Gary Con '24

Hawaiian shirts, storage closets and a quest for Balforin

Gary Con - the convention started by Gary Gygax’s kids to honor his life after his passing - turned Sweet Sixteen this year. Since 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of D&D, I got in my little red Honda Fit rental car and drove eight and a half hours from Pittsburgh to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, stopping briefly in Chicago to pick up podcast Lore Master Lilia. We weren’t gonna miss this.

This was my first ever Gary Con (and second ever gaming convention!), so I was unprepared for how scarce a quiet space would be. If you saw Lilia or me in the convention hall, we were probably running from one end to the other looking for somewhere - anywhere - to record. Friday offered the possibility of a storage closet in the Forum that was being used as a crying room for a man named Balforin. One of the organizers of the con gave us a quest: find Balforin, gain entry to the storage closet. You’ll know him by his long beard, floor-length leather trench coat, and furry black hat, he said.

Listen to Lilia recall the quest giving: (audio is unedited)

We found Balforin in the vendor hall and his partner told us that we could touch his beard - for a fee. We declined, but gained access to the storage closet and our quest was fulfilled!… until the next day when that access was revoked. Alas.

Room-less, we explored the vendor hall to record a few man-on-the-street interviews and I captured a photo of a dice goblin on the hunt.

Thanks, @verypowerfuldice!

Question for you - where is your favorite place to find dice? Inquiring goblins want to know.

Thursday was a big day for us - we met and interviewed Darlene, the first female artist for D&D! Her story is moving and powerful and we can’t wait for you to hear it.

Friday, we experienced the beauty of Wisconsin in March while looking for a breakfast spot. The rental car did not have an included snow scraper, unfortunately, but there was a silver lining - If you’re ever in Lake Geneva, hit up Joni’s Diner and get the biscuits and gravy.

We spent most of the day running around the convention setting up interviews (and finding a storage closet alternative), but we did sit down long enough to hear a great panel on being femme-presenting in the ttrpg industry. The panel was led by AJ Winters of Winters Tales and featured LaTia Jacquise, Toni Winslow-Brill, Sarah Moore, Banana Chan and Darling Creepshow.

We finished the night at Flat Iron Tap, where a very nice man named “Dim” (half of the fairy brothers Dim & Wit) heard us talking loudly about D&D and came to offer us free dice.

Saturday was our busiest day of the con - we recorded four interviews (including one with TSR legend Tim Kask!) and LARPed with Banana Chan, who introduced us to Bully Pulpit’s cool, Twilight Zone-y card-based game, Juggernaut.

Saturday also happened to be Hawaiian shirt day, and we did indeed participate.

After being in a Shadowdark campaign for months, Lilia and her group (led by The Lazy DM, Mike Shea) got to meet the creator, Kelsey Dionne! Peep the dungeon map - it’s a tablecloth.

After an incredible and exhausting weekend, Sunday arrived. We squeezed in two final interviews, including one with Bob Meyer, the heir to Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign! Bob was lovely and brought us to tears - thank you, Bob.

That’s a wrap on our first Gary Con! We left feeling honored to hear the stories we heard and grateful to be part of such a generous and welcoming community. To celebrate a con well done, we hit up Flat Iron Tap with the Shadowdark gang one final time before heading home.

Thank you to everyone we interviewed, to everyone who spoke with us or helped us find recording space, to the hotel staff, to Gary Con, and to you for reading!

See you next time, Gary Con!