Music to seek out:
“Through the Fire and the Flames.”
This, my gift to you.

Gamers drawn from all over,
shuffle of card, roll of dice.
Hallowe’en convention.

I’ve effectively stopped playing games at Gaelcon. For some years now I have volunteered to GM for slots wherever I am needed. It’s something I enjoy, and it seems to make everything run just a tiny bit smoother.
For me, conventions are primarily about the table-top RPGs. I like CCGs, and I have been to some really great LARPs, but the essence lies with the dice, the character sheet and the crazed accent. This year I ran five of the eight slots, including my own SLA Industries game. It was heartening to see that there were about 10 tables per 2-game slot this year, which is clear increase on previous years.

The people doing the heavy lifting this year were Graham (Black Robed One) and Fatz (Fatz) and they did a hell of a job. I know from experience that RPG&LARP co-ordinator is a thankless job of begging, borrowing, threatening and photocopying. Even the best-intentioned Scenario Writer will always find that his oeuvre will lose the fight against other priorities. One excellent scheme that Graham implemented last year was the Writer’s Award.

As with last year, I made the choice between a good, late scenario and a mediocre but award-worthy scenario. I chose to write something I was happy with. The SLA game I wrote seemed to get some interest, since it had six tables all in all. I am really pleased to see that SLA is making a return to the tables. It’s long been a game with secret admirers and it represents a very different experience to the current raft of popularity like WoD and DnD.

Overall, the Con ran very well though I continue to think another venue would be better. The hotel we were in has some of the slowest service in the world, and they upped the price of drinks at the nearest bar to the con over the course of the weekend.

Overall, congrats to the RPG/LARP team and to Aidan who co-ordinated the whole Con. Another successful Gaelcon is in the can.

This is haiku week:
Five, Seven, Five in three sweet lines.
Please form comments so.