My Fairly-Well-Packed Gen Con Schedule

My 2012 Gen Con adventure begins one week from today. Looks like I have a full schedule planned too. Some folks who wanted to meet were asking me what my schedule looked like. Well, here's where I'll be, when I'll be there, and what I'm doing when I get there:

WEDNESDAY

• Noon or earlier - Check-in at The Canterbury Hotel.
• 1 to 5 p.m. - (playing) "It's the Great Cthulhu, Charlie Brown!" (Call of Cthulhu) @ The Ram as part of the Kentucky Fried Gamers' Wednesday Night Gaming.
• 6 to 8 p.m. - (running) The Labyrinth Lord Society Meet-n-Greet at the Gen Con Stink @ Union Station Grand Ballroom. Come on out, meet other Goblinoid Games/Pacesetter fans, and get some swell swag!

THURSDAY

• Noon to 4 p.m. - (running) "Thundarr the Barbarian: Across the Dimensional Divide" (Mutant Future) @ Marriott, Indiana Ballroom C. That's right! Thundarr Thursday is finally LIVE!
• 5 to 9 p.m. - (playing) "Lair of the Lizardfolk God" (Labyrinth Lord) @ ICC, Hall C, Red, 25-27.
• 10 p.m. to midnight - (playing) "Are You A Werewolf?" @ ICC, Hall C, Boffer Combat Arena. I've wanted to play this massive game of "find the werewolf in our midst" for quite a while.

FRIDAY

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. - (running) "Gimme Shelter II: The Rushmore Salvage Job" (Mutant Future) @ Marriott, Indiana Ballroom C. The sequel to last year's Gimme Shelter. (Available for download!)
• 5 to 8 p.m. - (playing) "The Blasphemous Brewery of Pilz!" (Labyrinth Lord) @ JW, room 311. I get to play in Digital Orc's sandbox, run by the man himself!
• 8 p.m. to midnight - (drinking) 'The Dead Games Society Cocktail Party" @ a mystery location. I'm running my games this year under the DGS banner. This night, they're holding an invitation-only get together filled with drinkin', gamin', and drinkin'. I may run a pick-up game of Ghostbusters there, or run another party through my Thundarr adventure.

SATURDAY

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. - (running) "Weed World" (Mutant Future) @ Marriott, Indiana Ballroom C. This went over quite well at Gary Con in March, so I thought I'd give it another run at Gen Con.
• 4 to 8 p.m. - (playing, I hope) "Fate's Fell Hand" (Dungeon Crawl Classics) @ JW, room 301. I got closed out of this event when registering, but I'm hoping I can squeeze in with some generic tickets.
• 9 p.m. to midnight - (playing) "Illuminati" @ ICC, Hall C. I'm a big fan of this classic Steve Jackson game. I have a near-monthly local group that plays, in fact. Let's see how I do against some of the brightest conspirators worldwide. Fnord.

NOT SCHEDULED, BUT PLANNED

• Guest of Honor, Uber-blogger, and all-around good guy Wil Wheaton will be signing autographs in the Dealer's Hall each morning. Would really like to meet him and have him sign something for me.
• Games-on-Demand across from the Dealer's Hall in ICC238 offers demos and pick-up games of some of the hottest indie RPGs. Hope to try out Fiasco, Life With Master, Dungeon World, Apocalypse World, and other unusual RPGs.
• Digital Orc sent out the clarion call for an OSR Blogger Meet-up. Not sure if this is gonna happen or not, but would like to try to cross paths with a few fellow blog-meisters during the four days.
• I have an advance playtest copy of a not-yet-released-or-announced RPG that I'm dying to run folks through. (Yes, I'm being deliberately vague due to a non-disclosure agreement I signed.) The creator was also kind enough to send me a playtest adventure as well. Gen Con would be the perfect place for a quick dry run of this exciting new setting for a classic system. (Ooooh! Spoilers!)
• I also need to attend some of the auction, the "throwing out of the first die" to open the show, trolling the Dealer's Hall, visiting the OSR booth, and maybe shoehorning in a pick-up game at some point.
• Sleeping. yes, I somehow plan to try to get some sleep.

And, as always, I'll be posting a daily Live From Gen Con blog post just like last year. Stay tuned!

"They've Killed Fritz! Those Lousy Stinking Yellow Fairies!"

One of my favorite movies of all time is Ralph Bakshi's Wizards. The imagry, the story, the setting, the animation -- all of it adds up to a film I can watch over and over again. (And I have.) And best of all, it's a decidedly gonzo post-apocalyptic film. The rise of magic versus the evils of Ancient technology. The evil blasted landscape of Scortch against the good magical realm of Montagar. Good stuff here, and lots of fodder for your post-apocalyptic campaigns.

However, in spite of my fandom, I somehow missed the fact that there was a Wizards RPG released back in the '90s! Once I found out, I made it my goal to collect every item released for the game. My full collection completed today is pictured above. The Scortch and Montagar sourcebooks are filled with interesting lands to explore and bizarre mutants and creatures to battle. (Plus several adventure plot hooks as well as fleshed-out adventures!) Anyway, because of the post-apocalyptic setting, just wanted to show it off. I'm reading up on the system now -- point-buy-in based character generation, it seems -- and should be ready to actually run a game or two at Gary Con next March.

(I'd love to try to run a pick-up game at Gen Con next week, but there's no way in Hell I'd be able to learn a new system and hammer together a simple adventure in 7 days -- not when I'm prepping my games already on the docket!)

Wizards, Mutants, Laser Pistols Issue 2 Now Out

The newest issue of that old-school fanzine newcomer Wizards, Mutants, Laser Pistols is now out and ready to melt your brain with more gonzo fantasy RPG ideas. In Issue 2 of WMLP, you'll find:

• The Warden -- a new Ranger-inspired character class for Labyrinth Lord
• The Symbiote -- one word comes to mind: "Kuato"
• Beneath the Ruins: Level 2 -- the next level of the fanzine's fantasy/sci fi megadungeon
• Myron the Magician -- an adventure specifically designed to introduce young children to role-playing
• And other crap that will melt your face! (According to the cover blurb.)

WMLP is steeped in fantasy tropes, but offers enough science fantasy to satisfy fans of Mutant Future as well. (Just look at the cover! Need I say more?) An issue is $3.50 shipped in the U.S.; $4.50 shipped to Canada; and $5.50 shipped Overseas. You can order an issue by visiting the WMLP site. Issue 1 is also available at the same price.

Gary Con V Announced - March 14-17, 2013

It's official! Gary Con V has been announced for March 14-17, 2013. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is my favorite convention to attend, and I'm super-pumped about the announcement. (FYI: I'm heading to Gen Con in 11 more days. For me to be excited about Gary Con when Gen Con should be foremost on my mind, well, you KNOW there must be special about it!)

Anyone who is a fan of old school gaming -- or ANY kind of gaming -- should make a pilgrimage to get there. Anyone interested in casually meeting many, many, many of the people who designed the games we play and who very well may run one for you should make a pilgrimage to get there. Want to visit the town where role-playing started? Want to see where TSR once stood? Want to remember Gary Gygax in the most appropriate of venues? Want to have 4 days of mind-melting fun chucking dice? I can't stress this enough: Make plans to attend now or be prepared to "kick yourself ass-less" 7 months from now!

Oh, and click **HERE** to read about my adventures at Gary Con IV earlier this year!