Con Report - Gary Con XV

This one is a little overdue, but so be it. I want to cover it anyway.

I will fess up - I am not a big convention-goer. I make it to one, maybe two a year. Part of it is because of limited vacation time, and part of it is because I am homebody. Often when I go somewhere it is because I am sent as part of my job, or asked to attend as a guest.

But I have to say that Gary Con XV was an excellent convention, one of the best I've attended. 

Gary Con is in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the birthplace of Roleplaying Games. It is named after Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D. But if you're reading this, you already know that, right? In any event, Gary's son, Luke, put together this convention to celebrate Gary, his creations, and the entire industry he founded.

Gary Con XV was held at the Grand Geneva, just east of town. Back in the Elder Days it was the Playboy Resort, and while expanded and renovated, it has more than a touch of that 60's mystique (OK, one of the bar staff there was a former bunny, I found out). It is an extremely beautiful structure, and as a venue was perfect for the convention. The entire complex is done in Frank Lloyd Wright's "Prairie Style", which means low buildings that hug and complement the land. I like that, even through I had to deal with steps to get between buildings.

The Grand Geneva staff were amazing and efficient. I've been to a lot of conventions over the years where the staff tolerates the gamers, or at best treats them like visiting bathroom fixture salesmen. The staff here was engaged with the participants, warm, and friendly. Plus, they had daily maid service, something practically extinct in modern times. Bonus round? When the check-in lines got long, they offered champagne.

And there was a lot of food and drink. The three restaurants on-site were hotel-expensive but not horribly so. In addition, the Gary Con Staff arranged for feeding stations around the convention itself, selling hot food and cold drinks. Plus service carts that prowled the gaming spaces. And that first Wednesday night, when the registration lines were long they were selling beer from coolers in the hallways.

I packed myself with too much during the day, trying to keep the evenings free. I ran the Ravager Trilogy, which I realized was 40 (!) years old, namely when a fan I had sent a playtest copy to all those years ago brought it in for an autograph. It has been my "old reliable" that I use when I go to a new convention, and fits nicely into a 4-hour slot, but I might need to retire it. Maybe revise it to be a 5E version. Maybe.

I also ran "Under An Angry Star", which was an Al-Qadim/Spelljammer mashup that I wrote for the LUCCA convention in Italy. Going through it, I think it could stand an upgrade and revision, which may be a good excuse to expand it into a three-session set. Again, Maybe.

One of the highpoints of the weekend was running (briefly) in Jim Ward's might Gamma World campaign. James was eloquent and entertaining as always, leaning to random and relatively fatal encounters. I ended up getting shot by another player at the table, a mutant otter with a pulse rifle, but fun was had by all. For my pain, Jim presented me with a small autographed skull.

Some Swag

Also important for me was seeing folk I had not seen in literal decades. I worked in Lake Geneva for TSR, but had not been back for 20+ years. We held a TSR Alumni party on-site and it was a great opportunity to catch up with so many old friends. One of them, Kevin Melka, late of the RPGA, was passing out 3D-printed Cthulhus. He gave me a rainbow one.

And I was delighted to see Zeb Cook win a Lifetime Achievement award. I thought that was great. 

Oh, and we got to see the D&D Movie early at a local theater north of town. It was a fun movie, and I got a Dragon head dice container. 

Downsides? Very few. I suppose the fact we got about 6 inches of snow on Saturday. Fortunately it was a wet and heavy snow, and the temperature warmed later in the day, so I could push it off easily. But if you're going to rent a car in Wisconsin in March, make sure it has a snow brush.

And there was concrud fallout. Some friends had a nasty cold/flu afterwards. A lot of people tested positive for COVID. I escaped both, but have been a little brain-fuzzed for the past week. I don't know if should blame the gatherings or not. But I also left energized, and wanting to address some the half-dozen concepts I've been playing around with for a while

So, in summary - great convention, well-run, saw a lot of old friends. Kudos to Luke Gygax and an extremely talented team in putting it all together.

More later,