Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Not-a-JiffyCon at Modern Myths on September 17th

*apologies in advance for cross-posting*

Dear JiffyCon Adherents,

For all those of you who have been waiting in suspense about informal gaming this Saturday (September 17th), wait no longer!

We will be holding a no-frills, Not-a-JiffyCon playdate at the new attic space above Modern Myths* (http://www.modern-myths.com/) in Northampton, MA starting at 11 a.m.** (when the store opens) until whenever we are given the boot. Modern Myths thus earns the title of our sole sponsor and space provider.

* IMPORTANT: The landlord is waiting until the last minute to tell us if we are actually able to use the attic space in Modern Myths, but has guaranteed us an alternate space. Therefore, it's best that you watch for updates from us over the next few days. And when in extreme doubt, just check with the friendly folks at Modern Myths first and they'll know where we are.

**...and if the venue isn't Modern Myths, we'll try to start earlier at 9 a.m. if we can. Like I said, check for updates from us.

So, what does "no frills" mean?

Well, as opposed to the normal JiffyCons, we will not:

* be charging an entrance fee.
* formally organizing GMs into events. Sign-up sheets might happen
* pre-determining slots beforehand. We'll do that on-site, eyeballing the length of games, etc.
* providing childcare (though we wish we could!)
* providing snacks beyond rudimentary offerings from that of generous private donors (i.e. everybody who comes)
* organizing other outside fun things such as a banquet, a designer's breakfast
* having vendors present besides, of course, Modern Myths

We're talking about a space, some tables, some chairs, some great people and some great games, all for the cost of just showing up on Saturday.

The next official JiffyCon is, as stated earlier, postponed until next year, when a suitable regular venue presents itself to the organizing committee.

Thanks for your patience and we'll see those of you can make it on Saturday!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Important News about Jiffy in September


Big changes for Jiffy in September! Due to some unforeseen circumstance, we won't be able to hold the full Jiffy that we'd planned, with banquet and kid care. If you have pre-paid for the event, we will refund your registration. We were very excited to have Jiffy at the Pushkin, and hope to do so in the future!

Instead, we are holding a Little Jiffy: a free game day where we will get together, play role playing games and board games, and possibly spend time together afterwards in a spontaneous and freeform way. The site will be in Northampton, MA, and the final details are being confirmed now, and we'll post information here as soon as possible.

Please let us know if you want to come! Many of the games scheduled for JiffyCon will be run! We're excited to have fun in a scaled down way, and hope to see you there.

To let us know you're coming email:

jiffycon[at]gmail.com

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

JiffyCon Pre-Registration Now Live!

You may now e-mail jiffycon[at]gmail.com to secure YOUR space for JiffyCon Greenfield at the Pushkin, September 17, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

In the e-mail, please tell us:

* Your name
* If you have any kids, and what their names/ages are
(If you told us this for JiffyCon Northampton 2011, we've got it)
* If you're a game designer and want to advertise at the con
* If you are interested in a potential post-JiffyCon banquet and if so, paying for a $20 ticket for the catering
* How you heard about us

If you tell us you're coming before September 7th, you get $2 off the $20 door price AND a free button with the JiffyCon monkey logo!

Running a game or volunteering for us? It's $5 off!

Sign up to run a game here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dF9PMjlUbmFDTkZ4a3JrYk1QYWszNVE6MA

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Featured Games at JiffyCon Greenfield

Our line-up includes some great indie titles thus far:

Tales of the Fisherman's Wife
Misspent Youth
Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies
Battle School, an Ender's Game hack of 1001 Nights
3:16 Carnage Among the Stars

...as well as board games on loan all day.

Keep them coming! you have until September 7th to submit your game here.

Pre-registration information will be up shortly.

A New Look for Jiffy






This summer we held the JiffyCon Logo Contest. Our thanks and congratulations go out to David Berg from New York City for his wonderful Flying Monkey drawings and this JiffyCon logo, as well as creative doodles that we'll use for program materials. Also, to Epidiah Ravachol, for his Black Sabbath inspired poster, that he'll be adapting for our use to flyer the Pioneer Valley for JiffyCon in September.

Thank you so much! It's wonderful to have a new look for our 5th year of JiffyCon!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

We need GMs!

Calling all GMs and game designers: JiffyCon needs you!

As mentioned in the previous post, JiffyCon is coming to the Pushkin Gallery in Greenfied, MA on September 17, 2011. We need GMs of all walks and persuasions, from table top rpgs to board games, and beyond.

The deadline to sign up to run a game is September 7th.

Please sign up using our handy form found here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dF9PMjlUbmFDTkZ4a3JrYk1QYWszNVE6MA

JiffyCon Greenfield Announced -- September 17, 2011

SAVE THE DATE - SEPTEMBER 17TH

JiffyCon will be returning to Greenfield on September 17th, tentatively located at the Pushkin in Greenfield, MA. In addition to a variety of independent role-playing games and board gaming, it will feature such glorious events as the Game Designers' Breakfast and the Dress-Anyway-You-Like Banquet.

Stay tuned for information about pre-registration and game-mastering events!

(We'll also be getting a new look on this website shortly... Don't be alarmed, but do be impressed when it comes).

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Schedule for JiffyCon Boston, Saturday, June 25th

JiffyCon Boston is almost here!

Sign up for both the morning and afternoon sessions will take place from 8:30am to 9am for each person immediately following their on-site payment of the $10 registration fee.

Want to preregister? Last minute questions? Mail jiffycon@gmail.com.

When & Where: JiffyCon Boston will be held on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at the Unity Church in Davis Square, Somerville, MA.
Note: Most of the parking in Davis Square is limited to 2-hour or permit only. We strongly suggest you take the T to Davis Square.

Schedule
Doors open at 8:30am.
Sign up for Games: 8:30am to 9am.
Morning Session: 9am to 12:30pm.
Lunch Break: 12:30pm to 2pm.
Afternoon Session: 2pm to 6pm.
Doors close at 6:30pm.

Unlike at some previous JiffyCons, lunch is not included in the registration fee, but there are plenty of excellent places for lunch in Davis Square.

Morning Session

Combat Diaries
Revisit World War II with a system that emphasizes dramatic action and teamwork.
GM: Zeke
For 3-6 players.

Microscope
A collaborative game of sweeping story arcs covering the rise and fall of generations, empires, worlds, or you name it. We'll create a broad era to play (e.g. “humanity takes to the stars”, “the conquering of new continents in a fantasy world”, etc.), create pivotal events, and play out scenes from the lives of those whose fates are intertwined with the great changes afoot. Come with an open mind and a willingness to create a world together. Microscope was written by Ben Robbins.
GM: Emily Boss
For 2-4 players.

Polaris
Long Ago the People were Dying at the End of the World.
Come join the Knights Stellar and try to hold back the grinding decay of your once proud civilization. What will you sacrifice to maintain your people and your soul?
GM: Tom Russell
For 2-4 players.

Vampire Hunter: 2031 (Loom)
The Earth has become a bleak and blasted hell with humanity huddled in a few heavily fortified arcologies. Though the Vampire Wars are over, nothing has returned to normal and the constant threat of another outbreak looms over all possible futures. Then the rumors started, about vampires growing in number again, and behaving very differently then the bestial predators humanity had been fighting for over a decade. These vampires seemed to be organized and deliberate. Something has to be done!
You have been chosen to leave the arcology and find the source of this new threat. Your group of badasses, hardened by a hard world, will set-out to find and eliminate the source of this growing threat. You're not fighting for glory or fame or wealth, you're fighting for the chance of surviving one more day in a world dead-set against that outcome.
GM: Stephen A. Jarjoura
For 3-6 players.

Afternoon Session

Burning Hoopleheads
The lawless frontier of Nineteenth Century America played using the Burning Wheel RPG system.
GM: Christopher “Tewhill” Corbett
For 4-6 players.

FreeMarket
We are a society of functionally immortal, cybernetically modified, telepathic infovores. Our culture is centered on a reputation-based economy in which all basic needs—sustenance and shelter—are accounted for. If you wish to do more than just survive—if you wish to create, perform, build, or destroy—you must win the approval of your friends and the community at large. Our “community at large” is currently over 80,000 strong. It is contained in a Stanford Torus-style space station parked at the L5 Lagrange point of Titan and Saturn. Our habitat was designed to hold 40,000 comfortably. We’ve modified it to accommodate our expanding numbers. There are no laws in our society, yet there is also no crime and no death. So we think we’re doing a fair job. You are now one of us. Welcome to FreeMarket!
GM: Tresi
For 1-4 players.

The Last Van Hoern (Cthulhu Dark)
You've received a desperate sounding letter from an old college friend, begging you to come to his ancestral home in the hills of Worcester, MA. The letter intimates a terrible fate awaiting him, a horror that has haunted his family for a dozen generations, and if you can't help him then no one living can.
Do you dare risk your health, sanity, even your life to unravel the mystery of The Last Von Hoern?
GM: Stephen A. Jarjoura
For 3-6 players.

Swords Without Master
Daring rogues, brawny warriors, dark magics, glory, treasure, and grave misfortunes. Swords Without Master is a sword & sorcery descendant of MonkeyDome in which you play rogues in the same vein as Fafhrd and Gray Mouser gallivanting and adventuring.
GM and Designer: Epidiah Ravachol
For 3-4 players.

About JiffyCon: JiffyCon is a one day mini roleplaying convention. Focusing on small-press, independently published roleplaying and board games, JiffyCon is a whole day devoted to nothing but having fun playing games.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

JiffyCon Boston 2011: Saturday June 25


Saturday June 25 is about a month away! We look forward to seeing you at JiffyCon Boston in Davis Square!

Sign up for both the morning and afternoon sessions will take place from 8:30am-9am for each person immediately following their on-site payment of the $10 registration fee.

Schedule
Doors open at 8:30am.
Sign up for Games: 8:30-9am.
Session 1: 9am to 12:30pm.
Lunch Break: 12:30pm to 2pm.
Session 2: 2pm to 6pm.

Games Currently Planned
• Burning Hoopleheads (Burning Wheel adapted for Deadwood)
• Combat Diaries
FreeMarket
• The Last Von Hoern (Cthulhu Dark)
Microscope
Polaris
Swords Without Master
• Vampire Hunter: 2031 (Loom)

Unlike at some previous JiffyCons, lunch is not included in the registration fee. But there are plenty of excellent places for lunch in Davis Square, and we will provide a list of our favorite restaurants in easy walking distance.

About JiffyCon: JiffyCon is a one day mini roleplaying convention. Focusing on small-press, independently published roleplaying and board games, JiffyCon is a whole day devoted to nothing but having fun playing games.

When & Where: JiffyCon Boston will be held on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at the Unity Church in Davis Square, Somerville, MA.

Want to let us know you're coming? Register by emailing jiffycon@gmail.com!
Interested in running a game? GMs sign up here!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

GMs for JiffyCon Boston June 2011

JiffyCon returns to the Boston area on Saturday 25 June 2011, and we're looking for folks to run games! Deadline for signing up to run games is Saturday 11 June. You can sign up online here:


We will be back in Davis Square at Unity Church on College Ave.

Tentative Schedule:
Doors open at 8:30am.
Sign up for Games: 8:30-9am.
Session 1: 9am to 12:30pm or 1pm.
Lunch Break: 12:30pm or 1pm to 2pm.
Session 2: 2pm to 6pm.

We have not yet determined if we're offering a pizza lunch as in previous years or instead making a restaurant map for Davis Square.

Entry Fee:
TBD, likely $10-15 per person, kids under 5 free

In past JiffyCons we've featured locally grown games like Time and Temp, Shooting the Moon, Misspent Youth, 1001 Nights, and Shock:Human Contact as well as games in development such as Tales of the Fisherman's Wife, Swords without Master, and board games like Mechaton. We love both the old school and the newfangled. Our attendees have come from far and wide throughout New England, and our attendance has steadily increased over the past three years. We couldn't have done it without the kind folks who GM, DM, and facilitate GM-less goodness.

A more general announcement is forthcoming, once we have a few games signed up and settle on lunch details!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Nordic Larp Talk








Nordic Larp: Grassroots Expression and Playful Art
Markus Montola, School of Information Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.

Monday April 4, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Isenberg School of Management Room 137

Montola will discuss the unique Scandinavian live action role playing (larp) culture that has blossomed over the last decade. Players Immerse themselves in transmedia narratives that take place anywhere from insane asylums to medieval villages with animatronic dragons, from starships made from submarines to Strindberg productions. He will also distinguish the pervasive larp medium from theater, psychodrama and experimental art, providing illustrative examples of this grassroots form of expression.

WWW.UMASS.EDU/IMPULSES

Also Planned:
Speed Gaming Evening, Saturday April 7, 2011
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 pm
Northampton, MA
(spaces limited)

Four GMs are sitting at four different tables, and each of them has a different indie RPG. Players (quite possibly in groups of three or four) move between the different tables every 10-15 minutes. After an hour, the GMs switch up and new games are on offer. Everyone gets a "sampling" of what the game's about and how it works, before then moving on to the next one. It's a great way of exposing people to a large number of games over a short period of time!

For more information, please contact Evan Torner at etorner@german.umass.edu

Friday, January 21, 2011

JiffyCon Games, January 23, 2011



Sunday, January 23rd is nearly upon us. We look forward to seeing you at JiffyCon Northampton!

Sign up for both the morning and afternoon sessions will take place from 9 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. for each person immediately following their on-site payment of the entry fees. The first session starts at 9:30.

After you have arrived and paid, put your name down for one game in each slot. If the game you wanted is full, go with your second choice. Trust us -- all the games will be fun! You can only sign yourself up; your friends must do the same.

If you have last minute questions, you can email jiffycon at gmail dot com. We'll answer emails received up to Saturday evening, Jan 22.

* Two additional all-day pick-up activities have been added to the schedule:

--Miniatures painting with PETE!

Gamers of all ages are invited to join Modern Myths painting expert Pete Serio as he offers an all-day minis painting clinic. We'll provide paints, brushes, and sample miniatures for you to practice on, or bring your own and learn tricks and tips from an expert. Pete will also have terrain and scenery-building materials on hand for anyone interested in learning to build cheap and easy terrain pieces. Pete will be on hand all day, with a break for lunch. All ages are welcome!

--Zygote Game Demos with the Creator

Jim Cambias from local Western Mass. game company Zygote Games (http://www.zygotegames.com/) will be offering pickup card games of Bone Wars and Parasites Unleashed during your moments spent outside of other gaming activities. Itching for something to do? Talk to Jim!

* Thanks to the support of our friendly local gaming and comics store Modern Myths, we CAN accept credit cards (Visa or Mastercard) in addition to cash for on-site Registration payment.

* Unlike at some previous JiffyCons, lunch is NOT included in the Registration fee. This is partially so we can enjoy the full 1.5 hour lunch break in downtown Northampton, which offers many different restaurants, cafés and sandwich/pizza places for any palate and budget. We will provide a list of places to eat within the vicinity at the convention, but you can also Google Northampton to see just how many options there are.

GAMES OFFERED:

Adults Only (18+)
The Anthropophagy Society
The trials and tribulations of a secret society of cannibals in the tranquil hills of Western Massachusetts. Members gather on a regular basis to tap their collective resources for potential new members, to identify potential threats to their anonymity, and to discuss local gossip. Typical small town New England stuff, only tastier.
GM: Julia Ellingboe
Min. Players: 4
Max. Players: 6

Annalise
A game of Annalise. A story of pain, hunger and redemption (and vampires). In space.
GM: Kat Jones
Min. Players: 1
Max. Players: 4

Esoterrorists--the Profane Miracles
Jonathan Bentley, millionaire financier, has recently returned from the dead. Is it a simple hoax or something far more sinister? As members of Ordo Veritatas, it's up to you to track down the clues and get to the bottom of this mystery. If it's a hoax, expose it. If it's the work of Esoterrorists, shut it down and make everyone think it was a hoax. A game for 3-5 players who want to give the GUMSHOE system a spin.
GM: Tom Russell
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 5

In a Wicked Age
Intrigue, murder and wantonness in a fevered struggle for the heart (and wealth) of the land's greatest beauty. A pre-loaded scenario using the Blood and Sex oracles.
GM: Evan Torner
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 4

Introduction to Apocalypse World
We'll play through a full 'first session' of an Apocalypse World campaign, including character creation and world building, to give players a chance to experience Vincent Baker's new diceless-for-the-GM RPG of conflict and desire among the ruins of civilization.

No previous AW Play required, we'll teach rules and provide materials. 18 and up only, expect some adult themes, including sex and violence, to be encountered in play.
GM: Jim Crocker
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 5

Rock of Tahamat
YOU ARE ROCK OF TAHAMAAT, SPACE TYRANT.

Except the rest of you. The rest of you are women and men of the Kaliste, suffering under Rock of Tahamaat's despotic rule.
GM & Designer: Vincent Baker
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 5

Swords Without Master
Daring rogues, brawny warriors, dark magics, a sword & sorcery descendant of MonkeyDome. What's not to like?
GM & Designer: Epidiah Ravachol
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 4

Shock: Human Contact
300 years ago, the Academy pulled civilization from its last fall, a catastrophic war of tribal and religious conflict, where diseases and machines were the weapons and most often only victors.

The Academy has replaced scarcity of resources with abundance of thought, and has turned its eyes to the stars. It applies its powerful rationalist philosophy to focus the faculties of the mind to explore, to understand, and to use new understanding to improve the lives of all those within its reach.
...
Earth past contains many accounts some recorded in writing or video, some only discovered archaeologically of exoduses to the stars precipitated by sociopolitical shifts in the life of Earth.

For the last three centuries, the Academy has been recording the bubblings of civilization on distant stars. Sometimes, recording the reinvention of radio, sometimes the encrypted cacophony of information networks. And sometimes something most likely a signal, but offering no clue to its nature.

The time has come to say hello.
(Inspired by Iain M. Banks, Culture and Ursula K. Le Guin, Ekumen novels)
GM & Designer: Joshua A. C. Newman
Min. Players: 2
Max. Players: 3


Young Adult to Adult (16+)
The White Lotus
In-progress hack of Vincent Baker's Apocalypse World to play Avatar: The Last Airbender.
GM & Designer: Shreyas Sampat
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 5

Inevitable
Inevitable is a satirical board game of post-apocalyptic politics. It represents a hybrid of the chance-based pleasures of roll-and-move games, the wheeling and dealing of negotiation-based games, the drama and tension of collaborative beat-the-system games, and the narrative richness of character-driven role-playing games.

In a world ravaged by apocalypse, humanity lives under the rule of HappyCOM-9, an all-powerful yet badly confused computer overlord. As the champion of one of the twenty most powerful factions in the City, your goal is to seize power from HappyCOM-9 in a terrifying, bloody Election. In order to succeed, you will need to best your opponents, avoid HappyCOM-9's defenses and shock troops, weather the twists and turns of cruel fate, and, uh, not die. Or at least not die too often.
GM: Jeremy Bushnell
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 5

Slayer of Dragon RPG
Tell the story of heroes in a world gone wrong. Tell the story of heroes using their fists and feet to literally beat back the forces of evil. Tell the story of bodies flying over rails, off cliffs, and on fire. Tell the story of Slayer of Dragon RPG: Second Edition.

Now being played at select conventions near you.
GM & Designer: Grant Gigee
Min. Players: 2
Max. Players: 4

Misspent Youth
Misspent Youth is about friendship, rebellion, and kicking ass. In the game, you play 12- to 17-year-old kids in a future world screwed-up beyond recognition by The Authority. The Authority is a villain that you create together at the start of the series, played (in this case) by the game's creator, Robert Bohl. So much fun, the fun-meter chip implanted in you at birth will go off, and the Morality Police will come looking for you.

For this session, you will play with the designer, Robert Bohl, who will come prepared with at least one playset for his own game, but who also is into making up the world on the spot with you, whichever you prefer.
GM & Designer: Rob Bohl
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 4

Steve Jackson Games
Munckin, Munckin Bites, Frag, Zombie dice, and Cuthulu Dice.
GM: Thomas Putney
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 6

Time and Temp
Time & Temp is a role-playing game about temp workers being sent through time to fix problems.

Why use temp workers? Temp workers are historically insignificant, have little impact on anyone else, and can be replaced tomorrow by another nameless face and no one would question why. They make perfect anachronous agents!

What's the worse that could happen if you fail? Reality ends.
Together, let's make anachronism a thing of the past!
GM: Tresi
Min. Players: 2
Max. Players: 4

Ages 10+
Harry Potter: The Missing Students
Something is wrong at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, students have gone missing for hours, sometimes days at a time. When they return they have no memory of what happened.

The new headmaster, Albus Dumbledore is leading the investigation and he needs you to remember. What happened to you? Can you find a way to unlock your memory?
GM: Alysia Bartok
Minimum players: 3
Maximum players: 5

Psi Run
They took your past. You got away. They want you back. Run!

In this game, you play a person with two important conditions - superpowers and amnesia. All you really know is something happened, and you need to keep away from the people chasing you long enough to figure out what, as well as recover your identity.
GM & Designer: Meg Baker
Min. Players: 2
Max. Players: 5

The Ziporatic Catastrophe
Act first, think later, as you and your companion try to stop The Ziporactic Catastrophe. You and a set of pulp clichés are all that stand between freedom and Evil World Domination. Ancient Artifacts! Malignant Masterminds! Intrepid Investigators! Hirsute Henchmen!

The system for this zesty pulp adventure is Sprit of the Century (FATE). Fudge Dice, prefab characters to choose from, and everything else needed will be provided. Just bring your zaniness, enthusiasm, and two swinging fists. (Storyteller reserves right to change all the rules; homebrew content may be high.)
GM: Manfred Gabriel
Min. Players: 3
Max Players: 6


Games for all ages (7 and up)
Dread House
Are you brave enough to spend the night in a spooky haunted house? Six brave teen-agers dare each other to test their courage and face down the ghosts, werewolves, vampires and more that stalk the rooms of the house on the hill. Players pull blocks from a Jenga Tower for their characters to explore and brave out the haunts. A game great for kids and adults to play together. (Ages 7+ generally, but under 7 is welcome with a helping older player.)
GM & Designer: Emily Boss
Min. Players: 3
Max. Players: 6