It's ON! Friday 20th July to Sunday 22nd July.

[Trenloe]

The first meeting of the con committee (con-comm??? Madman, Dracones and Trenloe) has just finished and whereas we have a lot of work to do in the background over the coming weeks, we wanted to get confirmation of the date "out there".

*** Friday 20th July to Sunday 22nd July.***

More details to come, but a few small highlights to allow GMs to start planning and players to start getting excited:

• We are asking GMs to run their games in 4 hours slots. This will allow players to plan their con gaming better (not having games overlap) and provide more structured ways of communicatiing time zone details to players. If as a GM you really can't fit your game into the slot (either you need more time or the slot times don't work for you) then let us know and we'll see what we can do. But, please try to keep to the slots of possible.
• We hope to span the globe - so we welcome GMs from all over. It would be great if we had games running from Friday evening New Zealand time to Sunday evening Hawaii time! :-)
• Any game that can run on Fantasy Grounds is welcome. But, we aim for this convention to also showcase Fantasy Grounds so please try to make sure your game runs properly in the latest version.
• We will be using a commercial TeamSpeak3 server for the whole convention - all GMs should use this for their games. We will have chat rooms, discussion rooms, volunteer helpers and other things within various "Rooms" on the TS3 server - replicating the convention feel of being able to wander around and chat about different things. Even if you will use text communication once your game is running, please have a headset/mic ready for game start and end communications and Q&A. There is a good chance GMs will be getting FG newbies or people unfamiliar with the ruleset so voice chat will help a lot to get going quickly.
• We will be getting the fgiicon.com site up and running fully by the end of this month - which will allow GMs to register their game, players to register for these games, people to read blogs, ask questions and a whole lot more.
• Please don't run your usual weekly campaign game on the convention. Run a one-shot game that anyone can join and have fun - push your players to try other games! :-)

[dr_venture]

A couple ideas:

1) It might be nice to set up a few regular "FGII for Newbies" sessions to try to alleviate GMs having to answer too many questions instead of focusing on their games (I know it'll happen anyway, but I think it might help).

2) Personally, I may or may not be able to GM anything due to the mic requirement. It is a very reasonable idea you guys are putting forth for the best of reasons, but I have a small, busy, noisy house that is often just not appropriate for having voip chats. I'll see what I can do, but I figured I'd bring it up, as I don't know if I'm in the minority there.

3) Good work, guys!

[wbcreighton]

*** Friday 20th July to Sunday 22nd July.***

• We are asking GMs to run their games in 4 hours slots. This will allow players to plan their con gaming better (not having games overlap) and provide more structured ways of communicatiing time zone details to players. If as a GM you really can't fit your game into the slot (either you need more time or the slot times don't work for you) then let us know and we'll see what we can do. But, please try to keep to the slots of possible.
• We hope to span the globe - so we welcome GMs from all over. It would be great if we had games running from Friday evening New Zealand time to Sunday evening Hawaii time! :-)

Sounds awesome. Just a question on timing. So does this mean that because we are crossing the timeline that in reality the con will start on Thursday in some timezones and end on Monday in other timezones ? I'm trying to get my head around it.

[someoneinatree]

Sounds awesome. Just a question on timing. So does this mean that because we are crossing the timeline that in reality the con will start on Thursday in some timezones and end on Monday in other timezones ? I'm trying to get my head around it.

That would be correct.

Technically anytime from 7pm Friday 20 July, New Zealand local time

to

11.55pm Sunday 22 July, Hawaii local time

will fall under the limits of the convention! Although I imagine the idea is that it should be the GM's timezone that determines whether their game falls under the convention.

[wbcreighton]

Thanks for the links.

[damned]

Well done guys. I think the next big challenge is how to get the word out there - especially to non-FGII users.
I think a Con Landing page would be a good idea - with links to:
Teamspeak for Windows, Mac, Linux.
FGII
Some version of wine/bottle for the Mac/Linux crowd
Any other downloads - like C&C, SW, Gurps etc Quick Start Guides
FG cheat sheet - how to combat, how to chat, how to dicetower, how to save throw etc.
FG links - website, store, docs, pricing etc.
Etiquette guide - if you register you turn up! especially as its free - you really want to hammer that point... (imho)
Can players rate game sessions?
How easy was it to get started?
Did you enjoy the session? why/not?
Would you like to play a regular campaign? why/not?
Would you purchase a license? why/not?
Location
Preferred Genre/Ruleset

Will there be a reccomended format for each session? Especially if you are hoping to attract new players/users - you probably want 10-15mins to get everyone connected, a short FG training session - eg combat, saving throws, dice tower, chat, and then your game - and maybe even a 10min wrap up, feed back, q&a session.

Keep up the good work!

[Doswelk]

Started a thread in the Con section of the Pinnacle Forum.

[Mask_of_winter]

Good work by the committee! I like the TeamSpeak idea. It'll make coordinating the events a lot easier. A player could just show up and find a game through a coordinator who would know who's running a game and if he can take another player or not.

One thing I thought about too is that I dont have an ultimate license. I'm willing to run a couple games but the kind of players that will be able to join will be those with a lite or full license. This is a great opportunity for Smiteworks to draw more customers in. Would it be possible for Smiteworks to grant GM's a temporary ultimate license for the duration of the con? Maybe even every game a GM runs he gets a ticket and at the end of the con one lucky GM wins an ultimate license? . Hehe maybe I'm dreaming but its a Con!!

[Blackfoot]

So we are talking:

Starting Thursday, July 19, 8am Eastern (1pm GMT)
and
Ending Monday, July 23, 6am Eastern (11am GMT)

That's actually a 4 day event ... right?
Err.. My math is correct... I think.

[Trenloe]

That would be correct.

Technically anytime from 12am Friday 20 July, New Zealand local time

No, no, no!!!

It starts Friday evening New Zealand time:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclo...20720T19&p1=22