Boar's Head Games

announces a new approach to gaming at conventions:
you're familiar with PCs and NPCs . . .
allow us to introduce you to CPCs!

Consider your typical convention session experience:

• You scan through the listings on the convention's website weeks ahead, trying to find ones you think might be good, signing up for some just so you don't get locked out by other players.
• You show up, but only have a few minutes to meet the GM & your fellow players and look through the "pre-gen" character sheets on the table — those which haven't been taken already — hoping for a character that looks fun to play, yet promising enough to last to the end.
  
  You're not insisting on all-18s and Mjolnir, you merely want someone interesting instead of routine, a sweet magic weapon or item, maybe a special ability . . . something that makes you feel you'll have a chance to accomplish a memorable moment for the few hours you'll be playing him/her.
• You play, hopefully having a good time with your character and the other players as you pit your wits and dice against the GM.
• The PC then disappears forever, leaving only the memory and a character sheet, furiously scribbled over with points-of-damage and newly-found loot, now meaningless.
• If you're lucky, you might have one of the few GMs who bring back their characters each year, but it's still a static fixed figure, existing only during conventions.

Now there's Kappfold™, a detailed AD&D 2nd Ed. world in which your "Continuing Player Character" will remain in passive existence during the regular campaign run between conventions, hearing rumors and gathering information, ready to be played again. There are dozens of kingdoms and a long history and hundreds of NPCs, some of whom your character will know (for good or ill). Family, friends, previous adventuring groups, powerful acquaintances, shady dealers, former associates you hope to never hear from again, grim bounty hunters intent on earning the price on your head due to that "misunderstanding" . . . they're all there, ready to be part of your convention session if you either need them (or unfortunately run into them). Because Kappfold is a living world, used for ongoing campaigns, there are many things constantly happening all over on scales both large and small: border battles, diplomatic intrigue, social calamities, humanoid invasions, royal celebrations, natural disasters, and much more.

• Weeks before the official schedule of events is made public, you surf to our website and see which Kappfold sessions will be run. The advance notice will help you sign up quickly enough to get a seat when event registration opens.
• You email the GM to let him know which session(s) you're interested in.
  • If you've never made a Kappfold CPC before, or you have but you want a new one this time around:
    • Mention in your email that you wish to create a CPC, specifying race/class/gender/alignment (no evil!) — the level will be appropriate to the session.
    • Work with the GM online to build up much of his/her background (family, hometown, lands travelled, contacts made, adventures won and lost to reach the current level), skills, armor & weapons, magic items, deity, and so on.
  • If you already have a Kappfold CPC and want to play him/her:
    • Mention in your email which CPC you'll be playing.
    • Synchronize with the GM to be sure you know everything your CPC has heard or learned about since you last played him/her.
• You communicate (via email or, when it's ready, the bulletin board on our site) with other players whose CPCs will be in your sessions; find out what race/class they'd like to play. Maybe you'll want to adjust characters based on their preferences. Maybe you'll agree to have a common past. Have your group ready *before* getting to the convention. Give your party a name!
• You show up at the table knowing exactly what character you'll be playing and possibly who you'll be playing with.
• You play, and whatever happens to your CPC continues on: treasure (both won & lost), knowledge obtained, enemies made, a level gained . . . all of it endures, just as it does for a PC in an ongoing campaign. Nor is he/she frozen in time when the session ends: the GM will confer with you as time goes on, informing you as to what he/she hears and learns about; you, in turn, can move your CPC around Kappfold. While he/she will not be a full PC out adventuring, he/she will still be part of a living world — potentially witnessing incidents, developing more contacts, travelling to new cities — and will be up-to-date the next time you play him/her in a convention session.
  
  Equally important is the fact that what your group accomplishes during the session really happens in Kappfold, impacting the regular PC's world, quite possibly affecting their campaign. And when you play again, your CPC will reap the consequences of his/her actions from past sessions, be they acclaim or notoriety!
• Of course, pre-gens will be available for those players who simply show up at gametime or, for whatever reason, don't want to build a CPC. That's fine, too.