Warpcon

Warpcon is Cork's biggest gaming convention, and the Republic of Ireland's largest student-run gaming convention. It is run every year, during the last weekend of January, and is now after entering into its 18th year [Warpcon 2008 Available: http://www.warpcon.com/ Accessed: 19th May, 2008] .

WARPS (the UCC Wargaming And Roleplaying Society) are the organisers of the event and have grown it from a small student event into one of the biggest conventions in the country.

Each year, there are dozens of RPGs from a plethora of systems, CCGs, Heroclix, tabletop wargaming, LARPS and more run each day of the weekend.

Warpcon also has a world renowned charity auction where all manner of things are sold, includingsigned first-edition pre-launch books, slots to appear as drawn by John Kovalic in a Steve Jackson Games card game or in Dork Tower, rare collectible cards, Jayne Cobb's hat (as worn by Adam Baldwin from the hit tv show Firefly), and even the first ever My Little Cthulhu toy and more are among the things sold in previous auctions.

Warpcon 16 was a joint winner, along with Gaelcon, of the "Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming" for the charity auctions run each year [Diana Jones Award: 2006 Winner: Available: http://www.dianajonesaward.org/06winner.html Accessed: 19th May 2007] . Warpcon is also famous for its Saturday night Club Warpcon event where the convention sells tickets to a private night club in Cork city.

During Warpcon weekend, on the lower grounds of University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork, the UCC Medieval Renaissance society runs The Battle of the Flags event. The 'Flags', as it is commonly known is the 'rebated steel' medieval combat competition open to anyone who has fought or trained with the society previously. Though the rules change from year to year, up to twelve teams of up to eight fighters take each other on in a melee. The aim is to capture as many other teams flags as possible, by tagging each member of the opposing teams with 'kill shots'. [Battle of the Flags 2008 rules: http://livinghistory.ie/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1221] .

Each year there are a variety of special guests from a range of different backgrounds. Warpcon 17 saw the return of John Kovalic as one of Warpcon's esteemed guests, and also saw Gar Hanrahan, a Cork native GM who has recently begun working for Mongoose Publishing as a dedicated scenario writer.

Warpcon 18 special guests included John Kovalic and gameworkshop's Jervis Johnson.

Links

* [http://www.warpcon.com/ Official Site]
* [http://www.dianajonesaward.org/ The Diana Jones Award]
* [http://www.ucc.ie/ UCC]
* [http://www.uccwarps.org/ The UCC WARPS Website]

References