Winter War! Well, not that Winter War out on the Eastern Front in WWII (unless someone is running a table of The Russian Campaign). I’m talking about the Winter War game convention in Champaign, Illinois on January 28-30th!
For nearly four decades, Winter War has been providing a place for tabletop gaming enthusiasts to come together to express their passion in a no-frills and no distractions atmosphere. Independently managed for over thirty five years, we have endeavored to preserve and promote the very essence of the gaming community, the games. Located in Champaign-Urbana, IL, Winter War provides a relaxed gaming atmosphere with an almost limitless variety of gaming to be had and friends to be made. We are also dedicated to the promotion of gaming in our younger generation, offering a wide variety of kid-friendly gaming and family oriented events.
Yours truly and two other daring Players/GMs are heading there at the end of the month to enjoy some Paizo Organized Play gaming! We are playing and running Pathfinder Society 2e and Starfinder Society games all weekend long. They’re being a little audacious and running four different specials, two for each system. In addition to that, there’s a lot of Season 3 PFS2 and Season 4 SFS being ran.
Going to these cons is a great way to meet people in surrounding areas and see different playing and GMing styles. It also is a great way to GM specials without having to run them online which is always possible. You also get increased Achievement Points for playing and running games at these cons. Playing a scenario is 5 AcP while GMing one is 10 AcP. Always a great way to pick up points faster so you can play that Sprite/Aasimar which costs around 240 AcP!
You can also sometimes get into higher level scenarios which we don’t run that often at the local lodges yet due to not enough players having Level 5, 6, 7 or 8 characters. There are also other games at the conventions like Adventurers League, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun, multiple board games, Doctor Who, Blood Bowl, Paranoia, Game of Thrones, and even some older Avalon Hill or SPI combat games. This is also where you get to GM some of those 10 specials you need to earn your 5th Glyph or Nova. Did I mention I’m running my final evaluation scenario for my 5th Glyph at Winter War? Another reason I go to cons!
It’s a great way to get out of your local area and have some fun without really being too far from home. We’ll be in Champaign, Illinois which isn’t that far away. The cost of a weekend badge is only $15 (the 15th is the last day of pre-con registration) and each game is usually $2 to play. I’m signed up to play four games and will be running three. Did I mention that GMing two tables gets your weekend badge price refunded later? There are seven blocks of gaming that are open for Organized Play. The first block is at 2 PM on Friday, and the last block is 2 PM on Sunday.
This might be the only other con in our local area besides Quin Con unless CogCon happens down in Rolla in March. Everything of course depends on how the current spike in cases is resolved. If you want to learn more about Winter War, go to their website which I’ve linked a few times already.
We hope to see you there!
The League of Aroden 