I never got to the Tower of Gygax game. Any word on how it went?

No clue. I gave up trying to find it after the info desk and several attendees/volunteers said there was no Gygax event. Most of the attendees and volunteers didn't even know that there was a giant D20 devoted to Gygax.

Found the room, & since arrived a few minutes late, watched.  It seemed very ad-libbed.  For example:

1. DM draws stairs and a 60' by 60' room
   
2. DM asks what people do; most say move up.  'Burglar' checks door/corner for traps & rolls some dice.
3. DM than asks the people in the 2nd tier; "What sort of magical item does the party see?"
4. Quiet for a bit, than some guy says, "Rod of 7 Parts."  So now there is a Rod of 7 Parts in the center of the 1st room. 
   
5. DM asks how the Rod of 7 Parts is stored.
6. No one says anything.  I say, "In a Zip-loc bag."  {Polite laughter}
   
7. DM asks what the Rod of 7 Parts says.  {apparently they can talk}
8. Someone in 2nd tier says; "Look into the lgiht."
9. One player has his character lookinto the light. 
10. DM tells that player his character dies; player gets up, someone from 2nd tier sits down.

 

Get the jist?

AvatarArt:

Found the room, & since arrived a few minutes late, watched.  It seemed very ad-libbed.  For example:

1. DM draws stairs and a 60' by 60' room
   
2. DM asks what people do; most say move up.  'Burglar' checks door/corner for traps & rolls some dice.
3. DM than asks the people in the 2nd tier; "What sort of magical item does the party see?"
4. Quiet for a bit, than some guy says, "Rod of 7 Parts."  So now there is a Rod of 7 Parts in the center of the 1st room. 
   
5. DM asks how the Rod of 7 Parts is stored.
6. No one says anything.  I say, "In a Zip-loc bag."  {Polite laughter}
   
7. DM asks what the Rod of 7 Parts says.  {apparently they can talk}
8. Someone in 2nd tier says; "Look into the lgiht."
9. One player has his character lookinto the light. 
10. DM tells that player his character dies; player gets up, someone from 2nd tier sits down.

 

Get the jist?

 

Ouch, that would be pretty bad.  That said, the GMs were encouraged to try and involve the 2nd tier in the game.  For the room I ran, I had an encounter that results in the party suffering hallucinations and I allowed the backups to choose the various hallucinations from a list of 6 I had written down.  It looked like both tiers enjoyed assigning and playing out the bad trips.  Otherwise though it was a pretty standard if brief adventure with a good dose of humor thrown in.

To be fair, this was the last slot on the last day.  But I still felt like it wasn't worth the $2.  Like most events, it all comes down to the GM. 

I was very disappointed by the whole event. I missed getting tickets before event registration closed, and so decided I would try using generics (as it said generics would be accepted.) I found the room and what do I find? ONE table with 12 chairs! I tried four different times to get in with generics and they only seated real tickets (of which there were 12 each time I stopped.)

If this were really thought out, they would and could have run more tables and made more money for Gary's charity. But talking to one of the volunteers, it sounded like it wasn't very well thought out.

Very Disappointed that I could not play in something as a tribute to Gary due to incompetence......

I at least bought a T-Shirt and supported the charity that way. 

AvatarArt:

To be fair, this was the last slot on the last day.  But I still felt like it wasn't worth the $2.  Like most events, it all comes down to the GM. 

 

Too true. I played in one session, run by Alex Jurkat, and it was a lot of fun. 

My hubby played in the Friday 10 am one and had a ball.  We pre-reg'd tho.  He was just glad his character lived but was miffed that the swag was going to those that died, which was the bulk of the players.  We stopped in Sat. night and I got to watch it.  We didn't have any problems locating it, although I was expecting something more.

I popped in on Sunday for the ll:00 A.M game. Unfortunately I didn't get in with generics but I was allowed to partake in the game as an extra by the GM. Who was none other then the Defuser, (winner of the reality show Who wants to be a superhero 2) I also found out that he was an avid gamer and had played since '81.

Surprisingly he did a really great job, and though he couldn't get much done in a mere hour. The event was quite entertaining and fun, even as a observer. And for him to allow the observers to be able to play and rp some of the monsters the group encountered it was a nice touch.

 

I got two rooms in the same adventure.  Now, before you get all jealous, let me describe the rooms:

1)  Classic Sword in the Stone.  Sword was intelligent and had this cool "annoying" sound to it's voice.  The person playing the sword did a great job and had several good one-liners. 

2)  The second room was ~100 X 100 with a curtain draped across the middle.  As we entered, the curtain came down and Tiamat appeared.  As we begin getting ready for battle, we find out we're in a game of Survivor and each of us were voted out.  BLAH!

I'm glad some money went to a charity, but I would have been much happier just donating the $2.

Draven:

I got two rooms in the same adventure.  Now, before you get all jealous, let me describe the rooms:

1)  Classic Sword in the Stone.  Sword was intelligent and had this cool "annoying" sound to it's voice.  The person playing the sword did a great job and had several good one-liners. 

2)  The second room was ~100 X 100 with a curtain draped across the middle.  As we entered, the curtain came down and Tiamat appeared.  As we begin getting ready for battle, we find out we're in a game of Survivor and each of us were voted out.  BLAH!

I'm glad some money went to a charity, but I would have been much happier just donating the $2.

 

Wow, I assumed most DMs took the same approach to room design that I took, that being to make an area that would allow for actual first edition gaming while being short enough to fit in an hour of play.  From the stories I am hearing though, it seems as though many of the submitted rooms had very little to do with the actual flavor of 1st edition.  The idea behind the tower I think was good, it's too bad so many room designers opted towards gimicks instead of real encounters. 

I played the Tower. It wasn't the best run campaign but it was fun and remindd me of how RPGs were played back in high school. 

 As for generic tickets, I used mine to get in but I did notice that people were getting event tickets at the ticket booth. Is that true? If so, is it for the 2008 Con only or has it always been that way?

 

 

Osarious:

I was very disappointed by the whole event. I missed getting tickets before event registration closed, and so decided I would try using generics (as it said generics would be accepted.) I found the room and what do I find? ONE table with 12 chairs! I tried four different times to get in with generics and they only seated real tickets (of which there were 12 each time I stopped.)

If this were really thought out, they would and could have run more tables and made more money for Gary's charity. But talking to one of the volunteers, it sounded like it wasn't very well thought out.

Very Disappointed that I could not play in something as a tribute to Gary due to incompetence......

I at least bought a T-Shirt and supported the charity that way. 

LiterateWolf:

It wasn't the best run campaign but it was fun and remindd me of how RPGs were played back in high school.

I picked up a character sheet/guidelines & have typed up most of the relevant Tower of Gygax info.  I think a big key was going into the event with the right frame of mind.  It being the last thing that I did, I was in a bit of a funk from GenCon ending. 

You make it seem like a bad thing that it reminded me of D&D during high school. At least no one wanted to order pizza.

 

AvatarArt:

LiterateWolf:

It wasn't the best run campaign but it was fun and remindd me of how RPGs were played back in high school.

I picked up a character sheet/guidelines & have typed up most of the relevant Tower of Gygax info.  I think a big key was going into the event with the right frame of mind.  It being the last thing that I did, I was in a bit of a funk from GenCon ending. 

 

Not at all man.  I was more meaning it as an overall, 'the key to have had fun with ToG was to take it with the guiding spirit of D&D' towards anyone (myself included here) who did this & didn't have fun.  But I did want to clarify that they weren't trying to make it a campaign or even a typical dungeon event.

here's our experiences(my group)

 Really enthusiastic DM, nice guy, but, TOTAL TPK!! Me and 3 of my friends  got in on generics. Probably ten or 12 people in room. Everyone created a quick back story, then we dropped in a circular room with a GIANT d20 in the room. Then, we all died, in one form or another. well, let me rephrase; six pc's were in room at a time, and as each pc died, the backup filled its place(2 of each class, i.e. theif, cleric, figher, etc)I dropped from ceiling, hit the d20, had to roll a saving through, and missed it. and died. : ) It was fun just to watch the heroic and often hilarious ways we all bit the dust. i didn't mind it really, although i wish we had a chance to play more.

 Although we tried and tried, we coudlnt' get back in again. On saturday afternoon, i think, one of our guys waited and got in on a session with a guy who was one of the first editors at Dragon mag, back in the 70's. Appearantly a frequently published writer, hung out and worked on AD&D with the Gygax back in teh 70's. Super cool guy, grey beard, grizzled, big hat, reminds you of Wierd Pete a little bit, or Nitro(from KODT), with his attitude. "this is OLD SCHOOL D&D BOYS AND GIRLS!". he wrote his own little module for the event, which he handed out to the players after, and he autrographed them. heard they were going for like $200 each on ebay that night. 

 So, form all accounts, each DM did their own thing, but all tried ot have a great time.And, everyone did seem to be in teh spirit of the game. I just wish i'd got to play more. 

 BTW, they said there woudl be a posting somewhere of the results? or rather, the modules? how to win? i'd love to know how to kill that damn d20! only clue was, YOU GET OUT THE WAY YOU CAME IN

AvatarArt:

Found the room, & since arrived a few minutes late, watched.  It seemed very ad-libbed.  For example:

1. DM draws stairs and a 60' by 60' room
   
2. DM asks what people do; most say move up.  'Burglar' checks door/corner for traps & rolls some dice.
3. DM than asks the people in the 2nd tier; "What sort of magical item does the party see?"
4. Quiet for a bit, than some guy says, "Rod of 7 Parts."  So now there is a Rod of 7 Parts in the center of the 1st room. 
   
5. DM asks how the Rod of 7 Parts is stored.
6. No one says anything.  I say, "In a Zip-loc bag."  {Polite laughter}
   
7. DM asks what the Rod of 7 Parts says.  {apparently they can talk}
8. Someone in 2nd tier says; "Look into the lgiht."
9. One player has his character lookinto the light. 
10. DM tells that player his character dies; player gets up, someone from 2nd tier sits down.

 

Get the jist?

 

Wow, I was prepared for something goofy, but I guess when we missed out and had to go across the hall for a pick-up Zombies!!! game, we probably were better off.  But again, perhaps it was the DM.  Keith Baker ran the session we missed, so it probably would have been better.

ninjabarista:

AvatarArt:

Found the room, & since arrived a few minutes late, watched.  It seemed very ad-libbed.  For example:

1. DM draws stairs and a 60' by 60' room
   
2. DM asks what people do; most say move up.  'Burglar' checks door/corner for traps & rolls some dice.
3. DM than asks the people in the 2nd tier; "What sort of magical item does the party see?"
4. Quiet for a bit, than some guy says, "Rod of 7 Parts."  So now there is a Rod of 7 Parts in the center of the 1st room. 
   
5. DM asks how the Rod of 7 Parts is stored.
6. No one says anything.  I say, "In a Zip-loc bag."  {Polite laughter}
   
7. DM asks what the Rod of 7 Parts says.  {apparently they can talk}
8. Someone in 2nd tier says; "Look into the lgiht."
9. One player has his character lookinto the light. 
10. DM tells that player his character dies; player gets up, someone from 2nd tier sits down.

 

Get the jist?

 

Wow, I was prepared for something goofy, but I guess when we missed out and had to go across the hall for a pick-up Zombies!!! game, we probably were better off.  But again, perhaps it was the DM.  Keith Baker ran the session we missed, so it probably would have been better.

 

Definately a DM thing and not the event itself.  I watched my people carefully as they played and as they left to see how they were enjoying the game and they all seemed very pleased but then I ran a more traditional 1st edition adventure (which didn't require much as I run a 1st edition camapaign every Monday night).  The only thing I really did different with the 2nd tier was allow them to choose from a list of dementias to afflict the various characters who stumbled into hallucinogenic spores.  One player had to pretend he was melting, another had to strip off his armour because he saw spiders all over him.  One girl ended up losing her character simply because she accepted a Myconid request to join their meld which lasted only 10 years but she laughed when I told her the consequinces.

Not to say I was some great DM but I think most DMs tried to run events in the spirit of 1st edition, the one mentioned above however was not representative of 1st edition. Gimmicks in an adventure can be OK sometimes but a whole event based around a gimmick does kinda suck for those expecting to relive a traditional 1st edition adventure like they remembered from thier earlier days.  Not too mention the fact that younger or newer players deciding to see what all the hype is about then walk out erroniously thinking they never missed much

I came on shift right behind the Defuser, and did noon to 2 Sunday (plus one quickie Thurs).

I winged it, skipped the adventures provided. Everybody had fun & got to taste Gygaxian AD&D1e.

No complaints that I heard about. Signed a lot of character sheets.

 

Frank