Saturday, August 6, 2011

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