"Anyone Up for a West Coast Traveller-Con?" Topic

I'm envious of all the gamers that have been able to attend the Traveller-Con conventions over the years on the East Coast, since sadly I have never been able to attend one.

I grow tired of seeing so many others having fun, and suspect that we out on the West Coast could probably set up something similar. Not sure how many people are into Traveller, Striker (the Grav Armor rules, not the soccer ones), Imperium, etc., etc., but imagine there are probably quite a few in California, let alone other adjoining states that might be interested in something like this.

I'm located near Sacramento, in Central/Northern Cal, and suspect there may be some others in the region close by too, though there may be more in the SF Bay Area, which has a much larger population base. No doubt, lots of games in SoCal too (that's where I got my LBBs for Traveller, back in the day – Brookhurst Hobbies).

I'd personally prefer to try to set up something locally, but will consider an event down in the SF Bay Area if there are a lot more people from there that want to participate too, and they can come up with a venue for us that is free too, or very low cost.

Some of the local clubs here run games at libraries, or game stores, which provide space for free, so that would be a big plus in my book for setting up an event, or events. That makes it pretty painless, especially for the first year, or years of an event like this, since there will be no overhead we need to recover, and no fees for attendees.

We just need to pick a date or dates, and try to find a venue where we can host the games around that time period, recruit some GMs willing to put on games, and find some people willing to participate in them.

Can't get much better than free gaming for an event like this, so is anyone else interested in helping set this up, and/or running and participating in some Travelleresque, and/or Striker games?

Not sure what I'd run, but imagine I could come up with a game or two. Some areas of interest for me are:

- a Snapshot game;
- a Striker game in either 6mm, or 15mm;
- Traveller RPGs;
- or a space battle game using Traveller mods for Full Thrust, or the Power Projection rules.

Of course, I'll consider other ones too, if anyone has some good ones to share, or that they're willing to run.

Depending upon the level of interest, and participation, I suspect we could also open up the gaming to other similar, Sci-Fi era games as well too, if we don't have enough interest in those directly associated with Traveller, Striker, Snapshot, Imperium, or other GDW products.

My guess is this would probably be a one-day event, though if space is available, perhaps we could stretch that to a 2 to 2.5 day event as well (Friday afternoon/evening, and then Sat. and Sun.), if there is enough interest, for those travelling (see what I did there) more than a few hours to attend, in order to make it worth their while.

Anyone interested in participating in games like this, or helping with the coordination and marketing of the event(s)?

If so, please reply here, and help spread the word to others as well.

I'm thinking sometime in the Spring, or Summer of 2022 as a rough time frame to give us time to set things up, and get the word out.

I'll be happy to provide my e-mail address too, if you want to discuss this off-line.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I usually travel up to Sacramento once a month for one of the local miniature club meetings. I have a batch of the Grenadier Miniature Traveler Imperial Marine figures and others. Some of the members of that club have been involved with the Conquest gaming conventions that are held in the Sacramento area. I can be contacted at butlerw (at) comcast (dot) net.

Regards,
Bill

I'd be interested. I think there are a couple local groups of Traveller fans, they hold some games at DunDraCon, etc. Sacramento or in between the Bay Area and Sacramento could work. I bet space is cheaper in between the cities.

Sounds great.

I posted on the Traveller RPG FB page too, and Maksim is on board as well.

Hopefully, we'll get some other people willing to put on, or participate in games too.

Would love to play in a game with some of those Imperial Space Marines.

The Bay Area is incredibly expensive. I think we could do better at a smaller town.

I imagine we can game for free in the greater Sacramento region, at one of the venues we usually use for regular club games.

Several clubs use a variety of venues for that, on Saturdays and Sundays now, and have for years.

Doesn't get much better than actually free, though of course hours may be a bit more limited than they would be at a hotel, or other "pay for play" venue.

I don't think this will really be an issue though, unless we get swamped with people wanting to run games, and people wanting to play in them.

Keep us posted. I usually run something set in the Traveller universe at the Bay Area conventions.

Sounds good.

There are several venues that offer free gaming, and that should be suitable to our needs. I need to follow up on phone calls made today, next week, in order to see if I can get agreement to put something on at them, and how much space they'll permit us to have.

I'm thinking about setting up a date sometime in April, if that works for others, and the gaming location(s).

Then, of course, we'll need people to volunteer to run some games, and/or at least commit to participating in them, if we can get some GMs.

I'd love to hear what types of games people are interested in, and will post some ideas of my own on that later, as time permits.

Looks like Great Escape Games, and/or Game Kastle might work as a venue, if I can reserve space with one or the other stores. They have lots of tables, are open longer than we might expect with a library, and have merchandise to peruse as well.

I made a preliminary call today, but need to follow up next week with the managers to see if they will consider the idea, and to try to nail down a tentative date, or dates.

I'm thinking sometime in April, if that works for others, preferably after tax day, so that doesn't interfere with filing those.

Could be a mix of miniatures games, boardgames, and RPGs.

Let me know if you are interested in GMing, and what kind of games you'd be willing to run, and/or to just participate in.

I'd like to nail down at least a handful of people willing to run some games, and what type of games they're considering, as soon as possible.

I'll be willing to run a game or two, though I'd like to play in some as well. Just need to figure out which ones – see my list of ideas below.

Preference will be for Traveller, or Traveller inspired games, though other Sci-Fi genre games will be welcome too, but I would like to keep Traveller and other GDW games associated with that in the forefront.

I'm thinking like:

1. Traveller RPG scenarios – paper and pencil, boardgame, or with minis (visual games using nice terrain and minis ARE highly encouraged);

2. Imperium boardgame, or minis game derived from that (Power Projection, or Full Thrust for Traveller, etc.);

3. Spaceship battle scenario derived from Imperium encounters – capital ships, cruisers, and escort vessels;

4. spacecraft game with smaller vessels – free traders, patrol vessels, etc. – Amber or Red Zone, with smuggling and interdiction being the primary goal;

5. Striker or Striker II;

6. Snapshot, or Azhanti High Lightning (AHL) – could be a great minis game;

7. Dark Nebula;

8. Fifth Frontier War (probably much too large and long, though a small scenario derived from that might work);

9. FUBAR;

10. Stargrunt II;

11. other Sci-Fi skirmish games with various rules – Star Wars, Star Trek, Galactic Heroes, etc., etc.;

12. Grav Armor;

13. Iron Cow;

14. Planetary Assault, and/or Defense;

15. Spaceport encounter(s)/scenarios, and/or skirmishes/battles;

16. and other ideas?

The local game stores would do for a location. Years ago a friend of mine ran a 6mm and smaller scale convention called Peanut Wars at the Fremont Game Kastle.

I heard back from one location, and they've tentatively said that they'd be willing to host games for free, for a smaller group of up to 20 – 30 people.

Still waiting to hear back from the other venue.

I'm thinking about April 30th and May 1st for the weekend, since May 1st IS apparently a big deal in the Traveller universe. For a one-day convention/event, I'm open to what people prefer, but the store said Sunday is actually busier than Saturday afternoon/evening.

I may keep the prior weekend as a backup option, April 23rd and 24th, until we see which people prefer, or if one weekend is better than the other for availability.

The store that I've been able to reach said they'd be fine with up to 20 – 30 people attending for free, but if we have more they might want to charge a fee for gaming space, if that displaces other groups that regularly use their space. Therefore, we'll need to monitor in advance, and perhaps limit the number of GMs, games and game tables required, and people attending/playing in them.

Again, I'm really trying to find a venue and days/dates where we can play for free, instead of having to charge people for gaming, since I suspect that will lead to greater participation.

I have no way of knowing how many people may want to attend, and if they'd prefer a single-day, or two-day event, so please chime in and let me know about that. My guess is we may get anywhere from 10 – 60 people wanting to participate, but don't really know for sure, so please let me know if you will attend, and if you are willing to run a game, or games, or just want to play in them.

No doubt, if anyone travels more than 2 – 3 hours each way to game, then they may prefer a two-day event, if they plan to book a hotel, or B&B.

Depending upon the length of the games, and the venue chosen, I suspect it is possible to run 2 – 3 games each day, at a single table. I imagine miniatures games may/will need more table space that any board or card games.

I have no idea how many people are interested in putting on games, and/or playing in them, so we need to try to get the word out and to nail that down in the next few months. I suspect some may not know until the last minute, so we'll have to see how that works out.

No doubt, the more games we have nailed down, and listed in advance, the more likely people are to want to attend and to play in them.

If you are interested in GMing, or playing in some Sci-Fi games, either weekend then please respond by posting here, let me/us know what types of games you want to play in, or GM, and try to help pass the word along to others.

I don't know if there is a Sci-Fi or RPG gaming group in the Sacramento, or Northern California region, but please let them know, if you are aware of one.

I'm thinking it might be fun to make this a Traveller, and/or Traveller-esque event (Traveller inspired), as mentioned previously above, but am also okay with other Sci-Fi games people want to put on, if they think those will be better, or of more interest.

See my list above, for ideas. Others I've though of are:

- Firefly
- Full Thrust
- and Starmada, etc.

I'm willing to run a couple of games myself, but would also like to play in some too. Not sure if I can both run and play in them, so we'll have to see about that.

My first inclination for those are:

1. a Snapshot, or Snapshot-like game, using either those rules, a modification of them, or Galactic Heroes/FUBAR;

2. perhaps some sort of spacecraft (smaller vessels), or spaceship (larger vessels) game;

3. and finally, perhaps a land-combat game, possibly using Striker, Grav Armor, Iron Cow, etc., depending upon interest of players, and getting the minis and terrain ready.

Ok, I have pondered this topic for years. I started with the the Traveller BBQ years ago when I got divorced. we had several events in the following years.

I am for a West Coast Convention, though I would roll Ground Zero Games as such it would be a West Coast Convention for both. Side note the GZG and Traveller conventions in the east were held for years in the same venue.

Also not the first couple of years of CelistiCon followed the smaller format as well.

With covid and a series of surgeries I have been down for the last three+ years I have need clue what is available in terms of Play space.