Anyone going to Gamehole Con?

[SteveC]

Just wondering if any Enworlders will be at the Con. This will be my 10th year going, after only missing the first year.

If you haven't heard of it, this is a Con in Madison Wisconsin with RPGs and boardgames. It's a TON of fun, with great guests. If you're interested in playing with some of the people who designed D&D, this is a great chance to do so. I highly recommend it as being a chance to play some new games and be social with fellow gamers.

Let me know if you'd like to grab a beverage during the Con. I also know where the free beer is. If you have questions, I'm glad to answer them as there's a lot of fun stuff going on, including custom sodas for those who don't drink beverages of the adult kind. If it's too late to take the rest of the week to game, put this on your list of things to do next year.

 

[billd91]

Gamehole has become my favorite convention. I'll be running a couple of sessions of the 50th Anniversary D&D event in 5e. There will be a simultaneous table running 1e rules for the same thing. So the comparison should be fascinating. Even the setup should be an interesting comparison since the minis and Dwarven Forge setup are all intended to be period-appropriate. And that means the 1e groups will be playing with lead minis while 5e plays with plastic.

Otherwise, I've got DMing some Adventurer's League on my plate and I managed to get into the Dread game someone is running. I'll be trying to snag a free beer at least one of the days, but my schedule ended up getting packed because of some conflicting events away from the con.

 

[SteveC]

Gamehole has become my favorite convention. I'll be running a couple of sessions of the 50th Anniversary D&D event in 5e. There will be a simultaneous table running 1e rules for the same thing. So the comparison should be fascinating. Even the setup should be an interesting comparison since the minis and Dwarven Forge setup are all intended to be period-appropriate. And that means the 1e groups will be playing with lead minis while 5e plays with plastic.

I have a couple of friends who are basically running that for the Con. I'm in a Friday night session. Should be fun.

For those not in the know, the Con is running a crazy number of quick sessions of the same game in 1E and 5E versions. And of course it's going to have Dwarven Forge and be over the top in terms of presentation. The idea is to get as many people as possible to play D&D for the Con.

There's also a huge Adventurers League presence at the Con with a custom setting. If that's your thing, this is the place to try AL.

For me, I will be playing Pathfinder Society. As a parent, I don't get to play in person, well, at all, so my character over the last few years has hit 5th level. Exciting stuff for me.

 

[Weird Dave]

Oooh I'll be there! This is also my 10th year after missing the first one. I have historically run games all convention long for either AL or my own games, but I managed to wrangle a VIG badge a few years ago so I've been slowly moving into playing more games. I am running 10 hours of the D&D Anniversary game, 5 hours for 5E and 5 hours for AD&D, and I can tell you the adventures are different - not just in terms of the rules, but everything. The AD&D game is definitely more of a quick dungeon crawl while the 5E one has more of a story-focus. They are designed this way deliberately and I am super excited - they both have unique puzzle elements which have been designed by True Dungeon, and the whole area sounds cool as HECK!

 

[darjr]

Not this year, Dangit!

 

[Xenolith234]

I’m considering going - I’ve never been before, and I won’t have as much free time in the coming years where I’m confident I’ll be able to go again anytime soon.

 

[darjr]

I’m considering going - I’ve never been before, and I won’t have as much free time in the coming years where I’m confident I’ll be able to go again anytime soon.

You should go. Especially this year.

 

[Xenolith234]

You should go. Especially this year.

Is something special occurring, or just because of the 50th anniversary?

 

[darjr]

Is something special occurring, or just because of the 50th anniversary?

There are 50th anniversary events that are cool. And the “history of D&D” panels with folks who were there is something I’d hate to miss.

On top of all that it’s just a blast of a convention.

 

[Xenolith234]

There are 50th anniversary events that are cool. And the “history of D&D” panels with folks who were there is something I’d hate to miss.

On top of all that it’s just a blast of a convention.

How does it compare to Gencon? I went to that pre-COVID, but it’s never as RPG-centric as I’d like (though there’s still a lot). Is it still fun if I’m not able to sign up for any games?