or demi-human) contact every once in a while to keep us sane. The nice thing about conventions is that they provide a temporary oasis for gamers. For a weekend, we get to be around a rather large group of people that aren't going to look down at us as freaks or nerds. It's pretty awesome to know that in a small hotel in Wisconsin I have managed to meet people from around the world who I have something in common with.

Next year I will likely spend less time gaming and more time socializing. But the important thing is that I have a con to attend. No matter what your hobby may be, it's nice to get out to someplace and feel like your little hobby isn't so small after all. And more importantly, it's nice to know that there is someplace out there where you belong.