ImberCorvus Blog

Before I begin I will re-state my original point which was that everyone should at least once volunteer at GenConOz because it is an experience I cannot compare to anything else.

We arrived on Wednesday and threw ourselves into unloading the trucks over at the convention centre and I set about the mammoth task of making the conventions network speak to the venue’s network. It took considerably less time than last year and I was able to get over to the pub for dinner by nine.

Thursday brought us the first half-day of the convention and the RPGA/Pathfinder room opened. I didn’t have any Thursday events as I saw complications on the wind with the event registration system. I got what I wanted in that regard but the timely arrival of the man who configured it allowed us to bring it back online in record time. This is also the first day I got to hang out with Jason Bulmahn and Keith Baker where we took it upon ourselves to take our most esteemed American guests to an Australian pub.

Friday was the first day I worked with the guys out the front weapons checking Cosplayers and checking wristbands, it kept me within shouting distance of Event Registration and Customer service which were the hot spots for trouble with the IT systems. I also got a chance to play my first game of the convention Michael Wenman’s Quincunx. Michael is a friend and it was the first time that the game had been run anywhere in the world so I was honoured to play in it. He told us on the last day that the game had undergone some pretty substantial changes since we played it so I’m looking forward to catching it again.

I also did most of my shopping this day I bought a Fox hat, a Rabbit hat, a copy of Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters and a copy of Peter M Ball’s novella Horn which I understand my purchase of put the book into profit. I also bought my copy of the Eberron Campaign Guide which Mr Baker had recommended the night before and kindly signed for me and a copy of his novel the Queen of Stone. I’ll try and knock up some pictures to the post later.

Saturday was the biggest day of the con and left us scurrying like madmen to try and take the throughput of the extra attendees in our stride but the volunteer staff did not falter and I would like to commend them for that. We held up largely due to the work they were doing in event registration. Those guys need medals I swear. I got to play my second and third (and only other) games of the convention. I ended up in my much anticipated Exalted 2e game where I played a (pregenerated) brash and persistant hothead with a black mark against his name and an attitude problem. It was an awesome game made more awesome by the gamers I played it with. I also got to play in Nathan Russell’s Lady Blackbird game which is a free RPG set in a wonderful steampunk setting where I played the role of the bodyguard.

Sunday was the slowest day for the convention and the day I got the most done for myself. I bought some 4x oversized dice and then hit the seminars. I caught the Warstories of Self Publishing, Eberron through the Ages and Professional Writing for the Gaming Industry seminars before the convention wound down and I helped herd the public out of the venue. The exhibitors took longer and many of them were very kind to those of us who had broken our back for the convention in a volunteering capacity over the four days.

When it all wound down the Event Organisers, the volunteers and Mr Bulmahn hit the town and we visited three or possibly four pubs before we settled in a nice one in south bank where Jason and I traded stories until I remembered I had a flight at six. I will note here that Peter M Ball of Horn infamy is an awesome dude who volunteered to take me to the airport at 5am.

So thats my experience of GenConOz 2009 as a Volunteer and I will be headed back next year.

Its been some time since I last posted here and in that time I’ve been far from idle.

I spent a night in the hospital, got a new gaming group, organised my trip to GenConOz 2009, attended a funeral and lost all of my inspiration. Its coming back to me slowly now and I’ve decided to work on some short fiction.

The new gaming group necessitated the creation of a new fictional world for those self same characters to inhabit so I’m working on an island nation for that and its all in the “in my head” stage currently. I’m tossing up chronicalling my worldbuilding on here for all of you so that you can take something away from it. I’ve been looking at Campaign Cartographer for my mapping recently but it looks too… generic for me at the moment.

I’m trying to light a fire under my creativity by doing some short fiction work and some character development. There are a few stories I need to tell and I’m working on easing those out. A steampunk tale of gearworks and blood magic, a samurai tale with a twist and the rest of my Gillis Svend story.

I’m flying to Brisbane a week from now for GenConOz 2009 and I’m getting more excited about that for every day that passes, it’ll be good to hit up some writing seminars and bury my head in the joy of volunteering at a convention that large.

Till then I’m out.

So its coming up on GenCon time again and this years convention looks to be just as awesome as last year.

The dates for the convention have moved to September 18-20 to better align with the global convention scene and the Australian calender but it all sounds very promising. As last year I have been added to the throng of volunteers though unlike last year I hope to be added to the smaller  throng of senior volunteers.

Games I hope to catch this year are Quincunx, Pheonix (4th Edition Shadowrun) and Homecoming (2nd Edition Exalted) if I can fit them in to the Volunteering Schedual. You may note with some surprise that I wont be looking to play any D&D this year and the reasoning on that is? I play enough D&D at home!

I thought I might take a moment to reflect on last year’s GenConOz experience for those of you who did not make it to the Convention;

We flew up the day before the convention, Wednesday, and met up with Tom who I’d been talking to on the GenCon Forums and he showed us around brisbane a bit, it was somewhat ironic being shown around an Australian city by an American tourist. We got the train from the airport into south bank which is where the convention and our accommodation were.

I’d had a shop around leading up to the convention and decided on Brisbane Backpackers Resort, a lot of people stay at Hotels during a convention but I don’t really see the point, all I used the room for was sleeping and I was going down at midnight and getting up at six in the morning anyway. We booked a six bed dorm for the six of us so we didn’t even end up sharing with strangers and locked our valuable valuables into steel security lockers down stairs for the five days we were in QLD.

BBR does not pretend to be anything other than what it is, a Backpackers Hostel. The beds in the room were bunks with foam mattresses and one somewhat thin blanket, but again I didn’t really mind as I was only in it six hours. What it does feature is a bar and kitchen downstairs with reasonably priced counter meals and cheap drinks where we spent many a night with happy hour pitchers of Strongbow.The hostel was situated about a ten minute walk from the Convention Centre and there were a number of places to get breakfast situated between the two.

I reported bright and early on the first day for my volunteering stint and took up my position as an informant and sentry guarding the entrance to the trade hall until it was time to open it and allow the throng to rush in for their purchasing frenzy. I also got to know the retailers a bit and recognise the people I was supposed to let by me.

That became my morning routine and my afternoons and evenings were dotted with the games I could manage to fit in;

I got a chance to play in three Role Playing Gamers Association Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition (RPGA D&D 4E) events and this was the month after the game was released and featured a lot of play test content. Because of the way I’d booked the events I got to play at a table entirely comprised of my friends from home which really made the game shine.

I also got to play the 4th Edition Revision of Shadowrun again with my friends from home and it was a most interesting game. The Game Master acting as an agent for Catalyst Game Labs who are the current liscencees for the Shadowrun Franchise had created a deep and rich story set in central Australia including such characters as a Frill Neck Lizard Shaman and a Maori Troll.

The Seminars I attended in no particular order were Anatomy of a Duel, which was an intimate demonstration of Japanese swordplay by an Iaido master, Writing in Someone Else’s Sandbox, about writing in an established setting and a round table discussion including Ian Irvine and Kylie Chan on creating worlds and characters.

I will be returning to GenConOz this year for another round of amazing memories, anyone thinking about making the journey from interstate, inter nation or even locals I will be staying at the same hostel and would be more than happy to roll you in to our little group.

Below I’ve included a few photographs I took during the convention in 2008;

[View with PicLens]