Gary Con is a

gaming convention A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three business days long, and often held at ...

held in

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it was home to 8,277 people as of the 2020 census, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located southwest of Milwaukee and no ...

every year to celebrate the life and works of

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax creat ...

, co-creator of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' and commonly considered the father of role playing games. Gygax was raised in Lake Geneva, where the company he later founded

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

created and produced the ''

'' game for 25 years.

History

When ''Dungeons & Dragons'' co-creator Gary Gygax died in 2008, role playing gamers from around the world joined to honor Gygax's life with a virtual convention, held at locations around the world. Gygax's friends and family held an impromptu game event at Lake Geneva's American Legion Hall following his funeral on March 8, 2008, now known as "Gary Con 0," By 2009, son Luke Gygax had established the first official Gary Con, still at the Legion Hall. "Gary Con I," held March 7, 2009, was attended by a number of gaming industry icons:

Frank Mentzer Jacob Franklin Mentzer III is an American fantasy author and game designer who worked on early materials for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. He was an employee of TSR, Inc. from 1980 to 1986, spending part of that tim ...

Tom Wham Tom Wham (born 1944) is a designer of board games who has also produced artwork, including that for his own games. Career Early life and Guidon Games Born in Chester, Illinois, Wham worked a variety of odd jobs during his early adult life. Afte ...

, Steve Chenault, and Jim Ward. Daughter M. Elise Gygax-Cousino helped establish the initial event. By 2010, the Legion Hall no longer had the capacity to host the growing event and its participants. As a result, the event was moved to a local lodge west of the town. The convention moved to the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in 2016, where attendance has doubled since then. Convention organizer Luke Gygax told a local paper Gary Con was "...meant to be a more intimate event, reminiscent of the formative years of the gaming industry." Gary Con was mentioned in the February 26, 2015 episode of the television sitcom ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for CBS. It aired from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes. The show originally centered on five charact ...

'', "The Intimacy Acceleration." This reference brought attention to the event, causing its website to nearly crash, and boosting attendance for that year.

Events

The focus of Gary Con is " Old School Renaissance", with games written during Gygax's ownership of TSR getting the most attention. Often the games are run by designers who originally created the game: ''

Metamorphosis Alpha ''Metamorphosis Alpha'' is one of the first science fiction role-playing games,Several sources call ''Metamorphosis Alpha'' the first science fiction role-playing game, but others name ''Starfaring'' as the first. ''Designers & Dragons: The '70s ...

'' run by Jim Ward, '' Fight in the Skies'' run by Mike Carr, and

's boardgames. Other TSR titles are in abundance and a host of loyal gamers running the classic games, such as ''

Chainmail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

.'' HMGS Midwest is well represented at this event honoring Gygax, who was historical wargamer before founding TSR. Another favorite of the con, is Joe Kline's ''Circus Maximus'' qualifiers, as well as his modified games which include "Mobieus Maximus." Recent years has seen the addition of ''Last Hope Live Action Roleplay'', a local LARPing group which attends the convention, trains convention goers in combat, and leads them on a live adventure in which they must face monsters and other opponents in battle, discover and return important items, and solve puzzles.

References

External links

*
Gary Con II Report
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