The TL;DR
These games continue to prove that strangers can meet at a table and work together toward a common goal while having fun and looking out for each other
I cannot understand AD&D
Tim Kask at 76 parties later than I do
Hello from the other side of Gary Con 2025!
Two Tuesdays ago, I left Pittsburgh to cross the midwest in hopes of making it to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in a rental Prius. Last Gary Con - the convention started in 2008 to honor D&D creator Gary Gygax after his death - was for research and podcast interviews; this time, I was here to play.
And play, I did. Bright and early at 9:00 am on Thursday, I sat down for my first Shadowdark game! If you’re not familiar with Shadowdark, it’s an old school-style dungeon crawler RPG with modernized mechanics (which I really appreciate now that I’ve played 1st edition D&D).
Shadowdark won four gold ENNIE awards last year, including Product of the Year and Best Game, and its current Kickstarter for a new campaign setting has raised almost $2 million with 8 days to go. Shadowdark was everywhere this year.
For my first stab at it, I played a Dwarf Wizard named Nör who somehow made it out of a hidden temple of snakes alive with a blood chalice. Pretty remarkable for Shadowdark, a game known for its many deaths!
Shoutout to Lucas Korte and all the artists for Shadowdark. It’s some of the coolest dungeon-y game art I’ve seen.
I mentioned above how I appreciated modernized mechanics because this con was also my first experience with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - aka 1st edition. I’m someone who’s played a lot of tabletop RPGs. I’m currently in a Cyberpunk campaign, a Cypher system campaign (Magnus Archives), and a home-brew campaign. My main system is Call of Cthulhu and I’ve played everything from Pendragon to Brindlewood Bay.
And yet… I could not get a handle on AD&D. Every time it was my turn, I went into a panic. I kept poking my friend for help with my character sheet and had to have him write down my THAC0 table.
Somehow, despite this, I did not die in this game either. But podcast lore master/researcher Lilia did. Here she is with a nice “Deceased” stamp on her character sheet. Thanks to Jason Charles Miller for running the Tower of Gygax for us!
After this harrowing experience, a few of us decided to get our dice blessed at the plaque of Gary Gygax in downtown Lake Geneva. It was a cute moment and for a day or two I thought it might have actually worked. Next time I’ll get my dice blessed at the plaque of Dave Arneson.
Outside of playing games and eating $8 hotel hot dogs, Lilia and I made time to revisit some friends from last year’s con: the storage closet we recorded in after an epic quest and our favorite lady, Darlene. We love you, Darlene!
On Sunday, Lilia and I got to play in our first Pendragon game, run by friend and Lilia’s fellow Shadowdark campaign player, Sharon. Published originally in 1985, Pendragon is an RPG of knights and chivalry in King Arthur’s Britain.
Sharon refers to it as playing “well-armed emo teenagers” whose desires are always at war with their honor. Sharon is an excellent GM and I got to joust, so my final game of the con was a rousing success.
By the time we left Gary Con around 1:00 pm on Sunday, I was exhausted, my NCAA bracket was busted, and I had an 8.5 hour drive ahead of me. I had too much time to think and was feeling a post-con sappiness, so I reflected a bit on why I love this community so much. To spare you a paragraph of my emotions, here’s a concise bulleted list:
Sappy Thoughts + Observations
The Gary Con charity auction raised over $85,000 for Children’s Hospital Wisconsin - an incredible display of coming together with a spirit of generosity
My favorite vendor hall product showed how creative this community is at problem-solving
I joined a room of people in cheering for author Rose Estes for paving the way for women in D&D
I made new friends who were so giving with their time and energy and wanted to help this podcast succeed, even though they just met me
76-year-old Tim Kask outlasted me at the opening night afterparty, showing that gamers still got it, no matter their age - and that this is a hobby I can be part of for my entire life
These games continue to prove that strangers can meet at a table and work together toward a common goal while having fun and looking out for each other
With that, I hope you had a great March and that you get to play some games in April. Comment and let me know what game/system has thwarted you - I need to feel better about myself after AD&D.
As always, consider subscribing to this newsletter if you haven’t already and follow along on Instagram!
Thank you for reading,
Kristin
