Our Real Life Adventures series takes a look at unique sights, interesting places, and curious landmarks in that most fabulous of realms . . . the real world! Whether they be tours of spots directly related to gaming’s rich history, or places that are just flat out amazing or weird, our Real Life Adventures can serve as inspiration for your own tabletop gaming — be sure to check out the other articles in this series for more!
Real Life Adventures: A Return to Quasqueton, Iowa
by Tim Wadzinski
I’m part of the team that worked on Original Adventures Reincarnated #1: Into the Borderlands, which reprinted, expanded, and converted to 5E the seminal D&D modules B1: In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr and B2: The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax. Carr named the dungeon in B1, the lair of warrior Rogahn the Fearless and wizard Zelligar the Unknown, the “Caverns of Quasqueton,” after a small town in Iowa. He never actually visited the town, but he knew of it from his travels and liked the sound of the word. Earlier this year I undertook a pilgrimage there and that story can be read here.
I’ve been in touch with Carr since that time and he was amused by my story enough to begin planning his first visit to Quasqueton, after all these years. He came up with an idea for a fun promotion, a bumper sticker that reads “Quasqueston: Former Home of Rogahn & Zelligar,” and wound up printing hundreds to be given away at various events. He unveiled them at Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin, this past October.
Carr generously gave a large number of stickers to Goodman Games, to be handed out at the booth in the vendor hall. He also stated plans to include them in swag bags for the next editions of Gary Con and Gen Con, as well as to give some to the museum run by the Quasqueton Area Historical Society.
He informed me he decided to finally visit the museum in November as part of his inaugural trip out to Quasqueton, and he invited me to join him. We reached out to Corinne Love, the President of the Historical Society, and the wheels started turning for an event that would see us speaking about Quasqueton’s place in the history and lore of D&D…
Little did we know what Ms. Love had in store. A press release was sent out to local TV stations and newspapers, communications went out via social media, and Carr wound up doing an interview for The Gazette out of Cedar Rapids, which can be read here.
As an amazing last-minute bonus, Carr’s former TSR colleague Harold Johnson joined him on the drive from the Lake Geneva area out to eastern Iowa. (Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during that road trip…) Carr, Johnson, my wife, and I all rolled up to the museum simultaneously on a sunny Saturday afternoon and were greeted by some nice advertising on the city sign. (Side note: Arch Zenopus from the Zenopus Archives blog noted the text “City of Quasqueton” appears to be written in Futura, the font of the Holmes D&D basic set that included a copy of Carr’s original B1.)
Upon entering the building, we were greeted by Ms. Love, her son Fred (a game designer and contributor to EN World), their family, and about 10 docents. They led us upstairs to a large room where we’d be giving our talk. It was a pleasant surprise to see the stairwell’s walls adorned with photos I’d sent her from my prior visit and from when Goodman Games donated a signed copy of OAR #1 that’s currently on display at the museum.
Additional signage and a fun little Easter egg I spotted in an adjoining room’s schoolroom exhibit caught our eyes…
We noticed a cameraman from KCRG-TV out of Cedar Rapids as we were setting up. The station ran a short piece on the event later that night. It can be viewed here.
Ms. Love introduced us to the overflow crowd of about 50 people, and we were off. I spoke briefly about working on OAR #1 and how I’d vowed to visit the town after I learned Quasqueton is, in fact, a real place, before turning it over to Carr. He explained how he named the dungeon complex in B1 after the town, the fascinating story behind the creation of the module, and the plot of the adventure. Johnson then spoke about the history and evolution of RPGs, from the wargame beginnings right on up to Gary Con and Dragon Days in Lake Geneva. The museum’s Facebook page streamed the event live and it’s still available here.
Carr presented the bumper stickers to the museum and I took a quick selfie when we were finished speaking.
I had to point out to everyone that the original B1 includes a line about a treasure map the party uses to find Quasqueton, which is marked only with a mysterious “Q” symbol. Look what was above us as we spoke. This is an old banner from the local high school.
Afterward, we all took part in a Q&A and signed autographs for the attendees. I handed out a few dice sets and copies of B1’s dungeon floorplans. It was wonderful to see so many folks of all ages – I swear I heard at least three people say, “I’m here for my grandkid.” – that had traveled from near and far.
Afterward, the staff led us on a full tour of the museum’s two buildings. One of them used to be a bank so Carr had to check out the actual treasure vault in Quasqueton.
We also explored two separate basement sections that looked suspiciously like dungeons. (No torches were needed, though.) We might have actually seen Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown come to life!
We floated the idea of the museum hosting a “Quasky Con,” or at least carving out space for some tables where gamers could come and play in these “dungeons.” They may also build a dungeon door for one of the walls. These are some creative and dedicated folks at the museum, so you never know what they’ll come up with.
It was a wonderful event and I was honored to be part of Carr’s first visit to Quasqueton. The crowd loved hearing his and Johnson’s stories, and I think some of the locals in attendance were proud to learn of their town’s connection to the storied history of gaming.
The final cherry on top? During our drive home my wife and I stopped off at a restaurant to get a bite to eat, and the hostess seated us at table B1…
Carr’s “Quasqueston: Former Home of Rogahn & Zelligar” bumper stickers are now available at the Goodman Games website. Check them out below!
Thank you to Orlan and Fred Love for providing some of these photos.
Additional links:
Quasqueton Area Historical Society
Quasqueton Area Historical Society Facebook Page
Quasqueton Bumper Sticker (FREE)
Tell the world you survived the Caverns of Quasqueton while In Search of the Unknown! Whether you remember it as the mystical hideaway of Rogahn and Zelligar, or a charming town with a hard-to-pronounce name in Iowa, you’ll achieve maximum geek cred with this cool bumper sticker!
And best of all — it’s FREE!
3″ x 9″ Bumper Sticker.
Limited quantities, FREE while supplies last, shipping charges still apply, limit one per order.
