Gary Con XIV

Gary Con XIV is being held this weekend, the first in-person physical con since Gary Con XII was canceled back in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Promotional art for Gary Con XIV (March 24-27, 2022)

I made the pilgrimage to Lake Geneva along with my son, taking the opportunity to roll some dice with old friends, as well as make some new ones.

Winter War IV (1977):

I ran "Tower of Ulission" on Thursday morning, the first round of the D&D tournament at Winter War IV, held back in 1977, and am running "Sword of Hope" this morning, the second round.

Both adventures were published by Judges Guild, although a planned, third instalment was never released.  (See my recent reviews, posted on Dragonsfoot, here and here).

Miniatures:

Native Britons ambush a force of Roman legionnaires in "Fury of the Celts"

My son played in "Fury of the Celts" using the relatively obscure "Classic Warfare" rules, by Gary Gygax.  Sadly, the Celts didn't stand much of a chance against Roman legionnaires.

On Friday, he also got a chance to play "Siege of Bodenburg", run by Paul Stormberg (featured in this clip), the miniatures game which so impressed Gygax at Gen Con I, back in 1968.

Tekumel:

I participated in Bill Hoyt's Empire of the Petal Throne game "Jakala, City of the Dead", which was overshadowed by the recent controversy surrounding M.A.R. Barker.

Bill did a good job sharing his vision of Barker's setting, so different from other fantasy worlds.  (Our group survived an encounter with the "Shunned Ones", and made it out alive.)

Holmes:

A group of us had a fantastic time playing Zach Howard's "Expedition to Skull Stack Crater", successfully defeating an ancient evil and retrieving the Spear of Decree!

I used Zach's Holmesian name generator to come up with a name for my 3rd level cleric, resulting in the perfectly fitting "Ithzefxor".

Call of Cthulhu:

Cover to Weird Tales vol. 22, no. 4 (October, 1933), with stories by Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft

Playing the Call of Cthulhu scenario "Save Weird Tales!" has been another highlight of the con.  (I played a lot of Call of Cthulhu, back in the day.)

I got to role-play Clark Ashton Smith and Otis Adelbert Kline, along with the Appendix N Bookclub podcast's Jeff Goad, who played H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth!

Braunstein:

I had the pleasure of participating in David Wesely's "Braunstein I", a fascinating experience, interwoven with plenty of historical anecdotes.

Meanwhile, my son signed up for Bill Hoyt's "Medieval Braunstein", (rounding out his education into the roots of the hobby).

Blackmoor:

I'm looking forward to Griffith Morgan's "Arneson's D&D Battle in the Skies 1973" later this evening, another glimpse into the original Blackmoor campaign.*

*check out this post over at Delta's D&D Hotspot (August 17, 2020)

Knights of Camelot:

"Knights of Camelot" trophy, presented to the winner of the Sunday morning game, at Gary Con XIV

On Sunday morning, I'm signed up to play the "Knights of Camelot Fantasy Boardgame" using a gorgeous, oversized map of the board.

All in all, another fantastic trip to Lake Geneva, after three long years!