The battle lines are drawn. On one side, there are anarchic buccaneers with peg legs and eye patches, ready to battle for your booty. On the other, stealthy assassins at home in the night, whose fighting skills are legendary.

Yes. Pirates vs. ninjas. The war is about to begin and the conflict will take place in the least likely of places — the University of Toledo Student Union.

On Feb. 17, the 27th annual BASHCon — the largest gaming convention in the area — will begin at 5 p.m. in the Union. Registration begins at 4 p.m.; as attendees enter, they will choose sides.

“Once you register to the event, you name yourself a ‘pirate’ or ‘ninja,’ and the entire convention will basically be a big battle of pirates vs. ninjas. And whenever a ninja or a pirate wins a game, we tally up the results and see which faction is winning,” said Qusai Al Shidi, this year’s BASHCon coordinator.

Costumes are optional, but probably inevitable. The theme gives BASHCon’s events an added level of depth and fun, as players from around the area (and, indeed, the country) gather to face off in role-playing games (RPGs), video games, table-top games and more.

Al Shidi said that the motif was decided on early in the planning. “BASHCon every year has a theme, and the committee this year, we were thinking about a theme,” he said. “And I guess pirates vs. ninjas was a good theme, and something to actually apply to BASHCon, and do the whole battle thing.”

This year’s event has been a labor of love for Al Shidi, who has been involved with BASHCon for the past four years — as long as he’s attended UT as a physics major.

“BASH, which is the student organization which runs BASHCon, is a big organization,” Al Shidi said. “We have over a hundred members, and usually a couple of them start taking up leadership positions throughout the year, especially if you stay with the organization. And that’s, I guess, what happened with me.

“I was co-coordinator last year, but this is my first year of being coordinator, yes. And my last,” he added with a smile in his voice.

Gaming has been a part of Al Shidi’s life since childhood in his home country of Oman. He fondly recalls being taken to arcades by his brother, who taught him how to play classics like “Street Fighter.” Other kinds of gaming didn’t come into his life until much later.

“I did have an interest [in role-playing games], but I grew up in another country where it’s virtually hard to find, or non-existent,” Al Shidi said. “So RPG’s and table-top games really came into my life when I came to the U.S.”

The universal appeal of playing with (or against) friends is one of the great appeals of an event like BASHCon, he said. “Really, everybody loves games. So if you go there, you’ll definitely find something to play, whether it’s board games or video games.

“And if you don’t know how to play a board game, people are very nice over there, and are willing to teach. So, going there unequipped or without knowledge shouldn’t stop you from going to BASHCon. You’ll have fun anyway,” Al Shidi said.

In addition to the wide variety of traditional games on display during the event, there will be other, less traditional items. Have you ever wanted to control a giant robot? BASHCon has the next best thing.

“We’re gonna have Battletech Pods — they’re virtual reality machines in which you enter this big pod and start piloting a giant robot, and it’s going to be very fun,” Al Shidi said.

There’ll also be large tournaments for a wide variety of titles, from board and card contests to a number of different video games, though Al Shidi is quick to point out there will be plenty of gaming for those who don’t want to commit to a full tournament.

“You can come in and just play,” Al Shidi said, but added that “There’s gonna be a ‘Call of Duty’ tournament and a ‘Halo’ tournament and a ‘Smash Bros.’ tournament.”

The event will also feature appearances from several guests with clout in the gaming world, from Bryan Pope, the CEO of gaming company Arcane Wonders, to the cast members of the irreverent gaming podcast “THACO.”

“They talk about RPGs on that podcast, and we were able to invite them to BASHCon, too, so that they could possibly record a podcast during the convention,” Al Shidi said.

In the end, though, Al Shidi said that the real appeal of an event as expansive as BASHCon is experiencing the whole of the community fans belong to, concentrated in one annual gathering.

“That’s what convention culture is like. It’s a once-in-a-year thing,” Al Shidi said. “What seems unique  to this event is the people you can see there and meet, that it’s an experience. It’s something memorable that you can do there every year.

“And it’s in the gaming culture to go to conventions in the state, or around the country, actually,” he added. “It’s just a thing we do, and it’s definitely something you go to to learn more about the culture, and the events. And play games.”

BASHCon runs Feb. 17-19 in the UT Student Union on the main campus, 2801. W. Bancroft St. UT students get in free with ID. General admission is $10 for one day, $15 for the weekend. Visit www.bashcon.com for information.

Tags: BashCon, University of Toledo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 10:37 am and is filed under Gaming, Star.
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If you don’t know your LARP from your FPS, BASHCon can teach you.

The 26th annual gaming convention set for Feb. 18-20 at the University of Toledo will offer chances to experience live action role-playing (LARP) and first-person shooter (FPS) games.

BASHCon is fun for serious gamers and beginners alike, said Qusai Al Shidi, president of UT’s gaming organization, UT-BASH, which has more than 160 active members. Last year’s BASHCon drew more than 900 people to the main campus student union, Al Shidi said.

“If no one has experienced a gaming convention before, I would urge people to come,” Al Shidi said. “I don’t think people should be intimidated by these sorts of games. It will take a little bit to learn if you aren’t familiar, but then it’s really fun. You can be taught while here. It’s good to meet new people. It’s fun if you come alone or with other people.”

UT-BASH members enjoy video games, card games, board games and role-playing games, said Al Shidi, a junior physics major, who mainly played video games before being introduced to other types of games through the club.

LARP games like “Eaten Alive,” featuring zombie fighting, and “Dagorhir,” featuring medieval fighting using foam weapons, should be popular, Al Shidi said.

Video game tournaments will include FPS games — where the player experiences the game from the vantage point of the onscreen character — like “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and “Halo: Reach”  as well as “Super Smash Bros.”

The largest card game tournament will be “Magic: The Gathering.”

“We’re going to have almost half a room full of people playing it. We’re expecting just a little bit less than 100 playing,” said Al Shidi, who said there will also

be plenty of “Pathfinder Chronicles” action, referring to a role-playing game similar to “Dungeons & Dragons.”

There will be a painting contest for miniatures, which are used in games like “Warhammer” and “WARMACHINE,” Al Shidi said.

“They usually come with miniatures that aren’t pre-painted and you paint them yourself, which is kind of the culture of miniature games,” Al Shidi said.

When BASHCon says board games, it doesn’t mean those in children’s toy chests — more like Dominion and Settlers of Catan, Al Shidi said.

“You can find Monopoly if you look really hard, but you won’t find Candy Land unless you bring your own and play with people,” Al Shidi said. “I’m sure you could find people to play with.”

UT junior Halah Mohamed is not a gamer but attended last year’s BASHCon with some friends. This year, she is returning as an exhibitor.

Mohamed, who writes and illustrates an original Japanese manga-style graphic novel series called “Kurokenshin” under the name KO_Okami, said convention exhibitors typically fall into two categories: dealers and artists.

“I’m an artist and I didn’t expect to have artists there at BASHCon, but they did,” Mohamed said. “It was bigger than I had expected and there was a whole bunch of stuff going on. I was under the assumption it was just a gaming convention, but there were lots of booths to go through and they had a variety of interesting things.”

Bob Kindel, owner of The Light Trading Company, is one of four vendors who has attended every BASHCon.

“We call him the dice guy,” Al Shidi said. “He has all sorts of dice. If you name the die, he has it.”

Kindel said his motto is, “Here to meet your gaming needs.”

“I pretty much try to carry anything that’s made and if I don’t have it, I can get it,” Kindel said. “There’s some dice that only one person in a thousand will want, but if that person is at the Con, they’re happy.”

Freelance artist Tony Steele of Steeleworks, who will be back for his eighth year as an exhibitor, said BASHCon has all the elements of a bigger convention, but with the intimacy of a smaller one.

“It’s one of my favorite shows,” Steele said. “There’s certainly nothing lacking and I actually find I like the smaller shows because some shows just get so big, you get lost in the shuffle. It’s a nice little show and it feels like there’s someone there that might give a crap.”

Steele and Kindel both said they are always impressed at how organized BASHCon is despite having its student leadership switch every few years.

“That’s the thing about the show; they’re always changing up, doing new stuff. I never go there knowing exactly who’s going to be there each year. It’s always a little bit different. I never get bored with it,” Steele said.

Steele said he likes to watch from his table in the middle of the action as the gaming area fills up with people.

“Aaron Williams, who is a comic book guy of some note, usually sits next to me and we spend most of the time nerding out with each other,” Steele said. “Even after the vendor portion closes, it goes well into the night for as much gaming as your little eyes can stand.”

BASHCon hours are 5 p.m. to midnight Feb. 18, 9 a.m. to midnight Feb. 19 and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 20.

Admission is $10 per day or $15 for the weekend. UT students, faculty and staff get in free with ID. Tournaments carry a nominal fee. All ages are welcome, but kids must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information and a complete list of activities, visit www.bashcon.com.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 9:50 am and is filed under Gaming, Star.
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BashCon, the city’s largest annual gaming convention, celebrates its 25th anniversary at the UT Student Union, starting Feb. 19 and continuing all weekend. BashCon plays host to a wide variety of events with a focus on traditional table-top role playing games, board games, miniatures, computer games and panels with guest speakers.

“[We] just try and help bring the gaming community together for a few days, to share and enjoy it,” said BashCon coordinator Nicole Teare.

The event is offering a special deal for BashCon’s silver anniversary — attendees who pay $25 will receive a badge for admission and entry into all tournaments, as well as a commemorative six-sided die featuring the BashCon logo.

Teare’s experience with UT Bash — the student organization that runs BashCon each year — goes back to her freshman year at the university, when she worked at the registration desk. Four years later, she said that while the core of BashCon remains the same, it has seen a great deal of evolution in the time she has worked with it.

“In recent years, gaming has gotten a lot more mainstream, and that’s reflected in the higher attendance of our membership and at the convention. It seems we get a lot more who are just casual gamers than in the past,” Teare said.

Kerry Porter, one of the guest speakers at BashCon XXV, has been attending the event for many years as a fan.

She said that the influx of casual gamers can be witnessed in the event’s larger focus on video games.

“It’s progressed with gaming as a whole. It went from the whole classic, you know, ‘Dungeons and Dragons,’ ‘Magic: The Gathering’ card set, to including the likes of the MMO’s (massive multiplayer online games) — ‘World of Warcraft,’ ‘RuneScape’ and others. So it’s really incorporated the digital age,” Porter said.

Porter said the smaller size of an event like BashCon makes it a more personal experience than larger events.

“Conventions like Gencon, or DragonCon or ComicCon are so big you really can get lost in it, and it’s hard to, as an individual, really get in touch with things,” Porter said.  “With a smaller convention, you can sample games easier, you can see games easier. You can be a bystander or participant a lot easier.”

Local gaming stores will also be represented at the event. Darryl E. Dean, owner of The Game Room on Sylvania Avenue, said he has been involved in BashCon for 20 years, as a retailer and as a player.

One of the positive side effects of BashCon, Dean said, was that “you’re basically helping out the university, and it gets maybe even some of the kids that might even think about going to the university, it gives them a chance to see the place when you get there.

“And you get to meet all kinds of new people.”

And it is that interaction with fellow gamers — the chance to share the things they love with one another — that is the real attraction of the event, for both fans and organizers alike.

“The draw, at least for me, and I know for many other people, is friends. You get to go there and meet people who share in similar tastes and hobbies, and you get to, you know, test your skills with some of those hobbies,” Porter said.

“I just want everyone to come and have a good time,” Teare said. “We just really try to help bring gaming to the community and really encourage people to get together and just share their favorite games.”

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Arts and Life.
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