CanGames (Ottawa,ON) Anyone, anyone?

[Ned]

Hey all. My hometown Con is on May 19-22. Are there any kinky Forgey gamers to be found? I think I'm up to running some Inspectres if there are takers, but it's a small con, heavy on the wargaming, and it's always possible I could give agame and nobody come.  Anyone have motive, opportunity?

[Darcy Burgess]

Hi Ned.

This is sort of a "good news/bad news" reply.

1) Bad: no way in any of the nine hells would you drag me kicking and screaming to CanGames.  Certainly not to pay to play a freakin' game.

2) Good: I'm Ottawa-area as well.  So is the gaming group I'm in.


Bonus Round

3) Best: We play "forge kinkiness", in a variety of flavours.


Drop me a private message, and we'll talk.
Best

[walkerp]

I'm going to be going to CanGames myself this weekend.  It will be my first con and I'm going to just to get a taste.  Why so negative?

[Ned]

Ah, conventions just aren't everybody's cuppa, that's all. I love 'em, big and small. Sorry I didn't check in and catch your post until now (late Sunday night)...would attempted to hook up and show you 'round. Con's pretty much over, but if you're there tomorrow, I understand a game of Prime Time Adventures has been pencilled in for 9AM  -- a rare bit of Forgery in a predominantly old school convention (I actually played AD&D 1st ed this aft..whee!) Sadly, the real world intrudes and I'm gonna have to pass on Monday. Hope you got some good game in.

[walkerp]

Yearrrgh!  Aw man, I had no internet access when I was there.  I would have loved to play in a PTA game.  They keep talking about it on Sons of Kryos. 

Oh well, I had a real blast anyways.  Great game of Toon and a great game of Terra Incognita.  The whole vibe was energetic and fun.  I could have gone for way more tabletop RPGs, but for my first con, it was an excellent taste.

[Denise]

Darn, I wish I'd seen this earlier!

CanGames was my first ever gaming convention, and I had a blast at it, although after going to Origins and Gen Con, I'm amazed that I was impressed with it- especially the dealer's ghetto!

I still wish I can make it- it's only an hour's drive away, and I still have a soft spot for it.  Unfortunately being the long weekend, we're always busy with Irish dance competitions.
(sigh)

Nice to meet some fellow Canucks, though~!

[Ned]

Alright, dammit! What this tells me is there be players. Next year, Ned's plan is to get off Ned's ass and put up an Indie game or two at Cangames. And stop referring to Ned in third person. Will post here well ahead of time, in order to allow conspiracy with the Canuck contingent. 

In the meantime...walkerp...what can you tell me about Royalcon? That's a new one on me. First year? 

[walkerp]

So glad you asked!  :)

RoyalCon is new.  It's the brainchild of Chris Hammock, who handled the roleplaying section of Con*Cept, Montreal's sci-fi convention.  He always felt Montreal was lacking a real gaming convention and finally found the time and the people to put it together.

We have two goals: gaming diversity and bringing the gaming community of Montreal and around together.  It is a very ghetto-ized world here, and I'm not even talking about the french and english divides.  There are tons of little pockets of gamers here and none of them communicate with each other.  We hope to improve that situation.

So there is our background.  I am in charge of publicity but also have taken on the task of trying to get as many different games going as possible here.  I would love, love, love to have some indie game representation.  So if you're interested in coming and running some games, we'd be very psyched.

[Darcy Burgess]

Sorry about the uselessly late reply.

However, I just want to explain my exceptionally negative comments, especially in light of some other positive ones.

My first CG experience was 4 (5? 6?) years ago -- the con was held in Hull in a convention centre, and it was a really exciting vibe.  Generally, a good con -- and my first con experience too.

The next year, the con was moved to the Ottawa curling club.  Not as exciting a venue, but much more accessible, and all of the gaming was within arms' reach -- which was nice.  As another nice touch, the RPGing was up in the mezzanine (which overlooks the curling rinks) -- which meant that you were still immersed in the really loud wargaming, without having to deal with the audio interference.  Good touch.

However, it wasn't all perfect, by any means -- there were some serious organizational issues, namely not wanting to give me my GM discount, but in the end it all worked out and I went away satisfied.

The 3rd (and last) year I attended CG was the year that really soured me on the con -- the mezzanine was mixed tabletop & rpging (which meant that the rp'ers were constantly being interrupted by "suck on my PPCs, asshole!" and other assorted wargaming talk.  In addition, I noticed a marked decrease in the diversity and quantity of the RPing offered.

The capper was the fact that I had to spend the entire day chasing the "organizers" for my GM refund.  At one point, the rep (who was currently watching the game I was running play out) essentially said that I couldn't get a discount "because I hadn't run a game".  >insert flabbergasted look here<

That pretty much did it in for me -- I did not appreciate the tone of the organizers, because it seemed like they thought that they were doing me a favour, instead of the other way 'round.  In an already thin schedule, they were hassling me even though I was adding value to their con.

Based on some comments in this thread, I might give it another 'whirl next year.  But don't count on it.

D

[walkerp]

Sounds like a reasonable enough complaint.  The organizers told me that they were having trouble because they kept having to change their location and now that they have a longer contract with the Curling Club, they feel they are more settled down.  It does seem like tabletop roleplaying is the smallest portion of the whole tournament.  But I don't know if that is a function of popularity or promotion on the organizers' part.