Last weekend from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Sunday the Marano Campus Center was the site for ARCON XV, of Oswego State’s 15th annual gaming convention run by the Story Tellers’ Guild. Current members and alumni of the Story Tellers’ Guild ran various event at the convention, which, according to this year’s archdeacon Zachary Diamond, broke a record for the number of game submissions.

Each game slot lasted four hours and featured several different events, such as tarot card readings, a Pokemon Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby Tournament, the annual ARCONathon video game tournament and a dramatic reading of Undertale, followed by an Undertale-based tabletop RPG. There were two overnight events, a Friday-to-Saturday vampire live action role play (LARP) and a Saturday-to-Sunday Sonic and Slumber show and game marathon. Throughout the entirety of the convention was a scavenger hunt, a 24-hour video game room and a vendor’s room with snacks, games and merchandise.

During the lunch break on Saturday was a short ceremony during which several members of the ARCON XV executive board spoke about ARCON XV and gave their thoughts and experiences. Two awards were given during the ceremony. The first was the STG 2015-2016 scholarship, awarded to Zachary Diamond. The second was the Golden Spoon, awarded to the first Archdeacon of ARCON I, Rob Kirken.

Each ARCON has a theme that is meaningful to the STG. This year’s theme, the Illuminati, started off as a joke between the staff but grew into a serious idea. “Last year’s theme was Lovecraft themed, and that was done to honor C.J. Henderson, a writer who wrote Lovecraft novels that passed away,” Michael Hegarty said. The year before the theme was bad luck since it was the 13th year of ARCON.

According to the staff, some of this year’s greatest successes were the amazing speed and efficiency of setup and takedown before and after the convention, the number of T-shirt sales and the continued sense of community that the convention provided.

Convention-goers like Claire Flowers do not care as much about the size of the convention as they do about the people there. To Flowers, it’s not about the panels or the cosplays, but about the games that are played and the people, and “the spirit of ARCON.”

Mark Smith, an Oswego State and STG alumni who still participates in many of the STG’s current activities, said ARCON consists of three things: exhaustion, determination and losing a weekend. Smith said he appreciates the chance to reconnect with old members and establish connections with new members. all while having fun. “What ARCON will always be to me is a reunion for my adoptive family,” said Zach Diamond. “It’s a very special time of the year for all of us.”