GARY CON XV [2023]

[GRWelsh]

It looks like I can do this trip for about $1500 with flight, rental car and staying at the Cove which seems like a real bargain. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger...

I noticed a few events I didn't get to play in previous years as well as some new ones... Darlene's card game, Allan's Greyhawk level, Paul Stormberg running "Battle of the Moathouse" and Original Greyhawk Dungeon in the basement of the little house on Center Street, any game by Tom Wham is always fun, "Till Death Do Us Part" by Heidi Gygax... And I'd happily play in another Braunstein run by Dave Wesely! Plus, I'd love to play at Ernie's home "Dragonlands" on one of the off days (before/after GARY CON) if he is willing to DM for us!

Notes on Events Schedule:

664 Thursday 9:00 Hyperborea: The Auroral Odyssey, Jeff Talanian, Linwood, 4 hours [filled]
185 Thursday 10:00 Till Death Do Us Part, Heidi Gygax and Erik Garland, Geneva Bay Boardroom, 4 hours [filled]
300 Thursday 10:00 Metamorphosis Alpha Experimental Adventure, James Ward, Linwood, 4 hours [filled]
525 Thursday 12:00 By No Means! 1E AD&D set in Jack Vance's Dying Earth, Westgate C, 5 hours
898 Thursday 12:00 Don't Give Up the Ship, Mike Carr, Evergreen? 5 hours
698 Thursday 13:00 AD&D with Stefan Pokorny, Lobby Bar, 3 hours [filled]
1504 Thursday 13:00 Beyond the Living Room by Rob Kuntz, Paul Stormberg, 4 hours
316 Thursday 13:00 DGS Presents Allen Hammack's C2: Ghost Tower of Inverness, Allen Hammack, Room 4311, 4 hours
1535 Thursday 13:00 "The Great Kingdom" documentary screening, Swinghurst, 1.5 hours
895 Thursday 14:00 Jasmine: Battle for the Mid-Realm, Darlene, Evergreen 2, 2 hours
1525 Thursday 18:00 Lost Crypt of the Fire Opal, Paul Stormberg, Room 4211, 6 hours [filled]
210 Thursday 19:00 Divine Right (TSR Boardgames 1979), Evergreen 2, 4 hours
699 Thursday 19:00 LEGIO V - Gary Gygax's Castle Greyhawk level keyed by grodog, Evergreen 1, 5 hours [filled]
322 Friday 8:00 Outdoor Survival, Evergreen 3, 3 hours
655 Friday 9:00 Hyperborea: The Auroral Odyssey, Jeff Talanian, Linwood, 4 hours [filled]
893 Friday 9:00 The Smuggler's Cave, Zach Howard, Linwood, 4 hours
103 Friday 12:00 By No Means! 1E AD&D set in Jack Vance's Dying Earth, Westgate C, 5 hours
696 Friday 13:00 AD&D with Stefan Pokorny, Lobby Bar, 3 hours [filled]
302 Friday 13:00 James Ward's Own Brand of Fantasy, Linwood, 4 hours
323 Friday 13:00 Outdoor Survival, Evergreen 3, 3 hours
896 Friday 14:00 Jasmine: Battle for the Mid-Realm, Darlene, Evergreen 2, 2 hours
695 Friday 17:00 AD&D with Stefan Pokorny, Lobby Bar, 3 hours [filled]
324 Friday 17:00 Outdoor Survival, Evergreen 3, 3 hours
1505 Friday 18:00 Braunstein I, Dave Wesely, Galewood C, 6 hours
1521 Friday 18:00 Legends of Role-Playing Tournament: Ruins of Elder Evil, Lobby Bar, 4 hours
814 Friday 19:00 The Wheel of Blame, Tim Kask, Williams Bay Boardroom, 4 hours
1503 Saturday 8:00 Battle of the Moathouse, Paul Stormberg, Evergreen 2, 4 hours
697 Saturday 11:00 AD&D with Stefan Pokorny, Lobby Bar, 3 hours [filled]
811 Saturday 13:00 The Wheel of Blame, Tim Kask, Williams Bay Boardroom, 4 hours
897 Saturday 14:00 Jasmine: Battle for the Mid-Realm, Darlene, Evergreen 2, 2 hours
1526 Saturday 14:00 Original Greyhawk Castle Adventure 1974, Paul Stormberg, 330 Center Street, 3 hours [filled]
1527 Saturday 18:00 Original Greyhawk Castle Adventure 1974, Paul Stormberg, 330 Center Street, 3 hours [filled]
700 Saturday 19:00 LEGIO V - Gary Gygax's Castle Greyhawk level keyed by grodog, Evergreen 1, 5 hours [filled]
304 Sunday 10:00 James Ward's Own Brand of Fantasy, Linwood, 4 hours [filled]
1161 Sunday 10:00 Moosequest, Tom wham, Linwood, 2 hours [filled]

[grodog]

If you're looking for a roommate, Gary, one of the other Greyhawk fans I know who's going is trying to trim costs by sharing a room (he has some local reservations offsite).

Allan.

[GRWelsh]

Hi Allan -- I'm not interested in sharing a room with anyone but I will have a rental car if anyone needs a ride. I just pinged Ernie about the possibility of playing at his house that he calls "Dragonlands" (no doubt named in honor of his dad's ranch which had the same nickname) and he will be playing parlor games, board games, etc. and is open to hosting a D&D game. That will be a determining factor for me going to Lake Geneva! Ernie said they got an ice storm and it looks like a white dragon breathed on everything!

Silver Badge registration is this Saturday, 2/25, so I'm trying to finalize what I'm going to do in the next day or two.

EDIT: I've been messaging with Ernie and it looks like we may be playing D&D at his house on the Monday after GARY CON, on 3/27! Very cool! I just booked my trip for 3/22-3/28. I'll be staying at the Cove this year and I got a rental SUV. If anyone needs a ride or help with anything call or text me at 412-491-7842.

P. S. It is worth investing in a gold badge if one wants to get in on events with celebrities or even those who are high profile in our gaming community (this would include James Ward, Allen Hammack, Tim Kask, Mike Carr, Darlene, any of the Gygax children, Stefan Pokorny, Jeff Talanian, Paul Stormberg, Zach Howard and Allan Grohe). With my silver badge I have a slim chance to get into some of these high profile events, but probably by 12:05 PM Central time (1:05 PM EST) most of these slots will be filled! I think my attitude this year is going to be to branch out and attend less sought after events and see if I can make some new friends and renew old (in some cases online) friendships!

[GRWelsh]

Here's what I got so far... Better than expected! Actually, this is an awesome schedule by any standard.

Tickets
Event # Name Time Location Delete
895 Jasmine: The Battle for the Mid-Realm" Collector Card Game Thursday at 14:00 for 2 hours Evergreen 2 at EG2-222
210 Divine Right (TSR Board Games 1979) Thursday at 19:00 for 4 hours Evergreen 2 at EG2-218
893 The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave Friday at 09:00 for 4 hours Linwood at LIN-110
1505 Braunstein I Friday at 18:00 for 6 hours Galewood C at GWC-271
1503 Battle of the Moathouse Saturday at 08:00 for 4 hours Evergreen 2 at EG2-217
700 LEGIO V—Gary Gygax's Castle Greyhawk Level Keyed by grodog Saturday at 19:00 for 5 hours Evergreen 1 at EG1-203
1161 Moose Quest Sunday at 10:00 for 2 hours Linwood at LIN-106

Plus... D&D with Ernie at his house on Monday!

[GRWelsh]

Well, I am very excited about GARY CON this year. It will be my first one without masks! It's been a long road to Lake Geneva... In 2020 and 2021 we made the best it of with Ethereal badges and online gaming, and in 2022 we had to wear masks most of the time. Finally, in 2023 we can just game like normal! I was thinking of joining even more events but I want to leave time for a few trips to the vendor hall and general "roaming around talking" time. I always run into to somebody. I need to remember to get some pics of Stefan Pokorny's game with all of the Dwarven Forge set up! If I get nice weather, I'd really like to walk around the town of Lake Geneva, and take some photos... Some of that is historical, like the location of the old TSR offices on Sheridan Springs road, TSR offices downtown, Gygax family homes, Don Kaye's house, Rob's childhood home, Albert Bucknall's house, Stone Manor, general location of where Oakwood Sanitarium once was, etc. I have no doubt Ernie will tell me some things. I'll post pics here after the con.

www.americanghostwalks.com/articles/havenwood-apartments-and-the-ghosts-of-oakwood-san

[GRWelsh]

I should host an event at a future GARY CON using my miniatures and terrain. I even thought of a great name for a tribute event: IT'S OKAY, GARY SENT US! There is a double-meaning since that phrase was used in a description of play in the D&D Basic Rules edited by Tom Moldvay (1981) when the player characters encounter some humanoids:

"It's okay; Gary sent us," Silverleaf said.
"Huh?" the hobgoblin wittily responds.

[GRWelsh]

Day 1 [3/22]: My goal today was simply to get here safely, which I did. Flight out of Pittsburgh was 2 PM EST on time, and I got to Chicago with a cloudy day in the low 50's and not raining like last year. I flew United and got a VW SUV from Enterprise -- huge vehicle. I took a different route north this time to avoid tolls and take back roads going NW out of O'Hare but won't do that again as it took too long... But I did get to see a different angle on the geography so I don't regret it (Route 12 which went past Wauconda which is where Brian Blume was from). On the way I re-listened to the podcast "When We Were Wizards" which included Paul Stormberg talking about the formative days of D&D with many interviews and quotes of EGG read by an actor (very good, and I hope they continue the series). I arrived in Lake Geneva and checked in at the Cove and then drove past the old TSR offices circa 1984+ on Sheridan Springs Road to Stinebrinks Piggly Wiggly, the local supermarket, and spent about $50 on groceries which will feed me for a week. I drove past the Gygax house at 330 Center Street and then up the street that Don Kaye lived on and should have taken a photo of the street signs on the corner of "Sage" and "Walworth" (if that isn't D&D/World of Greyhawk, what is?) and I drove up to the Oak Hill Cemetery which is a pretty cool place with several large mausoleums and larger monuments (but I didn't find EGG's grave yet). I also drove down Madison Street and turned left onto Dodge (corner of where EGG's childhood home was and where he used to talk to Albert Bucknall AKA inspiration of Bucknard famed for his Everful Purse, apple trees and love of astronomy) and then south on Broad Street past the Horticultural Hall to go downtown past where the old TSR offices were circa 1978-1984. Then I came home and made homemade french fries on aluminum foil and heated up the pre-made breaded chicken breasts with green leaf lettuce, Muenster cheese and fresh Italian bread. I also got two magnums of wine, a Malbec and Chardonnay. Luke posted a schedule for autographs and photos last week, so I brought my DMG this year and plan to get a lot of signatures on my most prized EGG-authored book! If I get nice weather I plan to do some hikes in and around the town of Lake Geneva and snap some photos, which I will share here when I get back, in addition to photos from Gary Con itself and a visit to Ernie's house next Monday.

[GRWelsh]

Day 2 [3/23]: I slept in a bit and made an egg, sausage and Muenster cheese omelette and 8'o'clock coffee for breakfast. The plan today is to register, roam around a bit to refamiliarize myself with the 'dungeon map' at the Grand Geneva and then play in Darlene's JASMINE card game at 2 PM and a DIVINE RIGHT game at 7 PM. Luke posted a schedule for an autograph booth so I will probably go to the vendor hall where that is and get a few signatures on my DMG.

I should be able to talk to Luke Gygax today, briefly... Is there anything you guys want me to ask him? If Otiluke was a PC he had separate from Otis? The meaning of the Servant of Leuk-O? The proper pronunciation of Ulek?

[geneweigel]

I probably would have went but these disasters since the last GaryCon (Now Dorothy's immortal mom is finally winding down so many trips to NYC) have put me so far back. I guess I will aim for next year.

The guy with the long beard that was assisting Paul Stormberg, Kevin, he was very helpful (I'm friends with him on Facebook since then.) Ask him who everyone is. That is how I found Jon Pickens. I gave him and Paul a copy of Broken Castle before I left.

[GRWelsh]

I got signatures in my DMG this morning from Luke Gygax who was dressed as a wizard and from Ed Greenwood who looks like a wizard by virtue of his trademark long beard. I got to tell Ed about his adventure “Into the Forgotten Realms” which I adapted for my players with the insane lich who spoke to them as if they were his old students… the players were smart enough to play along and not attack the lich! I think he got a kick out of that. Then I played Darlene’s card game and complimented her on her art and calligraphy and told her the Flanaess map hangs in my dining room where we game every other week. I asked her many questions and she graciously answered them and signed my DMG. I talked to Kevin Maurice who was refereeing a classic battle game of Romans vs Celts designed by EGG. Kevin is a long time player in Paul Stormberg’s Greyhawk campaign which has many elements incorporated from conversations with EGG including connections between GD and T series of modules. Then I talked to Dave Wesely for a few hours and took notes. Jeff Talanian joined us and we listened to Dave tell many old stories. Dave Wesely is a class act and dislikes the Arneson vs. Gygax arguments and is all about reconciliation. Then I played Divine Right with a fantastic group of players… I did not win but had tremendous fun relearning this classic board game with beautiful map illustrated by the late great Trampier. The host Matt did a great job explaining the rules and keeping things moving along. One of the other players brought cookies from a local bakery. We were all enjoying it but went over our allotted time and finally called it after Turn 5 and Matt had the most Victory Points.

I lucked out with Darlene, Dave Wesely, Tom Wham and Ernie Gygax, since being in events they host that gives me some time to talk to them semi-exclusively. I don't think that many people realize what a big deal Dave Wesely is, since I was able to talk to him for a long time. We went out of Evergreen 2 into the hall so he could hear better and I bought him a water and he talked to me for quite a while. The guy who directed "Secrets of Blackmoor" -- Griffith Mon Morgan III -- walked past and asked me "Are you interviewing him?!?" because I was taking notes and I responded that I wasn't but it was just a lot of good information in the conversation. I asked Griff if Part 2 was coming out and he seemed a bit bashful and said it needed money and there wasn't any -- I suppose because Part 1 is a niche subject it didn't sell enough copies to justify or pay for Part 2 yet. I asked Darlene if she was a D&D player and she said she wasn't, only played once and her character died. She went to Beloit College and had a study abroad program in London where she learned calligraphy from a person from a group who did stenography for the Queen. So she learned to use the traditional quill and ink method and studied medieval manuscripts and art forms. For the Flanaess map, EGG gave her the hand drawn one on hex paper, she did an outline first and then gave it to EGG for review and he made some corrections and gave it back to her to finish. She created the Jasmine game because her cartoon strip in THE DRAGON and she wanted to continue the story. She said she play tested it with her boyfriend who wrote down the rules, and it took her about a year to design and paint the cards.

[GRWelsh]

Day 3 [3/24]: This morning I had another sausage, egg and cheese omelette and then drove over to the Grand Geneva to play in Zach Howard's Holmes Basic scenario "The Smuggler's Cave." I played the same dwarf pre-generated character he handed out last year, and we had a nice group, including a family trio of grandfather-father-daughter. We missed an opportunity in a haunted maze and weren't about to finish in time, so Zach had to fast forward a bit at the end to get us to the conclusion when the little girl's cleric got to put holy water on the body of the smuggler chief and her dad's m-u was able to take out the undead form with a magic missile from his wand! Great fun! Out in the hallway, I was fascinated with a CHAINMAIL Fantasy Supplement miniatures scenario for the "Battle of Unnumbered Tears" and snapped a few photos of that. The Eldar were doing great until the dragons came in along with the reinforcements from Angband! On the way back I stopped at Piggly Wiggly and spent $6 on butter, sprouts and two pork chops. I just came back to the hotel and made a huge lunch of a pork chop and potatoes sauteed with butter and salad of lettuce, Muenter cheese, avocado, sprouts and Ranch dressing. EDIT: This evening after relaxing at the hotel for a few hours I played in Dave Wesely's BRAUNSTEIN I and it was fun. I was the Prussian Landswehr major, the local 'fascist' authority. I didn't win this year, but also I don't really have the personality to be the heavy in that way since I was looking for ways to meet my objectives with reasonable compromises. My character was defined as a sort of bastard who simply doesn't like the university students and likes beating them down, and that just doesn't seem reasonable to me. Also, there was a twist I didn't uncover which was the French spies (multiple) that were operating in the town. But we also didn't have the expected minimum number of players to make the scenario work optimally. I would describe the 'Braunsteins' (starting with this scenario) as a conceptual breakthrough in gaming for that time (1969-1970) with the major shift from commanding armies in a zero sum game to multi-player, multi-objective game running a single persona with victory no longer merely achievable with tactics and force. They are about uncovering relevant information via role-play with other players (not the referee) and then acting on that by telling the referee what you want to do. I was glad to play in the original scenario and talk to Kevin McColl who was an observer and recording the event on video, and who was also a friend of Dave Arneson's who still runs the Arneson/Blackmoor website! It is fascinating to hear Dave Wesely talk about how this conceptual breakthrough came about, which was chiefly through being away from his gaming group after leaving for college and reading a few books which sparked his ideas: The Compleat Strategist (1954) by J.D. Williams and Conflict and Defense: A General Theory (1962), by Kenneth E. Boulding. Braunstein doesn't have any rules on conflict resolution however, or an impartial way of resolving inter-player conflict -- it is all left up to the referee to improvise on that. Still, it is important to keep in mind that Dave Arneson originally referred to his Blackmoor campaign as a medieval Braunstein and asked if Dave Wesely would mind if he ran 'Braunsteins' while Wesely was away at college. Also, it seems that armor class and hit points came from naval battle scenarios for the game DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP with these terms transported over from naval vessels to individual characters. Also, Kevin McColl told me that the conflict resolution system Arneson used for Blackmoor wasn't the CHAINMAIL Fantasy Supplement -- although he tried it -- but an earlier incarnation of the medieval warfare rules published in the Domesday Book #5 with modifications. According to McColl the first wizard (Pete Gaylord) was a player wanting to throw a fire ball with material spell component of super big berries found in the Blackmoor campaign. It was certainly a fertile period with lots of communication going back and forth between EGG and Arneson, and it seems EGG was a proponent of adding in the fantasy element to the medieval warfare rules.

[GRWelsh]

Day 4 [3/25]… Blizzard in Wisconsin! Otiluke must be researching a new cold based spell!

[EDIT] I got up this morning and cleared the snow off of my huge VW SUV which took over ten minutes. Luckily, the thing drives like a truck and Wisconsinites have zero trouble getting roads cleared so I had no problem getting to the Grand Geneva. My first event today was "Battle for the Moathouse" starting at 8 AM. When I got there Kevin Maurice was setting up the next table over which was for "Warriors of Mars" so I talked to him for a while and admired the miniatures for that game (green men of Mars, white apes, red rock formations in a desert landscape). In the "Battle for the Moathouse" I was on the side of Weal and I controlled Jaroo, Brother Smyth, Black Jay, the elves of the Northwest, and the gnomes. My teammate controlled the hero units of Otis, Elmo, Captain Orrin and Serjeant Ostler Gundigoot, and we shared duties of moving the troops which included three onagers/catapults. When some of our axemen went into the woods to cut down trees to make a battering ram, a treant emerged and threated to attack! Paul created some custom rules which were detailed on handouts, and since it was stated Jaroo was friendly with the treants I moved him up to do a special action of talking to the treant. After making a successful reaction roll, I convinced the treant not to attack us and sent the axemen out of the grove. Also, I found out the treant was hostile because of the nearby men who had been cutting down local trees... Therefore, the treant would join us in our assault on the moat house! In game terms the treant was like a heavy catapult that could fire every turn by picking up and throwing heavy rocks. Our units advanced and the gnomes, elves, Black Jay and Brother Smyth all had special movement allowing them to go through the fens without penalty, so they advanced on the left. The others advanced towards a bridge over a narrowing of the fens on the right. A black knight rode out from the moat house to this bridge to taunt us before dropping a bag into the water. A round later, a monstrous troll climbed out of the fen and took a position to block the bridge. An evil sorcerer on the moat house walls cast a spell and the entire battlefield began to dim in light... It was a special darkness spell that worked over a huge area of effect and happened gradually. Otis bravely drew his magical glowing sword to counter the darkness and then rode forth to challenge the troll -- he struck it down, allowing the troops to advance. As they did, the catapult on the round moat house tower fired and wiped out our the militia pikemen in one devastating hit. The forces of woe jeered at us as bands of orcs sallied forth across the drawbridge. But on the left, Black Jay and the elf archers shot down the orcs in a series of volleys. Brother Smyth tried casting heat metal on the black knight, but he saved and moved back inside the moat house and ordered his men to shut the gate. Then Brother Smyth cast faerie fire to light up the crossbow and catapult units atop the round tower. The gnome slingers moved up and slew a crossbow unit on the tower. The archers and crossbowmen inside the moat house fired as our main force advanced from the right. "Come on, men!" Otis called out as he galloped towards the gate. The treant threw boulders towards the round tower and main gate, but only hit a side wall once. Jaroo changed the weather from a clear day to a cloudy day, and then called down lightning to incinerate some orc zombies! Just as we were about to get to the wall and had our onagers loaded and in range to fire, we had to stop the game because we ran out of time (4 hours)! Unfortunately, it was a draw since both sides had only received minor casualties up to this point.

After the game I introduced myself to Theron "Terry" Kuntz and spoke to him for quite a while next to the sand table. We talked about the earliest Blackmoor and D&D games, Rob, proper spelling of Teric and pronunciation of Robilar (as in "Robe" not "Rob" for first syllable), how common it was to subdue dragons back then (Teric had black, Robilar had green, Mordenkainen had red), the creation of the beholder, his early employment at TSR, and many other things. Then I went down to the vendor's hall and browsed around and talked to people. Lots of artists, writers and campaign designers were trying to sell their works and I got on a few mailing lists. I didn't want to buy much on site because I don't want to carry a ton of things back home... All I bought was a second copy of the Jasmine card game from Darlene. Then I came back to the hotel after stopping in at the Lake Geneva Pie Company to buy a slice of coconut cream pie... Excellent crust, and I had some of their baked goods last year when staying at Seven Oaks B&B as that was included in my basket every day. I sauteed some potatoes and a pork chop and ate it with a salad and then just crashed for a while.

By 7 PM I was back at the Grand Geneva to play in Allan Grohe's Greyhawk Dungeon. This time, were were going to explore a level based on an actual map from EGG's Greyhawk Dungeon but Allan didn't have the original key so he keyed it himself and tied in the motivation to his home campaign. Our party of good adventurers were on a quest to help get clarification on the Prophecy of the Six and Twelve which came from Celestian. I was a human ranger (Gralkin), and the others were a fighting man (Singis), a paladin of Delleb (William), a cleric (Ylana) magic-user (Jeff), thief (Helga), bard (played by Bill Silvey, I think the character name was Lilith), dwarf fighter (Gloin) and elf m-u/thief (Garfrey). [More to come when I have time to write later]

[geneweigel]

That stinks. Right now I've become so used to this subtropical weather that I'm wearing pants with earthworms cooking on the sidewalk.

Did you see on Facebook that the actor Vince Vaughn was playing in Allen Hammack's Boot Hill game yesterday? Thats bizarre.

[GRWelsh]

I know Vince Vaughn and Joe Manganiello are at Gary Con this year and I heard they are filming a documentary about 50 Years of D&D. I know there was a film crew set up at 330 Center Street where Paul was running some Greyhawk Dungeon games. I didn't see Vince Vaughn but I heard a guy complaining about how Vince bought something before he could get it at the vendor's hall! I saw Joe Manganiello sitting next to Larry Elmore as judges of the cosplay event in the central lobby area next to the restaurant. Some of the costumes were pretty creative and elaborate! I was surprised at how many people dressed up this year. There were elf ears and Hawaiian shirts everywhere, yesterday.

[GRWelsh]

Day 5 [3/26]: I got to sleep in this morning and woke up to see much of the snow is melted and the roads are clear. I made breakfast and now I'm typing up some notes here before going to my final scheduled Gary Con event which is Tom Wham's Moose Quest card game at 10 AM. I played it once before at a virtual Gary Con and it's great fun. After that, I'm ready to take a break from scheduled games and just hang out for the rest of the day. EDIT: I went to the Great Geneva and bought a coffee and chocolate croissant at the cafe and then played Moose Quest with 5 other players and Tom Wham guiding and explaining the rules. I did not win -- came in second place -- but I got Tom's autograph along with a snit drawing in my DMG, and snapped a few photos of Tom signing "Awful Green Things from Outer Space" and an issue of DRAGON magazine #40 for another player. I also got an autograph from Harold Johnson who happened to be in the same room. Then I returned to the vendor's hall and browsed around and finally bought "The Hyqueous Vaults" module from Allan and got his signature. I came back to hotel to eat lunch and then get a work out in and also to walk around the town of Lake Geneva which I've been wanting to do for a long time. Today is a good day for it since the sidewalks are clear and it is above freezing (i.e. a balmy Wisconsin day). EDIT: I finally got to do my walk around the town of Lake Geneva, and snapped a few photos along the way. My route was from the Cove up Center Street, east on Dodge, north on Sage, west on Walworth, west on Marshall, a stop at the Dungeon Hobby Shop to talk to Jeff Leason and buy a shirt and dice, south on Broad, west on Dodge, south on Madison, east on Geneva, south on Broad, east on Main, south and Center and back to the Cove. For dinner I made an egg sandwich and some sauteed potatoes with a glass of white wine, and then relaxed while listening to to the podcast Gabbin #236 which includes Allan Grohe, Anna Meyer and Rob Kuntz.

[GRWelsh]

Day 6 [3/27]: I must have been really tired since I went to bed early last night but still slept in to about 8 this morning. I got up, made some coffee, went downstairs to the gym and lifted weights for a while, then came back to check some work emails to respond to a few items. Right now I'm about to eat an early lunch before going to Ernie's... I told him I'd arrive at noon. It is a sunny day in Lake Geneva! When I arrived at Ernie's house (which he calls "the Dragonlands" and not to be confused with his dad's ranch with the same name which is further west) there was another player there named Johnny (online name Rex Cerulean) and we all talked for a while before some others showed up: Jeremy, Edwin and Wayne. Wayne was going to play since he had to leave early, but we talked him into playing a bit.

[geneweigel]

Mar 26, 2023 8:51:34 GMT -5 GRWelsh said:

I also got an autograph from Harold Johnson who happened to be in the same room.

I hope you didn't mention his invention of the Kender...

and then relaxed while listening to to the podcast Gabbin #236 which includes Allan Grohe, Anna Meyer and Rob Kuntz.

Well that sounds interesting. I think that lady was at the Greyhawk seminar last year but I'm not sure. Something about maps? I'll have to check that out.

I hope Rob is getting back to grindstone!

[geneweigel]

I started watching the video of it here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmGKXKPS6kA

I'm about 20 minutes in. I heard the advanced version of the Elastolin play story with who owned what culture was who they always played as.

[geneweigel]

I thought that I made another post but it must have been deleted.

I listened to the entirety.

I can't believe his reaction about Barbarous Coast as if he totally forgot it. But we've been waiting faithfully... I remember colorizing his public BC maps for gameplay when I was running the 3E Greyhawk. I never got around to going there because the players had moved away. That was that player who I ran into at GenCon who was stinking drunk asking me to stay at my hotel as I was getting in the taxi for the airport to leave. Crazy times. Its weird having Rob talk about Darlene when he had absolutely no recognition of the Greyhawk map when I showed it to him at that con. So he must have departed for Mexico just before she finished. That is weird.

[grodog]

Mar 25, 2023 7:48:20 GMT -5 GRWelsh said:

Day 4 [3/25]

By 7 PM I was back at the Grand Geneva to play in Allan Grohe's Greyhawk Dungeon. This time, were were going to explore a level based on an actual map from EGG's Greyhawk Dungeon but Allan didn't have the original key so he keyed it himself and tied in the motivation to his home campaign. Our party of good adventurers were on a quest to help get clarification on the Prophecy of the Six and Twelve which came from Celestian. I was a human ranger (Gralkin), and the others were a fighting man (Singis), a paladin of Delleb (William), a cleric (Ylana) magic-user (Jeff), thief (Helga), bard (played by Bill Silvey, I think the character name was Lilith), dwarf fighter (Gloin) and elf m-u/thief (Garfrey). [More to come when I have time to write later]

I'll have a full write up of my events in my convention recap this weekend (hopefully!), but it was great fun to meet you and play together, Gary =)

Allan.