Arcanacon 1984 Program Guide Image courtesy of Arcanacon http://arcanacon.org/

 

Local role playing games conventions such as Melbourne’s Arcanacon and Canberra’s Cancon were important in the 1980s in bringing together people who were interested in the emerging genre of home computer games. Steve Fawkner, author of the “Warlords” series and “Puzzlequest” games, recalls taking the first computer game he wrote “Quest for the Holy Grail” to a games convention in Melbourne in 1984 and giving it away. Not knowing how to publish his game he packaged up a dozen copies on cassette which he sealed in sandwich bags with a note saying “If you like this game please send me $5. Here is my address”. Over the next few months, envelopes containing $5 notes and the occasional letter offering feedback and encouragement, would arrive in his post. Buoyed by finding an audience for his designs Fawkner wrote a new game each year for the local community till 1989 when he published “Warlords” with SSG.

Did you encounter any games software at your local role playing games conventions in the 1980s? How many of the games you played were distributed in sandwich bags with mysterious P.O.Boxes? Was you RPG gaming a gateway to the world of digital games?