Join My Tables at 2024 GameHole Con!

GameHole Con 11 takes place Oct. 17th – Oct. 20th, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. This heralded convention has a wide range of excellent RPGs, seminars, and events. I’m extremely thankful to be a guest at this convention, joining an incredible guest list.

(As I captured in video here, conventions aren’t cheap and they aren’t always the best option for creators. But, if you can afford conventions financially, GameHole is a great option!)

I would love to see you at the con! You can find all of my events here, or click on the specific games and events noted below:

Learn While Dying – Trap Design in the Dungeon of Doom! (2 hrs)

Thursday, 4-6 PM CST

Friday, 9-11 AM

I have an ambitious idea to teach trap design through play! Up to 12 players can join this game, and we will take turns with players playing rogues attempting to best a trap-filled corridor taken from the Dungeon of Doom adventure (for which I was the primary designer). We will use the Dwarven Forge terrain and have fun as the traps are sprung or bested… but also discuss the design approach taken and how to make traps fun in general. The goal is for you to have fun in a group environment and also come away with ideas on trap design for your games or creations.

Need better traps for your games? Has it been too long since you bled? Solve both of these problems in this combination seminar and game! Participants will team up, two players for each pregenerated character, deciding how to traverse the infamous “Gauntlet” trap-filled room from Dungeon of Doom, the free adventure from Dwarven Forge. Lead designer Teos Abadia will pull back the curtain and discuss the trap design after each segment of the gauntlet is surpassed. Learn how to make engaging traps, how to assign damage and DCs, how to resolve checks and deal with perception and other skills, and how to make traps interesting and fun. Dwarven Forge terrain will be utilized. Time will be available at the end to have an open discussion and answer questions. This event uses the D&D 5E rules, but the lessons apply to other RPGs and Teos is prepared to discuss other systems.

Mastering Dungeons Live! (1 hr)

Sunday, 9-10 AM

Shawn Merwin and I will record our podcast show live! We are currently planning on doing some worldbuilding with the help from our audience.

The Mastering Dungeons Podcast, consisting of Teos Abadia and Shawn Merwin, is back with another live episode recorded with YOU. We’ll hear your thoughts on the RPG news of the day, take your questions, and then discuss a game design topic that’s on our minds. Most importantly, you get to make this live show the best one of the year!

Gamehole Con D&D 50th Anniversary 5E Game (1 hr)

Thursday 8-9 AM

This is a special D&D Anniversary event, so I had to say yes to running it! Join me for a very fun 1 hour adventure. Details on the adventure will be shared soon.

What better way to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons by playing 5th Edition D&D, the most popular edition of D&D ever! Come enjoy an immersive one hour game complete with miniatures, terrain, and physical puzzles. Pregenerated characters will be provided. Absolutely no experience is needed with this rule set or D&D generally. Don’t miss the chance to play in this amazing celebratory game!

Making D&D Funny: The Design of the Acquisitions Incorporated D&D Book (1 hr)

Saturday, 9-10 AM

One of my favorite projects ever, and this same team recently worked together again on a similar project! We will share our passion for this, as well as lessons learned and approaches we have refined for creating a great book that nails the desired tone. I will probably give the crowd a mini every time I shamefully boast that the Franchise system is better than 2024’s Bastion system.

Join Teos Abadia, Scott Gray, and Shawn Merwin as they discuss the creation of the Wizards of the Coast publication Acquisitions Incorporated. They’ll talk about how the project came together, some inside information about the process and final product, and they’ll also talk about the challenges of creating RPG content that uses humor and satire to enhance the story and the play experience. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll need to check you have all your belongings when you leave.

D&D History: the OGL Era (1 hr)

Friday, 6-7 PM

I get to join the amazing crew of Elisa Teague, Shawn Merwin, and Michael Shea as we discuss the Open Gaming License and its effect on the hobby, including it’s complicated history. Maybe I’ll start by explaining why, for many years during 4E, I argued it was good that there was no 4E OGL!

In 2000 with the release of the Open Gaming License (OGL), D&D fans could create, share, and sell content usable with the world’s most popular TTRPG. For over two decades, D&D enjoyed a massive creator community that helped drive the game forward. Yet, the OGL also created Pathfinder, D&D’s biggest competitor. In 2023, Wizards of the Coast attempted to cancel the license, leading to a tremendous backlash. In this panel, content creators discuss the OGL, its future, and its impact.

Other Events

This convention is absurdly cool. Here are just some of the events I’m drooling over:

• The PoC Industry Dinner and hang-out!
• Shawn Merwin is running Arora, Grim Hollow, and more!
• Keith Ammann is running three very cool events testing new monsters for his next book!
• Jeffrey Mueller is running chapter 1 of his Black Ballad 5E adventure!
• Ethan Henry is running classic Traveller and AL!
• Ethan Yen is playtesting a new RPG and co-organizing the PoC event!
• Andy Edmonds of Nerdronomicon is running his Sorcerer’s Conundrum DCC adventure!
• Chris Webster is running several AL games!
• Andy Dempz is a fantastic DM and is running these 50th Anniversary D&D games!
• Robert Paslay is running Looney Labs card games like Fluxx, Chrononauts, and Just Desserts!
• Graham Ward is running The Last Caravan!
• Rodney Thompson is running a playtest of an upcoming game! He is also running Dusk City Outlaws – don’t miss that! And he and Peter Lee are on a panel for the creation of 5E. Wow!
• David Ewalt, author of Of Dice and Men, is running a fun 5E adventure! I’m playing the Thursday 9 AM game.
• Ed Greenwood is running Forgotten Realms and other games, including Sneaking Into Blackstaff Tower!
• Travis Woodall is running a Bill and Ted style adventure? Excellent! I’m on for Friday 1PM.
• A new RPG by Monte Cook Games, Magnus Archives? I’m game to check it out on Saturday 2PM. The MCG team has many events for their various games, including run by their designers.
• I want to run Coriolis as a home campaign, so this 4 hr adventure calls me.
• Similarly, I may want to run some One Ring, so this A Favor for Saruman got me.
• Free League is running tons of Learn to Plays. I picked up this One Ring game, but they have tons of LTPs for Blade Runner, Vaesen, Symbaroum, Aliens, Electric State, Dragonbane, and more.
• My friend Vic Polites is running Alien.
• Amanda Hamon and Chris Perkins are running games.
• Panels by Peter Adkison, various edition teams, and so much more!

I’ll be around the con every day. If you are attending, please say hi – and please remind me of your name – my memory for names is the worst!

If you haven’t made plans yet, here is the GameHole Con attendance page. I hope to see you there!

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