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 days long, and often held at either a u ...

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 is home to an estimated 8,105 people as of 2019, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located about 40 miles southwest of Milwa ...

every year to celebrate the life and works of Gary Gygax, co-creator of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' 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 been ...

created and produced the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' 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,

Tom Wham Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Steve Chenault Stephen Chenault is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Troll Lord Games. Career Stephen Chenault and his brother Davis Chenault wanted to publish a 300-page leather bound campai ...

, 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, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'', "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 The Old School Renaissance, Old School Revival, or OSR, is a play style movement in tabletop role-playing games which draws inspiration from the earliest days of tabletop RPGs in the 1970s, especially ''Dungeons & Dragons''. It consists of a loose ...

", 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 a science fiction role-playing game. It was created by James M. Ward and originally produced by TSR, the publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. It was the first science fiction role-playing game, published in July 1976 ...

'' run by Jim Ward, ''

Fight in the Skies ''Fight In The Skies'', also known as ''Dawn Patrol'', is a board wargame first self-published by creator Mike Carr in 1966, then published by Guidon Games in 1972 and TSR in 1975. The game simulates World War I style air combat, and is the only ...

'' 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 Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

.'' 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
at '' Black Gate'' {{coord, 42.363612, N, 88.241762, W, source:wikidata, display=title Conventions in Wisconsin Gaming conventions Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Walworth County, Wisconsin