The Event: SimuCon ][
emories from the 
on
Destination: St. Louis, Missouri
The Dates: Thurs. May 29, 1997 through Sun. June 1, 1997
Located at the St. Louis Airport Marriott, SimuCon][ proved to be an extraordinary and memorable gathering of some of DragonRealms' original addicts and GameMasters. The location and events were all planned by Simu-Rain (Michelle Montano), who also coordinated SimuCon '98. She did a wonderful job of providing a great place to stay and fun things to do and see. Of course, the best part was all the people to be met! Here's a list of those very people!
GameMaster Attendees (21):
Italics indicates a GM who was still a player at this convention
GM Alnilam, GM Belcor, GM Breeland/Solomon, GM Caymus/Tokah, GM Chadi, GM Chandra/Aldamus, GM Gonk, GM Kaikyu, GM Kotkel, GM Lasca, GM Lelah, GM Loki, GM Marvelin, GM Meriel/Aibel, GM Naiph, GM Rowan, GM Shalnhh, GM Skurrzak, GM Tarragon, GM Treveri, GM Urion, GM Zaishaya
Player Attendees (27):
Agraynel, Antonin, Aryl, Azante, Azoria, Basthet, Bonehitter, Caina, Cranky, Cyanosis, Elany, Gallium, Jodacai, Kraelyst, Kue, Lilliana, Luna, Makaw, Mestralle, Mohaun, Myrkl, Naga, Snare, Starcatcher, Tiamatis, Zyla
What Happened!
Thursday: Registration day! I walked up to the registration desk in the lobby of the St. Louis Airport Marriott and saw a sign that almost made me fall over laughing and let me know I was definitely in the right place for a DragonRealms addict! The sign looked something like this:You see a sign.After registering and getting a nametag (which I still own) and a sack of information, I went up and claimed my room. Once everything was settled it was off to the hospitality suites (there were two) to meet all my fellow DragonRealm addicts. It was easy to find the DR players from the GS players because someone had been kind enough to make signs out of some scrap paper that said "DragonRealms room" and "GemStone room". It seems that Aryl was one of the first people at the convention and had quite effectively staked out a room just for us! The only time we had any GemStoners in our room was when they came to use the computers because theirs were always overcrowded! Most of the weekend was spent in our hospitality suite which was open 24 hours a day. There were 10 computers in our suite, one of which was occupied by Naga 100% of the time! Throughout the weekend there were always several players and GameMasters discussing DragonRealms and playing games in the suite. In a few hands of poker I won several gold pieces off of GM Kaikyu -who wasn't yet a GM- and off of GM Kotkel -who wasn't yet a GM either-... quite a prize for a Thief playing cards with a couple Traders! GameMasters told us of all the incredibly funny things they had seen players do and all the mishaps they'd seen or created with events and NPCs, players told of all the unique things they'd witnessed and the jams they'd gotten into (Snare was ready with a story for any topic!).
> examine sign
There is something written on the sign.
> read sign
The sign says: Welcome to SimuCon ][!
Thursday evening was the welcoming feast and costume dinner! 
Medieval music played in the background as hundreds of costumed gamers got acquianted over a wonderful dinner. Speeches were made and prizes were given. There was also a big announcement that none of us players were expecting: "All SimuTronics games will be moving to the web"! Yeah, it's hard to remember a time when we weren't on the web! After dinner many people returned to the hospitality suites and many others (particularly the Rangers) returned to JW's Pub, the hotel bar!
Friday: This was picnic and tour day!
Busses came and took us to a park outside of town where we had a wonderful picnic. Of course, our busdriver got lost (very typical, I heard some people got stranded at the arch for hours!) and the group I was with spent about 30 minutes in the wrong place. Little did we know that the picnic was occurring across the tree-line just half a mile away! Once we got to the picnic we had a lot of fun. Giant turkey legs were served underneath a huge canopy. There was a full suit of armor as the centerpiece of the buffet line. There were even a couple games. 
One game, which started after everyone finished eating was a game where two people put on big knight outfits. The knight outfits made everyone about 2 feet taller because they included a head that came off the shoulders. The object of the game, of course, was to knock off the other guy's head! It was one of the funniest things I think I've ever seen!
While the games were going on there were also busses running to the Simutronics office in St. Charles. We all got to see where everything gets created and maintained, and listen to a tour that let us understand a lot of the behind-the-scenes workings of DragonRealms. Perhaps the most impressive thing was the giant computers that run the games and the T-1 and T-3 lines going everywhere! I asked what would happen if the whole place blew up, and they said not to worry because it was all backed up in another computer several miles away.
Saturday: What a Dumpe! Saturday was a leisurely day, no real plans. People hung out together in the bar and the hospitality suites and prepared for the night to come. 
All of us readied for the Royal Dumpe, a local dinner theater with a Medieval twist, by pulling out our costumes again and heading to the place, which was located directly in downtown St. Louis (in Laclede's Landing). There were freaks all over the place - it's a good thing I knew them all! The Dumpe was crass, crude, profane, and disgustingly hilarious! The streets of Laclede's Landing were beautiful and it looked like a fun place to go, but I got a bit tired of being called "Robin Hood" by all the locals!
Sunday: Farewell breakfast. It started early and everybody got together to eat and take those last-chance photos before parting ways. At the breakfast we were all given the t-shirts we had ordered (included in the convention) embroidered with your character's name (unless like me you didn't put your name down so just got a plain DragonRealms shirt). Then it was a few more pictures, some hugs, some more hugs, and "So long till SimuCon '98."
Pages of Pictures:If you have any pictures or stories from SimuCon ][ that you'd like to see on this page then send them to Kraelyst@hotmail.com. I'd like to thank GameMaster Kaikyu for donating many of his SimuCon ][ pictures. Without his pictures this place would be empty!
"GM Alnilam" thru "Aryl"
"Azante" thru "Azoria"
