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zdashamberI suppose it's about the time that I let you all know that Ambercon Northwest is something that you should certainly attend. It's in my mind lately because apparently the "Deposits Due" deadline is Monday, which deadline I can safely attest is a delightful fiction you can ignore with impunity, but nevertheless it is for all that a deadline which moves me to post, and how, my friends, could that possibly be a bad thing.
Which is to say, you don't have to freak out if you can't decide in the next few days, because there's still plenty of time, but you should certainly begin the process of deciding to come. It's in Portland, Oregon, in November, from Thursday the 6th to Sunday the 9th.
Why should you come? It's like finding your people, if your people are imaginative clever interesting readers of text and players of games. There's about a hundred attendees, reasonably balanced between men and women, and they're all in festival mode of friendliness. The average level of game is "entertaining", and there are at least a handful a year that rise to heaven and walk with the gods. I can only think of a few stinkers I've been in, over ten years of attendance. You're far more likely to have fun than at a typical gaming convention.
It's very well-organized. I go to other conventions and I'm kind of shocked... You mean, if you don't show up to the place at the time and speak the magic words, you can't get into a game? And if you get into one game, you'll miss the beginning two hours of another game you'd have liked to play after? Appalling. None of that nonsense is found at Northwest, or any of the other Ambercons, for that matter. There are a specific number of slots, and you know their start and end times, and you can see the description of every game offered, and you have as much chance as anyone else of getting in to the ones you want, and all the games are pre-scheduled weeks in advance; so at the con there is no stress whatsoever about the mechanics of it all, freeing you to enjoy stuff.
The non-gaming penumbra is nonpareil. The hotel it's at is more like a resort. It has two decent restaurants where you'll be doing all your eating, because it's in an island of wild open space which is in an island of residential; but you don't mind, because again, it's very stress-free to not have to worry about where to eat, or finishing on time, because you can pick up your plate and carry it to your game and leave it in the hall outside for the cleaning staff when you're done. And you can't throw a rock without hitting a bar, practically... There are more bars than you will find your first visit, some with so much character they're like magic shrines. The whole place is covered in surrealist art, even on the sprinkler pipes, and it smells like coffee and the working winery and brewery on-premises. There are also resort-like things like massages, golf, and a glass-blower. The only negative thing I must say is that it was crap for my friend in a wheelchair, and I'm ashamed of that.
It's also the cheapest con I've been to... Though I suppose I should give a nod to the Bay Area cons I can go to for a day, they really don't offer the same kind of fun per dollar. I once did ACNW, plane and all, for $350. Southwest goes to PDX, yay, and then public transit to and from the hotel is easy and direct for about $3, and then the con itself is $105, of which $60 comes back to you for food, and you can sleep in the hostel for $34 a night (tax included) (I left a long comment about how it is to crash in the hostel on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cyranocyrano's LJ, here). Now, my supercheap trip was before flight prices went up, and the hostel was cheaper then, and I do recommend staying Sunday night too and flying out Monday, and I also drink a lot more now than I did... But still, it's possible to do this for not all that much outlay.
I'm not going to insist that you run a game the first year you go, though everyone else should run at least one game as that's what makes the con great. If you do run a game, though, almost anything "non typical" is fair game. Like, there's probably no one there to play a game of Shadowrun, but Shadowrun without dice? I'm sure you'd get players. Dying in a ditch in Vietnam with a homebrewed system? I'd play that. Running a circus/freak show/scam out of a brokedown steampunk spaceship using some mutated version of the Inspectres system? Hell, I have played that, and it was awesome, kudoskarjack! What the mass of Amber players want is a game where they get to be an interesting character whose character actions affect what happens, without system being a focus. I'm not sure if that's too general to be worth saying, but the stuff that doesn't fly is a scenario that you feel will happen the same way no matter what people are involved, or a scenario where nothing much changes at all and you're just admiring the scenery.
Some have compared Northwest, with its constant gaming, to Amber Bootcamp. Come on, you know you want to.
Which is to say, you don't have to freak out if you can't decide in the next few days, because there's still plenty of time, but you should certainly begin the process of deciding to come. It's in Portland, Oregon, in November, from Thursday the 6th to Sunday the 9th.
Why should you come? It's like finding your people, if your people are imaginative clever interesting readers of text and players of games. There's about a hundred attendees, reasonably balanced between men and women, and they're all in festival mode of friendliness. The average level of game is "entertaining", and there are at least a handful a year that rise to heaven and walk with the gods. I can only think of a few stinkers I've been in, over ten years of attendance. You're far more likely to have fun than at a typical gaming convention.
It's very well-organized. I go to other conventions and I'm kind of shocked... You mean, if you don't show up to the place at the time and speak the magic words, you can't get into a game? And if you get into one game, you'll miss the beginning two hours of another game you'd have liked to play after? Appalling. None of that nonsense is found at Northwest, or any of the other Ambercons, for that matter. There are a specific number of slots, and you know their start and end times, and you can see the description of every game offered, and you have as much chance as anyone else of getting in to the ones you want, and all the games are pre-scheduled weeks in advance; so at the con there is no stress whatsoever about the mechanics of it all, freeing you to enjoy stuff.
The non-gaming penumbra is nonpareil. The hotel it's at is more like a resort. It has two decent restaurants where you'll be doing all your eating, because it's in an island of wild open space which is in an island of residential; but you don't mind, because again, it's very stress-free to not have to worry about where to eat, or finishing on time, because you can pick up your plate and carry it to your game and leave it in the hall outside for the cleaning staff when you're done. And you can't throw a rock without hitting a bar, practically... There are more bars than you will find your first visit, some with so much character they're like magic shrines. The whole place is covered in surrealist art, even on the sprinkler pipes, and it smells like coffee and the working winery and brewery on-premises. There are also resort-like things like massages, golf, and a glass-blower. The only negative thing I must say is that it was crap for my friend in a wheelchair, and I'm ashamed of that.
It's also the cheapest con I've been to... Though I suppose I should give a nod to the Bay Area cons I can go to for a day, they really don't offer the same kind of fun per dollar. I once did ACNW, plane and all, for $350. Southwest goes to PDX, yay, and then public transit to and from the hotel is easy and direct for about $3, and then the con itself is $105, of which $60 comes back to you for food, and you can sleep in the hostel for $34 a night (tax included) (I left a long comment about how it is to crash in the hostel on
cyranocyrano's LJ, here). Now, my supercheap trip was before flight prices went up, and the hostel was cheaper then, and I do recommend staying Sunday night too and flying out Monday, and I also drink a lot more now than I did... But still, it's possible to do this for not all that much outlay.I'm not going to insist that you run a game the first year you go, though everyone else should run at least one game as that's what makes the con great. If you do run a game, though, almost anything "non typical" is fair game. Like, there's probably no one there to play a game of Shadowrun, but Shadowrun without dice? I'm sure you'd get players. Dying in a ditch in Vietnam with a homebrewed system? I'd play that. Running a circus/freak show/scam out of a brokedown steampunk spaceship using some mutated version of the Inspectres system? Hell, I have played that, and it was awesome, kudos
karjack! What the mass of Amber players want is a game where they get to be an interesting character whose character actions affect what happens, without system being a focus. I'm not sure if that's too general to be worth saying, but the stuff that doesn't fly is a scenario that you feel will happen the same way no matter what people are involved, or a scenario where nothing much changes at all and you're just admiring the scenery.Some have compared Northwest, with its constant gaming, to Amber Bootcamp. Come on, you know you want to.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 04:07 pm (UTC)Melodious!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 05:31 pm (UTC)But... but... system matters!
=P
Now that I've made fun of Ron Edwards, I guess it does bear relevance that there is a small indie game "track" at the con.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 07:00 pm (UTC)System matters because it drives people away. :P
no subject
Date: 2008-08-20 11:42 pm (UTC)Not if you sign up for "Pub Theory and Game Crawl" in Slot One. My wife L leads a guided tour, and for the last two years they've hit every bar. Well, not everyone hits every bar; some fall by the wayside about bar four or five...