Kids Activities All Weekend @ ICON 2019!

Need something for the young ones to help keep them not only occupied but stimulated? Look no further than ICON 2019! The following activities will be available this weekend:

  • Dungeons & Dragons Colouring-In Competition: try your hand at bringing a D&D battle scene to life!
  • LEGO Speedbuilds & Freebuilds: Speedbuild competitions every hour from 11 am daily, but for the younger fans there is a Freebuild area, and a small surprise with every build!
  • Anime Cinema: the best of all ages anime playing in Centre Court from 10 am
  • Kids Cosplay Competition: open kids cosplay competition taking place on Monday at 2 pm at Centre Court.

There’s also plenty of geek merchandise to peruse, tabletop gaming to try and plenty more!

 

ICON 2019 Welcomes The Johannesburg LEGO User Group!

It is with great pleasure ICON 2019 announces the Johannesburg LEGO User Group (JHB LUG) will be in attendance this weekend at Emperors Palace!

The JHB LUG team will be providing a number of their “My Own Creations” (MOCs), which will be located throughout the venue, and have helped co-ordinate a massive LEGO Speedbuild competition!

 

Important IDW “FULL BLEED” Update!

Due to the impressive response we’ve received around our IDW “FULL BLEED” competition, the decision has been made by IDW and ICON CGC to expand the competition – which also means an extension on the time frame!

We’ve received a number of inquiries from outside the SA borders about entering the competition, and there’s little chance of those countries getting a pop culture event to run their own competition any time soon. Entries will be opened to the following countries:

  • South Africa
  • Zimbabwe
  • Mozambique
  • Madagascar
  • Mauritius
  • Reunion
  • Swaziland
  • Namibia
  • Botswana
  • Angola
  • Zambia

Because of this, the deadline will be pushed out to the 31st July, 2019, with the winning entries judged online at an event in August. Now there’s no excuse to get your best work in!

 

#ICON2019 Welcomes Comic Book Legend Ron Marz!

Better late than never – but heroes are always on time, right? It’s with great pleasure we can now announce ICON2019’s comic book guest is the inimitable Ron Marz!

Ron’s expansive body of work covers some of the biggest titles in comic books, with incredible runs on the #SilverSurfer during the height of the Infinity Gauntlet/War/Crusade, and the now legendary #GreenLantern run which changed Hal Jordan and the Corps forever! Ron will be a full weekend guest, check out our session schedule (http://bit.ly/2rJD6QU) to see when you can catch him in action!

Tabletop RPGs Return in Full Force To ICON 2019!

Tabletop roleplaying has long been a staple of ICON Comics & Games Convention. This year, with an increased dedicated space, ICON CGC has expanded the RPG offering to cover everyone – grizzled veterans to brave, new warriors. Here’s a breakdown of the smorgasboard of RPG offerings!

New to Roleplaying? – This year we are running multiple demonstration games so that the maximum number of new enthusiasts can experience some of our favourite systems. So, sign yourself up, bring a friend or bring the whole family! We are running four sessions of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition and two sessions of Pathfinder/Starfinder daily, as well as two sessions of Legends of the Five Rings.

There will be a booking desk in the Roleplaying Area (Galleria Restaurant West) where you can book your spot on the day, or send an email to gracrom@icon.co.za for a pre-booking. Spaces are limited and all you need to bring is your imagination! Game on at 10am and 2pm daily.

Lost Mine of Phandelver

Explore subterranean labyrinths! Plunder hoards of treasure! Battle legendary monsters! Dungeons & Dragons is your gateway to action-packed stories of the imagination. This demo will teach the essential rules of the game plus everything you need to play heroic characters on perilous adventures in worlds of fantasy.

Lost Mine of Phandelver is a beginner-level campaign intended to introduce new people to the world of Dungeons and Dragons. A High Fantasy Adventure run by Wade Wonfor.

Anaximander’s Intro to Tabletop RPGs

Welcome to Anaximander’s Adventuring Studies. Set in the wonderous Wizarding School of Scarthey, Anaximander’s Adventuring Studies is a short introduction to roleplaying and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game for four players. A new adventure for 1st level characters, this module takes players through three years at the school, up to 3rd level. Beginners welcome and characters are provided.

The adventure is written by Jeffrey Swank (Ultimate Wilderness, Martial Arts Handbook).

Skitter Shot

Don’t worry, the skittermanders are here to help!

When a routine salvage operation deep in the Vast goes awry, the skittermanders Dakoyo, Gazigaz, Nako, and Quonx must board a luxurious cruise liner controlled by a rogue artificial intelligence to save their vesk boss and a group of hapless passengers. All manner of obstacles block their path to success, from malfunctioning massage tables to cybernetic undead to vermin from another plane, but if the skittermanders can work together (something skittermanders do best), they are sure to be hailed as tiny, furry heroes! That is, of course, if the passing pirate starship doesn’t blast them all out of space first…

Skitter Shot is an adventure for four skittermander characters who are eager to help those in need and explore a seemingly abandoned starship, written for the wildly popular Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

 

Intro to the L5R Setting: This an era of sudden change and upheaval and celestial turmoil alike have disrupted the political, military and spiritual equilibrium of the land. Long-simmering rivalries and fresh betrayals ripple through the courts and on the battlefield. The Chysanthemun Throne is beset by threats from without and within, and honour of the seven Great Clans – the families descended from the heroes of legend and sworn to rule their lands in the Emperor’s name-shall put to to the test.

Intro to the Adventure – The Topaz Championship: In these times of strife, a group of youths approaches the village of Tsuma for the Topaz Championship and their gempuku, the coming-of-age ceremony that will mark them as fully fledged samurai. Each contestant has come from a different clan and dreams of being the highest scoring contestant in the tournament earning the title of Topaz Championship. Despite being pitted against one another, they are all united in their desire to succeed and bring honour to their clan and family.

The Topaz Championship is an introductory

 

Traditional ICON role-playing

Traditions do change and evolve! Our competitive teams and GMs are becoming few and far between, for a multitude of reasons. Therefore, we are focusing on everyone having fun! Come with your group or with a few friends, sign up and we will allocate you to a GM (if you haven’t brought your own GM). This should take less time to organise than trying to allocate teams to tables! Yes, we will need GMss!! 😊 Individual players will be banded together and a GM found, we will keep the slot times as always and GMs will have the normal hour to go through the module – but there is no reason you can’t sign in on Saturday to run a module on Monday! Groups with their own GM can pay the module fee are run as and when they like.

 

Competitive Modules

For those players and GMs that want to compete – we have a Cthulhu Masters Module brought to you by Warwick Brown (veteran writer and multiple winner of the Best Keeper title) and a Dungeons and Dragons Module used at conventions in the USA.

Competitive play will be for individual entries – there will be no team events.

 

Cthulhu: Legacy by Warwick Brown

The Liddesdale Weekly Gazette, a bastion of the free press, has some … interesting … stories this week. Read all about it right here.

 

Dungeons and Dragons: Storm King’s Thunder (An Introductory Adventure)

As evening approaches, you spot a wooden signpost next to a trail that heads north into the hills. Nailed to the post are three arrow-shaped signs. The two marked “Waterdeep” and “Daggerford” follow the High Road but point in opposite directions. The third, marked “Nightstone,” beckons you to follow the trail. If memory serves, Nightstone is roughly ten miles up the trail. And evening is fast approaching…

Characters of Level 1-5

Lead Designer: Christopher Perkins

NB: You will need to play in both Modules over Saturday and Sunday. Only your best score will count! There will be Role-playing appropriate prizes sponsored by ‘Unplug Yourself’ and ICON CGC. Prize giving 17:30 on Monday evening. While this is a competitive module, no one is prevented from playing these modules.

 

The Blue Moon Festival: A Pathfinder Introduction Into Roleplaying session for 4-6 players

The Blue Moon Festival has arrived. You and your friends have been waiting all year and rumours of a special prize has the village buzzing with excitement! To win the prize you will need to excel in all the events planned for this year’s Festival!

By JP Keyser

 

The Haunting of Calrow Ruins: A D&D 5th Ed Adventure for 4-6 players

Calrow Ruins, a crumbling castle, is haunted. Lady Bridgette wishes her ancestral holdings cleared of monstrosities, and hires some brave adventurers to retake the ruins. This is a one-page module for more creative or experienced GMs

By Aaron Infante-Levy, modified by Angelique Venter

 

Pyxis Chaotica: A Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition module for 4-6 characters

You have to collect a box for a wizard, with the emphasis on “have to” – this isn’t voluntary. After all, who in their right mind would voluntarily collect a box for a wizard, when the box is supposedly magical or full of magic or something similarly unpleasant? And the man you’re supposed to collect it from isn’t the nicest of people either. How did you end up doing this again?

By Leslie Longman

 

Salts of the Earth: A Call of Cthulhu 7th edition module for 4-6 characters

Belinda is definitely sane, and she doesn’t make mistakes. If she says she saw her husband walking around her hometown, she saw him. But he’s dead. You were at his funeral, you saw his body in the coffin. Something is very wrong here, and you’re going to get to the bottom of it.

By Leslie Longman

 

The Rotten Squad: A D&D 5th edition module for 4-6 characters of level 4

You work for the Guildmaster of Thieves. You do his dirtiest and nastiest jobs – that’s why the rest of the Guild calls you the Rotten Squad. The job he’s just given you is quite benign by the standards of what you usually do – you just have to give the Guildmaster of Merchants a message. A physical and excruciating message. This’ll be fun …

By Leslie Longman

 

The Doomsday Scenario: A Starfinder Adventure for 4-6 characters of level 6

You’ve just woken up. You think you’re on a starship. You’re with a group of other people. You know you know them, and you know your skills and theirs. But you don’t remember what they’re like, or how you know them, or how you got here. There are alarms going off everywhere. You don’t know what happened, or what’s happening, but you’re going to find out.

By Leslie Longman

 

Krenko’s Way: A D&D Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica Module

An introductory adventure for 1st-level characters. The notorious goblin crime boss Krenko has escaped from the Udzec prison under suspicious circumstances. Now, he plots to re-establish control over his criminal enterprise, raising the spectre of a goblin gang war that could jeopardize the tenuous peace among the guilds. You must find Krenko and secure him before all-out war ensues!

By Chris Tulach

 

A Zib for Your Thoughts: A D&D Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica Module

An adventure for 2nd-level characters. One person’s trash is sometimes another’s treasure. In this case, it’s also an opportunity for you to go on an excursion across the Tenth District, tracking down a client’s very specific request… in thoughts.

By Chris Tulach

 

Fun, fun, fun! Any module, anytime. If you have your own group and GM. Otherwise: registration from 9am daily. GMs get modules at 10am and 2pm. Game on as soon as GM is ready – no later than 11am and 3pm. Module run times should be roughly 3 hours. (GMs and players permitting).

In addition: Past Modules

If you email gracrom@icon.co.za before 17th April, I will attempt to resurrect any past ICON Module requested. I will also seek permission for it’s re-use. I will need a better description than ‘you know that module where…’ 😊 These will also carry a set fee and can be used at any time over the weekend.

Remember we close at 18:00 Saturday and Sunday, 17:00 on Monday.

 

IDW Publishing “Full Bleed” Competition @ ICON 2019!

ICON 2019 brings all those creatives out there an art submission competition in conjunction with IDW Publishing’s premiere publication FULL BLEED. Produced quarterly, this comics and culture hardcover magazine celebrates the best in comics, fiction, non-fiction, interviews and more. Local comic book artists will have the chance to be highlighted in the Spring edition of FULL BLEED, with the competition winners having their art showcased in a five page spread focusing on South African artists.

FULL BLEED is curated and edited by IDW Publishing’s Creative Director Dirk Wood, alongside IDW Publishing Former CEO/Founder Ted Adams. On Saturday afternoon, April 20th, Dirk will review a curated selection of submissions to and choose which pieces will be added to the next edition.

The window for this amazing opportunity is small so don’t wait – submissions will be open for ONE WEEK from 9 am Friday morning, 5th April! You can submit your pieces through our online form here: http://bit.ly/2CYf37P

Full competition terms and conditions can be found here: http://bit.ly/2CYd6Ix

 

 

Demo LARP Experiences: Star Wars Cantina and Urban Fantasy!

 

Live Action Roleplaying (LARPing) is kind of like taking part in a Murder Mystery Party – but you get to choose how your character makes their own story! And the SA LARP Jam team want you to give it a try.

Throughout the weekend, some of SA’s best LARP teams will be running introductory sessions for new (and not so new players) looking to try their hand at this fun and immersive hobby:

– The “Reach For The Empire” LARP team will host a “Star Wars: Catina” themed session, letting you take on a role in the “greatest hive of scum and villainy” this side of Kessel! Are you a Rebel sympathiser? An Empire lieutenant? Can you help change the course of history in one of the most loved fictional settings of all time?

– Urban Fantasy: think Harry Dresden, street magic, vampires and werewolves … all roaming the streets of your city, today. Is yours a path of white light? Or do you need to skate on the black edge to get things done?

Multiple sessions of both LARPS will run regularly across all three days of ICON Comics & Games Convention, and registration will be required – you’ll find the everything you need at the LARP registration area in the foyer of Centre Court. As for costumes or props – everything will be provided.

So why not come and try LARPing on for size? You’ve got nothing to lose and a world to gain!

Animation du Monde 2020 launches across Africa @ ICON2019!

If you have an animation project you have been working on that’s pitch ready, or one that’s been sitting on a hard drive somewhere, it’s time to dust it off. The Pan-African Animation du Monde 2020 preliminary pitch season is kicking into gear!

As a Pan-African brand custodian of the Annecy – MIFA Pitches Animation du Monde pitching competition the African Animation Network (AAN) is launching the 3rd annual regional prelims across 5 events, starting with ICON Comics & Games Convention (ICON CGC). ICON CGC is the oldest pop culture event of its kind in Africa.

You can submit an animation pitch here: http://bit.ly/AnimationDuMondeRegister

Animation du Monde’s mission is to give animation projects in developing animation industries from across the world the opportunity to participate at the highest level internationally during the MIFA Pitches. The MIFA Pitches are arguably the biggest animation focused pitching forum in the world and takes place against the backdrop of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival & Market/MIFA in France. A place where animation filmmakers can celebrate the craft while building relationships and a deeper understanding of the industry. During the 2018 Animation du Monde Finals in Annecy; Ingrid Agbo, from Togo, secured an historic pre-sale for her project L’arbre à Palimpseste which is currently in pre-production.

Agbo qualified with her project through the 2017 regional prelims run by AAN at DISCOP Abidjan and thereafter, won one of two places to represent Africa at the 2018 Animation du Monde Finals whilst competing at the continental finals at DISCOP Johannesburg. Through her journey she was able network with other African animation filmmakers who were able to help her refine her project through to the 2018 Animation du Monde Finals in France. Through the relationships she had built she has been able to recruit African talent from across the continent to work on the first season of L’arbre à Palimpseste as she builds partnerships with broadcasters from across the world.

Through its DISCOMICS footprint– an initiative run by DISCOP Markets and AAN– and which includes partnerships with 3 of Africa’s longest running comic conventions, AAN will be hosting 4 regional prelims in Johannesburg (at ICON CGC), Abidjan (DISCOP Abidjan), Lagos (at Lagos Comic Con), and Nairobi (Nairobi Comic Con). Because, the partners are always looking to create new opportunities for creators across Africa, AAN has partnered with the Accra Animation Film Festival (AAFFia) to add a 5th regional prelim.

At the 2018 continental finals held at DISCOP Johannesburg, The Trouble Makers presented by Nildo Essa (of Mozambique) and The Makerbolts presented by Dami Solesi (of Nigeria) won the two places to represent Africa at the 2019 Animation du Monde Finals in Annecy. At the continental finals held at DISCOP Johannesburg, all the finalists got to work on their projects with industry heavy hitters who were both judges and mentors. These included names like Alexis Ducord & Arthur de Pins (Co-directors of Zombillenium), Mike de Seve (Creative Director at Baboon Animation), Rathan Sam George (CCO of Toonz Media Group), and Géraldine Baché (Head of Projects at MIFA). As part of the Annecy – MIFA Animation du Monde – Skills Programme, a programme of workshops, masterclasses, one-on-one project evaluations and pitch practice sessions were run at DISCOP Johannesburg ahead of the continental final. Participants were given valuable insights into both improving their projects and their pitching techniques.

“The value of entering a pitch competition like Animation du Monde goes far beyond winning or losing. Through it you build relationships, your confidence to sell your project, and most importantly the insight of industry professionals with years of experience on projects from around the world.” says Nick Wilson, Head of Projects & Content at AAN. “Animated short films and series have shown great potential for both continental and international partnerships, with a higher possibility to raise funding, get them produced and reach audience. It’s with this in mind that there will be a strong focus on short films and series for this year’s pitching competition”