Wellington Anniversary Weekend January 23rd - 24th 2027

KapCon 2027

KapCon 2027 is on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of January. Monday 25th is a statutory holiday for Wellington workers and can be used for recovery.

The pandemic is still with us. Please check our Covid-19 policy before attending.

What is KapCon?

KapCon is a not-for-profit role-playing game convention run annually in Wellington, New Zealand, every January. Over a hundred people get together for a weekend of role-playing, in a diverse range of styles and systems. Over the weekend, more than 30 individual games are run, with volunteer GMs (or storytellers, narrators or facilitators) running games between one and six times over the course of the convention.

Arkoblock Breakout (Warhammer 40,000: Imperium Maledictum)

Facilitator: 
Seth Kenlon

Descend into a undersea hive city to extract a psyker who's potentially as valuable as he is dangerous. This is an unsanctioned operation, so you need a good cover story, a solid plan, and steadfast faith in the Emperor.

This adventure is [adapted] for the d100 "Imperium Maledictum" game system, and is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Knowledge of the setting helps but is not necessary. Pre-generated characters are available.

System: 
Imperium Maledictum

The One Ring: Forsaken Keeps of Erebor

Facilitator: 
Seth Kenlon

The dragon Smaug has been vanquished, Thorin Oakenshield has been slain in the Battle of Five Armies, and Dáin II ("Ironfoot") is King under the Mountain. It's a time of peace Middle-earth, but evil still lurks in the forgotten halls of fallen cities.

You are adventurers hired by dwarven nobles to explore abandoned dungeons of Erebor. You must clear them of goblins and cave trolls and whatever else has nested in the ruins so that the kingdom of Erebor may be restored to its former glory.

This adventure is set in Middle-earth between the events of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", and uses The One Ring game system. Pre-generated characters are available.

System: 
The One Ring (Free League)

Warhammer 40,000 Wrath & Glory: Graveyard Shift

Facilitator: 
Seth Kenlon

You've been tasked by an Interrogator of the Inquisition to retrieve a dangerous xenotech artefact from the planet Daedalon. Can you navigate the unhallowed burial grounds of the Imperium to uncover hidden blasphemy?

"Wrath & Glory" is a Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying game using a unique d6 system.

Content warning: Warhammer 40,000 is a "grim dark" setting with satirically questionable morality settings. You play as "heroes" in this adventure, except that you serve an authoritarian theocratic empire that views human life as an expendable resource.

System: 
Wrath & Glory

Arkoblock Breakout (Shadowrun 5th edition)

Facilitator: 
Seth Kenlon

A highly secure undersea arcology. A cover story marketing truly terrible products. An extraction target whose focus on keeping his family safe is at odds with the Shadowrunners’ goals. This is Arkoblock Breakout, a Shadowrun adventure in the Proteus AG Arkoblock, a utopian space for Proteus AG employees to live and work, with parks, sports fields, a concert hall, and even an artificial forest. But deep beneath the ocean surface are the black decks, inaccessible to the general populace, where indentured employees coloquially known as "barnacles" live miserable lives of servitude.

You've been hired to infiltrate the Arkoblock posing as employees of the Sanders Beverage company, whose products are questionable at best. Can you sneak away long enough to locate their extraction target? Can you pass as salespeople? More importantly, can you dodge the over-attentive exec hell-bent on impressing visitors?

** Note that this is Shadowrun 5th edition, not 6th and not Anarchy.
Pre-generated characters are available.

System: 
Shadowrun 5th edition

Ragadorn Ale-house Brawl

Facilitator: 
Seth Kenlon

"Ragadorn Alehouse Brawl" was a 4-page roleplaying miniatures game published in the "Magnamund Companion" in 1986. It takes place in the fantasy world of the "Lone Wolf" game books (a little like "Fighting Fantasy") by Joe Dever.

In the game, you enter a seedy alehouse in the town of Ragadorn. Your goal is defined on your pre-generated character card, but inevitably someone else in the Alehouse has a goal that opposes yours. How will you achieve your task? Will you fight? bargain? carouse? a little bit of everything?

It's a pretty unique game somewhere between roleplay and wargame, but if you want to try out a piece of tabletop history, come to the Ragadorn Alehouse Brawl!

If you want to experience "Lone Wolf" or learn more about Ragadorn in the meantime, then check out Joe Dever's work at https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/FireOnTheWater

System: 
Lone Wolf

The Treasure of the Hideous One

Facilitator: 
Luke Walker

The aged and crumbling account of Fondalus as scribed by Tharakimeios may be the only surviving clue as to the fate of Colonel Rosentos's expedition and perhaps the resting place of the Essence-Orb of the Black Sage, which he is rumoured to have sought.

Now that scroll, like a map to hidden riches, lies in the hands of a small group. Did Rosentos find fabulous treasure or die in dark places? Did he betray his men to an evil sorcerer or did they share in his good fortune? Does the Essence-Orb reveal all knowledge that is asked of it, no matter how secret, or does it tell nothing but lies that lead to despair? The answers lie in wait for those willing to venture into the mists that shroud them.

The Treasure of the Hideous One is a classic Dungeons and Dragon wilderness adventure of exploration and adventure in which the player characters follow a century old tale in search of wondrous treasure.

System: 
Expert D&D

The Veiled Society

Facilitator: 
Luke Walker

Dawn's light reached through the window to shine on a veiled man. Below his tower window, the city folk slowly awoke eagerly anticipating the upcoming of Festival of Lucor. "Today is the day," he said to himself smiling, looking down at them. "The day I finally bring my plan into action!"

On a dusty road a few miles outside the city, a small group roused itself. With little ado, they packed their camp and set out on the road once more. The excitement tingled among them, for today they would reach the city of Specularum — the home of their new fortunes or maybe their ignominious fall!

The Veiled Society is a classic Dungeons and Dragon city adventure of action and mystery in which the player characters become involved in the power struggles of the city.

System: 
Basic D&D

Astroprisma

Facilitator: 
Luke Walker

The light of civilization has faded from this universe. The names of even the greatest galactic empires have vanished from common knowledge. Megacities the size of entire planets are now deserted. The last remnants of our species live scattered across a hundred star systems, spread apart and unable to communicate.

Conflicts of interest and fights over important resources like ancient tech have created an environment of hostility between distinct factions with different ideals and goals. The influence of these groups has increased over time, leading to constant friction and wars between those with opposing values. Some, driven by either conviction or necessity, have chosen to leave the safety of their settlements and explore the universe in search of bygone artifacts.

As a spacefarer, you are starting a journey through a new star system. You will explore planets, ancient ruins, forsaken cities, and other locations, uncovering the secrets of the Old World. Your decisions on who to side with and what paths to take will shape the fate of the system and your own future as you continue exploring the galaxy.

Astroprisma is a GMless retrofuturistic RPG in which the players work together, guided by its procedural ruleset, to tell a story of their own creation and build a unique spacefaring adventure.

System: 
Astroprisma

2026 wrapup

We are done and dusted for another year, thank you so much everyone for all you did to make it a great con, volunteers, GMs and players and all those who participate.

We had at least 157 come through this weekend, which is a solid turnout.

We had issues with the Massey parking. We have spoken to the school about some tickets already, but if you have received one and not already provided a photo to Scott, please send an email with a photo of the ticket to kapcon@gmail.com.

While Kapcon isn't about prizes and ranking it's nice to celebrate those that have contributed and made the con fun for people. Baz Clarke and his company Cold Robot Design has created multiple trophies for us to remember and celebrate some of these people. We don't have a trophy for every prize yet but it's a lovely new element. So with that lens:

Best overall GM: The GM that has run multiple games over the convention, been scored multiple times in at least 2 rounds and has the highest overall average: Mat 'Tigger' Brunton ran Western Cthulhu, Grind House Cthulhu and Regency Cthulhu that people enjoyed across the con. Congrats and thank you.

Best Single Game GM: This award goes to the GM that had the highest score in a single round (that is scored), and this can be very close but with some fantastic games of Brindlewood Bay, and Disney on Ice it goes to David Easley. Fantastic feedback on some fantastic games thank you.

Most nominations across the con: Nominations can be for great GMing or play, or just being a great person and helping others, and nominations are given by the other players and GMs. This year it went to Ciaran with consistent showing across the convention and multiple years. Always great to have you here.

James Plunket Memorial award for new GM: This award remembers one of our own who contributed a lot to Kapcon and is no longer with us. This celebrates a new GM to Kapcon who has done amazingly well. Evelyne Go ran a brilliant game of Aliens in the Pentagon. Hopefully we see you back GMing at Kapcon and other cons.

Jonathan Tailby Memorial award for new Player: This award remembers one of our own who contributed a lot to Kapcon and is no longer with us. This is based on nominations across the weekend and was a very close and this year went to Manuel Kolb, welcome to Kapcon Manuel.

The Kapcon organisers award is something that we give to someone who has contributed to the Con, made our jobs easier, or we have seen helping others. This year was a tough year to call, I had 4 people I was considering as you are all so great. This year the award went to Paul Wilson, who helped bringing stuff to Kapcon, setting up, helped with the desk and making sure Scott was eating, got milk and ice each day and ran multiple games across the convention and was helping people new to the con. Thank you for all you do Paul (and Cat <3 ).

The adventurers league award goes to a member or recent graduate from Adventure Squad. After discussion with the Facilitators there was one young attendee who helped the other children, helped the games run smoothly and will soon enter the General Population. Eleanor Fouhy impressed all with her energy and confidence yesterday.

The award for runner up GM, a GM that has run multiple games across the con goes to Baz for his Shadowdark games that were really well received. Baz who is no newbie to run multiple games at the con and brings plenty of experience and energy and the GM battle was very close this year. Thank you for your efforts Baz.

This is just a small sample of our attendees, but there were many amazing players and games. I saw nominations for high adventures, derring dos, sacrifices, laughter and horror. So thank you all.

Next start thinking about what exciting games that you want to bring and run next year ;).

Get out there support the other events out there:

And all the rest

Go and support the wonderful local game publishers in our community.

If you can support the Vendors that showed us some support:

If you need to reach out to anyone or want support for your games please reach out to us.

And most of all hopefully you all get a chance to relax and recover.

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