Wow...I'm still so tired even after a nap. That was a great time. I think everyone who reads this is or has been to this con, so I'll spare most of the details. Basically, it's an excuse to play games for 3 or 4 days straight, hang out with other people as insane about gaming as you are, drink large amounts of coffee and beer (and sometimes wine), buy stuff to complete a collection or scratch a gaming itch, and visit with some of the folks who are or who did make some iconic gaming systems. And as is usually the case, I bring a batch of stuff to get signed which I manage to do, but I then learn that three or four other folks are there and all my stuff that I could have them sign is at home. Arggghhh....Next year.
So, I've already started making a list of books to get signed for next year.....and hoping that they all will be back to get it signed. So far, any of them who've come once has made it a point of coming again.
The games I got to play:
Thursday night is a tradition - Matt Finch running Mythmere Tower using Swords & Wizardry Core rules. Friday consisted of Gamma World run by Steve Winter (one of the best DM's I've ever seen) in the morning and Swords & Wizardry module written and run by Dr. Dennis Sustarre (the creator of the Druid class in D&D as well as a couple of the spells).
Saturday morning was an interesting game. We were in a large room with 4 tables running 4 different games: Metamorphosis Alpha (run by its creator Jim Ward), Boot Hill (run by Frank Mentzer, editor/writer of the last set of Dungeons & Dragons books before TSR was bought by WotC and the game was stopped), Cavemaster (run by its creator, Jeff Dee), and Star Frontiers (run by Steve Winter). Basically, we were going to play in all 4 games in a Quantum Leap like way. The plan was that at specified times, everything would stop. Our characters would feel a strange vertigo and falling sensation and then "come to" in the bodies of other characters. We were supposed to get up from our table and leave our character sheets there, move to the next table and sit down at a character sheet there. Then play would resume after a short intro to the basics of the game. This could have been a really fun and cool session....however, not all the DM's got the memo on the "short intro" and the "resume play right where you left off" parts. So, Frank Mentzer had to give us an hour long history lesson about the territories in the western US from 1860 to 1882 and a history lesson on inventions between 1850 and 1900 so we didn't mess up historical accuracy. Basically, we got about 20 minutes of play when we should have had 1.5 hours. I realized I had not been playing Boot Hill correctly but I don't care. I like my way better. And I realized that I want to run a Star Frontiers game sometime. Saturday night I bailed on playing OD&D run by Tim Kask (first editor of the Dragon magazine as well as editor of many of the early rulebooks and modules). Instead, I had fun visiting with old friends and new, and eventually getting in a little Basic D&D game before I started having trouble focusing on the dice.
I now realize I have way too much gaming stuff. I'm going to catalog and cull in the next few weeks. This should also help me figure out what to bring next year to get signed.
Game On!
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