FEAR & LOATHING IN LAKE GENEVA—GARY CON VI I started getting ready late Monday for a Wed. AM departure; that’s how keyed up I get for this. When Gary passed I promised Gary’s kids that as long as I was physically able to, I would be at Gary Con, and with something new or special, every year. I strive to honor that pledge. (As a matter of fact, I already have an idea for something different next year—I think I want to run a kid’s game.) For the third time, my co-pilot and partner in mischief and mayhem would be Jim Wampler, otherwise referred to as Mad Mage, or MM for short. Once again, we had a most agreeable journey and got an early start. We set my GPS for Corky’s Dogg House for the obligatory stop for genuine, Vienna Sausage Co., Chicago Dog. Four hours later, we were there and feasted. We listened to some Dan the Bard to get into the mood (more on Dan later). We then set the good old GPS for the Lodge. (I call my GPS Dennis, because I have Dennis Hopper’s voice downloaded into it. Best three bucks I ever spent.) I told Dennis to duck the tolls, and we did. That was an interesting trade-off; save nine or ten bucks, or take the Dan Ryan Expwy? Well, it got right sporty a couple of times with the semis, but we made it into the Land of Cheese, Beer & Sausage safely. Since we were going right past it anyway, we ducked in to WalMart for some cheese curds. Calamity! They have none of my favorite kind (Garlic and Chive), only Dill or Jalapeno. I got one of each (cheese curds are right pricey in Cincy), but left grumbling. But not grumbling much, or long, for after all, we were in Lake Geneva, the living beating heart of role playing gaming, the Incubator! The weather didn’t suck (always a gamble driving to Wisc. In March), and we made good time. Check in was smooth and unloading no worse than I expected. We ran into Mike Curtis right away and got ready to head out to Frank Mentzer’s party. We were approached by a gentleman that asked if I had any room, and I said I had. Unfortunately, he was with his lady and I had but one seat in TGD open. He dashed off to see if she “really” wanted to go and we saw him not again. We loaded, didn’t see him and hauled it out to the party. Frank and Debbie’s house is about 30-35 minutes from the lodge; I had been ther in Oct but relied on Dennis to get us there again. It was a most mellow party in their gorgeous, still-a-work-in-progress Victorian home. If any of you don’t already know this, Debbie Mentzer is one incredibly skilled lady. Some ascribe to be a great chef, others to be a great baker; Debbie is both, of pro level. We feasted on cheese and fruit and chicken tacos and Italian beef on bread I think she baked, and then had cookies of several sorts and brownies and pies. And then there were the cake balls that one of the guests brought; they were little beholders. You probably saw them on FB already. What a party and what a guest list. I had to leave mid-party to shuttle Mike back for a game but returned and was last dog hung and closed out the night with our hosts. I guess I got the old-guy schedule this year; I had no games until 8 PM on Thurs so I just puttered around, saw old friends, read a bunch of KotDT back strips and generally just had a most mellow time soaking up the vibe. Then came the game; an adventure through my sequel to Snakeriders called (at least for now) One Got Away; we plan to have it out soon. They had a great time for about 3.75 hours, having carnivorous ape poo splattered all over them several times (renders invisibility and shadow-hiding rather more difficult), talking to very large snakes, being frightened (rightfully so) of some huge mantises and then they all died. They went down fighting and were rewarded with little wooden plaques. The kaskoid World TPK Tour 2014 continues… Friday had two of my games on the schedule; one was a repeat of the night before, but the evening game was something far different. The afternoon game was a return to my Island of Aradondo in One Got Way. Proving that no two games are ever alike, this had a rather different ending. They, too, were smeared with stinky poo right off the bat, got showered with rocks and stone-headed spears, and generally were successful in herding the refugees into one spot. Sadly, that spot was the last-stand redoubt that they had prepared—a veritable death-trap. Our four hours had nearly expired; I gave them the option to declare the adventure a success in that they were still alive at the end and had survived one of my deadly adventures. You guessed it, they charged into the throng and died. I’m pretty sure they had seen the plaques, which are now all gone. TPK #2. The evening game was a playtest of a new series I am working on that involves time-travel into pseudo-historical (after all, some magic works) periods and places. During that game one of the greatest “Eeeew-icky” moments in one of my games transpired. The table had a great deal of fun when that happened and we laughed like crazy. Briefly: healing potions had been changed into bundles of herbs and roots that had to be either masticated or decocted. One of the PC’s was at 0 HP. Another PC chewed up a wad, spit them out, pried open the 0 HP guy and stuffed that spitty wad into his mouth. Of course, I had to let it succeed for two reasons: first, it was brilliant; second, it was a playtest. In playtests, PC’s die frequently. I like to bring them back to trigger the next ambush or trap. Again and again—one guy died three times in one of my playtests. The players seemed to have a lot of fun; I surely did. Saturday dawned bright and sunny. I had a noon game that had been billed as Something Completely Different II. I changed them into anthropomorphic mice. Forget crossing the plains; getting through the yard past the dog, the cat and the rooster was challenge enough. Then there were the possums, owls, snakes and hedgehogs. And that all came before they confronted the main BBEW (Big Bad Evil Weasel) and his four patrolling rats and two telepathic moles. We had a very good time and an unusual amount of laughter and merriment ensued. It was also The Pie Game. For reasons that will remain known only to us, James M Ward brings me a cherry pie each year. I then share the pie with the lucky players in one of my games that weekend. Saturday Night was the Circus Maximus Final. What a gore-fest it was this year; I ran out of dead horses. We had nine Heavy Chariots in the final, all with “greek hubs”. Only two cart-to-cart attacks were even attempted; it was easier to break the horses legs. Most of the chariots were down to two or three horses (one with a single limping pony looked like a milk-wagon got onto the track by mistake. Luke Gygax set a record of dubious distinction when his corpse was trampled for the fifth time. Congratulations to Joe Kline for a well-run race; it ended at 2 AM, almost six hours after it began. All weekend long, games were being played in the basement of 330 Center St (the basement I first worked in for TSR). I guess that accounts for why I got no chance to talk to two old friends that apparently lived there all weekend, Theron Kuntz and Bill Hoyer. I heard many great reports of some of the games, including the one in which Mike Curtis played and pulled off an a-historical loss. Sunday was a de-stress day: a meeting in the morning and a pickup game later. And what a game it was : Fire & Ax. Rich Franks (aka The Axeman) and I have been trying to play it together and finally did at the 3rd GC we tried. What a great game; I will be teaching it to all my boardgame buddies right away. I left on a wonderfully sunny Monday morning. We hit WalMart on the way out, and they had been restocked! I snagged another $40 worth of curds and stashed them in the cooler as we headed for Corky’s for another dog. Which we savored. Looking back—the attendance was around 650-700 from what I could estimate. We filled the Lodge. The food at the Lodge was much better this year; that little pizza from the grill upstairs is mighty tasty. The atmosphere was true Essence of Gary Con; mellow, laid back, lots of laughing and exclaiming, a familial camaraderie that is magical. Looking forward: they have plans in place for more overflow housing and a shuttle service. I volunteered to take some shifts driving the shuttle. That would be a hoot; pull up in front of the other place, open the doors, and introduce myself; “Hello, my name is Tim and I will be driving you to the Con. Any questions?” To sum it all up in one word? EPIC!
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 06:12:01 +0000
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