Arcanacon 2008: Year Zero

[morsla]

It's been too long since I wrote a tabletop game for a convention. The most recent was Silent Streets at Retrocon 2004. I'll be a ConOrg at Conquest, in Sydney during RetroCon, and in Europe during UniCon this year... so I'm setting a course for Arcanacon 2008.

I like making props for games. Sound clips, newspaper clippings, surveillance photos, newsgroup posts, travel documents... I love making all the minutiae that can add detail to a story. I also like scenarios painted in many different shades of grey - settings where a dozen background factions blindly do what they think is right, based on the biased information they have. Every game plays differently, as the players steer the camera through their personal stories.

_{I AM TRYING TO BELIEVE}

So, when I stumbled across this RPG.net thread about the viral marketing campaign that's slowly unfolding for NIN's next album, I was hooked. Recorded phone messages. 'Lost' USB keys with important files. White noise samples that display as ghostly images on a spectrogram. Strings of code that become IP addresses or phone numbers. Plus, when the album finally comes out I'll have a soundtrack :)

I don't know how much of the Year Zero material I'll use directly, but I think it's about time I put together a paranoid conspiracy game. Plus, with almost a year to add detail to it I'll be able to manufacture disinformation to my heart's content...

If you have some spare time, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_(album) and follow a few of the links. The campaign has an impressive scope so far, and it's still unfolding.

Sender: water@iamtryingtobelieve.com
Thank you for your interest. It is now clear to me that Parepin is a completely safe and effective agent developed to protect us from bio-terrorism. The Administration is acting purely in the best interests of its citizens; to suggest otherwise was irresponsible and I deeply regret it.

I'm drinking the water. So should you.

Comments

[mousebane.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of viral marketing. The first time I came across it was for the Serenity movie - small clips on the net.
The stuff for this album sounds even more extensive and rather cool.

[aeduna.livejournal.com]

Tangently - if you're going to be in Europe (with louise?) who is orging for Unicon? :)

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, a whole bunch of people who actually go to uni :) I'm starting to poke at people... I'm happy to help get things moving, but Louise and I will be flying out in early September.

We may have some people from LaTrobe getting involved this year, too - they have a trio of RPG/Wargaming/CCG clubs that are in their third year of operation, and one of the members gave me his details to pass on to the other conorgs.

The last three years have built up enough momentum for the con, but there's always that tricky bit at the start of the year when we have to book a venue.

[aeduna.livejournal.com]

Heh, what a concept :)

Feel free to pass my details on if they want to use AON again, and for website and all - I've already set the db up

Hopefully I'll have a session or two spare at Arcanacon to play your game :) (running a cthulhu myself)

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... cthulhu...

I'll be running Warmachine on the Friday, and probably putting a couple of Saturday's sessions into judging the 40k painting. Other than that, I'm hoping to spend all the rest of the con in the main building.