GaryCon 2014
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:57 am 
 

stratochamp wrote in GaryCon 2014:Bracton and myself will be attending the trinity this year (GaryCon, NTRPG Con & GenCon).


Damn I love the sound of that...."The Trinity".  Should definitely enter the gamer's lexicon...

Mike B.


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:41 am 
 

Badmike wrote in GaryCon 2014:
stratochamp wrote in GaryCon 2014:Bracton and myself will be attending the trinity this year (GaryCon, NTRPG Con & GenCon).


Damn I love the sound of that...."The Trinity".  Should definitely enter the gamer's lexicon...

Mike B.


Sounds like a holy pilgrimage.  I guess it is holy in that if you do all three, you have a hole in your wallet.   :roll:


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:03 pm 
 

Trinity... Triple Crown... the Treble!

I like it, go for it fellas :)


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:11 pm 
 

It's actually all part of the annual "Quest" for those that can do it.

Gary Con

NTPRPGCon

Gen Con

Alas I've never made any but NTRPGCon, glad it's included in the list.

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Post Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:24 am 
 

I don't forsee heading back to GenCon anytime soon, although if they had a lot of focus on D&D's 40th anniversary this year, I might consider attending:  GaryCon and NTX are sufficient jewels in my crown each year :D


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Post Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:45 am 
 

grodog wrote in GaryCon 2014:I don't forsee heading back to GenCon anytime soon, although if they had a lot of focus on D&D's 40th anniversary this year, I might consider attending:  GaryCon and NTX are sufficient jewels in my crown each year :D


Suck up!!!!  :D

Who cares about the Big Dog we need you at NTRPG con and Garycon every year so everyone can see your sweet Aliens setup!

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:58 pm 
 

ScketreWhisp® wrote in GaryCon 2014:It's actually all part of the annual "Quest" for those that can do it.

Gary Con

NTPRPGCon

Gen Con

Alas I've never made any but NTRPGCon, glad it's included in the list.


I won't be able to make it to NTRPGCon this year again...conflicts with studies  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

I am going to try for Friday at GaryCon. Hopefully will meet some of you there and maybe even get into somebody's game. But 'breathing' gaming is more than enough for me.  :D

Hector.


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Post Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 9:35 pm 
 

In addition to being the basis of a totally awesome event (Gaming in Gary's old kitchen?   :!:  :!:  :!: ), this sounds like a pretty major find from a collecting point of view.

"Event Title: Recall the Beginning: A Journey from Greyhawk
DM Name: Paul J. Stormberg
Game Type: Role-Playing Game
Game System: OD&D
If Other, System Name:
Date: Friday
Time: 1400-1800
Duration: 4 hours
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Number of Players: 6
Event Description: A recent discovery by The Collector's Trove has found TSR's first published adventure by Gary Gygax, of which, only a score or so were printed and handed-out at GenCon VIII in 1975! Used to demonstrate TSR's new game, Dungeons & Dragons, the adventure is the fully fleshed-out first-level of Greyhawk Castle! Four special sessions of this Dungeons & Dragons adventure will be played at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva, the former home of Gary Gygax and birthplace of Dungeons & Dragons! The adventure will be run in the same kitchen where Gary introduced Dungeons & Dragons and Greyhawk Castle to his son and daughter Ernie and Elise over 40 years ago! Could there be a more amazing way to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons?

Pregenerated characters will be provided, so just bring a writing instrument and your dice!"

The Collector's Trove: Legends of Wargaming at GaryCon VI

I'm hoping to hear more about the published item. As a publication, how does it compare to the TSR tournament modules from the '70s?


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:47 am 
 

Chucho68 wrote in GaryCon 2014:I won't be able to make it to NTRPGCon this year again...conflicts with studies  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

I am going to try for Friday at GaryCon. Hopefully will meet some of you there and maybe even get into somebody's game. But 'breathing' gaming is more than enough for me.  :D

Hector.


Bummer. Make sure that if you get to GaryCon you drop by the Gnome booth and say hello :)

zach



  


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:52 pm 
 

Hey Zenopus,


Zenopus wrote in GaryCon 2014:A recent discovery by The Collector's Trove has found TSR's first published adventure by Gary Gygax, of which, only a score or so were printed and handed-out at GenCon VIII in 1975! Used to demonstrate TSR's new game, Dungeons & Dragons, the adventure is the fully fleshed-out first-level of Greyhawk Castle!


It is titled, "If You Are Wondering What Dungeons & Dragons Is All About..." Initially, I thought it was from 1974 Gen Con VII as only fighters, magic-users, and clerics are mentioned as classes in the introductory text but later thieves are mentioned as characters and monsters.  However, Gary's material on the thief class initially appeared in Great Plains Game Players Newsletter with a letter dated May 10, 1974, so maybe...

Then again, the word "monk" (first published in Blackmoor September 1975) appears in the text describing an NPC, a "conjurer/monk (5th level)", a gelatinous cube and several magic items from Greyhawk Supplement are mentioned, and the document specifically mentions the "TSR Hobbies, Inc. booth". That would date it to 7/75 or later and definitely put it at a convention.

"Yeenoghu, Demon Lord of Orcs" is used ala The Strategic Preview #5, which might date it post GenCon VIII and push it into mid-1976.

All things considered, I'd give it a date range of 7/75 to 8/76. That means  possibly Origins I, Gen Con VIII, Winter Con IV, Origins II, or Gen Con IX.

I chose GenCon VIII due to the provenance of the document being associated with a GenCon VIII program. Also it features a great number of Greyhawk Supplement references and only two tenuous mentions of anything from Blackmoor and The Strategic Preview #5. Given Gary's modus operandi of pushing new material by including it in adventures it seems likely this demo-version of Greyhawk Castle was written shortly after Greyhawk's publication.

In any case, my initial thought of first published adventure might still hold. Was Tomb of Horrors as run as a tournament by Gary and Ernie at Origins I meant to be given out to the public? "If You Are Wondering What Dungeons & Dragons Is All About..." was certainly printed as a free handout that was intended for distribution by TSR.

Zenopus wrote in GaryCon 2014:I'm hoping to hear more about the published item. As a publication, how does it compare to the TSR tournament modules from the '70s?


It is more like the Understanding D&D documents and is five, typed, single-spaced, single-sided pages, and a map page, stapled together at the top left corner, with a 1.5 page description of what D&D is and how it is played, 3.25 pages of encounter keys, and a 1 page dungeon map.


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:24 pm 
 

Paul, thanks for the additional info. Sounds fantastic! Truly a lost sample dungeon.

I was wondering if there was any connection to Gygax's D&D demo game from Origins II (1976). Here's a pic and blurb from The General:

Image
Image

Furthermore, the program guide for Origins II states:
"Dungeons and Dragons Demonstration - D&D Designer Gary Gygax will host a special introductory trip through the original dungeon for fantasy novices" [bolding for emphasis]

A proto-S3 was the D&D tournament for Origins II, but from the event description it sounds like Gygax may have used part of the original Greyhawk Dungeons for this demo. And the dungeon on the poster maps behind Gygax looks to be of the similar style to the Greyhawk levels I've seen before (or his Geomorphs). Any resemblance to the dungeon map in what you've found?


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:43 pm 
 

Hey Zenopus,


Yes, that's the one! I didn't have a copy of the Origins II program, nice job Kynan on Tome of Treasures and I didn't think to check the General, that picture is brilliant, nice work! Now I understand why the key refers to color coding and the map. The small map I have doesn't have color coding. The big blown up map was probably colored-in for easier visuals.

Observers must have had the introduction, key, and small map to follow along while novice players "carefully selected" by Gary play in the live event.

It looks like there are multiple maps up on the board in the picture or is it one huge map turned on edge? They are certainly in the same style of the map I have.

So July of 1976 its is and standing room only - how many copies is that?


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 4:03 pm 
 

The Collector's Trove wrote in GaryCon 2014:All things considered, I'd give it a date range of 7/75 to 8/76. That means  possibly Origins I, Gen Con VIII, Winter Con IV, Origins II, or Gen Con IX.

I chose GenCon VIII due to the provenance of the document being associated with a GenCon VIII program. Also it features a great number of Greyhawk Supplement references and only two tenuous mentions of anything from Blackmoor and The Strategic Preview #5. Given Gary's modus operandi of pushing new material by including it in adventures it seems likely this demo-version of Greyhawk Castle was written shortly after Greyhawk's publication.

In any case, my initial thought of first published adventure might still hold. Was Tomb of Horrors as run as a tournament by Gary and Ernie at Origins I meant to be given out to the public? "If You Are Wondering What Dungeons & Dragons Is All About..." was certainly printed as a free handout that was intended for distribution by TSR.


The Origins I "Tomb of Horrors" is prepared in the similar manner to the other GenCon tourneys:  it's format matches the Bob Blake "Temple of Nan" GenCon events, etc., in that it's typed, has maps, and (in this case) illustrations too.  

The Collector's Trove wrote in GaryCon 2014:
Zenopus wrote in GaryCon 2014:I'm hoping to hear more about the published item. As a publication, how does it compare to the TSR tournament modules from the '70s?


It is more like the Understanding D&D documents and is five, typed, single-spaced, single-sided pages, and a map page, stapled together at the top left corner, with a 1.5 page description of what D&D is and how it is played, 3.25 pages of encounter keys, and a 1 page dungeon map.


Very exciting! :D  3 1/4 pages of encounters certainly details the key much more than the others we've seen to date!  

The Collector's Trove wrote in GaryCon 2014:Yes, that's the one! I didn't have a copy of the Origins II program, nice job Kynan on Tome of Treasures and I didn't think to check the General, that picture is brilliant, nice work! Now I understand why the key refers to color coding and the map. The small map I have doesn't have color coding. The big blown up map was probably colored-in for easier visuals.

Observers must have had the introduction, key, and small map to follow along while novice players "carefully selected" by Gary play in the live event.
It looks like there are multiple maps up on the board in the picture or is it one huge map turned on edge? They are certainly in the same style of the map I have.


Does anyone have a better scan of that image?---that would certainly help with looking at the details of the map and comparing it to the level 1 maps of Castle Greyhawk we've already seen (Eric Shook's auction from years ago via Paul, as well as the one in Castle Zagyg).


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:07 pm 
 

grodog wrote in GaryCon 2014:
Does anyone have a better scan of that image?---that would certainly help with looking at the details of the map and comparing it to the level 1 maps of Castle Greyhawk we've already seen (Eric Shook's auction from years ago via Paul, as well as the one in Castle Zagyg).


The original in the General is a postage stamp. I doubt it will get much better than this.

Image


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:27 pm 
 

Thanks Jon, that helps quite a bit!  I don't recognize the triangular structure on the right end of the map from any of Gary's or Rob's levels that I've seen before.  

Paul:  does this level match up to one of the levels in the original or expanded Castle, or do you think that it's one that Gary created fresh for the event?


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 11:37 pm 
 

Here's my two feeble attempts to enhance the image.  As mentioned, from a small, grainy, halftone pic, this is probably as good as it gets.

Foul

Attachment:
test.jpg


Attachment:
test2.jpg

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Post Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:41 am 
 

if I didn't know that was a gaming convention, I'd have thought it was a Muttonchop & Van Dyke convention.


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Post Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 12:18 pm 
 

grodog wrote in GaryCon 2014:Thanks Jon, that helps quite a bit!  I don't recognize the triangular structure on the right end of the map from any of Gary's or Rob's levels that I've seen before.  


Did you map Rob's game (Ass Whooping in the Greyhawk Sewers) at NTRPG last year?  As best I remember, the room with the lightning elemental was triangular with a massive, crystalline, central column and a row of entry columns.  His maps are complex and I do better to listen than to try to figure out where we are/were, especially with the blob, Charlie, hot (or cold) on our trail. :)


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