Northeast Wars X

Ahoy, matey! This nineteenth day of September be a celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Scrape the barncles from yer tricorner hat and sail forth into the day, bestowin’ salutations of a generally scalawaggy nature on all the lubbers ye may encounter.

If you’re not confident in your ability to cut a piratical pose with your vocabulary, check out the official International Talk Like a Pirate Day website. They offer not only handy glossaries and lists of key phrases, but photos and accounts of pirate-oriented doings all over the world in commemoration of this happy day.

North of the US-Canadian border, in the city of Montreal, fans and hobbyists converge on the Days Hotel for a weekend celebrating science fiction, fantasy, art, gaming and more at Con*cept. Their website shows some pretty impressive costuming in years past, as well as big name guests like David Brin and Tanya Huff. Other attractions include the sci-fi garage sale and modeling — miniatures, not people — competition.

Over on the Schenectady Wargamers Association site, the reg book for Council of Five Nations is available for download. After checking out the games on offer — including their annual Starfleet Battles tournament and the children-friendly game track — you can also pre-register for the convention right there on the SWA’s website. Now that’s service!

As part of August’s RPG Carnival, a communal blogging topic, NiTessine, Master of Game Masters for Ropecon, a Finnish gaming convention, imparts more than a few good ideas for convention game masters to keep in mind. For example, on the topic of promoting your event to attract like-minded players:

Second, write up a decent description of your game. Nobody will sign up for a game that’s only billed as “D&D 3.5″ without any information as to the actual content. You want to grab your players’ attention with it. Tell them what the game is like, not about what your ruleset is (though it is a good idea to mention that, too – I would be most unhappy if I found myself at a 4E table by accident). This should also get you the kind of players you want – the people playing RPGs at conventions are a myriad bunch, and the wrong sort of player in the wrong sort of game can lead to disaster. A Nordic-style immersionist in a Living Greyhawk table or a hack & slashy D&D player in a World of Darkness game are unlikely to lead to good gaming.

It’s a good rundown of good practices for GMs running games in the convention environment. You can read it in full at Worlds in a Handful of Dice.

This upcoming Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day is a little bit different from previous outings. As the website describes:

In the spirit of Dungeon Mastering, we’re giving you the opportunity to create and show off your very own adventure! Work as a team to build encounters using the materials provided. After your team has finished, play another team’s adventure or DM the one your team created. We provide you with everything you need — maps, miniatures, monster stats, and how-to instructions. Just bring your imagination, a pencil or pen, and some dice!

As is becoming a tradition with these days sponsored by Wizards of the Coast, players get a souvenir in the form of the miniature of the character they played. The GM also gets a pack of monster miniatures and map of the encounter areas.

To find a game day near you, consult either Wizards’ own store finder, in the sidebar of the page linked above, or try a third party site like The Master List.

Go forth and prod buttock!

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!

The venerable gaming institution, TotalCon, is now accepting event submissions for its twenty-fourth year of gaming. You can find out more about GM perks and more, as well as admire their newly redesigned website.

Held the weekend after Presidents Day every year, TotalCon takes place over four days at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, MA. They cover all genres of gaming, including miniatures, roleplaying and board games. On their website you can learn more about the history of the convention, including the coveted Puppy Masher award.

Every month, members of the RPG Bloggers Network participate in the RPG Carnival, which is a way to collect a lot of different viewpoints on a particular topic. This month of August, the topic was conventions. The links are collected on Chgowiz’s Old Guy RPG Blog.

One carnival post in particular by Johnn Four lists a number of articles from Roleplaying Tips. If you’re looking for a jumping off point in finding new techniques and tips for running games in a convention environment, this is a fine place to start.

Two residents in Derby Line, Bethany and her husband, hope to make a regular monthly gathering out of the board game night they’re hosting on September 12th at the village hall. Popular titles like Settlers of Catan and Pandemic will be on hand. Attending gamers are encouraged to bring their own favorites to share with the group.

For more info, including time and contact details, check out the original post on Northern New England Gamers.

CONvergence, a media convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently posted a first timer’s guide to convention preparation and planning. While specific to the CONvergence experience, the principles are sound advice for any convention-goer’s planning process. Highlights include:

• A checklist of useful stuff to pack, including types of clothing, spare batteries and sufficient variety of denominations of cash.
• Events to visit — they also recommend making a point to visit every party; similarly, at a gaming convention, it can be fun to explore every corner of the venue, rather than “camping” in one particular room.
• Practical tips to make the experience more pleasant for  you and the people around you, like sleeping, eating right and, naturally, “Shower. Daily.”

You can also check out our own suggestions on keeping alert and healthy to enjoy the whole convention.