Timeline

01-May ... Call for Volunteer Staff
30-May ... Artwork and Theme ready.. Microbadges ready.
15-Jun ... Contact sponsors for prizes, etc.
25-Jul ... Early PR Push Underway - First website launch
01-Aug ... Call for Game Masters (GMs)
15-Aug ... Call for Panelists, Contest Creators
15-Sep ... Heavy PR push begins - Finalize website, Finalize Prizes
30-Sep ... Game List Finalized (final GM submissions)
01-Oct ... Call for Players
10-Oct ... Panels, Contests Finalized
15-Oct ... Fill-the-Games, Final PR Push
23-Oct ... Virtuacon '15 Begins!
25-Oct ... Virtuacon '15 Ends!

What?

Virtuacon is an all-virtual worldwide RPG gaming convention utilizing free online tools to bring gamers together for The Best 3 Days in Virtual Gaming. Virtuacon is the convention you attend from the comfort of your own home - but run much like a traditional convention with slotted game events, industry guest speakers and contests galore. With numerous games being offered by world-class GMs, you can be sure to find something great to play! We especially welcome new players to the hobby - come and experience the rich world of role-playing with a community who would love to count you among our friends!

When?

Virtuacon runs from 16:00 (UTC) October 23rd until 22:00 (UTC) October 25th, 2015. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are our days of operation and we'll be slotting in games and events around the clock.

Where?

All games are coordinated via RPG Geek. The primary point of execution for the games (Hangouts, training, etc) will be on our Virtuacon G+ Community

UTC?

UTC is Universal Time Code. It's the same time as GMT. You can find a bunch of converters on the web (like this one). Don't let the fancy timezones scare you! When Virtuacon '15 starts it will be about 7:00 pm in Eastern Europe, 6:00 pm in Western Europe, 5:00 pm in the UK, and about noon in the eastern US.

How Does it Work?

These days, technology has gotten to the point where we can easily play Role-Playing games, live, with people all across the globe. This is generally done via Google Hangouts which turns your webcam (most laptops have them built in) and microphone into vehicles to "sit", virtually, at the table with other gamers. While Google Hangouts provides the video and audio, add-on programs such as DiceStream or Roll20 provide die rollers and virtual tabletops. All of these tools are free - and Game Masters have leveraged these tools to great effect in the last few years. Virtuacon '15 will use these same tried-and-true online tools to bring a full convention lineup beamed directly into your house! Cool. Seriously.

Several of last year's games were recorded (with player consent of course). You can check out some of the results on this list: Games on Air: Actual Play videos by the RPGGeek community

Game Master Information

Virtuacon '15 Game Master Info and Signup

Player Information

Virtuacon '15 Initial Shout-out for Geekers to wear the microbadge!

Schedule of events/player sign up information

Contest Information

Virtuacon '15 Contest Creation Thread - Calling All Creative Types!

Prize Information

This year's prize pool will be for the gamemasters. They work very hard to ensure each attendee that sits at their virtual table has an enjoyable time. The prize pool (PDF coupons, gift certificates, etc) will be presented to all the GMs; each will be free to pick one prize per session they ran. Selection will be on a first come, first served basis.

Sponsors

Virtuacon would like to extend a thank you to our gracious sponsors, who together have provided us with some great prizes to give away to lucky GMs!

	Boardgame Geek	10 - $10 coupons usable at the DriveThru RPG (DTRPG)
	Engine Publishing	6x copies each of the following books: Eureka Masks Never Unprepared Odyssey Unframed
	Storium	5 one-year Storium memberships (if you have an existing Storium account and you choose this prize, please let the company representative know when they contact you.)
	Taskboy Games	5x copies each of the following Labyrinth Lord Modules Tranzar's Redoubt The Manse Murder Hill
	Onyx Path Publishing	All GMs will receive a 20% off discount code good on all Onyx Path Publishing PDFs at DriveThruRPG.com
	Evil Hat	3 copies of the forthcoming War of Ashes RPG
	Roll20	10 Three Month Roll20 Supporter Accounts
	Purple Sorcerer Games	2x Copies of each of the following: SC-1 Perils of the Sunken City SC-2 Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk SC-3 A Gathering of the Marked SM-1 Lair of the Mist Men Nebin Pendlebrook's Perilous Pantry 1x copy of: Sunken City Omnibus
	Fabled Environments	4 copies of each of these maps High School map Shopping Mall map
	Inddyhippo	5 copies of: Sci-fi Beta Kappa Playtest copies of future works can be available for any GM that is interested following the event
	Accessible Games	2 copies of: Psi-punk: Corps and Criminals + DTRPG discount to purchase the print version at-cost Monster Kart Mayhem + DTRPG discount to purchase the print version at-cost
	Third Eye Games	1 copy of Part-Time Gods 1 copy of AMP: Year one 1 copy of AMP: AMP Adventures 1 copy of Infestation
	Legendary Games	20 copies of Assimilation Strain (Part 1 in a multi-part adventure path) 3 copies of ALL 8 parts of the this multi-part adventure path!
	Bully Pulpit Games	5 copies of: Night Witches
	Pelgrane Press	Copies of: 1 x 13th Age Monthly Subscription 1 x Ken Writes About Stuff Subscription 3 x “a PDF of your choice from the Pelgrane Press webstore"
	Magpie Games	5 copies of: Urban Shadows
	Chaosium	5 copies of: Cthulhu Through the Ages

If you are a retailer, distributor, publisher or game author and want to donate a little something-something to the event for prizes, we welcome the offering. Since this is a virtual event, we're more than happy to have PDF Coupons or gift certificates as prizes. We will be sure to mention all such sponsors in our flyer and hope that whatever you donate will come back to you 10 fold in good karma. Please contact dave@rpggeek.com to discuss.

Technology Training

Need help setting up Google Hangouts? Want to try out your Webcam? Don't know how to use Roll20 for mapping? We can teach you - stay tuned for a schedule of teaching times which will get you up to speed quickly. If you're a GM but unsure of how to use the technology - rest assured; it's really easy! Most computers these days have a built in webcam and microphone and it's easier than ever to leverage this into virtual tabletop gaming.

Dates and Times here

Technical Support Page

Schedule of Events Information

The full schedule has yet to be determined, but you can be sure there will be games and panels. Several of 2013's panels were recorded so if you'd like to see some examples, check out this list: VirtuaCon '13 - "On-Air" Panels

Virtual Swag

Though the real reward is in playing great games with great people from around the world... we've also got some virtual swag for those who frequent the Geek:

- Virtuacon '15 - Oct 23rd-25th, 2015 at RPG Geek!

Player and GM Etiquette

Don't be a jerk. If you feel you need more instruction that this, please see our Virtuacon15 Etiquette page for full details.

Can I promote Virtuacon?

Oh yes! If you are involved with other RPG, gaming or geeky communities, please let them know that we would love to have be part of this event! You can point them to this wiki page which we will keep updated. Feel free to use one of the official banners below:

Larger (high resolution) versions of these and more can be found on our Virtuacon '15 Promo Images Page.

Contact Info

You can email the staff anytime at virtuacon@rpggeek.com