Secret Meetings

Times, locations and events of our Secret Meetings are always posted here for our XDMs. Return often for updates so that you’ll never miss a secret meeting again!

Gencon Indy 2009 (Proceedings Report)

Tracy Hickman’s DragonHearth Productions is going WAY over the top this year in commemoration of the 25^th Anniversary of Dragonlance AND the premiere of XDM: X-treme Dungeon Master! We’re celebrating the past, present and the future with the most outrageous line up of events, shows and releases we’ve ever brought to Gencon in over a quarter of a century.

Grand Master Curtis conducts a Laura Quest during Killer Breakfast at Gencon 2009. (Photo by Michelle Martin)

Quick Start: Wednesday, August 12th (0540 hrs local time)

Curtis knocks furiously on Grand Master Tracy’s bedroom door, demanding to know if we’re actually GOING to this convention. Grand Master Tracy later discovers that his fantastically expensive and complex blackberry phone is set to ‘Arizona Timezone’ resulting in the alarm having not gone off. Grand Master Tracy springs out of bed in order to catch their airplane on-time and does not stop this furious pace until the following Sunday.

Getting Set: Wednesday, August 12th (1620 hrs local time)

Having arrived in Indianapolis and NOT missing any flights or connections Grand Masters Tracy and Curtis check into their room at the Omni Severin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. The good news is the convention has given them a ‘Plaza Suite’. The bad news is they only have one King bed between them and a pull out from the couch. They would not discover the worse news until later that night … that this five-star hotel is apparently across the street from a biker bar and motorcycle convention held nightly between 11pm and 4am … and that all that glass surrounding the plaza suite does nothing to block motor noise.

Tracy and Curtis make an attempt at getting something to eat at the local Johnny Rockets (a favorite of many Grand Masters) but are thwarted by a desperate phone call from Margaret Weis. It seems that two full pallets have been delivered to the booth from the Tayler Corporation. Tracy and Curtis rush over to the hall, perform their annual argument with the rent-a-guard about how their dealer room badge is IN the dealer room and eventally grab a Gencon Staff Member who actually knows us to walk us back to the booth. (We do this EVERY year despite any attempts to fix the problem.) Curtis and Tracy then manage to (1) put the second pallet back in accessible storage where it was supposed to be in the first place, (2) secure what space we can for display in the booth and (3) unload the entire pallett of brand new XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery books and store it under the tables of our booth. It is only through a fluke of timing that Grand Master Howard … who was forced to come on a later flight … arrived after the display had been set up. With all three available Grand Masters now in place and the booth prepared, all was as ready as it possibly could be.

Tracy and Curtis then slogged their way back to their hotel (the powers-that-be had decided NOT to turn the air conditioning on in the Exhibit Hall — both grand masters were soaked to the bone from their stevedore activities) and had an evening gathering with the Kokomo Irregulars: the gaming group that provides staff and support for Killer Breakfast every year. Little did they suspect that their services would save the convention before the weekend was out.

Grand Master Tracy stands firm against a begging player at Killer Breakfast.

Let the Games Begin: August 13th, (0943 hrs local time)

After meeting Howard for breakfast, all three Grandmasters headed over toward the Exhibit Hall. Tracy diverted to the Show Office to meet with Peter Adkison, the head of the convention. Tracy and Peter then went to the front of the Exhibit Hall to perform the opening ceremonies. Before thousands of expectant convention attendees, Grand Master Tracy … in the finest tradition of the XDMS … blatantly and shamelessly promoted the new XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery book to the assembled masses.

Meanwhile, in the Exhibit Hall, a frightening turn of events had taken place. An employee of Margaret Weis had forgotten the key to the cash register … making it impossible for us to use the services of her staff to sell the XDM books! However, Grand Master Howard was unphased; Sandra had anticipated such issues and had packed everything we needed to perform our OWN cash and credit card exchanges. We were in business … and soon swamped!

Books proceeded to fly from the booth … to the amazement of all observing … as all three Grand Masters present proceeded to sign books and, whenever exact change was presented, to their Exact Change Dance for an addoring public.

Grand Master Curtis leads the audience like a Pied Piper during Killer Breakfast at Gencon 2009.

Secret XDM Meeting: Friday, August 14th, (1400 hrs local time)

Grand Masters Tracy and Curtis conducted the SECRET XDM meeting for two hours to a room packed to the walls with over two hundred XDMs and new member initiates filling every seat and standing against the walls. Grand Master Curtis instructed those present in new magical effects they could use in their game (not even found in the XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery book!) while Grand Master Tracy expounded on the latest discoveries from some lost sanscrit XDM manuals regarding the recovered knowledge of Optimum Gaming and Synergistic Gaming (concepts which will soon be revealed as founding principles of our movement). The fact that special XDM t-shirts exclusive to Gencon were being given away to many deserving audience members had nothing to do with the large attendance.

Oh, and hundreds MORE XDM books were sold again this day. Many new XDMs were showing up at the booth because their friend had purchased the book and told them they HAD to come and get it today. Aware that it was impossible for the Grand Masters alone to keep up with the pace of sales, the Kokomo Irregulars volunteered to man our booth and handle sales for us … saving our weekend from near certain disaster!

Xtreme Killer Breakfast: Saturday, August 15th (1000 hrs local time)

It was time for the greatest even held at the Gencon Indy Convention: Hickman’s Killer Breakfast. Over eight hundred convention attendees packed into the Westin Grand Ballroom to witness the annual carnage … this year made even BETTER because the event used the XD20 system from our own XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery book.

The event opened with Tracy attempting to perform the song ‘The Sound of Gaming’ and looking forward to a morning filled with Rogers and Hammerstein show tunes … this was apparently not to be. Grand Master Tracy’s daughter, Tasha, hijacked the video presentation, thereby changing the show and forcing Grand Master Tracy to perform instead a Dragonlance rewrite lyric to the tune of ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga. Other music featured included ‘Plate Mail Knight’ to ZZ Top’s ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ and the perenial ‘Chain Mail Woman’ to Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman.’

Grand Master Curtis also did duty performing each of the Laura Quests (in the abscense of Laura who was unable to come to the convention this year) and amazed the crowd by giving away not only the special edition XDM t-shirts but several copies of the book itself! Grand Master Howard even infiltrated the game itself … playing alongside TSR veterans Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask.

The highlight was provided (as usual) by Henry Chi and John Videll’s group of players who assembled a battlement at the table onstage in a single motion and were soon catapulting plush cows over the wall. When the last of the player characters died and the last song was sung, the game declared a triumph of XDM engineering and performance.

Oh, and hundreds MORE XDM books were sold again this day thanks to the saving efforts of the Kokomo Irregular crew and the tireless efforts of all thee of the Grand Masters.