Just here to pimp the local game store, Imperial Hobbies in Richmond, BC!  They were having their annual Boxing Day sale (25% off everything, plus more markdowns on specific items, and I went a bit nuts), which always has big lineups.  They actually had doughnuts for the people waiting in line to pay for stuff!  How cool is that?  (Yeah, sticky foodstuffs and rather expensive printed material might be a dangerous combination, but if you're in line you've already decided what you're buying and you're gonna be careful, right?)

I'll be running an event at the OSFES Game Day this Saturday Jan 19th, 2008. It's the GURPS Traveller game.

I'm going to try and be there all day and may run impromptu sessions if opportunity allows.

Apologies for the short notice.

Strategicon brings a wide array of family, historical, fantasy, and science fiction board, card, computer, miniatures, and roleplaying games at each and every one of our conventions. Strategicon is owned and operated by gamers, for gamers.   We host three gaming conventions each year - OrcCon, Gamex and Gateway.

Our next convention is OrcCon 2008 at our NEW location at the Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Airport. Remember when we used to be at the Hyatt? The old Hyatt is now the Radisson which had a beautiful $18M remodel which gives us a much enlarged gaming space. Our gaming convention happens for four days over President's Day Weekend, February 15th to 18th. OrcCon will draw over 1000 gamers to play hundreds of games. Join us for a gaming vacation!

Visit //www.strategicon.net to learn more about the convention, all our events and special guests. Also, book your room with the Radisson at the special rate of $109/night. You MUST reserve your room by this THURSDAY January 24th to get the special rate. You can bunk 4 people per room and each room gets up to 4 free parking passes!

That's our short message! Scroll down below for many more exciting details. We look forward to throwing dice with you at OrcCon 2008.

Best Wishes,

The Strategicon Staff
//www.strategicon.net


FOUR DAYS OF GAMING GOODNESS
Avast ye hearties and behold the meatier email! Here we cover lots of topics ranging from the new hotel, guest of honor, new happenings at the convention and the impressive line-up of special events!

GAMING OVERVIEW Play Everything!
OrcCon 2008 will host several hundred events plus plenty of open gaming. Come play traditional and Euro boardgames, CCG and CMG favorites, miniatures events from every historical era, fantasy and science fiction setting, roleplaying games including RPGA Dungeons & Dragons, Indie/Story Games and Live Action RPG events including the Camarilla. We host many boardgame and card game demo events and prize tournaments so come win
some dealer dollars!

GUEST OF HONOR STEVE JACKSON
Steve Jackson, the gaming guru who brought us Munchkin, Illuminati, Car Wars, Ogre and GURPS is coming to OrcCon. He will be running of his new space pirate game! Come meet Steve and play some games with a master game designer. "Men In Black" volunteers from Steve Jackson Games will be running your favorite game events as well.

WARHAMMER GRAND TOURNAMENT Broadside Bash!
Waaaaaagh! The Southwest Warhammer Grand Tournament is coming to OrcCon 2008. This major 40k and Fantasy Battle event happens only once per year per region and we are hosting it with Broadside Bash. Broadside Bash has run many successful Rogue Trader Tournaments and ran the Bug Fest event that was featured in White Dwarf #311. They won Best Club Award (Kill Teams) at Games Workshop's Games Day 2005 and Best Club Award (The Pacific Marauder's Flying Circus) at Games Day 2007. Be sure to see White Dwarf magazine issues 335 and 336 for pre-event coverage! Visit http://www.broadsidebash.com/ to learn more about the Grand Tourney!

BOFFER WARS
OrcCon will be hosting live action combat all day Saturday and Sunday. Come pit your daring and speed against your friends and other warriors. Details are still in the works but our live RPG team is planning a competitive action-adventure with prizes for top scores.

WAY BETTER PARKING
Parking as a special event? Here in LA, it's a competitive sport! The Radisson has excellent parking with their hotel lot plus two adjacent parking lots. The discounted parking cost will be $10 / day and now includes "in & out" privileges. This means you can finally take advantage of the many great restaurants around the LAX area, including In & Out
(remember to order your 3x3s animal-style).

MORE GUESTS OF HONOR Ed Teixeira
Ed Teixeira of Two Hour Wargames is the creator of the popular Chain Reaction Engine. Ed won his Origins Award for "All Things Zombie" and his games include Six-Gun Sound, Black Powder Battles, Montjoie!, Nuts and 5150. Come play with Ed and prove that the games of Two Hour Wargames can indeed be played in 2 hours!

LARGE SCALE HISTORICALS Mustangs and Messerschmitts
Mustangs and Messerschmitts returns to Strategicon! We are starting a large scale miniatures room and first up is your chance to play 1/72 scale WW II war era dogfights and missions. Our staff will be providing 20 stands and 30 aircraft and teaching the fun and easy rules. You can also bring your 1/72 scale plastic aircraft with you to the convention and we will attach the mount on it so you can use your own favorite aircraft! In the future, we will add WWI, Korea/Vietnam era to M&M, as well as 1/700 scale General Quarters WWI and WWII naval engagements, and large scale Wooden Ships and Iron Men. Staff will be on hand to teach all rules and maneuvers. Beginners VERY welcome and encouraged.

ANNUAL AWARDS NIGHT
OrcCon 2008 will host our Annual Awards Night that honors the major tournament winners from our three 2007 conventions. Meet these challengers so you can beat them next year!

MORE SPECIAL GUESTS Play with the Creator
Strategicon draws game designers from all over the region. Our "Play with the Creator" event track gives you a chance to play with the people who designed your favorite games. Also, many of our designers will playtest and demo their newest creations with you. Check the website to see who is coming and what events they will be hosting this year.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
1) Starting today, you can buy your badge online at //www.strategicon.net for the $35 discount rate for a full convention weekend.
2) Starting February 2nd, you can pre-register for all game events. Schedule your whole weekend of gaming goodness in advance.
3) You must book your hotel room by January 24th to get the discount
rate. The Radisson is offering $109 / night for double occupancy. Book
early for the best rooms. Call 310-670-9000 and ask for the Strategicon
Convention special discount.

I don't have an LGS, friendly or otherwise

So my hubby started a game store!

//www.rattleheadgames.com

The Liber Fanatica website has been updated:
 
//www.liberfanatica.net
 
Changes include:
 
- Additional material is now split into two categories: Hidden Addenda (directly relates to a LF issue) and Apocrypha (articles submitted outside of LF development)
 
- The Inner Sanctum Guestbook and Development Forums. Please drop by and say 'hi' when you have a moment (the guestbook is embarrasingly empty right now). You can post anonymously to the Guestbook. The Development Forums are a new feature, still undergoing...development, and are permission-only. For more information, see the "Tilea/Estalia" thread in the GM's forum on the BI site.
 
- New Material!!! Three Old World Slang documents on the Apocrypha page (various authors, submitted by SteveD), Three new maps on the Cartography page (Leicheberg, Riverside Town, Ruined Village and Castle, by Henrik) and a Dundjinni floorplan of a Fortified Inn (Wayde Zalken).
 
- updated "History of WFRP"
 
Enjoy!

Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc. is pleased to announce the 6th release in the Behind the Monsters series--the Skeleton!  These pdfs follow a format similar to that found in the popular Behind the Spells series so chances are good that, if you enjoy that series, this one will also strike your fancy. Each issue is narrated by Jadrin Nelv, monk of the Order of the Sacred Branch. Jadrin schools novice monks in the ways of the multiverse's creatures and we, the readers, get to listen in. Whether you're a player or a GM, you will find something of use within these pages.

Behind the Monsters: Skeleton includes two adventurer advantages, one new monster variant, and one new alchemical item!  This release is available for the normal $2 purchase price at the following venues...

Your Games Now: http://www.yourgamesnow.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=64&products_id=2069

RPGNow/DriveThru: http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=54697

I will be running Squirrels Ahoy at the upcoming EnWorld Gameday. Read about it here
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=4051840&postcount=110

Sign up is not open yet but is coming soon.

Bill

Wouldn't you know it, I just got roped into a surprise 40th bday for my sister...on that day...in Indy.  And here I was looking forward to some Squirrel on Squirrel action...

OSFES Game Day 3 will be March 15th. I'm planning on running a GURPS traveller game, a TMNT game and one other thing, yet to be decided.

Any suggestions? I'm also considering doing TMNT character gen at the event, I'm not sure if it's a good idea though...

Here's hoping that some/any of you can make it.

http://amberconarizona.theiforum.com/

A forum dedicated to raising AmberCon Arizona (get it? ha! I'm funny).
Join us and help us out!

In Episode 39 of the Animalcast, the guys address more questions from the listening audience about gaming with small kids, whether D&D 3.5 is an appropriate starter system for kids, and differences between girls and boys in beginning gaming.  As is becoming increasingly more common, they bicker about who is monopolizing the show time and Mike throws a hissy fit.  After they get that sorted out, Kyle explains the mystery of why his entire house smells like urine every night, and Mike babbles about some boring stuff the intern could not remember to put in to the show notes.  They both review the movie 1408 and talk about the last time either of them cried at a movie.

Listen to the Animalcast.

Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc. is pleased to bring you the 38th issue of the Behind the Spells series: Sanctuary. This series examines those spells from the SRD that are listed time and again on character sheets throughout gaming. These are the spells which, if on your PC's class list, will be taken as soon as possible and include such quintessential favorites as magic missile and fireball.

Each pdf in this series examines the spellcaster who created the spell, one or more of the spell's hidden capabilities, and variant ideas that the spell has inspired throughout history (spells, items, etc.). This release includes two spell secrets and two new magic items: Safebox and Sanctuary Marker!

You can buy this pdf at the following sites...
RPGNow/DriveThru: http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=55118
YourGamesNow: http://www.yourgamesnow.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2116&zenid=23a116c19083aebabee5cc04e899e8fa

That's just the title for my Castles & Crusades adventure I'm going to run at Origins this year. what follows is the player's intro;

It's Good to be the King...

Player's Introduction

The ambush was going so well. Everything had worked out as planned, right up until the last....

It was cool, partly cloudy, and the sun shone strongly on the forest. Maybe we should have known on account it was too clear. Merrill had positioned the archers on the small ridge-like hill  to to cover the road, and it was well covered. Over thirty bows, three wizards, and a sorcerer had the narrow ruts covered that the coaches and wagons would have to travel through. The trees had been cut down blocking passage through the narrowed path that cut through the thick groves of trees.

Back up the trail Garghan, and his band, had struck the first blow, at first attacking the caravan of coaches and wagons from behind to spur them through the canyon. Then he released the Ogre, and the big brute went to work, and had done his job well. Rolling huge boulders into the chasm, effectively blocking the coaches and wagons from returning. The Ogre then took off in pursuit of the fleeing caravan, hurling both horse and rider set to block his way, off the path and into the forest, in his zeal to catch up with the wagons. The rearguard scattered before the raging giant. Garghan's blockade at the canyon would hold at least until the patrols would show up, looking for the missing prince.

Ahead further down the trail, a sizable group of the Black Eagles were posted to deter anyone from entering the valley from the West, at least until the prince could be spirited away to the encampment, to be held for ransom.

The actual battle was short, at least what we remember of it... The cavalry guard came first, flying down the trail, and they swept around the blockade in the road, and wheeled into the forest where the trees had been cut down. The traps were effective and maybe half lost their horses almost immediately. The downed cavalrymen retreated taking cover behind the fallen trees in the road. The remainder of the cavalry was quickly lost from sight in the dense forest undergrowth. Then came the four coaches and two wagons of the caravan. They hurled to a halt approaching the first of the fallen trees. Everything went quiet for a few seconds, and that's when everything went bad.

The Prince was there, but well armed and well-armored soldiers came out of the coaches, and from underneath the tarps in the wagon. Worse than that, one of the Royal Wizards was riding in one of the coaches, and he had an entourage of court mages with him. Someone had tipped off the prince. The last thing I remember is hearing the advance guard cavalry sweeping through the woods to our left charging, and seeing the Royal wizard in the distance pointing a crooked wand at us.

The Kick in the midsection really hurt!

“Wake up you lazy oaf!”

It was Ellri Swordhand, The rogue.

My head swooned. Everything spun, and I felt a bit ill, almost nauseous. It took a few moments for me to gather my wits and vision. As the strength drained back into my limbs I looked around. The sun was still shining, it was late afternoon though, as the sun now hung low in the west, just over the horizon. It was cooler out than I remembered, and more damp as well. I swore I could smell the ocean, but that just didn't seem right, you see, we were more than one hundred miles from the nearest ocean.

I looked at everything immediately around me. We were in a small camp, maybe half a dozen of us. We were layed out around a campfire. Ellri stood over me, glaring. I spotted one of the prince's advanced horse guards laying unconscious just a few feet from where I was now in the process of sitting up.

“Where are we?” I half croaked, as I looked down again. I fumbled for my waterskin, found it, and took a deep draught.

“Don't rightly know.” Ellri Answered. “Mebbe they kin tell us.” Ellri pointed.

I looked up slower this time. Didn't want the stomache-knotting vertigo suddenly returning. They were lean, and big, swarthy and strong, wrapped in furs and hide, with painted faces. Some had tattoos. They stood about ten yards off, one every three or four paces around us. Each had at least one halfspear, some maybe two or three, and all had a sword of some sort, wrapped in a fur sheath, and a small or medium shield tied onto their back.

“Barbarians.” I muttered. Ellri nodded. I scooted over to where the unconscious royal guardsman lay, and gently removed his shortsword and longsword from their resting place. Quickly checking, confirming I had my personal weapons. There were four or five of us from the ambush here, not counting the horseman.

o0 Oh, Yes!. 0O

“How many?” I asked.

“Too many.” Ellri replied, he pointed to the east, and we could see the smokes of many many  fires, along many burning campfires in the distance.

“We wait then.” I said.

We didn't wait long before the speaker came. Still, we had to tie up the horseman though, when he woke up. He was being unreasonable. The speaker looked like an elder, or shaman. He had two guards with him, when he came. One of the guards sets down a blanket near the fire that he sat down upon. While he busied himself folding his legs the other guard yelled, and the serving girls came. They brought us water in a big jug and poured it into wooden bowls for us. Then they brought us some fresh bread, and hoisted a spit over the campfire where they brought fresh meat and began roasting it. After we had each had a drink, the old man spoke. We couldn't understand him at first. His accent was archaic.

Then he cast a spell. His speech became clear.

“You have the taint of a dark sorcery hanging over you.” he said.

“Where are we?” I asked.

He looked and pointed east. “The endless sea is just a few hours walk from here.”

Ellri swore, then stifled a few more muttered curses. He looked at me. “That can't be. We are five hundred miles from the eastern ocean, must be some large lake the old speaker speaks of.”

The old speaker frowned. “No.” he said. “It is the endless sea. Tomorrow you will get to see it with your eyes. We travel there”

“What do you mean 'We' old man?” I asked

“I will remove the dark spirits that bind you to the dark sorcery, and you will return from whence you came, but first you must see that our King lives to see the next full moon.”

“And what if we don't?” I asked

The old man shrugged. “Then you walk home. As you friend says... (the old speaker holds up his hand to Ellri), five hundred miles. When you get away from the camp, my strength over the dark sorcery  weakens and the dark sorcery will bring you all bad luck, and ill fates.”

He paused, and threw a few dryer sticks to feed the campfire. The meat was almost roasted now.

I pointed to the guards “What about them? Why are we prisoners?”

The old man nodded in disagreement. “You are no prisoner here, only an honored guest. We will not let you taint our peoples with your dark sorcery. You must be purified and blessed by our good spirits first,  before being allowed to walk through our camps.”

“Why is the King in danger?” I asked

The old man sighed. “We are at war with another Barbarian king. If our king dies, we must join the other king, and he too carries a taint of the dark spirits, albeit different dark spirits, from the ones that would enslave you.”

The old man continued. “For now, let us eat, and rest for the next few days ahead will be full of challenges and dangers, no matter which path you choose to take...”

Ellri swore plenty for the next few minutes.

Not much of 'event', admittedly, but our Kent-based group is now online at

http://www.twitchingsquirrels.co.uk

- pop along and join the forum, if you've a mind to - oh, and that's Kent, England btw. :-)

Be well.

Hello everyone!

AmberCon Arizona will be hosted as part of the CopperCon 28 Gaming programming!
This is going down from Thursday August 28th through Sunday August 31st 2008. The location is Embassy Suites Scottsdale (which is still technically in Phoenix, Arizona, by the way ). Gaming will begin Thursday at 6pm and end on Sunday at 3pm.

Gaming will be hosted in the CopperCon Gaming room, which will be open 24hours.
Because this year we are running events as part of CopperCon 28, only a membership to that con is necessary to come play and run games, as well as enjoy all other programming that CopperCon has to offer this year. Our aim this year is to raise awareness of AmberCon and the ADRPG within the Arizona community. We are expecting to be a stand alone convention for next year. Please visit their website for membership pricing and additional information about the con. You can find it at http://www.casfs.org/cucon/

If there are GMs interested in running a game or if you wish to host games in 2-room suites rather than the common gaming room, feel free to contact me via email AmberConArizona@gmail.com so that I can organize room-sharing, game submissions, etc... (I was quoted at $139.99 per night for two room suites, including two queen beds, and a separate living room- in other words, 4 adults).

Come host or join a game, support the ADRPG community in Arizona and come have some diceless fun! There is a special rewards program for GMs... More details to come about that.

For more information and Game Submittal information, please visit http://fabienbadilla.com/AmberConArizona-Main.html
And the AmberCon Arizona Forum at http://amberconarizona.theiforum.com/

Thanks for your interest and support!