Dragonmeet is THE big games convention that takes place just before Christmas in London. It's an important part of the U.K. convention calendar and well worth a visit.
It's a one day convention, but it goes on until midnight. In the past I've stayed in London in order to do the whole day. However, as nothing ever really seems to happen on the Sundsy, and As part of my current economy drive, I decided this year to treat it as a one day event. Travel down at stupid o'clock Saturday morning, play two games and then travel back to Birmingham in the evening.
Thursday night before Dragonmeet, I got a text from one of the organisers asking if I could "do muster" at the con. That is, call out the RPG games and read out the players and games so they could go to their rooms with their referees. Flattered, I of course said yes. We sorted the details out in a call Friday.
Then I slept through my alarm. Massive panic but by catching a taxi at both ends (so much for the economy drive) I got the the venue just in time. Phew!
I saw people queuing outside and - of course - blithely swept past as a "guest" only to find that they weren't queuing at the main desk. They were waiting for a lift - which took 8 normal people at a time (or 4 Roleplayers as I found out later in the day). Madness! I don't know if it was the correct way in or if someone had just decided to go in that way and everyone was following. Luckily my taxi driver had pointed me at an alternative entrance, so I went round the side, through the main entrance to the hotel and upstairs to the convention main desk.
Signing in as a guest was easy, but I didn't have time to go to my room and check it out or set up.
The sign up area just past the main desk seemed a bit small. The original plan was to hold muster by the main desk but we decided to do it by the sign up sheets. Referees had been told to come to the muster area at 9:50. Obviously to make sure they were all there on time. But some of them thought it was when muster should start and began asking for their players or calling out for them. Some went straight up to their rooms.
There was supposed to be a call on the PA about muster at 9:55 but I didn't hear it. And loads of punters still weren't in the building - the queue outside apparently went around the block. At about ten o'clock, I took down all the sheets which seemed to have signups and - with one of the organisers calling the area to order (thanks mate!) - I began to call out the games. I had over 20 games to call out - and that didn't even include those run by other, specialised, groups - which were handled separately.
I inadvertently cheated. By leaving my blank signup sheet up (with others) it meant that it gave a limited choice to late comers and, by the time I'd called the other games, it was full. Whereas I'd called some games with only three out of five signups. I didn't mean to fill my game this way and it felt a bit underhand.
I made two errors in the morning muster. I called the referees and players and gave the referees the sheets to take upstairs with their players. They were supposed to be escorted by Cosplayers, but I didn't see any. They may have been around the corner out of my eyeline.
I initially forgot to call the rooms. This apparently led to some wandering around upstairs and one of the more experienced referees kindly came down to inform me of my omission. I began calling the rooms thereafter.
The other error was giving the sign up sheets to the referees. The organiser was upstairs guiding players to their games but, without the sheets, had no record of the rooms to work from.
There were several referees not present at muster, so I began giving the sign up sheets for their games to any of their players who were present and crossed my fingers. Only one group of players got upstairs to find they didn't have a referee. And he'd already called to inform the front desk about his delay. I left the blank and unclaimed signup sheets at the main desk and took my players upstairs to run my first game.
Only to find that I couldn't find MY room. Luckily the organiser was there guiding everyone.
The RPG rooms were nice, bright, meeting rooms but suffered the usual Dragonmeet issue of feeling too cramped for the number of players and games. They all seemed to be full to the brim with happy happy Roleplayers.
My first game was my "Manifold" gritty Sci fI scenario. As usual I had a great bunch of players, though it was slightly derailed by TWO of the players wanting to play cowardly types who had great fun role-playing but tended to duck all the action. That was what they wanted to do, however, and I don't think anyone at the table minded the group missing out on/running away from the major objectives. Their characters successfully survived through ducking and diving, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake.
I'd grabbed some food from M&S on my way down and was glad that I did. The queue at the tiny bar in the break between games was huge. I went to the bar to try and meet and thank David Black for THE BLACK HACK but he was deep in an OSR game at the bar and I didn't want to interrupt.
I checked the signup sheets for the afternoon. There seemed to be LOADS. Far more than the morning. I found the room for my afternoon game (totally different from my morning room) and set up my table.
Then it was downstairs for afternoon muster. We pulled the sheets down at 2:55 and I began calling the games. Again I don't recall hearing a PA announcement or seeing any cosplay guides up to the rooms. This time I called the games and passed the sheets to the organisers who dealt with queries as I called out game after game after game. I honestly don't know how it went or if people could hear me. By the time I'd finished - and it seemed to take forever - loads of people had disappeared but several were left for the poor old organisers to deal with.
I went upstairs to run my Steampunk game. The Great Martian Tripod Race. You know what? THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL is a great little game and this scenario (not mine - "acquired" from Martin Pickett) is fun. And players come to a steampunk game knowing what they want. (All she wanted was a "parasol cannon".)
In the comfort break halfway through, the queue at the bar was still there but was shorter and manageable. I managed to buy a Diet Coke and something they CALLED a slice of pizza. It wasn't. But it was hot, tasty and very very stodgy and filling. I also had a quick look around the trade hall and broke into David's OSR game to say "thanks" and shake his hand.
Having to get back to Birmingham, I left after my second game at 7pm. I didn't go searching for seminar to go to as I'd originally planned. The organiser had to go around the RPG rooms asking Referee after Referee to wrap up their games. Why is it so hard for so many people to stick to the agreed times?
My feelings about Dragonmeet 2016? There's a massive demand for it. People coming desperate to have fun, and finding it. Though theoretically bigger than the IBIS - where it was held to mixed response in 2014 and 2016 - for me the new venue, the Novotel West, seemed to have lower ceilings and things felt a bit claustrophobic in the main Hall. Having the RPGs upstairs in meeting rooms seemed to divorce them from the main hall and, though they were big and bright and better than the playing areas in 2014 and 2015, were still a bit cramped. Also having the convention on the first floor (the hotel had another convention running on the ground floor, I think) slowed people getting in. Also with the massive amount of games on offer, I'm not sure if muster is the way to handle it. I can't think of any better way to do it though.
I also couldn't, in one day, do everything the convention had to offer. Maybe I should limit myself to running one game and spend the rest of the day in the trade hall or seminars or actually talking to all the people I KNOW now, who I just breezed past with a quick "hello".
But it's easy, so easy, for us punters to point out the faults and much harder to say what we'd do to make it work. The fact is that a huge convention was organised and run successfully. In fact the great majority of the feedback I've seen this year is very, very positive. This is due to the one the ground organisers breaking their backs for us. They deserve some sort of award.
I still think there's such a demand for Dragonmeet that it could easily be a two day convention. I'd certainly like it more if it was. I think the organisers might have to consider selling tickets for the RPGs to raise funds to pay for more playing area. However, I'm not sure the current business model would support either of these. And I don't have a good answer for how you offer so many RPGs and get everyone to their referees and rooms. Dragonmeet is a victim of its own success. And a success it is.
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