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Post by mrmanowar on Mar 27, 2017 19:44:35 GMT -6
My extreme apologies to mrmanowar whom I ran into but initially did not hear him say "OD&D forums". The dang place was really loud and busy at that point -- and I honestly did not expect people to recognize me. 😝 Also ran into Zenopus which was neat! Ha, no problem smubee! I hear you on the noise, most attended Gary Con I was ever at and I recognized you based on the cool shirt you had on! My only regret was at the con I was showing a Guidon Games Chainmail around to various members of the OD&D forum to look through. After meeting you I quick ran back up to the room to grab it to give you a chance to see it but sadly didn't get a chance to give you a look. Hope you had a fun time!
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Post by mrmanowar on Mar 27, 2017 19:46:48 GMT -6
Did you guys say hi to Michael? When I talked to Mr. Mornard on Friday, he complained that no one else from the OD&D Discussion board had come up to him by then. I also talked to our board alum Allan Grohe, Michael Shorten/ChicagoWiz, and played Dragon Lairds with Zenopus there! Yup, I did talk to Michael, bought him a beer and gave him an illustration I hope he likes based off of one of his stories. Ran into Grodog on multiple occasions, Smubee, and some others but didn't see Zenopus or you there. It was a great time and I'm glad I already have the hotel room for next year.
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Post by smubee on Mar 28, 2017 0:01:26 GMT -6
My extreme apologies to mrmanowar whom I ran into but initially did not hear him say "OD&D forums". The dang place was really loud and busy at that point -- and I honestly did not expect people to recognize me. 😝 Also ran into Zenopus which was neat! Ha, no problem smubee! I hear you on the noise, most attended Gary Con I was ever at and I recognized you based on the cool shirt you had on! My only regret was at the con I was showing a Guidon Games Chainmail around to various members of the OD&D forum to look through. After meeting you I quick ran back up to the room to grab it to give you a chance to see it but sadly didn't get a chance to give you a look. Hope you had a fun time! Oh man -- now I'm bummed!!
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Post by smubee on Mar 28, 2017 0:05:26 GMT -6
Did you guys say hi to Michael? When I talked to Mr. Mornard on Friday, he complained that no one else from the OD&D Discussion board had come up to him by then. I also talked to our board alum Allan Grohe, Michael Shorten/ChicagoWiz, and played Dragon Lairds with Zenopus there! Yup, I did talk to Michael, bought him a beer and gave him an illustration I hope he likes based off of one of his stories. Ran into Grodog on multiple occasions, Smubee, and some others but didn't see Zenopus or you there. It was a great time and I'm glad I already have the hotel room for next year. RIGHT after you left from talking to me, Zenopus was actually right behind you. Lol! I played in Mike Mornard's Saturday game which kinda got derailed by (in my opinion) somewhat problematic players. Bickering between two people and 3 and a half hours of having done absolutely nothing. Mike was great though. Way nicer than his online personae. His humour doesn't really come through the same when it's in text. An absolute delight. More details in my full "con report" coming soon..
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Post by Chainsaw on Mar 28, 2017 8:17:06 GMT -6
Gary Con recap: - I had a great time, as usual! Terrific seeing everyone. Too many names to mention, but really made me wish we all lived closer. - Hotel was nice and clean, staff friendly and food pretty good especially considering the volume of people they served almost around the clock. Heard 1,750 total attendees this year. - Some event rooms seemed a little crowded/hot/noisy depending on time and day, but I'm not sure that's avoidable. Nature of the beast at most conventions, I think. Logistics seemed fairly well executed overall. No mix-ups or issues on site for me or that I heard of (lost events, registrations, etc). - The suite francisca and I rented fit two rectangular banquet tables well (seated 8-9 comfortably and had extra stools by the minibar). I have already reserved another one for next year. Can't be beat for off-grid games during the busy hours. Special thanks to francisca for hauling up his table and chairs! I owe him big time. - I ran seven games this year, which I may end up doing again next year, even though it felt a bit exhausting at the time, because I did have fun. Plus, it should be less prep work because I'll be running the same things next year. Here are my game recaps, for those that like them, but these do contain spoilers. Weds evening (930PM-midnight) Foolsgrave off-grid with ligedog (and his buds Ernesto and Jeff), Cloak n' Dagger, Ancalagon, Josh and three of Handy Haversack's crew (Kevin, Ross and Emily). We had a great time! Moved pretty quickly despite group size. We had some exploration (room with a 12 foot tall iron automaton; soot-filled room with a trapped chest; room that looked like a safe campsite, but had a puzzling "Don't camp here" warning written on the wall; room with some wild boars eating zombies; room with a pentagram and some meat hooks hanging from ceiling - the group then hung the boars from the hooks, which magically created rubies when their blood dripped into the pentagram; several empty rooms), some battles (iron automaton, black robed guy with skull amulet, jeweled snail, wild boars, zombies) and two deaths (Jeff cleaved in two by an iron automaton; Ernesto incinerated by the trapped chest that exploded), treasure (gold, gems, skull amulet). Ross picked Ernesto's pocket as Ernesto was leaning over to open the trapped chest. Later, Ross also resorted to "spanking the pigs." Lots of beer, laughs and fun! Thurs afternoon (2PM-6PM) Crash at Corpse Creek with BigPerm, djcheshirecat, Ross, Bracton, stratochamp, Noah, Patrick and Patrick's son. This group operated like a SEAL team in Corpse Creek's very first running! They slayed a 20' praying mantis, stole a hydra's treasure right out from under its nose, used a Fly spell to find the crashed object (a giant space bug), ensorcelled my monstrous "kidnapper" centipede (underbelly exoskeleton opens up to store victims for slow digestion), fended off the yellow moths (that shoot concentrated yellow), disarmed the bug swarm trap, rescued the surviving trapper (and killed his spore-man cell mate), then used Sorcerer Eye to gain valuable intel and Fireball and strategic attacks to kill the sorcerer and his mutant bugs in like one round. Pretty awesome textbook case of patiently gathering info, developing a plan, getting the treasure and saving the day to make Hyperborea a better place. Nice work! Thursday night (930PM-130AM) Foolsgrave off-grid with JoeMac (assassin), his two friends Dave (warlock) and Dave (ranger), and Josh (playing his same necromancer from Weds night). These guys really kicked ass! Smaller group than Weds, and very efficient (despite much liquor!). They explored maybe two dozen rooms, avoiding/fleeing several wandering monster encounters along the way (yellow moths, metal monitoring sphere, green slime, evil adventuring party, Thaumagorgon cultists, giant vampire bats), found two chests of gold and ultimately made their way into the overgrown tunnels to the north, where they killed the f**king shambling mound that guards the portal to the insectoid dimension! I rolled for nuts for the mound's hit points (21/80 possible), then lost initiative almost every time, whereas Dave's warlock rolled two natural 20s, Dave's ranger had a few arrow hits, JoeMac's assassin had two backstabs and Josh's necromancer's skeletons had a couple hits. Of course, the best part was warlock Dave mocking JoeMac and ranger Dave the whole time for not doing as much damage "limp dick mother f**kers." Might have been the booze talking! They recovered about 4,000GP worth of loot and 2,000XP. Pretty badass for three Level 1 and one Level 2 adventurers! I totally keyed that room with a "too tough" monster thinking it would slaughter whoever found it. Never know what can happen! Fri afternoon (2PM-6PM) Crash at Corpse Creek with Guy Fullerton, Josh, Dennis and Dan (from Ghul's home group), Paul and Eric. This group brought a different mojo than the Thursday group, LoL! Although they killed the giant mantis, snuck into the gargantuan space bug corpse, found the sorcerer's inner sanctum and took him out, when they recovered the Spawn of Yog, the adventure didn't end. They decided to see if they could use it to turn the space bug into a gargantuan, hill-sized slime. And they did. And then this enormous, 250 tall x 500 long slime slithered off into Corpse Creek to make Hyperborea a worse place. We all had a good laugh! It actually felt more like a CAS or HPL ending than anything I've ever run. Good work! :mrgreen: Fri night (830PM-130PM) Foolsgrave off-grid with ligedog, Ernesto, gizmo, Jeff, Josh, Del and francisca played from 830PM-130AM, with Ernesto again quickly setting the tone by barrelling through a door and into room with 24 big-handed zombies that pummeled him dead in one round (everyone else watched from the hall, laughed, shut the door and left!). They soon found three adjacent teleportation rooms: one returned Josh to the entrance, one sent them all into the 24 zombie room (luckily they pushed through the corpses, fleeing unharmed) and one teleported them onto the meathooks in the pentagram room (their draining blood created some valuable rubies). They happened upon a walking treasure chest, but it fled after too much damage and was too fast for even ligedog's barbarian. We ended in a high note, with Ernesto defacing a demonic idol, which invoked a powerful demon with two pincers, two claws, a wolf head and a tentacle zapper - it slaughtered Ernesto, gizmo and francisca almost immediately - everyone else fled back to the surface, happy for the bigger shares. Sat morning (10AM-2PM) Strange Tale of Crystal Point with Ernesto, mrmanowar, Welleran, Brian (Welleran's bro), Dex and Scott (from Welleran's home group) and Emily. This game marked the tenth time I've run this adventure and I have to say this group did really well. They explored the sea caves and defeated the mutant sorcerer (though first Emily became enthralled with his crab-slug idol-sculpture, which Cory's pyromancer burned up to free her) and his mutant barnacle-crab-men henchmen (which nearly sliced Dex's laser pistol wielding fighter to ribbons), recovering the Black Claw of Chalak (which made poor Scott's features wither and sink, and his mouth reform into a crab-mandible). From there, they destroyed my giant four-clawed crab (Emily and Scott's casting ice storm and lightning), gathered its valuable magical eggs and hiked to the cliff top. They then descended an old silo shaft, found a damaged reactor control room and... then it was time to go. Too bad we didn't have more time. Still, they did slay both the sorcerer and also the giant four-clawed crab, which no other group has done. Congrats! Sat night (830PM-1230AM) Foolsgrave with Noah, Noah's Son, Kevin, Kevin's Son, grodog, Guy, Scott and Tom, all new to the dungeon, played from 830PM-1AM. Lots of carnage (Guy 1 sundered in two by the iron statue [-24 HP]; Guy 2 and Tom 1 obliterated by a floating metal monitoring sphere's green energy ray [Mike's berserker killed it, grodog found some crystals inside]; grodog's skeletal servants Guy 1 and Jeff 1 incinerated by trapped chests) and a couple fun rooms (they found the teleportation rooms [ended up on the meat hooks over the pentagram, but got the rubies]; a room with a multi-faced floating object asking them "GUILTY or INNOCENT?" [scared, they left]). They also found gold in two chests (killed some dark blue giant beetles guarding one), destroyed a walking treasure chest (lots of gold inside!) and found two potion bottles (one filled with white mist, the other heart-shaped with red liquid). Again, finished on a high note, with Kevin topside in the Laughing Skull tavern, opening the mist-filled bottle - a ghost emerged and the patrons all fled in terror!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 10:01:57 GMT -6
Saw Sumbee Saturday. Saturday Saw Sumbee. Satursum Sawbee Daysaw.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 10:03:05 GMT -6
Did you guys say hi to Michael? When I talked to Mr. Mornard on Friday, he complained that no one else from the OD&D Discussion board had come up to him by then. I also talked to our board alum Allan Grohe, Michael Shorten/ChicagoWiz, and played Dragon Lairds with Zenopus there! Yup, I did talk to Michael, bought him a beer and gave him an illustration I hope he likes based off of one of his stories. Ran into Grodog on multiple occasions, Smubee, and some others but didn't see Zenopus or you there. It was a great time and I'm glad I already have the hotel room for next year. That picture was awesome, and I am genuinely touched!!!
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Post by smubee on Mar 28, 2017 10:04:19 GMT -6
Saw Sumbee Saturday. Saturday Saw Sumbee. Satursum Sawbee Daysaw. The best part about this is that none of those are correct. The M comes before the U. 😝
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 10:05:38 GMT -6
Yup, I did talk to Michael, bought him a beer and gave him an illustration I hope he likes based off of one of his stories. Ran into Grodog on multiple occasions, Smubee, and some others but didn't see Zenopus or you there. It was a great time and I'm glad I already have the hotel room for next year. RIGHT after you left from talking to me, Zenopus was actually right behind you. Lol! I played in Mike Mornard's Saturday game which kinda got derailed by (in my opinion) somewhat problematic players. Bickering between two people and 3 and a half hours of having done absolutely nothing. Mike was great though. Way nicer than his online personae. His humour doesn't really come through the same when it's in text. An absolute delight. More details in my full "con report" coming soon.. You would have recognized my online persona in Lord Gronan of Simmerya. Outside his throne room are carven the words "Lawful is not the same as nice, Cupcake."
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Post by smubee on Mar 28, 2017 10:22:44 GMT -6
RIGHT after you left from talking to me, Zenopus was actually right behind you. Lol! I played in Mike Mornard's Saturday game which kinda got derailed by (in my opinion) somewhat problematic players. Bickering between two people and 3 and a half hours of having done absolutely nothing. Mike was great though. Way nicer than his online personae. His humour doesn't really come through the same when it's in text. An absolute delight. More details in my full "con report" coming soon.. You would have recognized my online persona in Lord Gronan of Simmerya. Outside his throne room are carven the words "Lawful is not the same as nice, Cupcake." Ha.. A quote that my girlfriend (who played Klaira) kept repeating. She really enjoyed your sense of humour and loved how the two torch bearers were named Lick-me and Dick-me. So funny.
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Post by Gynsburghe on Mar 28, 2017 10:27:24 GMT -6
I honestly wanted to be more proactive in meeting folks this year, but - since I waited so d**ned long for my first con experience - I was fairly involved with just absorbing the whole show. Michael, thanks from 'Sausage Pants' for an entertaining evening. I wish the party chaos had coalesced a bit quicker, but several wandering monsters later... Smubee, it did settle down into a rhythm after a few folks disappeared...
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Post by smubee on Mar 28, 2017 10:31:34 GMT -6
I honestly wanted to be more proactive in meeting folks this year, but - since I waited so d**ned long for my first con experience - I was fairly involved with just absorbing the whole show. Michael, thanks from 'Sausage Pants' for an entertaining evening. I wish the party chaos had coalesced a bit quicker, but several wandering monsters later... Smubee, it did settle down into a rhythm after a few folks disappeared... My apologies for not mentioning you -- I knew that your username started with G but I forgot exactly what it was and didn't want to get it wrong. It was nice meeting you as well!! I just wish that we got to actually do something in the game. Glad to here that something actually happened though
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Post by Gynsburghe on Mar 28, 2017 10:34:10 GMT -6
Likewise, Smubee - love your shirts BTW. I honestly wish we had approached from more of a 'stealth' approach rather than the army of hirelings surrounding my fighting man - I went 7 hours and only actually hit the thief with a torch (bad rolling night)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 11:08:37 GMT -6
It was an interesting experience for me as well. I will be modifying my intro next year.
Also, I'm used to some hirelings, but not that many. Somebody could have said something.
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Post by Gynsburghe on Mar 28, 2017 11:32:03 GMT -6
I believe that I did, but since the player was a returning participant - I deferred to experience. Sausage Pants, err Karlyaideth, will advise less next year. I still had a great time in the dungeons of Gronan, thank you.
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Post by Fearghus on Mar 28, 2017 13:19:19 GMT -6
Are the dates for next years con determined? Saw above folks already getting rooms. I am taking time off of work in advance next year and attending.
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 303
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Post by Chainsaw on Mar 28, 2017 13:24:08 GMT -6
Are the dates for next years con determined? Saw above folks already getting rooms. I am taking time off of work in advance next year and attending. Yes, Thursday March 8 through Sunday, March 11. You will want to call the Grand Geneva's reservationist directly.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 14:00:21 GMT -6
I think the overhiring of mercenaries was based on fear, not a desire to squash the fighters' fun.
Maybe I should run an ODD74 only game.
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Post by Gynsburghe on Mar 29, 2017 13:49:44 GMT -6
No doubt, Gronan, I never suspected anything but that - and I can totally understand that perspective. Maybe next year we'll actually find those stairs
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2017 15:47:06 GMT -6
I haven't had a chance to talk to Paul yet (the guy who played the magic user who hired all the mercs). Maybe from now on I should be a bit more active than reactive.
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Post by scottenkainen on Mar 29, 2017 18:48:50 GMT -6
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Post by mrmanowar on Mar 29, 2017 21:49:04 GMT -6
Ha, no problem smubee! I hear you on the noise, most attended Gary Con I was ever at and I recognized you based on the cool shirt you had on! My only regret was at the con I was showing a Guidon Games Chainmail around to various members of the OD&D forum to look through. After meeting you I quick ran back up to the room to grab it to give you a chance to see it but sadly didn't get a chance to give you a look. Hope you had a fun time! Oh man -- now I'm bummed!! Nah, don't be bummed. If you come to Gamehole in November or a future Gary Con let me know and I'll bring it again. I was in between events at the time I met you and so had books to get signed. Speaking of signed, thanks Gronan for adding your signature to said Chainmail, I appreciated that very much! In other subjects, Gronan if you do run an OD&D74 game let us know so I can sign up for it ahead of time as that will be one I won't want to miss. Cool blog post Scottenkainen, looking forward to reading the rest. I always seem to forget to take pics and do write ups and such. I got more pics this year than at any other Gary Con, but mostly just pics of me with people, not of games and such. Looking forward to seeing/reading more!
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Post by smubee on Mar 30, 2017 13:24:55 GMT -6
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Post by mrmanowar on Mar 30, 2017 21:52:26 GMT -6
Nice Con report Smubee! I loved reading it. So a little background on the Manowar motif... When I began writing posting on various gaming sites I used that name as it was instant recognition for people who had traveled distances to come to cons, so I keep wearing one of my 60+ different Manowar shirts. Easy to spot me, easy to converse, etc. You had an awesome point of reference regarding your gaming shirts and that's how I spotted you. Sorry for not talking to your girlfriend more as she arrived as I was leaving. I loved your Con report and hope you can come back in the future. If you want a name behind the guy in the Manowar shirts, my name is Cory. Gary Con is awesome and I love each time I go. Hopefully you can come again. Chainmail will travel with me for OD&D members, but my brown/woodgrain box always stays home. You already have a white box so no need for me to bring that. I could be persuaded to part with a Greyhawk supplement first print I have extras of, but your haul was very cool! I have the cloth map and supplements you mentioned in your blog post but your enthusiasm was fantastic to read. It's invigorating every time to read these posts and get ready for the next thing I'll throw at my players! Gary Con is always a special time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. My only regret/disappointment is that the time flies by too fast. This coming from one who arrives Wednesday and stays until later Sunday... All said, 2017 was amazing, hotel booked for 2018 and looking forward to doing this again all! If you see me in my Manowar apparel come up and say hi, I'd appreciate it.
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Post by Zenopus on Mar 30, 2017 22:52:54 GMT -6
Also ran into Zenopus which was neat! Your T-shirt - plus the photo of yourself you posted - worked great for that! My badge was just too small to be recognized unless I was already talking to someone. The program books are also great for finding people/locations, but unfortunately I didn't get one until Sat afternoon when I was trying to find the auction. Gary Con was so much fun. I had a packed schedule of games/events so I didn't get much time to look for folks outside of games. But I did meet increment (Jon Peterson), smubee, Chainsaw (at ~1AM after he finished running his seventh (!) game), and scottenkainen (who I played a Tom Wham game with). I've put my photos into a public FB album, with notes for each photo: Gary Con IX Annotated SlideshowThe slideshow should be viewable even if you don't have a FB account. Follow the link and click on the first photo (of the Zenopus Archives badge) to start viewing the photos. Next year I plan to run a game!
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Post by scottenkainen on Mar 31, 2017 17:40:04 GMT -6
Nice of Mornard to take all the bad players in this year to spare the rest of us. All but one of my players were great, and the last guy just seemed to be awful sleepy. That was the best experience I've yet heard of from someone playing with Ernie. He must have been really inspired this year! It's a shame you missed out on Dungeon. Megarry is a delight to hang out with and talk to about Dungeon and the old days.
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Post by Chainsaw on Mar 31, 2017 19:44:53 GMT -6
Gary Con was so much fun. I had a packed schedule of games/events so I didn't get much time to look for folks outside of games. But I did meet increment (Jon Peterson), smubee, Chainsaw (at ~1AM after he finished running his seventh (!) game), and scottenkainen (who I played a Tom Wham game with). Sorry we didn't get a chance to chat more, Zenopus, because I enjoy your work. Will you attend NTRPG Con again this year? Maybe run a game there?
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Post by grodog on Mar 31, 2017 21:15:49 GMT -6
grodog’s GaryCon IX Convention Report (long) Gary Con IX has come and gone, and if I had to choose just a few words to summarize the show, they would be “bigger, better, funner!” (even if that’s not quite grammatically correct). Jon Hershberger and I had an excellent time at the convention, and were well-treated by Luke Gygax’s GaryCon crew, led by the inestimable exhibitor-ninja-in-chief, Mike Noe of IronWind Metals (who also graciously filled some gaps in my range of Tom Meier troglodytes, and replaced some lost pieces to my Dennis Beauvais Bridge of Sorrows boxed set). Many thanks to our Goodman Games colleagues who helped to manage the booth at GaryCon this year, especially Michael Curtis, who also helped to set up the booth on Wednesday evening, and Joseph Goodman. Our nearby neighbors included Jeffrey P. Talanian, of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea fame (who introduced us to Del Tiegler—it’s always great to meet someone in person you’ve worked with in the past!), and the Frog God Games crew—Zach Glazar, Skeeter Green, and Bill Webb—who supplemented by the two-fisted North Texas RPG Con’s own Michael Badolato, and Erik Tenkar (of Tavern infamy). We were also able to catch up with Harley Stroh, Bill and Ben Barsh of Pacesetter Games, Shawn and Devon Hibbs of DieCast Games (thanks again for that copy of Rob Kuntz’s Garden of the Plantmaster), Paolo Greco, Tony Rosten, Jon Peterson, Jim Kitchen, and numerous other friends, artists, designers, and fans while at and away from the booth. pre-Con Packing Jon and I loaded up my minivan to the level of the ceiling with all of the books, boxed sets, rack shelves, t-shirts, tote bags, banners, and associated OSR bric-a-brak for the Black Blade Publishing/Goodman Games booth in the exhibitor hall. New and noteworthy products at the booth this year included: - Black Blade Publishing’s DCC Adventure Index and Metamorphosis Alpha Adventure and Resource Supplement Index—both compiled and indexed by Jon Hershberger, and the new 4.25”x5.5” mini-hex pads (and the return of our mini-graph pads too!) - Issue #1 of The Twisting Stair, a newly-launched OSR newsletter focused on dungeon design from Allan Grohe and Tony Rosten - Goodman Games’ massive Judges Guild Deluxe Collector’s Edition tome, the Metamorphosis Alpha: Epsilon City boxed set, How to Write Adventure Modules That Don’t Suck!, as well as new DCC RPG adventures, such as Harley Stroh’s DCC #91.2: Lairs of Lost Agharta, a collection of new encounters for Journey to the Center of Aereth - David A Hill’s new Mothshade Concepts setting books, Avremier and Dhavon - Paolo Greco’s new Lost Pages books— Burgs & Bailiffs: Trinity - The Poor Pilgrim's Almanack, Macchiato Monsters ZERO, and Mageblade ZERO - Thomas Denmark’s new titles—Raiders of the Lost Artifacts, Freebooters, and Beasties, as well as the new Guardians adventure, Power of Fear - New old-school gaming titles, including Alex Karaczun’s A1 A Forgotten Evil, Luigi Castellani’s Secrets of the Wyrwoode, Lawson Bennett and Jimm Johnson’s SS1 The Odboxx of Zoforon, and Terence Gunn’s Fantastic Worlds of Grenadier - And much, much more! Tuesday, 21 March Jon and I got an early jump on the drive up to Lake Geneva, leaving Wichita by 6:45pm or so, and driving up to just past Kansas City. We overnighted in Liberty, MO, and shaved three or four hours off of our Wednesday drive time. Wednesday, 22 March We pulled into the Grand Geneva around 4pm, which was a bit later than we’d have preferred, but still two hours earlier than last year’s arrival. The drive was unevenfully boring, which is just right! Unloading the minivan was quicker this year, thanks to the able-bodied assistance of Michael Curtis, Tony Rosten, Rich Franks, Guy Fullerton, and Joshua Ford! Booth set up, however, still took about 6 hours of effort, which, alas, put the kibosh on our plans for a relaxed Wednesday dinner with gaming for dessert. Thursday, 23 March The Black Blade booth was very busy for the first few of hours that the dealer’s hall was open to all attendees, but was pretty manageable once our iPad finally re-connected to the hotel wifi. In my first Castle Greyhawk game at 6pm, I had a crew of 10 players, and they opted to explore my new “Diamonds in the Rough” level. **** SPOILERS for grodog’s 2017 North Texas RPGCon events **** The party fell into a trap inspired by David LaForce’s DMG illustration on page 68 (a skeleton attacking PC in a flooding room), then wandered through the outskirts of the level proper where they battled giant wasp wandering monsters, and encountered a prism ward (a lights-driven crystalline monster from Expedtious Retreat Press’ Malevolent & Benign), an ice-magics-wielding cryosphinx and her pet dragonne (twice!), as well as a trio of hungry mimics. The giant wasps and cryosphinx both offered some memorable and rather unexpected role-playing opportunities. While several PCs were paralayzed by wasps or blinded by the prism ward, all of the PCs in this crew survived their descent into the depths of Castle Greyhawk. My thanks to Skip Williams and Dave Conant and the rest of the GaryCon events staff for locating my events in a boardroom this year (although I was quite surprised to discover that the boardrooms weren’t equipped with whiteboards!), and to James Lopez, Scott Mayne, Emily Chandler, Shiv Chopra, Guy Fullerton, Eric Netteberg, Sofie Netteberg, Michael Simon, Todd Douglas, and Todd Bunn for kicking off my gaming at GaryCon right! Friday, 24 March The Black Blade booth was again quite busy today, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to eat lunch until 3pm or so. In my evening Castle Greyhawk game, a full table of 12 players chose to explore “Diamonds in the Rough.” **** SPOILERS for grodog’s 2017 North Texas RPGCon events **** This group entered the level from the opposite side of the NE corner, and covered some different ground than the first group, including meeting a mottled worm (who swallowed whole the halfling fighter/thief, but who was restored to life through a wish after rescue by the monk). Soon after they were ambushed by two lurkers above while triangulating with a Treasure Finding potion, which nearly resulted in a TPK (only two PCs were not under a lurker, and in the end, four of the twelve PCs were suffocated before they could be rescued, including the recently-raised hobbit). The PCs then wandered down into the main giant wasp nest area, blasted it with a back-to-back fireball and cone of cold, recovered some loot and then fled when more wasps arrived. During their flight, one of the PCs drank two concurrent potions, so I was able to roll on the Potion Miscibility Table, which is always a treat; the results were miscible, however, so nothing exciting happened. Some notable quotes: “Quietly is for sissies”—Keith; “Caution, who needs that” (or something approximating that concept)—Tim, just prior to his halfing being eaten by an aquatic purple worm; “Is that Jim Ward?—I don’t think so” (heard in the hallway, apparently referring to me). Thanks to Alex and Noah Guilbault, Patrick and Kevin Kelly, Keith and Brian Sloan, Dex Briggs, Tim Deschene, Jeffrey Laluc, Zander and Jeremy Ligman, and Glenn Cox for playtesting this new scenario! Saturday, 25 March I missed the noon Goodman Games/Black Blade raffle and such, since my game was scheduled for noon. The morning was steadily busy, and I headed out a bit before noon to set up for my event. For my third Castle Greyhawk game, I had a full crew of 12 players, who also selected my new “Diamonds in the Rough” level to play. **** SPOILERS for grodog’s 2017 North Texas RPGCon events **** The Saturday crew explored some of the same ground as the previous two teams, but avoided the mottled worm encounter. On their return to the large octagonal chamber, they were somewhat startled to discover a door that hadn’t been there previously (it was, of course, a mimic). Then they travelled to the SE and into the depths of the giant wasps’ nests, where they battled not only the wasps, but their demonic wasp-demon masters! Having awoken the hives, and down at least two PCs due to poison, they decided to wish their way to safety and the largest treasure on the level. This landed them in one of the big encounters in the main portion of the level, standing atop a small mountain of gemstones, and facing down a diamond dragon. Behind the dragon rested the Jacinth of Inestimable Beauty. Some excellent reaction rolls and well-timed negotiations and role-playing allowed the PCs to escape the dragon’s lair intact, save for Carlos’ magic-user who dimension doored himself into solid matter and the Astral Plane, where he was picked up by an evil elder titan and hauled off to Tartarus. Notable quotes: “I don’t even trust myself”—Axiom; “I still don’t trust the ceiling”—Carlos; “I cast neutralize poison on the dwarf” (repeated twice for emphasis!)—Don (I think, may have been JC). Thanks to David Konkol “Axiom”, Steven Danielson, Joshua Ford, Patrick Baumgard, Don Porter, Tim Downs Mullen, JC Luxton, Merideth Nepstad, Carlos Los Roth Lising, Mike Bridges, Jayson W. King, and Guy Fullerton for playtesting the “Diamonds in the Rough” level! Between the three groups, about 30% of the level was explored, so I’ll likely adjust the starting locations for my sessions at the North Texas RPGCon in June so that they can explore the level from different points. Saturday evening I played in Chainsaw’s Foolsgrave living mega-dungeon, using Jeff Talanian’s ASSH rules, and had a great time. **** SPOILERS for Chainsaw’s 2017 North Texas RPGCon events **** I ran a Necromancer, animated two previously-slain PCs as skeletons, and was able to advance to second level (although I only gained 1 hp, alas!). The mapping was a blast, too—our crew spanned four sheets of 8.5”x11” graph paper, and passed through two secret doors into what seemed like previously-unexplored territory. Chainsaw’s encounters were quirkily fun and deadly too---a mini-Death Star robot, some giant blue lightning bugs, living chests of wandering treasure, and the opening encounter really set the tone for the session wonderfully, as well! The table of players was Noah and Alex Guilbault, Kevin and Patrick Kelly, Scott McKinley, Michael Simon, and Tom Trombly, and we had a great time wandering through the deathmaze that is Foolsgrave! Sunday, 26 March Booth teardown went quickly, thanks to the help from our friends Guy Fullerton, Rich Franks, Joshua Ford, Kevin Kelly, Jen Brinkman, and Jeff Goad. A large group of us usually get together to eat dinner and game on Sunday night, shutting GaryCon down in the process. I finally got to play in Joe “gizmomathboy” Klein’s Circus Maximus variant “Moebius Maximus,” which was quite fun (although we only played for an hour or so). I’ve been looking forward to this since last year’s GaryCon! I wasn’t planning to run a game this year, but given the number of folks we were expecting I came prepared to DM, and in the end I ran six players (mostly from Handy’s NYC crew) through my version of The Black Reservoir level from the Expanded Castle Greyhawk. You can view the original map by Rob Kuntz in the El Raja Key Archive at www.tlbgames.com/collections/archive, and can read Gary’s short story that I based the level on at www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle_black_reservoir1.html. **** SPOILERS for grodog’s 2017 North Texas RPGCon events **** This crew explored quite a bit of the southern “shore” of the Black Reservoir before venturing out onto the raft, variously battling some pteranadons, giant crabs, and giant pikes. They followed the line of columns out to the center of the level, then to the east. Upon their return they discovered the lever that lowered all of the stone columns in sight, which released the dreaded dragon turtle from its cage. The beast attacked, steam-frying much of the party, despite valiant efforts to flee it, distract it, and/or obstruct its deadly charge. In the end, two PCs survived the battle (after the dragon turtle had been damaged to near 50% of its hit points), one swimming north into the level, the other travelling south to their starting location. Neither survived to escape Greyhawk Castle in the end, however, so the Black Reservoir remains one of the few levels I’ve run that has multiple TPKs behind it (see Luke Gygax, you’re not the only one to contribute materially to the dragon turtle’s hoard! ). We wrapped up the game at 4am, and I crashed until we awoke for the long drive back to Kansas on Monday, which was as equally hum-drum as the drive up, thankfully! Thanks again to everyone who made this year’s GaryCon such a resounding success, and we’ll see you again in 2018! Allan.
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Post by smubee on Mar 31, 2017 22:44:12 GMT -6
Thomas Denmark’s new titles—Raiders of the Lost Artifacts, Picked this up on Sunday just as I was leaving. LOVING reading through this. Can't wait to actually play. I wish that I picked up the superhero one as well.
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 303
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Post by Chainsaw on Apr 1, 2017 7:00:09 GMT -6
Saturday evening I played in Chainsaw’s Foolsgrave living mega-dungeon, using Jeff Talanian’s ASSH rules, and had a great time. **** SPOILERS for Chainsaw’s 2017 North Texas RPGCon events **** I ran a Necromancer, animated two previously-slain PCs as skeletons, and was able to advance to second level (although I only gained 1 hp, alas!). The mapping was a blast, too—our crew spanned four sheets of 8.5”x11” graph paper, and passed through two secret doors into what seemed like previously-unexplored territory. Chainsaw’s encounters were quirkily fun and deadly too---a mini-Death Star robot, some giant blue lightning bugs, living chests of wandering treasure, and the opening encounter really set the tone for the session wonderfully, as well! The table of players was Noah and Alex Guilbault, Kevin and Patrick Kelly, Scott McKinley, Michael Simon, and Tom Trombly, and we had a great time wandering through the deathmaze that is Foolsgrave! Honored and flattered to have you, Allan! Keep your PC, because I developed a ton of new ideas for content and presentation. Unless work conflicts with next year's convention, I'll be running this all four nights again.
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