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Council of Five Nations - Adventure Gaming Convention - General Information Overview

Council of Five Nations XXXIV

October 7-9, 2011

General Information Overview


Last Update: Sunday, September 25, 2011


Council of Five Nations is our annual gaming convention, held every year on Columbus Day Weekend in October. It is one of the longest-running adventure gaming conventions in the world. We'll be sponsoring our 34th Council on October 7-9, 2011.

Please use the links below to get the most up-to-date info on the status of the convention.

What's the latest news?

Pre-registrations are coming in at a very good pace.  It's good to see so many of our friends returning this year, and to see some new folks registering as well.

Please keep in mind that pre-registration will close at midnight on Wednesday, October 5th.  That's only ten days from now.  We must receive your registation by the 5th - especially important if you're sending yours via US Post.  The online pre-reg page will be disabled at midnight on Wed, Oct 5th.

We do this because we need a couple of days to get all the registrations ready for your arrival on Friday the 7th.

We also made some updates to the pre-reg material today (Sunday, Sept 25th).  We've added another table of Through the Ages to the Sunday 3pm (G) slot.  We've also corrected the description for the Vampire: World of Darkness LARP on Saturday night.  You can download the updated Pre-Registration packet, or view the updated info online, using the links below.


The Council Pre-Registration material is now ready, and registration is open.

Please click to download the Council Pre-Registration packet in PDF format.

Please click to read the pre-registration booklet informational text (the stuff besides the event listings... see below)

Please click to go to the chronological listing of all events.

Please click to Pre-Register via the online form (with immediate PayPal or Credit Card payment)


The Council of Five Nations Philosophy

Council strives toward the goal of "quality over quantity". We're a relatively small con, but we try to have top-notch events. We predict an attendance of about 250 this year. As with all the Councils over the years, our goal is a nice balance between role-play games, miniatures, board games and other stuff.

The facility: Proctor's Theatre & Conference Center

Council will once again be held at at the Proctor's Theatre and Conference Center, in the heart of downtown Schenectady, New York.

Schenectady, New York is:
  • About 3 hours north of New York City
  • About 4 hours south of Montreal, Quebec
  • About 4 hours east of Buffalo, New York
  • About 3 hours west of Boston, Massachusetts.
We've been at Proctor's for several years now.  We like how there are good food and hotel options within walking distance, and the facility is very good for our needs too.

You can learn more about Proctor's, a classic Vaudeville theatre, at their web site (please click here).

Group and Student Discounts

As we all know, things are a little tight with the economy these days.  We're doing a few things to help make it easier for you to attend a Council of Five Nations weekend getaway:
  1. We are keeping registration costs flat with last year.  A whole weekend pre-registration is still $27, plus event tickets (most are $2 each).
  2. We are keeping our policy of a $5 discount to everyone who pre-registers in a group of three or more.  Details will be in the pre-registration packet.  So start talking to your friends now!  Carpool to save on gas, and pre-register together to save even more.
  3. We are keeping our discounted entry fee for full-time students.  Kids age 9 or younger still get in free.  All other full-time students get in roughly half-price; a whole-weekend registration is $14.  All students still pay for individual event tickets (most are only $2 each).
  4. We are keeping our very generous GM policy - run an event and get your whole weekend registration fee waived.  GMs only pay for individual event tickets.  And... submit your event(s) by August 22nd and get a free Council T-Shirt.  More on this a couple of sections down...

Logistics

If you want to get a jump-start on your planning, or if you just want to look around...

You can click to get directions to Proctors, including MapQuest maps.
You can click to view and download maps for your most convenient parking options.
You can click to see our suggested hotel options if you need over night accommodations.


Star Fleet Battles

Council of Five Nations is the home of the largest face-to-face SFB tournament in the country. Some of the best players in the world will be there this year. We're also always willing to teach the game to new people. There will be a coupon in your registration packet good for a free game of Star Fleet Battles. Guaranteed to be redeemable any time before 1:00pm on Saturday, and we can probably find someone to train you later in the weekend too.

We have set up a special web site dedicated to the Star Fleet Battles tournament at Council.


Hotels

We have four hotels we are recommending for your out-of-town Council stay, and a campground (surprisingly popular!).  Please check out the page we have dedicated to Council Hotels:

Council of Five Nations Hotels


The Council Discount Auction

The Discount Game Auction is one of our most popular events, and a long-time Council tradition.  It will be happening again this year during the long lunch break on Council Sunday (October 10th), from 2:00-3:00 PM.

We'll have over a hundred games and other gaming-related merchandise available.  This is an open, competitive bidding auction.

If you've got some games you'd like to sell, this is your chance to do so.  If you've got a few bucks left in your pocket at the end of Council weekend, this is also an opportunity for you to pick up some bargains.

If you'd like to sell merchandise at our auction (any Council attendee is welcome to do so), please click to download the Council Auction Seller's materials in PDF format  (56 Kb).


Why do you call it Council of Five Nations?

Council of Five Nations Iroquois Warrior Logo
The Native American Iroquois tribes called the Upstate New York area their home. Each autumn, there would be a great gathering of the five (later six) tribes, or nations.  You can click here for the Wikipedia page that gives a lot more information, and related links. 

We call our annual convention The Council of Five Nations in homage to the Iroquois autumn gatherings from long before most of us had ancestors here. This is also the source of the official Council logo, the Iroquois warrior.

Planning way ahead

If you'd like to mark your calendar now, here are the dates for Councils beyond 2011:
  • October 5-7, 2012
  • October 11-13, 2013
  • October 10-12, 2014
  • October 9-11, 2015
Here's an easy way to remember: Council of Five Nations is always Columbus Day weekend.  When you see that national holiday on your calendar, block it off and make sure you're here with us, sharing in our gaming goodness.


Questions or Comments?

You can contact us directly at council /at/ swa-gaming.org (please replace the "/at/" with the standard "@").
You can also call Dave at (518) 464-1977, any day until about 11pm Eastern time.



Please click for the main Council general info page.

Please click to download the Council Pre-Registration packet in PDF format.

Please click to Pre-Register via the online form (with immediate PayPal or Credit Card payment).

Please click for the pre-registration booklet informational text (the stuff besides the event listings... see below).

Please click for Directions to Council of Five Nations.

Please click for the Council Hotels page.

Please click for the Council Parking page.


Pages highlighting our game events and special event tracks

Please click to go to the Chronological listing of all events.

Please click for the list of Kids games.

Please click for the listing of all the Pathfinder Society RPG games.

Please click for the listing of all the Historical Miniatures events.

Please click for the Star Fleet Battles tournament page.

Please click for the Board Game Geek Top 25 event track page.

Please click for the Train games event track.

Please click for the Horror games event track page.

Please click for the Science Fiction games event track page.

Please click for the Battleground: Fantasy & Historical Warfare event track page.

Please click for the Savage Worlds event track page.

Please click for the Live Action Role-Play event track page.



If you have any questions, please email us at Council /at/ swa-gaming.org

(Please replace the "/at/" with the typical "@" sign.  We apologize for this anti-spam measure.)



Council of Five Nations Iroquois Warrior Logo




Curious about the kind of events we've had in the past?

You can click on these links to see the full event listings for the past seven years of Council of Five Nations.

When you're browsing, it might help to know the following... 

Councils 20-28 were all held at the Studio of Bridge and Games / Price Chopper Community Room.  Space there was limited, we had fewer time slots, and we averaged around 100 attendees over those years. 

In 2006 (Council 29), we made the jump to a hotel.  We doubled the number of events offered.  It was a great success, and our attendance jumped to over 200.  Councils 30-32 in 2007-2010 were at our current location, the Proctors Conference Center.  The past few conventions we've had over 150 events and around 250 attendees.


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