The Past, Present and Future of Foam Brain Games - Part 2 (Make money coming to cons! Information about a weekend-long LARP! and more...)
Andrew Zorowitz
Welcome back! Yesterday we talked about the past, so today we get to talk about the present and future.
The major new thing Foam Brain has gotten involved in is selling board games both online and at conventions. As you can see from your new website – www.foambrain.com – we’ve become a rather extensive vendor, carrying a variety of games and dice. In addition to online sales, I’ve been to 17 conventions this year so far, and there are a bunch more to go to in the future.
For people who are interested, going to conventions with Foam Brain is an enjoyable experience, along with a way to make money! We pay $8.50/hour (which translates to 2-3 hundred dollars for a weekend long convention), either as a W2 contractor or a standard part time employee (depending on the event, state, and how often you go to events with us). You can find out more information about upcoming events by joining the constaff email list: http://groups.google.com/group/FB-Constaff or looking at the upcoming events list at : www.tinyurl.com/foambrain. You can view our policies and other information at www.tinyurl.com/foambrainpolicy. While there is a lot of work at these events, people also have time to enjoy fun convention events and hanging out with all of the cool people who go to cons J
So, I know, at this point, everyone is wondering where these new Foam Brain activities leaves LARPing. I’m proud to announce that we will once again be running Mary Celeste – Friday September 17th or Saturday September 18th, followed by another Foam Brain Games party at my house (to which you are all invited) Saturday night. The flyer for Mary Celeste is available at http://www.foambrainlarps.com/downloads/celeste2010.pdf and you can return it at the activity fair tonight, by email to and...@foambrain.com or slip it under MacKenzie Sullivan’s door in Warren Hall (Warren 106). If you somehow haven’t played Mary Celeste before, it’s an example of a genuinely classic game – Foam Brain has run it over 20 times. I strongly recommend it.
Our Weekend-Long game this semester is also a classic game, but one which we’re working on a variety of edits to. It is with some excitement that I can now let you know about our re-run of Masks: Super Heroes Have It Damned Tough in a new edition with a significant amount of editing, new plots, and cool new things. The blurb is at the very bottom of this email, and you can get the flyer at http://www.foambrainlarps.com/downloads/masks2010.pdf. Signups are on the internet at http://masks.foambraingames.com.
Already played Masks? We’re looking for people to play cast characters (ie a variety of NPCs) in the new run of the game. You can get more information and sign up at http://maskscast.foambraingames.com
I’ll be honest – Foam Brain running LARPs is good, but it needs to find a way to be balanced with all of the other stuff that we’re doing these days. There are a lot of ways you can help us remain able to run LARPs: buy your boardgames from us and not from other stores or the internet, ‘like’ us on Facebook and help spread the word about us, come to conventions with us, and otherwise help out with LARPs and other ongoing activities.
And that’s mostly it! The present and future are both fairly exciting, I think, and could not have been possible without the help and support of a great many people. There are plenty of ways that I hope people get involved. Come be a superhero! Come to cons! Or take a trip aboard the Mary Celeste!
Questions? Interested in getting involved? Want more information? Want me to say nice things about you? You can always get in touch with me at and...@foambrain.com, on AIM: WizOfAwz, or on Skype: Zrealm (you can also join the Foam Brain Community Skype Chat).
Andrew Zorowitz
CEO Foam Brain Games
Masks:
Superheroes Have It Damned Tough
A LARP by Barking Mad Productions, with *NEW* extensive rewrites by Foam Brain Games
October 22-24, 2010 at RPI in Troy, NY – http://masks.foambraingames.com to sign up!
Welcome to a world where Superheroes Live and work…
These are tough times for Superheroes. Uberman, America’s noblest hero is dead – killed by a petty villain named Misanthrope. H.E.R.O., Uberman’s organization of Superheroes, must create a new path for itself, with an eye towards a future without its founder.
The depredations of reporter Irwin “Digger” Upton have taken their toll. Using his position as Superhero correspondent for Person Magazine, Upton attempts to either make heroes laughing stocks, or worse, reveal their secret identities to the world. No one has been harder hit than Zip+4, whose children were brutally slaughtered by the Minions of Doom after her identity was revealed by Upton.
Megatherion, upset by the fact that Uberman left a destitute wife and a great many debts, has introduced a proposal that Superheroes demand money from the cities they protect. Angered by this, S-Man (Chairmen Pro-Tem and considered by many to be Uberman’s successor), has introduced a proposal forbidding Superheroes from collecting money for their heroic activities.
The image of Superheroes is at an all time low, and some of the new applicants to H.E.R.O. aren’t helping things – The Boston Mangler is wanted on charges of several million dollars of property damage; Fruit Bat is wanted not only by the law, but by the insane asylum he escaped from; and the Jokester, allegedly a reformed Supervillain, has said he wants to be a Superhero and has been arresting criminals.
With all of the forces of good in one location, will criminals everywhere breathe a sigh of relief? Is this a time where evil can flourish? What of the three recent Super Hero deaths, without any apparent cause? And what of rumours of Superheroes losing their powers…
What Happens When the Heroes Need a Hero of Their Own?