Thoughts on Gamehole Con 2024 (Prologue)

As I've explained before, I first attended Gamehole Con in 2017 – my first convention since GenCon 2001 (unless one counts OSRCon). I enjoyed the experience enough to go back in 2018. I intended to do so again in 2019 until a run-in with a car at a crosswalk interceded. I also intended to return in 2020, but Fate once more prevented my doing so. By 2021, my nascent habit of attending GHC had been broken and I didn't seriously consider going once more until this year, thanks in no small part to the stated intention of a couple players in my Twilight: 2000 campaign to do so. 

That was the push I needed and I am grateful for it, because I had a blast at the con. Perhaps my favorite part was seeing people in the flesh. Though I've refereed the House of Worms campaign for nine and a half years now, I've met fewer than half of my players in person. Don't misunderstand me: I consider all my online players my friends and am deeply grateful for them and the time they spend with me, but hanging out and gaming at the same table together just feels right and good in ways that simply can't be replicated in a virtual space. Gamehole Con demonstrated this truth again and again.

Among the people I got to hang out and/or roll some dice with whose names you might recognize were:

• David "Zeb" Cook: Former TSR designer. 
• Jeff Grubb: Former TSR designer whom I first met years ago.
• Allen Hammack: Former TSR designer, who refereed me and four others in his classic AD&D modules, The Ghost Tower of Inverness (about which I'll have much more to say later).
• Jason Hobbs: Host of the Hobbs & Friends and Random Screed podcasts.
• Mike Mearls: Former WotC designer, now working with Chaosium. He refereed me and several others in a fun RuneQuest adventure scenario.
• Marc Miller: Creator of my favorite roleplaying game, Traveller, and one the nicest, most gracious people I know in the hobby – a true gentleman.
• Travis Miller: Fellow blogger, whose Grumpy Wizard site is devoted to sword-and-sorcery literature and old school gaming.
• Victor Raymond: An old and dear friend of mine, as well as my co-host on the Halls of Blue Illumination podcast.
• Seth Skorkowsky: Youtuber and author, who played the most awesome Yelmalio cultist in a RuneQuest session. 
• Steve Winter: Former TSR and WotC designer.
• Ronin Wong: Actor and fellow lover of Holmes Basic. 

There were undoubtedly others whose names I have forgotten – most importantly the wonderful people with whom I played AD&D, Hyperborea, and RuneQuest. They were the reason I went to Gamehole Con. I wanted to be with real, living people, unmediated by technology. I wanted to be able to see them, hear them, and touch them directly with my own senses. At one point, early in the con, I was out for lunch at a local bar with two of the players in my Twilight: 2000 campaign and I was immediately struck by how weird it was to hear their voices without wearing a headset and to see their faces without looking at a screen. Of course, that's not weird at all; it only seemed so because I'd spent so much of the last decade gaming online rather than across a table. Maybe that needs to change.

I left the convention incredibly energized and enthusiastic about this hobby of ours. Lots of ideas and plans – some of them no doubt harebrained – began to percolate in my brain. I'll be talking more about some of them in the days to come. Others I'll keep to myself for a while, since I can't be certain that they'll ever come to fruition (or indeed if they could). What I do know is that I am so glad I decided to return to Gamehole Con after too long an absence. I'm pretty sure I'll be making this an annual pilgrimage. I may also add another con to my schedule next year, too, perhaps GaryCon or North Texas RPG Con, depending on scheduling. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations about either of them, I'd love to hear them.

More specific posts about my adventures in Madison, Wisconsin will follow in subsequent posts throughout the week.