And neither Tad or I were seen in togas…

By any measure I use, this was a successful convention. So a great big “Thank you” to all of our convention attendees. You are the reason we do this, and you are the reason all this is possible.

Many of you have worked cons in one form or another over the years, and have some idea of what goes into them time and time again. So, I’d like to take a moment to publicly thank all of our volunteers:

Hotel Liason: Ann Lesnik
Registration team: Erin Hudgins, Tammy Tayman.
Con Suite team: Brian and Lije Carpenter, Rachael Hixon
Game Room Czars: Jami & Sean Grey

Y’all rock, you know that?

I’d also like to take a few moments to thank a number of game companies who were kind and generous enough to donate materials to us to use as prizes:

• AEG (and their awesome Senior AEG Convention Squad Member Stephen Cappello)

• Amarillo Design Bureau
• Atlas Games
• Dream Pod 9
• Flying Buffalo
• Interactivities Ink
• Out of the Box
• Russian Board Games
• Steve Jackson Games

Stay tuned, folks! TCEP 18 may be over, but TCEP 19: It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And We Game On) is already in the planning stages! Make your plans now to spend Aug. 31 – Sept. 3 2012 with us! We can’t wait…

Well, while we’re in high gear getting ready to bring you the best 4 days of gaming and relaxation in the DC area, we’d like to remind you of a few things:

First, don’t forget to drop us an email to tcepdinners@gmail.com to let us know if you’ll be joining us at Asahi for sushi or at Outback for meat. Remember to include your name and the number of people attending, please, so we can give the restaurant an accurate headcount.

We’d also like to remind you about the Miskatonic Class Reunion happening this weekend! While pre-registration for the LARP is not strictly necessary, it is strongly encouraged. See this post for more details.

OK, I have to get back to work now. Hope to see everyone in Laurel on Friday!

“Miskatonic Class Reunion” is a 4-5 hour minigame written by Mike Young, set in a Lovecraftian world.  It has been run over 20 times since it was first written and remains an incredibly popular live action roleplaying game.

For convention members interested in playing in this live game, please fill out the following questionaire in order to let the GMs know what type of character to cast for you.  Characters which are cast early will be emailed costuming recommendations a few days before the conventions starts.

18 out of 25 slots have been claimed!  That’s awesome!

Precast characters have been mailed out.  The remaining unclaimed characters are still available. If you are interested in playing, please mail the below questionaire to me.  We’ll be heading for the convention at about noon on Friday, so any requests received after midnight Thursday will be cast at the convention.

Unclaimed characters will still be available ‘at the door’.

Day: SUNDAY
Time: 1pm – 6pm

The game will NOT conflict with the charity poker tournament (as I am also running that).

Once filled out, please email your questionaire as follows:
mail to: byronczimmer AT gmail DOT com
subject: TCEP Miskatonic Character Request

—- BEGIN CASTING QUESTIONAIRE —-

Thank you for signing up for Miskatonic Class Reunion. This form will assist me in casting. I will try to match your answers to the character that best fits your choice. Understand because of the limited number of characters, you may not get an exact match, but I’ll do my best.

Your Name:

Your email address:

Your phone number:

Have you played “Miskatonic Class Reunion” before?

If so, which character did you play (if you don’t remember the name, a description is sufficient)?

Character preferences

Check all that apply
(you may check more than one per category if appropriate)
(if you check the last box in a category, it means that that category is a wildcard for casting purposes)

(Supernatural Abilities)
[ ] 1. I prefer to be grounded in reality.
[ ] 2. I like being a little unusual.
[ ] 3. I enjoy being powerful in unusual ways.
[ ] 4. Any abilities (or lack of abilities) are fine.

(Combat)
[ ] 1. I’d like to be in as little combat as possible.
[ ] 2. I would like to be involved in some combat.
[ ] 3. I enjoy combat and want to play a good combatant.
[ ] 4. I enjoy combat and want to play a poor combatant.
[ ] 5. Any amount of combat (or lack of it) is fine.

(Research)
[ ] 1. I do not want to do research
[ ] 2. I would enjoy doing some research
[ ] 3. My character should revolve around research
[ ] 4. Any amount of Research (or not) is fine.

(Alignment)
[ ] 1. I prefer playing good, helpful characters.
[ ] 2. I prefer playing characters who have no clear alignment.
[ ] 3. I prefer playing characters who are antagonistic or “evil”
[ ] 4. I prefer characters who are only in it for themselves.
[ ] 5. Any alignment is fine.

(Leadership/Rank)
[ ] 1. I want to play a leader.
[ ] 2. I want to play a follower.
[ ] 3. I want to forge my own path (I am a loner).
[ ] 4. Any rank is fine.

(Sanity)
[ ] 1. I want a sane character.
[ ] 2. I want a character who starts out sane, but will likely go insane.
[ ] 3. I want an insane character.
[ ] 4. Any amount of Sanity (or lack of it) is fine.

Which category is most important to you for you to have fun? (Check only ONE)
[ ] 1. Supernatural Abilities
[ ] 2. Combat
[ ] 3. Research
[ ] 4. Alignment
[ ] 5. Leadership/Rank
[ ] 6. Sanity

Note that I cannot predict what might happen during the game, and it is impossible to give you a character that is guarenteed not be involved in combat or research.

Please write any specific requests below (they will be accomodated as best as possible):

—- END CASTING QUESTIONAIRE —-

First things first: On behalf of the BoD, I’d like to thank everyone who has pre-registered so far for TCEP 18. Every registration makes it easier for us to be ready for the con.

(Pre-registration is still open, BTW.  If you haven’t registered yet, please feel free to do so now!)

Now, then…

Once again this year, we’ll be doing our usual group outings to Outback Steakhouse (for those who like their food cooked) and Asahi Japanese for those who like bait sushi.

Yeah, you can guess which camp I fall into. 

Last year, we set up an email for you to tell us which group you’d like to join, and it worked pretty well!  So well, in fact, that we’re going to do it again!

Now, for the record, the usual plan of attack is to leave as a group from the convention around 7:45-8:00 pm on Friday night. The more accurate headcount we have before the convention starts, the better chance we have of reserving table space to accommodate everyone!

Ah, but what is that magical email address, you ask?  Well, it’s the same as last year:

TCEPDinners@gmail.com

Please include the following information in the email

Name
Which dinner attending (Meat/Sushi or Outback/Asahi)
# of people attending

Please try to get this in to us by Aug. 31st, so we can have time to get things together!

(Check back as the month goes on for more updates!  As more things become solidified, we’ll post them here)

Can’t wait to see everyone there!

Well, we just had a meeting of the staff of TCEP, and we are revving up our con engines to once again bring you the best 4 days of gaming and relaxation in the greater DC area!

Yeah, I know I’ve been a little quiet of late; heck, even my LiveJournal hasn’t been updated much in the last few months. Real Live ™ has done it’s level best to distract me from what’s really important in life – spending time with friends and having fun.

But enough with that! Pre-registration is officially open for TCEP 18! As usual, it will be held over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2-5), and we’re back at the Holiday Inn Laurel West.

Once again, our prices remain the same:

• Before July 31:
  • $30 for adults (CHEAP!)

  • $15 for Youth (12-17)
  • Under 12 free with paid adult
• After July 31 and at the door
  • $40 for adults

  • $20 for Youth (12-17)
  • Under 12 free with paid adult

Hotel rooms are $89/night s/d/t/q occupancy (Reserve by August 3 for group rate; Group Name: BMP)

Our crack team of Game Room Czars have already informed us of some of the fun they have in store, including more “In It To Win It” events. Of course, I’ll again be running the Arneson/Gygax Memorial Dungeon Crawl as well as the Junior Roleplaying event aimed at our younger attendees.

Our con suite staff will again be serving up bad movies and fun games in addition to the fresh bread and the usual selection of delicious treats!

New for this year: The hotel will be offering a variety of sandwiches for lunch. I don’t have as much detail on this as I would like, but as more details become available, I’ll post the information.

Go on and register now, and keep checking here, on Facebook, and at LiveJournal community for more updates. We’re looking forward to seeing you in September!

Richard was present at the founding of Barking Mad Productions in 1989, and present at every one of the TCEP conventions.  His contributions were so widely appreciated by Barking Mad that he was asked to become a board member in 2001.  After several years of health problems, and two months of hospitalization, on December 1st, 2010, Richard’s body, but not his spirit, gave out.

He will be greatly missed.

By any measure I use, this was a successful convention. So a great big “Thank you” to all of our convention attendees. You are the reason we do this, and you are the reason all this is possible.

Many of you have worked cons in one form or another over the years, and have some idea of what goes into them time and time again. So, I’d like to take a moment to publicly thank all of our volunteers:

Registration team: Erin Hudgins, Tammy Tayman.

Con Suite team: Brian and Lije Carpenter, Rachael Hixon

Game Room Czars: Jami & Sean Grey, Drew Wendt

At-Large Staff: Jim & Rae Trigg

Y’all rock, you know that?

I’d also like to take a few moments to thank a number of game companies who were kind and generous enough to donate materials to us to use as prizes:

• AEG
• APEGames
• Avalanche Press
• Dream Pod 9
• Interactivities Ink
• Mega Miniatures

I’d like to also recognize four companies that have been exceedingly kind to us over the last dozen years in their support of TCEP:

• Amarillo Design Bureau
• Flying Buffalo
• Out of the Box
• Steve Jackson Games

Stay tuned, folks! TCEP 17 may be over, but TCEP 18: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Laurel is already in the planning stages! Make your plans now to spend Sept. 2-5 2011 with us! Who knows, you might get to see Tad or Grayhawk in a toga…

Full Weekend Rate:

• Adult Registration $40 each
• Youth Registration $20 each
• Child Registration, free with adult

Single Day Rate:

• Adult Registration $20 each
• Youth Registration $10 each
• Child Registration, free with adult

TCEP 18 will be called “Something Funny Happened on the Way to Laurel”.  Expect to learn more about it here, Real Soon Now!