D&D General GaryCon Cancelled Because Of Caronavirus Pandemic

Gary Con, which was due to take place this month in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, has been cancelled because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The convention started in 2008, established by Gary Gygax's son, Luke Gygax, after the D&D Co-reator passed away. Here's the full announcement.

"... our highest priority has to be taking care of people and especially our family. The incredible staff, volunteers, and game masters, Gary Con has been proud to host the celebration of Gary’s life with a continued emphasis on creating fun, friendly and high quality gaming experiences for our attendees. It is with that priority in mind that we have decided, after many hours of internal deliberation and consultation with the Grand Geneva leadership, that we should cancel this year’s event. We decided that the health and well-being of our gaming family comes first. We continued planning and did everything in our power to make Gary Con run as normal, we are convinced that following both government guidance and our own judgement concerning the COVID-19 virus is the best course of action."

Gary Con XII Cancelled Due to the Increased Risks of COVID-19 - GaryCon

As I said yesterday in a post about the public health emergency in Wisconsin, I would be posting an update within the next 24 hours. Gary Con is more than just a gaming convention, it is a celebration of the life and works of my Dad, Gary Gygax, and his love of gaming. The spirit…

garycon.com

The Grand Geneva Resort, which was hosting the event, has allowed the event to be cancelled with no fee. Reservation fees will be refunded soon, and those affected will get a discount in 2021.

 

[Pravus]

So Planet X games, the group behind Jungle Tomb of The Mummy Queen, an Occurrence at Howling Crater, and the upcoming April 7th kickstarter of Escape from Skullcano Island, the main guy, Levi Combs, said if you purchased a Garycon badge for this year's event, he will give you a free PDF of Jungle Tomb of The Mummy Queen and the initial digital goodies that came with it outta support for the fans of the hobby.
Just gotta DM/contact him. And Levi Combs is a super awesome guy!

https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTE3NzczNTU1NTg5OTE2NzY6Mjk1NzU5Nzc0MDk2NzQ0Ng%3D%3D

I am not going to GaryCon but the adventure looked cool so I bought it.

 

[ddaley]

...

https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTE3NzczNTU1NTg5OTE2NzY6Mjk1NzU5Nzc0MDk2NzQ0Ng%3D%3D

I wonder how many people that were going to GaryCon don't have a facebook account...

 

[ShadoWWW]

I am from Czechia (formal Czechoslovakia), and it's big here nowadays. All schools are closed, all stores but pharmacy and food markets are closed, all cinemas, theatres and libraries are closed, all employees better be on home office, all teahouses, restaurants and pubs are closing at 8 p.m. All because of coronavirus. Even our group is starting to play DnD via Fantasy Grounds next week instead of our regular game in the teahouse.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

10s of millions would have had a death toll in at least the hundreds of thousands at a fatality rare of 2%, so no, your pulling those numbers out of thin air.

I would wager that millions have had it and had very mild symptoms and never even knew it, had a cold or a touch of the flu they figured. When this is over the actual mortality rate will be higher than the flu but much lower than the 2-3%. JMO of course. We will see how it plays out.

As for GaryCon some are not happy that badges are not being refunded. Just some kind of discount for next year is being offered. I was goign to go but my job changed and I had to cancel my room a couple months ago before I had picked up my badge. I'd probably be a little annoyed at not getting a refund.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Take a moment and realize that all those ill people you described above survived an encounter with the virus and are now resistant / immune.

 

[3catcircus]

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And that would be no different than any other coronavirus (or rhinovirus, for that matter). The rate of genetic mutation is why we lose immunity to any of the typical cold viruses.

 

[Mournblade94]

Take a moment and realize that all those ill people you described above survived an encounter with the virus and are now resistant / immune.

Think along these lines:
I will not Fear.
Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings utter annihilation.
I will face my Fear; I will allow it to pass over me and around me and through me.
I will turn the inward eye to discern from whence the Fear has come.
The Fear shall be gone, and I shall remain.

THey may not at all be immune. It depends on how long the antibodies stay around. There is no guarantee that this is a one and done disease. There are those in Japan that are reporting re-infection. Is that because the test gave a false negative where there was still dormant virus in the body or is that because of re-infection. We don't know. But there is no definite on whether this is a one and done disease.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Same. Bummed out about it, but it was the right decision to make. I may attend some of the seminars on the virtual Gary Con they're doing, though.

Tomorrow they've said they're putting up a bunch of merchandise on the online store to help defray losses, and have encouraged people to make online purchases of sponsors and vendors.

Of course, the first year I was going to check them out. Try again next year.

 

[3catcircus]

I would wager that millions have had it and had very mild symptoms and never even knew it, had a cold or a touch of the flu they figured. When this is over the actual mortality rate will be higher than the flu but much lower than the 2-3%. JMO of course. We will see how it plays out.

As for GaryCon some are not happy that badges are not being refunded. Just some kind of discount for next year is being offered. I was goign to go but my job changed and I had to cancel my room a couple months ago before I had picked up my badge. I'd probably be a little annoyed at not getting a refund.

There are some decent guesstimates, based upon some statistical modeling that put the number of folks in the US with covid-19 right around 87,000 or so. Based upon what we are currently seeing, it looks like between 10-100 people out of every million develop observable symptoms. We'll see higher numbers of positives not because more people are getting it, but because authorities have started testing in earnest. South Korea right now is the best source of data to model infectiousness and mortality.