Thanks JG.  Those are great.  Renews my resolve to make it next year.

Made it through my daughter's graduation last night, and am heading up to the Florida panhandle tomorrow for her 4-day college orientation.  I agree with Chainsaw - 2012 can't come fast enough!

Keep the pictures coming!

Looks like fun so far -

Another batch of photos from late Thursday and early Friday.

. . . http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q90/ ... n2011Day2/

I take bad photos.  The photos of Kyrinn Eis are especially bad because she just finished laughing and crying for 30 seconds.  Ask her about the character nicknamed "Johnny Pillow".  That PC made an already intriguing game an over-the-top funfest that showed the flexibility of RPGs & DMs in general and Urutsk & Kyrinn in particular.  The session was a lot of fun because she handled the character and player so well; me, I do not have the people and DM skills to handle a wild player.  

Thanks for the photos and updates so far.

I am curious what the ACAEUM LE Art print sold for.  

I did not take nearly enough pics this year, but here you go. I will get around to labeling them sometime.

http://s700.photobucket.com/albums/ww9/ ... on%202011/

Kingofpain89 wrote:Whew! Finally caught up on sleep I figured I would chime in with a few pictures and comments.  This years convention was ten times better than last years....and that is saying a lot.  All of the games went better than I could have expected.

Hey King,

I just wanted to say thank you very much for that post.
I loved the descriptions for each of the events you played, I felt it was like I was there.

Thank you also for the pictures. I was always curious what Badmike looked like. Now I have rough idea.

Best regards,
Ronald

thanks for the pictures and descriptions gents. truly wish i could have been there. by the way, did anybody else notice that Bracton is seemingly in every picture, zelig-like, sitting next to the dm?

EPIC.

As King said, this was 100 times more fun than last year, as virtually no problems came up that would distract us from our fun.  I'll forgo all the blah blah blah about how happy we are to host, how much we love and respect the special guests, how all the attendees are personal friends of ours and would die to save our dice falling out of an airplane, blah blah blah.  What follows are moments and memories from this con.

WED:

Finished loading the trailer with Doug prior to hauling off to the Staybridge Suites to drop off the trailer for the night so we could unload in the morning. In said trailer already was the video arcade D&D game from long ago, Tower of Doom, ready to receive quarters. Doug remarked he's sprained his left shoulder moving the thing as it weighs almost 600 lbs.  I noted only an imbecile would try to move such a massive device, even with an industrial strength two wheeler (Note: this comes back to haunt me later in our tale).

When we reach the con, several early attendees are already present, and we head up to Prufrocks and Blackmoor's room to shoot the breeze only to find KingofPain already present.  Soon, Flambeaux, JohnGaunt, The Burntwire Bros, Smarmy and his son Gabe, and Gnat are also in the room to see the grand unveiling of Martin's module "Kingslayers", which features many Acaeum members very prominently as NPCs and pregens.  The great Jason Braun artwork helped the presentation greatly, and it is truly a sight to behold.

Soon, the annual trek to Hard 8 BBQ down the road was in session, where we were met by Leadjunkie (Marshall) and his lovely wife. Much sausage, brisket and other meats were consumed, and I was able to accumulate a huge take home  basket full of goodies for later consumption.  However, much to my chagrin I started feeling a bit odd after dinner, and when back at the hotel setting up, the sickly feeling continued.  Doug lended me Erol Otus' room key (the great one had been unable to take his flight due to mechanical problems and was due in the next day), and I went up to lay down awhile. Soon, I realized something "bad" was going to happen, so I hurried down to the car to take me home. The smell of the take home meat hit me like a 15 HD fireball in the stomach, and I tossed the entire box out the window, rolled them down, and headed home in a fast clip.  I had barely reached the house when I ran past my wife straight to the bathroom and proceeded to loudly evacuate my stomach (mmm, those beans look great the second time, folks) for half an hour....after which I felt pretty darn good. Food poisoning, kiddies, it's not just for 3rd world countries anymore!  I then had a fitful sleep, afraid to eat or drink anything in case it set me off any more.  Sadly, this episode scarred my vocal cords and started a downward progression that would leave me nearly speechless all weekend.

THURS:

The next morning, I was very shaky but headed to the con to continue setting up, having to load up my pickup with product for my vendor's booth. After an hour, I was soaking wet and shaky, still feeling the effects of the previous evening's bad meat encounter.  Driving to the con and setting up, I started running into all sorts of reprobates, scholars, near criminals and other lose individuals who call this hobby our home.  Handing out registration packets and greeting people took up most of the day as Gnat and Doug picked up all the special guests from the airport. Rob Kuntz and his lady Kathy (who drove a long way to get here) finally arrived, although Rob was far too beat up from the long drive to participate in the charity auction.  Seeing as the thought and smell of meat made me queasy, I volunteered to man the register as Doug took the special guests to a local restaurant to eat dinner before the charity game.

All this time I was sweating bullets hoping against hope my sickness wouldn't stop me from running my B1 B/X game that evening, the first event I had ever run at a NTRPG Con.  Acaeum members Smarmy (and his son Gabe) and Bracton were in the game, so I was loath to disappoint them or anyone else.  Fortified with dry bagels, drugs, cough drops, GasX and water, I got set up and was ready to go.  People continued arriving all night, including vendors setting up their booths.  Paul Elkmann (Geoff Dale to Judges Guild fans) was hawking an interesting set up of a thumb drive loaded with pdfs and a new version of his classic Inferno; Bill Barsh of Pacesetter Games had new product galore, but was disturbed to find one entire box had gone to somewhere in Florida instead of Irving Texas; TacoJon and Grodog of Black Blade had brought the new hardbacks of OSRIC, which are beautiful btw; Rollin (Captain Snake) brought many boxes of old school goodness. Eventually I purchased a Rob Conley Blackmarsh from Black Blade, some great condition old modules from Captain Snake (including a nice T1-4 w/mapbook for $20, later to be signed by Frank), and a set of Bill Barsh's new modules.

Rob Kuntz also showed up with product, some goodies that he had dug up around the house and brought down to sell at a special table. I paged through them, then noticed a small pile of Bottle Cities...impossible to find anymore. "How much?"  "Oh, cover price". It was a battle to the death between myself and The Burntwire Bros to grab as many as we could before the word got out, and indeed we very quickly cleaned out the Bottle City stock (and having Rob sign my copies, I noticed that one was already signed...it turned out to one of the rare signed and numbered author's copies!  Rob wouldnt' take more for it although I must admit I didn't fight him on this when he told me that).  

Did I mention the con limited edition items?  A beautiful Jason Wiebe con exclusive mini, digest copies of adventures by Dennis Sustare, Tim Kask, and Steve Winter; a digest sized version of the classic Wee Warriors module Dwarven Glory, and a digest sized version of the tournament version of Ghost Tower of Inverness (which we were not charging for!).  So, along with my other finds, and including Prufrock's Kingslayers module purchase, I was virtually penniless within hours of the con opening.  Awesome!  I also enjoyed meeting, for the first time, Jim Ward and Erol Otus (two of the last of the old guard I have immense respect and awe for and had never had a chance to meet) and resumed aquaintances with Frank Mentzer (after a year sabbatical from the con), Tim Kask. Steve Winter, Dennis Sustare, and Paul Jaquays.  I also availed myself of doing something I very rarely do: collecting sigs on items by Paul, Frank, Jim and Erol (Note: I had my very nice copy of Deities and Demigods signed by Erol, Rob, Jim, Paul, Frank, Steve Marsh and Jeff Dee during the con....yeh, that one is getting locked in the vault!!!).  

Sadly I did not attend the charity auction, nor Lead Junkie's epic Chainmail mini's game, as I had my own fish to fry.  I had not run more than 6 people through an adventure in about 20 years, and I had 9 for B1 that night.  I was a bit nervous, but there was no reason....I had a great group that played together like they had been hanging out around the local hobby store together for years. Hell, I felt like I had been hustled!  They cooperated and except for one side track, went like a guided missile toward's the module's big bad.  Ryan, Gabe, Glen, Austin, Mike Cary, James Johnson, Dennis & Melissa Pipes, and Mark Greenberg kicked serious ass!  They made this a great game and I was really flattered when they commented on how much they enjoyed the game (one participant, undoubtedly seeking only to stroke my ego, told me two days later he thought my game was still the best he had played in....seeing the roster of greatness at the con, that pretty much blew me away!). Witnessing Ryan's 13 year old son get excited and going nuts right next to me helped bring my energy level up, and I didn't even think about being sick from 7 pm until midnight as I ran the adventure.

I started by passing out 20 character sheets, written by hand on the old style green paper basic sheets, and containing only characters from the  back of the B1 module (yes, Krago, Zeffan, Evro, Glendor and others made an appearance!)  After rolls on the random item chart, against Bracton's objections the group choose the "Necromancer's Lair" option for the theme of the night's adventures (and then proceeded to only choose two clerics as characters, LOL). It seems a group of undead led by a mysterious hooded man had been attacking travelers in the vicinity ....after a brief stint in town buying potions, holy water, and more equipment, the party headed off for the dungeon.  They opened the doors to Quasqueton to find a small group of zombies...which the characters proceeded not to turn (luckily, not an issue with most of the undead they fought that night). Battle commenced, and it was game on!!!

The party generally made good decisions, had very little trouble with B/X rules, and didn't do anything crazy like split the party (although Austin did have to roll on the "Bad Crap Chart" for tossing his dice off the table not once, but TWICE....in a row!).  The party soon noticed that undead was recent undead, and had been battling goblins.  They tracked the goblins to their lair, and once again Bracton was outnumbered as he pleaded for party members to leave the gobbos alone and look for the target of their quest, the necromancer.  Instead the characters hacked their way through 30+ goblins set up in the Armory and Barracks area to find......minimal treasure (although they did learn the Necromancer was on the lower level). Traveling to the Throne room to use the room nearby, the engaged in a nasty battle with trapped pillars that shot lightning, skeletons, ghouls and the Hooded Man (who turned out to be a Wight, and the top servant of the Necromancer.  BTW, the characters were 2nd level, and made great use of silver missile weapons, a magic spear found in the ruins, spells, and teamwork to bring down the undead and the wight with no deaths!  Yep, 2nd level characters taking down a wight, way to go.

At the lower level, the party very intelligently avoided any and all red herrings, side passages, and enticements to head straight to where the big bad laired, the large room on the bottom level near the exit. Although the party had not wasted their resources, they battle soon turned tough as a large group of skeletons made way for hasted zombies, and then the spell casting Necromancer (who also blasted characters with a weirdly glowing black balled staff).  Soon, half the party was asleep, and the other half (not including the tough dwarven fighters) was on the ropes, down to single digit HP. Ryan's cleric was knocked unconcious, only to be brought back up with a healing potion, and the Necromancer's staff kept blasting away at characters.  Lots of oil vials were thrown, and then lots of torches were thrown, to no avail and no one could hit the broad sign of a barn. In desperation, Mellisa's mage tossed a lantern at the mage, and it broke at his feet, igniting the oil and waving bye bye to the evil wizard. After the last of the Necromancer's undead was disposed of, the cavern's ransacked, and the Necromancer's secrets discovered, I congratulated the players and basically finishing the adventure!!! What a great group to play with, the game was the most fun I have had in ages.  I think I'll be running a game now at every NTRPG con, maybe even B1 (I have multiple themes for the dungeon).  

After a late dinner at IHOP with King, Bracton and Smarmy, we headed back, and I was caught up in a conversation with Bill Webb....yes, Necromancer Games/Frog God Games Bill Webb! THE Bill Webb. Anyway, for 2.5 hours Bill talked about his career, his new company, the old company, Clark Peterson, new releases and product, and lots of inside the industry goodness (the story of origin of The Tome of Horrors, the game changer in the industry that basically was a building block of the OSR, is absolutely classic and every historian of D&D needs to know it!).  We discussed our mutual love for the game, old school dming and modules,  and much more.  We suddenly looked at our watch at one point, and it was 3:30 AM!!!!!  Time to grab a quick four hours of sleep, oh man.  I came away very impressed and with a deep respect for Bill. The man is a rock solid old school dude and I've got his back from here on out (ok, maybe he did mention that the NTRPG con was the most fun he's had in years and years, and that MIGHT have influenced my judgement, but, hey, I'm only human and I have an ego too.....)

More later......including obscene dice bag art, serendipitous meetings with waiters, Mythmere Tower madness, Chariot Racing, and other fun.

Mike B.

You'll have to give me a chance to get things unpacked, sorted, returned, etc and then all my real life business stuff caught up before I can go out to post/create items at Zazzle with the new logo.

I plan to have that and the additional Minis, booklets etc posted online at RPGMarketplace.com around June 15th if not earlier. Though they will only be posted online until July 15th

Anyway, it appears it was a fun Con for all in attendance. I spent time walking the Con talking to various people from players to DMs to Special Guests to get some input on the Con.

I am glad we have been able to provide a annual convention that people want to come back to. Though I am one that helps put it all together, so meeting/speaking with the special guests is the "norm" for me these days, I want to post a quick 5 min snippet from a day at the Con.... you'd be surprised how accessible all the special guests are....

I was looking for Tim Kask, ah there he is in the lobby sitting with Jim Ward and talking to an attendee. I stop by, ask/get the info I needed from Tim, pat Jim on the shoulder as I walk away... oh there is Paul Jaquays walking down the hall in front of me, I need to tell him something... tap on my shoulder, it's Jeff Dee, need to clear up something I forgot... now back to Paul ... speed up my steps to catch up and oops... I bumped into someone, turn to say excuse me... oh, it's Frank Mentzer... sorry Frank I was trying to catch Paul.... catch up to Paul and speak with him about the artist session and Erol Otus walks up to ask about something. Done with the conversation I am heading to the registration area and pass by Steve Winter setting up for a game, he says "hi"... wants to have his picture taken with me ??? okay, stop so someone can take our picture... continue to the registration desk and Rob Kuntz is leaning on a table across from the registration desk talking about his game as Dennis Sustare is standing at the desk waiting for me to arrive since he has something to talk about as well...

Really, it's all true, and it can happen to you at the NTRPGCon

Hope you come next year !