GaryCon 2025

[Zenopus]

Time for the annual thread!

Who's going & who's running OD&D or other games?

Links of interest:

Gary Con website: garycon.com/

Badge Purchase: tabletop.events/conventions/gary-con-xvii/badgetypes (320 0 Silver badges remaining right now)

Full Schedule of Events on Tabletop Events: tabletop.events/conventions/gary-con-xvii/schedule (searchable but still being updated)

Grand Geneva Hotel website: www.grandgeneva.com/

Facebook Group (main source for communication outside the website): www.facebook.com/groups/garycon

Discord Channel (another good place to ask questions): discord.com/channels/540034202255622144/

Last year's thread: odd74.proboards.com/thread/16071/garycon-2024




(Art by Chet Minton)

[Zenopus]

I'll be returning for my sixth time and as usual am running two games, each using my version of OD&D (which is Holmes + OD&D):

Party of Balrogs: the PCs are all Balrogs! (ran this last year)

The Eye of Arzaz: Eric Holmes' other sample dungeon, from his 1981 book Fantasy Role-Playing Games (first time running this)

Read more about them in my latest post:

zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2025/01/gary-con-2025-games-scheduled.html

[grodog]

I'm still hoping to attend, and things may be leaning more toward the "likely" zone in the near future, still depends on job stuff.

Allan.

[Finarvyn]

I may go last-minute, assuming that there are tickets available last-minute.

[Zenopus]

Finarvyn:

That's risky, as it sold out last year. Although attendance should be lower since it is not the 50th.

It's down to 300 Silver badges now, from 320 when I posted. However, they've already added more badges once, so it's possible they are holding more back for another release once these sell out.

2/26 Update: Tickets have been sold out for a while now, although you can frequently find them for re-sale on the GC FB page or Discord.

[chicagowiz]

Sadly, I won't. Angie and I came down with really bad RSV after GaryCon last year. We were down for about two weeks, took about 4 to fully recover. It's made us very reluctant to go to big events. Good luck and stay safe!

[howandwhy99]

After last year's sardine experiment, I do suggest wearing a mask and sanitizer if anyone is at all worried about viruses or their health. The show was very well run IMO, but it had to be the most attended GaryCon yet. This year's attendance is on pace to be lower.

I will still be going. What games I can manage to get into I don't know yet. RPGs are up in number. Sadly, wargames look a little down.

[thegreyelf]

I'll be there with a booth for Elf Lair Games. Hope you all will stop by and introduce yourselves! We are running a few sponsored games (three, I think?) and Eric "Rex" Peterson is running a ton on his own that I'm more than happy to endorse.

[muddy]

I'll be there and running two sessions of Blueholme (A Tale of Two Temples, as I have for years now, at least when I've been able to make it) and two sessions of Shadowdark (The Tombs of No Return). Both are old style dungeon crawls.

[grodog]

Jan 8, 2025 19:40:36 GMT -6 grodog said:

I'm still hoping to attend, and things may be leaning more toward the "likely" zone in the near future, still depends on job stuff.

Vacation time approved, I plan to attend

Allan.

[lige]

I’ll be there - running 3 Hyperborea games and one Mongoose Traveller session.

[Zenopus]

Reminder, general (Silver Badge) registration for games opens up today at noon CST.

Find the schedule here: tabletop.events/conventions/gary-con-xvii/schedule

Make sure you are logged in, and don't forget to check out after getting game ticket(s). Otherwise the tickets will go back into the pool after a certain period of time.

Good luck getting your preferred games!

[Zenopus]

Registration went well for me.

On the wargames side, I got into two Chainmail games: the Battle for the Moathouse (a Temple of Elemental Evil prequel), and Mike Mornard's historical Battle on the Ice. Going to finally game with Gronan! I also signed up to learn how to play Dawn Patrol with Skip Williams.

On the RPG side, my games filled up, and I got into the Friday night AD&D tournament, which is a sequel to C1 The Ghost Tower of Inverness, and two games run by our own paleologos: The Spindle of Heaven, a Master Set level adventure by Bruce Nesmith, and The Future King, a unique one-off scenario by Tom Moldvay after he left TSR.

[howandwhy99]

"The Future King, by Tom Moldvay"

Sounds Arthurian, which would fit well in my Nyrond. I'm a fan of Moldvay's. Now I'm going to gave to look that adventure up.

[Finarvyn]

I know the guy who is running this:

D&D 5E Open Table Mega Dungeon

The open table stresses fun and exploration in a living world with a perpetual mega-dungeon. You will see effects of fellow Gary Con adventurers who came before and your actions will impact adventurers in the months that follow. Open to beginners and experts of all ages! Every player starts with a level 1 character, bring your own made with official WotC products or grab a pre-made at the table.

Welcome adventurers of all kinds to open table D&D! The open table stresses fun and exploration in a living world with a perpetual mega-dungeon that is restocked after every session. Every session, a team of adventurers will set out from town to delve into the rooms and caverns beneath the castle to explore the mega dungeon below! You will see the effects of fellow Gary Con adventurers who came before you and your actions will impact adventurers in the months that follow. Open to beginners and experts of all ages, great for dipping your toes into your first TTRPG or for experts who want to throw some PCs into the meat grinder! Every player starts with a level 1 character. Bring your own character made with official Wizards of the Coast D&D products or grab a character sheet available at the table! If you survive the deadly expedition, you may find fortune, fame, and even level 2! Sign up for subsequent sessions to bring your character back and continue making progress, but beware! Not every room of the dungeon is a balanced encounter for your level, you may need to know when to run! Delve at your own peril!

He's been running it for most of a year at my local game store, plus at a store in Indiana. He said he is running one session each of the four days at GaryCon this year. Sadly, by the time he told me he was running it all of the event tickets had sold out. Also, looks like one-day tickets to the convention seem to have been sold out. A bummer, as I would have liked to hang out near his table and observe.

[Zenopus]

I don't think Gary Con has had single-day badges in a while. But I assume you mean a "Spectator" badge (attend but don't play in games); they are good for the whole con but cheap enough to treat them as a single-day pass.

There has been a steady stream of badges re-selling on the FB page, so you might have luck trying there or on the Discord. Links are in the first post above.

[Zenopus]

Checked in to the Grand an hour ago so I am officially at the Con! Have already caught up with paleologos.

[Zenopus]

In the morning I played in the "Battle of the Moathouse" Chainmail game, which recreates the battle that led to the moathouse being ruined in T1. I was on the side of Chaos, and we kept the forces of Law at bay until the time ran out.

In the afternoon I ran Party of Balrogs for the second time. The Balrogs once again defeated the Mad Wizard to escape his dungeon.

And then I bought a beer for Gronan, who played the original Balrog PC in Greyhawk. I'm playing in his "Battle On Ice" historical Chainmail later tonight.

[Falconer]

Mar 20, 2025 16:50:17 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

Party of Balrogs

Hey Zenopus, do you have rules/stats for PC (leveling) Balrogs? or do you just use the BTB monster types for these one-shots? Very curious!

[grodog]

My GaryCon summary and latest Greyhawk News reports are now posted at grodog.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-grodog-thither-and-hither-and-points-between.html

As always, GaryCon was a fun time, made even more fun by gaming with and visiting many friends and colleagues there!

I also shared this new post earlier in the week: a mixture of campaign-update and some noodlings on Pholtus:
grodog.blogspot.com/2025/04/enter-stage-left-agutha-glimmering-sisters-of-pholtus.html

Allan.

[geoffrey]

Most everyone looks middle-aged in the photos. Am I the only one who pictures us all as college-aged?

[Punkrabbitt]

Apr 17, 2025 9:41:06 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Most everyone looks middle-aged in the photos. Am I the only one who pictures us all as college-aged?

I still picture us as high school students..