Smarmy deserves a medal, a drink, or my first born.

Great updates Mike.  Say hello to everyone.

I'm going to leave it to Mike to provide the definitive summary of GenCon 2008, because I will never be able to do as good or as thorough a job as he will.  And I'm waaay too tired right now to post a long message.  But some of my many highlights (omitting, to my great regret, anything about the dinner Wednesday night, as I didn't arrive at Indy until Thursday morning) . . .

The Friday night auction, going until 1 am, and the Saturday night auction, until the unholy hour of 3 am.  So many fantastic items, and acquisitions by Acaeum members and others.  And the charity auction.  There were some amazing tributes by those who knew Gary Gygax, and a moving speech by his son Luke.  The proceeds went to the Fisher House Foundation, which supports members of our armed services and their families.  The highlight was the auction of a 5+-foot-diameter 20-sider, filled with dice contributed by people from the con, which went for $1400 (how the heck do you get that home, and where exactly do you put it?).  Last year, the charity auction brought in around $9500, I think; this year, over $16,000.

The dealer room.  What can one say?  Until you see it, you can't imagine how much this industry produces, or the amazing creativity it brings forth.

Four hours gaming with Frank Mentzer, DM, in Empyrea.  (Elves rule!!!)

One amazing hour gaming with Tim Kask, DM, in the Hall of Wonders at the Tower of Gygax.

(Talk about getting a lesson or two in the "old school way" of doing things . . . .)

Meeting Ed Greenwood again, and getting him to sign my copy of an adventure I played, that he DM'd, at GenCon back in 1984.  (Thanks, stratochamp, for finding and holding Ed for me until I could race back to the dealer room after you tracked him down!)

Bringing my 15 year old son to GenCon for the first time, and hearing him say, "When we come back next year . . . ."

And last but absolutely not least, finally meeting so many Acaeum members (and spouses and children too!).  As others have said, gamers are some of the best people in the world.  And this group is, to use a GenCon auction phrase, the creme de la creme.

I know there's a lot more, but after an incredible weekend, far too little sleep and a three and a half hour drive home, that's all that my muddled mind recalls.  So off to get some sleep.

At my 2nd attendence to GenCon (last year being the first) I can say that a great time was had by all.  Frank (aka ExTSR), what a great time I had meeting you and gaming with you for four hours.  It was also great to meet many of the Acaeum members including BadMike, Bracton, Kingofpain, Mad Hermit, Smarmy, and Stratochamp and gaming with you as well.  What a team we made.  Too bad it couldn't be a regular get together.  DBartman of course has been a friend and my DM for many years and has attended GenCon with me both times.  This year I had my son with me (as last year) and DBartman also had one of his daughters.  They both also enjoyed it a lot.

I got to pick up several more 1st edition modules for my collection, as well as quite a bit of newer stuff from Goodman Games.  Probably spent more than I should have, but not nearly as much as others.  Oh well.  Still all in all it was a fairly cheap vacation thanks to Marriott points making for a free hotel stay.  Can't wait to do it again.

ELVES RULE.

Egg,

Can't remember the exact amount but I think it went for several hundred $$.

gencon started a little late for me as my wife, son and i were delayed, so we were late getting to the acaeum dinner. so i went late and alone as our son was already asleep. the wives of badmike, lawrenson and blackmoor were there (and blackmoor`s oldest child) and they are all very nice people. having women at gencon is such a pleasant change from the 1970`s when i think my sister was the only female there. we got to see frank mentzer and tim kask that night of course, but one great benefit of volunteering at the auction is the opportunity to spend hours with them over the course of the weekend. frank running the elves/dwarves grudge match was of course the icing on the cake. it was great fun gaming with my fellow acaeumates (reg. trademark and (try to) solve frank`s puzzles. we can only hope we get to do it again....and it was also great to see the daughters of killjoy and dbartman and rabbit`s son. hopefully many games are in their future. oh and by the way, the ELVES WON.

Look out Al, I`m at 100 posts and climbing !

I'd be very interested in getting a breakdown of the auction sales, or at least the highlight items (Frank?).  And especially any info on Domesday Book #2.

Foul

Did anybody get a look at the Troll Lord Games new release Upper Works?
Impressions?

jasonw1239 wrote:Did anybody get a look at the Troll Lord Games new release Upper Works?
Impressions?

Jason, my friend Jon "tacojohn" Hershberger picked up one for me, which I should have in my hands in a day or two.  I'll keep you posted