HYPERBOREA / Gary Con VII (2015)

**Posted by Rastus_Burne** 3/30/2015 3:33 am

Nice photos! I always enjoy your thorough photographical record-keeping ;)

Looks like you had a lot of fun.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 3/30/2015 6:07 am

Rastus_Burne wrote:
Nice photos! I always enjoy your thorough photographical record-keeping ;)

Thanks man.

Looks like you had a lot of fun.

Yep. Wish everyone could have come along. Hope you can make it one year, Corey, maybe tacked onto a bigger trip to the States.

**Posted by mabon5127** 3/30/2015 8:46 am

Chainsaw wrote:
mabon5127 wrote:
Thanks for the pics. Really missed going. Looks like a great time was had by all!
You were missed, Morgan! I sang your praises though, so if you attend next year, you'll be in high demand.

You are most kind and a gentleman. I am going to attend next year definately.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 3/30/2015 9:25 am

mabon5127 wrote:
You are most kind and a gentleman.

I like the sound of that!

I am going to attend next year definately.

Looking forward to it.

**Posted by Scalydemon** 3/30/2015 10:10 am

mabon5127 wrote:
You are most kind and a gentleman.

Ok, ok let's not get carried away here

Chainsaw - are you going to NTX this year?

**Posted by Chainsaw** 3/30/2015 10:26 am

Scalydemon wrote:
mabon5127 wrote:
You are most kind and a gentleman.
Ok, ok let's not get carried away here

Hahaha! I wasn't going to say anything...

Chainsaw - are you going to NTX this year?

Yes sir, just made my flight and room reservations this morning. Arriving Weds evening around 10PM, leaving Sunday morning around 10AM. Games officially start Thursday around 6PM, but some other guys are arriving early as well and I think we'll run pick-up games all day. You thinking about going? I hope so. It's a good time.

**Posted by Scalydemon** 3/30/2015 10:39 am

Thinking about it. I went in 2010 and had fun, took a red eye flight down.

Need to talk it over with mi esposa..

**Posted by Chainsaw** 3/30/2015 10:41 am

Scalydemon wrote:
Thinking about it. I went in 2010 and had fun, took a red eye flight down.

Man, I was there too. Wish I had known you then.

Need to talk it over with mi esposa..

Get busy talking!

**Posted by joseph** 3/30/2015 6:21 pm

Thanks for posting the pics Chainsaw! Really wish I could have been there, planning for next year.

Ghul - best shirt ever.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 3/30/2015 7:15 pm

joseph wrote:
Thanks for posting the pics Chainsaw! Really wish I could have been there, planning for next year.

You bet - I hope you can come too.

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 3/31/2015 1:35 pm

Scalydemon wrote:
mabon5127 wrote:
You are most kind and a gentleman.
Ok, ok let's not get carried away here

Chainsaw is also about 6'5" and massively thewed, just like in his Brew thread pictures! He was nice enough not to crush us regular humans even 7 or 8 beers in!

We had a great time. Mavfire, were you there? I don't think I was conscious of meeting you. Iron Ranger?

I mentioned this on DF, but meeting the rest of you was really almost the best part of the Con. If it looks like we're having fun in those pics Chainsaw posted from the pickup game I ran on Thursday, that's because we really were! Those guys brought the ruckus and ran with the weird! When WSmith turned into a mushroom, his biggest worry at first was what the haberdashery repercussions might be! Then the whole "also now a mushroom" issue kicked in. Chainsaw was stepped on my a lava god he was trying to worship, which really was the smart play since the *last* chaos godling they met accepted their worship (and the hireling they sacrificed!) and let them off with a stern geasing. In this case, though, it led to stepping on. Everyone else was trying to wedge into the crevice Ancalagon's barbarian had found, but his wineskin kept getting in the way! At least that's what he told us. Then just four real minutes later, they encountered the googolpede. It was, apparently, impervious to hand axes.

The LE Pict fighter was geased, so when everyone else was experimenting with snorting chaos fungus to see what the effects would be (see turning into a mushroom, supra), he stood nearby with two-handed sword ready in case the effects were likely to slow the mission. Fortunately, beetle wings and fur were deemed mostly harmless, and the mushroom was a slow-developing situation.

Anyway, what a blast. Meeting all of you--Chainsaw and capitalbill, Lige, Francisca, grodog, Gizmomathboy (he's in the pic from Jeff's Friday night game that Chainsaw posted--I'm in the near left corner, clearly having a great idea, and Gizmomathboy is next to Ghul, with the beard), WSmith, even Ghul (he's not so bad when you get to know him). I wish I had been able to figure out who the rest of you were! I hope I didn't offend you. Those of you I did meet, I totally meant to offend you!

We're already booked into rooms for next year. More hilarity is sure to ensue.

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 3/31/2015 6:25 pm

Here's Francisca, capitalbill, Lige, and Tacojohn. It was from across the room, so it's not the best shot (and I'm not a pro like Chainsaw!):

And some doomed marines:

**Posted by Rastus_Burne** 3/31/2015 6:48 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
Yep. Wish everyone could have come along. Hope you can make it one year, Corey, maybe tacked onto a bigger trip to the States.

Hopefully. I'll have to coordinate a trip in March, although I usually travel with my wife who wouldn't be keen on spending time at a convention

**Posted by Ghul** 4/01/2015 5:29 pm

What a great con! I had such a great time running the three new adventures, Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes, Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess, and Beneath the Comet. I got to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. There is so much common ground between enthusiasts of AD&D. You can sit down at a game with a group of strangers, and four hours later it's like you are old buddies. Lots of laughs, lots of beers. Good times, indeed!

**Posted by francisca** 4/01/2015 5:31 pm

Well I ran a pickup game using AS&SH set in Lankhmar wednesday night and I am happy to say I think the system worked quite well for Lankhmar. The various fighter and thief subclasses work well and the Hit Die recovered per night's rest really helps in what was a scenario with no Clerics. This was a fairly roleplay heavy session with relatively few combats.....an oddity for me.

**Posted by gizmomathboy** 4/01/2015 6:34 pm

I was in 3 AS&SH sessions.

Wednesday night was Francisca's Rank Belly of Lankhmar, an obvious reference to the sewer system among other things. Guess how much time we spent in them? Yeah, players have a knack for find ways to going orthogonal to a DM's intent. It was a great scenario. A band of Fahrd's and Mouser's offspring sent on a mission by their forebear's mentors. Probably the most memorable part was when they were trying to break into the grain merchant guild hall. We had planned a nice diversion while me and some others would break in on the other side of the building. Well, before that happened our ranger decided to try and hide in the landscaping. The guards found this amusing. So much so it probably worked out as a better diversion than we could have pulled off. It's not every session the DM asks for a roll to see if you can pee, and then fail it.

Friday I was in Ghul's Fane of the Coiled Goddess session. It started off with a bang. Nothing like watching Handy and the party berzerker take out a big ol' carnivorous dino. Later in the session my monk suffered a righteoud beat down from a rival monk. Later, however I got to roll a crit using a pot of boiling rice as an improvised weapon. It was awesome all around. Thanks for a great module Ghul.

Saturday was Francisca's Trouble in Vikland II. I'll just say 2 things: 1) Flaming Unicorn Zombie Mastodon, 2) I think we really, really pissed off Ymir.

As for the rest of the con, I got in a 1e game, ran 4 sessions of Circus Maximus, won the Circus Maximus finals for the second year in a row, saw the forces of good suffer a devasting loss under my command against the Witch King that probably cost the future of Middle Earth, and had an excellent time in our Sunday Game.

It was great to meet Handy, Big Perm, and other other folks. Nothing like meeting new friends, drinking beers with them, and slinging some dice.

It was a great time and I really look forward to next year's Gary Con

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 4/01/2015 8:32 pm

francisca wrote:
Well I ran a pickup game using AS&SH set in Lankhmar wednesday night and I am happy to say I think the system worked quite well for Lankhmar. The various fighter and thief subclasses work well and the Hit Die recovered per night's rest really helps in what was a scenario with no Clerics. This was a fairly roleplay heavy session with relatively few combats.....an oddity for me.

Francisca, that sounds awesome. I hope next time I get in on a game you're running--playing with you was great. You had the only real success in the Rob Kuntz layer Tacojohn ran for us. Of course, having an extra +2 sword lying about helps!

gizmomathboy wrote:
Friday I was in Ghul's Fane of the Coiled Goddess session. It started off with a bang. Nothing like watching Handy and the party berzerker take out a big ol' carnivorous dino. Later in the session my monk suffered a righteoud beat down from a rival monk. Later, however I got to roll a crit using a pot of boiling rice as an improvised weapon. It was awesome all around. Thanks for a great module Ghul.

Seconded!

Man, when the monk turned and challenged you to single combat, your face was awesome. Of course, with that crew, our reaction was, "Sounds great! <hail_of_arrows/>." That guy sure could slap away some arrows, though. And that kitchen staff opened up the wrong can of worms, man. Wrong can of worms. It was great to rampage and marauder with you, even if Ma and Pa Dino-Kettle didn't get to live to regret coming to work that day.

And that dino was totally my kill. 18 DEX! And that for a thief that knows how to lay on hands!

BigPerm is getting psyched to take you on in Circus Maximus next year.

Now it seems like my body doesn't know how to react to sudden withdrawal of constant beer and gaming. Back to Wisconsin!

**Posted by gizmomathboy** 4/01/2015 8:50 pm

Man, I am so fucked in next year's Circus Maximus Finals. :-)

I think the only people not gunning for me might be Luke and any newbs that qualify.

I can take it though, hoisting that trophy next year will be all the sweeter if I can survive that level of mayhem.

**Posted by mabon5127** 4/02/2015 6:52 am

Handy Haversack wrote:
Scalydemon wrote:
mabon5127 wrote:
You are most kind and a gentleman.
Ok, ok let's not get carried away here
Chainsaw is also about 6'5" and massively thewed, just like in his Brew thread pictures! He was nice enough not to crush us regular humans even 7 or 8 beers in!

We had a great time. Mavfire, were you there? I don't think I was conscious of meeting you. Iron Ranger?

I mentioned this on DF, but meeting the rest of you was really almost the best part of the Con. If it looks like we're having fun in those pics Chainsaw posted from the pickup game I ran on Thursday, that's because we really were! Those guys brought the ruckus and ran with the weird! When WSmith turned into a mushroom, his biggest worry at first was what the haberdashery repercussions might be! Then the whole "also now a mushroom" issue kicked in. Chainsaw was stepped on my a lava god he was trying to worship, which really was the smart play since the *last* chaos godling they met accepted their worship (and the hireling they sacrificed!) and let them off with a stern geasing. In this case, though, it led to stepping on. Everyone else was trying to wedge into the crevice Ancalagon's barbarian had found, but his wineskin kept getting in the way! At least that's what he told us. Then just four real minutes later, they encountered the googolpede. It was, apparently, impervious to hand axes.

The LE Pict fighter was geased, so when everyone else was experimenting with snorting chaos fungus to see what the effects would be (see turning into a mushroom, supra), he stood nearby with two-handed sword ready in case the effects were likely to slow the mission. Fortunately, beetle wings and fur were deemed mostly harmless, and the mushroom was a slow-developing situation.

Anyway, what a blast. Meeting all of you--Chainsaw and capitalbill, Lige, Francisca, grodog, Gizmomathboy (he's in the pic from Jeff's Friday night game that Chainsaw posted--I'm in the near left corner, clearly having a great idea, and Gizmomathboy is next to Ghul, with the beard), WSmith, even Ghul (he's not so bad when you get to know him). I wish I had been able to figure out who the rest of you were! I hope I didn't offend you. Those of you I did meet, I totally meant to offend you!

We're already booked into rooms for next year. More hilarity is sure to ensue.

I'll stick with my assessment until treated otherwise!

**Posted by mavfire** 4/02/2015 10:45 am

Handy,

I came to your Forgotten Fane game on Friday night near the last hour or so, I sat in next to Jeff at the table and did not play. I remember your character "laying on hands" for a few aquired siver pieces or were they gold. I recall the Amazon warrior not being to happy about it either. Still, had a blast watching you guys game and have a great time.

I guess I should have introduced myself a bit better, but i didnt want to interupt the fun.

As it was I networked alot, shopping my artwork around to different publishers that Jeff and Roy Snyder introduced me to (thanks jeff) and played in a 1st Ed Harold Johnson game (I was just too busy to play as many games as I wanted, but this was more of a business trip this year). I think next year I will have to register early and get into an AS&SH game.

It was great time, as I talked to alot of the bigs in the business, including Mentzer (Eldritch Ent.), both Gygax brothers, Jayson Elliot (Gygax Mag), Stephen Chenault (C&C) and many others.