Again from the Gary Con Facebook page:

We want to apologize to everyone that has been going through the website meltdown with us. We have talked to SiteGround, our website hosting company, and determined a course of action.

Event Registration will begin, again, on Tuesday night, 9 pm (EST). This would allow us to make a positive change in moving to a cloud based hosting service.

The scenario we faced from last year; we vowed not go through it again- and we just did. We took active steps to improve the website code & serve hosting. We went with a better hosting company last year- and got a "robust" plan to handle the perceived traffic that we would generate. That sadly failed, not because we did not try.

We tried to talk the host company to allow us to remain online, but here was their response when we melted the server a 2nd time:

"Unfortunately with the high amount of traffic towards your website, even 15 minutes of uptime in the current state of the account, it would mean that the whole server would become slow and unresponsive."

We again apologize for any inconveniences we caused. Everyone took time out of their weekend to be a part of the event registration. We work hard to make Gary Con a positive experience- and sometimes we miss the mark.

Thanks for all the support, and please know that we understand the frustrations. But, it will get better going forward.

Thanks for the notices, Bracton.

Just to add one more:

Clarification on Event Registration: It will CONTINUE on Tuesday night (9 EST). All events successfully registered for today will remain in effect. Thank you for your patience as we take a tactical pause before resuming the offense!

Gary Con was mentioned on Big Bang Theory this past week...

Sheldon needs a ride to Gary Con! - YouTube

I'm certainly going to be there!

I should be there on Friday, if all goes well.

We will be there selling in the vendor room.

Jon and I have arrived!

Gary Con auction results


$11        The Convert module New Infinities (nice shrink)
$10        The Convert module (broken shrink)
$120        original Circus Maximus (shrink, originally Jim Ward's, with signed sheet)
$100        Fighting Fire module from Creative Mountain Games
$110        Firefly rpg hardcover autographed by Margaret Weiss
$75        Red Dragon of Krynn boxed model 1/15th scale, unassembled
$60        Tainted Lands + Of Gods and Monsters with signed Jim Ward note
$120        2x Lazer Tag rifles with signed Jim Ward note (triple the range & beam spread contained to the pistols) and he'll sign the rifles on request
$42        Jeff Easley 90's collectible print (not TSR) (in shrink) (2nd edition DMG cover? dragons fighting in mid-air)
$270        Lot of Battletech, Ral Partha, Iron Wind minis + various other minis + USMC bayonet
$27        Star Wars hardback rulebook (first ed) from Ken St. Andre's personal collection (signed in 2014) that he had nothing to do with
$100        Last remaining remnant of sand from the sand table in Luke's basement
$150        Gygax magazines issues #1 through #5 with Ernie Gygax autographs, plus Ernie's business card for D&D Entertainment Corp business card, which produced the D&D cartoon
$155        Dave LaForce print bundle with original pencil signings (beholder, plus others)
$250        Gary Con VII t-shirt XL official Bronies shirt (one of three made) the Derp pony
$500        Deities & Demigods 2nd print signed by Jim Ward, Dave LaForce, Darlene, and Frank Mentzer
$84        Gary Con VII Game Master t-shirt XL
$220        Lot: Micro Quest cards signed by Lloyd Metcalf; Cave of Wisdom #1 of 50 (signed by all the authors); 1977 Snit's Revenge swag bag masters for the coupons
$220        World of Greyhawk boxed set (1st print, not great condition) with Darlene autograph on the map
$45        Heroscape lot four ultra rare banner figures sold only from Toys R Us, unopened, from Jim Ward's collection
$48        Dungeon Geomorphs #1 3rd print (VG condition)
$60        Isle of Ill Omen module (by Luke Gygax & Jim Ward) artist proof of the cover, signed
$32        Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide, autographed by Margaret Weiss
$30        AD&D Dragonlance Adventures hardback signed by Jeff Easley & Margaret Weiss
$70        Cthulhu plush from Toy Vault with True Dungeon treasure kit
$55        OD&D supp II Blackmoor (2nd print) with Tim Kask signature
$56        Clyde Caldwell Dragons of Desolation print in shrink
$60        Jeff Easley fantasy art trading card 10 card printing sheet uncut signed by Jeff
$140        Lesser Gnome Whisper & Venom box set in shrink, with poster-size map
$50        Map by Stefan Pokorny (sp?) of the island in Tim Kask's first three adventures, #? of 50, on german hand-made paper
$50        Gods Demi-gods & Heroes 1st printing, signed by Jim Ward and Tim Kask
$55        The Fineous Treasury with Tim Kask autograph on Kask the Evil Wizard sketch
$135        Chainmail 3rd edition 7th print with cover fold and scuffing and Jeff Perrin autograph
$105        Art of TSR Colossal Caves box with 18 packs and the entire 50 card series
$40        Wargamer's Kit from Aaela Tools (sp?) with various status markers, etc. originally sold at the 2013 auction
$95        Autographed bouncy ball with over 300 signatures including many of the major ones
$30        Shadow Riders novel uncorrected proof autographed by both authors (incl. Margaret Weiss)
$45        Lejendary Adventures Beasts of Lejend author's edition signed by Gary #5 of 1000
$90        Three miniatures, purple worm and two warriors, painted by Skip Williams, signed & dated
$32        Jeff Easley print Dragons of Faith matted in shrink
$22        Ravenloft Feast of Goblyns with author's autographed with inscription to Steve Winter
$35        Storyteller's Thesaurus from TLG with Jim Ward signature
$250        Gary Con VII poster #1 of 20 with many signatures
$75        Fantasy Illustration Library vol 1 in the slipcase with plate & original sketch by Jeff Easley
$50        Dungeons & Dragons Kids Stuff 45 record - Quest of the Riddles, with book, and remaindered chunk out of it
$115        Idle of Ill Omen adventure with Jim Ward and Luke Gygax autograph #1 of 100
$90        Jeff Butler original dragon illustration, plus Ernie Gygax D&D Entertainment Corp business card
$35        Firefly Things Don't Go Smooth signed by Margaret Weiss
$150        Set of four miniatures painted by and signed by Skip Williams, including purple worm plus others
$98        canoe by Jolly Blackburn marked Gary Con VI with signature
$1000        personal correspondence between Mary Gygax and Fritz Leiber, plus custom figurine ordered by Fritz to resemble Mary Gygax as a particular character
$140        Stefan Pokorny map artists proof of Luke's world Okorrim
$80        Lot from Jim Ward: New oversize Metamorphosis Alpha, MA GM screen, Lunar Resort GM screen, the 77 Lost Worlds game, all autographed individually and on separate sheet
$200        Gary Con VII unique poster Oh Shit!!! by Jeff Easley signed by Frank, Jeff Easley, Jeff Butler, Tony, with extra sketches on it
$50        Lloyd Metcalf original sketches, rejected artwork (for Gary Con shirts, I think) + other cards (I couldn't keep up, sorry)
$60        Jeff Butler print Desperate Duel with airship vs. dragon
$140        Greyhawk Legends poster (one of two in existence) by Simon Todd of Tenser & Erac's Cousin combined (Luke calls it Ernie the Barbarian)
$200        Card sheets from Jim Ward's collection: Spellfire; 2000 rare & rare uncommon foil sheets for Dragonball Z; common & uncommon sheet of Dragonball Z; with autographed statements
$150        Terry Pavelit (sp?) original art of Gary, based on a photo; plus the print (#1 of 15) made from that original
$2000        Roark's Drift wargame rules with note from Jeff Perrin and certificate of authenticity from, period photocopy, given by Jeff to RJK in 1970 for the LGTSA, and passed from RJK to Frank Mentzer to the new owner
$1000        Don't Give Up The Ship 2nd printing, Gary's personal copy, with Gary's signature and handwritten annotations + Ernie's D&D Entertainment Corp business card
$600        One of two of Gary's personal chess sets, possibly made in 1930's or 1940's.
$500        One sandal hand made by Gary, previously sold last year

My first Gary Con, here are a couple of highlights for me:

- Played in a 1e game DM'ed by Stefan Pokorny (Dwarven Forge) with Peter Adkison and Luke Gygax
- Played in the Con module Cave of Wisdom DM'ed by Luke and bought a copy of the module signed by all the authors (Luke, Frank, Tim, James, etc)
- Played in a game DM'ed by Harold Johnson and had a nice conversation with him afterwards about Dragonlance
- Met and played in a game DM'ed by Paul Stormberg (The Collector's Trove)
- Met and bought art from Jeff Butler, Terry Pavlet, Lloyd Metcalf, Simon Todd, and of course Jeff Easley (who I already have quite a collection from)
- Met Grodog and had a good conversation about some Robert Kuntz modules I bought (Original Bottle City, Cairn of the Skeleton King, and Tower of Blood). He was helping me try to find Jon Peterson but unfortunately I wasn't able to catch up with Jon. Anyway really nice to meet Grodog and I hope to play in one of his games sometime, maybe at NTRPG.
- from the auction I was the winner of the first Easley print (non-TSR, shrink) which I believe was donated to the auction by Margaret Weis as she posted to Facebook about it before the Con. I was planning on being a bidder for the 2nd Easley (Dragons of Faith) and the Caldwell print but unfortunately I had to leave the auction midway through to get to a game and they hadn't come up yet.

Met lots of super nice people and had lots of good fun. I think I'm ready for something other than Spotted Cow though!