TableTop Scotland 5th September - 7th September - SATURDAY

 Morning

Hotel breakfast, loaded my bag with the games I need for the day and started to walk to the event. Halfway there I found the route still closed. So I had to walk back to main road to call a Taxi. Even though I gave the name of the road I was on they wanted a full address or a postcode, neither of which I had. Needless to say the taxi took a while to arrive and I was barely in time for my morning game. (I hate it when player sarrive and my table isn’t set up!)

The table did have a sign allowing players to find it however and a set of X cards. (I forgot to mention those yesterday.)

This was my Science Fiction scenario where the characters awake in a wrecked spaceship with no memories of who they are and why they’re there. Great, inventive, players. It was a thoroughly enjoyable session.

The session ran from 10am to 1:30pm. I was on course to finish a bit early at about 1:15pm. At about 1pm I noticed most of the games in the area were wrapping up. This was unusual. In my experience many TableTop RolePlaying sessions over-run and others run to time. For pretty much a whole room to finish early was odd.

As my game wrapped up, the players seemed keen to leave re table rather than chat. I asked one what was up and he said people wanted to get to the game sign-ups. I looked across the room and saw a long queue.

The organised role-playing game sessions are posted on-line on the convention’s excellent web-site months in advance of the event. There are up to 6 spaces in each game. Two of them are reserved for sign-up at the event. There is no extra charge for tickets for the RolePlaying games.

Apparently the on-line tickets book out very fast and there are many stories of people missing out on signing up for games.

At the event, sheets containing game descriptions are stuck up on a mirror in the room an hour or so before sign-ups, Each description has two labelled post-it notes on it. Blinds are then pulled down to cover the sheets. (Using the available facilities in the room to control the system. A good move.)

One of the organisers addressed the queue, explaining that people were to come up, find a game they wanted to play, take one of the post-it notes from the game and take that to the desk to sign into that game. (Another good move.) He explained the required etiquette, the blinds were raised and people came forward to find games and take post-it notes.

It’s really quite a clever system. However, there were ten games in the afternoon session. Two available slots for each one meant that there were twenty post-it notes on the board. There were far more than twenty people in the queue so many people must have been disappointed.

There is no such thing as the perfect sign-up system. 

I was signed up to offer Games on Demand in the Afternoon. My session was due to start at 3pm, so I had plenty of time to get lunch. Coming downstairs I found the main convention hall to be much much busier than Friday. The eating area outside was also busy. I chose to have an artisan beef burger again. Queues to get to the food kiosks to make an order were short but customers were then issued numbered tickets for their food. There were lots of us standing around waiting for our numbers to be called. 

When I collected my food I went back into the foyer where a cafe area had been opened up. Though it wasn’t serving any food or drink, we could use the tables to sit and eat. The weather was good outside but I didn’t fancy sitting at a picnic table like I did on Friday.

Afternoon

I got to my Games on Demand table very early. Even so, one of the players was already there. We chatted as others arrived. As soon as there were three players there I explained the available games to see if they could agree on the one they wanted.

They agreed to play my “Alien: Earth” game.

A few weeks prior to the convention I’d received an email confirming that I’d be running Games on Demand and asking me what games I’d be offering. I offered to run my super-lite introduction to D&D type games, my Steampunk game about the missing Dinosaur, and my “Dr Who without the Doctor” game. I could offer to run four games. Just released on Streaming was a brand new show called “Alien: Earth”. The first two episodes featured a hunt for Alien specimens on a crashed spaceship. I thought “Bug hunt on a spaceship? I can do that!” and submitted it.

Prior to the convention I prepared some pregenerated characters using by lite Science Fiction rules and had a bit of a think. I didn’t formally plan or write anything down. On the journey to the convention I posted on Social Media for people to send me ideas for Aliens that could be encountered. That was it.

I had four excellent players who role-played the hell out of their characters. Though I was busking it rather than working from pre-written notes everything worked well. I actually ended up with too much happening having to rush the climax of the adventure. It was great!

Because the game ended at 5pm and my evening game didn’t start until 7pm, I had two hours to get my evening meal - Tacos from the Taco Kiosk. Simple, light, good but still very busy - and find a free table to sit down and write some of this blog.

Evening

This was an organised game running from 7pm to 10:30pm. I was supposed to have a full table of five people but someone who had signed up in advance on the web-site didn’t arrive. I had no problem running for four people but it seemed as shame that, with so many people looking for games at the event, some people sign up in advance and then don’t use the booking when somebody else could have.

This was a second play-test of my in-development Horror game. During the first playtest I’d felt the PCs had no reason to be putting themselves in the way of  the paranormal events. So I’d added some more detail to characters. During character generation players now have to invent a motivation for their character and develop links to the other characters being created. This tripled the character creation time from 15 to 45 minutes but the players really seemed to enjoy the process. It became a mini-game in itself.

When the game started the players - as seems standard for this convention - were excellent. Chewing the scenery at every opportunity. At one point, as the uproarious laughter ebbed, I asked:

“So. Have I nailed the Call of Cthulhu vibe, do you think?”

After more laughter the table agreed that maybe I hadn’t. This gave me a marketing idea for the game.

As in the first playtest, at the climax when on of the players rolled a double on the dice, they chose to “Introduce a New Plot Element”. They decided that the Police turned up to deal with the horrors the players characters had uncovered. The players were all happy with this. Their characters sold their story (and evidence) over to the French tabloids (where it wouldn’t be censored by the UK Government). This seemed to satisfy everyone. 

The game ended early at 10pm but people were happy saying they had other commitments or would now be able to catch a tram. I got a taxi to my hotel from another Taxi driver who was totally unaware that this event was taking place. 

TableTop Scotland 5th September - 7th September - FRIDAY

 The journey

I got up very early. To be honest earlier than I’d planned. (I think my wife was looking forward to the weekend alone.)

Bus into Birmingham, train to Birmingham International, MagLev to the Airport. This was all very smooth. Public transport working well.

It had been hears since I’d flown anywhere. I was struck by two things. Firstly just how many people were  flying from the airport so early on a Friday morning. I was stunned by sheer volume of humanity. Everything was well organised and managed, though.

Secondly, blatant commercialisation. The weaving route through Duty Free outlets adding masses of unnecessary walking. But, worst of all, I noticed that Departure screens weren’t visible if you were sitting down, unless you were in a bar or cafe. Most of the screens were actually inside outlets and those that weren’t you had to stand up to see - unless you were sitting in a cafe.

The flight up was straightforward. I was carrying a backpack that contained everything I needed. I arrived  at Edinburgh airport still quite early in the morning and a couple of hours before TableTop Scotland started. (I think my flight options had been limited by available times, cost and Fear Of Missing Out.) I’d planned to maybe have coffee at the airport and blog for an hour or so before catching a bus or Taxi to the convention. But I found the airport coffee shops were very full. The whole airport was rammed with humanity. And my phone apps told me the event was actually only a twenty minute walk away. The weather look okay so I decided to walk.

Then the heavens opened and a gale started. Despite my - really good - umbrella, I got cold and wet. Also, whilst the map app on my phone got me to the campus the convention was on, it couldn’t find the exact hall being used or the entrance shown on the web-site. I knew I was close.

Then I saw a Holiday Inn and, a bit bedraggled, asked if I could wait inside until the storm passed.  I had coffee, started yesterday’s blog post and rechecked the details of the convention. Once the storm had passed I put my head out and saw people walking to the convention which was just next door to the Holiday Inn. It’s really convenient for the event venue which is why it was probably too expensive for me.

The Afternoon

Got in easily and received my Game Host pass. The entry was free for me because I was offering games. 

On the way to the hall I pass half a dozen kiosks bordering a lawned area with picnic tables. They all looked of good quality. I had a beef burger and chips from the “Artisan Butcher” stall. It was good.

I still had almost two hours until my first game. I went in through a bright foyer and looked around the main hall. The main part of the venue is like a large warehouse. The floor is a bit rough but it was filled with hundreds of small tables crammed with - mainly - indie tabletop games and associated merchandise. I spotted Modiphious and Chaosium there but they didn’t seem to stand out from the more “mom and pop” stands. 

About half of the area was trade stands, the further half of the hall was just tables and chairs for open gaming. Hundreds and hundreds of cloth covered tables.

I asked for the Role-playing games and discovered they were on a bright raised area bordering the foyer. I went up the stairs. They were loads of round tables, with cloths, Each table had a stand on it saying what game was being run there and by whom.

I was also given a free T-shirt as a thank you running games.

I found my table and set up.

Shortly after the game started, I was brought a list of the players who had signed up - mostly typed names with two handwritten at the bottom. This showed who had signed up before the event and who had signed up on the day.

This was my fantasy scenario about stopping the authoritarian sky warriors wiping out all of dragonkind. As has happened before, this turned a bit gonzo but everyone had a good time even though the characters failed. The World ended up being decimateded by a dragonkind driven insane by the actions of the evil sky people.

The game was timed to last from 2:30pm  to 6pm. I finished a bit early. as I’d not offered to run a full game in the evening - I was running a Games in Demand slot at 8pm -  I chose to walk to my hotel to check-in. My phone told me it wasn’t far.

So I set out. The route my phone gave me led me to closed gates and fences. There was no way through. I went back to the venue where a member of the venue staff explained to me that it was a perennial problem and pointed me to an alternative route. This proved to be pretty much as the crowd flies and I walked 20 minutes or so to my hotel, checked in, and walked back in plenty of time to buy chicken and chips from another kiosk.

The Evening

I’d offered to run some “Games on Demand”. I’d been told to come to Table 1 at 8pm. I’d be sent some players. I’d pitch the games I had ready to run. They’d select one and I’d run it for two hours.

As with everything else this was supremely well organised. I had three players. They chose my Steampunk Scenario - One of our Dinosaurs is Missing. This was as much fun as it usually is and we finished at 10pm.

I started to walk to my hotel. Halfway along, I found the route barred. I walked back to the venue and called a Taxi. I had some difficulty describing where the venue was. Apparently the app used. By the Taxi Service has the same issue as the map apps on phones. Or my description was in terms the locals recognised. So I walked to the Holiday Inn and was eventually picked up from there.

I was really happy with the convention. My games had gone well with great players and things were well organised.

The gloss was taken off by the fact that my phone app and the local taxis seemed to have difficulty finding the exact part of the venue campus I was on. And the fact that a reasonable walking route from the event to my hotel which worked during the day, was blocked at night.

TableTop Scotland 5th September - 7th September - Preamble

 My history with Scotland

When I was first doing the rounds of UK conventions in the early part of the 21st century, I travelled the length a breadth of the country. From Devon to Edinburgh.

I forget the name of my first Edinburgh convention, but it was based at the University. The first time I came I was demonstrating my Trad Superhero Game, Squadron UK.

I had to take the figures and play-mats in to work, dash to the station at the end of the day, and lug them all up on the train. It took hours and cost a lot of money.

When I got home, I discovered that it was actually cheaper to fly to Scotland than catch the train. (That doesn’t make any sense to me.) And it was faster.

The only problem was that bringing luggage put the air fare up a lot. The figures and play-mats had to go.

So I wrote a whole new game. The Comics Code.

This was a complete departure for me. No figures. No terrain. Completely Theatre of the Mind. Just 2 six-sided dice.

But, most importantly, it was a small paperback book that I could fit in a flight bag alongside my spare socks and undies.

It revolutionised my approach to game design and spawned a whole range of similar titles - many of which I’m playing this weekend. I owe Scotland a lot for forcing me into a whole new area of games design.

My history with Tabletop Scotland

TableTop Scotland seems to have been set up with the intent to give Scotland a large, professional, tabletop games convention like UK Games Expo in England. I have always wanted to come but, originally, it was in Perth which was a bit too far for me to travel. And, since its move to Edinburgh, I was on my convetion hiatus.

But now I’m back on the scene, I’m retired, and I can finally attend and see if it’s as good as I always hoped. It needs to be because it may turn out to be the most expensive convention for me to attend.

Planning

Tabletop Scotland is now based in The Highland Centre, which is right next to Edinburgh airport. If you’re flying up that means you don’t need to get a bus or Taxi into the city which is a real saving.

It is really well planned. The web-site is clear and informative, even months in advance of the event.

I had to make my plans to attend really early in order to get the best price on flights and to reserve accommodation. (I was worried that if I left it too late, it might be like UK Games Expo, with all the local hotels being booked out.)

As I’m now retired - there’s no reason I HAVE to fly up. I could try to book cheaper train tickets by booking in advance. I could travel very cheaply by coach. But that might mean having to book extra nights’ accommodation, which would wipe out any savings. So I decided to indulge myself and book air tickets.

The web-site lists many nearby hotels and it was an easy job to find one which was a good compromise between cost and proximity to the venue.

Because they are so well organised, I had to submit the games I wanted to Referee months in advance. There are seven organised TTRPG slots. Friday afternoon and evening. Saturday Morning, afternoon and and Evening and Sunday morning and afternoon. I can’t remember why, but I decided to offer to run in three of the seven slots. At the time of submitting the games, I hadn’t played any TTRPGs for over 5 years, let alone Refereeing them, let alone at a convention.

I offered to run scenarios I was preparing for the StabCon convention. A fantasy one, a science fiction one, and a playtest of the horror game I was designing. I thought I’d spend the rest of the time offering “Games on Demand” or playing.

Nearer the event, a message went out asking for Referees to offer “Games on Demand” so I threw my hat in the ring there - offering to run in three of my remaining four slots.

I also noticed a Referee was offering to run one of MY games - The Comics Code. This was a rare opportunity to I signed up to play in that game. It is so rare I get to the chance to play one of my own games. I call signing up to play in a game you’ve designed “designer bombing”.

That was me, all set up, months in advance because this convention is just so well organised.

Nearer the event I was asked for details of the games I could offer.  I submitted four short games I could offer - my D&D lite intro, my Steampunk Scenario about the missing dinosaur, a “Dr Who without the Doctor” game and (because I’d just watched the first two episodes on TV) a scenario based on Alien: Earth. I had no idea of what that was going to be, I just knew I could easily run something.

Nearer the event I produced pregenerated characters for the Games on Demand games and received detail as of the three times I’d be asked to offer my games.

Grand Tribunal 16th-17th August

I was unable to attend Grand Tribunal this year - choosing to attend AireCon NorthWest instead. However, my friend Shankar did go and has sent me this fascinating report. Thanks!

Saturday 

Looking forward to a week-end of TTRPGs I got to the Grand Tribunal, loosely based around the Ars Magica game system, in Cheltenham at 9 AM on Saturday morning. It took less than 55 mins (and 50 miles) drive from Birmingham. 

There was roadside car parking space. I met one of the organisers just opening up the hall. People wandered in over the next half an hour, so really things got started about 9:30-ish. 
There was plenty of tea and coffee and sweet treats from the organisers who seemed determined we would all be happy and well looked after. The Web page is really informative with lots of local knowledge as to travel option, where to stay and points of interest. Andrew had even taken Monday off to show people from further afield the historical monuments of Gloucestershire. Above and beyond has to be the summary.

There does not appear to be a formal signup process for games. With a relatively small numbers participants and a amenable group of GMs each session is sorted out at the start.
The GMs have usually prepared in advance and line up and do a pitch of what the adventure will be about and what system and how many players. Then in surname alphabetical order (reversed at next game) people can chose the GM. There are 3 rooms. One small and 2 larger - hall size. Plenty of tables and seating. Because numbers are small there are no issues with hearing but it could be noisier if there were significantly more participants. There is an attached kitchen with tea, coffee, and biscuits etc.

As it was my first time, I decided to forgo the Freeform Ars Magica LARP game, though, as an old LARPer, I was intrigued Maybe next year. I thought I’d stick something a little bit more conventional.
The first game was a Brancalonia (spaghetti low-fantasy DnDesque RPG) adventure by Kyrie: "A Heist Most Holy". Ran from around 10 AM - 1PM

We met our knaves’ guild leader in a tavern. He had got into multiple debts through gambling and wanted us to raise some money fast by finding some relics which he could sell. He had a secret map. Set upon by a band of rival thugs who tried to take the map. A bar-room brawl ensued from which we emerged victorious with the map. 

However, the map showed a relic to be found many weeks away through perilous terrain. We decided we would avoid the peril by robbing the relics from the Vatican crypts & then try to sell it back to them. We had to find access to the crypts, which we did by conning a somewhat innocent pastor of a very small, out of the way church. 

Thus having gained access to the crypts; we came across two guards and a bloody fight ensured. It was a struggle till with a critical roll led to the instant death of one of the guards and the overpowering of the other one. We took their guards' uniforms and marched forward. Unfortunately, we seemed to be finding multiple instances of the missing holy bits of the relic whilst the rest of the body was still there. This went on for a little while till we eventually detected a very high concentration of holy magic, which we assumed to be the robbers with their collection of relics. We went forth to relieve them of their booty. . . . . . . . 
We broke for lunch. I'm trying to be healthy at least on Saturday and decided to bring along my chicken soup for lunch.

For the afternoon session I joined a game with Chris. This was an Ars Magica based adventure, "The Last King” a quest for the crown of the emperor. This was to restore balance to the world after portals opened and admitted evil to the realm.

We started out by introducing new personality traits for each other’s characters. There were quite a few fun ones; including CJ’s bard with pride in his enormous instrument, which led to a lot of double-entendres during the adventure and many musical references, and the mage who had a conflicted good versus evil personality. The adventure started a tavern where the more musical of the group regaled the patrons to slow applause.

The adventure rolled through an abandoned keep with an Orc infestation where we found use for the bard's huge trombone which he revealed mounted on the back of an ass. Then we went on to a border town which was heavily fortified against the demons from the portal. Onwards to the portal where we found the crown to be suspended between two ice towers holding the portal open. We ascended the tower and onto the perilous ice arch joining the towers. Our thief used rope to walk perilously out on the archway and retrieve the crown by shooting an arrow on a string through the crown. 

Once we had recovered the crown the towers began to spontaneously disassemble. In the chaos the magic user decided that he would take it for himself to bend reality to his will. But while he was doing so, the cleric struck him down from below the knees, and the crown bounced down the steps, temporarily landing on a donkey's head and reality shifted back to that of the donkey, which was not that much different from the current reality. The cleric caught up with the crown, took it off the donkey, put it on his head, restored the integrity of the tower which was crumbling, and then banished the crown to 100 yards underground somewhere on the earth, so that it could not be abused by any human beings. It was a great adventure, lots of laughter and lots of fun.

There was an evening tea and raffles and there were many prizes and the raffle raised over £220 towards the upkeep of the hall where we were playing. There were many prizes to be had and this was followed by fish and chips at the local takeaway some of which was pre-ordered. I had a mixed kabab (£7.70) which was OK. Large and half finished.

Then onwards to the evening session, which ran from 7:00 to 11:00. This was another Ars Magica adventure set in Florence. This time with three junior wizards left in charge by the senior wizards, having to investigate the unusual crumbling of all the stone structures within the city. There were a few stone structures that were left intact, and we suddenly discovered that this was due to Pisa magically attacking Florence and that a small army of mercenaries and peasant levies were coming our way with a siege tower. One of the flame mages went out towards the army and managed to disable the tower using magical means. Unfortunately, when the tower was disabled, they attempted to repair it, which led to the unnecessary death of four of the repair people. 

The rest of the army continued to march towards the city of Florence. The local townspeople had prepared the city's bridges to be burned so as to avoid the whole of the city being invaded. As the army approached the city, one of the other wizards transformed into the form of a lion to attack. The tower retreated backwards to Pisa for repairs, whilst one of our wizards and the guild master of the city of Florence negotiated with the army to get them to withdraw for a large sum of money, which they eventually did, so as to avoid bloodshed on both sides. Thus, we resolved the crisis. It was quite a late evening and by the time I got to bed it was nearly 12 o'clock.

Sunday

Next morning, there was a good breakfast at the Holiday Inn where I was staying. Cost was £152 for the night.

The first session of Sunday morning was Time Watch, running for about three hours. It was run by CJ and we were agents of Time-watch who went around correcting temporal anomalies caused by other people looking to disrupt the timelines.

We initially had been told that we had to save Paul McCartney from dying in a car crash on the newly opened M1 to save the Beatles and avert the onset of Britpop in the 70ties. We transported to the M1 and after setting out some traffic cones to calm the traffic then took a highly skilled shot which took out one of the tyres, bringing the car to a safe halt. We then talked to Paul McCartney, but found that a 16-year-old Yoko Ono, who should still have been in Japan, was already in the car. We knew that somebody else was messing with the timeline. After making sure that Paul McCartney was safely on his way though he did recruiting Buddy Holly one of our members, which would lead to a problem with the timeline. 

On return to base, we were then ordered by Amelia Earhart that somebody had interfered with the JFK shooting timeline leading to JFK surviving. Therefore, she ordered “JFK must die.” We then arrived in Dealey plaza. We discovered that the time criminal AJ Weberman, who had been misinterpreting Dylan's writings by searching through his garbage bins was the one interfering with the timeline. Butch Cassidy used a camouflage mechanism to dress as Lee Harvey Oswald, set up for the shot in a toilet just above where Lee Harvey Oswald took the shot. The rest of the team set up the water ground works which redirected traffic to pass the book depository. Lee Harvey Oswald took the shot, but the first shot missed. Butch Cassidy then took the second shot which actually killed Kennedy. One of the team discovered that Babushka Lady was Marilyn Monroe, who on the side of the road with a cine camera, was actually having a disguised gun to shoot Jackie Onassis because she was still in love with JFK and wanted Onassis out of the way.

There were also some complications with the Rolling Stones as the three tramps arrested at the underpass. We also detained AJ Weberman who was interfering with the timeline. We will return to 2025 for the debrief by Amelia Earhart. We also recruited Marilyn Munro to the Time-watch.

We stopped after lunch. There was an afternoon session, but I was feeling quite tabletop RPG overloaded by then and left for home.

Costs

Total cost was for the convention ticket £20, 

Raffle tickets £10, 

petrol approximately 100 miles (£14), 

£152 for the overnight hotel stay and about £15 for food, giving a total spend of around £210. 

I did four sessions of role-playing games, each lasting about 2.5-3 hours, and that's averages at 11 hours of play. The cost per hour of play was £19/hour.

Could have just done Saturday which would be 3 session = 8 hours. Cost of petrol £14 and Convention fee = £20 and raffle tickets £10 could reduce cost of play to £44 or £5.50/ hour.

Shankar

AireCon NorthWest 15th - 17 August 2025

Analogue Gaming Conventions

There are several different types of gaming convention. One of these I’ll describe as the “general analogue” gaming convention. These are large events with lots of trade stalls devoted to all sorts of non-computer games - mostly board games. They have spaces provided for actually play games. Some of these are part of organised events and some is for “open” gaming.

These conventions are usually professionally organised and fully ticketed.

TableTop RolePlaying Games is a big hobby. Board gaming is bigger. Most general analogue gaming conventions welcome TableTop RolePlaying but our hobby makes up a small percentage of the games. 90%+ is board-gaming.

The grand-daddy of all General Analogues conventions is UK Games Expo in Birmingham in May/June every year. This is so massive that even at under 10% of the event, the TableTop RolePlaying Games track is big enough to sustain itself.

At smaller events, our representation is smaller and we can find it hard to get traction. There are always plenty of Referees ready to offer a wide range of games. This is typical of the scene in the United Kingdom. However, we can struggle to find enough people looking to play table-top games at a convention offering so many other shiny things to attract the punter’s eye.

This was the case at Canterbury Gaming Convention last weekend. A lovely medium-sized analogue gaming convention with a good-sized chunk of tables set aside for organised TableTop RolePlaying Games where only about half of the games offered ran.

What is AireCon?

As I understand things, a few years ago some guys up North looked at UK Games Expo and thought “we can do that”. And slowly (doing things right) they’ve been growing -  offering a slightly bigger event each year. I went to a couple of their earlier events and each time, though they welcomed and catered for TableTop RolePlaying Games, the interest from attendees was so small that it didn’t appeal to me. I only care about TableTop RolePlaying Games - playing them but, mainly, Refereeing them. If a convention can’t give me that, I’ll think twice about going. So I stopped going to AireCon.

Upon my return to the scene, I checked the conventions available and found that there are now multiple AireCons. 

https://www.airecon.co.uk/

The main one - in Harrogate - is still going. The next one is in March next year. This seems to have grown into a large event mirroring early iterations of UK Games Epo. The plan seems to be on track!

However, there were now two others AireCon NorthWest in Manchester - the one I’m writing about today - and AireCon West in Telford. AireCon West seems a bit quirky. They hire convention space in a hotel, you pay to go in, play your games (you organise them yourself) 24 hours a day for four days and leave. Basically it’s just a big meet-up. (More on this later.)

AireCon NorthWest seems to be a more typical Analogue Convention with trade stalls, organised events and open gaming. Smaller than AireCon Harrogate and UK Games Expo but still a full, professional event.

Planning

When I read the web-site I discovered that there was - as I expected - a small organised TableTop Roleplaying Game section. 

Given my previous experiences with AireCons, and the cost of Accommodation in Manchester, I decided my best course of action was not to attend the whole weekend but to travel up and down from Birmingham for just one day - Saturday.

So I contacted the event organisers and offered to run some games. This was very early on in my return to attending conventions - I hadn’t actually returned to refereeing at this point - and months in advance of AireCon NorthWest. I was initially informed that they had enough Referees for the event, but they would try to fit me in. Luckily, I am quite well known on the circuit and their adviser is someone I know well from our mutual convention experiences and they managed to fit me in for the two slots I wanted - Saturday morning and Afternoon.

So I advance booked (for reduced cost) train tickets and waited.

During the wait, I was able to monitor sales of tickets for my games. Attendees buy entrance tickets and then buy tickets for the organised Tabletop Roleplaying Games they want to play in at an additional £3 each. Before the event, I sold one ticket - for Saturday morning.

In the week immediately preceding the event, I received, unprompted, an email with QR codes for tickets for the event.  Offering two games I was given two daily tickets which I could use on my choice from the three days available. I wasn’t tempted. I stuck to my one day.

I also received an email from the Tabletop Roleplaying Game adviser saying that he wouldn’t be there on Saturday but giving all of us Referees, advice and the full programme. Some games were sold out but for most the ticket sales were “slow”.

The Event

Got up early. Caught an early train. Got breakfast at Costa rather than MacDonalds for a change. Mistake. Won’t do that again.

On the train journey I had a slight delay. But I had booked an early train and was only slightly inconvenienced. However, a fellow AireCon Referee had a more torrid experience - apparently getting a train across from Leeds to Manchester is a non-trivial experience (no wonder people in the North complain about their trains) - and posted this on social media, so I was able to re-assure him that I’d pass his message on.

AireCon NorthWest is held in the Manchester Central Convention Centre. My iPhone showed it as a 20 minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly station. There are buses, trams and taxis but I’m young and fit so I chose to walk. Headphones in - Apple Maps on my iPhone is like having personal SatNav. Brilliant! I walked there in well under 20 minutes. A pleasant and healthy walk.

Getting in was a breeze. When I said I was Refereeing Tabletop Roleplaying Games they greeted me, scanned my ticket gave me a lanyard and directed me.

The convention centre is a new, modern, light and airy location. The convention was in a large hall downstairs. Lots of trade tables and open gaming space. But the Tabletop Roleplaying Games were upstairs.

Upstairs were hundreds of small convention rooms. Our games were in two of these. They were sign-posted and - good sign - there was a convention employee (looked but didn’t act like a Security Guard) to guide us but our two rooms were a bit hidden away and I got lost at first.

Referees often complain about conventions that cram too many games into rooms for cost purposes but these rooms seemed fine. Four well-spaced round (ugh!) tables with black cloths (hooray!) in each one and only three meant to be used at any time. Had all four been in just with full tables I can imagine they could get a bit noisy. But there was no chance of that!

I checked the bookings and I still had sold only one ticket. But I still found my table and set up.

There was another “old pro” Referee in the room in the same position. He did the same. We agreed that us plus our two players would make a single game if necessary. Another one of the “old pro” Referee crowd wandered in. He wasn’t actually running a game in the morning but was scouting the area for later.

A printout of the game programme had been printed out and left by the door of each room but there was no-one from the convention around to inform about the delayed Referee and we were left to organise things ourselves. Luckily they were able to do that because all of us there were old hands and knew our stuff. But there should have been someone in charge.

As it turned out, I had two players who’d bought tickets. The “scouting” Referee joined in so we had a table of three which was wonderful. (He also acted as unofficial “Room Captain” keeping an eye on the door and guiding anyone who walked in. This helped the other table in the room get up to three players as well. He did this unprompted - HERO! - but he shouldn’t have had to.)

Fun game. I know my stuff and these were the usual good British Role-Players.

The morning slot is timed at 3 hours (10:30am - 1:30pm) and the game fitted it perfectly.

I’d brought my own lunch but nipped down to buy additional beverages from the catering booth. No hot food. It was sandwiches etc. I had to check out the lager cost to be consistent in this blog.

The afternoon slot is timed at 4 hours (2pm - 6pm). It costs the same as the morning’s 3 hours slot (£3).

I again got three typical UK role-players and again we all had a great time. But the game again only ran for 3 hours, not 4. Everyone found that acceptable so I didn’t need to tack on any gratuitous additional scenes.

I left at that point. Because I’d had to book a long time in advance and take specific advance single tickets, my train wasn’t until later so I had some time to kill in Manchester station and its environs. I didn’t manage to find a bespoke bijoux bistro - despite looking - but there were plenty of chain establishments and the wait wasn’t unpleasant.

Train journey home was disrupted by a train breaking down between Wolverhampton and Birmingham and a diversion around it. It looks like the poor state of UK railways is STILL going to feature in this blog!

Summary and Closing thoughts

Well organised event at a good venue. Highly recommended if you like board games AND Tabletop Roleplaying Games. 

If you’re a Roleplaying player you’ll find a wide range of interesting games. There were some of the “standard ones” listed but they were far from the majority. How you feel about paying a ticket for entry and then a further ticket for each game is up to you.

If you’re a Referee then you’ll have to get in quick to get your game listed. But if you’re a Referee who wants to offer one, good, game and then use the free ticket to browse the rest of the convention you’ll be quids in.

Though the Tabletop Roleplaying Games were well organised and in good rooms, they were tucked away upstairs out of sight. I think this is an issue and has been for a while. Personally, I’d like to see this part of the more general gaming hobby grow and for this it needs to be more visible. During the “growth” phase of these analogue gaming conventions, I’d prefer our games to be visible in the main hall and to be free. This is model I saw at Canterbury Gaming Convention. The convention is getting the Referees for free. That doesn’t cost them anything. And if they put us in a corner of the general gaming area - already paid for - they wouldn’t need to pay for the hire of additional convention rooms. Then, after a couple of years when the Roleplaying section has grown and established itself, they could hive it off as a separate aspect.

But for now - let us be seen! Don’t hide us away upstairs.

I’ll be back next year, whether for one day or all three remains to be seen. My decision to go for one day was justified this year. I have found cheap accomodation near the event but it would need to be booked well in advance and I’m not prepared to have to shoulder my way into a crammed Refereeing schedule. So it’ll probably stay a one day event for me unless things change. (A “Games on Demand” area might work for this event.)

My personal costs

Travel: 2 x advance train tickets - £27.60

Hours of gaming: 7

Cost per hour: £3.95

CAN of Lager (500ml Budweiser): £6.50

 

Canterbury Gaming Convention

8th to 10th August 2025

Where Canterbury Gaming Convention fits in

There a many different types of gaming convention.

That’s the whole point of this blog. To show the differences between them. 

Two of the major types are dedicated TableTop RolePlaying conventions and more general analogue gaming conventions which have a TableTop RolePlaying element - often called a “Track”. (I use the term analogue to leave out digital or computer gaming conventions.)

I am only interested in TableTop RolePlaying. It is a golden age for Board Games and other types of games but all of those leave me cold. Whether I attend a general convention or not is determined by the size of TabelTop RolePlaying track and how it seems to be organised.

The UK Games Expo, for example, is so massive that the dedicated RolePlaying track is like an event of its own. I’m in!

Next weekend, however, is AireCon NorthWest, in Manchester. The AireCons are general analogue games conventions that have always tried to offer a RolePlaying Track, in my experience, but with varying degrees of success. Looking into the one next weekend it seems to have a very small area devoted to dedicated TableTop RolePlaying games with too many Referees for the space. But it seems to be very well organised by someone I know and trust. So rather than attend the full weekend, I’ve decided to to travel up and down in one day to get a “taster” for the event.

Planning for the event

But what about CANTERBURY GAMING CONVENTION, you ask?

This is also a general analogue gaming event. They seem to be making an effort to identify and support TableTop RolePlaying and have allocated a reasonably big chunk of floor space to them. Games can be submitted before the event and booked via Warhorn though spaces are available at the event.

I know nothing about the history of the event but it has the feel of something which has only been going for a year or two. Long enough to iron out kinks but not long enough to have really established itself.

Though the event itself is only two days, Saturday and Sunday, there’s a Friday gaming quiz to turn it into a full weekend experience, which I appreciate. However, I only care about playing TableTop RolePlaying so the quiz held no appeal for me.

The event is held on a University Campus with on-site accommodation available. The accommodation is not bundled in with the convention, however, and booking is flexible. Canterbury is a long way from Birmingham and the comfortable was to do things would be to travel down on Friday for the quiz and be on site for the start of the event proper on Saturday.

But that would involve paying for a night’s accommodation Friday evening. So I decided to get up at stupid o’clock Saturday morning to catch the first train from Birmingham to London which should - with perfect connections and a taxi - get me to CGC just before its start at 10am. Much more cost effective.

CGC runs 5 organised slots of TableTop RolePlaying. Saturday morning, afternoon and evening. Sunday morning and afternoon. So I offered to run games in the Saturday afternoon and evening slots and on Sunday morning. This would avoid any issues if the trains meant I arrived late and would allow me to leave in good time to catch my train home on Sunday.

I bad to do this a long time in advance of the actual event itself. When I did this I hadn’t retuned to Refereeing yet following my 5 year hiatus. So I played it same by offering adventures I’d run before several times in “the old days”. Nothing new or innovative.

I booked in to play a game Saturday morning and got permission to offer a short play-test of the quikstart adventure for my upcoming Horror game in the first half of Sunday afternoon.

There were also, of course, loads of open gaming spaces and stalls offering demonstration games.

Saturday morning

The trains ran seamlessly and I got to the event 10 minutes before it officially opened. The local tax I driver knew about the convention, which is a good sign. But their booking app didn’t recognise it. The postcode I had covered loads of different addresses none of which matched the convention details - as far as I could see.

Note to large convention organisers - send a blanket email to your local taxi firms with details of the event.

CGC is in a large University Sports Hall. It filled the Hall. It was rammed with tables and stalls and things to do. The TableTop RolePlaying area had several tables with lots of experienced Referees set up and ready to play. There were loads of sheets on offer to sign up to games in the afternoon - including mine.

What there wasn’t a lot of were punters. Convention attendees. At a quick estimate, the event could have accommodated four times the number of people who came - though three times would probably be the comfortable number.

My game - Daggerheart the new “hot” game, Refereed by one of the first people to play it, a real expert - had two players including me. The table next door had no players. So that Referee scrapped his game to join us. And we had a very amiable game.

There was a moment I felt slightly uncomfortable. A passing punter asked if he could join in. In the game we’d just completed the fist encounter and arrived at a village. We only had three players. We were using pre-generated characters. It would have been so easy to say we’d met a new character at the village and let the guy join in. But the Referee apologised and said he couldn’t join in because we’d already started the game. I really had to bite my lip. If I’d piped up with my opinion it could have soured the mood at the table.

Saturday afternoon

There was a small stand set up with sandwiches, cans in a fridge, a couple of beer pumps and people to run and get pizzas and burgers from the kitchen. Just enough to cater for the event with prices that weren’t exploitative but weren’t exactly cheap. I got some cans and a tuna sandwich for lunch.

The afternoon I’d offered to run my Steampunk game “The Code of Steam and Steel”. I’d recently released a quikstart adventure for the game called “One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing” and this was that adventure with an added T-Rex and airship to extend it to a full convention slot.

In my experience, you don’t tend to get many people signing up RolePlaying Games in the morning at general conventions. People come in, spend the morning browsing the stalls and demonstration games. Sit down for lunch and then look for something to do in the afternoon. So the RolePlaying area was a bit busier in the afternoon but there were still empty tables. People tend to play it safe so the full tables were for “big name” games. My game attracted three players.

The side effect of this was that these three people had chosen it because they actively wanted to play Steampunk and we had a great time. 

It tuned out my padding of the one-hour quikstart adventure to a full session was a bit under-stuffed and with only three players the game plays more quickly anyway. So the game finished early.

Luckily.

My plan had always been to check in to my accomodation in between the afternoon and evening sessions and then grab a bite to eat. It was then that my casual pre-planning let me down. I’d assumed the evening sessions started at around the same time as most conventions - 7pm or 8pm - and that the accomodation would be convenient to the event.

The evening slot started at 6pm and the accomodation was a significant walk from the main convention.

Saturday Evening

After a cardio-workout of a walk to and from my accommodation (good, clean, typical University student accommodation type) I got back just in time for my evening game. So I was ordering and eating a pizza whilst going through the game set-up. No-one seemed to mind but I felt unprofessional.

All the trade stands in the middle of the hall were covered over and the area sealed off with “do not cross” yellow tape.

This time, I only had TWO players. My preferred number of players in a convention game is 3 to 5. I’ve long ago discovered that I can run games for 6 people - if I stand up. And, following much on-line debate and advice, I’ve decided I WILL run for two players if they are okay with it.

Both players wanted to play. I offered them secondary characters but they chose to have me run a single non-player character to fill in the gaps not covered by their characters. (They were the Pilot and Astrogator so I threw in an Engineer).

This was “The Planet of Darkness”, the example scenario from The Code of the Spacelanes rules. I hadn’t run it in years but could run it in my sleep.

During the session, one of the organisers brought a punter to me and asked if I could fit him into the game. In the story the characters had landed on an uncharted planet occupied only by a strange race of blue aliens. But I said “no problem”. And he joined in.

Because of the small number of players - and there efficient play - we finished a bit early so I was able to walk the distance to my lodgings and get to sleep in good time.

Note to self: If you’re wondering whether to bring an iPad to ad event or not - BRING ONE. iPhones are great for the journey but not good your evenings entertainment or catching up.

Sunday morning

Breakfast was good but I couldn’t find a fruit course, pastries or porridge. Very clean but not buffet. Served at a Counter (Student accomodation.)

Another cardio-workout back to the event (this time trailing wheelie case). My morning game had no signups. So I gave it a few minutes. There seemed to be even fewer punters than on Saturday - so I pulled my game and joined in with a game of Space 1889 to take it from 2 players to 3 players.

This was basically Wacky Races. No Space. No Mars. (Though there was a Martian in the Race, briefly.) The first vehicle to cross the line after an extended race across the deserts of Egypt and Sudan would get a contract to be developed for use on Mars. Much skullduggery of course and then the twist of the discovery of an invading Sudanese army with the  - surviving - racers have to team up against a common foe and race to get a warning to the authorities.

Again the players had actively chosen to play the setting with at least one chewing the scenery like it was going out of fashion.

Great fun.

The Referee had enjoyed himself so much that - with our permission - he’d extended the game back to its usual full convention length so we finished after lunchtime. I’d had not chance to promote my horror game playtest and there was no official signup sheet. I doubt it would have attracted players here anyway. So decided to leave at this point and find a nice place to eat lunch in Canterbury. I could (possibly should) have tried to find a short game to sign up to. I did find a great place to have a lovely lunch in the City but I still had a long wait for my train back. (I’d bought a specific ticket to save money.) 

If I’d had an ipad I could have written this report on the way back but I couldn’t do it on my phone.

Summary and costs

Canterbury Gaming Convention is a great medium-sized analogue gaming convention which is punching well above its weight. It needs - and deserves - many more punters. If you like games, especially board games, it’s a really good event. There are lots of good TableTop RolePlaying Games on offer run by experienced Referees. If you’re a Referee wanting to run games you’ll find slim pickings unless you’re running a popular game. It wasn’t dominated by Dungeons a Dragons though. (Is this because of the event or is it part of the zeitgeist?)

If I were in the area, I’d go again. As it is - for me - the distance - both to the event annd between the event and the accommodation -  and lack of punters means I’ll probably won’t return next year. This event certainly won’t miss me as Referee.

Train tickets (including underground transfers): £50.19

Taxi: £25

Accommodation: £52

————

Total: £127.19

————-

Hours of gaming: 15

Cost per hour: £8.50

————-

Cost of a pint of Lager: £6.30 

But…and this was surprisingly important to me:

IN A PLASTIC GLASS.

 

Simon’s plan for conventions

Which conventions you’ll see me at in the coming weeks and which you won’t. And why.

Note: some of the dates below don’t seem to line up. I’ve gone from the information on-line but I’d recommend you double-check them.

Canterbury Gaming Convention

9th and 10th August

https://canterburygamingconvention.co.uk/

This is a new one to me. It is a multi-format convention. There is a quiz on the Friday night but that doesn’t interest me so I’ve booked the on-site accomodation for the Saturday night only. I’ve offered to run 3 games. I’ll have to get up and set out at an ungodly hour to get there from Birmingham but that’s better than paying an extra night’s accomodation.

Airecon North-west

15th to 17th August

https://acnw.airecon.co.uk/

A large multi-format convention in Central Manchester. The Role-playing games don’t seem to be a big part of it so I’ve decided to to treat this as a one day convention, travelling up from Birmingham on the Saturday, running a couple of games, and travelling back down.

Grand Tribunal - not going

15th to 17th August

https://www.grandtribunal.org/wiki/Main_Page

A very small intimate convention in Cheltenham.  Though nominally  devoted to the Ars Magica system and other games from that publisher, loads of other games are offered. It’s on the same weekend as Airecon so I had to choose. I think GrandTribunal is the better experience but I couldn’t commit to the full weekend.

Strange Games Festival - not going  

22nd to 25th August

https://strangegamesfestival.co.uk/

Camping - ‘nuff said.

Norwich Games Convention - not going

23rd August

https://www.norwichgames.uk/whats-on#roleplaying

A one day con which seems to have some nice role-playing on offer. However, it looks too late for me to offer to Referee.

Tabletop Scotland

5th to 7th September

https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

Big multi-format event in Edinburgh (near the airport) with a strong TTRPG presence. I’ve booked my flights, accomodation and am offering to run some games. Half the tickets in each game can be prebooked with the other allocated at the event. My games already have enough players so I know they’re running. 

Other times, I’ll be offering or playing in games in the “Games on Demand” area.

Really looking forward to this one. It’s one of the events I couldn’t go whilst I was still working. I’ve been waiting years to get a chance to attend.

The Owl Bear and the Wizard’s Staff

13th to 15th September

https://asakosoh.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/the-owlbear-and-wizards-staff-13th-15th-september-2024/

This is a one-day event in Leamington Spa which has grown to cover the whole weekend as years have gone by. It is highly regarded by a niche group of attendees on-line and usually books out quickly. I was too late to run games this year but I’m still going to play. It’s that good. I’m only going on Saturday to play two games. It’s easy to get to and from from Birmingham.

Armaghged(C)on - not going

19th September to 21st September

https://www.facebook.com/armaghgedcon

Overseas. ‘Nuff said. Also - no offence - I’ve got a much better alternative that weekend.

Concrete Cow

20th September

https://www.concrete-cow.org.uk/

A small-medium sized convention in Wolverton near Milton Keynes. The perfect convention of its type. If you can get to Milton Keynes on 20th September, come.

The beauty of Concrete Cow is you don’t have to preplan in any way. You wake up in the morning and decide on the day if you’re going or not. (I am.) You can decide what games - if any - you want to run on the train if you want. You can decide everything on the day.

If you can get there - attend. It’s great.

Autumn Leaves in London

27th September

https://warhorn.net/events/autumn-leaves-in-london

Organised by the Dahn Sarf organiser. A games day in London. A (good) venue is provided but it looked liked you had to sort out your own games and layers. This lack of structure put me off initially. As I’m not local I didn’t think I could get enough players together to make it worth my attending. Since then I’ve attended the wonderful Dahn Sarf II - The Games Can’t Be Stopped - and the organiser has advertised for some games. Do I’ve booked the cheapest advance train ticket I can and have decided to go.

Dice and Balls - not going

10th October to 12th October

https://www.diceandballs.co.uk/events/

Nottingham. The link goes to a generic Hub for a club and I couldn’t work out anything about the event. Too much work for me, sorry!

Airecon West

2nd to 5th October

https://acwest.airecon.co.uk/

A sister con to Airecon North-West based in Telford. I’ll decide about this one after attending the one in Manchester.

Furnace - not going

11th and 12th October 

https://furnace.org.uk/

Really good convention based at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield. I’m not going because by the time I’d decided to start going to conventions again, it was full up. Let alone being able to offer to Referee games. People will leave it on 12th October and immediately book into the event for 2026. So that’s what I’m going to be doing.

It’s just one of a number of brilliant conventions at the hotel throughout the year. Here’s where you find the details:

https://garrison.omnihedron.co.uk/

Gaelcon - not going

24th to 27th October

https://iga.ie/gaelcon/

Overseas - ‘nuff said.

SoxCon - not going

2nd November

https://www.soxsgamingday.org.uk/

South Oxfordshire. I think I went to this one once years ago. Small event in a church hall with homemade cakes on sale etc. Seems to be the special event or games day for a local club. It was extremely welcoming. But it starts at mid-day so its too far for me to travel for so little gaming.

SpireCon - not going

4th November

https://www.facebook.com/Spirecon

A one-day event in Chesterfield. Organised via Facebook with the page being unclear and not often updated. Probably be fun for those in the know.

Twin Con - not going

1st November

https://twinconrpg.com/

North London. Seems a nice little event but at over 3 hours travel either way, it’s just not worth it for a one day event, for me.

Epic-LAN - not going

8th to 10th November

https://www.epiclan.co.uk/tt7

Warwick. This seems to an adjunct to a computer event. Just loads of table for Role-Playing. You organise stuff through Discord. I’ll look into it more but it feels a bit too free and easy for my tastes. My mind might be getting a bit too old for this and the idea of having to organise your own games and pay for the privilege feels a bit odd.

Condensed

14th to 16th November

https://www.facebook.com/groups/499592967602345/

Worthing. I know nothing about this. The facebook page isn’t very helpful - sorry. I guess it’s one of those “if you know, you know” events. But it’s organised by people who I know are brilliant at this sort of stuff so I’ll look into it and will probably be going.

Dragonmeet

29th November

https://dragonmeet.co.uk/

THE big one day convention in London. Of COURSE we’re all going!