St. Alban the Martyr Anglican Church in Glen Williams has been, in a sense, preaching to a new kind of congregation this weekend.
The church’s parish hall is home to CleriCon 2024, a convention for lovers of Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) and all things nerdy. Dozens from far and wide gathered around chart paper with colourful dice in hand on Saturday.
Aside from playing the beloved tabletop game, visitors were able to purchase books, board games, DnD minis and video games.
The con was dreamt up by the rector of St. Alban's, Father Aaron Orear. What many may not know about him is that he runs a DnD YouTube channel called The Dungeon Minister, a forum for discussing all things dungeons, dragons and everything in between.
It was here where he got the idea for CleriCon. Inspired by fellow YouTuber Bill Silvey's (thedungeondelver) goal to host a convention, Fr. Orear got to work.
Midway through Saturday, the second day of the event, was the highly-anticipated Bob Johnny Onion Eating Contest. Orear's son James, 12, stepped forward to defend his title from the previous year.
Jon Payton, a YouTuber (YeOldeGeek) who flew in from the UK, won the contest. When asked how he felt by HaltonHillsToday, he said, “Bloody awful.”
Payton was part of a panel discussion with six other well-known figures from the DnD world where they explored the question: How many rules are too many rules in a game?
The panel was live streamed by Bill Trethewey of Minnesota, owner of the American hobby supply shop Paint Minis Live.
Fr. Orear says that he will be aiming to expand the con and is even mulling over getting the Glen Williams Town Hall involved.
The last day for the convention is Sunday, Oct. 27. Those interested can purchase tickets on CleriCon’s event page.
