Showing posts with label Gary Con. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gary Con. Show all posts

Monday, March 24, 2025

Gary Con XVII Afterword

 Back from Gary Con 17! I had an absolute blast. Got to see so many great people. Old friends, fans of the blog and my games, so many great gamers with great stories.  Sales wise, we did really great this year, Thirteen Parsecs was our big hit of course, but we also sold a lot of Wasted Lands. I think word of mouth is finally catching on!

Gary Con 17 badge

I bought a lot less this year, only picking up the Cthulhu by Gaslight Investigator's book. But there was a lot of great stuff here.

Discovered there are editions of Dungeon! I do not own, Spanish and German. So now I am on a hunt for those.

Spanish language Dungeon, "Calabozo"

Spanish language Dungeon, "Calabozo"

German language Dungeon, "Verlies"

I do speak both Spanish and German. Just not very well.

I worked on my old-school autograph collection.

Jeff Grubb

Zeb Cook

Ed Greenwood & Jeff Grubb

Tim Kask

Erol Otus

I learned the hard way a while back if you want to talk to these guys you need to do it now. None of us are getting any younger.

Talking with Tim Kask is always great. I discovered there is a bit of early D&D lore connected to our Alma Mater, Southern Illinois University, that I plan to explore in depth soon. Talking with Jeff Grubb is always great, this is the first year I thought to get his autograph! So much for following my own advice. 

Jeff Easly and Darlene were there, and they were fantastic as always. I didn't get anything signed from them this year since I do every year. Let someone else in.

I did get a chance to talk to Kelsey Dionne a couple of times and she is every bit as nice and approachable as everyone has said she is. She even knew about my witch book! So I had to give her a copy. They had a great con, I fully expect they sold out of their stock as well.  It is hard not to wish them all the success in the world, really. 

Shadowdark Witches

As I said, we did good, but Jason did better with Troll Lords Games. His new Wasted Lands sold out of its first printing and was the star of Troll Lords this year. So expect to see him to be writing for them for a long time to come. 

Amazing Adventures

Amazing Adventures

My oldest went with me and did not but play AD&D 1st Ed. We had a BECMI game one night but we were both so tired we opted to drive home instead. Yeah, I still drive into Gary Con every day. My youngest with with us the last day, but didnot stay, they were picked up by their girlfriend and they spent the day in downtown Lake Geneva while we did the con.

So yeah, we all had a complete blast!

My wife was in England that whole time, lucky (for her) when she booked her trip she flew out of London City Airport and not Heathrow. So she was not affected by the fire at Heathrow, save for her flight being delayed a little.

Looking forward to Gary Con XXVIII next year!

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Gary Con XVII

 I am at Gary Con!

Come by the Elf Lair Game booth to say hi. Both #119.

Elf Lair Games

We have NIGHT SHIFT, Wasted Lands, Thirteen Parsecs, and Jason's newest one Cd8.

Come on by, say hi, buy some books.


Monday, March 17, 2025

Gary Con bound!

 This is a quick one today. I am trying to get some things done. Why? Because I am headed to Gary Con again!

GaryCon 17

Once again I'll be with Elf Lair Games, so stop by (and buy!) if you can.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Friday, March 29, 2024

#FollowFriday: The Bewitched Parlor

 Gary Con is not just a great place to see old friends, play some great games and sell some books. It is also a great place to meet some new friends. I want to spend some of the next few #FollowFridays featuring some of the great folks I got to meet.  Up first Luna and Blaise at The Bewitched Parlor.

Luna is in charge of this eclectic shop located in the aptly named Salem, WI. So they are local to Gary Con and this was their first con.

They were selling some fantastic handmade witch hats, journals, leather goods, and yes, even some dice. Actually, everything is handmade by Luna, except for the dice, but you can choose those...so a handmade set.

Luna from The Bewitched Parlor
Shop owner Luna


The Bewitched Parlor

The Bewitched Parlor

The Bewitched Parlor

The Bewitched Parlor

Jason with a hat
Elf Lair Games with a new Witch Hat

Plus, they had the coolest looking booth and even a fireplace!  Luna and Blaise were fantastic, and I wish them all the best!

You can check out all their links below. Head over to her website and pick something up!

The Bewitched Parlor 

Monday, March 25, 2024

Gary Con 2024

 I am back from Gary Con 2024! Well...back is an odd word, I drive up from home every day and drive back at night. Just about an hour to get there, not too bad. And I had a GREAT TIME!

Elf Lair Games at Gary Con

I was there with Elf Lair Games, selling copies of NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. I have to admit, we did really great.  I was going to run some games, but in truth I was so busy at the booth that I never had the chance, but no worries this year we were joined by our long-time writing and collaboration partner from our Eden Studios days, Derek Stoelting, ran all our games. He is particularly good at it, too, and he has written many of our adventures.

The Con itself was fantastic.

New Friends and Old

I got the chance to talk with some really great people. We went in with Pick Up and Go Games for our booth, which was great. They are really fantastic. 

Next to us was Black Oak Workshop, which was selling these great dice sets. Including the 31-Themed Dice set above, which I am going to feature in October. I will open one up a day!

Across from us was The Bewitched Parlor. They were great and had a lot of cool witchy-wear including some rally great hats. Jason bought one for his wife. Plus, they had the coolest looking booth.

The Bewitched Parlor

The Bewitched Parlor

The Bewitched Parlor

The Bewitched Parlor

Of course, I HAD to stop by Troll Lords Games' booth.

Troll Lords Games

Picked up the only two books they had that I didn't own. We went separate this year from them as an experiment and I say the experiment worked out quite well for us.  But if you missed them, Jason WILL be with the Troll Lords at Gen Con selling copies of his new Troll Lords books. He has a few more coming out with Troll Lords, but I am not 100% sure if they will be ready for Gen Con or not.

I was THRILLED that so many came by to chat, say hi, ask about what we are doing next. There were so many folks I wanted to talk to but didn't get the chance. Manged to chat with Tim Kask for a bit. I found out we hung out at a lot of the same places at our university, except 15-20 years apart. His brother lived in the same dorms I did. I gotta remember I need to get him to sign something next year.  

Speaking of which.

Autographs

I am not an autograph hound, but this year, I wanted to make an effort to get the signatures of some of the people I grew up admiring while I still could.

Signed books

Dave "Diesel" LaForce

I got some art from Dave "Diesel" LaForce and had him sign a few of my books, including a cool Eye Monster in my early printing DMG. We talked about how this Con was more like a work reunion for him and how he got to see many old friends and co-workers again.  We talked a bit about Trampier and others no longer with us.

Darlene's art

I also got some more art from the ever-wonderful and lovely Darlene. I also got her to sign my DMG as well.  Those Greyhawk map art prints are really great.  I also got a LOT signed by Jeff Easley. He was also fantastic. We sat there and chatted for a bit during one of the infrequent lulls in his booth.

Death's Ride

Larry Elmore was there, but I have a lot of things signed by him and I have a lot of his prints since I see him at Gary Con and Gen Con. 

David "Zeb" Cook

David "Zeb" Cook

I also got to meet David "Zeb" Cook and that was fantastic. 

Jeff Grubb

Jeff Grubb was there. He even came by to see us at Elf Lair Games, which was really great.

I got him to sign my Manual of the Planes, which is still one of my favorite books.

Luke Gygax signatureLuke Gygax signature

I waffled back and forth on whether or not to get Luke Gygax to sign my AD&D books. But in the end, I figured he was "Otiluke," and Gary Con exists because of him.  I am glad I did. We talked a long time about the Con, his dad, his little dog "Grogu," and more. Honestly, He was great, but that tracks everything everyone has been saying.

Deities & Demigods

I also brought my Deities & Demigods for everyone to sign too. As you can see I have been at this one for a bit. This was the only thing I got signed by Erol Otus. I think next year, if he is there, I'll bring my B/X books.

So Gary Con was AMAZING! I had a great time and I am looking forward to next year.

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Gary Con 2022

I had a great Gary Con this past weekend.   I spent all my time in the Elf Lair Games / Troll Lords Games booth.  I spent my time selling copies of NIGHT SHIFT and Castles & Crusades.

Tim and Jason at GaryCon


Elf Lair Games / Troll Lords Games

Elf Lair Games / Troll Lords Games

Elf Lair Games / Troll Lords Games

I also got the chance to run into so many people I only get to chat with online.  I stopped by the Goblinoid Games / James Mishler Games booth to finally say hello.

Goblinoid Games / James Mishler Games

I picked up some print versions of books I previously only had in PDF.

James Mishler Games

They were also selling copies of a new RPG, ShadowDark by Kelsey Dionne of the Arcane Library.  It looks rather good.

ShadowDark by Kelsey Dionne

ShadowDark by Kelsey Dionne

I also stopped by Bloat Games booth and got the chance to see Eric Bloat and Josh Palmer and grab a copy of their game What Shadows Hide.

What Shadows Hide

Again this looks like a lot of fun.

I am not an autograph hound, but there were some signatures I wanted.  Top of the list was Darlene.

Art by Darlene

Art by Darlene

I also got to stop at Jeff Easley's booth and got him to sign his art from the 25th Anniversary Boxed Set.

Jeff Easley

 

And of course, I HAD to pick up the tribute/homage covers of the new Castles & Crusades covers.

Castles & Crusades

 They do look really nice.

Castles & Crusades

I didn't play any games or run any, but I had a great time.  

Looking forward to next year!