Pimping Ambercon Northwest 2007
Since I have a bunch of new people on my friends list that I game with, and AmberCon US is now behind me, I figure now is the time to pimp my favorite con experience: Ambercon Northwest, which this year will take place November 1st through 4th. This post is mainly for those who I've been gaming with recently that have not known the joy of ACNW (like the circleplustwo crew, jennthered and frankenspam, though non-Seattle-area types may find this interesting as well (like idemandjustice).
ETA: Other ACNW attendees, feel free to add your own praise for the con!
Imagine a 4 day convention where you show up Thursday night and from then until Sunday night you do nothing but roleplay, taking breaks for food and sleep. It takes place at a beautiful historic hotel (the McMenamin's Edgefield), which sits in the middle of a vineyard with onsite brewery, distillery and winery. The food is excellent. The booze is excellent. The building is excellent. There is also a golf course (which I don't care about) and massage therapists (which I do), among the many ameneties. Check out the site. Click on the pictures.
The convention is miniscule comapred to other gaming conventions, numbering only 80-100 people. There is no dealer room. There are little to no seminars or panels. Each game is run in its own room instead of some vast room divided with partitions. The overwhelming majority of the people who attend understand basic hygiene, are highly intelligent and possess social skills.
This, and its sister conventions were originally put together as a place for fans of the Amber Diceless RPG, which is based on the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Most of the games there are still Amber, but there are also other games woven through things: Forge-style indie roleplaying games, freeform LARPs, pub crawls and in-character poker games. For a sample of what sort of things go on, check out the game book from last year.
I'd call an average cost for the weekend to be in the neighborhood of $250, not counting travel expenses. If you start saving right this minute, that will boil down to about a dollar a day. That's assuming you sign up for all seven slots, eat reasonably frugally and stay Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in a room that only has a twin sized bed. You could probably get by cheaper (sharing a larger room with someone, scoring a bunk in the hostel) or pricier (a bigger bed all to yourself). There's usually a pre-con dinner on Wednesday and the con after-party usually has enough revelry that you won't want to drive anywhere afterwards. So an extra night on either end is pleasant but hardly required. A full con membership comes with a $60 gift certificate for the hotel that can be used in the restaurant, bars and gift shops. I usually run out by Saturday because I'm a lush who eats well. But I think you could get through most of the con without going much past your food voucher.
I broadly encourage people to go. Especially if you are a roleplayer who understands basic hygiene, are highly intelligent and possess social skills. This is an awesome roleplaying opportunity for those who live in the Pacific Northwest. It's a very doable drive from Seattle and not too horribly expensive to take the train down.
I will further sweeten the pot by saying: If you're interested but are put off by the unfamiliarity of the Amber Diceless RPG, I'd be willing to run a one-shot introductory game so people can get a taste of it. Also, there are Seattle types that are invariably looking to playtest their games before they run them at ACNW. If you're interested in playtesting, I could probably put in a good word for you. (None of my games that I'm currently planning on running this year would greatly benefit from playtesting, but my wife tends to playtest her games before she goes down.)
Con registriation is due by this summer, but the rooms are doled out on a first-come, first-serve basis. So get it's best to get your toe in the door now. I'll leave this post public in case you want to point friends/spouses/whatever to this.
ETA: Other ACNW attendees, feel free to add your own praise for the con!
Imagine a 4 day convention where you show up Thursday night and from then until Sunday night you do nothing but roleplay, taking breaks for food and sleep. It takes place at a beautiful historic hotel (the McMenamin's Edgefield), which sits in the middle of a vineyard with onsite brewery, distillery and winery. The food is excellent. The booze is excellent. The building is excellent. There is also a golf course (which I don't care about) and massage therapists (which I do), among the many ameneties. Check out the site. Click on the pictures.
The convention is miniscule comapred to other gaming conventions, numbering only 80-100 people. There is no dealer room. There are little to no seminars or panels. Each game is run in its own room instead of some vast room divided with partitions. The overwhelming majority of the people who attend understand basic hygiene, are highly intelligent and possess social skills.
This, and its sister conventions were originally put together as a place for fans of the Amber Diceless RPG, which is based on the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Most of the games there are still Amber, but there are also other games woven through things: Forge-style indie roleplaying games, freeform LARPs, pub crawls and in-character poker games. For a sample of what sort of things go on, check out the game book from last year.
I'd call an average cost for the weekend to be in the neighborhood of $250, not counting travel expenses. If you start saving right this minute, that will boil down to about a dollar a day. That's assuming you sign up for all seven slots, eat reasonably frugally and stay Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in a room that only has a twin sized bed. You could probably get by cheaper (sharing a larger room with someone, scoring a bunk in the hostel) or pricier (a bigger bed all to yourself). There's usually a pre-con dinner on Wednesday and the con after-party usually has enough revelry that you won't want to drive anywhere afterwards. So an extra night on either end is pleasant but hardly required. A full con membership comes with a $60 gift certificate for the hotel that can be used in the restaurant, bars and gift shops. I usually run out by Saturday because I'm a lush who eats well. But I think you could get through most of the con without going much past your food voucher.
I broadly encourage people to go. Especially if you are a roleplayer who understands basic hygiene, are highly intelligent and possess social skills. This is an awesome roleplaying opportunity for those who live in the Pacific Northwest. It's a very doable drive from Seattle and not too horribly expensive to take the train down.
I will further sweeten the pot by saying: If you're interested but are put off by the unfamiliarity of the Amber Diceless RPG, I'd be willing to run a one-shot introductory game so people can get a taste of it. Also, there are Seattle types that are invariably looking to playtest their games before they run them at ACNW. If you're interested in playtesting, I could probably put in a good word for you. (None of my games that I'm currently planning on running this year would greatly benefit from playtesting, but my wife tends to playtest her games before she goes down.)
Con registriation is due by this summer, but the rooms are doled out on a first-come, first-serve basis. So get it's best to get your toe in the door now. I'll leave this post public in case you want to point friends/spouses/whatever to this.