Musings about a North American Glorantha convention from Michael Schwartz on 2001-02-12 (Glorantha Digest Vol 08)

From: Michael Schwartz <mschwartz_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:46:24 -0500

I have followed the Seattle Farmers Collective's campaigns through the posts of Jeff, Neil, Pam and David on the Glorantha Digest, and through the write-ups of their play sessions on David's web site. I have been fortunate enough to attend the majority of the North American GloranthaCons in which I was a participant in the two fabulous SFC LARPs, "Orlkarl's Bull" and "Fall of the House of Malan", as well as the three wonderous Reaching Moon LARPs, "Home of the Bold", "How the West was One" and "Life of Moonson".

I truly wish I could afford to attend Convulsion and Tentacles... the various GloranthaCons were perhaps the best gaming experiences of my life. I have often considered organizing the next GloranthaCon in North America, but have reservations about committing without any form of support system. There is no way I could bankroll even the initial stages of a convention by myself, and I doubt a ready supply of investors could be found.

Costs would actually be easy to keep down, especially if I chose a venue across the river in Windsor, and I am certain a new GloranthaCon would not lack for attendees. Previous cons saw folks flying in from all across the globe, and I do not imagine that will change. Still, the largest GloranthaCon has perhaps two- or three hundred attendees, so the break-even cost per attendee would be comparatively high. I would be curious as to the margins for GloranthaCons past, in terms of minimum number of attendees required to stay out of the red.

I suppose I ought to enquire among my local Ann Arbor/Detroit crowd, plus any Windsorites or Ontarians I can scrounge up, and do what amounts to a feasability study. I really do want to see GloranthaCons springing up again. Hell, I could even do a little one, attached to U-CON here in Ann Arbor. One of my acquaintances has done as much for Tekumel, and in each of the past two years it has drawn roughly 30 hardcore Tekumel fanatics. Small beginnings, true... but the Glorantha community is much larger, and is generally much more active in the broader gaming community.

I would like to see this happen... but is there anyone willing *and* able to support it? If so, please contact me and let's begin working on a plan.

Michael Schwartz mschwartz_at_mindspring.com Ann Arbor, MI USA

End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #261