Gary Con XVIII

My friends and I attended Gary Con once again, this year, held from March 19-22 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Artwork by Jeff Easley

This time around, we drove up a few days early, in order to settle in and playtest a couple of the games that I was planning to run.

Lankhmar: City of Adventure

Lankhmar: City of Adventure (1993)

Our first game of the con was actually on Wednesday, March 18 - a game run by the legendary Harold Johnson, organized by a friend.

Harold was the project coordinator for the AD&D 2e revision of "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" (originally published for 1e, in 1985) and is a fan of Leiber's stories.

It was my third time in three years playing in a game run by Harold, and it was great fun, as usual, with lots of memorable situations.

RuneQuest: Cattle Raid

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (2018)

I've always been intrigued by RuneQuest, and so was looking forward to playing a game.

The scenario was "Cattle Raid" from the "RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha" GM's adventure book, included with the GM's screen.

The mechanics were, not surprisingly, similar to Call of Cthulhu, since both use the Basic Role-Playing (BRP) system.

It was a fun game, and I'm looking forward to revisiting Glorantha.

Night's Dark Terror: Siege at Sukiskyn

Illustration by Helen Bedford

This year, I ran two scenarios drawn from B10 "Night's Dark Terror" (1986).  The first was the Siege of Sukiskyn, a fortified homestead in a goblin-haunted forest.

I pre-printed the foldout map of Sukiskyn and various counters on hardstock, and they worked great in practice.  The PCs were ultimately successful in defending the homestead.

For the pregens, I used the thief from M1 "Blizzard Pass" (1983) as well as the pre-generated characters from B6 "The Veiled Society" (1984).

Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu (7th ed.)

Friday was my "Call of Cthulhu" day of the con, with four consecutive Call of Cthulhu scenarios.

I played in "High Water", "Shaolin Ghost Story", and "Facemaker" (each run by the "You Too Can Cthulhu" gang) and finished with "The Shadow Beneath the Ice" over at Timber Ridge.

All scenarios were run using the 7th ed. rules, published in 2016, and each was memorable in its own way (my character survived 2/4 times).

Immortality: Exploring the Unknown

Illustration by Larry Elmore

On Saturday morning, I hosted what was surely the highest level game of the con - a part workshop/part one-shot Immortals session.

We spent much of the time reviewing the paths to Immortality, in the context of BECMI cosmology, as players transformed a favorite character of the past into a rookie Immortal.

Towards the end, we rolled for a random event on the astral plane, and ran through a short encounter with a draeden.

Oerthbound: Beyond The Void (Part 1)

My friends and I signed up for an interesting AD&D 2e scenario, involving a group of marines stranded on an alien planet.

Our host skillfully wove us into a prequel to "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks".

Our marines fought creatures like bulettes and umber hulks, and we're looking forward to participating in "Part 2" at next year's Gary Con.

Night's Dark Terror: The Lost Valley

Illustration by Geoff Wingate

My second scenario from B10 "Night's Dark Terror" involved an expedition to the Lost Valley of Hutaaka, the domain of Kartoeba "the Thing in the Pit".

While the game was initially full with 8 players and 9 on the waiting list, 5 players canceled.  I was grateful to the 3 who showed up, including Zach Howard (of Zenopus Archives) and his son.

Fortunately, we were soon joined by 3 walk-ups, who joined the scenario with role-playing gusto, resulting in a truly memorable adventure for all concerned!

For pregens, I used the prerolled characters from B5 "Horror on the Hill", with magic items drawn from that adventure.

Knights of Camelot

Knights of Camelot (1980)

On Sunday morning, I helped the inimitable Doug Waltman run one of his famed "Knights of Camelot" sessions.

My friend Vince stepped in when someone who had previously signed up decided to cancel, and Vince ended up winning the game.

"Knights of Camelot" remains one of my favorite games, and I only wish that I could track down one of those hard-to-find sets.

M1: Blizzard Pass

Module M1 "Blizzard Pass" by David Cook is a Basic D&D solo adventure for thieves level 1-3 (a nameless, pregenerated 1st level thief is included).  A separate section alternately covers play for a low level party of adventurers.

Title page to module M1 "Blizzard Pass" (1983) by David Cook.  Illustration by Harry Quinn.

The module was edited by Troy Denning (later co-creator of the Dark Sun setting), and features some great interior illustrations by Harry Quinn and Jim Holloway.

An invisible ink pen was used to reveal the hidden entries (also viewable using a blacklight).  Individual entries are available at The Blizzard Pass Project and here.

I've only played through "Blizzard Pass" once, but found it very enjoyable, (making it all the way to "the Master's" quarters before getting killed).

Blizzard Pass:

Possible location for Blizzard Pass "the treacherous path that winds over the Cruth Mountains between the Five Shires and Darokin".

The adventure begins within the Five Shires, with the main character pursued by a mob of angry peasants:

"There's the cur!" a man snarls.  The peasants have found you again.  The crowd presses closer, their dark faces twisted with anger.

"Murderer!" cries an old lady.

"I was framed!" you gasp.  The peasants will not listen, even though what you say is true.

"Kill the swine," says a flat, even voice.  The words are backed by the authority of the sheriff.

from M1 "Blizzard Pass" by David Cook

These sound more like humans than halflings, although mention of a sheriff suggests that Cook might have originally envisioned halflings (which I think suits his sense of humor).

Location:

Regarding a location on Mystara:

Q. Where would Blizzard Pass (of module M1 of the same name - the old D&D game invisible-ink module) be on the map?  It's supposed to run between the Five Shires and Darokin.  Does it lead to Mar or Hinmeet?

A. The location was never established, but it would be logical to place the pass between the villages of Ringrise and Hinmeet (looking at the color mapsheet of the region).  The pass between Sateeka and Mar is too well travelled and at too low an altitude for this type of adventure.

Dragon #184 (August, 1992)

Dungeon design is discussed over at Zenopus Archives, here.  (See also Mapping of Blizzard Pass by Robin on the Vaults of Pandius for additional details.)

Stodos:

There are details regarding an evil B/X god, with great potential:

As you advance into the room, you see a magnificent white statue of a toad-like creature resting in the center of the room.  The body of the stone beast lies close to the ground, as if ready to spring.  Your lantern light glitters off its enormous multi-faceted eyes, making the statue seem almost alive.

Illustration by Harry Quinn

Roderick circles the statue slowly, studying it from all sides.  Finally, he says, "If I remember my studies properly, this is a statue of the vile god Stodos, called Master of the Icy Wastes by his worshippers.  This evil god lives in a frozen world where no other life survives, and is an abomination to all things natural.  His worshippers desire to spread his icy realm throughout the land.  Some even believe he bestows power over the elements upon his most devoted followers."

"The unnatural storm that brought us here!" gasps Salamdros.  "Could his vermin have caused such a thing?"

Roderick thinks for a moment.  "Yes," he finally answers, "and if so, the lands below face great danger.

from M1 "Blizzard Pass" by David Cook

Group Adventure:

The group adventure is designed for a party of four to five characters (levels 2-3), comprised of all major classes (the Background states "You recently took passage aboard a caravan travelling to Darokin across Blizzard Pass").

New Monsters:

Rock or Cave Toad, Snow Ape

Update (January 5, 2026):

I ran the group adventure for my friends and their kids, last week.  We used pregens from AC1 "The Shady Dragon Inn".  They were able to rescue the prisoners and get back out, with only two party member deaths.

The ogre standing guard outside the cave entrance throws iceballs 60', for 1-12 points of damage.  Going forward, I will permit ogres to throw rocks (20'/40'/60'), for 1-12 points of damage.

The rock/cave toads are very tough opponents - AC 2, but effectively AC 0 if attackers try to avert their gaze, during combat (gleaned from the solo portion).

The session lasted 4-5 hours, with a 30-45 min break after the first few hours.  We used miniatures, and I traced out sections of the map onto poster-sized, 1" graph paper and cut them out for use as tiles, which facilitated play.