Dust off your Browncoats and come have a Horrible time at Gaelcon.

Gaelcon is proud to announce a performance of Josh Weldon's Emmy award winning Dr Horrible's Sing a Long Blog.

The performance will take place in the main all of the D4hotel's conference centre at 6:30 pm on Sunday the 25th of October and is affiliated with Can’t Stop the Serenity 2009.

The performance is free to all those attending Gaelcon but there will be a collection box and for those wishing to attend just to see the performance there are Horrible tickets which will cost 4 euro.

All funds raised by this will be going to charity, 75% to Equality Now and 25% to Gaelcon's award winning charity endeavours.


Looking forward to see you there, it will be shiny.

Timetable change for console competitions.

Gaelcon has always been about having fun and trying in include as many gamers as possible.
After several dialogues with those in the emerging fighter games community, we are happy to announce that the Street Fighter IV competition is being moved to the Sunday afternoon slot, with smash bros now taking the Saturday slot.
This means that those who are taking part in the SFIV comp at Lanparty.ie the day before now
have a weekend double header, will the same person win both competitions?
Will there be many grudge matches from the day before?
This throw down will happen in the Console lounge at Gaelcon on the Sunday and spectators are welcome.

The rules for the SFIV comp were also revised and now stand as

Street Fighter 4

A true successor to Street Fighter 2 has emerged at last!
Following some rather heated discussion the rules for our SF4 tournament are going to be:

Single elimination format.
Each match is the best of 3 sets.
Each set is the best of 3 rounds. Players may change character between sets.
All characters are allowed.
Players may use their own controllers.
Players may customize their key configuration before the match.
Pausing mid game results in a forfeit of the round by the player who pauses this, unless its agreed by both players to restart.
In the event of concerns about counter picking, double blind picking will be used.In the event of concerns about which side people are starting on a coin toss will be used to decide who gets which side.

Thanks to the mods of the fighting games forum on boards.ie for their help and to the organisers of Lanparty.ie for thier support.

You are cordially invited to Gaelcon's 21st Birthday parties...

Yes parties, for as we know all good things come in threes and for three nights there will be revels. Saturday and Sunday in Howl at the moon and then Monday post con drinks in Cassidy's.


Gaelcon celebrates its 21st birthday this year so, of course, we're ready to party!

For those of you who have had your gaming fix sated during the day at Gaelcon and don't want to continue rolling your dice on into the darkness with the late night games slot, we're planning a whole bunch of night time social fun for the convention!

The festivities begin from 8pm with the Gaelcon Pub Quiz on Saturday and the award-winning Charity Auction on Sunday - both taking place at the convention centre.

These will be followed on both nights by a mass exodus to the Gaelcon Club - Howl at the Moon on Lower Mount Street! In this luxurious venue, there are four floors of bars, including an underground bar (The Zimmer Room) and a heated roof terrace - it's looking to be a lot of fun.

The Monday evening slot begins with the closing ceremony at 7pm and continues with a more relaxed night in Cassidy's on Westmoreland Street.

Be sure to arrive before 11.30pm on Saturday night to avoid cover charge. No charge on Sunday. club winds down at 2.30am. Costumes are welcome. Bring ID!



Howl at the Moon is only an 11 minute walk from D4hotels in mostly a straight line ( or you can jump on a bus ) there and it is halfway from Gaelcon to where the nitelinks leave.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Accommodation update for Gaelcon 2009 in D4hotels.

What is the shortest stroll to Gaelcon in the D4Hotel conventions centre?
Why it has to be from a hotel room in the Ballsbridge Inn and for those who are looking at booking in for the weekend there is a 'Gaelcon price'.

For the Saturday night the it is 79euro per room and for the Sunday night the price is 59 euro per room. To make sure you get this price mention Gaelcon when making your booking.

If you do not wish to stay in the hotel attached to the conference centre ( which Gaelcon is taking over for the weekend)and are looking for other suggestions then there are listings on the Gaelcon website.

How much for a weekend of glorious gaming at Gaelcon?

As we are only 6 weeks away from the doors opening for Gaelcon 2009, we are all making plans for that long weekend of gaming. Part of those plans is budgeting for the weekend and sure to start that process you need to know what the cost of the tickets are.

So how much for a weekend of glorious gaming at Gaelcon?

14 euro for a 1 day adult ticket and 28 euro for an adult weekend ticket for the 3 days.
7 euro for a 1 day child ticket and 14 euro for a child weekend ticket for the 3 days.

Child tickets are for those who are under the age of 17 and under and there are free Parental/Guardian Tickets for parents and guardians who are not participating in the gaming festivities.

For any further information check our website http://www.gaelcon.com/gaelcon or email info@gaelcon.com.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Leaflets, leaflets everywhere but not a drop of ink....

Don't we live in a marvellous age?
It was in years gone by that those of us who were lucky enough to be able to adventure to our local games emporiums could try and pick up a copy of the leaflet for that years gaelcon. Some times alas such quests would fail or we would find the last one and be loathe to take it with us wanting others to read about what wonders and attractions would wait us come October.

These day we can deliver it to you right, here right now, in pdf.
http://www.gaelcon.com/Files/gaelcon_A3_09.pdf

Yes I know it's not the same as one you have picked up in store, folded and put in your back pocket to be warmed to your body temp and take on that certain curve, but you can always print one up, put it with your gaming books for a while and then stick it in your back pocket for a few hours if you really feel the need to.

Autumn is here and that means it will be soon be time for Gaelcon.

The summer is over and soon all the children will be back at school and we have the crisp Autumn days and evening to look forward to and of course Gaelcon.

Please make sure ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and gamers of all ages
to mark it on your calendars that this year Gaelcon is on the 24th to the 26th of October and in it's new home in D4Hotels (directions may be found here). You are all invited and we are so looking forward to seeing you there.

Battle Tech Game 2:Bullet in the Blue Sky, Sat 20th June.

BattleTech is back at Gaelcon! This year marks the game’s 25th anniversary – making it the longest consistently published science fiction game, and we’ve got a series of events planned to satisfy everyone’s need for mechanical carnage.
Once per month between May and October, in association with the Dublin Games Guild and Models Inc we will be running a game from the Jihad Turning Points: Luthien campaign pack. This story-based campaign’s battles are well-suited to both introduce new players to the BattleTech game and universe and to highlight to integrated and scalable nature of the current rule set to existing ones. This will cumulate in an epic battle at Gaelcon itself using the new Quickstrike rules designed to allow for quick battles while retaining the feel of the more detailed core game.

The second game takes place on Saturday June 20th, starting at 12PM in Models Inc, 65 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin 1.





Game 2:Bullet in the Blue Sky
Dateline: 18 July 3069
18 months have passed since the battle at the Imperial Palace. The battle for Luthien has devolved into a three-way brawl thanks to the arrival of Word Of Blake - the technology-worshipping zealots who have sown chaos, confusion and devastation across the Inner Sphere!
Luthien Armour Works - the largest 'Mech factory in the Draconis Combine lies in ruins, blasted from within by nuclear bombs set by parties unknown. The forces still loyal to the Coordinator now camp on the edge of the radiation-blasted facility, awaiting their chance to push back. The Black Dragons, wanting to press their advantage have decided to attack the loyalist positions en masse, but have made one critical mistake - their path has lead them right into a Word of Blake salvage team...
This game will be played on a set of maps created specifically for the scenario, representing the nuked ruins of Luthien Armour Works, and will use the new Radiological toxic environment rules to represent the sheer danger facing the combatants.

Gaelcon's Horrible.

Gaelcon is putting on a stage version of Dr. Horrible's singalong blog.

We are holding open casting calls on Monday the 15th in the Mercantile bar on Dame Street at 7pm.
Please have a 30sec monologue ready as well as being able to sing 30secs of the song of your choice.

These should show off your ability so ranting the first part of brand new day, though impressive, isn't going to show us how well you can sing.
The songs will be the instrumental versions which can be found here http://moseslei.net/drhorrible.html if you want to practice with them.

This is open to everyone and anyone so feel free to distribute the details to anyone and everyone who you think would be interested.

The production is to be preformed October bank holiday weekend.

BattleTec is back at Gaelcon.

BattleTech is back at Gaelcon! This year marks the game’s 25th anniversary – making it the longest consistently published science fiction game, and we’ve got a series of events planned to satisfy everyone’s need for mechanical carnage.




Once per month between May and October, in association with the Dublin Games Guild and Models Inc we will be running a game from the Jihad Turning Points: Luthien campaign pack. This story-based campaign’s battles are well-suited to both introduce new players to the BattleTech game and universe and to highlight to integrated and scalable nature of the current ruleset to existing ones. This will cumulate in an epic battle at Gaelcon itself using the new Quickstrike rules designed to allow for quick battles while retaining the feel of the more detailed core game.





The first game takes place on Saturday May 16th, starting at 12PM in Models Inc, 65 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin 1.



Game 1: Traitor’s Kiss.

Dateline: 1st January 3068

The Draconis Combine has long stood on the values of Edo-period Japan. A ruling class of Samurai and nobility above the commoners, criminals and unproductives; with the elite MechWarriors of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldery standing above them all. But Coordinator Theodore Kurita has been making progressive changes – allowing yakuza and women to fight in BattleMechs, allying with their age-old enemies against the Clans, and generally bettering the lot of the common man and woman. Standing against him is the Black Dragon Society – a shadowy cabal of conservative samurai who want to return to the good old days.



Taking advantage of the confusion following the breakup of the Second Star League and the fanatic of Word of Blake’s subsequent attacks on the Inner Sphere, the Black Dragons have decided to strike, daring to foment rebellion on the Black Pearl of Luthien – capital planet of the entire Draconis Combine. Rebel forces have captured the Voice of the Dragon compound, giving them control over the network that feeds the people news and propaganda, and now they move against the Imperial Palace itself. Standing in their way is a small number of the Coordinator’s Bodyguards and other loyal samurai.

Gaelcon GM Call

Hiya,

It's that time of year again. I've been recruited to be Gaelcon's GM Wrangler and I'm looking for volunteers.

However, it's possibly not as straight forward as usual. We're trying to promote new scenario writers but the problem that they are running into is that they don't always have a couple of names that they can put forward to run games on the day so what we want to do is get GM's together with Writers in advance of the con so that if possible they can get a copy of the scenario before the con starts.

This has the obvious benefit that GM's won't be handed scenarios just before running the games, which has been highlighted as an ongoing problem over the last couple of weeks on both the i-gaming yahoo group and on the livejournal community.

It will, also, be possible to volunteer on the day but we would like to have as many GMs lined up as possible before we open the doors.

So for those folks who are kind enough to volunteer in advance, we'd like the following information:

---

Name:
Contact Email Address:

Are you planning to attend the entire con or just one/two days?

What systems are you comfortable GMing?
What systems can you GM in a pinch?

---

If you want to volunteer, you can email me at deannawol[at]yahoo[dot]com

or private message me on livejournal at deannawol? If possible, can you please set the email subject as "GMing at Gaelcon" so that I don't miss your message.

All contact information will be kept private and don't worry, I won't be spamming you. :)


Thanks to all who volunteer,
Bon

Games Submissions Gaelcon 2009

Gaelcon is gearing up for it’s 21st year, and currently we’re looking for fantastic RPGs and LARPS that are up to the high standards that we have set in previous year - in fact forget that! We want games that will make previous years’ games look positively mediocre (a difficult challenge I know, but I am sure you are up to it). If you think that you are capable of writing a game that is up to our high standards please send us your submission.

This year we would like to run games that represent the dichotomy of the old and the new. Whichever side you want your game to represent (old, new or somewhere in between) is entirely up to you. If you’re interested in submitting a game, please send the details asked for below to us at: submissions@gaelcon.com.

The deadline for receipt of these submissions is May 31st. It may seem like a long time from now, but the sooner you get your submission in the better. Your final scenario should remain reasonably accurate to the submission but we accept that changes can occur during the writing process.

The deadline for receipt of completed submissions is the 30th September. We really would urge you to try and get your work done and finished by this date as it makes everyone’s life (yours included) much, much easier. Things are much more pleasant and enjoyable when you do not have the RPGs and LARPs coordinators hounding you for a game that you have promised but haven't delivered.

For our RPG writers, we will once again be running our Writer’s Award. Entry to the Writer’s Award is only applicable to those scenarios accepted by Gaelcon and which are completed and submitted before the 30th of September. Our Roleplaying Games Coordinators will be the judges, and their decision is final.

What we need from you:

1. A synopsis of Your Game.

What is your game about? What are the driving forces in it? What kind of plot line do you envision it having? What system (if any) is it for? Think of this as your sales pitch. Explain not only the plot, but try and give us an idea of what makes your idea different from everyone else’s.

2. 100 Word Promo for Program.

This blurb will be the public face of your game. Use it to entice players to play your scenario. There is an upper limit of 100 words for this, so you will have to think carefully about how to utilise it to best effect.

3. 50 Word Promo for Flyer.

Once the timetable has been finalised (i.e. after May 31st), Gaelcon releases a flyer which people can use to pre-book events. We will need a paragraph of no more than 50 words to promote your game in the flyer. Once again, bear in mind that those who are pre-booking will be influenced by your blurb, so think carefully about how to achieve maximum impact!

4. Contact Details.

Name, email address and phone number. If you have MSN/Yahoo IM/Googlechat, that you are willing to provide, we would love to get that too.



5. GMs.

You will need to include the names and contact details of two other people who are willing to GM your game over the weekend. Gaelcon is always desperately short of GMs for games and people are often press ganged to GM at short notice. This doesn’t do the game you’ve worked so hard on any favours. Having GMs who’ve read the scenario and had the opportunity to prepare for the game can only make for a better game.

In general we run our tabletop games(RPGs) for 5 players, but on rare occasions that just doesn’t work out. If you feel that your game would work with an extra couple of bodies at each table, let us know.

For several reasons, we recommend that Larps have no more than 25 participants and no fewer than 12. This information is necessary though to ensure “big” games are not timetabled alongside each other.

We try to keep all our games running in or around the three hour mark, as it allows players to partake in the maximum number of games over the weekend (while keeping our GM team vaguely sane) . If you feel your game would benefit from a different length of slot, let us know how long and why. Please don’t rely on a longer slot when compiling your submission, as there is no guarantee that we will be able to fit you in.

Space and Special Requirements.

We need to know if your game needs control of lights, sound, etc. We cannot promise to meet these requirements but for now we need to know what those expenses/requirements may be.

Once you have put together your submission you can either email it to the RPG and LARP coordinators at: submissions@gaelcon.com

If you’re a fan of snail mail you can post it to: Gaelcon 2009, PO Box 4345, Dublin 1, Ireland.

All submissions should be posted in time to arrive not later than May 31st. Any queries should also be sent to the above addresses. We will get back to everybody who sends a submission to let them know that we’ve received it, and we will contact you to inform you if your game is running at Gaelcon shortly after the closing date.

Final scenarios for those games which are accepted will be set a deadline of 30th September 2009. The RPG co-ordinators regret that they cannot guarantee that games not submitted before the 30th of September deadline will be run.

Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to put in a proposal!

Graham Tormey

RPGs and LARPs Coordinator

Gaelcon 2009

Wargames at Gaelcon 2009

Gaelcon 2009 may be some months away, but the members of the Cabinet of Destruction (a group of dedicated wargamers) are already working on making sure the Miniatures games are the best they've ever been. And we need you! Gaelcon 2009's miniatures games events will present a never-seen-before degree of public interaction with the launch of our games questionnaire, giving you the chance to have your voice heard as to what games will be played in what format. all you have to do is download the form from The Gaelcon Website and either send it back by email to wargames@gaelcon.com or print it out and post it to Gaelcon, PO Box 4345, Dublin 1.

And to Sweeten the deal, if you fill out the form you'll be entered into a draw for free entry to one event at the con of your choice! All opinions will be gladly welcomed - we want to make Gaelcon 2009 the best one yet and with your help we can achieve that goal.

Gaelcon's new home.

Gaelcon has a new home just outside Dublin city center. This year we will be in the conference center of the D4hotels Ballsbridge Inn on Pembroke Road.
This is an excellent choice as we will have the conference center to ourselves for the weekend including over night for the running late, late night games and events and for those who will be staying up the on site pizza palour will be open until 2am.
So how do you get there and back again?

By bus:
The Dublin bus routes 10, 18, 4/A, 5 and 7/A all run down Pembroke road and catching them from the city center will generally have you arriving right outside in 10 minutes.
The 4/A and the 7/A share the same bus stop and can be got on O'Connell street or right beside T.C.D. How many gamers will you be able to spot on the bus ?
The air coach from Dublin Airport also stops at the back of the hotel for those flying in.

By train:
The nearest Dart station to Gaelcon is Lansdowne Road DART Station a mere 5 minute walk to the Hotel.

By foot:
It is a 20 minute walk from the Stephens Green shopping center to Gaelcon.
Please check out the web site www.Gaelcon.com for more information and for any queries please contact info@Gaelcon.com.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Gaelcon's new home October bank holiday weekend 2009.

What is a Gaelcon?

Gaelcon is a gathering of gamers, who all come together in a certain place at a certain time for the same reason, to play games and have fun. The average is about 450 from all over Ireland, the U.K. and some as far flung as the U.S.A. and even Israel. This is a tradition which has been on going for the last 20 years. Each October bank holiday weekend for 3 days the convention opens to provide a place were dice are rolled, cards are played, imaginations run riot, old friendships are renewed and new ones forged. Gaelcon welcomes anyone who wants to come and play, there are a large range of games from scheduled events to casual pick up and play games running all weekend.

Gaelcon also run a charity auction which over the past 15 years has raised and donated over €271,000 to many worthy children's charities. Last year alone just over €21,000 was raised. The slogan for the auction has always been “For the kids” as the gaming community know how much joy can be had in playing games and contributes to trying to help children who's life's for what ever reason could use some help to be more fun.

Some of these charities have been:
Barretstown Gang Camp
DEBRA Ireland (the Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association)
The Cari Foundation Children At Risk in Ireland
Jack and Jill Children's Foundation
Temple Street Children's University Hospital
Crumlin Children's Hospital

The charity auction is made entirely up of donations and if you have something which you would like to donate to wards the auction then please use this email address to get in touch with this years charity officer. charity@gaelcon.com

That's what a Gaelcon is, I have been attending on and off over the last 10 years and am glad to be able to give a hand this year to help organise it; and yes if you have never been to a Gaelcon before or to any gaming convention you will be welcomed when you sit down to play and gamers love to spread the fun and turn another person into a gamer. Personally I love bringing gamer convention virgins along with me to Gaelcon and have managed to do that for the last 4 years.

www.gaelcon.com October 24th - 26th 2009. D4 Hotels, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.