Part 4 (of 5) in my series on GaryCon XVII (Part one here; part two here; part three here)
Imagine sitting down with your favorite athlete as they reminisce about playing ball as a kid. Or grabbing coffee with a beloved author, a national leader you admire, or a favorite actor.
In some ways, GaryCon offers that kind of experience—for a particular subset of TTRPG (tabletop roleplaying game) gamers.
So what exactly is GaryCon?
🎲 A Memorial Convention…
At its heart, GaryCon memorializes a man named Gary Gygax. When he passed away in March 2008, his family began hosting an annual gaming convention in his honor.
Gary Gygax was one of the two original authors of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the world’s most popular TTRPG. (If you’re not sure what that means, check out Part 2 in this series!)
In many ways, Gygax was the face of D&D and the hobby as a whole, even after he stopped working on that specific game. He earned a reputation for designing brutal dungeons for adventurers to explore—but also for being a jovial, good-natured presence at the table.
So when he passed, GaryCon was created to celebrate his life, his legacy, and the games he loved.
🎲 In every room, people are playing games he wrote
🎲 Games that inspired him
🎲 Games inspired by his writing
It’s quite a thing. And a whole lot of fun.
🎲 In Lake Geneva, Wisconsin…
Lake Geneva is where it all began.
Gygax lived there when he co-created D&D. The company he founded—TSR (Tactical Studies Rules)—was based there too. Early D&D books even encouraged players to write in with questions… addressed to Lake Geneva. This quiet Wisconsin town is sort of the mecca for tabletop roleplaying games.
Lake Geneva itself is a beautiful lake resort town with a population under 9,000. Of course, in March it’s less crowded… and more cold. (This was actually my first year attending without seeing snow.)
These days, GaryCon is held at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa—a really swanky place with a surprising gaming history. Gygax hosted several gaming events there back in the 1970s. So even the location is something of a tribute.
🎲 With a Very Specific Group of Gamers…
GaryCon draws attendees from around the world—3,000 this year—but it still feels surprisingly intimate.
Why? A few reasons:
🎲 The venue limits size, and the Gygax family has intentionally kept it that way.
🎲 The focus is niche—centered on games Gary liked, wrote, or inspired.
This means the games played at GaryCon tend to fall into a particular category: old-school RPGs. Many were written 40–50 years ago. Others are modern homages. Either way, it draws a specific slice of the broader (and already relatively small) TTRPG community.
And it’s not just players. Many of the authors and designers of these games—past and present—attend GaryCon.
🎲 My first game at GaryCon XVII was run by a 70-year-old GM who authored one of my favorite AD&D books from 1986.
🎲 I also got to meet the creators of modern old-school-inspired games like Cairn and Shadowdark.
When we gather, we play games. We talk about games. We swap ideas. We debate the origins of the hobby and where it’s headed next.
It’s nerddom on a level you probably couldn’t imagine. And it’s an absolute blast!
GaryCon is a memorial convention for Gary Gygax, held in Lake Geneva, WI, and focused on old-school TTRPGs.
But if you’ve made it this far and are wondering what I actually did this year at GaryCon, stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog! 🎲
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