Revelation 2019 by Nigel Clarke

Revelation 2019

This was the third Revelation which is one of the weekend cons that run at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield several times a year. Revelation, Seven Hills, North Star, Longcon and Furnace round out the list (although there's a PFS con that uses the hotel for a con as well). Revelation focuses on Powered by the Apocalypse games.

As usual there was a varied selection of games and about 40 attendees. Things start around 10 am on Saturday although there is always a group in the bar Friday evening to start the con off on the right note of sociability.

Games slots are 10 to 2pm, 2.30 to 6.30 and 8 till midnight on Saturday. Sunday slots are 10 to 2pm and 2:30 to 6:30. All the games were pre-booked through the good graces of Elaine, the Games Czarina, so there was none of the scrum to sign up that characterises some other conventions.

As the con is laser focused on PBtA games most if not all of the attendees know the basic mechanics of the system and it's only variants or odd differences that need explaining and that cuts down on explanation time at the start of a game.

I ran two games and played in a double slot game. Saturday afternoon I ran Vagabonds of Dyfed a mashup of PBtA mechanics and OSR style D&D and used the Dark Sun style city of Dortoka as the setting. Seemed to work pretty well and another GM ran the core game in two further slots.

Saturday evening I ran a game of Cartel. Much mayhem happened in the city of Durango Mexico and drugs were moved towards the US but foot soldiers died as did civilians in droves due to the gang war between the player's Cartel and Los Zetas. Again loads of great roleplay and a lot of fun.

Sunday I signed up for a double slot game of Legacy with the Generation Ship supplement. The game uses Families to play at the higher level of intrigue and politicking and individuals to play at the character level. This led to a bit of confusion when switching from high level to low level play.

The game played out as a sort of Metamorphosis Alpha and was loads of fun but for a con game I think I'd go with pregenned Families and allow the players to choose playbooks to ensure things got to the action quickly. A double slot allowed us the luxury of going through the whole Family and PC character gen stuff.

I left at about 5:15 to catch a train home and the con wrapped up an hour or so later. The date for should be February 2020 I'll be booking a spot for one of the friendliest gaming cons about.

Congestion Games Day II - a report by Darran Sims

Congleton Games Day II
Saturday 23rd February 2019
https://mugandgameblog.wordpress.com

Set off nice and early from Derby on the train taking in the misty landscape from the train window as I crossed counties. I got to Congleton with no issues and arrived in pleasant sunshine.
With a short hop in a taxi to the venue due to my broken leg still healing, I got there with the Games Day in full flow. The venue was a church community hall, stone built with modern amenities, and accessed through the graveyard. I was greeted warmly on arrival at the reception desk and offered help and assistance in joining games.
There were over forty people in attendance in the church hall with seven full tables of roleplaying games, board games, and war games taking place. More people arrived during the afternoon too so it was nice and busy.
They also had a huge board game library of new games and a Bring & Buy stall too.

As my game wasn’t taking place until the afternoon I joined in a board game based on the film ‘The Thing’. There were seven players for an intense game of trying to survive in the Antarctic Outpost with an alien thing infecting the human crew. I managed to remain human throughout but the things were able to beat us. It was a fun game to play so I hope to try it again soon.

Next I set up my Tales from the Loop game, Atomic Butterflies and Feral Buddleia. I had six players signed up but only four players showed up, two being a father with his young son. He was the youngest player I have ever had at my gaming table.

I started straight away with character generation and we got some cracking characters.
We had young Joe Thompson, a Hick with a German Shepard called Dave as a companion and a love of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’.
His older brother was Tucker Thompson, a Troublemaker armed with a sharp knife and constantly plays Gary Numan’s ‘Cars’.
Next up was the Weirdo called Ratty, carrying his pet rat Stubs, who rocks out to ‘Touch’ by Daft Punk.
Last but not least is the Computer Geek, Maximilian Smyth, who listens to AC/DC ‘TNT’ as he codes his computer.
Their Hideout was an old barn with a cellar on Stocker Flats Farm with electrical power for a TV and multiple computers. There were comics, board games, magazines scattered around and a nice supply of cigarettes and alcohol.

The game started with scenes from home life and the Thompson Brothers were doing their chores and collecting hens eggs. They noticed two of the laying chickens had escaped out of the chicken coop and were nowhere to be found. Joe fixed the hole in the chicken wire whilst Tucker followed the tracks of the two chickens. The chickens were gone, escaped beyond the farm boundaries so they could only hope they return of their own volition.
Ratty wasn’t at home but instead was with his friend, Simon the Conspiracy Theorist, who was tending his ‘tomato plants’ and mumbling about missing pets, Government vans, and thunderstorms.
Max was at home on his own, emptying the food cupboards to fill his back pack full up of sweets, crisps, and bottles of Coca Cola before heading out to the Hideout.

The Kids has no real plans so headed to the ‘Meadow’ to play. The ‘Meadow’ is waste ground near the Loop Facility that was destined to be a housing development but the Government stopped the works. Trenches were dug for the utilities and the foundations before the work stopped so the whole area has been left fallow, overgrown with weeds and summer flowers. It’s ideal to play in and out of the trenches, games like War, British Bulldog, Hide and Seek, Kick the Can, and the like.

As the Kids investigate the area they discover strange contraptions, lots of little bones, an absence of animal life, unusual tracks, and stories of missing pets.
When the Winfields, a family of school bullies, arrive on the scene then things heat up and the adventure continues.

It is the first time I have ran this game that the players chose not to seek the help of their ‘cool’ science teacher, but instead got the help from the annoying school swot, Specky Neubert. It is also the first time the Kids used the Atomic Butterflies *against* the Feral Buddleia, that was a nice touch to get rid of both issues in one fell swoop!

This was a great game, the father and son team playing brothers was sweet to behold and the rest of the players were creative and also did a great job keeping the content clean for the young player.

The Games Day was great too. The new venue works very well. The kitchen with flowing coffee, cake and chilli con carne was a marvellous too. The attendance for a con held in a provincial town was high, better than some big city conventions that have been running for years.
Well done to the organisers and the volunteers for such a great convention day. Let’s hope that they continue for years to come.

#mugandgame
#TalesfromtheLoop
#RPGConventions
#conreport

The Dudley Bug Ball

Dudley Bug Ball

TLDR: a small convention punching above it's weight. Massive range of activities on offer. Incredibly friendly.

There's a history to The Dudley Bug Ball. Apparently it used to run regularly a decade or so ago, successfully - progressing to the Birmingham Hilton before even Expo got there. Then it petered out.

I knew nothing about all this (though I may have visited one with my son when he was going up). So when the comeback was announced, I didn't know what to expect. I was torn because it was on the same date as the wonderful ConQuord in Bristol.

But given that it was nearer and cheaper, and one of the organisers personally approached me about coming, I opted to give it a go. Rather than offer games in the organised TTRPG track, I enquired if my "Choose Your Adventure" set up of one hour introductory adventures would be appropriate and was told it would be. As is typical for UK conventions, they had plenty of Referees willing to offer games.

Dudley Bug Ball is a one-day convention in a Big hotel in Dudley in the West Midlands. I'd call it an extended one-day convention because it was timed to run from 10:00am to 11:00pm. (More on that later.)

As I live in Birmingham, I could have travelled to and from the event in a day but that would have meant leaving before the official end time of the event (as I said,  more on that later) and I wanted to give it my full support. So I booked into the hotel where the event was due to take place for the Saturday evening. £25 for the night. (Actually I visit a lot of places and had accrued some points with my booking web-site and got the room for £4.) That was so cheap that I decided to book in Friday night as well. I had a lot to carry on public transport - my Demo set up and Role Play Relief books to sell - and travelling at leisure Friday afternoon meant I'd be fresh for the big day.

I travelled by train and taxi as the fastest option. But in hindsight, bus might have been better. The hotel isn't right by a train station and buses go straight to the hotel.

It's been a few decades since I've visited Dudley. The Hotel was near the famous Zoo. Alas from the outside it seems to have fallen on hard times. I'm sure there are nicer,  more modern parts of Dudley but the bit the hotel and zoo are in seems to have been abandoned in a cul-de-sac of history. Let's just say that if you were filming a post apocalyptic Mad-Max type film, you wouldn't be short of backdrops or locations to shoot in.

The Hotel itself is massive. As I'd expected from the dirt cheap price tag, it was a typical "faded glory" place that must have had a great hey-day in the mid 20th century. Peeling paint but some glorious architectural features. However, it's far less run down than most establishments of its ilk because of the wonderful friendly staff. And it's busy busy busy with event after event. Dudley Bug Ball was just one of several it was hosting that weekend.

(The Friday evening I arrived it was hosting a Psychic Fair. The Hotel Facebook page announced that one of the mediums attending had been replaced due to "unforeseen circumstances"! True story.)

One of the organisers booked a table for us at a famous nearby "Pie Factory" where we enjoyed good company, Black Country ales and various forms of comfort food. Then back to the Hotel for more socialising and drinks in the hotel bar.

I paid extra for breakfast the following morning. Inexpensive and generally of the standard you'd expect - though there were a couple of touches that again showed the staff were trying to exceed the hotel's limitations. (The sprigs of Parsley on the sausages and bacon trays was a bit odd, but the fresh strawberries and raspberries in the fruit course were a bonus.)

The convention itself was based around a vaulted banqueting hall, adjacent to the hotel bar. The convention offered:

- traders (mostly indie/unusual publishers, artists, etc.)
- Demonstration games (board games, pathfinder, 5th Ed, general TTRPGs)
- A full range of TTRPGs in three organised slots across the day*
- Bring and buy
- Raffle

In other words, it was a full and proper CONVENTION in every meaning of the word - rather than being just a "Games Day".

In addition most (I think all) attendees got a free figure of "Duggley" the convention Icon - a nice touch.

* though some were pre-advertised, games were signed up for on the day at a table at one end of the main hall. The organisers had prepared sheets for pre-advertised games but people were free to offer games on the day. Games took place in nearby smaller rooms away from the hall. I didn't take part in any of this but think they were the usual 3-4 hour slots and people seemed to have a good time. (Though the planned third slot didn't materialise. See below.)

In fact, the TTRPGs were so popular that, when they were on, the main hall went a bit quiet. During those times there was a lot of networking amongst the traders and game demonstrators.

For myself, I ran three one-hour demonstrations across the day. Two were my standard The Black Hack version of The Delian Tomb to introduce newbies to "D&D". In both cases I had a couple of young people new to the hobby rounded out by one or two Grognards who seemed to really enjoy holding themselves in check to help the newbies enjoy themselves. The demo delivered as always.

The third of these was a steampunk adventure "The Great Airship Robbery" with three Grognards new to the genre/system. They managed to shoot down the captured airship in the channel before it got to France but were blasted out of the sky as they descended to finish it off, ending up in a French prison. Great fun!

I'd call it a 50% hit rate for the day. I got to run several games but could have run more.

I was flattered to be asked to call the raffle. I seem to be developing a reputation for getting through them quickly. As usual companies had been extremely generous and there were loads of great prizes worth an inestimable value.

Before the raffle two awards were given out (voted for by attendees) - for best independent published game and best demonstration game.  There was one for best Cosplay but there had been none evident on the day.

There was also a speech which explained why the convention had been brought back on this date in honour of the organisers' son. This was nicely handled and life-affirming rather than maudlin.

After the raffle, all of the traders left and so did most of the attendees. Amongst the people left, there wasn't any interest in putting together one last TTRPG. So the day ended with some drinking and socialising in the bar.

And this is what alway seems to happen at "extended game days" in my experience. (Concrete Cow, Dragonmeet et al.) Unless attendees are very local, then travelling down early, attending morning and afternoon and travelling back up at night is far more cost effective than staying for the evening session and paying for a hotel room for the night.

I'm merely making an observation, not making a value judgement. It would be nice if something could be offered on Sunday morning, but that would involve a whole new level of expense and organisation. So I don't have any suggestions to make.

For me though, that sort of sums up Dudley Bug Ball. The organisers came back with huge plans and delivered a well organised convention with a full programme of activities. On the day there were, I believe, fewer than  70 attendees so things looked at bit sparse at times. But the convention covered its costs and delivered over £500 to a very worthwhile charity. (More when the spare "Duggley" figures are sold). And even if people spent a significant minority of their time networking with friends old and new, rather than gaming, everyone enjoyed themselves. The whole event had a friendly atmosphere. So, by any measure, it was a success and I'm pleased to say it will happen again next year.

What I will say is that in its current form the convention has massive capacity for expansion. It could easily cope with double the number of attendees without changing a single thing or offering any more activities. And they'd have a great day out. But Dudley seems to me to be a little bit out of gate way for many casual convention attendees. So I'm not sure where we're going to find them from.

I hope we DO find them though, because Dudley Bug Ball is a proper old-school convention that deserves to succeed.

SCJ3a - another great day out

TLDR: small, friendly, relaxed "decide what you want to do on the day" event in Central Birmingham. Nice.

Spaghetti ConJunction is a sweet little games day in central Birmingham which I  was lucky enough to set up with James Mullen and Matthew "Pookie" Pook. We offer two days per year at Geek Retreat in Central Birmingham - one in February and one in October. I believe that our "a" day in February is the first non-residential TTRPG con in the country each year.

This one was 3a. (In our third year already?) Prior to the event Pookie does a superb job of posting press releases and I had some fliers printed. We invite people to submit games they intend to offer but nothing is decided until the day itself. There is no prebooking.

I, myself, planned to offer a scenario from the "Role Play Relief" books - which had just become available - and a 13th Doctor adventure. However, as the day neared, I came down with quite a nasty infection in my larynx and - come the day - decided not to referee unless absolutely necessary.

The three amigos met at a bistro round the corner for breakfast and a chat. We don't actually chat much except at SCJ and maybe Concrete Cow. Checked social media and swapped messages with a few attendees. Just before start time - 10:00am - we went to Geek Retreat. As always the proprietor was on his way and there was a crowd waiting outside - I'd say about 2/3 for SCJ and 1/3 Geek Retreat regulars. Door was opened about 10:01 and it was a mad dash upstairs - the whole top floor is ours for the day - to get started. I sat at a table and just started taking money (£3 for a ticket, £1 for raffle tickets). By the time that mad blur was over, we were ready to start. There were about 30 people present and 8 games on offer. Some people bring preprinted sign up sheets but about half were hand-written on the day using a pile we provided. I didn't need to offer a game.

I felt able to do the intros, but it turned out to be a nice blend of the three of us chipping in.

Signups are organised. Newbies get first dibs. Then the numbers from 0-9 are drawn in order. If you have an entry ticket ending in that digit you get to sign up. The order is reversed in the afternoon to make it fair.

Most games filled with 3-6 players. One didn't get any and one only gained one sign up - so that referee and those players swapped to other games. The Dr Who referee kindly agreed to run with two players and take in any late arrivals.

Maze and Minotaurs, Dr Who, Is it a plane? (running a Zootopia scenario), Dungeon Crawl Classics, 5th Ed and something Runequesty with Trolls.

I didn't feel well enough to play and sat at the desk for the morning, sorting my social media, folding raffle tickets, chatting with the proprietor and people during breaks etc. There was one late arrival who I introduced to the Dr Who game.

Everything seemed to go smoothly with a steady flow of food being brought to the table by staff. With the morning slot running from 10:30 to 2:30 it's best to eat your lunch (usually a burger or toasted ciabatta) at your table.

Games wrapped up 2:00pm-2:30pm. We put out the raffle prizes. 17 total with the total retail value probably being worth more than the entire convention. Pookie has some extremely generous contacts in the hobby.

I ran the raffle very quickly. Unfortunately I failed to time it exactly,  but we all agreed it was under 3 minutes to get all 17 prizes drawn and claimed. So that's a rate of 10 seconds per item.

(Beat that Grogmeet!)

There didn't seem to be quite as many afternoon games offered and  there had been a couple of late arrivals swelling the numbers. So the Dr Who and IIAP/Zootopia games were offered for a second time.

Both filled. As for the rest there were a LOT of games which ended up with two players. I've never seen that before. There was a bit of horse trading and I think we ended up with six games -

Dr Who, IIAP, Inspectres, Lovecraftesque, 5th and something OSR.  I decided to join in the Lovecraftesque game, taking the table from 3 to 4 players. The game was fine - better than Fiasco, not as good as Intrepid. I'm not a huge fan of "wicker man" type pre doomed horror. But we had a fun and eclectic table. The guy offering it was doing it as his first time facilitating a game at a convention. We had another player only used to die-based TTRPGs. Another who was new to the country from Italy - at the convention to practice his English. And me.

The game wrapped up after two hours with a satisfying ending that I wouldn't have predicted from the outset.

I felt a bit better and offered to run a short 13th Doctor adventure to fill the time. As none of them were familiar with the new Doctor, they chose to play the three companions with the Dr being mysteriously ill. They were searching for some medical tech to help her - in an edited version of that usual Dr Who scenario I've been running for 5 years (it won't die!) They found a really high tech medical device which could cure all human ills, put the Doctor in and - yup - Cyber Doctor! Great fun.

Though games were due to run until 7:30 they seemed to wrap up from 6:30 onwards - though the 5th Ed game ran until the end.

SCJ is always pot luck for us. We don't know how many people will turn up on the day and what games will be offered or will turn out to be popular. It's a "suck it and see" event. And all the better for that.

I'm happy with the 30-40 size we had this time but am also happy we've got capacity  to increase in size if we get a rush one day. It's in a good location, well timed in the year. There's a small hard core who seem to always come and always many new faces. But though the people might change, the type of people that attend are always the same. Calm, friendly, fun, relaxed. It's just a nice way to spend the day. Thanks guys!