SimuCon '99... the pinnacle of all SimuCons to date! This, the best of all conventions, has many people to thank for it's greatness, but most notably Tamma Sperano and Melissa Callaway, who together made it happen! A close second was all those who attended and brought an atmosphere of companionship and merriment to St. Louis. What made it so great, you ask? What follows is the story of SimuCon '99...
Part of what made SimuCon '99 great was it's perfect length. Those who have a hard time getting enough of their fellow players had the option of showing up Wednesday for pre-registration and thereby making this convention a 5-DAY event!
But come Sunday there were few who could have survived another day of the non-stop excitement that was SimuCon '99, though most would have tried.
Pre-registration started at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in the lobby of King Henry VIII Inn and Lodge. This lobby became the staging point for all other activities that commenced at the con. During the four hours of pre-registration more than a hundred people got registered and were thrust into the whole greeting process right there in the lobby as everyone congregated. 
At 7:00 all the GameMasters ran off to have the official "GameMaster Dinner". A peek in their private dining room revealed close to 100 GameMasters already at the convention! Everyone else wandered about, meeting and rejoining friends, and eventually ending up in Duffy's Pub (as did the GMs after thier dinner). This first night everyone celebrated the commencement of SimuCon '99 in Duffy's Pub, which would become a popular hang-out for the rest of the weekend.
Registration started early on Thursday, 9:00 a.m., once again giving acknowledgement to the fact that we all wanted more time together 
(all previous conventions started in the afternoon and evening, and none had pre-registration on Wednesday). Two huge registration desks were set up where people could sign in, get their photo made for their ID, pick up their ID with a neckstrap that indicated which game they played, and a packet of information including a convention booklet, dozens of brochures for local entertainment, a map of the most confounding hotel ever designed, numerous game-related word puzzles, and a cute little SimuCon '99 drink coaster (with four of them you could make a mouse pad). During registration the hotel lobby was the central hang-out. The hospitality suite, a comfortable room with several large tables and approximately 20 computers, opened up to the public Thursday morning and many people found their way to there. You could also catch a bus out front of the King Henry VIII which would take you to the Simutronics home offices for a tour!
The first official business of the convention was guild and profession meetings from 4:00 to 7:00. During this time the Rangers, Rogues, and Clerics 
met from GemStone and the Paladins, Warrior Mages, Thieves, Rangers, Bards, Clerics, and Moon Mages met from DragonRealms.
Thursday evening welcomed the opening night costume dinner and contest which has become a much-loved tradition in the past three years. The King Henry VIII hotel rolled out an excellent buffet (far better than the Adam's Mark at SimuCon '98 or the Mariott at SimuCon ][), and as 
people passed through line GameMasters from each game judged the costumes worn by players. Top honors in the costume contest went to GemStone players Blaqtar (1st), Seckara (2nd), and Avantos (3rd); DragonRealms players Mohaun (1st), Eaglewings (2nd), and Iaasis (3rd); Hercules & Xena players Hylia (1st), Sind (2nd), and Alydana (3rd). However, each judging group had a list of honorable mentions a mile long because almost everyone was in costume and the costumes were all incredible! These winners made out like bandits with prizes such as alterations and free time in DRPlatinum and GSPlatinum.
After the costume winners were announced and brought up to stage for a barrage of photographs, winners of the Bard conest performed. The Bard contest required entrants to send in a recording of their performance, which were to be performed Thursday night if selected. 
First up was Lady Ylena from GemStone playing two Irish-themed songs on her flute, the first being slow and beautiful and the second being upbeat and playful. The performer from DragonRealms was Trul and her band of Teamarie, Taeliesin, and Marcuso. They performed an in-genre song written by Trul herself and earned themselves all instrument alterations and the release of their song on a song scroll in DragonRealms.
Once the costume gala ended people wandered all
over the hotel, many remaining in costume all night. The first official night of SimuCon '99 also saw the first official night of socializing. The lobby, hospitality suite, and bars were packed, including a brand new bar in the hotel, Quavvy's Bar. This bar was the transformation of GemStone player Quavvy's room into a general party room and provided free drinks to all its patrons.
In a fit of sheer inspiration, the SimuCon coordinators did not schedule the first official function Friday morning, a preview of Hero's Journey, until 10:30, but even then many faces were suspiciously absent from the event. David Whatley and Elonka Dunin ran a demo of the game, discussed how it was different 
from other graphical multi-player games, how it was completely configurable to the user, and answered numerous questions from the crowd. After seeing how many people were not able to get up even at 10:30
a second showing of Hero's Journey was wisely scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
The Kygar Festival kicked off at noon in the main ballroom. Another SimuCon tradition is the festival lunch, and this year's was particularly rousing and particularly special because it was held in honor of its namesake, GemStone GameMaster Kygar (Roger Johnston) who passed on last year to that great Dwarf heaven in the sky. 
Featured at the festival was, of course, an excellent buffet lunch provided by the King Henry VIII; many entertainers and performers -including Captains Outrageous, Merlin, and a live bird show entitled Birds of Prey-; free amusements like fortunetellers, 
caricatures, and balloon beasts; and a few wacky games and contests staged by our beloved GMs, including Feed the Dragon (a psychotic game where contestants were invited to throw baby duckies into a dragon's mouth), the very short bow archery range, and cracking open Bardon's Treasure Chest, which held many prizes for those who could open it.
The Kygar festival was concluded with a very special occassion, the re-nuptials of GemStone players Karess (Sue) and Commandant (Bill). Karess, Commandant, and their many attendents performed their entire wedding ceremony in full costume before the SimuCon '99 crowd with Lord Celtic as their presiding Cleric. The ceremony was at one time classically beautiful and wildly hysterical, 
with antics ranging from bridesmaids picking boxes and healing wounds during the ceremony to catcalls from the audience to hearty vows of loyalty by Commandant's Warrior groomsmen, and Lord Celtic setting it all off with his unceasing, even-voiced delivery of quips, puns, and jokes.
Official business for the day concluded with another round of seminars ending at 7:00 p.m. In this round of seminars all the games had at least two seperate seminars ranging from "How to Analyze a Crime Scene" for Modus Operandi, "Roleplaying and Events" for DragonRealms, "The Combat System" for Hercules & Xena, "Geography and History of Elanthia" for GemStone III, and many more. Once the seminars ended, dinner began. Friends made arrangements to visit all different parts of St. Louis for dinner or stayed at the hotel where there were two nice restaraunts to choose from. For those going out, shuttles ran from the hotel to various places in the St. Louis area and back again.
Good Morning! The seminars started early: 9:30 a.m., or maybe that's late if you haven't been to bed yet. At 11:00 everyone gathered in the grand ballroom to hear David Whatley, President and CEO of Simutronics, give the SimuCon '99 Key Note speech, entitled The Next Evolutionary Step of Mankind. After the Key Note speech came one final festive dinner together, this one a lunch to the tune of the Royal Dumpe. For two years now a group has gathered together to visit the Royal Dumpe in downtown St. Louis, most people in full costume collecting many stares and catcalls from the locals. This year the Dumpe came to us! 
The benefits were that instead of having to pay extra for the Dumpe it is already included in the convention, 
and no one has to leave the hotel or be ridiculed by St. Louisians. Lunch at the King Henry was as good as usual, and the performance of the Dumpe as bawdy as usual.
Saturday afternoon wound up with another round of seminars for all four games and another preview of Hero's Journey. As the final seminars ended everyone broke up for dinner, most notably some of the games had game-specific GM dinners and all the Mentors from all the games joined up for one huge Mentor 
dinner at which all the Mentors chipped in to give GM Riel (formerly DR's Revela) a very beautiful staff and GM Viani a wicked-looking whip, which she promptly sauntered with around the room.
When everyone started returning from dinner the final night of SimuCon '99 really took off. 
Knowing that this was the last time to be with all our friends for a long while, the socializing, hugging, talking, and drinking took on a euphorically urgent pace. Multitudes gathered in the lobbies, hospitality suite, and bars, walking through the hotel one could find open-door parties 
here and there, and as usual Quavvy's Bar was in business. For the first time all trip a complaint was made by another guest which resulted in the relocation of Quavvy's Bar into the pool area right outside the hospitality suite. Unwittingly, this made the perfect celebratory atmosphere, a huge bastion of comraderie where everyone strolling through instantly became a part of the party. This last night of fellowship was exhilerating and sweet, and kept many people enthralled until Sunday morning came around and the time to leave was at hand.
The only official happening Sunday was the farewell brunch which started at 9:00 and ended at 1:00 p.m., marking the end of SimuCon '99. Throughout the day goodbyes were said and last hugs exchanged. Those who weren't leaving immediately remained in the lobby to chat or found lunch with what few friends remained. And although there was no small number of people who could not stand and made beds in the hotel lobby, all still remaining wished it could all last yet another day, but unfortunately, even truly great things must end and so must SimuCon '99.
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