Spaghetti ConJunction 1b - October 21st 2017 - Geek Retreat, Birmingham

Spaghetti ConJunction is special to me. It's in my home town and I co-organise it with two other luminaries of the RPG world. This was the second one. The first event in February was small c. 40 people but was success because it was just so flipping "nice".

This time, despite us posting everywhere we could of think of online and promoting it at every convention we visit, we had no idea if anyone was even coming. We had half the game offers we got last time and that was the only communication we had from ANYONE. We guessed numbers would be down due to the threatening weather - trains were being cancelled apparently - being held when at a lot of people were at a huge convention, Essen, in Germany and it being half term. But we had nothing to base this on.

The convention was due to start at 10am at Geek Cafe in the centre of Birmingham and we got in a bit early to set up. We owned the top floor of the venue for the event. As you'd expect, it's perfect. I'd prepared some signage for this one. Seeing your logo blown up big and plastered everywhere makes the event feel more real.

10:00am came and people trickled in. Old friends mainly. Five games were offered in the morning. Three of these ran. It's an odd thing, but the shiney, glossy, colour signup sheets were ignored in favour of the hand-written ones. A referee had forgotten to prepare one for his pre-advertised Star Wars game so hand wrote a replacement one quickly. Another Referee turned up to offer Tremulus - a horror game - on spec. Again with a hand-written sign-up sheet. Both of these games filled easily. A mashup of the TV series Supernatural, Grimm and Sleepy Hollow was the beneficiary of the horse trading when the "I Love the Corps" space marines sci fi game only got one sign up and my own Fireball XL5 game left everyone cold - again. I keep offering it at conventions but it never runs. Perhaps a game based on puppet series from 1962 is a bit of a stretch for most people.

I played in the TV series mashup game. This is just another great thing you can do with RPGs - create your own "crossover" episodes between TV series you like.

The game was presented by an experienced referee and was a well researched, well prepared romp. It also came with with a Tsunami of "bling". The full colour character sheets formatted to look like actual FBI records of the main characters were just the start.

 Player (looking at the, two, street maps supplied) "Where exactly is it?"

Referee: "Perhaps it'd be easier to see it on the Satellite map" (whips it out).

Newspapers, photo cards for every NPC. Photo montage sheets for every location. Even a 3D Google Earth view of the bad guys' headquarters on his phone! "Impressive"  just doesn't cover it, somehow.

I'd only watched one episode of each series before deciding they're not for me. But I got to play Ichibod Crane's straight laced FBI associate, which wasn't a stretch. And I was able to sit back for long periods of time and just watch everyone else chew on the multi-layered mystery. Headless bikers terrorising the city were just the first of many such layers. As I say - a romp.

This game came really close to over-running. I was surprised that the cafe staff weren't more proactive at the tables but, when I nipped downstairs to grab a menu, I found out why. The place was really busy. It's great to see a Geek Cafe being so successful. We had lunch served at our table during play and everyone seemed happy with the food, milk shakes and drinks they were ordering.

Then there was a raffle. I'm not normally a fan of the raffles at conventions. They tend to drag on and eat into valuable gaming time. But the haul of offerings donated from producers for our raffle was just stunning. (And, afterwards, we were approached online by even more companies saying they'd've made contributions  if we'd only asked them. And I threw in a preproduction proof of my forthcoming. Fantasy rules - The Code of Warriors and Wizardry. I ran the raffle with a "no nonsense" approach and I think we got through it in about 5 minutes flat. And there were a LOT of prizes.

The winner of  my rulebook and asked me to sign it. Nice!

The afternoon slot had four games offered. Three games ran again. The zombie Thomas the Tank Engine Sci Fi game didn't run but we had a D&D 5th game, a game of "Tales from the Loop" (I think some people had come just to try this hot new game) and my own adventure from my forthcoming Fantasy rulebook. Hooray!

I had 5 players. I've run this adventure before, but this group played the scenario the straightest anyone ever has. They listened to the world background and we had three elves, a dwarf and a human rogue. I deliberately don't tell the players the adventure starts at sea, but two players still made Water and Wind wizards. No-one chose to make a wacky character or non standard race. (The Italian dwarf with his pet bear was the weirdest. And somehow, a dwarven Mafiosi worked.....)

Throughout the game they played tactically, using the "doubles rule" to reserve rerolls - which were then well used - rather than constantly introducing new plot details - as so many groups do. It was the straightest play through of the adventure ever, hitting all the beats perfectly. Great!

See? My game CAN be played without going gonzo!

Though the best moment was the wind wizard being pursued by a horde of goblins and luring them into a trap by running - cartoon style - off the edge of a cliff. As one of the other players said - "genius!"

We left the room tidier than we'd found it and checked the takings. Despite the reduced numbers, a  £90 donation will be making its way to Birmingham Children's hospital.

So SCJ 1b was smaller than 1a, but was still great fun. The Geek Cafe owner was very happy and wants us back. Players and referees had a good time and there's a donation to charity. Everyone's a winner!

So we'll be back in February. Watch this space for details. I reckon our convention is going grow.

WynterCon 2017 day two

WynterCon 2017 - Day Two.

TLDR: 6 more games, three of the The Cthulhu Hack. Another great day.

I caught a taxi up to the event. On the way I passed two of my fellow referees walking up and had the taxi stop to pick them up. Wearing a distinctive refereeing hat makes you easy to spot! Then I felt guilty because we passed the two RPG organisers also  walking up and we had no space left to pick them up as well.

Apparently the Steam Punk standup had been very good, but the venue had run out of beer. (Where have I heard THAT before?)

Then it was the same as Saturday. Running games almost from the get-go. I started off running a game for an old mate and his family. This was my The Black Hack Intro again. Though he was trying to hold back and encourage his kids to take the lead, he couldn't help rushing in to save the kidnapped children. All went well apart from the halfling thief being horrendously disfigured by a bugbear mace.

Then a game of The Cthulhu Hack. The same scenario as yesterday - as written the game's designer. Again I think I ran the investigation phase with the Smokes and Flashlights alright. However, they arrived at the warehouse just as the boat which had delivered the artefact was departing. To my surprise two of the characters ran and leapt to try and board the thing. One made it - and spent the entire scenario on that damned boat - whilst the other disappeared into the water. A three way party split and we'd barely started.

As often happens the investigation into the warehouse eventually foundered and there was some gunplay. The fleeing characters returned with a fuel truck to ram the place. This isn't the first time this has happened when I've run the scenario. However, it is the first time that a character has spent the entire game on a boat and turned it around to come back and ram the warehouse from the dockside.

No sooner had I finished THAT than I had three players completely new to RPGs asking to try TCH. I dunno you wait months to run a game and then you run several sessions of it on the trot!

As new players, they seemed to struggle with the investigation phase. And when they got into the warehouse they were quickly captured. But then something magic happened as the Professor (the female version played by a young lady, this time) turned the tables by convincing the cult leader that his Artefact was a fake. Ritual abandoned. No tentacles. Clever! I love RPGs. The same scenario. Two totally different stories.

Then another group of young players new to RPGs. The Black Hack intro game again. This went well until they cleverly combined their attacks to take out the Bugbear. The remaining goblins tried to use the captured children as human shields. The players got frustrated and shot both of the children themselves. I explained how the game is usually played as a campaign and the likely effects of elven arrows being found in the corpses of young children. But they enjoyed the game and I gave their leader details of how to get his hands on the D&D rules.

Then the RPG organiser brought me three really young girls who wanted to try a Superhero game. They tried to corral their fourth mate but she demurred and actually  dragged one away, leaving me with two, who seemed happy to continue to play.

This was their first RPG. Giving them a game where rolling a double gives you narrative control proved a heady mix for them. The first double they rolled, rather than taking my recommendation of a reserved reroll, they caused the Supervillain to fall in love with the Superheroinne. Then it was just a case of new plot element after new plot element. Their parents turned up but said they were too busy to join in. However, the wife prevailed upon the dad - an old time roleplayer - to sit down so we had three players for the finale with the three heroes, riding dinosaurs by this time (another double), and a detachment of soldiers versus some Daleks in the Cretaceous era.

The last game was another The Cthulhu Hack. The third one today and the fourth across the weekend. This time there were tentacles with the characters escaping by the skin of their teeth and being forced to call in the army to take on the brute.

Then it was heading off on my long long journey home.

So how was WynterCon 2017? I ran TWELVE games in two days, running virtually non stop. Yes these were one hour demos and many of them were repeats of games I've run before but they were still all intense and enjoyable experiences. I loved playing in the big top. Yes the roof leaked a bit on the Saturday and the humidity wasn't good for books (and Pokemon cards, apparently) but I loved playing on grass. It was my first experience with modern "Gig Loos" and I was impressed. I loved the whole experience. Other general conventions would do well to adopt the WynterCon model for RPGs.

I've now got a problem. If it clashes with Furnace again next year. What do I do? Furnace is like fine dining. WynterCon is the instant gratification of a "pudding club."
Choices, choices.

WynterCon 2017 Day One

WynterCon 2017 Day One.

Realise my reports are usually long and detailed but this one is going to be longer than normal.

So: TLDR: WynterCon Eastbourne. Massive eclectic geek event held under big top. Ran 6 games on Saturday - flipping loved it!

Wyntercon is held in the classic English seaside town of Eastbourne. This is its fourth year. I attended the first two but wasn't able to make WynterCon 3 last year because it was on the same weekend as another convention I attend. There seems to be be a small period -.between the end of the summer convention drought and the petering out time around Christmas - which is absolutely rammed with events. And it's about to get even more crammed with the recent announcement of a large new convention in London in October 2018. In fact, WynterCon 4 conflicted with another convention - the wonderful, marvellous, essential (fully booked) Furnace in Sheffield - which is easier and cheaper for me to get to. So, originally, it was my intention to attend that one but I somehow messed up my booking.

Eastbourne from Birmingham is not an easy journey and not cheap. But I found a way cut costs using a budget hotel and some strange train routes (travelling down Friday night and returning stupid o'clock Sunday evening.) So I made a last minute decision to attend. It was pleasing that the organisers of the Roleplaying area were pleased to receive my last minute offer to run games.

The journey down was fine but I arrived too late to hook up with anyone for drinks. There's nothing official on Friday evening, but people that know each other tend to meet up at one of Eastbourne's many hostelries. My hotel was a bit tired, but had a great sea view and did the job for me. Eastbourne as a town  just seems to be one long beach promenade and was probably a fantastic destination in the 1950's and 60's. But it seems to have gone the way of many such places and is now rather faded.......

The convention failed the Simon Burley taxi-driver test. Neither the driver taking me from the train station to my hotel Friday night or from the Hotel to the event Saturday morning knew anything about the convention.

Like DragonDaze, last weekend, WynterCon is the result of the singular vision of one man who has moved heaven and earth to make it happen. Unlike DragonDaze - which is clearly an analogue gaming convention - WynterCon is much more eclectic. It started off as a SteamPunk convention, but now has an unusual range of offerings. There are celebrities - from Privaeval, Star Wars, even...... Tregard from Knighmare! (He looks like he could still pull on the wizard's robes.) There's fantasy film puppetry and makeup and realistic my life-sized walking dinosaurs. There's cosplay, steampunk and comic memorabilia. There's a stage which, this year, had a life sized Jabba the Hutt on it. Accompanied by a young lady in the full slave-Leia outfit. (Of course when I say "full" I mean the opposite. But it doesn't affect me like it used to. I've now reached the "I wouldn't let my daughter go out wearing that!" stage.) There's loads to see and do but I doubt any one person would appreciate every stand. It's too broad. However, loads of people probably enjoy different sub sets of WynterCon's programme.

The first the conventions were held in Eastbourne's historic Winter Gardens. For reasons I'm not privy to, this year's event was held in a park on the edge of town under a massive big top tent. Not a marquee. No. A flipping big top. And a BIG one. With blue and yellow candy stripes. Needless to say, I loved it! Some of my best gaming experiences have been under canvass.

Inside the massive interior, you could see the entire panoply of WynterCon laid out before you. Amazing! The Roleplaying area was slap bang in the middle, five tables - all the right size for each referee, with enough chairs and sufficient space between them so there was no overlap of sound or games. There was me, a table of one-dice games, 5th edition D&D, Golden Sky stories and a table running a mix of made up stuff, Boss Monster and other things. The first WynterCon suffered from the usual syndrome of offering RPGs without really knowing how to do it. Referees turned up expecting to run their usual four hour convention games but convention goers knew nothing about RPGs and weren't ready seek out or sign up for them. The following year some of us turned up with shorter demo games and the area was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by young couple who now run things superbly. It has become an entirely drop-in, run on demand, event. Referees are required to bring pregens and offer one hour games. The RPG has a front desk where the organisers grab passersby and allocate them to games. After months of running by "Choose Your Adventure" set up on my own - and playing the "front man" for RPGs at various events, it was a lovely feeling to have someone else taking the load. Well, sharing the load, actually. Because several referees seem to share my enthusiasm about broadening the hobby and we were all snaring people on all sides, holding forth about the games and encouraging them to play. I felt like I'd found a family.

Shortly after the convention started, we got going. My first game was a a Dr Who intro. Most of the players seems to be people who'd played their first RPGs at previous WynterCons and seemed almost desperate to play. One of them was a female Viking warrior - the player not the character - who's husband was running the hog-roast stand and who'd been dragged along to her first geek convention. She was a bit overwhelmed by the event, let alone RPGs. I was a bit worried she might be put off by all the high level, almost shouty, Roleplaying that began as soon as I started the game. All my usual pregens were in play and the student Timelord and Tardis maintenance droid immediately started arguing about whose fault it was the Tardis museum exhibit had taken off with them aboard, as if they'd been playing the characters for years.

The game was redirected when the guy playing the 1960's hippy decided he just wanted the Tardis to land in a cafeteria because he had the munchies. Unfortunately when he said "Area 51" he meant the Andy Warhol place and I thought he meant THE Area 51! Cue the Tardis landing in the middle of an Army Mess full of soldiers...... Massive fun.

As soon as that game was over, the RPG organisers brought me seven players for a game. Seven. I'll repeat that. SEVEN! I normally struggle to run for six players. Seven was a stretch. And none of my demo games have seven pregens. However, a bit of stream crossing and the Tardis picked up a Wookie and Protocol droid along with the usual crew of misfits. As I always do with large tables I refereed standing up and I think I coped very well. The large group size meant that one player got away with being quiet and a bit of a spectator but that was my only slight self criticism.  This was the same scenario I'd just run. However it stuck closer to my original storyline, with the Tardis rocking up on a space station being  stripped by the evil Solomon (c'mon you Whovians....) and his crew. I enjoyed it with some great interplay between Solomon's crotchety war robots and the protocol droid.

Just as in finished THAT, I had a table of people for The Black Hack D&D. This was basically split in half. A couple of teenagers (mid?) who'd never played before and some guys who'd played some D&D. This was (as always) Matt Colville's "Delian Tomb". (It's on You-Tube, look it up). This went perfectly to plan with the kidnapped children being rescued. Only 10% of parties solve the final riddle and find the hidden room. This party not only did that but did it in record time. One of the newbies cracked it immediately.

Then it all went to pot. Having opened the door by reciting the Oath, the Priest tried it on the skeletal warriors defending the tomb. OK, so I allowed this as a Turn Undead. When he failed his roll he refused to give it up. Having succeeded once in using it, he was determined to use it again, and again. He rushed into the tomb, abasing himself at the bier the skeletons were defending, repeating the oath over and over. Cue all the skeletons turning on him and chopping his prone form to pieces.

This left the party too weak to take the room but, then, they did what parties NEVER do. They shut the secret door, left the undead inside. Went out. Recovered. Planned. And came back at full force. Sorted!

Just as I'd finished THAT, I found three teenagers who'd never played D&D before and ran the same adventure for them. This is why I love RPGs so much. The self same super simple adventure. The same pregenerated characters. Totally different experience. These three tried to overplan every step - so concerned about failing. I don't know if you think me mean but I had to have the monsters respond logically. So when they got the drop on the goblin guards but chose to talk and talk and plan about how they were going to take them out, I had the goblins hear something and prod their smallest member into going to investigate while the rest took cover with their bows. When he found the party, screamed and ran away, they finally attacked but one goblin wasn't dropped in the first wave of attacks and chose to run away into the dungeon. Rather than pursue, this group chose to lie in ambush outside the dungeon to catch the monsters off guard as they rushed out. Unfortunately, they didn't know the goblins were led by smart bugbear who had the exact same thoughts. Cue a standoff with the Bugbear starting to do unmentionable things to lure them into the dungeon.

Long story short:

"Good news - we rescued your son. Bad news. We didn't manage to rescue your daughter. Good news - we managed to bring back one of her hands......"

Before I could take a break, I was introduced to a couple who wanted to try The Cthulhu Hack. This went well, with good use of Flashlights and Smokes (I think I've sussed that part of the system). Then, knowing the warehouse was guarded, the couple's Sikh Warrior character chose to just walk in a door. When one of the guards they - mutually - surprised, called out an alarm, instead of fleeing they chose to continue to try and infiltrate the place. Long story short - total party kill and no tentacles involved. They seemed to enjoy it, though.

After this game I walked to the front desk, having played solidly all day. The organiser said "take a break, you've got a group coming in at 4:00pm." It was 3:55!

I grabbed some fruit from the charity free fruit stall (great idea) and a really good portion on lasagne and ran my last game of the day. The Comics Code - Superheroes vs. Dinosaurs. (Thanks, Matt!). Two characters spent ages trying mend the time portal leaving the Speedster to tackle the big brute alone. He was being tossed about like a limp rag doll by the time they arrived.

The convention wrapped up at 6pm on the Saturday. There was an event with a Steampunk stand up comic in town, but I cover not to attend. I returned to relax in my hotel room. It was easy to find food and other necessities. As a seaside town everything you need was close to hand.

My night had a surreal ending. No-one had warned me about the "drum festival". Hundreds of torch wielding drummers marching past my room. Hundreds. And then, turning around and marching past again in the other direction. Unexpected and loud.