Fear the Con 2020

TLDR: We have had to cancel Fear the Con 2020. The funds collected on Kickstarter will be used to pre-fund Fear the Con 2021. We’ll be contacting people with backer rewards to see how they’d like those handled. We’re also looking into an online con we can conduct on the same weekend.

I don’t think I need to explain that Coronavirus is a thing, nor the changes it’s making to our society. And unfortunately, those changes are unfolding quickly and unpredictably. Heck, just between the time I wrote this and you’re reading it, it’s possible they’ve changed things again.

Speaking just for our own area, both county and city officials just dropped a new round of restrictions on us, effective today. We’re not allowed to have gatherings of more than 10 people, they’ve closed all stores that don’t sell food or medicine, they’ve shutdown restaurants and tourist destinations, and they’ve made it a misdemeanor crime for us to even leave our houses apart from a list of essential activities.

To complicate things further, we have cancellation deadlines for the con space that hit very soon, and once those pass, we lose deposit money. So we have to make our gamble based on what we know before those cutoffs, not simply before the con occurs. We’re also aware that you guys have to make hard choices about time off, the risks of being around groups of people, and what you’re able to spend while this hardship persists.

As mentioned in the TLDR, we are trying to preserve as much as we can. We’re moving every penny of the Kickstarter funding from 2020 to 2021, so at least in theory, the next FtC is already paid for. We’re also looking into an online version of the convention we can conduct that weekend so at least some form of con occurs.

If you had a Kickstarter reward related to the con, we’ll be in touch with you over there to discuss options for fulfilling those.

I beg your patience, because we have no script for handling this. But we’re going to try very hard to make the best of this, accepting in advance that nothing we can do will be perfect for the people involved (hosts, vendors, or attendees).

If you already have travel reservations that aren’t refundable, please check with the airline again. Over the past couple of weeks, many previously non-refundable tickets have been made fully refundable. Brodeur and I benefited from this when returning from GAMA Expo.

If you cannot cancel, transfer, or credit a particular expenditure at all, please let one of us know. I’m not sure what the law will even allow us to do, but we’ll at least see what’s possible come June.