A Long Awaited Update: Gary Con XII is Virtually Upon Us!
Greetings Seekers!
Its been an extremely eventful few days since we announced that, due to the Governor declaring a public health emergency in Wisconsin, that we could not gather in Lake Geneva as planned to celebrate Gary Con XII. Since that time we have found a way to deliver to you the great gaming experience that is synonymous with Gary Con. No we can’t lift the Governor’s ban on gatherings, however we can pivot to the virtual tabletop experience to enable us to safely share camaraderie and play great games as we celebrate the life and works of Gary Gygax.
Its taken me a few days to be able to have the time to sit and write this message to you all because, as many of you may know, I am a full-time California National Guardsman. The coronavirus pandemic has severely limited my ability to read personal emails, let alone formulate replies, plans for VGC or pretty much anything else. The flurry of activity to resurrect Gary Con XII has been 95% the Gary Con staff. I can’t thank these fine people enough. The dedication and sacrifice they put in year after year is nothing short of amazing. Together with many of you, we have developed a complete Gary Con experience in the virtual realm. If you haven’t signed up yet- please do. The virtual badge is being offered free of charge to all that have already purchased a GC XII badge. Events are free just like at Gary Con. We have a host of Guests, seminars, many of the same GMs that have been there at previous GCs, and even some new blood from gamers who couldn’t travel to see us in the past. Plus we have amazing swag offers from several sponsors and vendors. This Gary Con promises to rival its predecessors. I couldn’t be more proud of the team we have built over the years- staff, GMs, volunteers and you our attendees. Thank you all for pulling together to make this possible.
I understand that not everyone is happy about the pivot to virtual gaming, even though we were forbidden by government authority from gathering together. If we had a physical convention we almost certainly would have been responsible for the deaths of several human beings across the US and possibly the world. That is NOT what Gary Con is about and once I became convinced that it was going to cause more harm than good, I couldn’t in good conscience continue hosting a gathering in person. I have faced a small but vehement group of people that believe that this shift to a virtual Gary Con was somehow a ploy to cheat them out of their badge fee. That is the farthest thing from the facts of the matter. Gary Con is a labor of love for the staff but there are real goods and services that must be paid for. Bringing Gary Con to life requires many hours of work and very little monetary reward. We do it to honor my father and to see the tens of thousands of hours of joy created through our work. The reality is most of the revenue collected from badge sales goes to things like contractor payments, sales taxes, equipment (computers, radios, PA, carts, printers, displays etc), printing of banners, signage, table toppers, the event guide, accounting, website administration, travel, cost of producing merchandise, artwork, producing modules, minis and more that I can’t think of at 11pm. So the fact of the matter is not gathering all of you in one place to patronize the vendors and buy our merchandise is very damaging to the financial health of Gary Con. So thank you to those of you that understand the reality of running a small event like Gary Con.
We are also sympathetic to the fact that this pandemic is creating financial stress for many of you. If you can’t participate in Gary Con XII for whatever reason, let us know. We maintain that we are providing four days of access to Gary Con and great events via the VTT. However if you can’t participate, we want to make you feel fulfilled. Please fill out the form located at the end of the paragraph to request a refund or credit for GC XIII. If we can honor your request without bankrupting the company, we will consider it. It may take us up to 60 days to review and complete all actions, so bear with us. Refund Request Form
Once again , I want to thank all of the GMs for submitting events on vtt.garycon.com, as well as the Guests, sponsors and vendors making GC XII fantastic. I wish you all good health, good gaming and keep those dice rolling!
Cheers,
Luke Gygax