Dragons & Dungeons Weekend at The Connecticut Renaissance Faire

Dragons & Dungeons Weekend is three days of the Faire running as a living fantasy realm. If tabletop campaigns, epic video games, or fantasy fiction is your corner of the world, this is the weekend built for you — and the Labor Day holiday means an extra day to enjoy it.

Saturday is Free Kids Day, courtesy of Kidtivity.com: youth ages 7 to 15 get in free with a paid adult. Also Saturday: the NPC Energy Contest, where contestants receive a surprise role on the spot and have thirty seconds to become it. Suspicious shopkeeper. Doomed town guard. Eccentric sage with too many secrets. Judges want presence, commitment, and the ability to make a crowd believe the character exists.

Sunday brings the Villain Monologue Challenge. Step up, declare your master plan, explain the tragic path that brought you here, and give the realm the villain it deserves. Costumes help. The monologue is what wins.

Labor Day Monday closes the weekend with the Dice Fate Trial. A ceremonial die is rolled and the challenge that comes with it is yours to meet — boast, plead, argue, scheme. The crowd never knows what's coming, and that's the point.

Come in full costume or come as you are. Knights and rogues are welcome. So are jeans.