SoCal Mini-Con III: DETAILS

Saturday, August 14 - Anaheim, California

UPDATE: We had a great time! Thanks to all participants!  

Click here to see pictures!

This "con" is not actually a formal convention - it is  a group of old school gamers hanging out in a rented clubhouse. The details I present here are distilled from the Dragonsfoot thread and email correspondence, and should be considered tentative. If you are interested in attending PLEASE RSVP a spot in the session(s) by leaving a Comment here or emailing me - this will be incredibly helpful for the DMs.
Please read below for further details on location, parking, food, etc. This is a free event!

We'll also be doing a book swap! Bring a box of books that you think people would be willing to trade for, and hopefully we'll all walk away with new reading material.

NOTE: I will continually update this page with details, so you can check back here periodically. More sessions may be added and game RSVPs may change.

MORNING SESSION (9am-TBD):

DM: T. Foster
DESCRIPTION: I'm going to be running the "Tomb of Rahotep," the finale section of Gary Gygax's Necropolis, which I will be freely converting to 1E AD&D from the original Dangerous Journeys version (there was also a d20 version released by Necromancer Games). The adventure is for high-level (up to 14) characters and is, essentially, "Tomb of Horrors on Egyptian-flavored steroids" -- a pretty much sadistic puzzle-dungeon that Gygax was proud of as the most difficult thing he ever wrote (and which I had the honor of playing in under him in a couple convention/playtest sessions back in the 80s, so I'll be doing my best to capture some of that same feel (only with a lot less unfiltered cigarettes and not as many colorful anecdotes about sharing hottubs with Hollywood starlets and what assholes the Blume brothers are )). I'm providing pre-gen characters.
RESERVED SEATS: GAME FULL

1. Thorkhammer
2. wheggi
3. jallison86
4. wheggi's stepson
5. Cimmerian
6. Bedivere
7. The Shaman
8. Rick M.
9. Gary P.
10. open

MORNING SESSION (9am-1pm):
DM: Tavis Allison 
DESCRIPTION: Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974 Whitebox, 3 "little brown books" plus house rules). "Night of the Walking Wet" by Paul Jaquays is an underappreciated classic in its own right & a mini-campaign setting for the other adventures presented in the early issues of the Dungeoneer fanzine. This exploration will set forth in a different corner of its sandbox than the previous all-night run at GaryCon II, and will take place a week after the events of that session (and likely a week before its continuation at GaryCon III). Players are welcome to make new characters beforehand using the guidelines here; to bring existing characters from any game system, who will be adapted to fit in to a party of roughly 6th level OD&D adventurers; or to roll up characters on the spot.
RESERVED SEATS: 6 preferred, 2 alternates possible.

1. cyclopeatron
2. Javi
3. Staples
4. Kirk (Telecanter)
5. Kirk's friend 
6. Alexy (monk)
7. Nick Bielik
8. open

AFTERNOON SESSION (2pm-6pm):

DM: Joseph Goodman (Goodman Games)
DESCRIPTION:  Dungeon Crawl Classics. Atop a craggy peak overlooking the teeming ports, the brilliant emerald tower has watched generations of kings rise and pass. This Citadel of the Emerald Sorcerer goes undisturbed by the king’s subjects, who fear the flapping monstrosities that descend from the dusk – as well as the king’s edict. But you’re not a king’s man, and many a fell beast has fallen to your sword ere tonight’s adventure. Surely a fortune in gemstones awaits you in the Citadel of the Emerald Sorcerer! Join the continuing public playtest of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game with this new level 2 adventure, introducing some of the new spellcasting rules employed by the game.
RESERVED SEATS: GAME FULL

1. Rick M.
2. Gary P.
3. Louis (Jon Archer)
4. Todd
5. Karina
6. Joel A.

AFTERNOON SESSION (2pm-6pm):

DM: Bobby "Cyclopeatron"
DESCRIPTION:  Gamma World (1st edition). MUTANTS OF METAL. It's hard work being in a mutated heavy metal band touring the post-apocalyptic Gamma World. Getting gigs, pleasing fans, keeping your keytar synth in good repair, and fighting rival heavy metal bands and aliens - it's all in a day's work. Pregens will be provided.
RESERVED SEATS: GAME FULL

1. Brunomac (lead vocals)
2. David B. (electronic guitar)
3. Brent W. (drummer)
4. Joshua O. (synth)
5. Nick Bielik
6. Banjo Chris 
7. Troy Z.

AFTERNOON SESSION (2pm-6pm):

DM: Kirk "Telecanter"
DESCRIPTION:  Swords & Wizardry (OD&D clone)
RESERVED SEATS: 3 to 6 players preferred.

1. Staples
2. David Keeton 
3. Mobad Deathprong
4. Kirk's Friend 
5. open
6. open

EVENING SESSION (~7pm):

DM: Chris "Cimmerian"
DESCRIPTION:  Urutsk: World of Mystery.
NOTE: This session might be canceled due to a potential work conflict for the DM. If this happens, Bedivere will instead run an AD&D session.
RESERVED SEATS:

1. Bedivere
2. Kirk (Telecanter)
3. Kirk's friend
4. Tavis A.
5. Mobad Deathprong
6. open

EVENING SESSION (~7pm):

DM: Kevin "Brunomac"
DESCRIPTION: Original D&D. Whitebox by-the-book. Roll up characters and go for it!
RESERVED SEATS:

1. Fred. C. Dobbs 
2. Gary
3. Staples 
4. Mat
5. Alexy (monk)
6. open 

MINI-CON LOCATION: The Mini-Con will be a few blocks from the Anaheim Convention Center. On this Google Map aim for the big clubhouse near the pool on the North side of Orangewood, to the left of the pointer:


View Larger Map
  
OTHER DETAILS - PLEASE READ! 

Parking
Since I'm so close to Disneyland and the convention center, the streets in the area are marked as resident permit parking only. Enforcement is fairly light, but there's no need to risk getting a ticket.

There is guest parking within the Sherwood Village community in any open, marked space (it's pretty obvious - the streets in the community are all either red or marked parking spaces). There's usually plenty, but I've never had 30 guests over before. I also have 4 resident hang tag permits that will allow parking on Orangewood right next to the clubhouse that I can give to people I know - especially anyone bringing tables and chairs or with lots to unload. These would likely go to Tony F, Jeff Allison, and perhaps Cimm, T.Foster, Shaman, Thork, or Wheggi (whoever gets there first, or whoever gives a compelling argument as to why they need it).

I know people are coming from all over, but if it’s possible to carpool, that would help.

Tables and Chairs
The clubhouse has chairs for 20 and tables for 2 games, and a counter top and refrigerator for food. I additionally have a card table and chairs for the book swap, snacks, or whatever we need.

It looks like we’ll need another table for a game session, and 8-10 chairs.

Food
If everyone brings their favorite snacks and drinks there always seems to be enough to share.

We were planning a bbq. There are a lot of people involved now, so I’m not sure how long bbq-ing for 20+ will take. We have 2 large gas bbqs outside the clubhouse. I think we can still do it if we have multiple people manning the grills as long as we limit it to something simple like burgers and dogs, but we just don’t have the space or time to cook spare ribs or whole chickens or stuff like that. We need to coordinate buns, condiments, and any veggies we might want. I don’t know if everyone should bring their own meat to allow for tastes, veggie substitutes, kosher, or whatever, or if we should pool that too. Any suggestions?

If you must bring something else to grill it must be as quick and simple as burgers or hotdogs.

Because there's 3 sessions instead of 2 like before, we also need a lunch. There is all manner of fast food, pizza, and restaurants in the area – obtaining food shouldn’t be a problem. The clubhouse also has a microwave.