North Texas RPG Con 2014 Lineup

Well it's time for the 6th Annual North Texas RPG Convention! The NTRPG Con focuses on old-school Dungeons & Dragons gaming (mainly OD&D, 1E, 2E, or Basic/Expert) as well as any pre-2000 type of RPG produced by the classic gaming companies of the 70s and 80s (TSR, Chaosium, FGU, FASA, GDW, etc). We also support retro-clone or simulacrum type gaming that copies the old style of RPGs (Swords & Wizardry and others). All RPG games are welcome at the Con, but we do not schedule card or board games except in special circumstances...unlike most other cons we are primarily old school RPG focused!

Our convention dates are: Thursday June 5, 2014 @ noon until Sunday June 8, 2014 @ 1800. You can register for the convention now at Ntrpgcon.com. Registration for events begins at 12:01 am April 15th, so please make sure you have registered and paid your fees beforehand at the ntrpgcon.com site!

It is our second year at the DFW South Marriott, with lots of space for all sorts of gaming activities (we have the entire grand ballroom and several boardrooms, accommodating almost 30 tables of gaming), it is only a couple of minutes south of DFW airport and easily reached by shuttle. This venue also features a full restaurant and bar, as well as being right in the center of an area with many restaurants and coffee shops within walking distance. 

We have many, many confirmed special guests from the early days of the hobby attending in 2014; returning are Erol Otus, Sandy Petersen, Jeff Dee, Tim Kask, Dennis Sustare, Steve Winter, Frank Mentzer, Jennell Jaquays, Steve Marsh, Jim Ward, Doug Kovacs, Zeb Cook, Dennis, Jason Braun, Diesel Laforce, and Jeff Easley. New guests include Darlene, Kevin Hendryx. Chris Clark and Lawrence Schick. The lineup includes several of the more important figures in the history of RPGs as a whole and Dungeons & Dragons in particular.

This year games include AD&D, Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha, Swords & Wizardry, OD&D, Basic D&D, GURPS, Recon, Call of Cthulhu, Adventurer/Conqueror/King, Amazing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperbora, Tunnels & Trolls, Runequest, DCC Rpg, Castles & Crusades, Cavemaster, Classic Battletech, and many more! Included will be our 5th annual Mythrus Tower game run by Matt Finch and Bill Webb; Also this year we will feature our 5th annual chariot racing classic Circus Maximus with the finals run by Tim Kask, an Aliens boardgame run by Allan Grohe with large scale miniatures, Avalon Hill's classic man-to-man combat game Gladiator (2nd year), and more. Included is the 4th Annual NTRPG Con AD&D tournament (run once again by Pacesetter Games). We also will have a lot of gaming goodness for sale and several dealer's tables set up (expanded to 15 tables including special guest tables) along with a raffle and auction. 

Several seminars are scheduled including an art panel featuring Otus, Dee, LaForce, Braun, Easley Jaquays and Kovacs. Bill Meinhardt (aka "Stratochamp") has one of the largest and most complete collections of D&D in the world, and will be exhibiting and telling the history of several rare items in a Q&A session; there will be others including the first annual NTRPG con Trivia contest! Besides Garycon, this is the premier old school style convention in the country with more classic gaming available than any other con in the south, run by some of the giants of the industry.

Game Event registration won't be open until April 15th, 2014! You must register for the con and pay your fee (either daily or weekend) before you are able to register for games. 

Rooms at the beautiful Marriort DFW South are only $107 a night! A bargain!!!

www.marriott.com/meeting-event-hotels/group-corporate-travel/groupCorp.mi?resLinkData=NORTH%20TEXAS%20RPG%20CON%202014%5EDFWAM%60RPGRPGA%60107.00%60USD%60false%606/4/14%606/9/14%605/26/14&app=resvlink&stop_mobi=yes

The North Texas RPG con is the south's premiere old school con and one of the few dedicated to OOP or old school roleplaying games. If you are in the area, please come by and check us out.

Raffle Items for NTRPG Con 2013!

Every year the NTRPG con sponsors a raffle to help fund the convention.  We lose money every year to bring old school gaming to all the great gamers out there, so no surprise.  This year, however, Doug informs me we are about 250 tickets off the pace!  We have already had a 30% increase in attendence from last year and expect to have a massive walk-up, so the problem is not in number of attendees. I have heard from quite a few people they will buy tickets at the door, and that is appreciated.  Yet our sales to people not attending the con are nearly microscopic.  You do not have to be present to win any of these great prizes!  Last year our Free Trip to NTRPG con was won by a non-attendee.  Please think about dropping $10-$20 on a few $5 tickets if you get the chance! You will be supporting old school gaming and have the chance to win a few great prizes.

NOTE: At this late point, you can only purchase tickets at the event!

Items for the Raffle (additional items will be added as they arrive)

You do not have to be an attendee to win

* Dragon Magazine #2

* Dragon Magazine #3

* Dungeon Magazine #1

* Castle Zagyg - Upper Works (signed by Jeff Talanian)

* Strategic Review #1

* A Complete Set of the new 1st Edition AD&D Reprints (Players Handbook, Monster Manual & DMG)

* Swords & Wizardry White Box

* DCC #9 Tomb of the Blind God, Otus Cover w/NTRPGCon Logo (2ea, signed by Erol Otus)

* Jim Holloway special Limited Edition art set from Cairn of the Skeleton King, 13 prints per set (2ea)

* Pacesetter's V2 Palace of the Vampire Queen reprint (2012)

* Artesian Dice Polyhedron Set of 10 carved wooden dice in a wood box

* Set of Jeff Dee's Egyptian Art from Deities & Demi Gods prints

* Limited Edition Centerstage Miniature for NTRPG con 2011 - Lord of the Great Plains - Longhorn Minotaur

* Limited Edition Centerstage Miniature for NTRPGCon 2013 - The-Thing-That-Should-Not-Be

* Digest size copy of Misty Isles (Wee Warriors adventure reprinted by 2012 NTRPG con)

* Three different sets (bags) of Dungeonmorph Dice, Five D6 dice to a bag

* Rules book for the DCC RPG (Collector's Edition)

* Miniature painted by artist Angela Imrie

* Free Trip to NTRPGCon 2014 (within 48 contiguous states); includes airfare/gas (if you drive) & hotel room. If winner is not in the USA, we will award cash value reimbursement if you attend in 2014, non-transferable (basically this is up to a $700.00 credit toward your travel/stay to the Con in 2014 only)

2013 Three Castles Award Nominees

The North Texas RPG Con is proud to present our finalists for the Third Annual Three Castles Award for RPG Design. This year we have five finalists and I don't envy the judges...all are top notch. 

The nominees for 2013 are:

Adventurer Conqueror King System
by: Alexander Macris

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
by: Jeffrey Talanian

Barrowmaze 
by: Greg Gillespie

Cavemaster RPG
by: Jeff Dee

DCC RPG
by: Joseph Goodman

The judges for 2013 are:

Erol Otus
Peter Kerestan
Robert Kuntz
Rick Loomis
Steve Winter

The Third Annual Three Castles Award will be presented during the 5th Annual North Texas RPG con on June 6-9, 2013 in Fort Worth, Texas. Congratulations to all five finalists, and thanks to everyone who sent in a submission.


Prior winners of the award are Michael Curtis for The Dungeon Alphabet and Kevin Crawford for Stars Without Number....great company for this year's winner!!!  

Go to ntrpgcon.com for more information about the South's best old school gaming con!

Centerstage Minis Kickstarter

Just two days to go....I cannot say enough good things about this KS.  Give it a look-see if you get the chance!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/centerstageminis/28mm-demons-and-devils-center-stage-miniatures

Eight months later....still pimpin'

Anyone who has published a RPG product in the last year;

The 2nd Annual Three Castles Award is still accepting submissions through the end of the year (December 31st) for next year's award, to be given out at the 4th annual North Texas RPG Con. If you published a RPG adventure, setting, rulebook or sourcebook between October 1st 2010 and October 1st 2011 you are eligible. The focus of the award is on design, and last year's nominees (LoTFP Boxed Set, Stonehell Dungeon, Dungeon Alphabet, Majestic Wilderlands and B/X Companion) and initial winner (Michael Curtis' Dungeon Alphabet) exemplifies the type of excellence in small press products we want to publicize with the award. The NTRPG Con makes nothing off the award; on the contrary, we will NEVER break even considering the amount Doug paid for the absolutely beautiful statuette award given to the winner!

This is a designer award, not a publisher award, although the publisher is welcome to submit anything they wish for one of their authors. The only way this award will one day be able to boast an impressive run of quality winners is if the VERY BEST items are submitted every year, and that is up to the writers/designers themselves. So please, if you have neglected submitting your item so far, take the time to visit the site (ntrpgcon.com), go to the 3CastlesAward tab, fill out the required paperwork and send in three copies of your product for the initial selection process. Every year the judges are shuffled, and this year they are going to be Dennis Sustare, Rob Kuntz, Sandy Peterson, Dave "Zeb" Cook, and Steve Marsh....a group with an impressive list of skins on the wall in terms of products and ideas in the industry.

Share this with as many RPG designers as you can, and if you know of someone with an impressive RPG product release in the last year, encourage them to send in a submission for the award. Besides obviously promoting our convention, we really want to promote the industry and some of the great products out there that may be overlooked by gamers who only pay attention to the biggest companies releases each year.

Jim Roslof Commission

By now, those in the old school gaming community know of the unfortunate passing of one of the early TSR artists, Jim Roslof. Jim's unique style helped form the "look" of TSR just as much as Trampier, Sutherland and Otus. James at Grognardia and many other bloggers have spoken of Jim and his influence on the hobby, but mine is a more personal note.

Several years ago I realized some of the old guard TSR artist from the early days of TSR were still active (due to the DCC covers by Jeff Dee and Erol Otus). I began thinking about whether or not it would be possible to get a commission done by one of these guys, a personalized scene that I could share with my original gaming group. Back in the day (late 70s/early 80s), I was not one for writing up my own adventures. We ran through every module published by TSR, from the letter modules to the contest winners in Dragon magazine. So, my original group did the great GDQ crawl with their first characters, finally escaping the Demonweb Pits sometime in 1984 or so after a good five years of off and on gaming.

While looking for something to memorialize these times, I thought about the classic covers of the modules (all by David Sutherland) except for Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Dave Sutherland was sadly already gone, so I thought about asking Jim if he would do a "reinterpretation" of the classic Q1 cover, only with my group's favorite characters as the subjects. Through various online sites, I acquired his contact info, presented the idea to him, and he was very enthusiastic about the project. He told me that he had no problem going back to one of his classic pieces, and as a matter of fact it would be a lot faster and easier for him (as he could work with the original cover for reference instead of creating it from whole cloth). Jim was super easy to work with, and I remember him being very particular about what each character was wearing, what weapons they used, spells they liked to cast, etc. He wanted to make the art as "authentic" as he could so it wouldn't be just a generic fight scene.

I was simply blown away at the art Jim did for me (only taking 30 days from start to finish). Each character (From the left: Krago the Dwarf, Gandolin the elvish mage, U-gor the half orc fighter, and St. Michael the cleric) is clearly recognizable to everyone in my old group (U-Gor using his flaming sword, Gandolin casting one of his ever present fire spells, etc) as their personal characters. It is something that I will treasure forever, now even more so that Jim is no longer among us.

It is very obvious that Jim's skills were far from declining, and very sad he couldn't get more work in the gaming field in his later years (except for a few DCC covers and some incredible spreads in The Dungeon Alphabet). Jim still "had it", and in my opinion, his recent work was better than some of his originals (while still being recognizable as a Roslof piece).

Not much more to add, except that I wish I had gotten Jim to do some other commissions. As always, we don't know what we have until it's gone....one reason for the North Texas RPG Con is for the old school gamer and fan to mingle with these guys while they are still with us....no one is getting any younger. If you are putting off sending an email to or attending a convention with one of the old guard, DO IT.

Three Castles Award 2011 Nominees

Last year I posted about the Three Castles Design Award and how the NTRPG Con was proud to present this beautiful hunk of statuette each year to the RPG game rules, adventure, supplement or settings that was a high point of achievement in the hobby for the past year. In the last few years there has been an explosion of releases, mostly by solo writers or designers, that are a testament to the intelligence, imagination and resourcefulness of gamers playing and writing RPGs. What better way to put a small regional con like ours on the map than by sponsoring an award like this, and recognizing a field that often gets short shrift in other yearly awards (the RPG field, specifically the OSR).

After due consideration the Steering Committee was able to choose five nominees of the many submitted to move onto the final round of judging. Some seminal names in the history of the hobby...Dennis Sustare, Paul Jaquays, Steve Winter, Tim Kask, and Rob Kuntz....have been asked to choose among these five for the first ever winner of this annual honor. The standards are very high, yet I feel that these five items are the creme of the crop of last year's releases, and one should walk away with the award. As you can see all four finalists (one had two nominations) are solo game designers often operating at small profit or even a loss, and it is our hope that by winning this award (or even by being nominated) they can all see a small boost in exposure and profits. I won't pretend this award will make or break anyone, but hey I can dream!

We plan on changing members of both the Steering Committee (who are different than the judges and are kept secret so as not to bias the proceedings in any way) and the group of five judges every year to keep things from becoming predictable or stale, and will choose members from the fields of game design, art, writing, and production, as well as the occasional respected fan or blogger to make things interesting. We are also looking at possibly working each years previous winner in the mix somehow as either a judge or special guest at the NTRPG Con.

This is the first year of the award, and I hope the standard it sets will cause it to grow in stature year after year, someday becoming as respected an achievement as winning, say, and Ennie is at Gencon every year. Anyway, we hope that if you are reading this and don't have all five of these products in your library you use this chance to purchase these and see why they were selected as this year's nominees.

Three Castles Design Award 2011 Nominees:

B/X Companion (Jonathan Becker)
LOTFP Weird Fantasy Roleplaying (James Raggi)
Stonehell Dungeon(Michael Curtis)
The Dungeon Alphabet (Michael Curtis)
The Majestic Wilderlands (Rob Conley)