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Post by geneweigel on Mar 23, 2022 19:24:49 GMT -5
This is going to be weird because 2007 was getting around crowds of vacationers with zero action and zero attractions except memories. Even the con was limited. I recall standing in front of the Dungeon Hobby Shop Main St corner location and being stared at by the people who just wanted a quiet stroll along the shops on their lake vacation not some weirdo standing outside a boutique trying to imagine Gary Gygax writing the Dungeon Masters Guide in the upper window.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 12:32:08 GMT -5
There is zero room for sitting much less playing a game. Looks like I'm cancelling officially.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 15:22:55 GMT -5
Playing Tractics with Mike Tractics Reese
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 25, 2022 15:42:52 GMT -5
Yesterday I got to map out the con. I ran into Scott “Scottenkainen” Casper and talked and wandered around with him a bit. I got to observe Darlene the Artist showing people how to play her card game JASMINE. Paul Stormberg set up an awesome historical display and I will share pictures later. I went to the Vendor’s Hall and got to talk with Allan Grohe and meet Jon Hershberger of Blade Blade Publishing and bought an excellent hex pad. I got to talk to and see James Ward, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley and many others. Zach “Zenopus” Howard was kind enough to invite me into his Holmes Basic D&D game “Expedition to Skull Stack Crater” after noticing my registration mishap! Good group of players in an old school style scenario — great fun! Thanks again, Zach!
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 16:18:42 GMT -5
Talking to Terry Kuntz
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 18:02:42 GMT -5
Never saw the Hercules movie.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 18:18:24 GMT -5
He is a little stand offish just a warning.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 18:19:58 GMT -5
My side the Germans won. Good dice rolls and some of my weird tactics. Not a total victory. They fought well.
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 25, 2022 18:22:25 GMT -5
I saw Terry Kuntz upstairs near the sandbox table that I believe was set up for Cavaliers and Roundheads, but Terry was speaking to someone else so I did not introduce myself. But I would love to talk to Terry and ask him about his character Terrik/Teric and his early experiences playing D&D and adventuring in the Greyhawk Campaign.
A bit more detail on my convention experiences...
Today I went back to the Vendor's Hall and talked to Jon Hershberger again about the Black Blade hex pads. I remarked how reminiscent they were of the Judges Guild mapping system, and Jon told me that one side was scaled to the Darlene hex map of the World of Greyhawk and the other was scaled to the Wilderlands of the Judges Guild. Very nice guy, and I thanked him for the information. I am planning on using some Judges' Guild resources in my World of Greyhawk campaign, such as using WITCHES COURT MARSHES for inspiration in developing the Rushmoors, and I've been having my players do overland travel with the classic hex crawl approach, so this hex pad will be a lot of fun to use. I told Allan yesterday I enjoy doing the same thing he does and that Scott Gregg does, which is to break out the colored pencils and expand upon and further detail the Darlene hexes.
I stopped by Jeff Easley's booth and he was busily drawing in a hardbound sketchbook using a Sakura Pigma Micron, probably a 0.5 mm, and this is a permanent waterproof ink so he may have been planning to add color later one such as with watercolor. He was drawing a dragon's head as I was leafing through his prints, and I made the comment how his art work was all great stuff, and he said thank you. I was impressed that he was using the down time to draw and be creative.
My next stop was at the booth of Darlene the Artist, formerly Darlene Pekul, and I bought one of her prints of the Frost Barbarian riding an antlered reindeer. I asked her about the continuation of her JASMINE comic strip and she told me it was on Patreon and gave me one of her business cards with the online information, so I'm going to check that out. I did get to tell her I was a long time fan and always appreciated her artwork in the gaming products. I remembered to ask her something I've always wondered about... The crying succubus with the setting sun in the DMG! Such a poignant drawing, it has always made me wonder what the story is. Since the succubus is an evil monster, I assumed it was either feigning sorrow to get an adventurer to let his guard down, or perhaps was some hapless victim polymorphed into the demonic form and upset about it. I asked Darlene and she said she just started drawing and that was how it came out... no specific story concept. She said sometimes she just lets the energy flow through her, and it's a feminine energy so it can be mysterious. I told her I appreciated her art since it was a contrast to the more common male perspective.
My last stop today was at Larry Elmore's booth and I was leafing through his prints as two other fans were talking to him. One fan was gushing and got his photo taken with Larry while another was talking about how the female cleric drawings in the Mentzer Basic D&D set broke a lot of young hearts. Larry seemed very gracious and kind. I finally picked out a print I wanted to buy and one that I didn't recognize from any gaming products or novels. Larry told me the story about how it was a private commission and the patron kept asking Larry to make additions as he was working on it. Larry indulged him but described how it was a frustrating process to have to make changes mid-painting. The painting jumped out at me because although it is fairly standard for an Elmore fantasy painting, with a dragon, a party of adventurers and a beautiful sky and landscape in the background, this one told more of a story since the dragon was slain and one of the adventurers was dying with companions gathered around. So, it was victory with tragedy. Larry signed it for me and I told him that often when I go on a hike or a bike ride I look at a beautiful sky and say to myself "that is an Elmore sky"! I think he liked that, and he shook my hand as I told him I really enjoyed our conversation and getting a chance to meet him.
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 25, 2022 19:32:16 GMT -5
Oh, one other thing: I also bought a gold colored, zinc, glow-in-the-dark dice set at the Norse Foundry booth. Quite a splurge, but it somehow seemed appropriate to return from my first Gary Con in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with golden treasure that glows with a mystical dweomer... This is the Dungeon Delve - Enchanted Parchment set!
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 20:05:45 GMT -5
Lots of nice stuff. I really like the way they reprinted the classic books through drive thru rpg. They look nice.
The Noble Knight booth was like a walk down memory lane with all the 70s 80s boxed sets intact.
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Post by Scott on Mar 25, 2022 21:05:12 GMT -5
Yesterday I got to map out the con. I ran into Scott “Scottenkainen” Casper and talked and wandered around with him a bit. I got to observe Darlene the Artist showing people how to play her card game JASMINE. Paul Stormberg set up an awesome historical display and I will share pictures later. I went to the Vendor’s Hall and got to talk with Allan Grohe and meet Jon Hershberger of Blade Blade Publishing and bought an excellent hex pad. I got to talk to and see James Ward, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley and many others. Zach “Zenopus” Howard was kind enough to invite me into his Holmes Basic D&D game “Expedition to Skull Stack Crater” after noticing my registration mishap! Good group of players in an old school style scenario — great fun! Thanks again, Zach! You better get Paul liquored up, or strong arm him into dishing on some of the Gygax Greyhawk files secrets.
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 25, 2022 21:29:56 GMT -5
You better get Paul liquored up, or strong arm him into dishing on some of the Gygax Greyhawk files secrets. I only got to exchange a few brief words with Paul. At these conventions he is one of the main organizers and is very busy. He has things scheduled all day and all evening and runs around like he's drinking Potions of Speed. Honestly, I don't know how he has the energy. Anyway, when I do get a chance to talk to him he's always very friendly and forthcoming. He's confided some things to me in the past when I've asked about the Gygax archive, but his hands are tied. He has a lot of access but no legal authority or ownership over the IP, so ultimately he's in the same boat as we are. It is frustrating because we all want more and know what a waste it is for it to be mouldering the way it is. Paul is a true fan of old school D&D, Greyhawk and Gary Gygax -- just as much as we are -- but the final decisions on releasing that material are not up to him. I'm confident he wants the same things we do and tries to use whatever influence he has to that end... So, we can only hope!
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 21:31:14 GMT -5
My insane moment came yesterday when Ernie was chatting me up and then got interrupted by someone that knew him. As Ernie broke off, another person, who had just been in a car watching me and Ernie's enthusiastic conversation as he was waiting for the valet parking attendant to deal with the car in front of him. So when Ernie is engaged the guy comes over by me with this look on his face of who is this character?
It's... Someone very rich who I've been mocking for years...
I was like please just run before he realizes who you are...so I just nodded my head and smiled to him and then turned and said "See ya on Saturday, Ernie" then jetted.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 25, 2022 21:49:57 GMT -5
"Jackie Cards" himself!
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 26, 2022 9:34:28 GMT -5
A couple of random observations... In the past, when I was preparing to come to Lake Geneva, I used Google Maps to familiarize myself with the local geography. Now that I'm here, I noticed a few things and remembered a few others I noticed before:
- Module A3 has a "Sword of Lyons" and there is a small town NE of Lake Geneva named Lyons. - Lake Geneva is in Walworth County, and Holmer of the Shield Lands is Earl of Walworth; Walworth was also a location on the original "Great Kingdom" map that EGG published in the Domesday Book. - Ugubb of the Lake of Crystals is likely named after Crystal Lake, a town NW of Chicago and S of Lake Geneva. - Oakwood Sanitarium that EGG explored as a boy as a 'proto dungeon' is gone and replaced by Havenwood Apartments just east of Lake Geneva. There is a park around it that might be fun to roam around in if the weather was a bit nicer. - Some guys at the Larry Elmore art booth recommended Next Door Pub and Su Wings Chinese Restaurant as good places to eat especially considering they were "Old TSR" haunts and thus have historical significance.
Yesterday, a cold wind blew in across the lake and it snowed -- now this feels like Wisconsin in March! Previously, it was slightly warmer but rained. It's been a good week to stay inside and roll dice.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 26, 2022 23:40:22 GMT -5
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 27, 2022 8:27:38 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the link, Gene. Our D&D game DMed by Ernie was recorded, mostly in its entirety except when we took a break around 5 or 6 and it wasn't turned back on again until later, so there is a gap. There is way too much to write all at once, but here are some of my notes for posterity.
Yesterday was Ernie's "Dungeon Hobby Shop" Dungeon game which he DMed at the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum at the original location of the TSR offices. It started at 1 PM and went until at least 9:30 PM but not all of that was strictly gaming as Ernie has many stories and tangents. My impression of Ernie is that he is certainly a "personage" to use EGG's old term: he is loud, boisterous and keeps the game going... Wasn't his nickname back in the day "Ernie the Barbarian"? Anway, Ernie started us off by handing out twenty Goldenrod-colored custom made character sheets with pre-generated characters for us to choose from. We had eight players in total... I played a human ranger, Gene played a human cleric of the Blinding Light religion (Yes, Ernie sang the hymn at one point), and the others played a human fighter, half-orc fighter, human druid, half-elf thief, elf fighter/magic-user, elf cleric/magic-user. We were all 3rd-4th level. We started out approaching a lone inn along the road in the wilderness, where we helped the proprietors get rid of a ghoul that had been digging into their cellar to steal wine and ham. Later we encountered and killed an owlbear among some oak trees on top of a nearby hill. In the inn proprietors at Anthony's Place (as Ernie named it on the spot after a moment of thinking when I asked what the name of the inn was) were grateful and fed us and gave us information about the local area. The place to be explored was Nestor's Folly, a local castle keep with dungeon levels below (Ernie's version of the megadungeon that he began developing back in the 1970's for play at the Dungeon Hobby Shop where he worked -- he had a huge laminated copy of this dungeon map as his place mat). The dungeon was about two days away, and on the way was a barbarian village, non-hostile but which charged higher prices for adventuring gear. We started out for the dungeon, and on the way saw a dead animal carcass, partially eaten and scratch marks on a nearby tree. Slowly backing away, we rode off down the road. But just as we were getting near the village, a tiger pounced on Father Neeg (Gene's character) pulling him off of his horse from behind. The rest off us rode on, not realizing at first what happened, while the cleric luckily avoided the weretiger's claw/claw/bite attack routine. I and some others rode back to help once we realized what was happening, and we joined the fray to eventually put down the weretiger. We went on to the barbarian village and spoke to their shaman about whether are fighter might have contracted lycanthropy from being bit by the weretiger, and then eventually the shaman agreed to teleport us to the third dungeon level. We explored several rooms and passages without encounter, but after finding a secret trap door and passage below we found another trap door to emerge from. In a rough hewn cave we say a hill giant that was working loose a huge amount of gold ore... We immediately attacked, and after a few rounds of combat we prevailed, but not before our party thief used a magic item to teleport away, taking some of our previously found loot with him! Father Neeg got the killing blow on the giant, striking it in the knee cap with a magic mace to bring it down. We recovered quite a bit of treasure from the giant, as the gold ore was quite valuable and there was a clerical scroll hidden in the giant's club and the giant wore a magic girdle. The fighters rolled to see who could get the girdle, and our fighter Golgrin put it on -- and turned into a woman! Yes, it was a Girdle of Sex Change. Our fighter immediately changed his name to Golgrina. Loading up on as much gold ore as we could carry, we made our way out of the Dungeon Hobby Shop Dungeon...
[I'll post more later but for now I'm off to Dave Wesely's Braunstein game "Banania"]
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Post by Scott on Mar 27, 2022 12:00:37 GMT -5
Been watching the video. Seems like a great time. The camera setup is terrible. Ernie seems like a good DM, engaging, keeps the game moving, looks like he's enjoying it all.
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Post by geneweigel on Mar 27, 2022 13:40:23 GMT -5
Had a chance to ask Jon Pickens about his magic item charging spell articles in Polyhedron. He said there was a need. So he wrote it. As for validation? He said working with Gary was hard because somebody screwed the pooch on a game adding C4 where there was supposed to be a false pile of clay. Got to track down what he was referring to. Top Secret I think? He will tell you anything as likes to talk but you better be prepared to listen! Anyway Gary was furious about the mistake and he said Mentzer would be the stopgap to Gary from then on. He also talked about the ORGIES INC article in Dragon that was illustrated by Trampier. He said in game mode he wrote it but in real life he would be never even think like that.
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