GAMEHOLE CON!

It’s GameHole Con week, and if you’re in the Madison area, this is what my schedule will be like:

THURSDAY OCT. 15

• 1 PM – CARTOONISTS ON GAMES AND GAMERS (seminar) 1 hour, with Stan! Brown and James Lowder. “Gaming Comics” are their own sub-genre these days. Stan! Brown and John Kovalic have spent decades making light of games, gamers, and themselves, and are ready to spill the beans on the humorous side of the hobby!
• 2 PM JOHN KOVALIC SIGNING in the Dorkstock Area
• 3 PM – JOHN KOVALIC’S EUROGAMES (boardgames) 2 hours –  In CASH ’N GUNS, an abandoned warehouse houses the gangsters splitting up loot…it’s time to let the guns do the talking. GRAIL CUP is a hilarious hidden role game, reminiscent of Citadels, as your knights bluff their way to victory (and avoid the dragon).
• 9 PM – DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL (spectator/streaming) 2 hours – Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG Actual Play with Dan Taylor, LaTia Jacquise, and Elisa Teague. A live, actual-play Dungeon Crawler Carl Roleplaying Game show, presented by Catacombs & Comedians. The players on stage are a group of hopeful meat-based lifeforms making objectively poor decisions as they navigate traps, monsters, and a rules system specifically designed to test friendships, morals, and one’s ability not to scream under pressure. They were selected because they are professionals at handling silence, bombing gracefully, and masking panic with humor. None of those skills will help them here.

FRIDAY OCT. 16

• 2 PM – PLAYTEST TIME WITH JOHN KOVALIC (party games) 2 hours – ONE of these days John will publish SOME of these party games, but for now, he’s simply having a blast playing them at cons with a select few!
• 3 PM JOHN KOVALIC SIGNING in the DorkStock area
• 5 PM – 30 YEARS OF DORK TOWER AND 25 YEARS OF MUNCHKIN(seminar) 1 hour, with Steve Jackson. John Kovalic, creator of the Dork Tower comic and illustrator of over 8,000 Munchkin cards, and Steve Jackson, founder of Steve Jackson games, the publisher os Munchkin, discuss the intertwined history of both fan-favorites in conversation with Dan Taylor (Catacombs and Comedians).
• 6 PM – YOU ART NOT ALONE: ADVICE ON CREATING YOUR CREATIVE LIVE, THERAPY FOR THOSE ALREADY LIVING IT(seminar) 1 hour – with Shanna Germaine, Ronin Wong and Teos Abadia. As a creator, how do we balance the demands of our career with everything else in our lives? How can we be our best healthy selves, enjoy the process of creating, and feel good about our future goals and past accomplishments?
• 9 PM – THAT OTHER STARSHIP (spectator/streaming) 2 hours Star Trek Adventures Actual Play, with Dan Taylor, Sarah Babe and Bryan CP Steele. That Other Starship offers a hilarious look at what happens after Captain Kirk and the Enterprise depart on their next mission, leaving a mess for the Sancho’s crew to mop up. It’s the Lower Decks of The Original Series.

SATURDAY OCT. 17

• Noon-ish –  There will be CAKE, to celebrate the start of DORK TOWER’S 30th year running!
• 4 PM – JOHN KOVALIC SIGNING in the DorkStock area
• 6 PM – SHADOWDORK (roleplaying) 2 hours Join Igor, Carson, Gilly, Stell, Matt and Ken in the lands of DORK TOWER’S Warhamster in a one-off RPG dm’ed by John Kovalic. Will the lands of Aurora ever be the same? Dragons don’t slay themselves, you know!
• 9 PM – THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE ELDRITCH(spectator/streaming) Call of Cthulhu Actual Play, with Dan Taylor, Sarah Babe, Matt Forbeck and Elisa Teague. The Good, the Bad & the Eldritch is a live Call of Cthulhu actual-play comedy packed with cowboys, cultists, questionable decisions, unspeakable horrors, and whatever other trouble the investigators manage to stir up along the way. Expect eldritch terror, Old West mayhem, and the kind of unpredictable chaos that only happens when dice, players, and ancient unknowable forces are all working against each other.

SUNDAY OCT. 18

I will be away from the show, for my kid’s birthday.

Hope to see you at the show!

• John

HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY!

Most DORK TOWER strips are now available as signed, high-quality prints, from just $25!  CLICK HERE to find out more!

HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY! (We have COOKIES!) (And SWAG!) (And GRATITUDE!)

INSANE CHARITY BIKE RIDE 2026 – THE LAST WEEK! Want original Munchkin Art? This is your last chance until the next charity drive!

IT’S INSANE CHARITY BIKE RIDE 2026 TIME! Please consider helping an amazing local charity bring arm-fresh foods to low-income households! And yes, even though I’m still concussed, I’ll be there! SAFELY (promise).

IT’S INSANE CHARITY BIKE RIDE 2026 TIME! Please consider helping an amazing local charity bring arm-fresh foods to low-income households! And yes, even though I’m still concussed, I’ll be there! SAFELY (promise).

When I launched this year’s Insane Charity Bike Ride campaign two days ago, I was unsure how it might turn out. Unable to cycle due my concussion, I vowed still to fundraise, and tried to come up with some fun ideas and stretch-goals.

With only a few weeks to raise money for this incredible local charity, I doubted $10,000 was realistic (usually the campaign raises at least twice that much).

However, two days in from the launch, you incredible people have already smashed the first two stretch-goals, and are just a few hundred dollars away from $10,000 – wherein I will get on my bike for the first time since the concussion, and cycle (SAFELY) around the Bike the Barns parking area once or twice!

I’m blown away, to be honest. And as a thank-you to everyone, I’ve re-arranged the stretch-goals!

Now, at $14,000 (as opposed to $20,000), I will wear the duck as I (SAFELY) peddle around the parking lot. (In fact, I’ll keep the duck on my head as I pass around Duck buttons to other riders, allowing them to cycle with a duck!)

And as another incentive, should we near $20,000, I will again wear BOTH ducks on my head.

THE NEW STRETCH GOALS

More goodies/swag/bribes will be added as we (hopefully) pass certain markers:

PASSED $5,000 – A sticker commemorating the weird-ass “Safety First” Insane Charity Bike Ride 2026 campaign will be included with all physical orders.

PASSED $7,500 – A new Duck Button will be included with all physical orders. You too may now cycle with a duck!

Passing $10,000 – I’ll take to my bike for the first time since my fall!

Passing $12,000 – A second sticker commemorating the weird-ass “Safety First” Insane Charity Bike Ride 2026 campaign will be included with all physical pledges.

PASSING $14,000 THE DUCK! THE DUCK! THE DUCK! I’ll cycle for the first time concussion with the Steve Jackson Games Duck of Doom on my helmet again!

Passing $16,000 – A unique Munchkin card commemorating the weird-ass “Safety First” Insane Charity Bike Ride 2026 campaign will be included with all physical orders..

Passing $18,000 – Sticker and buttons for ALL riders participating in Bike the Barns 2026, so the entire ride gets a duck on their head (should they so wish)!

Passing $20,000 – THE SECOND DUCK! I’ll ear both the Duck of Doom AND the Duck of Gloom on my helmet (The Duck of Gloom add-on is dedicated to my late friend Andrew Hackard, who first suggested two ducks years ago.)

You folks are the BEST!

• John