GaryCon VI Odyssey, Part 1

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, March 25^th through April 1^st.

Every year for the past 5, I have attended GaryCon, (www.GaryCon.com) a small, endearing game convention held at the Geneva Ridge Resort in the mecca of role-playing games, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Lake Geneva is a lovely resort community of about 7,500 year-round residents, not all that far from Milwaukee or Chicago, Illinois. Surprisingly, the weather when I go to the convention stays fairly temperate, considering it is March, it is Wisconsin and it is wedged in between a couple of lakes. With this year’s “Polar Vortex” having gripped the States (and Canada), it was interesting to see that there wasn’t much snow on the ground – just like my own… blessed… home of Connecticut.

GaryCon has become a “must-do” event for me, with nothing to keep me from attending. It was put together to honor the memory of the man that made the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game the worldwide phenomenon that it became, E. Gary Gygax, who passed from the mortal coil in 2008. It gathers many of Gary’s contemporaries, friends, fellow gamers and relatives and memorializes him in the best way: by playing games.

This year, GaryCon VI, I needed a little help to get to Wisconsin. In all previous years I drove/rode shotgun with other attendees, usually making it out there in around 16 hours, average. This year, it was decided no one was going to drive, so I had to take a flight, my first in 20 years. Having been officially unemployed for the year and bringing in very little money, I staged a GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com) that made its first goal set in under a week. GaryCon or Bust, indeed. It was a humbling experience, not to be forgotten, ever. I have some karma to pay forward, I tell you!

Tickets were arranged with my good friend Clifford (last names redacted) and we flew out of Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT early in the AM of March 25^th, to arrive in Cleveland for our connecting flight to General Mitchell Field in Milwaukee. Not having flown in 20 years I’d done a lot of pre-flight research to try and avoid delays. What not to carry, how many things I could carry, what not to say, etc. I was impressed at the sheer amount of TSA people at early hours of the morning. It seemed like there were two for every one boarder and they were pretty well organized. The TOTAL RECALL-like scanner was certainly a far cry from 20 years past. No complaints from this lapsed flier, though. The flight was quick, without delay and fun, considering the tiny jet we were on. Sadly, the coffee machine wasn’t working and they weren’t selling beer at 3AM, so it was aqua for me. Cliff and I tried to watch DREDD during the flight, but both of us sacked out. Who knew Slo-Mo and Ma-Ma would put a viewer to sleep? With nothing worth mentioning between Cleveland and Mitchell, I’ll move on.

Milwaukee and Lake Michigan were to give us a bumpy arrival and landing, which I expected. Even so, after 20 years of not being in the air, I was ready to get off that little plane. Where was the beer? Not far, it seemed, as there was a Miller “Brewpub” inside the airport. I imbibed in a nice 9am frosty beverage from Leinenkugel after Cliff retrieved the rental car and we waited for a fellow con-goer, Thomas from Ottowa. Tom needed a lift in to Lake Geneva and as fellow gamers, who were we to say no? It was his first time to GaryCon, so it was only right to show him how we all felt when we went for our first time. While waiting, we discovered that Mitchell has an amazing used book store that was worth many hours of perusal. In fact, I’d even tell people to visit the airport for the store itself!

Having picked up Tom, we headed into Lake Geneva. It took roughly 45 minutes and we all checked in without issue. We contacted the friends we had there already and went on to reacquaint ourselves with the resort. Many of the staff we’d gotten to know over the past few years were no longer there, moved on to other jobs and locations around the area, so I quickly made friends with the people I knew I’d be seeing more than the gamers, the bartenders and wait staff. Yes, know your servers, even at an event that is “only” 650-odd people. We gamers are a thirsty and hungry lot, as the new staff of the resort came to learn quickly.

Tuesday night was fun night with good friends and associates not seen in a year. Well, except for that anthropologist dude Nick, who visited gorgeous Connecticut in November, seeing HovelHouse and the Fond of Justice (League) in first-person glory. More on that guy later.

Wednesday was early badge day, but not before about fifteen of us went to Popeye’s in downtown Lake Geneva. There were the four members of the FoJ (me, Cliff, Bryan and a guy recently moved out of oppressive CT, Jason), the Geekpreacher (http://geekpreacher.org/) and his brother-in-law, a couple of English blokes, a guy named James and a few others that the Bloody Mary’s that we had can’t make me remember (sorry guys). This Popeye’s is not the chain chicken place, but a town standby that those of us from out of town like to visit at least once during the convention. The spit-rotisserie chicken and lamb are something worth checking out. After lunch, the four of us went to pick up room provisions at the local box chain operation, then on to Bruno’s liquor store, where GaryCon folk get a discount. I sampled out a few New Glarus Brewing fruit beers that I’d been wanting to, as well as picking up some cigars from the humidor. Bruno’s is also worth the visit, if you’re in the area.

Returning to the resort, we all hit up the table to collect our badges, black DM badge for myself and a few others, green for the players. The badge this year was a fine vinyl thing with a window for your name, zipper pockets and pencil holder. Talk about nerd accessorizing! I blame Dale. Wednesday afternoon also had an off-site gathering going on that I chose not to participate in, remaining behind to socialize with those arriving in early. Seeing the game masters of the Dead Games Society (http://dgsociety.com/), friends I’d been anxious to see again and meet many of the first-timers was an event all to itself. The yearly meet-n-greet with free New Glarus Spotted Cow (www.newglarusbrewing.com), freebie pizza and finger foods shouldn’t be missed, anyway. Free beer? This Johnson is in. Of course, our bartenders decided to inform us that there was a happy hour drink special as well, where everything was half-price. Ardbeg scotch (http://www.ardbeg.com) for half-price? Ouch. Thanks to Scott for the heavy pour, and to Dave for going above and beyond to make me finish the bottle…

As you can imagine, peaty drinks finished off the Wednesday evening, with me headed back to my room. Although, I do recall a bet being made with a certain DGS member in regards to “game”. Michael?

Read Part 2 of the GaryCon VI experience tomorrow!