Northeast Wars X

After judicious application of Random.org’s random number generator, we have determined the winner of the drawing from the pool of respondents to our Northeast Wars IX attendee survey to be Danny Campbell, of Rhode Island. Danny has won a free pass to Northeast Wars X in April 2010.

Thanks again to Danny and everyone else who took the time to fill out our survey. Your answers will help us make Northeast Wars X even better than last year by giving more of what you want and less of what you don’t want. Isn’t it great how these things work?

Last year, the American Library Association (ALA) began a campaign to promote playing games in public libraries across the nation. It certainly makes sense as a way to promote literacy and active reading skills, as any gamer can tell you, playing games not only sharpens reading comprehension and ability to reason, but they help young people develop interaction skills through personal experience. Sportsmanship and empathy come first hand in many game-playing situations.

The program included National Gaming Day on November 15th of 2008. Libraries across America hosted games of all kinds. Publishers Wizards of the Coast and Top Trumps donated games to many libraries to get people playing. You can read more about the day, its goals and results here. It remains to be heard whether there will be a National Gaming Day 2009, but we’re keeping an eye on things.

Additionally, a number of libraries, from a very large pool of applicants, recently received grants to implement game programs that span both tabletop and electronic components. Hopefully this movement will gather strength and spread to more public libraries. You can follow the ALA’s gaming-related efforts at their blog and check out the resources they offer as well.

We know that locally, some libraries have begun to build game programs of their own. Montpelier, VT’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library hosted the Ace of Games program over this past winter, running a variety of board and card games Saturday mornings. Ilsley Library, in Middlebury, VT, has hosted overnight sessions of Dungeons & Dragons.

Give your local librarian a call to see what game programs they offer. And if they don’t, why not help get one going? The gaming hobby needs people out there, showing why it’s fun and worth people’s time.

If you couldn’t make it to the open meeting last Tuesday, here are some of the topics we discussed:

• Circulating a wish list of games to be run at Northeast Wars. We still subscribe to the “free for all” model, but would like to be certain of offering certain convention scene staples, as well.
• Finding a more robust event scheduling solution.
• Contacting potential guests of honor. We currently have three more than tentative guests lined up.
• Continuing to promote Northeast Wars through avenues like social networking — become a fan by clicking the link in the right hand sidebar — and participating in the regional convention scene.

And those were the high points. The open meeting occurs every second Tuesday of the month at 5:15 PM. It’s open to all comers wanting to comment on and contribute to the planning process, so feel free to stop by Quarterstaff Games at 152 Church St in Burlington, VT.

As Gen Con ramps up, gamers and designers wend their way to Indianapolis. Along the way, some of them carry on traditions new and old. Robin Laws, for example, has announced 2009’s buzzword: “idea farm.”

Even if  you’re not attending Gen Con, or even consider yourself a game designer, feel free to play along at home, working the buzzword into conversation as frequently and ludicrously as possible. It’ll make you feel like you’re really there.

Gaming blog Held Action relays that the Lake Morey Resort has sold out of rooms for the weekend of Carnage 12:

It came across the Northern New England Gamers mailing list the other day: Lake Morey is sold out for Carnage 12 this November. In confirming this, convention board member Dr. Nik added, “Game submissions are up and so is attendance!” So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.

The post goes on to repeat alternative accomodation information, which you can read there or in Dr. Nik’s original message on NNEG; registration is required, but NNEG’s a useful resource to New England gamers, so it’s worth your time.

Gareth Hanrahan, contributor to a number of roleplaying game lines  — including Traveller, RuneQuest and Paranoia – has a five part series on his blog Figures of Text describing his methods for writing convention scenarios. The first article, “How to write convention scenarios the Gar Hanrahan way,” is here.

He notes that his experiences are largely of Irish gaming conventions, namely Warpcon and Gaelcon, which use a different process than most American conventions for screening and presenting adventures, so his advice tends to be oriented towards that style. Aside from that, most of Gareth’s advice on creating characters, generating core scenes and tying everything up in a finale can easily be utilized in any roleplaying situation with a set time limit, whether it’s at a convention or a one-shot with the regular gaming group.

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!

Pi-Con’s “variety of awesomeness” includes not only gaming and panels, but guests of all stripes. They even have a special Guest of Awesome. That’s pretty . . . what’s the word? Starts with A, ends in “-wesome.”

Get yourself down to the Pioneer Valley in two Saturdays’ time for a weekend of gaming that is sure to be, well, awesome.

Back for its second year is N.E.G.A. Convention, a weekend of gaming sponsored by the New England Gaming Association. N.E.G.A. is based out of the University of Maine at Farmington, in none other than Farmington, ME. The proceeds from the convention benefit the UMF alumni scholarship fund, so a weekend of gaming not only benefits the attendee, but students as well. Sounds like a pretty good deal to us.

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 Saturday, August 15th, 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.