grodog's NTX 2017 Convention Report - Part 1

+Jon Hershberger  and I have been attending the North Texas RPG Convention since its inaugural convocation in 2009, and our first publication premiered there, too---our 1e conversion of the Goodman Games module DCC 7 Secret of Smuggler’s Cove.  So, NTX holds a special place in our hearts, both as gamers and as publishers.  

NTX wouldn't exist as a convention without the organization, sponsorship, and commitment of its founders, Doug "ScketreWhisp" Rhea and Mike "Badmike" Badolato, and the best news from the convention was seeing Doug Rhea and how great he is doing!  For those who hadn't heard, Doug announced just before Christmas last year that he had stage 4 colon cancer and would begin radiation and chemotherapy in January.  His treatment is continuing, but he looked great at the convention, and was in his usual excellent spirits---hustling, bustling, and making everything come together just-right throughout the event! :D

Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Jon and I drove separately to Dallas this year, and I left a bit earlier in the morning than he and Nathalie did, so I arrived mid-afternoon.  There was a lot to sort through on the initial arrival, especially that we could begin setting up our joint Black Blade-Goodman Games booth tonight (we weren't originally going to have access to the exhibitor hall room until Thursday morning, but the event that was scheduled to be in that space cancelled on the hotel, so we were able to begin setup on Wednesday evening).  

As a result of that unexpected news, I cancelled my Pagan Publishing "Grace Under Pressure" game for Call of Cthulhu (which I had scheduled for Wednesday night knowing we wouldn't be setting up the booth...), which I felt bad about, since it was a full event (8 players), and I've never cancelled a convention game like that before.  Despite my misgivings about cancelling, and even with getting started early, Jon and I still worked on the booth until 11:30pm, so it was the right call.

The other good news from Wednesday was that the half-palette of cases of Tales of Peril all arrived safe-and-sound the day before, on Tuesday.  We also had copies of The Twisting Stair #2 (Summer 2017)---which arrived at my home in Kansas two days before on Monday---and a number of other new titles at the convention, including:

• Dwellers in Dark Places by Matt Hargenrader - a new monster manual for OSRIC
  
• Mothshade Concepts' Avremier, Dhavon, and House of Illthrix by David A. Hill 
• The new Goodman Games reprint of the Judges Guild Book of Treasure Maps by Jennell Jaquays
•  Rob Kuntz's new non-fiction book, Dave Arneson's True Genius
•  The new conventions-only module, Blood of the Serpent, and two new sets of DCC Dice---Ming’s Infernal Bones and The Dice of Lost Lemuria---for the DCC RPG from Goodman Games

Thomas Denmark's new games, Terence Gunn's Fantastic Worlds of Grenadier, the Epsilon City boxed set for Metamorphosis Alpha, and a pile books from third-party OSR and DCC publishers rounded out our newest offerings at the convention:

Black Blade Publishing and Goodman Games at NTX 2017

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Thursdays at NTX are usually the busiest at the convention, and this year proved to be no exception.  Sale throughout the day were good, and we also donated Tales of Peril #1 to the Saturday night auction to support Doug's cancer treatment:  

+Chris Holmes arrived early afternoon and was able to check out the book for the first time.  He was very pleased with it, and promptly started showing it off to folks wandering by the booth :D

Thursday night normally closes with Jon and I gaming at the Knights & Knaves Social, but we ended up arriving a bit later than usual (just before 7pm or so), and the game was already well-underway.  

Standing at the head of the table are co-DMs Steve Robertson (of Vanquishing Leviathan and the OSRIC Players Guide fame) and Jimm Johnson (of the equally-famous Scribes of Sparn), while the motley crew of K&K veterans, regulars, newbies, and random victims of the tabletop.events registration system:

Jimm, with Random Wizard, brews the beer for the Social each year---this year featured both Black Wizard Stout and OD&D Bug Bear Pumpkin Ale:

Steve wrote an excellent event summary over on K&K (and in following posts; login probably required to read it), and you can download the KK2 The Mystic Cup of Gygax adventure for free from Jimm's blog, too! 

After enjoying the mayhem with Chris and Jon for a little while, shooting a few pictures, and cackling madly with the DMs behind their screens, we left to eat dinner at Terra Mediterranean, and it was excellent (and not too far from the hotel).  The only advantage of not playing in the K&K Social was that I did at least get to bed at a decent hour :D


Part 2 to follow!

Allan.