DevaCon III - Chester 27th April 2019.
DevaCon is a typical one day, three slot, games day held annually in Chester. What makes it slightly different from most other similar events on "the circuit" is that it's organised by the Stygian Fox TTRPG publishers, a small but - as far as I can see - successful company. So I'd describe it as a "semi-professional" event rather than the "amateur" ones we usually see.
Before the event, Referees are asked to submit games but there is no prebooking. This seems to be mainly to promote the event and so that the organisers can keep an eye on the games vs players numbers and - I presume - the range and type of games offered.
Tickets are sold on-line through a professional booking website in advance of the event. They can be bought at the event itself but are slightly more expensive. Because the event takes place at a high quality hotel the convention tickets are a bit higher than those for similar amateur events, but the more salubrious setting justifies this.
As usual for "Games Days" I arranged to travel to the event in the morning and travel back in the evening, missing the third gaming session. (To stay for the third slot would mean I'd have to stay at a hotel overnight, which isn't usually worth the cost for just one more game session.)
I set off early and, despite British Rail delays and attempts to derail me, arrived at the event early. The convention takes place in a large conference room in the hotel but we were asked to wait outside - in a comfy area with chairs - whilst final setting up took place. This was a pleasant and social atmosphere. However, when there was a slight delay with the ticketing system, someone took out the sign up sheet for his morning game and some people signed up to it. So we all took out our sign up sheets and touted for players, which was a bit chaotic.
However, there was an extremely co-operative and nice atmosphere and the signups actually seemed to go well.
After a few minutes, we were allowed into the room and told our tickets would be checked later. The rooms contained 6 TTPRG tables, a further demo table with an impressive 3D fantasy town set up, a local TTRPG trader and a desk where we could order food and drink laid on especially for the convention. Being a decent hotel it was a very pleasant room with table covers on every table.
As usual I'd been concerned about getting players for my game as its not one of my local/regular events. I needn't have worried. Every one of the six tables seemed to have a full complement of 5-6 players plus referee. The match of Games offered to number of players seemed almost perfect. (That's actually an understatement. It seemed perfect.)
I had 5 players for my 13th Doctor game. All new to me, so I was able to trot out my "standard" scenario that I've been running for 5 years and refereed dozens of times. This time we had The Doctor, Yaz, Graham and two "guest stars" - a Caveman and The Marquis de Sade(!)
Great players. Much scenery chewed. The convention organiser personally went round every table to see the Referees and buy them each a drink as thanks.
At lunchtime I bought some of the "nerd food" laid on especially for the convention. This was well priced - much cheaper than the food and drink on offer in the hotel bar. (At the bar Lager was £5.10 per pint, exactly £2 more than my local club. This is the one drawback with holding conventions in hotels IMHO.)
The afternoon was pretty much the same as the morning. Every table was full. Everyone seemed to be having great games and there was a large variety of systems on offer. There was one 5th ed game and every other table seemed to have a different system. I got 6 players for my Manifold East End Heist game. These players were so proactive that when the organiser came around to offer to buy the free afternoon drink, she had to double check that I was actually refereeing the game because I was just sitting and watching.
Rather than the usual thugs I often see made for this scenario, many players made thinking/sociable characters. This combined with some great dice rolls meant that they worked their way around most of the bank's defences before even setting foot in the place. Luckily there were a couple of more "hands on" characters and we had enough kidnapping and intimidation to bring the Police down on the gang and get their mugs plastered on the TV news.
Because the bank raid went so smoothly, I actually had time to play the dark twisted "bait and switch" ending I'd always planned for this adventure - but it ended up even darker than I'd planned. (Think Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels meets Night of the Demon, with most of the characters being co-opted by the Demon to torment and shred their friend's soul.....)
I sold one of my leftover Role Play Relief books and gave some to the trade stand upon their promise to send any money they made from selling them directly to Comic Relief and left early to catch my train home.
DevaCon is a great day out. Slightly more expensive than most similar games days but slightly posher. I really nice crowd, with a really nice atmosphere in a superior setting. Good stuff! It would be nice if this were held twice a year like Concrete Cow and Spaghetti ConJunction.
No comments:
Post a Comment