Arcanacon XXII
Folk Tales and Faerie Tales...
This year's Arcanacon is the province of hobgoblins, bogies, sleeping princesses, giants, cats in shiny kneehigh boots and the alarming sight of Syd the Arcanasaur playing the Fairy Sydmother.
..a Sydsummer Night's Dream
Why come to a games convention?
A games convention is a three or four day games-fest held to run and play various types of roleplaying games. It's not just for established gamers - plenty of games are written and presented specifically for newcomers to roleplaying. If you're new to gaming, keep an eye out for the games with little or no system knowledge - these games are easy for new roleplayers to pick up quickly and run with.
If you're an established gamer, 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 and run a game, 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. If you're into minatures or board games, it can be hard to find opponents (and time!) - 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 roleplaying to both existing gamers and interested newcomers, and to provide a forum for new ideas and innovations. Most importantly, we all want to have a good time doing all of this!
When and where is it?
Arcanacon XXII will be held at Collingwood College, Hoddle St, not quite opposite the Collingwood Town Hall (Melways 2C, G9). It is close to Collingwood Station and Johnston St, and effectively on Hoddle St.
In 2004, the convention will be held over the Australia Day weekend, the 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th of January. Festivities begin at 2pm on the Friday and continue until prizegiving at 7.30pm on the Monday, in the process cramming in 13 sessions of roleplaying, wargames, boardgames, theatre games and more.
Convention Timetable
The first session starts at 4pm on Friday. From then onwards, tournaments are run in 2.5 hour sessions, each in a 3 hour block. Friday has two sessions, commencing at 4pm and 8pm. The following three days have sessions at 9am, 1pm, 4pm and 8pm, with the final session Monday being devoted to the prizegiving.
The convention doors open at 8:30 am on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Cashing in on the long summer day, we're giving you an hour for lunch and an hour for tea, and then taking advantage of balmy nighttime to run the convention until 11pm.
Arcanacon closes on Monday evening with the Awards Ceremony, closely followed by the Post Con Do.
