Gary Con VII

[AxeMental]

Ditto. GC's registration keeps screwing up every year. Makes me want to ditch it entirely.

Come on! So they can't make basic event registration work... there's still the Special Mystery Guest, cosplay prizes and a slew Pathfinder Society Games that never fill up.

I'd have thought these Cons have plenty of extra tables set up for those guys that come unplanned that want to game. A guy wanting to run a dungeon could simply plop down in a chair, set up his shit, put up a sign (players needed) and start gaming. So you'd have "Official" games going in the prime locations and "unofficial" going at other tables (soaking up people that didn't sign up for games). I seriously hope last minute people aren't forced to watch special guest speakers and cosplay competitions. Or worse, go play 3E/Pathfinder with the winnie boys?

[Ghul]

The problem, Axe, is that Gary's kids are trying to keep the con in Lake Geneva. To do as you suggest, which is perfectly valid, would mean they would have to move the con to a larger venue, and that means leaving Lake Geneva.

[EOTB]

They have lots of space for open gaming, so it isn't that you couldn't run completely off grid. But quite a few people want to get the DM black badge, or perhaps just ostensibly "support the con" by putting games up on the registration system. Which would be fine if it didn't seem like almost every year there was some issue with an inability to handle the rush, or changing event prices, or the continuing drift away from the games produced during Gary's time in charge.

Don't get me wrong, Garycon is still a great con; I'm bitching about the side dishes, not the meat and potatoes, which is the atmosphere and the people.

But all that said, I'm considering not coming next year. There are fewer 1E games on the schedule every year. The ones that are there by people I don't know have a lot of late 1E plot hammer vibe going on in the descriptions. I dunno.

[Welleran]

They have lots of space for open gaming, so it isn't that you couldn't run completely off grid. But quite a few people want to get the DM black badge, or perhaps just ostensibly "support the con" by putting games up on the registration system. Which would be fine if it didn't seem like almost every year there was some issue with an inability to handle the rush, or changing event prices, or the continuing drift away from the games produced during Gary's time in charge.

Don't get me wrong, Garycon is still a great con; I'm bitching about the side dishes, not the meat and potatoes, which is the atmosphere and the people.

But all that said, I'm considering not coming next year. There are fewer 1E games on the schedule every year. The ones that are there by people I don't know have a lot of late 1E plot hammer vibe going on in the descriptions. I dunno.

I'm also a little bit concerned about the outbreak of 3tard/Pathloser at the con. However, it still seems to be heavy on AD&D and other old school stuff, so I will keep attending. The website problems are aggravating, but not a dealbreaker for me (at least not yet). I've always managed to get into games I've enjoyed; some of those were ones that I took as "second choices" and they turned out great. Some of my "must do" games turned out to be duds. There is always an element of chance when doing something new and I am ok with that.

As for open gaming, I've never had a problem with that. There's always plenty of space either in the gaming rooms or in the restaurant, even at "peak" hours.

I fall under EOTB's comment on running games and the DM badge. I run two games on-grid per year as I feel it's important to "give back" to the con. I also hope a few knuckleheads will see the glories of the old ways and convert (unlikely, but a nice thought). I also like having the DM badge - it means nothing, but it's a little bit of an ego boost, I guess.

At the end of the day, I like the atmosphere of Garycon and I like that I've made many acquaintances over the years. I like the Gygax kids and Dale and the rest of the crew -- they do a decent enough job putting things together and I hope they resist the urge to go big and go to a larger but more impersonal venue. I'll keep going as long as the positives outweight the negatives, which right now I think they do.

[francisca]

I didn't even bother this year. Does it sound bad if I say that I'm not disappointed in the slightest?

I'll be hanging out working the counter at Lake Geneva Games most of the weekend. If you get some free time, come on over and say hi.

That's too bad. I'll see if we can make it over.

[francisca]

The problem, Axe, is that Gary's kids are trying to keep the con in Lake Geneva. To do as you suggest, which is perfectly valid, would mean they would have to move the con to a larger venue, and that means leaving Lake Geneva.

There is one larger venue in Lake Geneva, the Grand Geneva Hotel, which used to be the playboy mansion. My recollection of a handful of conversations with con staff over the years, is that moving there would significantly add to the cost of the con.

Regardless, if current growth continues, they will either have to cap attendance, or move.

[AxeMental]

The problem, Axe, is that Gary's kids are trying to keep the con in Lake Geneva. To do as you suggest, which is perfectly valid, would mean they would have to move the con to a larger venue, and that means leaving Lake Geneva.

Didn't realize there weren't many big venues in Geneva (how many attend this Con anyway). Glad to hear they have some empty tables for stragglers though (you wouldn't need many I'd imagine). I'd fit into that category of "made plans last minute". Sounds like the good games fill up fast, so I'd be the plan B guy.

[EOTB]

And so I dutifully show up at the appointed time, and I can't log on to the GC site because of SQL errors.

[Wheggi]

Thank god for off-grid gaming, because I'm not signed up for a single official event.

- Wheggi

[EOTB]

I'm sure we can get at least a couple other folks at all times, even if the composition changes slightly every few hours, as people come and go to the events that they managed to get into.

This will be kind of cool. Most con games are 4-hour one shots where everything is pretty tightly bound by the limited time. But we could play something much larger than normal for a con game with so much open gaming time.

[AxeMental]

Tony, you should bring what you have of Sea Cliffs and try running it at a table. Might give you some good feedback on how it plays out. Could stream line it for the Con atmosphere, crank out a little artwork etc. Wish I could be there.

[Wheggi]

Totally agree! We can have a proper game (at least as this non-con attending gamer understands it)

[francisca]

And so I dutifully show up at the appointed time, and I can't log on to the GC site because of SQL errors.

I think that has more to do with taking the database down to move it to a state to accept the requests, than an actual crash.

But the server only has 2 freakin' Gig of RAM..........

[Wheggi]

When I read that alloud to the missus, she laughed and said "I've got more fucking resources on my 10 year old laptop than that "server". What, are they hosting it on a Galaxy S5?"

[capitalbill]

Thank god for off-grid gaming, because I'm not signed up for a single official event.

- Wheggi

I'm in the same boat. Not even worried about it though, with all of us getting hosed there should be plenty of opportunities at off-grid gaming.