Ladies and goblins, drow and druck,

At last year's BIRCON, we hid a number of golden tickets around the venue and placed them with some of the vendors. Anyone who found one or had been awarded one was invited to join our afterparty of sorts, the next day: The Meat Grinder.

Around 20 (lucky?) players assembled, together with a team of 3 GMs to test their mettle in a death match arena. 5 players chosen at random would join and play their character, and if once they perished, a new player would swap in. Similarly, the GMs took turns inflicting terrible monsters, events, twists, and traps upon them.

It was so much fun, we had to do it again.

The Meat Grinder is back in 2026

This time it takes place on Sunday 11th, in the 15:00 afternoon game slot. Here is the skinny:

• You need to find one of the 20 golden tickets (see below for a picture). Chances are they'll all be gone on Saturday.

• You'll need a valid BIRCON ticket for the Sunday.

• All 20 golden ticket holders will gather in the vicinity of the table, 5 ticket numbers will be rolled, and those will start.

• When a player character perishes through means fair, unfair, hilarious, or downright nasty, a newly rolled player will take their place.

• You can expect to play multiple times. It's going to be messy.

• The system is Pirate Borg, and you'll be given a random pregenerated character.

• Spectators are allowed and encouraged.

• Both spectators and currently not playing golden ticket holders are expected to heckle, encourage, cheer, and boo as necessary.

• Your GMs will be Jason Durall of Chaosium, Kara Payne of Mothership adventure but you play cats, and Frank Reding of Mottokrosh Machinations.

So there you have it! Keep your eyes peeled for hidden golden tickets, and ingratiate yourself with he vendors and artists for your chance at being gifted one (throwing money at them works well, our tests have shown).

Calling for volunteers

With BIRCON less than a week away we are doing a call for volunteers to help fight the forces of chaos and maintain order during the event. Sundry henchperson tasks requiring helpers include:

• Staying near and observing emergency exit doors to stop unauthorized usage;

• Alerting organizers to toilet issues that need sorting;

• Helping with an evacuation in case of a fire alarm;

• Assisting GMs and players in finding their way and sign posting to information as required;

• Setting up (Friday) and tearing down (Sunday and/or Monday).

What's in it for you, you ask? For one shift (shifts are 4 hours slots, as the game slots, plus Friday setup) you will get our heartfelt gratitude, as well as a ticket for the day (or refund for the day, if you already have one).

If you're helping with set up on Friday 9th October, you decide which day you would like a ticket for.

If you are able to help us fight the forces of chaos and maintain order at BIRCON, please do get in touch with us.

Just one more thing

With GM and early games enrollment already underway, don’t forget that general enrollment opens up this Tuesday, 6th October at 13:00 CEST!

Many games are already full and rightly so, but don’t forget to give the lesser known systems a chance too, they’re all brilliant and BIRCON approved.

You can swap/add/rescind registered sessions until the end of BIRCON, so keep an eye of seats becoming available, last minute games added, and do please be sure to unenroll from any session you can no longer make.

Just 6 days until BIRCON!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh………!

— Your BIRCON team.