ConnCon March 2011, Stamford CT

I hope to be coming for the weekend and I _think_ I'll be staying at the hotel so if anyone wants to split the room we can talk. Though there won't be any pillow-fighting LARP going on...unless you really, really want to.

Zev

Hey all ... I run the board games section of ConnCon. I can't tell you how great it is to see so many of you talking about coming out for it this year. It's a smallish convention but I like to think we put together a pretty good time. If there's anything I can do to help let me know.

We run about 50/50 between open gaming (with a decent library) and scheduled/slotted games. I'll be putting that schedule together over the next couple of weeks so if there are any particular games you'd like to see on the ConnCon schedule let me know and I'll see if I can make it happen.

I'm all about open gaming. Down in ATL there is hardly any scheduled gaming except for DragonCon.

I am curious though - What is the draw for scheduled gaming? If you wanted to play something in particuliar wouldn't you just grab a few people and check it out?

Steve"chaosmonger"Avery

I'm an open gaming partisan myself. When I took over ConnCon board games five years ago there was no open board gaming at all. It's not a coincidence that board game attendance has quintupled in that time.

But some people do like the security of building their schedule ahead of time. Plus there are other advantages ... ConnCon is a mixed gaming convention with lots of RPGs as well as board games. The RPGs are on a (necessarily) rigid schedule. So for the gamer who's there primarily to RPG it's helpful to know that he can get in a certain board game at a certain time if that's what he wants.

Also, some games can be difficult to coordinate in an open gaming situation (I'm thinking like Twilight Impirium, which has been a popular staple at ConnCon for years now.) This year we're also looking at possibly adding a couple other epic games to the schedule ...

And finally, I think that the advantage a schedule game brings is that there's someone to set up and teach the game and answer questions about rules, etc. So when putting together the game schedule I try to look primarily at brand new releases, hard-to-find older games and epic-length games.

I just talked to Richard Launius. He is really interested in coming up. If his schedule is clear then he is definately in. I also have some friends that I used to play City of Heroes with who might be coming down. This is turning out to be quite a party.

If Richard comes up we'll split a room at the hotel. I didn't see a link to it on the ConnCon page. Are there special rates for the event?

P.S. The Airtran sale is finally here. Looks like it will be $200-220 depending on the days we fly in and out.

Steve"ConnBound"Avery

Stephen Avery wrote:

If Richard comes up we'll split a room at the hotel. I didn't see a link to it on the ConnCon page. Are there special rates for the event?

I think you just say you are with ConnCon and that does it. Still, free at my mom's house is the ultimate special rate hahaha. For picking you up at the airport I want a signed Defenders of the Realm from Richard and a signed tank top airbrushed with your face on it from you.

I was looking forward to spooning with Loter but if Richard is coming up he's going to keep me to my best behavior.

I'll find out the details and get it together asap. I don't want to miss out on the airfaire sale.

Steve"travel agent"Avery

Any way we can figure out how to get the new director of public health of Stamford out to the Holiday Inn? My favorite Met manager...oh man, that would be me over the edge... Maybe we can Avery do something really whacky in the kitchen that would prompt a visit...

"Bobby Valentine, the former manager of the Mets and a baseball analyst for ESPN, who was named this week as the director of public health and safety of Stamford, Conn., his hometown. "

My mom knows him sorta. Was friends with a dude that dating him in high school. (Dunno if you knew he grew up in Stamford)

We need to start a Want to play list.

Anyone interested in running a game of Gamma World?
I'm bringing just a few: 2-3 protos and a few card games.

If I didn't ave to worry about luggage, I'd bring War on Terror(not Labrynth)- I love that frikkin game. SuperAwesomeDude almost broke the game by going terrorist the 1st turn at MD Game Days.

So What are you guys down for? I'm also going to try to get into that big monster bash game that Loter/Shellie mentioned earlier.


Steve"Getting our game on"Avery

I'm running Dune on Saturday night. I'm going to play in one of the TI3 games that goes on, likely Sunday morning. I'm gonna be running something else some other times TBD still.

The game, Change!, usually gets played Saturday night around midnight to whenever. This dude Brad made it up/runs it.

I'm down to play anything fun.

MattLoter wrote:

I'm running Dune on Saturday night. I'm going to play in one of the TI3 games that goes on, likely Sunday morning. I'm gonna be running something else some other times TBD still.

I'm down to play anything fun.

I'd love to play Ti3 or Dune. But I'll probably skip the heavy weight AT games to play some lighter trash with Uba, her man and Avery. I have a copy of the Really Nasty Racing game that Southernman gave me for be being his gaming mule. I'd bring that up if Avery want to run the the thing. I'd like to get somebody who's played the game with Barnes and the Atlanta gang to import the southern trashy flavor up north. If I tried to run the game myself it might fall flat. After reading the rules, I think the game needs a little Steve "have a rum and coke" Avery to make it shine.