ImberCorvus Blog

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;

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