Here’s the thing about GaryCon…it just keeps getting
better….
Friday, Day 3, and we were up and at ‘em again. The kids and
I were registered to play Tower of Gygax – a real death machine where you are
lucky to last 15 minutes. It’s meant specifically to chew characters up and
spit them out in a never-ending march of death.
But I knew about this Aliens game from previous years. AllanGrohe (grodog) has this amazing setup in which he runs several different
scenarios from the Alien movies. Remember that friend I mentioned who was
supposed to run a game on Thursday but who had to back out? Well, I knew he and
his kids were signed up to play…and that he wouldn’t be there. Three of
them…three of us…
So I lit a fire under my kids, got them up, fed them,
showered, and out the door in the miniatures room by 9:30 for a 10 AM game. I
would not be denied!
I should also mention that Allan, who is also (in)famous for
his Grodog’s Castle Greyhawk games that run every year, is one of the nicest
gentlemen I’ve met at GaryCon and I’d already mentioned my desire to take these
spots on one of the message boards. So I was pretty confident I and/or my
children would get to play, but I wanted to be sure.
Sure enough, getting there early was a good thing. Allan
needs to clone himself (and his setup!) and run a while slew of slots of this
game. Everybody seems to want to get into it, and they are right to want to do
so; it is a blast. And this is why…
If Allan wants to jump in at any point and comment, it would
be an honor. What I understand is that each of these three setups is a
different scenario…and that you can essentially walk through the entire Aliens
movie using these setups.
We lucked out and got to play. It was a full table, I think
eleven in all including three kids under the age 13 – two of them mine. One of
the gentlemen playing was very familiar with the game, so we let him kind of
set up who took what roles and what our overall strategy would be. He really
set us up nicely and made one of the most important decisions off the bat – we’d
all stay on the same side and move up (as opposed to splitting around the “stairwell”
opening in the center of the board).
I could, really, go on and on about this game. We were very
lucky to be playing with a few experienced players who really knew how to take
advantage of the various tactical abilities of the different characters. In the end, I think I’ll just post a bunch of
pictures…
In the end, we were extremely, surprisingly lucky. We only
lost Apone, my son’s character… and that only about 20 minutes from the end –
from an acid splash! Everyone else made it out OK. Somewhere I have a picture
of the brave colonial marines that made it out that day.
After such a harrowing event, we rushed back to our room for
chow. We brought a microwave with us. I know, crazy, right? But we live so
close and it’s not that difficult to just throw it in the van. This way, we
saved some money by having simple lunches every day. And it’s quicker than
driving into town which, while it isn’t far, doe eat up some time. And we only
had an hour or so before…
The Haunted Keep.
The Haunted Keep is an
introductory adventure using the Moldvay Basic Dungeons & Dragons rules.
This event is suitable for all age groups and welcomes players 8 years or older
to come and explore the Haunted Keep. Adults must be accompanied by at least
one kid! Pregenerated characters will be provided, so just bring a writing
instrument and your dice
I wanted to provide the
actual description of the event because this is becoming very common at GaryCon…games
geared towards kids. And I love it.
The second thing about this
game that really needs to be given a shout out is the gentlemen running it – Paul Stormberg.
It was Friday afternoon, and
I can tell you that Paul was already making CON checks. He runs events for
something like two or three hundred players across all the days of the
convention. One of the things he runs that gets tons of people involved – even wives
and girlfriends and kids of your standard attendees – is the jousting
tournament. And this is tough because anyone can walk up and play at just about
any time during the convention. I have not done it to date, but I’m in it next
year for sure.
Paul also runs Battle for the
Brown Hills, the original Chainmail…in a sandbox…
Most amazing, Paul is the
same nice guy whether he’s dead tired or spry as spring, running the Haunted
Keep for me and my offspring, or the finals of the Jousting Tournament. He’s
just one of the Nice Guys who also happens to be keeping the memory and legacy
of those seminal games alive.
The things I recall about
this game focus in my mind around how carefully my kids explored this place. I
don’t want to give away spoilers (heck, I hadn’t even played this!) but they
were cautious and thinking their way around obstacles like seasoned veterans. I
was so proud. But I also know that as a convention game, that can sometimes get
in the way of moving things along. So there ended up being some hand-waving and
such as we neared the end of our time.
And I hope we weren’t too
much trouble for Jason Azze.
This event ran right up until
6PM and I was the only one scheduled for another game. Though my game was
scheduled for 6PM, there was a note that it was starting and ending later. So I
was able to squeeze in a bit of time with the family before they headed off
towards the pool and I hustled to the next game, “Quondam Fount”, run by
none other than Frank Mentzer.
Frank runs a great game but here’s the thing. You have to be
prepared for a crowded table and a certain amount of…well, I wouldn’t call it
gawking, but there’s a definite novelty thing going on. And Frank is gracious
to everyone – which is the way we’d all want it or there would be nerd rage all
across the Internet about how Frank dissed someone at such and such table of
Whatevercon.
The game itself was pretty cool and had some really
interesting things to figure out – only time was limited, it being a con. So
just when things were starting to heat up (or cool down as the case may be), it
was time to call it.
It was still early, so I trundled off to the Open Gaming
area and ran into Doug Kovacs who was in a game of The Red Dragon Inn with some
friends. They allowed me in, but it was clear early on that for various reasons
we would not be ending the game in the normal fashion. So we packed up and got
everyone home safe and sound and then it was off to bed to get some sleep for
Saturday’s adventures…
