Welcome to a new Fastaval

Easter and the 23rd Fastaval approaches. This year the convention will begin april 8th and end April 12th.
The last 23 years Fastaval has built itself up as a convention with loads of traditions. Many of the new ideas that were introduced in the early 90’s are still the ones we fall back on now, a full decade into the new millennium. One of those ideas is the Sunday Banquet, that was introduced in 1991. So it was quite a thing for us when we this year decided that it was time to change the concept and move ‘the big party’ of the convention to Saturday, and use the fifth day of the convention, Sunday, as a cool ‘sandbox day’ where we don’t just play rpg’s, but also talk about them, attend seminars and workshops, play fun and outrageous games, listen to music and try to come up with even greater ideas for Fastaval 2010.
One of the other big changes this year, is that we have tried to broaden our horizons and give both space and praise to more than just the traditional hallmark of Fastaval: the tabletop freeform games. Not only are we able to present quite a bit of larps this year, 7 total and many more larp-like activities, but we are also sending up smoke signals to attract more international guests - and setting up a cool trailerpark for them!
The last big change we have tried to take on for Fastaval 2009 is that we want the convention to cater better to the teenagers. In the early heyday of Fastaval, when conventions were popping up everywhere in Scandinavia, Europe and the the US, the convention was young - simply because the player base was 90% kids! A lot of us organizers, gamewrights and veteran convention goers remember those days with a certain smile and a precious nostalgia, but even so, we have brought Fastaval with us to our 30’s and 40’s - we write serious games, drink microbrewed beers and want our dormitories to be quiet and hazzle free.
In 2009 we have recognized that Fastaval needs to be for the new generation as well. We have made sure that there are games to play, places to be, ‘stuff’ to involve yourself in and all the fun you can wrestle, should you be a young convention goer. We are even looking into a hazzle-accepting dormitory!

Our goal is that Fastaval should be its very own specific kind of everything. A convention full of tradition, unmistakeably itself, that does it all, for everyone.

2009 is going to be a great year!

Jost Hansen, Main Organizer