It’s time to roll for initiative. KamCon, the local Dungeons and Dragons-themed convention, will return to its familiar venue in the Campus Activity Centre on Oct. 4, 5 and 6 with special guests, new events, and vendors.
Event coordinator Tyler Carpentier told Omega in a recent interview that KamCon will expand its content more than in previous years. One change will be the special guests in attendance.
KamCon 2024 will have numerous special guests throughout the weekend, many of whom will be interacting with and gaming with attendees. The guests include recipients of role-playing tabletop awards known as ENNIES, celebrated podcasters, authors and artists.
ENNIE award winners Jon Hook and Seth Skorkowsky will be at KamCon recording their podcast “Modern Mythos” live and interacting with other guests throughout the weekend.
“We want to bring in people that will do more than just sit at a booth and sign autographs. We want people who will engage with what we’re doing,” Carpentier said. “Seth and Jon were both really, really on board with being involved. Their Modern Mythos podcast … will be doing a live recording at the convention. They’re also going to be involved in various games and they’re going to be running RPG game sessions themselves. They’re going to be really involved with the people. It’s a much better fit for our event.”
Other special guests include actor and illustrator Toren Atkinson (Koala Man, The Supernatural Academy), Canadian author, illustrator and tabletop game designer William McAusland (The Mutant Epoch) and author and publisher Douglas Lloyd (CEO, Vedder Press).
“This year is the first time we’re going ‘okay, we want to take a step forward,’” Carpentier said. “We’ve reduced the cost of tickets from the last couple of years, which is great. We’ve got more vendors than we’ve ever had [and] a huge slate of role-play games available.”
Some returning vendors include Tumbleweed Toys from Kamloops, the online gaming store Adventure Dice, and Chibi’s Anime Goods and Collectibles from Kelowna. KamCon has also added some new vendors and live-action role-playing for Star Wars fans.
“The marketplace has grown, and we’ve had to expand it bigger than we’ve ever had before,” Carpentier said. “We’ve got new faces coming out as well, and that’s exciting.”
Among the new KamCom vendors is ALKY Solutions, a company that Carpentier was excited to discuss.
One that got a booth for the first time this year is “[ALKY Solutions does] some of the most amazing, movie-level lightsaber replicas that are programmable and light up,” he explained.
According to Carpentier, the front merchandise table for KamCon will also receive major upgrades. The variety of merchandise available will expand to include jerseys, laser-etched gaming trays, dice boxes and more. Several designs will be available, including Cthulhu-themed pieces by artist Toren Atkinson.
“We’ve stepped up the merch game this year again,” Carpentier said. “Toren Atkinson, the Cthulhu artist for Chaosium and Call of Cthulhu, [was commissioned] to do two Cthulhu art pieces for us, so one of those is on that dice tray.”
For more information, visit KamCon’s website here. Event tickets can be pre-ordered now or at the door.