After-Action Report: Gary Con XVII 2025
by Ted
Another successful Gary Con in the can!
The whole crew descended upon Lake Geneva, WI for the second year in a row, wasting no time in getting to the con and getting our badges. We went straight upstairs, found a table, and sat down to play some Mythic Bastionland, with Jon running a kick-ass scenario in which the whole crew embraced their mythic duties as knights with great enthusiasm.
Our love knows no bounds.
Happily, almost right away we ran into some of our listeners and friends. It was great to reconnect with everyone in real life and to see who would be playing what in the coming days. Excitement was high and the mood was good, somewhat buoyed by the unexpected arrival of a mysterious stranger and her bottle of Malört. Somehow we managed to get back to the game and finished up in an extravagant battle royale between the Mythic Knights and the dastardly Shrouded Order. Good news: the good guys won.
Thursday morning we spread out across the con and everybody played a lot of different games…
Jon: I had a great time as always. I played and enjoyed Mothership, Swyvers, Ars Magica, Into the Odd, and Eat the Reich. The highlight, of course, was meeting and playing with the esteemed members of our community. It’s continually amazing to see such an outpouring of support and enthusiasm for what we do at 3d6 DTL!
Jon always has the best games for us.
Mike: Ah, what can I say about Gary Con 2025? Shall I talk about the finely aged chili dog on the second floor Halleteria? No! Shall I talk about the noisy heater in my hotel, which had the trick of turning on JUST as I was falling asleep? Nay! ‘Twould be churlish to the max. For me, Gary Con 2025 is about the games I played and the people I was drunk with along the way. Whiskey Mike made an appearance and was documented on David’s unattended phone. I played a totally AMAZING Mythic Bastionland game on Wednesday night. I absolutely love that game and would play it in a box, yes even with a fox. I learned that three games in a day is TOO much for me when I played Deadlands, Mothership (that was one of the best games of the con) and a Pirate Borg game (avast ya lubberly seaman). The BIGGEST first for me, however, was running my first con game. I want to thank Danny and Jake for taking that journey with me, even though I was running purely on coffee and terror! I hope those other long-suffering souls in the game had fun. I want to thank Cameron for his amazing Shadowdark game on Saturday night!
We told him not to poke the dragon…
David: Gary Con year 2 was an absolute blast! Returning to more friendly faces and getting the chance to play together; experiencing the creativity, collaboration, and (dare I say) “Yes, and-ing” reminded me what this community is all about. Rob’s wacky Whitehack dive, Yochai’s cerebral run of “Rise of the Blood Olms”, Cameron’s psychedelic run of “Fabien’s Atelier”, and of course, Jon’s legendary Mythic Bastionland jaunt were an absolute joy. My cup couldn’t be more full… and I can’t wait to dive back in!
David sees Ted people…
Matt: What a time! This was my second Gary Con, but it certainly won’t be my last.
I gathered weird goo in mysterious dimensions, took down an ancient cabal of vampires—and then ate a pile of Nazis as a vampire. I was a dead pirate, an action figure, a zombie lord, a knight of glass, pompous dwarf and a fine gentleman named “Meaty Pyle.” What a time! Nothing compared, though, to all of the real people I met—and met again. I’m so grateful! Amazing game masters, game creators, the most criminally under-appreciated fans on the internet AND four of my best friends—I couldn’t have spent those five days better if I tried. Thanks to you all—can’t wait to do it again!
Ironically, this was how Matt was “discovered” and invited into the 3d6 DTL gaming group.
Ted: This year I decided to try games I hadn’t played much, or at all. I kicked it off Thursday morning with an outstanding game of Mothership, “The Sargasso Cluster”, with GM Gregory and a really engaged group of excellent players. It was an auspicious start to the con! I tried Whitehack, Pirate Borg, Mausritter, and Dungeon Crawl Classics, as well as an OSE version of The Painted Wasteland. I was surprised at how much fun I had in Mausritter, and our party in DCC was the first to complete the adventure successfully! I probably had the most fun running the OSE adventure that Mike and I wrote, “The Curse of the Hjemsokt Barrows”. Every player was a 3d6 DTL listener (Shawn, Lauren, Matt, Aaron, Bill, and Ryan! Hi guys!), and they were a great team! So much fun, and I plan to run again next year if I can.
What fun to almost TPK the party!
(photo by Bill Harvat)
Everyone is home now, and we are already talking about next year, writing more adventures, and reminiscing about the fun we had. We’ve had loads of fun looking at our pictures and all those posted on our Discord and on Facebook. We are all especially grateful to the 3d6 DTL community members that were at the con and who were so fun and welcoming. We hosted a Down the Hatch at the bar on Friday night and it was a big crowd. Libations were consumed, new friendships forged, and Dave K. won the signed poster by rolling the highest number on Matt’s official DTH dice (3d6, of course). Congratulations, Dave!
Alright, everyone — say “Gerrilad!”
So, now we all go back to our regular lives for a while, but we still need to get that spaceship working, so we will be back to recording episodes soon. In the meantime, keep those dice rolling!
Bladders empty, beers full,
Jon, Mike, David, Matt, and Ted