Arcanacon is a

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

convention held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

annually. It is one of several Role-playing conventions of Victoria, Australia run through the year. Arcanacon is the longest running

convention in Victoria. In 1983 the convention was held at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. As well as a

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). ...

major, it also included the second ever freeform to be run in Australia, as well as Traveller,

DragonQuest ''Dragonquest'' is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the sequel to ''Dragonflight'', set seven years later and the second book in the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' series. ''Dragonquest'' was first published ...

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of ...

and Call of Cthulhu tournaments. 1984 saw the convention at University High School and the major appearance of Syd the Arcanasaur, the convention's mascot. In 1985 the convention moved to Melbourne College of Advanced Education, in 1988 it moved to Collingwood Education Centre where it remained until 2013. In 2014 it moved to

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1905, the school caters for boys from Year 9 t ...

, joining Conquest www.conquest.asn.au and Unicon www.unicon.asn.au at that venue. Initially the convention was held in September, but it later moved to August and then to July, where it was run during the Victorian School holiday period. In 2001, the convention moved to the

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

Weekend (the weekend closest to 26 January). The move was in part due to a perceived change in the focus of CanCon (which is run in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

on the same weekend) from mixed roleplaying and

wargaming A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

to solely wargaming. Although sections of the convention had been run with various theme over the years, at Arcanacon XII the convention itself started running an overall theme. In 2000 this theme became a part of the events run at the convention, and games in the theme were sought out to give each year a different feel. In 2007, a short documentary about roleplaying was filmed at Arcanacan XXI for the Channel 31 television programme ''

Planet Nerd ''Planet Nerd'' is a television comedy variety programme broadcast on Channel 31 Melbourne produced by RMITV. It stars local Melbourne comedians Dan Walmsley, Paul Verhoeven, Ben McKenzie, Simon Barber, Jason English-Rees, Andrew Doodson, Lou ...

''.

List of conventions

*1983 Arcanacon I *1984 Arcanacon II *1985 Arcanacon III *1986 Arcanacon IV *1987 Arcanacon V *1988 Arcanacon VI *1989 Arcanacon VII *1990 Arcanacon VIII *1991 Arcanacon IX *1992 Arcanacon X *1993 Arcanacon XI - First Eleven *1994 Arcanacon XII - The Dirty Dozen *1995 Arcanacon XIII - Unlucky for Some *1996 Arcanacon XIV *1997 Arcanacon XV *1998 Arcanacon XVI - Sweet Sixteen *1999 Arcanacon XVII - Summer of the 17th Troll *2000 Arcanacon XVIII - Arcanacon 1800s: A Victorian Roleplaying Convention *2001 Arcanacon XIX - Arcanacon 2001: a roleplaying convention *2002 Arcanacon XX - Akenaken: Secrets of the ancient world *2003 Arcanacon XXI - anniversaries, birthdays and celebrations Image:Arcanasour DSC00938.JPG, Syd the Arcanasour Image:Arcanasour DSC00995.JPG, Birthday Cake *2004 Arcanacon XXII - Folk Tales and Faerie Stories *2005 Arcanacon XXIII - conspiracies, secrets and paranoia *2006 Arcanacon XXIV - Swashbuckling, Exploration and Adventure *2007 Arcanacon XXV - Legends of the Silver Screen *2008 Arcanacon XXVI - Zombies, and Witches, and Dragons, Oh My! *2009 Arcanacon XXVII - Syd-Punk *2010 Arcanacon XXVIII - For Science! *2011 Arcanacon XXIX *2012 Arcanacon XXX - End of the World *2013 Arcanacon XXXI - After the Apocalypse *2014 Arcanacon XXXII - Rebirth *2015 Arcanacon XXXIII - Back to the Future *2019 Arcanacon XXXIV

External links

* http://arcanacon.org/ Role-playing conventions Conventions in Australia 1983 establishments in Australia Recurring events established in 1983 Annual events in Australia Events in Melbourne Winter events in Australia

List of conventions

See also

External links