My first NTRPG Con!

After a couple years of putting it off, I finally bit the bullet and headed out Dallas way for my first North Texas RPG Convention. As I discovered, it's widely hailed one of the premier old-school RPG-focused events in the country for good reason.

Wednesday

Arriving early Wednesday evening, the vendors were still mostly in setup mode but the gaming was already well underway.

Picked up copies of three out-of-print Bunnies & Burrows adventures published by Frog God Games. Apparently, there was a rights conflict with Steve Jackson Games, so these suckers probably won't ever be republished. And it turns out that bunnies would be a recurring theme this con....

Apparently, the Japanese equivalent of Dragon Magazine was just called D&D Magazine. Makes sense, I guess.

I ran into the Grand Druid himself, Dr. Dennis Sustare, co-creator of the Bunnies & Burrows RPG and originator of the druid class in Dungeons & Dragons. What an honor!

Tradition dictates that whenever I'm traveling somewhere it's available, my first meal has to be animal style. Sublime.

Thursday

My first game of the day was an utterly wild take on G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. These pre-gen characters were absolute menaces. A magic-user with 64 hit points and AC -4? Pity those poor giants, my friend.

It's classic D&D artist Jeff Dee! He's also the creator of the venerable Villains & Vigilantes superhero RPG and many other gaming products over a period of nearly fifty years.

I just couldn't stop giggling at this one.

Two authors and two artists! My '81 Expert book is getting pretty inked up, alright.

Friday

Started the day with a delve into a maze of devious puzzles. Since I was running two characters, I had the luxery of seeing the good and bad ending to this particular quest.

Another major highlight: Getting to play in a game run by the other Bunnies & Burrows co-creator, Dr. Scott Robinson. The lighthearted mystery theme made for a lot of laughs.

Sadly, the monster bunnies weren't for sale.

Gotta love that DCC fashion sense.

Ending the day with some classic AD&D dungeon crawling overseen by the mysterious man known only as EOTB. It was great to meet a fellow OSRIC 3.0 collaborator in the flesh.

Saturday

An early morning OSRIC game run by the stalwart Gus B. Cult of the Crooked Tower turned out to be an excellent module and it was great to see the landscape orientation rulebooks in person for the first time.

Back to those rascally rabbits! This time, it's the official 50th anniversary party for the Bunnies & Burrows game. A triumph well-earned.

Back at Gus B.'s table for more OSRIC goodness. This time, it's City of the Ape Men, a superb non-linear jungle/city crawl by Gabor Lux. Many an ape was roasted by fireball and mauled by tamed wildlife.

A spur of the moment drop in for a session of Cubic Campaigns. It turned out to be a pretty fun and fast playing homebrew fantasy game with some lovely custom terrain. Here's hoping it sees print one day.

Sunday

Of course, I caved and shelled out for yet another stupid t-shirt. Sigh.

The almighty Black Blade booth never disappoints.

My very quickly and very poorly painted gnoll friend.

One last game before it's time to fly. Another quality Gabor Lux outing that saw us saving the land of Erillion from a sea demon. A fitting end to a splendid con.