An announcement was just made about ArneCon 2023. While it is exciting for all Blackmoor fans that this event is approaching, the announcement also contradicts much of the information provided in the
original announcement made in April, including moving the dates almost a month back, and raises some questions.
Welcome to the first ever Arnecon! Brought to you by The Fellowship of the Thing, Ltd - creators of the film, Secrets of Blackmoor and the book, The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg.
“...After all, the keynote is, that ‘Anything is Possible’, just that some [things] are more likely than others.”- David Arneson
Officially sanctioned by the Estate of Dave Arneson
Set in an intimate locale, Arnecon is a gathering honoring the creative genius of Dave Arneson and his game group, The Blackmoor Bunch. It is a panoply of game experiences - featuring miniatures war-games, board games, and role playing games.
Come game with the people who were there when Role Playing was invented.
A celebration of the friendships formed through gaming - where everyone is welcome and "anything is possible".
Come, try a new game, make new friends, and explore the unlimited possibilities of gaming. Most of all - have fun!
Special Guests:
- Malia Arneson - Dave Arneson’s daughter.
- David Wesely - A half-elf in Blackmoor. Known for Strategos - A adaptation of Totten’s Strategos;
- The American game of war, The Braunstien RPG, Valley Forge, and Co-author of Source of the Nile.
- Paul Stormberg - Creator of the Legends of Wargaming, and Owner, The Collector's Trove.
- Ross Maker - The worlds first Dwarf character in Blackmoor. Co-author of Source of the Nile.
- Stephen Rocheford - The High Priest of the Temple of the Frogs, Owner of Lavender Magazine, Minnesota’s premier LGBTQ+ news source.
- Gail Gaylord - The first woman to play fantasy RPGs. Known for having typed development drafts of Dungeons & Dragons for Dave Arneson.
- Martin Noetzel - The Wandering Elf in Blackmoor and a keen fan of online RPGs.
Event Submissions Open August 31!
More to come...
Special room hotel rates for Arnecon will be available on a limited basis.
Dates
Fri, Oct 20 2023, 5:00pm - 12:00am
Sat, Oct 21 2023, 8:00am - 12:00am
Sun, Oct 22 2023, 8:00am - 6:00pm
Time zone: America/Chicago (UTC -05:00)
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Contact Us
(303) 872-7666
Venue
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place
1500 Park Pl Blvd, Minneapolis, MN 55416, USA
The most exciting thing for me is to see the list of honored guests. It is very nice to see that so many of the original players are able to make an appearance. It would be nice to see even more of the original group make an appearance, but there could be many reasons why not all are able to go. It is also nice to see Malia's name on the list.
What came as a surprise to many is that this event is designated as ArneCon 1. The name ArneCon was first coined by
Original Player David Megarry back in 2019, when the idea of a convention similar to GaryCon, but in other of the other D&D Co-Creator was first mentioned. The name ArneCon was actually used for
the convention organized last year in the Twin Cities, so what makes the 2023 convention the first ArneCon?
The 2022 ArneCon was originally teased by Blackmoor Documentary makers Griffith Morgan and Chris Graves (AKA The Fellowshin of the Thing), but when they dropped out,
local organizers lead by Kevin McColl took over. Kevin at the time stressed that he saw the event as a continuation of the gathering Dave Arneson's Players had continued after Dave's passing, typically organized around Dave's birthday on October 1st, also known as Dave Arneson Gameday.
This new ArneCon appears to be a clean break from past events with the Fellowship of the Thing taking full charge of the event. Moving the dates also separates the convention from the Blackmoor Social Event
announced for Octobers 1st. Moreover the
Facebook event for ArneCon 2023 now points to the wrong dates and details.
I wish ArneCon 2023 all the success it can get and I think it has the potential to become a great event. However, from this corner, it looks like there much unused potential in getting better coordination between various groups of Blackmoor enthusiasts.
UPDATE:
Additional information from Kevin McColl:
Technically the same people behind setting this up have had two other conventions that had to be cobble together because of peoples health. After the first one we had COVID-19 kick in, and the second one which we still did Chris was in the hospital. Morgan might be listing it as the first one but it’s not. Even though we didn’t have that working title for the first two. In case anyone’s confused
-Havard
