August 2017 - a digest

I attend lots of conventions, but no-one can be everywhere at once. For various reasons, in August there were half a dozen I didn't get to. However, I thought I'd still publish a "digest" to tell you what I know about them.

The conventions in question are:


Nine Worlds
This was a huge multi-strand "Geek" convention in London. There are talks, craft panels, all sorts of things. I went to the first one a couple of years ago to help run RPGs. However, in subsequent years there doesn't seem to have been a specific RPG strand at the convention. I spotted one Facebook post following the convention which seemed to indicate that some people had met up  and played a couple of games, but I wasn't able to find out anything more. Worth a look if in 2018 you're a Geek but maybe not if you're a gamer.


BritCon
This was Britain's biggest residential, multi-period Wargames convention. It took place in Manchester, as it does every year. It seems to have a long tradition. To their credit, the organisers tried to offer RPGs this year - which is very forward thinking and welcoming of them. Unfortunately, the pre-convention interest wasn't enough to justify them continuing with the idea. At established and popular conventions, RPGs can sign out well in advance of the event. However, when it's new event or offering them for the first time, they can take a while to "get traction" and advance booking just doesn't seem to work. It's a chicken and egg situation. People don't book into games unless they know it's an established convention for RPGs and the games will definitely run. But unless people book games, they don't run. I really hope BritCon tries again next year. It looks like a great event for us to make inroads into.


Grand Tribunal
From the organiser, with my immense gratitude:

"Grand Tribunal 2017 was as always a convention dedicated to Ars Magica, Unknown Armies, Feng Shui, Over The Edge and other Atlas Games rpgs and board games. This year even Rune and Furry Pirates got run! The con runs from Friday to Sunday but Friday night is a boardgames social element, while the rest of the weekend was rpg.

This was the eleventh convention and as always we had a strong international presence - the Norwegians and French attend every year. However numbers were the same as most years - with only 30 delegates this is an intimate con. We will be back in 2018 raising even more money for charity and running our fabulous raffle. The website is at www.grandtribunal.org"

It took place in Cheltenham, as always. I tend not to go to conventions devoted to game systems I don't Referee but I was invited last year and was encouraged to referee a couple of sessions of my own games - even though I'm patently nothing to do with Atlas games. The convention IS small and intimate but it is incredibly friendly and welcoming. The game sessions are shorter than most conventions to allow you to fit four different games into a day. And the Atlas games are very good and they are offered by excellent referees. This would be a wonderful convention for anyone new to try hobby or attending conventions as it is so small and friendly. It certainly deserves to be larger.


ShaCon
This was a convention devoted to the "Savage Worlds" game system. It took place in Sheffield, at the Garrison Hotel, which has become THE Hub for RPG conventions in the North of the U.K. Just look here:

http://garrison.omnihedron.co.uk/

Savage Worlds is a generic system which can be used to play role-playing adventures in a variety of settings and genres. In fact the publishers actively encourage people to produce and publish their own Game Worlds using the rules. Because of this there are literally hundreds of different settings out there. I've played Savage Worlds at conventions in all sorts of different, usually highly imaginative games. It's a good, reliable system. But it's not one I referee, and I like to referee RPGs. So I didn't attend ShaCon.

However, I have NEVER seen so many overwhelmingly positive convention reports for an event. Everyone had a great time playing in a breathtaking range of settings and genres. It seems to have been very very very successful. I have no idea of the size but I'd expect it was in the usual 50-100 size range you get at Garrison cons. If you play Savage Worlds, or are willing to play it for an entire weekend, then I'd say you simply HAVE to go to ShaCon 2018.

I've even considering writing a Savage Worlds setting book myself just so
I'd have something to run and could attend. Everyone who went just seems SO happy!


AlderCon
This was a weekend convention in Surrey. I haven't had any feedback about this one. It seems to have been quite small - it took place in a scout hut. I could be wrong but it seems to be a local club arranging to play games solidly for three days with a few extra invited visitors coming along to join in. Games were successfully booked in advance, I know many of the referees - who are all excellent - and it looks like the event did take place successfully.  So I'd expect there to be another one in 2018.


ShadowCon
This two day convention took place in North London. It is, again, the annual event of a local Games Club. However, this particular club is also known for being active at other RPG conventions across the country.

ShadowCon has a significant Pathfinder element, and those "living world" games are well supported with lots of pre-convention booking. The convention also ran in parallel with TobCon, a Con devoted to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which shared the venue and for which all the games were fully booked before the weekend. The report I had estimated that over 40 people were present.  Given that  games played included Warhammer, Hot War, Psi Run, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu and, possibly, Cypher planned, plus the fact that Board Games are usually played there, I'm assuming this to be a bit on the conservative side. It's a regular event which takes place every year and the range of RPGs on offer seems to be growing.


I've found August to be a bit of a drought in RPG conventions in the past, but this list shows that the scene actually seems to be thriving, with lots of opportunities to play if you're free.

"Choose your Adventure " at Geek Retreat, Sunday 27th August 2017

One of the "weaknesses" of my introductory set up is that I use The Black Hack to introduce new players to Dungeons and Dragons rather than the "official" rules - which are currently 5th Edition D&D. The Black Hack rules are easy to grasp for beginners. However, I've been getting the impression that some people might want to start off with the official game - possibly having already bought the rules and wanting some guidance on how to get started.

So I prepared myself to run 5th Ed. D&D at Geek Retreat today and advertised it as such. And certainly, from the online interest I received, I really thought it was what people were looking for.

However, when I arrived the three players waiting indicated they weren't particularly interested in 5th Ed. Two of them had played my games previously so I asked them if they wanted to try MY new fantasy rules, The Code of Warriors and Wizardry.

I WAS prepared to run 5th Ed, honest. I'd put a lot of prep in, including producing laminated pre-generated characters. But unless it's asked for specifically, I'm always happier running my own systems. At least I've got 5th Ed prepared now in case anyone asks for it in future.

And I was happy to give my new game another run out.

I ran the scenario from the rules. It's set in a fairly standard fantasy world with Humans, Elves, Dwarves etc. But I allow players to create their own races if they want. Character creation is very open ended which can encourage player imagination but can lead to a tendency towards the gonzo with some groups. This, it turned out, was one of those groups.

We started out with a human mercenary illusionist, a goblin wizard (massively skilled in running away, not so good with the actual magic) and a "tentafolk" mercenary. This was from a race of octopus people. (Gonzo 1). The game started well with the characters escaping from the slavers' chains and seizing the ship. This was duly destroyed by a sea serpent, leaving them adrift on the ocean.

A fourth player arrived (Chris Dean of "I Love the Corps") who decided to make a manphibian - a scaled marine humanoid who desperately wanted to be found beautiful by sailors, a siren of the sea. (Gonzo 2).

The party washed up on an island and soon fell out with a clan of goblins - one of a number of clans disputing ownership of the island. The players then proceeded to use the rules - appropriately - to wipe out this first clan by causing the island's extinct volcano to erupt. This caused the rest of the goblins to be in awe of them and seek their help, rather than hunt them down and kill them. This sidestepped a lot of the political shenanigans I had in mind but, I think, counts as Gonzo 3.

This was a group of players keen to tell stories, act first without planning or working together and who, when they rolled a critical success, would tend to affect the story plot rather than playing tactically and reserving the right to make rerolls later in the game. I DID warn them.

At this point we were joined by two more players. One made a cannibal (Gonzo 5) whilst the other made a Cleric. In order to bring them in at this stage, they both had to be goblins.

When the party finally stopped living off the the goblins' largesse and undertook the quest they'd requested, they found themselves caught in a magical trap. Lacking appropriate ways to affect the outcome (such as rerolls) this proved pretty devastating, with the Tentafolk mercenary being reduced to sushi - literally as it turned out - and several other characters suffering massive losses to their sanity and their very souls. Given the free and easy, humorous, tone of the game to this stage and the many, many ways characters can sidestep death in these rules, this came as a shock to the players. I think it was the first time in some of their playing careers they'd seen a character die.

Lesson learnt? In my games it's fun exercising narrative control but it's still worth playing tactically and saving the right to make rerolls first. Always save the option to reroll some dice for the climax.

Trap avoided, they then proceeded to the powerful ancient Artefect which was the reward for their adventures. And then spent a further 30 minutes dancing around before seizing it. The cleric even tried to destroy it after receiving a pretty clear message from her God that destroying it wasn't The Divine Plan.

Eventually, after a bit more unintentional goblin genocide, they twigged what they'd actually got their hands on and escaped.

A mad, epic, game. I knew my game was different from traditional D&D, I didn't realise it was THIS different.

I now have a decision to make. Twice now at these events I've started with a small table and it's grown to a much fuller one. I'm also getting a core returning players. If the group grows any more, I'll have to try and split it into two tables which means I'd need another Referee. Should I try "training up" one of the returning players?

Spaghetti ConJunction 1b

Just over two months to go until the next Spaghetti ConJunction - the OTHER convention in Birmingham. (The one where the food gets brought to your table.) 21st October, Geek Retreat, Birmingham.

Get your thinking caps on and let us know what games you want to put on offer. Offer a game in advance in one slot gets you first sign up for a game in the other slot.

You know the routine. Please supply the following information:

Title: The title of the scenario

Description: What your game is about

GM: Your name

System: The name of the game system. Unless it is a well-known game, you might want add a sentence summarising the system.

Notes: Is the game suitable for a particular age group? Is there any content some people might find challenging or upsetting? Please state here whether your game is for a mature audience (that is, not suitable for under 18s).

Players: Preferred minimum and maximum number of players.

Slot: Morning (10:30-2:30) or Afternoon (3:30-7:30)