DaveCon 2025 Report and DaveCon 2026 Announcement

 

DaveCon 2025 is the third DaveCon organized by Victor Dorso. It took place on April 25-27 this year, as by the original announcement. The convention is no longer exclusively dedicated to Dave Arneson, but rather "all the Daves that helped make D&D great" according to the organisers. However the guests of honor did include several of Dave Arneson's players  including David Wesely, David Megarry, David Wesely, Mike Carr, William J Hoyt and Ross Maker as well as Ken Fletcher and Kevin McColl who worked for Dave Arneson at various points. So I think the convention should still be of interest to the readers of this blog. 

Other guests of honor included  Griff Morgan, Baron DeRopp, Justin Alexander, Bob Worldbuilder, Grace WorldDestroyer, Greg Gillespie, David Johnson and Mark Rein-Haugen.  

During the first DaveCon there was some disagreement between Victor Dorso and the organisers of ArneCon. However, these differences seem to have been set aside and Griff Morgan of ArneCon did attend this year's convention. 

Next year's DaveCon has already been announced for April 24-26, 2026, Bloomington, MN, USA. 

DaveCon 2025 Special Guests

Next year's DaveCon is still many months away, but we are already learning more details about the event. 

Vic Dorso seems to have clarified that the convention is not just about Dave Arneson, but that "Davecon isn't just about one Dave, its about all the Daves that made RPG gaming great !" 

The 2025 convention will include the following:

Original Blackmoor Players: 

David Megarry , David Wesely, Mike Carr,  Bill Hoyt, Ross Maker

Arneson Alumni: 

Ken Fletcher, Kevin McColl, 

Other Guests of Honor: 

Justin Alexander and Mark Rein-Hagen, Bob World Builder, Baron De Rupp, Grace the World Destroyer,  Heidi Gygax, Eric Garland, Greg Gillespie, Andy Thomas, David Yaeger, David "DJ" Johnson.

Furthermore, DaveCon, via their Facebook page, has offered a discount code for tickets: 

 20% Discount code is good till September 15th only is DiceBreaker.

You can buy the tickets at this site. 

Read more about DaveCon at the official website. 

If you feel like DaveCon is too far into the future, there is always ArneCon happening next month.

Are you going to DaveCon? What are your thoughts about this news? Let me know!

More about DaveCon 2025 at The Comeback Inn Forum

Disclaimers: This blog is not associated with DaveCon or any other commercial endeavour. This is a non-commercial fan site promoting and discussing anything we feel our readers might be interested in learning more about.

-Havard

DaveCon 2025 Tickets Available

 DaveCon 2025 has been announced and tickets are already available. Organised by Victor Dorso, this will be the fourth DaveCon. Read more about the previous DaveCon here on my blog.  As last year, the convention will take place in Bloomington MN in the Crowne Plaza Suites Msp Airport - Mall of America.

Dave Megarry and DaveCon organiser Victor Dorso

Dates given for the convention are:

•  Fri, Apr 25 2025, 8:00am - 11:45pm
• Sat, Apr 26 2025, 8:00am - 11:45pm
• Sun, Apr 27 2025, 8:00am - 8:00pm

Buy the tickets and find more details at Tabletop Events

Are you going to DaveCon this year?

Discuss DaveCon 2025 at The Comeback Inn. 

Disclaimer: I am not involved in the organising of any of the conventions I discuss on my blog or any commercial activities connected to Dave Arneson, Blackmoor or Dungeons & Dragons. I would love to go to a convention celebrating Dave Arneson some day though! 

-Havard

DaveCon 3 is happening right now!

 Reports are coming in from DaveCon, one of the conventions arranged to commemorate the legacy of Dungeons & Dragons Co-Creator Dave Arneson. This is the third time, Victor Dorso organizes this convention, which is taking place this weekend in Minnesota. I wrote about DaveCon3 and its wide range of honored guests a few days ago. 

Photos from CastleBlackmoor

Are you at DaveCon right now? I would love to hear from you!

-Havard

DaveCon 3 fast approaching with incredible list of guests and events

I can't believe we are already going to see the third DaveCon and it is coming up in less than a week! For those who felt the first DaveCon was more about D&D in general and less about Dave Arneson and the original Twin City Gaming legacy, dismiss those concerns right away. With its third instalment, DaveCon is living up to its name like never before with a foundation is that is stronger than ever. This is the year of the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, the game co-created by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax and coming up next weekend (April 26-28, 2024) in, Bloomington, MN, USA, DaveCon 3 organizer Victor Dorso promises Three-days of Gaming, Vendors and Art, plus The Auction.

The special guests lineup looks incredible. First of all, there are guests who were there at the beginning with Dave Arneson:

• Dave Wesely 
• Mike Carr 
• Dave Megarry
• Ken Fletcher
• Ross Maker
• William Hoyt

But also, a list of people who will be known to many of you:

• Dan "Professor Dungeon Master" Defazio 
• Andy Thomas & Dave Yaeger
• Baron Deroop
• David Johnson
• Justin Alexander
• Kevin McColl of Castle Blackmoor

D&D 50 is definitely going to be a year of celebration for Dave Arneson fans. We already had amazing Blackmoor and Arneson Alumni presence at GaryCon and more events are coming later this year! 

Are you going to DaveCon this year? I would love to hear about your plans and your experiences!

-Havard

Professor Dungeon Master as Special Guest for DaveCon 2024

 

DaveCon 2024 has been announced for April 26.- April 28. This will be the third time DaveCon is organized, still with Victor Dorso at the helm. Dan Masters, known as Professor Dungeon Master, from his Youtube channel Dungeon Craft will be among one of the special guests this year. I have long enjoyed his videos where he promotes our hobby, often with a focus on older editions. 

Other special guests include Blackmoor and Dave Arneson Alumni such as David Wesely, Mike Carr, Dave Megarry, Ken Fletcher and William Hoyt. As with previous years it is great to see the original players and associates of Dave support this convention. I believe that Victor Dorso has shown that he is interested in making this convention a true celebration of Dave's legacy and the origins of Dungeons & Dragons, the game that Dave created with Gary Gygax. 

Are you going to DaveCon 2024? If you were going, what would you be most interested in experiencing there? 

 Read more about DaveCon 2024 

Sign up for the Facebook event

See more discussions of this topic at the Comeback Inn.

-Havard

ArneCon 2023 Dinner Announced for October 1st

 

ArneCon 2023 has been announced for September 29-October 2nd this year. While few details of the convention has yet been revealed, a pre-convention social event  will take place on Saturday October 1st:

 The original team here in MN who fostered and created what became D&D are gathering for a meal and quiet memory of Dave Arneson & 50 years of D&D! TSR was incorporated on his birthday 50 years ago. Showing how much Gygax support Arneson’s creation and help him publish. There is no planned gaming, just a social event. I will have my time table of the process of how the game came to be with highlights of events in MN that sparked Dave Arneson's body of work. He did not work alone, others helped create inspiration for rules, classes, combat, and other aspects. We are planning to gather at Perkins Roseville, MN, where Dave Arneson loved to visit. (Dutch bill, everyone pays their own.)

Last year's ArneCon was by all reports a fairly small and intimate event.  The convention sees itself as a continuation of the tradition started by Dave Arneson and his original players of meeting for an annual game:

Annual convention since 2017 returning again. Holding Minnesota as home and origin of dungeons and dragons, celebrating the birth month of Dave Arneson as well as the birth of TSR. A long history of gaming fostered the creative works of many in the group that played with Dave Arneson. Sharing both the history and friendship that has been the hallmark of Minnesota nice. And extending our hand to not only Wisconsin which helped get it published but also the rest of the community.

Some have called for ArneCon to join forces with DaveCon, the other convention organized during the Spring season, also dedicated to the D&D Co-Creator.  More details on ArneCon can be found here .

-Havard

DaveCon 2 This Weekend

 

A game of Circus Maximus at DaveCon 2023

Victor Dorso's DaveCon returns this Weekend and reports are coming in. This is the second time this convention is being organized. The convention, named in honor of Dave Arneson takes place in Bloomington, Minnesota. I wrote about the program for the convention back in February. Since then, Dorso has also revealed various merchandise items that I assume will be available for sale at the convention, including dice trays, gaming coins and dice. 

David Wesely, William J Hoyt and Mike Carr are special guests of honor at the convention. I applaud this list of special guests all three are important figures in gaming history and all three were part of Dave Arneson's gaming group. 

Are you at DaveCon right now? Please share your experiences in the comments! :)

-Havard

DaveCon 2023 Events Announced

 

DaveCon is returning with its second convention and organizer Victor Dorso just revealed some more details about this year's events:

DaveCon in Bloomington MN is April 13th thru 16th.

https://tabletop.events/conventions/davecon-2023 

• Special guests include David Wesely and other members of the original Black moor crew. 
•  Games auction with some Black moor & other classic games and set pieces.
•  1E vs 5E tournament 
• First Campaign ( Black moor ) 
•  Empire of the Petal throne 
•  Braunstein 
•  Dawn patrol 
•  Don't give up the ship 
•  And plenty of other classic games along with new games and products.

Any readers of this blog who are planning on making the trip this year? :)

More details and discussion of this article at The Comeback Inn. Go here.

-Havard

Ernie Gygax Univited From DaveCon 2023

 

DaveCon has univited Ernie Gygax as a special guest. The first DaveCon took place earlier this year and was organized by Victor Dorso who has announced plans for a second DaveCon in April next year. Recently, several gaming conventions, including DaveCon recieved criticism for associating themselves with the son of Gary Gygax due to various controversies other sites than this one has covered in detail.

Personally, I would rather keep this blog focused on other issues connected to Dave Arneson's legacy and less about drama, but I hope that with this decision, fans of gaming will come out to support DaveCon.

Discuss this article at The Comeback Inn.

-Havard

GoG attacks DaveCon over Ernie Gygax as Special Guest

 

Gamer On Gamers, a YouTube channel with more than 3000 subscribers recently called out DaveCon 2023 for bringing in Ernie Gygax as one of the Special Guests. The YouTuber referred to Ernie as a "well documented bigot".

Now, I generally don't like to get into Internet drama on this blog, but I do care about Dave Arneson's legacy. For this reason I remain supportive Victor Dorso's DaveCon, but I wonder if there could be more suitable people to invite as special guests for an event dedicated to Dave Arneson?

-Havard

Blackmoor Convention in October teased by SoB Team

 There has been a lot of talk about  Gaming Conventions connected to Dave Arneson and Blackmoor this year. A few days ago, the idea of a Blackmoor convention in October was teased by the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary team on Twitter. 

This is the same convention a different source told me about back in July, but the follow up tweet reveals a bit more about what may have been planned. 

The mention of the convention being close to Dave's birthday is why I speculate that they are looking for October since Dave's birthday is October 1st which has been celebrated for years here at this blog and the main Blackmoor fan hangout at The Comeback Inn and associated social media accounts. 

Fake autographs sounds a bit strange, but having Dave Arneson's daughter as a guest of honor at such a convention would be awesome. 

My main concern about this is that October is only a little more than a month away. However, for a "small and intimate" event I am sure they can still manage to organize something, especially if many of the locals are already aware of the details.

As I have stated in the past, I will support any project that seeks to honor Dave Arneson's legacy and I hope this convention will come to pass. If not this year, perhaps next year can be an option? Joining forces with DaveCon might help give that convention a boost, but two conventions could also mean twice the fun!

-Havard

DaveCon 2023 in the works

 The convention known as DaveCon will return for 2023. The convention named after Dave Arneson will take place in Minnesota in April of next year according to organizer Victor Dorso. Special guests for next years convention will include Blackmoor alumni David Wesely, Mike Carr and Bill Hoyt.

In a recent interview at Tabletop Taproom, Dorso talked about his plans for next year's convention with host Tom /Jedion. In the interview, Dorso says that he sees DaveCon as a continuation of the annual Blackmoor games, that the original Blackmoor players held at the gaming store known as The Source following Arneson's passing in 2009. Dorso also talked about how last year's convention with the theme of unification was met with some negativity from various individuals both from Minnesota and others wanting to start a rival convention. He also admits that controversy surrounding Ernie Gygax Jr. may have contributed to these reactions. However, Dorso is optimistic about nex year's convention that will take place at a larger venue. 

Dorso has a great deal of plans for next year's convention and plans on making the event much larger than last years with gaming events, food, beer and other activities, including an app that will let gamers order food and have it brought to their tables. He also stressed that both men and women are welcome at the convention and should feel safe to attend. Children are also welcome as long as they are there in the company of an adult. 

Highlights for next year's convention include Braunstein games with David Wesely and Mike Carr running the classic adventure B1 In Search of Unknown, written by Carr and published by TSR in 1978. Bill Hoyt's Blackmoor Castle model that Dave Arneson used for his games will also be on display at the convention. Many old and new RPGs will be played at Dave Con 2023.

A separate Dave Arneson convention organised by others has been discussed for later this year, but nothing formal has been announced yet. Dave Wesely spoke fondly about his experiences at DaveCon 2022 and says he would gladly participate at both conventions, suggesting that there would be enough interest for two such conventions to the Co-Creator of D&D. 

It has always been the idea of this author to support all things that would honor the gaming legacy of Dave Arneson and the Minnesota Gamers. I think having Mike Carr as a guest of honor along with Wesely and Hoyt puts a much needed emphasis of next years DaveCon as an event in that tradition. 

Further discussion of this article here.

-Havard

Was DaveCon 2022 a Failure?

 As mentioned earlier on this blog, DaveCon 2022, a convention taking place on April 8.-11 2022 in Minneapolis Minnesota, was an event to commemorate the legacy of Dave Arneson. In the days following the convention, there have been surprisingly few reports or photos coming out of the event and for the most part the social media connected to the organisers, the event itself and guests of honor were pretty much silent. This struck me as a bad sign. 

Ernie Gygax and David Wesely

However, some reports are now coming out, suggesting that DaveCon was a a great time for those who were there, although a much smaller event than many of the participants were hoping for. In a video by TSR alumni Tim Kask, the former Dragon Magazine editor suggested that the reasons for the convention not being more successful was a schism formed in Minneapolis caused by "colossal egos" and negativity from the Arneson Estate. 

As a long time fan of Dave Arneson, I would have liked to see this event be an amazing success. It is great that we have finally reached a point in history where people from all corners of the hobby would like to recognise the importance of the legacy of Dave Arneson and his Minnesota group of gamers. As Tim Kask says, it was the meeting between this tradition of gaming and the Lake Geneva group of gamers that gave rise to Dungeons & Dragons. As I have mentioned before, I think it is admirable of Tim Kask, who had a big falling out with Dave Arneson, to be willing to participate in a convention that honored this legacy.

While I am not subject to all on goings over there from where I sit on the other side of the Atlantic, I think Kask is wrong about the Arneson Estate having any blame for what happened to this convention. DaveCon organizer Vic Dorso has previously claimed that he was told not to contact the Estate which seems very strange to me and makes me suspect that this would have been a misunderstanding. 

As to the reasons why the convention was not met with more enthusiasm, I think the answer is a little more complicated than how Kask relates it. Here are a few things:

1) Unfortunate associations with Ernie's other endeavours. While DaveCon apparently has no connections to Ernie Gygax' other gaming industry ventures, having Ernie  as one of the first announced guests of honor was not just an odd choice for a convention dedicated to Dave Arneson, but it also made the bad reputation of Ernie's other involvements bleed over onto DaveCon in the eyes of many fans. It did not help that the DaveCon organiser was observed on social media joking with one of Ernie's less reputable partners about not needing to respect the Arneson Estate. (Note: This blog is not taking an anti Ernie stance or suggesting that Ernie should not have been invited, but given the current atmosphere in many corners of our hobby, perhaps including his name as one of the main headliners was a poor decision from a PR perspective).

2) Although Blackmoor Alumni such as David Wesely and Bill Hoyt were brought on board as guests of honor, there was very little about the convention that brought associations to Dave Arneson or Blackmoor. No photos of Dave were used, no Blackmoor imagery or even much textual description of the importance of Dave's legacy in the promo material. 

3) Failure to involve Blackmoor alumni or hardcore fans. I am not subject to the organiser's efforts to engage the Minnesota gamers, but I know that some discussions on closed forums blew up. On the other hand, The Comeback Inn or the Blackmoor related Facebook groups that I organise saw close to zero engagement. There are many other Blackmoor players from the original campaign still around. The Arneson Estate could have been contacted. What about Dustin Clingman who published Blackmoor with Dave for the 3rd and 4th edition of Blackmoor? Or the producers of the Secrets of Blackmoor Documentary? Now, it is possible that all of these people were being difficult, but that is not my experiene with any of them, especially when it comes to an effort to honor Dave's legacy. 

I would like to stress that I am not saying any of this to gloat. I would like to see a convention in Dave's name be as successful as it has the potential to be. Maybe it could become something like GaryCon was in its early days which I hear was a small, but extremely cool convention. Victor Dorso has already announced that he is planning a new DaveCon in April next year, so hopefully some of the issues with this year's convention can be worked out by then. 

If anyone should want to organise future Dave Arneson related events, I can offer free advice to those who ask! :)

-Havard

"Across Black Moors" is a Blackmoor inspired adventure by Carlos Lising of CASL entertainment

I recently recieved news of this new adventure inspired by Dave Arneson's Blackmoor. It is written by Carlos Lising of CASL entertainment. The module is announced as the official module of DaveCon, a convention to commemorate Dave Arneson's legacy next month and will presumably be sold or given out to attendees of the convention. The convention has drawn some criticism for not involving Dave Arneson's family, but has been described as a passion project of its founder Victor Dorso.

 

"DC1 Compliant with OSRIC. 

Dungeon Module DC1 Across Black Moors. By carlos a.lising. An adventure for characters levels 3-5

Long has the bizarre and potent entity known as Orrg of Oot held sway over the Black Moors, controlling the common folk of the land beneath the weighty chains of thralldom and a silent, pervasive terror. Despite its fearsome power, however, an opportunity to fight back against this alien foe has made itself known. Will your heroes strike a blow for freedom on behalf of the Black Moors - or will the Oorg of Oot continue its reign of tyranny over the land forevermore?

This module was the official adventure from DaveCon 2022. It contains a challenging scenario and eight pre-rolled, playtested tournament characters. DC1 is a complete adventure in and of itself and may thus be used for competition among players (pr groups of players) or as a non-scored adventure included in the cnotext of an ongoing game. Also included are referees's maps, notes, encounter descriptions for players, and a background scenario allowing the module to be easily placed withing a pre-existing campaign."

The cover blurb quoted above is of great interest to me. The villain's name is spelled Orrg of Oot and Oorg of Ooot in the same paragraph, but it is obvious that it is a nod to the alternate names given to the Egg of Coot in Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign, where the names  Ogg of Ot and Orrg er Druig were presented as two aliases of this legendary Blackmoor villain. The description of the Black Moors as being ruled by this being suggests that the adventure takes place before Blackmoor was liberated by the elves and long before the DA modules or the ZGG D20 version of Blackmoor. My immediate thought is that the module will be harder to reconcile with the Greyhawk version of Blackmoor, but the blurb does say it can be easily integrated into any pre-existing campaign.

Across the Black Moors is not the first gaming product to be created as a tribute to the legacy of Dave Arneson of course. We also have Dragons at Dawn and Champions of Zed both by DH Boggs, Rob S Conley's Blackmarsh well as the excellent campaigns and sourcebooks organized at the Comeback Inn Forum. Greg Svenson The Lost Dungeons of Tonnisborg feels like its  more than a tribute, but I wanted to mention it anyway. More on that later. 

What other Dave Arneson inspired games may we see in the future?

Did I forget anything? Please let me know in the comments!

-Havard

Gygax Alumni to Celebrate Dave Arneson's Legacy at New Convention DaveCon in 2022

Trouble sharing on social media? Share this link instead.

The new gaming convention DaveCon was announced last year and is to be held in Roseville, Minnesota, for the first time this year from April 8-10th (bring a sweater probably?). Dave Arneson passed away on April 7th so it is possible that this is the reason for the date.

Although very little is known about the actual gaming events of the convention, the list of guests surprisingly included several names of people who had much stronger ties to Gary Gygax than to Dave, including Ernie Gygax and Tim Kask. It is nice to see that the theme of the convention is "Unification" which could be seen as an olive branch offered for the harsh criticism offered from the Gygax camp towards Dave when he was still alive. The inclusion of Ernie Gygax caused some concern given this Gygax son's association with the somewhat controversial TSR Con. This convention appears to be a completely separate event though, created by Victor Dorso of the newly formed Angry Dwarf Games.

It is also nice to see long time friends of Dave Arneson such as David Wesely and Bill Hoyt on the guest list. Convention website includes the following disclaimer: "Angry Dwarf Games LLC and DaveCon are not in any way affiliated with the Estate of Dave Arneson LLC". It is a shame that this convention has not reached out to Dave Arneson's family for this event. It would also have been nice to see the documentary crew from Secrets of Blackmoor appear at the convention, but they have apparently not been invited at this time. 

Hopefully, this convention will work out the remaining kinks in the months to come, and end up being a true celebration of Dave Arneson's legacy

-Havard