Event of the Century!Roll up, roll up! Marvel at the crowning glory of this, our 19th Century on God's Earth - Arcanacon 1800's. You will not be disappointed, ladies and gentlefolk, at the wonder of an age! In 2000, Arcanacon 18 becomes Arcanacon 1800's, running with the themes of that most excellent century. There are 27 tournaments, including 5 Victorian-themed tournaments, as well as 6 special events. Arcanacon will also be featuring videos, a varied traders' hall with rpgs, books and other assorted items, an art display and competition and the essential foodstall with a wide range of gourmet delights. Special GuestThis year our Special Guest is Shane Lacy Hensley, of the Pinnacle Entertainment Group Inc, publishers of the Deadlands and Hell on Earth roleplaying games, the Doomtown Collectible Card Game and the Great Rail Wars boardgame. Shane has also contributed to numerous other roleplaying games, such as Ravenloft, and is a prolific writer of fiction, including short stories in the The Beast Within and Mysterious Cairo. Why come to a games convention?A games convention is a three or four day games-fest held by gamers for gamers. You can try out game systems or playing styles that are new to you, especially freeforms (which are rarely run outside of conventions), see how others write, GM or referee and play, and pick up some new approaches to old games. You can meet other gamers who share your interests and swap anecdotes and ideas. You also have a chance to buy gaming stuff you probably haven't seen before. It's often hard to find opponents (and time!) for most miniatures and board games -- a convention provides a meeting place for plenty of fellow enthusiasts. People who come to games conventions are generally eager to have a good time, forget about mundane matters for a few days, mingle with other players and generally play games until they drop. Most of all, conventions are fun! So what's Arcanacon about? All of the above, really. More specifically, Arcanacon provides an opportunity for gamers to share the many facets of our hobby. We want to promote our hobby to both existing gamers and interested newcomers, and to provide a forum for new ideas and innovations. Most importantly, we want to have a good time doing all of this! When and where is it?Arcanacon 1800s will be held at Collingwood College, corner of Cromwell St and McCutcheon Way, Collingwood, Melbourne. (Melways 2C, G9). It is close to Collingwood Station and Johnston St, and effectively on Hoddle St. Arcanacon 1800's will be held over the 29th, 30th, 1st and 2nd of June and July respectively, from 1pm on the Thursday until prizegiving at 7.30pm on the Sunday. Registration is between 1 and 2pm on the Thursday afternoon. What is happening when?Registration begins when the Convention officially opens at 1pm on the Thursday afternoon. Tournaments are run in 2.5 hour sessions. On Thursday the two sessions begin at 2pm and 5.3pm, but for the rest of the convention, the sessions are scheduled to start at 9:00 am, 1:00 pm, 4:00 pm and 7:30 pm respectively. There are 13 official sessions. The convention doors open at 8:30 am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A lunch break (12:00 to 1:00 pm) and tea break (7:00 to 7:30 pm) have been included to help you catch your breath between sessions. The Convention closes on Sunday evening, following the Awards Ceremony.
Need more information?If you have any queries about Arcanacon 1800s (or Arcanacon 2001) please contact Garry on 9758 9097 or Martin on 9387 6248. You can also contact the convention organisers by post, at this address:
P.O. Box 125 Parkville 3052 If a tournament organiser has supplied contact details please direct any enquiries about that tournament to them. For privacy reasons, some tournament organisers have declined to list phone numbers. If you wish to speak to one of these organisers, ring the Arcanacon number and give us your name and phone number. We will pass this onto the tournament organiser, who will then ring you. You can email enquiries to arcanacon@zip.com.au. Please note that we only accept physical-post entries -- no email entries. Latest breaking Arcanacon news will be available at the Arcanacon web site
Emergency Phone NumberThis year, we have an Emergency Phone Number to allow people to ring into the convention. The phone will be kept at the Registration Desk -- any messages received will be posted on the Noticeboard so please check it regularly. Note that with over 200 people 'somewhere' on-site, we cannot track down individuals to relay messages in person. The number is: This number will only be active during the four days of the convention--outside those days, please contact either Garry or Martin. Note that this phone number will be available at all future Victorian Games Conventions. This emergency phone has been provided by CONVICT (CONventions of VICToria). CONVICT is an informal collective of Victorian Games Convention organisers and other involved individuals. It has been created to foster and promote cooperation and communication between Victorian Games Conventions. If you're thinking of running a Games Convention in Victoria, CONVICT can provide you with contacts, shared resources and more information and advice than you can shake a box of dice at. In particular, any CONVICT member will be happy to discuss the resulting SAN loss with you. For more information about CONVICT, talk to the organisers of this convention. How do I enter?Each and every convention attendee must register using the Entry Form provided and pay the required general Registration fee before they may attend any convention events. If you wish to play any of the Tournaments, or attend any Special Events you must also enter each of these and pay the relevant Tournament fees. If you enter before June 9th, 2000, the Registration fee will be waived, so get your entry in early! We encourage you to pre-register before this date; it's cheaper for you and you're more likely to get into the events you want (many are already full by the start of the Convention). It also gives the writers a good idea of how popular their scenarios will be, and whether they should find more GMs before the Convention. Early pre-registration also helps us to judge required venue space, arrange for extra GMs or places in tournaments to meet demand and make catering for the canteen more accurate (very important!). So entering early benefits everyone at the Convention. Registration as a Visitor costs $2 per day and allows you to take part in public participation events. Even if you are not playing anything, you must still register to satisfy our Insurance Policy. You must change to a full player registration and pay the appropriate fees if you wish to enter a tournament. When you arrive at the Convention and you have pre-registered, collect your badge and timetable at the Registration Desk. You must then confirm (or rearrange) your sessions with the Tournament Organisers. If you are registering on the day, you will need to fill out an Entry Form and pay the relevant fees (including the late fee) at the Registration Desk. You should then arrange session times with the various Tournament Organisers. There are also a number of special registration packages, including our Friday Special, and Get Wrecked options. AwardsTrophies and/or certificates are awarded for most tournaments; to place-getters, in recognition of roleplaying excellence, or to players who have done something outstanding during a game. Selection criteria for these awards is left to the discretion of individual tournament organisers. If the organisers choose not to give awards, this will be mentioned in their blurb. Where tournaments have been generously sponsored by game retailers or companies, that sponsorship may take the form of company products as prizes. Disabled attendeesIf you have any special needs, eg ground floor access only, please contact us before the convention so that we can make the desired arrangements for you. Young children attending ArcanaconAn increasing number of gamers are producing the next generation and many kids will no doubt accompany Mum and/or Dad to the convention for early indoctrination -- er, to see how games are really played. We don't mind if you bring your kids along, but:
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The Arcanacon Gazette ARCANACON is run by Random Inc, a non-profit incorporated organisation. All time, effort, blood, sweat, cardboard umbrellas, elephant's foot umbrella stands, wooden legs, gold lipstick holders and kewpie dolls with attitude are voluntarily donated. Enquiries The upstanding publishers of this fine daily News Sheet may be contacted on the telephonic device as follows:
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