Some information and help needed regarding possible local HP-themed con

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

This is about a convention (but not THE convention which is being 
planned), and so I tried posting it at the convention list.  I got no 
answers, however, so I'm trying here, in the hopes of better 
feedback.  

I am member of the organising committee of an annual gaming-
convention here in Trondheim, and it looks like next year it might be 
HP-themed (and it might not - the decision might be made on 
Thursday).  I am looking for some information to 
help the comittee draw a conclusion.  First, however, some 
information about the event.

Each year in early November there is a convention called HexCon here 
in Trondheim, Norway.  The convention is organised by the gaming-club 
Hexagon, and is for players of boardgames, minature-games, 
collectible card games (CCGs), role-playing games (RPGs) and 
occasionally also Live Role-PLaying (LRP).  Each year the convention 
also has a theme, which is reflected in the brochure-materials, the 
clothes of the committee-members, the design of nametags (which 
function as tickets) and ID-buttons, and in the way the committee-
members title themselves.  

For example, at this year's con, the theme was the boardgame Kremlin, 
and so the committee-members were all titled as members of the 
politbureau - I was KGB-chief, the leader was party-chief, the PR-
responsible was foreign minister, etc.  Those helping the committee, 
and those volunteering as game-masters in RPG-events were made Heroes 
of HexCon (as in Hero of the Soviet Union).  The year before, we had 
the RPG Paranoia as the theme - I will not bore you with details 
about it right now.

There are two things that are important for a theme for HexCon:  (i) 
that it creates a gimmick that is easy for conners to get into (HP 
will do so - it has an embedded rank-system (Headmaster (leader of 
the committee), Professors (other committee-members), prefects 
(volunteering game-masters), Head Boy and/or Girl (winner of the 
quiz), students (most people), liberated house-elves (those 
volunteering to help out in the kiosk), house-elves (Magic-players - 
they pay a reduced-rate ticket, and are supposed to be seen, not 
heard, and yet manage to be trouble ;] ),...) which suits the way the 
gimmick works); and (ii) that there are available games suitable for 
the con - be it boardgames (but not trivia-games), RPGs or CCGs (I 
know one has been released recently).  Boardgames and RPGs are best 
to have.

Therefore, can somebody inform me of the present HP boardgames 
available, and does anyone know of any planned release of a 
commercial HP-based RPG-systemin the near future?  I would be most 
grateful.

I would also be grateful for any information that can be provided by 
those experienced in the field of copyrights, as this is a convention 
that does create a surplus for the gaming-club (normally ca. USD 500-
1000 surplus of a turnaround in the region of USD 4500), and we are 
worried that this might cause trouble with AOL/Warner.  If the CoS-
movie debuts at the same time as this year's movie, it will of course 
be easy to enter into a cooperation with the local cinema, but 
otherwise, we are worried that using HP as a theme might be the 
source of some problems

At present, we have not yet decided on a theme - we are evaluating HP 
as a theme against competitors, such as Republic of Rome Board Game, 
Toon RPG, LotR, Junta Board Game, Call of Cthulhu horror RPG, and 
Deadlands RPG.  It is possible that the decision will be taken as 
soon as Thursday 29th of November.

More information, in English, about this year's recently concluded 
HexCon can be found at http://www.hexcon.no/historie/2001/english.htm

Best regards
Christian Stubø
With thanks for any information that can be provided