Gary Con Post-Convention Report

 Well, we're back from Gary Con and I've had a couple days to recover. Now the con crud is setting in and I'd forgotten how miserable that is. No worries; no COVID here. Just your usual with the body going, "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EXPOSED TO THAT MUCH CRAP AT ONCE!!!" convention yuck.

But you didn't come here for that. You came here fro the post-convention report.

Back in the Saddle: New Faces and Old Friends

So, after 2 years of "virtual," or "ethereal" Gary Cons (Gods, I hate that sheer concept, of "virtual" conventions and gatherings), we're back in person again, full force. Despite some very weird masking requirements and woefully inconsistent enforcing, the convention was outstanding. In the end, the masking stuff was your typical politicization on both sides, everyone soapboxing, and just a very minor irritant in what overall was just a great time top to bottom.

It was so nice to get to put some faces to names and meet some of our fans face to face. Meeting Marv Brieg (Finarvyn) of the ODD74 message boards was a highlight; he's been such a fan and booster of my work for so long and finally after all these years getting to shake hands, say hello, and shoot the breeze was just a joy.

Just as awesome was the chance to get to see friends I haven't seen in years, some due to the pandemic, some due to other reasons - one gent I haven't seen in over a decade, which was brilliant. Shaking hands and hugging people again made my heart soar. 

The con was smaller than it's been in the past, but that's not a surprise. Many people are still afraid / simply not comfortable going out just yet, and that's 100% understandable. But it was a rousing success overall, despite some logistical problems the con had with limited staff available. They pulled it off and it was impressive that they managed as well as they did. 

Hangin' with the Trolls

Spending the weekend with the Troll Lords was, as always, an adventure with laughter, philosophical pontification, and rants and raves all around. I had the opportunity to meet and share a few drinks with Grace, TLG's new freelancer, and Blake, her partner, and they were charming and loads of fun. It will be great to get some young blood and young points-of-view into the company! 

Thursday night we threw back some Scotch with the fantastic Canadian Vikings from Pendelhaven (publishers of the Ragnarok: Fate of the Norns RPG). Great guys all around. There was talk about getting together Friday for more drinks with them, but it fell through on our end. I like to think I made it up to them by buying a bunch of their product for my wife on Sunday. 

And as always, I owe the Trolls, and especially Steve Chenault, Tim Burns, and Chuck Cumbow a great deal. It's in large part because of those guys that Elf Lair Games exists in its current form, and Steve was beyond gracious to offer us a corner of the TLG booth to sell Elf Lair Games product (and help with some printing needs that enabled our Quick Start rules and GM Toolkit to come to fruition).

Tim and Jason - the ELG Cabal at the booth

Working the Booth

Working the booth was great. It's been way too long since Tim Brannan and I have been in the same place at the same time - probably well over a decade, so it was fantastic getting to hang out in person again, and his son Liam is a first-rate baker who provided us with booth doughnuts that were off the hook!

At first I was concerned about "low" sales, but then I realized we have only one game line with 4 books, and in context, our sales were pretty spectacular. We comped a number of books to industry notables and people who (hopefully) have some reach to get eyes on the product, and I got a couple podcast invites. One or two fans expressed their intent to run livestreams of Night Shift: VSW on Twitch, so here's hoping that we get some improved reach and visibility out of the con. Our regular sales haven't increased yet, but it's only a few days out and it can take some time for these things to bear fruit. Fingers crossed!

Panels

I sat on two panels with the Trolls - a GM's Tricks of the Trade panel on Thursday, and a Technology and the Evolution of Publishing panel on Friday. Both were livestreamed and both are available to view at the Troll Lord Games Twitch Channel. That was another opportunity to meet some great people and interact with some younger, new ideas that are very exciting.

The Satanic Panic

Saturday night we had the opportunity to go see a preview screening of a new documentary on the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, partially produced by our good friend Derek White, also known as the Geek Preacher, and it's absolutely phenomenal. One of the best gaming-related docs I've seen. The Trolls and I then went to dinner with Derek, Tim Decker (a preacher himself and featured interview subject in the doc), and his wife Stephanie, and that was a blast. You haven't lived till you've geeked out over Metallica, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden with a preacher. Derek and Tim have been friends for some time and they are truly two of the greatest, nicest, most genuine and good people you will ever have the honor of meeting.

Good gods, I look bloated in this photo

The Wedding

The wedding of Satine Phoenix and Jamison Stone was a big event for the con. Hundreds of people descended upon the big bar to watch Luke Gygax join the two of them in a huge party atmosphere. It was a lovely ceremony and two great people joined together with their extended gaming family for just a great time overall. 

Satine and Jamison were the first two folks I bumped into at the con, actually, as he held the door open for me as I, loaded down with luggage, was headed to my room. Had a few minutes to chat with them which was nice. Some of you may know that Satine's likeness is on the cover of Amazing Adventures 5e, so finally getting to give handshakes and hugs, and speak in person after a couple years of online interaction was pretty awesome. If you're curious what they're like in person, they are just as gracious, kind, warm, and friendly as they appear online. It's always nice to meet someone and discover they're the same in real life as they are behind the keyboard. 

Swag and Summary

I didn't buy much of anything, there; I was focused on my booth presence, really. I did pick up a new mint-tin card game from my dear, dear friends Heather and Scott at Pick Up and Go Games which I am eager to try out, and bought the stuff for Julie from Andrew and the guys at Pendelhaven. I grabbed my comp copies of the Adventurer's Spellbook and NPC Almanacs from Troll Lord, and got a canvas art print of the new Monsters & Treasure tribute cover. I also picked up a pretty exciting "Quick Start" of a new OD&D-style retroclone called ShadowDark from The Arcane Library and had the author, Kelsey Dionne, sign it for me. She did a quid-pro-quo and picked up our Night Shift: VSW GM's Toolkit, GM Screen, and Quick Start, which I signed for her. That's about it. 

In the end, Gary Con was just a ton of fun and despite a few misgivings I had shortly before the con (at one point I told my wife, "I just really kind of don't want to go,") I am really glad I got back in the saddle and got out to con again.

Did you go to Gary Con? We'd love to hear your comments and experiences below--just please, keep the politics out of it (we don't really want to discuss the masking issues, for example). But we'd love to know your experience and if you had a good time! Post your comment and discuss!

If you still haven't checked out Night Shift: VSW, now is the time! Head over to our website and explore all of our game lines today!