Questions for those who go to GaryCon.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 16, 2019

Really thinking of getting a silver badge and heading up this year. What to expect? Is it just non stop gaming with industry legends or is that more of the myth, or more reserved for those with the really expensive badges? How is the vendor setup? A lot of stuff for sale? Is the miniature wargaming pretty strong there? Fun, too much hassle? Good location and facilities?

I've pretty much written off GenCon at this point but I'd like to do a con like this.

AriochQ · Jan 16, 2019

First year I went, Mike Carr stopped by during my Fight in the Skies session, just to see how things were going. One of the fellow players in that session was Skip Williams. Last year I sat in on Dave Megarry's Dungeon! session, it didn't require any upgraded badge. It is much smaller than Gen Con, so you see 'industry legends' pretty often just walking around. Most of them are there to game, so there is a decent chance you could run into them during a session.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 16, 2019

AriochQ said:
First year I went, Mike Carr stopped by during my Fight in the Skies session, just to see how things were going. One of the fellow players in that session was Skip Williams. Last year I sat in on Dave Megarry's Dungeon! session, it didn't require any upgraded badge. It is much smaller than Gen Con, so you see 'industry legends' pretty often just walking around. Most of them are there to game, so there is a decent chance you could run into them during a session.

Yeah, being a fraction of the size of GenCon and more OSR focused, I've heard, really appeals to me. I'm looking for old school tourney AD&D/OD&D type gaming. Plus some mini gaming. Well run?

AriochQ · Jan 16, 2019

Flexor the Mighty! said:
Yeah, being a fraction of the size of GenCon and more OSR focused, I've heard, really appeals to me. I'm looking for old school tourney AD&D/OD&D type gaming. Plus some mini gaming. Well run?

I try to play a lot of different game systems at Gary Con, the very reason being the high GM quality. I played Traveller and Battletech last year, and the GM's involved knew their stuff inside and out. Makes sense really, if you are running Traveller at a convention in 2018, you are super into Traveller!

As a side not, if you end up liking Gary Con (which I suspect you will), you should check out Gamehole Con. Many of the same people involved and has a similar feel. We did an interview with Alex Kammer on The Grognards podcast I co-host (you can find it under LAG radio network on soundcloud, iTunes, etc. if interested). We will have a Gary Con interview with Luke Gygax dropping in about 2 weeks.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 16, 2019

Reading the GC forums I'm seeing some tension between OSR and AL gamers. Is AL/PFS taking over the Con or something?

I'm waiting for an Admin to approve me for posting so I can ask a few questions there.

AriochQ · Jan 16, 2019

Flexor the Mighty! said:
Reading the GC forums I'm seeing some tension between OSR and AL gamers. Is AL/PFS taking over the Con or something?

I'm waiting for an Admin to approve me for posting so I can ask a few questions there.

I don't follow the forums, but I doubt AL/PFS could 'take over' Gary Con lol. IMHO, AL has been the weakest part of Gary Con in terms of GM quality. That being said, expectations in an organized play setting should be different than a home game or stand alone outside of organized play. They all offer different experiences, none of which are 'wrong' or 'better', just different.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 16, 2019

AriochQ said:
I don't follow the forums, but I doubt AL/PFS could 'take over' Gary Con lol. IMHO, AL has been the weakest part of Gary Con in terms of GM quality. That being said, expectations in an organized play setting should be different than a home game or stand alone outside of organized play. They all offer different experiences, none of which are 'wrong' or 'better', just different.

Thanks for all the good info. I have zero interest in AL or honestly played 5e/PF there so that one thread got me wondering. It was a pit pissy in tone between some of the participants. I'll have to make a decision tomorrow.

billd91 · Jan 16, 2019

Flexor the Mighty! said:
Reading the GC forums I'm seeing some tension between OSR and AL gamers. Is AL/PFS taking over the Con or something?

I'm waiting for an Admin to approve me for posting so I can ask a few questions there.

Take over is unlikely, however, AL had a LOT of participants last year. It's definitely got a healthy following. PFS and SFS had decent turnout, but AL probably had an order of magnitude on them.

AriochQ · Jan 16, 2019

billd91 said:
Take over is unlikely, however, AL had a LOT of participants last year. It's definitely got a healthy following. PFS and SFS had decent turnout, but AL probably had an order of magnitude on them.

To me, that is great news! One of the strengths of organized play is the ability to bring newer gamers into the fold more quickly. They often drift out of organized play once they are established and make local connections.

I tend to not buy into the "Us versus Them" mentality of the thread I checked out on the forum. I have been gaming since 1978 and still play a wide variety of games, including running a weekly AL game at my FLGS every Wednesday and playing/running AL games at conventions (along with a variety of other non-AL games, including AD&D). Does AL have a large contingent at Gary Con? Undoubtedly. Does that subtract from any other game experience? Nope. Anyone who suggests otherwise should take a good hard look at their own behavior and attitudes, for that is where the problem likely lies.

Is noise an issue? I am sure it is. Noise is an issue at almost every convention I attend and very little correlation to organized play. Put that many tables of non-organized play in the same space and you will have the same issue.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 17, 2019

Cool. I'm interested in GaryCon for the old school games, as I said earlier no desire at all to play AL or the like, and the one thread made is seem like the OS games were being pushed to the side and it was turning into every other Con dominated by the new edition. So I get worried about spending a $700-1000 attending only to find the game list be mostly 5e.

You register for all games in advance right?

Questions for those who go to GaryCon.

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

AriochQ

Adventurer

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

AriochQ

Adventurer

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

AriochQ

Adventurer

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him)

AriochQ

Adventurer

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

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