Garycon VI Suggestions

Garycon V was my first... and it was great. I haven't had this much fun with all my clothes on in years.

Please don't think me ungrateful if I have a couple of suggestions for Garycon VI.

1) I LOVED the Lodge having a small menu of food available. But for next year, could GaryCon please, please, PLEASE try to get them to add a salad? Ceasar chicken salad, chef's salad, Cobb salad, whatever... I would have committed bloody handed mayhem for some vegetables by Saturday night. It only would have to be one kind of salad... please, PLEASE just a single salad choice!!!! Don't change anything else.

2) I chatted with Luke a couple of times, and at one point he mused something about "outgrowing the venue." Rather than find a new venue, I would earnestly suggest limiting size. I love that GaryCon is popular, and a good con will continue to grow if it can... but there is some value in saying, "This big and no bigger."

3) I think GaryCon could have fewer events. More than a few events were cancelled due to no players or not enough players, or no - shows. Reduce the number of events. There is plenty to do at GaryCon, honest.

4) Spread out a bit more. By Friday night my ears were bleeding from the noise in the gaming rooms. If there were a bit fewer events that might help.

5) Maybe, if possible, get the schedule out earlier, and have a time period for shuffling? For instance, the Sand Table was booked virtually constantly -- which meant there was no teardown and setup time, which means that by Friday night my CHAINMAIL battle started two hours late. A little more breathing space for ALL events might be nice.

6) Inside voices, folks. I realize when we're all having fun it's easy to forget, but in rooms as crowded as the miniatures and RP rooms were, if somebody starts yelling, it escalates, and pretty soon nobody can hear anything.

I loved GaryCon V and I can't wait for next year. I really, REALLY loved that referees got coffee and water (and cookies, too!) But especially water -- having GaryCon folks coming around handing water to refs was an incredible lifesaver. Big, big, big thanks to GaryCon for this. I can't say it enough!

Michael "Gronan" Mornard

 

I am glad you had a great time, and hope you will be back year after year. It is an amazing Gathering.

Most of your listed items have been addressed. So have no fear, your crack staff at GC is hard at work on 2014.

Dale

 

A salad option, or maybe a veggie burger would be great: by day 3, I was needing veggies badly

I noticed that on day 3, the hotel closed the doors between the two rooms in the large hall, thereby limiting the noise, so I think this issue has been corrected.

I only had one event that didn't sell any tickets, so I cancelled it. It was a bit obscure (d6 adventure game), so it was not surprising. I ran the AD&D tournament instead during that time.

I'm not sure how many other events were cancelled due to low attendance, but I would offer the following suggestions.

When submitting a game

1. Try to limit the game to 6 players (unless it is a tournament or a VIP DM game [aka Frank, Ernie, etc.]). 8+ gets noisy and pulls players away from other games.
2. Try to run 3 or less games--if you plan to run 7, you will have trouble finding enough players.
3. If you are going to run unusual and/or obscure games, keep in mind that they may not sell out (or sell any tickets). I usually only run one of these just to see who is interested. Well-known games usually sell plenty of tickets (AD&D, Call of Cthulhu, BECMI, Pathfinder, etc.). If you really want to play something weird, advertise on the forums to generate interest (Red Wizard [Chad] will play things like Amber diceless, Cyberpunk, Dr. Who, etc. --I will go even further and whip out Masterbook Indiana Jones, Ghostories, Mean Streets, Unbidden, etc.).

But overall, I think this was the best GaryCon yet--the games I was in were all terrific: special kudos to the Paranoia game "Arbor Day", the Top Secret "Operation Good Night" and the tournament module "The Blighted Lands" -these were really great.

Now I just need to figure out what I want to run next year

 

I managed to fill my empty HERO System game with players by about a half hour into the slot.

Pete
http://Blessedmachine.com

 

Wear costumes. That seems to work out well.

MoT

 

correction: the "Arbor Day" game was Chill, not Paranoia (although we were pretty damn paranoid)

 

Michael:

I am wondering if you DARE run a Village People Call of Cthulhu game

Or would that be going to far even for you?

If you do, I get to be the traffic cop

 

Breakfast menu only on Sat & Sun was kookoo. I'm sorry, but I'm not eating a bacon donut and calling it breakfast (I call that a dare).

Also, the Sunday menu was far & away superior to the one for the rest of the con. If there aren't going to be more food choices, then the con needs to move closer to downtown so it's not a car ride to go to a real restaurant. I rented a car, so I had the ride, but not everyone wants to handle things like that. Bottom line: A semi-captive audience with limited options is frustrating.

I agree it was loud, but it's a con. I don't see scheduling fewer events. If someone is willing to run a game for the con, it would be silly to turn them away.

 

I'm glad people are reading and commenting on this.

There is one necessary thing that can be done only by refs and gamers, though, NOT by the GaryCon crew:

Inside voices.

Seriously. We all need to push that for next year.

 

I think some of the renovations done to the Lodge caused some of the noise in the larger hall rooms. Echoing was noticeable. Partioning helped, yes. My biggest obstacle that weekend was the incessant heat in those rooms. During Timemaster, it seemed as if it was too cold one minute, then the heat would come on, warm it up just enough to then get the cold air pumped in again. And you wonder why there's Con Crud after the fact! Next year? I'm wearing a fishnet bodystocking.

 

...aaaand Sanity Checks for all! :mrgreen:

 

Agreed. But at least breakfast meals at the restaurant had some variety. I really think the con could do something a little more for dinner. The lunch/dinner menu was really just lunch. It could have used something that was not on a bun. I thought the food was good and priced right (actually, I thought it was pretty cheap considering the portions were plenty big and the food was tastey!). A few dinner items that require a knife and fork would be good. I did not get to the con until late Friday morning so I survived just fine until Sunday afternoon. But next year I will be there on Thursday and I would guess I will be driving into town for a meal or two.

I don't want to rip on the Lodge too much, though. The hotel was fantastic for the price and I think it worked just fine. My room was large and clean. The staff was also fantastic.

 

I think there needs to be a re-eval of the VIP gold level games.

It seems there were more GPs in circulation than games this year. Looking at the threads on here there was also a desire to have some sort of Gold-> Silver exchange rate.

Also, when an 8am gold game got cancelled there was some confusion on what to do for those players.

What really made it work was how accommodating the VIP GM were in letting others in.

 

Oh, yeah, one more thing.

Last year the bar ran out of IPA on THURSDAY!!!! :shock: :evil: :x

This is an atrocity. MORE IPA!

Michael "Gronan" Mornard

 

:shock:

 

I've really enjoyed the last two GaryCons, and I'm looking forward to GC VI.

My humble suggestion is that the organizers provide a big whiteboard or bulletin board somewhere near the registration area to facilitate scheduling pickup games.

With a 4-day convention, and a limited number of GP/SP available for pre-registration, most attendees end up with an empty slot or two somewhere in their schedules. It would be nice if there were a convenient way for GM's to advertise their pickup games and potential players to see what pickup games are available. GM's could check with registration to identify an open table, then write the game up on the board.

"Mike H. is running Call of Cthulhu, 7-11pm Saturday, Table 34. 5 players, no experience necessary. Pregens provided."

 

yes, that would be great.


Also, may we have some of those "players wanted" / "game full" signs for the open gaming area?

 

I missed Dan the Bard. Return engagement for GC VI?

 

In Williams Bay (2 miles):

Great breakfast/lunch Cafe on Elkhorn Road (2.1 miles from con)
http://www.daddymaxwells.com/

Fine dining on Geneva Street, lunch/dinner (1.9 miles)
http://www.cafecalamari.com/#!__cafe-calamari

F

 

Might have to try Daddy M's (I'm an early riser & I needs me mah breakfast!).

Egg Harbor in LG is a nice breakfast place. It's on the left as you come into town (near Caribou Coffee). The bagel place across the street (forget the name) is good, too.