[Blog] Minnesota Team Plan Dave Arneson Convention in October 2022

[Havard]

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 As a response to the post I made [url=http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/2022/07/davecon-2023-in-works.html]yesterday about DaveCon 2023, one of the members of the Minnesota Team of gamers reached out to me and told me a bit more about their plans for a separate convention in October this year. 

The Minnesota Team told me they do not wish to be seen as working against DaveCon. The original Blackmoor players have been meeting for gaming each year for as long as Dave Arneson was alive. When Dave passed away, Bob Meyer took over responsibilities as the Dungeon Master of the group starting with the memorial game in 2010 that Dave's daughter also mentions in Secrets of Blackmoor. The planned convention in October is to be a continuation of these annual conventions. While no official announcement has yet been made, I was told that David Wesely will be present running Braunstein Games as will Bill Hoyt. Most likely other members of the original group and their friends will also attend. 

What this means to me is that fans of Blackmoor, Dave Arneson and gaming in general get two conventions instead of one. And there seems to be enough of an interest to support both conventions. That is a very good thing. I hope as many as possible support all of these projects to commemorate the legacy of Dave Arneson and celebrate gaming in all its forms.

-Havard

Read full version: http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/202...neson.html


So, apparently lots of Dave Arneson related events coming in the months ahead!

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

[/url]

 As a response to the post I made [url=http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/2022/07/davecon-2023-in-works.html]yesterday about DaveCon 2023, one of the members of the Minnesota Team of gamers reached out to me and told me a bit more about their plans for a separate convention in October this year. 

The Minnesota Team told me they do not wish to be seen as working against DaveCon. The original Blackmoor players have been meeting for gaming each year for as long as Dave Arneson was alive. When Dave passed away, Bob Meyer took over responsibilities as the Dungeon Master of the group starting with the memorial game in 2010 that Dave's daughter also mentions in Secrets of Blackmoor. The planned convention in October is to be a continuation of these annual conventions. While no official announcement has yet been made, I was told that David Wesely will be present running Braunstein Games as will Bill Hoyt. Most likely other members of the original group and their friends will also attend. 

What this means to me is that fans of Blackmoor, Dave Arneson and gaming in general get two conventions instead of one. And there seems to be enough of an interest to support both conventions. That is a very good thing. I hope as many as possible support all of these projects to commemorate the legacy of Dave Arneson and celebrate gaming in all its forms.

-Havard

Read full version: http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.com/202...neson.html


So, apparently lots of Dave Arneson related events coming in the months ahead!

-Havard

Interesting. The story just keeps changing. The 'Minnesota Team' is basically Kevin McColl, with Griffith Morgan sort of attached, and they have yet to develop any kind of actual plan for running a convention of any kind, let alone one in honor of Dave Arneson. What used to be the original 'Blackmoor Bunch' has fragmented a bit, with each person pushing their individual agendas.

Both sets of convention organizers have been in contact with me to try and get me to support their events - up to this point, it's been "either you're with me, or you're against me!", and that's gotten very, very old. I am loyal to Dave Arneson, not to any particular faction of his fans; I agree with you that events honoring Dave and his legacy would be great, and these event organizers could come up with a much better event *cooperating* then by the behaviors that they've displayed to me. (And to others, I am saddened to note.)

Because of what's been going on around here - I, I am unhappy to have to say - behind the scenes, I do not plan on participating in either of the 'Duelling Dave Cons' in any way. I've been asked to run my huge miniatures games - and bring my players to the event as paying customers, of course - as well as run RPGs - and bring those players as customers, of course - so I feel that I'm being viewed as a cash cow rather then as a real person. I've put a ton of money into my games and my gaming over the years, and that stopped dead when this whole 'convention thing' exploded onto the local scene. I am concentrating on the games I run with and for my friends, and that's about it.

I wish both events and their organizers all the best, and I hope that their events are successful. But, I'm staying well away from the situation; I don't need the dramatic phone calls while I'm at work, the agonized e-mails, and the postings on the Internet.

So, good luck to them all.

[Havard]

Interesting. The story just keeps changing. The 'Minnesota Team' is basically Kevin McColl, with Griffith Morgan sort of attached, and they have yet to develop any kind of actual plan for running a convention of any kind, let alone one in honor of Dave Arneson. What used to be the original 'Blackmoor Bunch' has fragmented a bit, with each person pushing their individual agendas.

Both sets of convention organizers have been in contact with me to try and get me to support their events - up to this point, it's been "either you're with me, or you're against me!", and that's gotten very, very old. I am loyal to Dave Arneson, not to any particular faction of his fans; I agree with you that events honoring Dave and his legacy would be great, and these event organizers could come up with a much better event *cooperating* then by the behaviors that they've displayed to me. (And to others, I am saddened to note.)

Because of what's been going on around here - I, I am unhappy to have to say - behind the scenes, I do not plan on participating in either of the 'Duelling Dave Cons' in any way. I've been asked to run my huge miniatures games - and bring my players to the event as paying customers, of course - as well as run RPGs - and bring those players as customers, of course - so I feel that I'm being viewed as a cash cow rather then as a real person. I've put a ton of money into my games and my gaming over the years, and that stopped dead when this whole 'convention thing' exploded onto the local scene. I am concentrating on the games I run with and for my friends, and that's about it.

I wish both events and their organizers all the best, and I hope that their events are successful. But, I'm staying well away from the situation; I don't need the dramatic phone calls while I'm at work, the agonized e-mails, and the postings on the Internet.

So, good luck to them all.

Thanks for your input on this Chirine!

Sorry to hear about your experiences and your decision to stay out of both conventions. Two events sounds like it could be twice the fun, but I agree with you that this would require cooperation and a shared goal of honoring Dave's legacy. 

I have always known you to be loyal to Dave and you have been very supportive of this site. Not having you attend would be a big loss for both conventions as I see it. 

October is still a while off. Hopefully we see positive development in the weeks ahead.

-Havard

[chirine ba kal]

Agreed, wholeheartedly, with the thoughts about a convention for Dave!

Me personally, I dunno; I'm so far out there on the fringes of what's considered 'mainstream gaming' - and have been since the 1970s, with things like the Great Mos Eisely Spaceport Raid - that I think I'm pretty irrelevant to the modern gaming world. I'm happy to continue to be a resource, for anyone who asks, and I'll still be here.