Announcing the Arcanacon Playtesting Program!
The subversive elements of the organising committee have pulled off a major coup, seizing enough power to break with accepted tradition by implementing several new ideas! And the first of these new initiatives is the Arcanacon Playtesting Program.
Many of the Arcanacon orgs are or have been event writers for cons themselves, and those who aren't have at least been players. Our experiences lead us to appreciate the importance of playtesting a convention event, and most experienced writers would have heard us talk about it.
Well, this year we want to do more than talk. We want to help the writers build better games. To do this, we want to help organise playtest sessions.
If you are intending to run an event at Arcanacon XXIX, we'd like you to consider giving some of us a chance to play your game prior to the convention. We'd also like for you to consider offering your services as a playtester for other games. We hope to form a pool of playtesters from the ranks of organisers and writers, because these are the people who usually don't get much chance to play at the convention. We get to play some of the games we don't get to play because we are too busy running the convention, you get both enthusiastic playtesters for your game and an opportunity to play a game or two that you'd otherwise miss out on because you are too busy running your event. That's a win for everyone!
The writer wrangler will soon be in touch with those who have submitted events about the Playtesting Program. For this to be a success, we'll need to get it off the ground well ahead of the convention, so we will be relying on writers to put their best foot forward with early preparation and willingness to give it a go.
Arcanacon XXIX: What's Happening?
The organisers have now confirmed the venues for Arcanacon XXIX. Once again, Arcanacon will be held at Collingwood College, this time beginning Thursday, January 20th 2011 and running until the evening of Sunday, January 23rd 2011. (Note that neither the Thursday nor the Friday is a public holiday, what with Australia Day falling on a very inconvenient Wednesday.) Prizegiving will be held at 7:30pm on the Sunday evening, quickly followed by the traditional Post Con Party.
In a break with tradition - some might say a heresy, even - there will be no Warhammer 40K event at Arcanacon. This is because the annual Arc 40K event has been so successful - the largest in the southern hemisphere - that it can no longer be properly accommodated at Arcanacon. Instead, Arc 40K will be held as a separate spin-off event, with its own schedule and venue. Watch this site and especially the Arc 40K site for more details.
Arcanacon XXIX Now Taking Event Submissions
Arcanacon XXIX is only about six months away now, and that means the committee has begun the long process of preparing for another four days of gaming madness.
The theme for Arcanacon XXIX is Schisms and Heresies, and AON is now open to take event submissions, whether you intend to support the establishment in that theme or whether you intend to take a schismatic stance with something heretically different.
