No Events at Hotel Collinsville for Archon 33

The former Holiday Inn Collinsville will not be directly involved with this year's Archon convention. From the Archon 33 home page:

"There are going to be changes for Archon 33. There will be no programming or events at the Hotel Collinsville (the hotel formerly known as the Holiday Inn). All programming, including the dance, filking, and hospitality will take place at the Gateway Center. The facility will be open until 3AM on Friday and Saturday nights.

These changes were necessary due to some dramatic changes the aforementioned hotel has put into place due to new management. The Archon board feels that these changes were far too stringent to allow our attendees to have an enjoyable weekend. One such change was that they would not allow any room parties. By the way, anyone interested in hosting a room party at this year's Archon should watch for future announcements regarding the locations accepting them. "

I've read on the Atomic Squash forums that alcohol will be limited to a hospitality room in the convention center. So no more roaming the halls with booze you brought with you. You may be able to buy beer from the convention center, depending on how late they keep their concessions open. Not that it matters...

Since the facility will be open until 3AM, that is plenty late for LARPing. You'll just have to walk a little farther to find a good afterparty. I look forward to coming back this year and playing with the SLUGS crew.

I will not be attending Archon 2008

I will not be in attendance this year. My first child is due to be born during Archon and my wife does not want to give birth at the convention. If you have any updates, feel free to forward them to: djfengshui@gmail.com and I'll do my best to post them here. Have fun with the end of the world!

Update:

Colson Mark Smith was born the Monday after Archon 32. He and mother are in good health.

Blog Situation

Well, I have not updated this blog for quite a while. I will not be posting the 1969 Irish characters as they may be used in a future LARP event. The event was inteded to be run at Archon 31, but we did not get enough players. Also, there will be no direct audio posting to this blog as the service is no longer available.

Gazpacho's Pics

Tom snapped some photos. Link

Pirate Dice in Use

Take note, DJ's.

Lady Tron for my Laney

Atomic Squash Party

Here is a link to their website.

SLUGS Thursday Night Party Report

If it was not clear from the audio, I was dressed as a pirate Thursday night. It was glorious.

Slacking FTL :(

Yeah, I have not kept up with the pre-storyline on the forum. Check my links section and read it in the News of the World section of the forum. It has useful storyline information with perhaps a couple of potential characters mixed in. If I have time, I'll put the rest up. It sounds like the world has not ended yet, but will soon. And we get to play a role in it!

I do plan to post from the con, mostly by phone. Stay tuned!

Audioblog FTW!

I got the audioblog working again. Here are the instructions:

I have set up audio blogging on this blog. Anyone is welcome to use it to post about their progess in the game, spread rumors or follow up on the action. To access this feature call:

(415) 856-0205

The 'primary telephone number' is:

(618) 867-5309

The pin is:

7584

Be sure to press the '#' key to end your post. Do not hang up! Then press 1 to post to the blog, as prompted. Keep in mind that I have the right to delete and comment on any post made to this blog. Have fun! This is the last year for this as the service will soon be discontinued.

Laurence Doyle (1421)

Laurence Doyle
Ghoul of Sarra Brennan

Almost two decades ago, the gang wars of Dublin broke out. You, like most people, hid out in your flat during the evening. One rainy night, a young woman pounded on your door. She was covered in blood and scared, so you let her in.

You gave her some privacy while she cleaned up, and gave her a dress that some lass had left at your place to replace the one she was wearing. You saw an opportunity for some action, and decided to take advantage of the situation. You offered to share your last bottle of table wine with her, and she accepted. As you drank your glass, it tasted like the wine had gone bad. Since Sarra seemed to be enjoying hers, you weren’t about to complain. You passed out after the first glass.

It turns out that she was the slayer of the vampiric ruler of Dublin, and that the gang wars were actually clan wars between Ventrue and Tremere. You were made the ghoul of the Tremere leader. After two years of hell on the streets of Dublin, your side prevailed. 18 years have passed since then, and now Sarra and her “husband” Henry are one of the power couples of Dublin.

Recently, the uneasy peace in Dublin has been rocked. A plague is affecting Dublin, and Sarra seems to know who is behind it. She has been working the network of vampires to arrange a meeting in Dun Boyne this weekend between the English and Irish elite. Ostensibly, the English will be trading barley from Wales for water from Ireland. The reality is that Sarra is using this weekend to single out the responsible parties for the recent changes in Dublin. You and her entourage are going this weekend to the “social event”.

After 18 years as a ghoul to Sarra, things are getting tiring. You have worked relentlessly under her command, patiently waiting to be embraced. It appears that she is never going to do it, and the time has come to find a new master. You suspect Sarra’s other ghoul, Peter Knowlan, feels the same. Henry has shown undying faith in Sarra, so he isn’t a good candidate. You know some of the Ventrue will be at this event, so maybe it is time to switch sides…The two problems with that are: the Ventrue hate you and Sarra can never find out your intentions.

Sarra will be looking to you for protection, as usual. If you can arrange a deal with another Clan before the shit hits the fan, then you can wait until just the right moment to seek vengeance for all those years of being taken for granted. It would be grand if everything could go against her AND you could gain your immortality in the process.

What is this?

SLUGS LARP at Archon 30 Game Description

From the Archon gaming website:

"This is the event that brings us closer to the end of the 15 year storyling that SLUGS has brought to Archon. The event will again be for 80 players. It is not required for you to have played in any previous event as all our games are self contained. There is no preregistration for security purposes but we will again divide the registration for up to 40 players on thursday and then open again on Friday for the remaining spots. This will allow and equal chance to signup for those who cannot attend on Thursday. Individual character packets will be distributed at the 7pm manditory meeting for all interested players. This meeting will be held in the Gateway Center Mississippian Room. This event continues on Saturday night."

Faux News Network Report-News Flash 10-18-04

From the SLUGS forum:

10-18-04

Beruit, Lebanon (reporting city)

Without formal declaration Israel has launched a pre-emptive strike against its neighboring nation of Syria, expending the first nuclear weapon against a civilian target in almost sixty years. Hama, a city of over four hundred thousand, was yotally destroyed when an Israeli MIRV (fig. 2) was delivered to the city center. Casualties among the target population are estimated as total, with any rescue attempts prevented by a massive firestorm after the initial blast, which consumed all structures and released huge amounts of radioactive fallout from the debris and smoke particles. Although public outcry and international condemnation runs high, there have, as yet, been no retaliatory strikes on Israeli soil.

NATO forces detected the blast in Hama immediately, say sources. World tensions have become extreme - unnamed sources report that for several minutes United States Strategic forces were placed at Defense Condition (Defcon) One, in which nuclear forces are fully prepared and await Presidential order - before dropping to a comparatively low but still unprecedneted Defcon 2, where it stands at the time of this report. Emergency political and military delegations have been sent to Israel, Syria, and neighboring states in an effort to contain and prevent the spread of future attacks.

You are in the low-spin zone. Faux News Network 24 hours a day.

More from action central news 10-16-04

From the SLUGS forum:

10-16-04

TEHRAN- An official release by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's cabinet, responding to Russia's statements on October 14 at The Hague, has categorically denied placing weaponry on the so-called "Thor's Hammer" satellite. "Iran", the statement went on to declare, "is a peaceful nation in accordance with the teachings of Islam and, although not oppossed in principle to the modification of peacetime satellites, had no involvement with the attack on Montreal, Canada. "

In the closing remarks of the Iranian release, Khomeni's government reproved Russia's accusations, calling them 'cowardly' and 'another attempt to take advantage of false prejudices against the peace-loving Iranian people, propagated by the corrupt Western media for its own political ends.'

Asked for further comment on the Montreal attack, Khatami would only state that Montreal was "a modern Sodom" and, "like that decadent city, deserved a Sodom's end."

Euroview Daily-Translated from the Italian Edition 10-14-04

From the SLUGS forum:

10-14-04

Netherlands - Appearing at The Hague, President Putin continues to
head the ongoing investigation of the "Thor's Hammer" satellite project. Documents submitted by the Russian president strongly implicate that the satellite, launched from the pads of Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, may have been extensively and secretly modified by the Iranian government prior to liftoff. In accord with the Hague procedure, Iran's government has been granted a chance to appear and defend itself.

Euroview Daily-Translated from the Belgian Edition 10-12-04

From the SLUGS forum:

MOSCOW - Russian President Putin's government has issued a quick response to NATO's report on the since-designated 'Thor's Hammer' bomb that devastated Montreal, Canada. While admitting that the weapon did in fact originate from a 2001 Russian orbital satellite, Moscow completely denies that the satellite was military in nature or that the attack on Canada was any reflection on Russia's policy. The satellite, reports Putin, was designed and built for tracking and classifying Arctic weather patterns and had no military significance whatsoever. When asked what purpose any weapon of mass destruction could have aboard a weather satellite, Putin declared that the entire project was not only Russian but also an Iranian effort, and that inquiries are currently being made with the Iranian government.

New York Daily Times-Journal 10-5-04

From the SLUGS forum:

10-5-04

United Nations -- Calling upon all nations to remain calm and resourceful, a special UN commission today has officially determined the nature of the device used in the October 2 explosion in Montreal, Canada. Speaking for the press the UN Director stated that "It was definitely a sophisticated weapon of mass destruction, but we have conclusively learned that it was not nuclear, nor was it the result of an air or missile attack. The weapon exploded on the ground, making the most likely that the device was smuggled into the city or was secretly constructed there." When asked whether the weapon could be proven to be North Korean he replied that, "results are currently inconclusive as to the weapon's source." He would not comment on the ossibility that more of these weapons may exist in other cities.

As speculations proliferate and the stability of global markets continues to deteriorate due to panic selling, the UN commission has promised to make every effort to resolve the matter as soon as it possibly can.

Faux News Network Report 10-4-04

From the SLUGS forum:

10-4-04

PYONGYANG: An emergency diplomatic dialogue between Chinese and North Korean ambassadors has just concluded after a heated exchange. The specifics of the meeting have not been publicly disclosed but within minutes the Chinese delegation was escorted to its motorcade and the Pyongyang airport. Many of the delegates left the meeting in a highly charged emotional state, with one of the press officers actually shouting to reporters in Mandarin that they "officially think he [Chairman Kim Jong-il] is insane.”

Moments afterward an official press release was issued by the diplomatic office of the People's Republic of China. Effective immediately, China has severed diplomatic and trade relations with North Korea and its government. All Chinese military forces and administrative personnel have been recalled back to the Chinese border. Citizens abroad in North Korea have also been instructed by their government to return home immediately, via specially chartered civilian airliners protected with priority status and Chinese security forces. The Chinese embassy has been totally closed.

No comments have yet been forthcoming from the North Korean government.

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