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!

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!

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…

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 sushi.

Yeah, you can guess which camp I fall into.

Anyway, one of the things we’ve always had problems with is getting an reasonably accurate head count in the past. What we’ve done for this year is set up an email for you to tell us which group you’d like to join!

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, I can hear you now! What is this magical email address, you ask?

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 Sept. 1st, so we can have time to get things together!

Thanks a lot, and hey, don’t forget that Pre-reg ends on Saturday! Only a few days left to register early and save $10 on adult registration ($30) and $5 on youth ($15)!

Can’t wait to see everyone there!

Classic Game tournament: To go along with our “Chess” theme, we will be hosting a tournament revolving around classic games such as chess, checkers, backgammon, reversi, mancala, dominos, and the like. I’m still finalizing the details; as soon as I have them finished, I’ll make them available at the Barking Mad Website.

Junior Roleplaying: The X-Men: People’s response to the idea of events aimed at our younger attendees was well enough received that we will be hosting a RPG session aimed at those same attendees. It will use the TSR Marvel Super Heroes (1984) rules and feature the X-Men. Our older attendees are welcome to play as well! (6 players, Saturday Afternoon)

The Gygax/Arneson Memorial Dungeon Crawl: Yes, I will again be running a classic first edition AD&D adventure on Sunday night. No, it will not be the sequel to last year’s adventure. Yes, I know which adventure I am running, and no, I’m not gonna tell you what it is. Bring your dice, bring your wits, & forget “skills” or “feats”! Once again, this is gaming at it’s finest!

Pre-Reg discount ending soon! As hard to believe as it may be, we’re only slightly more than a month and a half away from the convention! And yes, this is a reminder (delivered in the delightfully subtle Grayhawk way) that until July 31, our rates are $30 for adult memberships and $15 for youth (CHEAP!). After that date, the rates go up! Pre-reg early and often at our website!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at TCEP 17 in September!

We’ve had, in the past, occasional events aimed towards our younger attendees. And, as we are less than 100 days out from TCEP 17: 3 Nights in Laurel, I’d like to assess what sort of interest, if any, there would be in games for them.

So, we have this poll over in our LiveJournal community (It’s there because I ain’t bright enough to figure out how to do it on the website). Look it over. Fill it out. And I’m always looking for input from our attendees.

(And don’t forget to pre-reg! Register by July 31 2010 to save $10 off of Adult memberships and $5 off of Youth memberships!)

The poll can be found here: http://community.livejournal.com/tcep/13962.html

And that, my friends, brings us to the fun of TCEP 17: 3 Nights in Laurel. It’s kinda hard for me to believe that we’re only three and a half months out from the best four days of gaming and relaxation in the DC area. Hell, I’m having problems wrapping my head around the fact that it’s MAY!

But, none of this happens without you. Please, take a few moments to pre-register for the con. We’d love to see you and play games with you. Remember, memberships go up at the end of July.

We’re working to make this the best year ever, but none of this works without all of you. Come out! Play games! Enjoy old favorites! Try new ones! Have fun!

We’ll be updating the site as the con gets closer, so check back for more news and fun.

See you soon.

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 – from the folks at Registration to the Con Suite folks to my Game Room Minions to everyone in between. Without you guys, this would be impossible to do. Thank you.

Stay tuned, folks! TCEP 16 may be over, but TCEP 17: One Night in Laurel is already in the planning stages! Make your plans now to spend Sept. 3-6 2010 with us!