Deathfest

Deathfest is Hampshire's semi-annual 100+ person roleplaying tournament, brought to you by Excalibur. If you've never been, it's easy! We'll teach you how to play. All you need is a pencil and a competitive spirit... ("Creative morality" and a sense of humor help, too.)

Only one will win...but there are dead games, snacks, movie screenings, board games and more for when you're eliminated, and prizes will be awarded at the end if you do something impressive.

'''Interested in trying out for Deathfest? Check out the Tryouts Page.'''

EVENT DATE

Fall 2014 November 8

Spring 2015 April 4

Deathfest History
Deathfest, originally called the October Ravenloft Tournament, was started in 1991 as an RPG tournament around Halloween with the idea that it be simple and acessible to anyone who wanted to come. It was played in the Dakin Basement.

A highly simplified system was developed for play with the general format: there would be several game masters running small groups. These groups would be winnowed down into a final group who would face an ultimate adversary. To help out "newbies," there are lots of basic generic characters of the standard D&amp;D types (fighters, thieves, magic users, clerics--remember, this was 2nd Edition); each player would have the opportunity to play three characters, receiving each one as the previous was killed.

So many people showed up and the game was so successful that they made plans for a spring tournament, slightly less successful, but the following Halloween had an even bigger turnout. The tradition was born and has been played every semester every consecutive year since. The name was changed from Raveloft to Deathfest to better capture the spirit of the game. The theme/setting changes from game to game and has ranged from classic fantasy to Victorian London, to the Old West and Ancient China.

The Dead Game
The dead game was started in 2004 by Mona Weiss who was rejected as a DM for lack of experience and was told they had enough Dungeon Masters already. During the Deathfest she wanted to DM at, she died extremely early before anyone else and sat in boredom. It was during that time that she formulated a game that could run concurrently to the regular game and give the winner a chance to play in the final round and have a chance at winning Deathfest. She presented her idea to Excalibur and was permitted to run the first ever Dead Game which has persisted at every game since then. Her game was such a success that she was allowed to become a regular DM and the Dead Game was used as a training ground for new DMs when there was an over abundance of people wishing to run games.

Awards
One of the most fun parts of Deathfest is the awards given out at the end and is part comedy show. There are awards for dying creatively, to creatively killing someone else to humorously accomplishing tasks within the game.

Five major awards are given out every semester: The winner, The Benjamin Scott Hopkins Award for Creative Morality, The Alexander Holmes Cooley Award for Leadership, The Ultimate Badass award, and The Chris Sommer Award for Excelence in the Field of Voice Acting.

Previous Winners
Spring 2009: David Axel Kurtz MOTHERFUCKER!

Deathfest Fall 2009
Facebook Photos

Deathfest Spring 2010
Facebook Photos

Deathfest Fall 2010
WINNER(S):

Members of Mastadon: Tim Carroll and Aleksi Ahonen

NOTABLE THINGS:

Newly Christened Prize: The Chris Sommer Award for Voice Acting

Deathfest Spring 2011
DEATHFEST SPRING 2011 WAS FER REALZ ON SATURDAY, 4/2/11!!!

Deathfest Fall 2011
DEATHFEST FALL 2011 WAS OCTOBER 22ND.

Deathfest Fall 2012
DEATHFEST Fall 2012 WAS NOVEMBER 17th!

Winner: Tim "Once and Future King of Spain" Carrol

Deathfest Spring 2013
DEATHFEST SPRING 2013 WAS APRIL 6th 2013!

19 DMS. A BUSINESS OF PURE SYNERGY. Winner: A horde of radioactive farm animals, by Ms. Maggie Karlin

Deathfest Fall 2013
DEATHFEST IN THE FALL WAS THE ABYSS OF RETURNING TO HIGHSCHOOL PROM on November 9th.

Deathfest Spring 2014
DEATHFEST SPRING 2014 WAS SATURDAY APRIL 5

Won by a drop bear.

Deathfest Fall 2014
DEATHFEST FALL 2014 WAS NOVEMBER 8TH.

Joel Dapello as a SKELETON CHEERLEADER WON BY DIRECTING HAMLET'S DEATH.

Deathfest Spring 2015
DEATHFEST SPRING 2015 WAS ON APRIL 4TH. WINNER: AN ANGLE ANGEL/ROAD WARRIOR WHO WON THE DRAGON DEATH RACE AT A BLAZINGLY FAST 40MPH