Last year we unveiled our first major fundraiser event. The goal was to help raise some of the funds we needed to produce materials, travel to churches, go to conventions, and all the hundreds of little things that make InnRoads Ministries’ work happen. As it was our first event of that nature, we were not completely sure of what we were doing, unsure of who would come, and generally harrowed by the fact that I announced the event with only about one month to plan and make it all happen. In spite of all that, we had an amazing turn out, Regulars from all over the tri-state area and beyond made their way to Covenant Chapel in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. We played games, spent some time with local game designer Jason Tagmire of Button Shy Games who let us play test some unpublished titles, created what was possibly the first Pretense Meta-Tournament in existence, and gave away a pile of great games donated by designers, publishers, and Regulars from the community.

Tavern Con 2016 will be taking place JUNE 18TH from 10AM to 8PM. This year we will be hosted by Stonecrest Community Church at 11 Technology Drive North in Warren, New Jersey. If you were able to attend last year, then you will be happy to know that this location is only about ten minutes’ drive difference from where we were. This change of venue will allow us to have a larger room with more play space and parking. With a larger attendance expected for this year’s event, we are looking forward to maximizing the additional space.

Your favorites are back!

Games:

The bulk of Tavern Con revolves around bringing out the traveling game library and inviting people to play together for most of the day. I’m actively recruiting game leaders that will be on site to teach the games we have available. Whether you are an avid gamer yourself or you’ve never heard of the games we have available, it won’t be hard for you to jump in and learn a new game. Our game leaders will also be there to help you choose games to play, recommending games based on what you are looking to experience.

Food:

While there are plenty of dining establishments within minutes drive of where we are located this year – we believe that food is an important aspect of getting people together and building community. As such, we’ll have lunch and dinner options available free of charge as long as supplies last. We want you to feel like you can play together and talk without worrying about leaving to eat if you don’t have to. As well as the free food options at meal times, we’ll have pastries and other treats available for purchase throughout the day.

Pretense Meta-Tournament:

We’re bringing back the Pretense Meta-Tournament! Pretense is a game designed by Jason Tagmire and is designed to be played as you are playing other games. Players are assigned different role cards, where the goal is to get other players to perform a certain action based on that role. For instance- the Glutton is trying to convince other players to hand them food, while the Bookworm is trying to get people to give them the rulebook for the game they are playing. If they successfully get the player to do whatever the action is, they reveal who they are and claim the other player’s card (keeping their original card as a trophy). It costs $5 to enter and receive your initial role card. The prize for winning the tournament will be a collection of pocket game from Button Shy Games.

The winner will receive:
Cunning Folk
North South East Quest
AEG’s boxed edition of Pretense
An ADVANCED COPY of their wrestling wallet game SuperPLEX!

The tournament begins at 11AM and will continue until only one active role card is available or 6PM (whichever comes first). If there are still multiple players in the tournament at the cutoff time, whichever player has collected the most ‘trophies’ will win the prize. More details and rules will be posted and available at the event.

Prizes:

We’ll also be bringing back the prize raffle. Tickets will be available for donations of $2 each (3 for $5). These tickets are then placed in the appropriate basket for the prizes that people hope to win. This way, there is no worries that you’ll take home prizes that you don’t want, as well as stacking your chances to win the prizes you particularly want to win. With months to go before event happens, the prize pool may grow between the time I post this and then – but currently, these items will be available for you to win:

Commissioned – donated by Chara Games

Kings of Israel
Kings of Israel (digital version) (x2) – donated by Funhill Games

Numenera Reliquary Box set – donated by Monte Cook Games

Martian Dice (x2)
Dungeon Roll (x2) – donated by Tasty Minstrel Games

Star Wars Risk (Black Box edition) – donated by Regular and IRP Victoriana cast member – Brent Brown

Munchkin Deluxe – donated by Regular Shawn Brooks

As we secure more donations of prizes we can give away at Tavern Con 2016, I’ll be sure to post updates here on the site. If you would like to donate games we can give away to help us raise more funds, please contact us at contact@innroadsministries.com or just send games to our PO Box. Be sure to email or add a message to any game you donate to us in this way so that we give you proper credit for the donation and that we know that you want us to use it in this way.

Guests:

While he does want to wish everyone who participates in this year’s meta-tournament good luck, due to the timing this year, Jason Tagmire won’t be able to come back this year – as he will be representing Button Shy at the Origins Game Fair. However, this does not mean that we we’ll be without guests. This year we will have Jack Berkenstock and others from The Bodhana Group on hand to play games with us and share what they do. The Bodhana Group uses games in various clinical therapeutic applications. For more information on them, check out their site. We are excited to have Jack and his team joining us this year and can’t wait to introduce you to the work that they do.

 

 

As mentioned before, we’ll be posting updates when they become available as we get closer to the event date. Be sure to check back to this site for more information, and we hope to see you in June.