Hix asked what prep I did for the interview about Kapcon. Since comments are playing up for me, I thought I may as well make a post of it.
First, I got some good advice from Idiot, who's done radio interviews a few times over the past couple of years. His advice - try to anticipate the sorts of questions you'll be asked, and write down some key phrases or answers you could use. He also gave me some cool phrases - 'friendly competition' and 'smorgasboard of gaming' being 2 that I used.
Second, I got Debbie to ask me some questions, so I could practice answering them. I also asked her a few questions, to see how she phrased her answers. It was extremely helpful.
I then talked about it with Luke and Sam, and sent emails to Luke, Paul and Idiot as well. I then set about writing myself some well thought out answers. As it turns out, I didn't have time to read anything during the interview - not even to glance at notes. So I was going from memory, but having prepared fairly thoroughly. Here are the questions and answers I wrote the night before the interview (I think I spent about 15 minutes writing these):
What is Kapcon?
Kapcon is NZ’s largest annual roleplaying convention. It’s a 2 day event, held in Wellington every Wgtn Anniversary weekend. There are 6 rounds of ‘tabletop’ RPGs, plus a big 60 player game on the Saturday night.
What is a roleplaying game?
A roleplaying game is part storytelling, part acting, and part game. It’s a social activity where you get together with a group of people, and you each take a role or roles in a story, which you use your imaginations to create. It’s a lot of fun, and one of the great things about it is that it’s really active. Movies or books are great forms of entertainment, but they’re passive – someone else does all the work for you. Roleplaying games let you get involved, take hold of the story and really drive where it’s going.
What kind of games do you play at Kapcon?
There’s a huge range of games – 6 rounds, with about 10 different games running in each round. There are fantasy games like Lord of the Rings, modern horror games, kung-fu and samurai games, even a Jane Austen inspired game this year. It’s up to the wonderful people who write or bring along games to run, really.
One popular game this year was a game that plays like a slasher horror movie – and uses a Jenga tower to decide whether characters survive. Any time you want your character to do something difficult, or not do the typical, dangerous horror movie thing, you have to pull out a jenga block. If the tower falls, your character dies. It’s a great fun game.
What’s this 60 player game?
It’s called a Live Action game, or LARP, and it’s a little heavier on the acting side of things. Each person is assigned a character, and they have to try to act as their character for the whole evening, whilst also trying to achieve certain goals that the character might have. People often get costumes to dress as their characters, and it’s a lot of fun. Obviously with 60 people playing it can get a little chaotic, but really that’s all part of the enjoyment.
This year’s LARP was set on the Hindenburg, in the 1930s. The characters were pretty varied, from famous politicians, to actors, to evil Nazi’s. The costumes were great, the stories that unfolded were really fun, and man – everyone loves to hate a Nazi. They make perfect bad guys.
How has roleplaying changed over the years?
Well, roleplaying has been a popular hobby for about 30 years now, and it’s grown up a lot. Early RPGs were mostly fantasy or SF based, and while those sorts of games are still popular, there’s a lot more variety around today. Cottage industry publishers are putting out some really cool games, and the hobby is thriving in terms of ideas and range.
Also, the people who grew up with roleplaying as a hobby are having kids now, so it won’t be long before the next generation of gamers start coming along to Kapcon. We already have a couple of father/children sets who are regulars, and it won’t be long before we see more.
Who runs the games?
The people who play in the games also run the games. We offer discounted entry to anyone who runs a game in one or more rounds. We have a few regulars who like to run games more than they enjoy playing in them, but most of our GamesMasters as we call them like to mix it up, running a game in a couple of rounds and playing in the other rounds.
Who runs Kapcon?
It’s run by a committee of volunteers, with a new head honcho taking over every couple of years. We have a different team each year to write the Saturday night game – which is a lot of work.
Are there other events like Kapcon?
Kapcon is the biggest RPG convention in New Zealand, but there are lots of similar events around the country. Battlecry in Auckland is on in a week and a half, February 10 and 11, at the Freeman’s Bay Community hall. They have roleplaying, plus strategy games using little figures, and collectible card game tournaments. Christchurch has Buckets of Dice in July, and Dunedin has regular gaming cons. There are others too, in Hamilton and Palmerston North – all over the place.
