Northeast Wars X

If you haven’t yet filled out the attendee feedback survey for Northeast Wars IX, now’s the time to do so. Just hop over to Survey Monkey and click some buttons. The survey closes at the end of June. Then we’ll use the information provided to better tailor Northeast Wars X to your interests and desires.

And don’t forget: respondents who provide their email address are entered in a drawing for a free badge to the 2010 convention. Go to it!

It’s Saturday night of a three day convention. The group is two-thirds of the way through an epic Fantasy Flight Games production with tokens, special dice, decks of tiny cards and plastic models everywhere. Your turn is at least fifteen minutes off and you can feel yourself starting to doze.

How can you be crashing now? What could you have done differently? Here are a couple quick pointers to help better manage your energy levels at a convention:

1. Sleep. It can’t be stressed enough: restful sleep is important to keeping your energy up. Some people like to cram as much gaming into a weekend as their body can endure, but there’s an argument to be made that the quality of one’s experience drops precipitously as exhaustion increases. Moreover, pushing yourself to excess can lead to uncontrollably falling asleep at inopportune moments, like right before that game you’re dying to play or even while sitting at the table in the middle of a session.
2. Eat right. The stereotypical selection of gaming snacks has lots of carbs, sugar and salt — and even weirder stuff, if you’re into the energy drinks. They give a quick energy boost that fades sooner than later and often leaves the consumer dehydrated. Indulge in some Cheesy Poofs if you want, but balance them out with some real food: fresh fruit, unsalted nuts and plenty of water. A convention center with a grocery store in the vicinity — as the Essex Resort neighbors a shopping center with a well-stocked Hannaford’s — can be a real boon in procuring convenient healthy snacks like grapes, nuts and oranges.
3. Vary stimuli. A recent article in Discover suggests that zoning out, that mental state where your mind wanders from the task on hand for a bit before snapping back, can ultimately be helpful. In situations like a gaming convention, where you’re expected to focus on the plays of other people around the table for four or more hours at a time, not inadvertantly going for a mental wander can challenge the keenest intellect. When the opportunity arises, take the time to let your brain relax with a little mental gray state, whether it’s during a meal break or lull at the game table.

[Discover article found via Lifehacker.]

The website Convention Fans has an ongoing series of articles detailing the pros and cons of different aspects of conventions: big versus small, whether or not to fly, the advantages of pre-registration and so. For example, with regards to day tripping, site admin dreadpiraterose opens with:

Not every convention requires a hotel room reservation six months in advance to be enjoyable. In fact, a lot of people skip the weekend long encounter and just show up to a convention on a Saturday. Not only is it cheaper, but it requires less planning and less luggage. Of course, there are also downfalls to only doing the “day trip” thing.

While dreadpiraterose seems to come from a background of mostly media-oriented conventions, most of her points are equally applicable to gaming-specific events. After all, everyone’s heard stories about legendary wait times when registering for Gen Con.

If you have any thoughts on the pros and cons of convention size, organization and associated trials, be sure to tell us about them in the comments.

It’s Free RPG Day, everyone! If you haven’t already, hustle down to your local game store for all manner of free adventures and quick-start kits. We mentioned it’s free, right?

If you’re not sure if your local store is participating in the promotion, be sure to visit the website, linked above, for a list of retailers taking part. And if there’s no such business in your area, don’t despair. Free RPG Day publishers often make the material available for download sometime after the day in question.

But, if you have the opportunity, do turn out for Free RPG Day. It’s as much about getting people into stores, talking about roleplaying and even getting into pick-up sessions as it is anything else. Show up, break out the lucky dice set and have fun storming the castle — or megacorp, as the case may be.

Previously on Got Con?, we talked about finding conventions by visiting local social hubs for your interest, like stores and clubs, tapping the knowledge base and promotional efforts at conventions you do know about and generally finding the right people to whom to talk. This week, we’ll discuss internet resources to find conventions within your reach. A lot of this may be familiar territory, as if you’re reading this article, you’re at least somewhat conversant with finding stuff on the internet. Even so, go behind the jump and give things a skim. You may yet find a convention or resource you’re not familiar with. Continue reading

Wil Wheaton, actor, podcaster, novelist and nerd, has blogged about running a Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition game for his son and friends. In this post, he talks about leading the group up to the beginning of The Keep on the Shadowfell module.

In addition to talking about how the game itself went, Wil goes on to enumerate elements of good gamemastering, like “Whenever you can, say yes,” and “Everything is important to the PCs.” There’s good advice there, much of which has been heard before, but it’s timeless and widely applicable enough that it bears restating, particularly from such a prominent spokesman for geek culture.

Previously on Got Con?, we discussed finding conventions via the local hobby store and just talking to people who share your interests. That will become an ongoing theme in your search for that perfect weekend getaway, if it hasn’t already. Two more routes of investigation await you behind the jump.

Continue reading

This is the first in a series of articles I intend to write regarding various projects I am working on while waiting for next year’s Northeast Wars.

Today’s article will be about how I am currently magnetizing my bases.  I make no claim that this is the best way, it is simply the method that is working for me now until I start tinkering with a different method.

But before I get into technical details, some of you maybe asking what I am talking about in the first place.  Magnetizing bases and or movement trays  is a process where magnets are used to make the base of a miniature and a movement tray stick to each other.  This is useful for two reasons.  The first is that movement trays are much easier to use if the miniatures resist tipping over as you move the movement tray.  This is especially true with heavy and/or tall miniatures.  The second reason is that transport is easier (and safer for the mini’s) since the mini’s are stuck tightly their trays and not bouncing around.

Now with the “Why” covered, I will move onto the “How.”  The aspiring magnet master must first decide if they want to have the base of the mini, the movement tray, or both to be magnetic.  I have gravitated to a solution where I glue neodynium magnets inside the base and either attach a piece of steel to a movement tray or (more recently) simply use a piece of steel ( a tie plate to be exact) as the movement tray.  This article will cover how I do the first part.  A future article will discuss how I make movement trays out of hardware for building a house that blends nicely onto the table top. Continue reading

Every month, the Schenectady Wargamers Association hosts a day-long game-a-thon — excepting October, when they instead host Council of 5 Nations over Columbus Day weekend. If you’re free this Saturday, June 20th, and within range of Schenectady, NY, think about spending the day at the Studio of Bridge and Games.

The games scheduled at each game-a-thon depend partly on what people have requested and partly on what others feel like running. You can find out more about the June and succeeding monthly game-a-thons at the SWA’s website. If you have a game you’d like to run, check out their game submission form. For those with something they’d like to play, try the request form.

The second Tuesday of the month is the open Northeast Wars staff meeting. If you’re interested in helping plan or put on the convention, you’re very welcome to attend and participate.

Our meetings are held at Quarterstaff Games, situated at 152 Church St. in picturesque downtown Burlington, Vermont. The meeting begins at 5:15 PM. Hope to see folks there!