grodog's GaryCon VIII report - part 2

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by grodog, Mar 15, 2016.

  1. grodog

    grodog Troubadour

    Continued from Part 1 @ http://garycon.com/community/index.php?threads/grodogs-garycon-viii-report-part-1.1582/

    Saturday 5 March – Moldvay and Greyhawk!

    Saturday was a busy and fun day on several fronts, but particularly on the events side, since I ran CH-1 The Morandir Company again in the afternoon, then my second Castle Greyhawk event in the evening. Joe Kline came by the booth to present me with a hand-made trophy as the “Idea Man” behind his fabulous Moebius Maximus variant for Avalon Hill’s classic Circus Maximus game, and that’s the coolest item I’ve brought home from the con ever :D

    The Moldvay event got off to a slightly slower start than usual, due in part to some singing of David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” (rather well, in fact!) by the table next to ours. Thankfully they opted to refrain from bursting into song the rest of the session! The PCs explored in a different direction than the Thursday crew, and uncovered and solved one of the important mysteries of the scenario, which is always gratifying to see. I can’t really speak to any details about their encounters without significantly spoiling the scenario, however; they were a fun crew to play with! :D

    I grabbed dinner with Rich and Joe at the Italian restaurant on the 2nd floor, which was definitely the best meal I ate on-site at the convention (a delicious pumpkin ravioli with chicken dish!). (We were particularly bummed that it was closed on Sunday night after the official close of the convention, when we were forced to eat at the bar).

    I had eight players in Castle Greyhawk event on Saturday night (three early cancels/no shows with four pick-ups), which was a demi-planar level off of my Castle Greyhawk. The scenario was named The Enchanted Orchards of the Arimoi, and is a loose sequel to the Greek-themed “The Iounic Caverns” level I ran back in 2012 at GaryCon IV. The players explored the first portion of the scenario, a wilderness hike to locate the magical gardens and orchards where the Greek gods’ ambrosia and nectar are grown. The PCs wandered under the sunless skies and navigated the dark, silent forest of the plane. They crossed some rivers, and were ambushed by a group of 4 leucrotta that had been pacing the PCs for a day. The leucrotta attacked while the PCs were split up across a half-mile wide river, and nearly killed the remaining PCs, who did manage to escape. The session ended with the PCs slaying a large giant guarding the ford into the gardens. A good testing of the wilderness portion of the scenario, and I’ll likely modify it a bit for the next time I run it at NTX in June.

    Sunday 6 March – the Sunday night Headliner

    Booth breakdown was a breeze this year, with the entire process taking only 2-3 hours, thanks to the help of our 12 friends who made short work of the whole thing! That allowed us time to eat dinner, and then get our Sunday night Headliner game going (unfortunately it didn’t allow time for me to play Moebius Maximus with Joe Kline, but that’s on the top of my list for next year now!).

    The Sunday night game is a tradition that several friends of ours began some years ago, but this is only the second year that I’ve been able to play in it. Rich Franks took the DM helm, and wrangled our crew of 10-12 players (we had some folks start/stop at various points) with great aplomb! Much alcohol and ribbing flows over the course of the evening, as the quotations below will amply demonstrate….

    Exploring beneath a wizard’s tower that had disappeared in ages past, but recently returned to the Prime Material Plane, we wound our way through several rooms of his dungeons (splitting and then rejoining the party along the way) until we found ourselves at a large cavernous lakeshore. A huge chain (appropriately dubbed “The Chain of Fools”) hung from the ceiling, which we naturally rang, which summoned a huge sea monster. We slew the beast, then explored the waters divided into two boats. Along the way we were lightning-blasted by a behir that we chased off and stole its treasure (but not before it slew Guy’s PC, whom I looted). Eventually we found our way to a secluded cove of black sands covered with pearls. Guarded by Rich’s fearsome Clamavore, which spelled the doom of 2/3 of the party (only four of us escaped---Michael, Keith, Joe, and myself). Great fun was had by all! :D

    Quotations (slightly edited for decency):
    - “Is this a gay bath house for bugbears?” – Kevin
    - “Reverse erosion pecs” – Bryan
    - “Middle-school dungeon maps” – Keith
    - “Priest of Dithering” – Allan
    - “We can perform an actual A/B test” – Joe (I think?)
    - Our cardinal map directions: Jonward, Joeward, Richward, Steveward.
    - “Proximity is 9/10ths of the law” – Rich
    - “Reality reshapes around Allan’s maps” – Keith or Guy
    - “The Chain of Fools” = Dex and Nik ring it :D
    - “Hot and spicy KY” – ? (Bryan?)
    - “I use my graping hook” - Steve
    - “I drink the Potion of the Badass” – Guy (the potion granted +6/+6 for 2 rounds and changed Guy’s PC’s head into a donkey head with “furrowed murder brows”; unfortunately, I didn’t get to pull his tail to see if he’d whirlwind like Zazuum….)
    - “Are they left-handed dice?” – Steve?
    - “This humor brought to you by Four Roses” - ?
    - “Where we’re going we don’t need percentiles” – ?
    - “Check when bored” – Rich
    - “The module is undented, but the alcohol….” – Rich?
    - “Gamescience!” (spoken like Thomas Dolby!) – Nik
    - “The blind leading the unconscious” – Guy?
    - “Noah is Dr. Pussy” for not attending this year – Noah, texting via Kevin (followed up by Rich’s “Dr. Pussy is the name of my next band!”)
    - “Odd Strength” – Bryan
    - “Heisenberg’s pizza” – ? (Steve?)
    - “Surrounded by the Nixon List” – ? (Joe??)
    - “I didn’t realize those people were here” – Joe (re: the PF/5e players in the basement)
    - “My spite well’s not that deep” – Joe
    - “Welcome to curmudgeon.com” – Rich?
    - ”But I can’t actually cast lightning bolt” – Keith
    - “The only appropriate way to divide this party is by irrational numbers” – Bryan
    - “You’re not the boss of me” – Jon?
    - “Wife-beater mauve” – Rich?
    - “I’m not sure you really made that save, Kevin” – Rich?
    - “No different than usual” - ?
    - “There ain’t no crazy shit like Jim Ward crazy shit” – Kevin
    - “If you look at your character sheet, there are things called spells and abilities…” – Rich

    Monday 7 March – Homeward Bound

    Despite Jon and I staying up way too late at the GaryCon Sunday night Headliner game, we managed to get on the road relatively early in the day. The trip was thankfully uneventful, and we returned home to Wichita by ~9pm or so.

    GaryCon VIII was a wonderful, relaxing, exhausting, exhilaratingly long weekend of gaming and fun with friends. Luke, Scott, Brendan, Thomas, James, and the rest of the convention staff, thank you for your help at the show and in the many months of preparation leading up to it. It exceeded our expectations, and lessened our fears about the future of the convention given the big changes in staffing and venue.

    I can’t wait for next year! :D

    Allan.
     
    heyscot, Reidzilla, Tink333 and 2 others like this.

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