4.2 Conventions and Computers

(go back to part 4.1, or all the way back to part 1)

Tanelorn continued to be possibly the most dynamic club in Brisbane during the 90’s and I was involved with Briscon between 1992 and 1996. Briscon had been the major games convention in Brisbane for many years. It was started with the help of “Napoleon’s Bookshop” (the Brisbane Mecca for miniatures and wargames enthusiasts).

It began (like Cancon) as a miniatures event and gradually encompassed role-playing and other tabletop games. As well as serving on the committee, I also ran DnD events at the convention.

Around this time, quite a few Tanelorn regulars were getting into Warhammer Fantasy or 40K and were competing in organised tournaments at Briscon. There was a lot of discontent about the quality of the Warhammer miniatures events which culminated in a schism occurring after the 1997 Briscon. One of the larger Warhammer clubs (the Warhounds) approached Tanelorn about putting on an alternate convention in Brisbane.

We formed a joint committee to discuss this which ended up with the creation of the “Maelstrom Convention”. This ran successfully in 1998 and 1999, being initially funded by a $12,000 seeding grant that Tanelorn won from the Queensland government to host the convention.

There was a lot of angst surrounded the “Maelstrom Convention”. It was scheduled on the same weekend as Briscon and was held at the Mt.Gravatt TAFE college. There was no doubt that “Maelstrom” was the more successful of the two conventions that ran in 1998, drawing a greater audience that Briscon had ever had in its history.

David Morton and I were the Tanelorn reps on the “Maelstrom” committee, along with three “Warhounds” reps. The vision we had for “Maelstrom” was for it to be a complimentary event on a separate weekend to Briscon. However the ‘Warhounds” reps argued that a miniatures event could only be held on the May Day weekend. Tanelorn was outvoted and the date was set. I was rather naive about the motives behind this decision and I later regretted not insisting on an alternate weekend for “Maelstrom”.

By year two of “Maelstrom” Tanelorn had split with the “Warhounds” over organisational differences but many members of that club, who were disgruntled about the politics rife in “Warhounds” ended up leaving and joining Tanelorn. Amongst those who left are key people at LXG today and include Jason Cooper and Adrian Roberts. As a result, miniatures took off as a major part of each Tanelorn meeting.

In 1999 “Maelstrom” was back bigger and better and, being sponsored by Auran, a new local PC games design company, who had a world-wide hit on their hands with “Dark Reign”. And who was the CEO of Auran? It was Greg Lane, who had disappeared off the club radar in the late 80’s to follow his passion for computer programming. The world was coming around full-circle.

Also, by breaking with the ”Warhounds” Tanelorn was able to clear the air with Briscon. I had discussions with Keith Fainges from the Briscon committee. Keith was a colourful personality who was active on the Brisbane gaming scene for many years. We nutted out a new convention that went under the title of the Big Weekend – same Maelstom format but with a different name and with people from the original Briscon committee replacing the Warhounds reps.

The Big Weekend went on to be the major gaming event in Brisbane for many years, finally ending its run around 2005 (after the main players who drove the convention had moved on to greener pastures or got involved with other activities).

Tanelorn’s venues changed in the late 90’s. We tended to end up in the same places where the Maelstrom and Big Weekend events were held. We were based at the Mt. Gravatt TAFE for a few years and, because of public works being carried out there, the club ended up at Griffith University’s campus at Mt. Gravatt. The Magic: the Gathering fever had declined and the club had become a healthy mix of miniatures, card games, board games and role-playing.

As the decade came to a close, I received the surprise of my life (for a gamer) when Greg Lane phoned me. You will recall Greg was now running Auran and was sponsoring the Big Weekend. I was in contact with him from time to time. Auran had acquired the electronic rights to the fantasy role playing setting of Harn (which had always been one of Greg’s favourite game systems). He needed someone to grow the on-line Harn community and create content and background for web articles and PC games. I was offered a three year contract to work in the creative arts industry. Hmmmm….twenty years of job security, working on contracts at a university…. or an unknown future writing gaming material. Tough decision (not!)

Anyway it was 1999 and the world was going to end or society was going to collapse due to the millennium bug. I thought it was worth a shot. So, as the decade (and the century) came to a close, my adventures in gaming were taking a dramatic turn and I was off to Auran and a brave new world.

Next Episode: The 2000’s (in which I embrace the frenetic world of game design and LXG rises from the ashes of Tanelorn). Read part 5.1 now.