Hello.  Another busy week as GenCon nears.  This weekend I ran the 5th to last session of my Iron Heroes campaign.  The session contained a big reveal for the players, and set them up for their final 4 sessions of the campaign.  This campaign has reach the Epic status, as the heroes are on a direct course to save the world from a DemiGod.

The game turned out to be shorter than I had expected, with my combat encounter, much lighter than I had planned.  In a way it was good.  In most of my recent high level (16th) sessions, the combats are taking 3 out of the 4 hours.  My fear was that if the combat went too long, that I would have to rush through the reveal, and thus diminish the dramatic effect of the reveal.  So the session was shorter than longer, and I am fine with that.

In addition the adventure is also linked to the Iron Heroes session I am going to run at GenCon.  It’s not an event, but rather, starting last year, I ran an IH session for some of my friends who are not in my group.  The session was directly linked to my campaign, and had some profound effects on my main campaign.  I am doing it again this year, and the adventure I am going to run on Sunday will tie right into the session I ran last night, and with all my main IH players at GenCon, they are going to sit in as NPC’s for the game.  Should be a lot of fun.

Once again there will not be any posts this week, I am just about ready to leave for GenCon.  I may try to post while I am down there, but no promises.  GenCon gets to be pretty intense, and writing may be the last thing I have time to do.

For those of you going to GenCon, look for me.  There are a few pictures of me on my About page, including the bottom one, with my in my GreenShirt.  Also a sure fire way to find me is to go to the Starbucks on the first floor of the Westin, from 7am to 9am.  I will be there with an iced coffee playing Lunch Money, Ninja Burger, or Let’s Kill.

If you are not going to GenCon, I will post some of my experiences when I get back home, as well as plenty of pictures.

In any case I will talk to you next week.

Hello all.  I am on a little vacation, but had some time to get a weekend update together.  Last night, we played Star Wars SAGA, and had a great time.  I nearly lost my Padwan to a gernade and some Stormtroopers, but we managed to pull out a hard fought victory.  The game is a blast, and I am fully enjoying my character and the SAGA mechanics.  Having played all the d20 versions of SW, I have to say that the SAGA ones are by far the easiest to use, and give the most SW feel during the game.

While on vacation, I have also been writing my Iron Heroes game that I am gonig to run for my friends, on Sunday afternoon at GenCon.  I did this last year, for some friends, and it was great.  I created a one-shot adventure, that was part of my main IH campaign.  The outcome of the one-shot plays right into my main campaign story line.

At last years game, one of the players captured a Fiend, rather than killing, leading to some very unexpected, but very cool consquences in my main campaign.  With my main IH game down to its last 4 sessions, the outcome of this session will not as may long lasting effects, but will help to kick off the final 4 sessions that will end my campaign.

I am also brainstorming the IH session that I need to run, the Sunday before GenCon.  Normally I would have waived off a game this close to GenCon, but it will be part of the One-Shot, so I wanted to get it run.  I will be writing it all next week, after my vacation is done.

As for the GM-Fu workshop, all the writing is done and our editor Vicki, is putting all the text together, and doing the layout.  The book will go to press (at Kinko’s) next week.  We are working out a few more details for another surprise.  This has the makings of being quite an interesting workshop.

I will not be writing again this week, I am going to be on holiday for the rest of the week, and will be taking full advantage of it.  I will talk to you again next week.

ndToday is the dreaded Event Registration for GenCon. Somewhere out in cyberspace, a poor event server is about to get flooded by Gamer Geeks around the country, and to a smaller extent, around the world. How will it go today? No one knows. But I will be blogging live at 4pm Eastern, when I attempt to run the gauntlet and try to register for me and my friends.

So stick with me and lets see how this goes…

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I have been attending GenCon ever since it moved to Indianapolis, and over the past few years, I have picked up a few tips that can help the new GenCon attendee. Over the next few months, as we get closer to GenCon, I will be sharing those tips with you. In our first supplement, I will talk about Even Registration….

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It is with great sadness that I report, that Gary Gygax, the original Dungeon Master, creator of Dungeons & Dragons, and founder of GenCon, has passed away. The story is circulating slowly across the Internet and blogosphere.

I had the honor at this past GenCon to bump into Gary on the convention floor, and have my picture taken with him. I thanked him for everything he had done. D&D was far more than a game for me. It was an escape during a very difficult time in my childhood, a time that I am not sure I would have endured if it had not been for the chance to escape into D&D, and think of fighters and wizards battling monsters for treasure and magical items.

In later years, RPG’s would be the common thread between my friends and I. We gamed all through middle and high school. To this day, nearly 20 years later, I am still friends with all my gaming buddies from high school, and when we can, we get together and game. When we can’t we, sit around and talk about all the games we played in the past.

Fourteen years ago, when I left college for grad school, once again, my love of Role Playing helped me to meet a new group of friends, who became my current gaming group. Over the years we have shared all sorts of adventures together, though Role Playing.

Most recently, I have been attending GenCon with my current gaming group, my high school friend, as well as both my Brother In Laws, and my 8 yr old Nephew. For us GenCon has been more than just a gaming convention, it is a time to bring friends and family together, and a time for us to instill the love of gaming and the sense of adventure into our children.

None of this would have been possible if not for the work and imagination of Gary Gygax.

Tonight I will roll my first d20 in silence….in honor of Gary.

Thanks again Gary….thanks for everything.

Ahh…February time to start thinking about GenCon. What’s that? GenCon is in August. Why start thinking about it now? Ahh, I see you have not been to GenCon before my friend, and you surely do not know me. August is when you go to GenCon. February is when you start your planning.

Now release that mouse from your ADD like urge to click and seek out more media, and let me talk to you for a few moments about GenCon…

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