Contingency - 22nd - 26th January 2020 (20th-26th unofficially)
TLDR: The best, and most inclusive, residential #TTRPG convention in the UK bar none. Not the easiest dates and locations to get to but, once you’re there, it’s Heaven on Earth.
WARNING - this is a very long and rambling report. I'll try to break it up with sub headings so you can skip to the bits you want.
INTRODUCTION
As a rule I refuse to rate TTRPG conventions. Just because some suit me personally better than others is pretty irrelevant. ALL TTRPG conventions are great and exist only to bring joy into the world.
But I NEED to break that rule here. Contingency is something very very special.
There used to be a great couple of TTRPG conventions in Dorset. When they folded, a group of devotees of the larger con decided that they’d set up a replacement event to cover the same time of year - just as an interim “stop gap” until their favourite event could arise from the ashes. Hence the name - Contingency.
Through will, sheer hard work and (I suspect) personal investment, they’ve created an event with isn’t merely a worthy replacement for its predecessor, it even exceeds it.
IMHO - of course.
The first event was three years ago. Despite trawling the length and breadth of the country - literally - for an appropriate location, the organisers found a good one - an out of season holiday camp. Unfortunately it wasn’t easily accessible for me, so I was unable to go.
BEFORE THE EVENT
Contingency covers 5 days (officially). Unfortunately I am unable to book time off from work mid week in January, so I can only get there for the weekend. For past events I’d dash out of work asap Friday afternoon and climb onto the first available train. Normally I’d arrrive just in time to run a game in the Friday evening slot - 8:00pm.
For the 2nd event (last year) they found a different out of season holiday camp which I could - just! - make in time. As it turned out I was delayed (trains!) so my game had a late start.
When I made my plans for this year, I found out that the latest train timetable meant I wouldn't make it in time for the evening session Friday. (More evidence of the deteriorating train system in this country.) So I thought it wouldn't be cost effective to travel just for four games (three on Saturday and one on Sunday). So, reluctantly, I decided not to go. (This was a mistake.)
Then when the British rail system robbed me of another convention (Northampton Games Day) and having skipped StabCon this year, withdrawal symptoms kicked in and, at pretty much the last minute, I decided to go anyway. Despite my initial snub to them, the organisers sorted me out some accommodation and I found a good ticket deal via split ticketing. I THEN found out that this was due to my my Senior Citizen's railcard (ouch!) and a normal flexible ticket was about the same price and slightly shorter journey.
Facebook sorted me a invite to drop into a game halfway through on Friday night and I was able to email the signup sheets for my proposed games to the organisers for them to print and display at the appropriate time.
PLANNING - Accommodation and Games
Organisation for Contingency starts 12 months in advance. As I've said, it is at an out-of-season holiday camp. It is usually closed in January but this event gives them a reason to open and make money in their off time. It would be easy for the organisers to ask attendees to book directly with the site. However, instead, they manage all accommodation bookings themselves. In fact they micromanage them - and not in a bad way. They know - or know of - 90% of the attendees and personally ensure everyone gets the experience they want.
Accommodation is "lodges" - sort of a step up from static caravans and chalets. Many (most?) attendees book in as soon as they are made available. There are some "Gold" standard lodges and - despite the higher or price - these book out very quickly.
If you have accumulated enough "GM tickets" from the previous year, you can get a whole lodge for free! Obviously no one referee can run enough games to earn sufficient tickets but a team of "Iron GMs" running games for the bulk of the 5 days of the convention can just about do it.
So people are keen to get their accommodation sorted early.
Then there are the games submissions and bookings. Most of this is done via Facebook a bit nearer to the event. The games span all tastes, with the "big guns" (5th Ed D&D and Pathfinder) well represented. These games are usually booked in advance via the "WarHorn" booking system. This is also the convention where a smaller UK company, Shades of Vengeance - which punches well above its weight - runs multiple tables and many "special events" using its "Era" system. So this is the event to come to if you're a fan - either of that system or "special event/multi table" games.
The alternative to WarHorn is the traditional system of signup sheets which are put up at the event itself a day or two before the proposed games. These are then called out at "muster".
You can even do a mixed economy. Putting your games up on WarHorn to allow people to prebook some of the spaces. Then the part filled sheets are printed and put for people to fill in the remaining spaces at the event.
Needless to say this requires a lot of work on the part of the organisers and their volunteers.
RUN UP TO THE EVENT
But that's not the only fun in the run up to the event. At the risk of being POLITICALLY INCORRECT, I have to say this:
I know there are loads of people involved in organising Contingency but to me it seems that there are two key figures. Both women. I know that we're supposed to be gender blind these days. But to me what makes this Con so special is that fact that it is female led. Contingency has the same stated values and intents of other cons. The same approach to inclusivity. But it's like an event organised by your mum. But a mum that knows your hobby and what you need. It's just little things but they add up.
Here are a few examples
- it's not a hotel. The Lodges a very well appointed bit aren't supplied with towels. Knowing that many people will forget to pack towels - you normally don't need to when they go away - loads of cheap towels are bought in. These can be hired at the event for a nominal fee and at the end of the event are donated to charity.
- Similarly if anyone who has chosen to self cater at the event has any food left over at the end, they're encouraged to hand it in - again for charity donation.
- GM reward tickets can buy Beer, but they can also be used to buy ice-cream.
- I have no evidence but I get the feeling that people who might feel marginalised or nervous about attending other large public conventions (and I'm including women here) would feel more comfortable and supported here.
- They buy cans of deodorant placed for free use in all the public toilets.
All cons support their attendees. But Contingency does it pro-actively. There are regular posts reminding you about everything to do with the con, including advice on how to look after your physical and mental health and hygiene at the convention. Simple but effective. All of this creates an ethos.
Officially the convention run from Wednesday to Sunday. But the owners of the site allow people to occupy the lodges from Monday. So loads of people - including some of the organisers - arrive early and there are many informal events and games which take place during those first two days. And people post on Facebook about it.
So there are I am - at work - watching people I know having the time of their
Iives for 5 days. Envy just doesn't describe the feeling.
My favourite posts in the run up to my travels were about ducks. This year there were a load of ducks on the site and the gamers sort of adopted them. The organisers ordered a load of duck food online and began selling it at the main desk. It's the little things.
FRIDAY NIGHT
I rushed out of work on Friday night and my planned timetable worked. In fact I caught an earlier connecting train - as it was delayed - and arrived at Kings Lynn station 20mins earlier than expected.
But the event isn't in Kings Lynn. It's in Hunstanton, which is miles away and doesn't have a train station. Online taxi quote sites rate the fare for the journey at £50. There are connecting buses but I suspect the journey is a long one. It's an issue.
Aware of this, the organisers get non-gaming family and friends to offer lifts from the station at £5 a pop. Even though I was arriving late on Friday and was the only one traveling, they arranged a lift for me with one of the organisers' dads. A chatty and personable man who gives lots of insights into the behind the scenes organisation of things and is clearly as proud as punch of his daughter. It's the little things.
There was a minor snaffu about exactly which lodge I was in but rather than wait for it to be sorted out, I checked that the sign up sheets for my games were up and went to find my game. It turns out that this was in a Lodge. I still went to the front desk to buy a ticket. These are £2 each and you hand them to the Referee for them to taxes for GM reward tickets. I was advised to buy a couple, which I did.
These game tickets are one of the conventions major resource streams. I think accommodation fees are passed directly to the Holiday Park, with nothing being taken out to cover the costs of running the actual event. And though there are traders present, there aren't that many.
In the past there have been people who have organised games in their Lodges on a personal basis with friends. This was controversial as it effectively takes revenue from the event and it needs every penny if it's going to succeed and run again in future years.
I travelled to my friends Lodge and gave him my ticket.
The Lodges are amazing. Bright, clean, large, fully appointed. The ones I saw had two bedrooms - a double and two singles. Beds are slightly smaller than standard. A toilet room and a shower room. And a massive central area with kitchen, dining table and massive sofa. Perfect for gaming in.
In fact the only minor issue was that the coffee table near the sofa is too small to play at so you have to sit up at the dining table to play rather than having a more relaxed sofa based game. There are also only six chairs.
The game was the new one based on the Alien film. It had already started but my traumatised scientist was found in a locker with no memory of what had happened to him. The game was great, run by a friend and experienced referee. I knew most of the other players. The table was stacked high with snacks and drinks and a bottle of particularly potent but delectable single malt with an admonition to help myself. The game was fun with enough in the system to tickle my designer's brain. Good and Bad.
In short, good for a one-off. You'd watch an Alien film, but not a whole TV series.
When I still couldn't find MY lodge I was invited to bed down in my friend's one. Though all the bedrooms were full, the huge couch is perfect.
SATURDAY - my big day
I got up early, took a shower and set out to get breakfast, hopefully without disturbing anyone. Lodges are fully equipped for self catering and the best way to do breakfast - especially if you're there for the week - is to fix it in your lodge. However, the site's perfectly adequate buffet breakfast is only £7.50 and is available from 7am every day.
It needs to be. Morning games at Contingency start at 9:00am, so Muster is at 8:45. So things can be a bit of a rush in the morning, especially if you've made the mistake of being up late the night before. (With friends and whiskey it had been well past midnight before I'd settled down.)
After breakfast I went to the convention front desk (rather than the Camp front desk as I had the night before) to find that I'd actually been given a lodge all to myself after some attendees had left early. So I was finally able to unpack my bag and headed to Muster.
By this time, having only played half a game, I was feeling very happy. Contingency has such a welcoming atmosphere that you just unwind and feel relaxed all the time you're there. I can't describe it.
And hour or so before each session, the sign up sheets are taken down. A team of volunteers transfer the details to envelopes. This is a highly labour intensive process. These envelopes are taken to the main atrium of the Park where the players and referees are waiting in a large crowd.
Muster is a holdover from that previous event I mentioned. In turn each game is shouted out along with the players' names. Then they and the Referee go to their table to play. Some horse trading takes pace with unfilled games and loose players at the end. It's inefficient and sometimes hard to hear but it's also an unmissable experience with lots of good natured banter.
I'd checked the signup sheet when I'd arrived Friday night and had four players signed up. It was a 13th Doctor Dr Who adventure. Curiously, no one wanted to play Jodie herself. Graham is always the popular one.
So I was disappointed when it was announced that I only had two players. Two of the signups must have jumped ship. I was asked if I was able to run with two. From experience I've found that it is best to run with two as you usually pick up a couple of extra players anyway.
As it turned out, only one of the signed players was present. So I waited around until the end of muster to see if I could pick up some players at the end. I didn't manage to so me and my one player shook hands and parted ways.
I then wandered around looking for tables without many players asking if they had a space. I lucked into a charming two-table game Refereed by a married couple. Luckily I'd bought an extra gamers ticket the night before.
I started off at the wife's table. The scenario presented was a town where Goblin raids had forced the Baron to secure all the local grain in his castle. We were give an hour and a shopping list and told to fortify this against a goblin raid. Traps, Guards etc. Basically, design the dungeon for the Referee. Nice trick.
It was just about then that the missing player from my Dr Who game turned up claiming he'd been at Muster all the time. A mystery......
The other players all seemed to be in their late teens or early twenties and related to the Referee (though they couldn't all have been sons). They were extremely enthusiastic so I did my best to step back. However, I couldn't help cutting through the analysis paralysis to keep us on track to meet the time schedule.
When we'd finished we swapped tables. The husband and more of the young people - including a younger sister - had been doing exactly the same but with the Goblin's lair. We were tasked with rescuing the Baron's kidnapped daughter. This is when I found out we were playing Pathfinder - though pretty much any fantasy #TTRPG would do.
We were given a choice of the standard official Pathfinder Pregens at 4th level. Initially I considered my usual one (Valerus the fighter. I've taken him to 3rd level before now) but another player chose the Barbarian. So I switched to Cleric but then noticed every pregen had healing potions. Eventually at the party's behest I. Ran the rogue.
If you're familiar with these pregens you'll know how horrendously optimised this character is. She's like a teenage boy's wet dream of what a rogue should be. Playing her wasn't easy again I tried to step back and not be a dick and show off my experience but I failed. Couldn't resist locating traps and then turning them against the monsters. Told the characters to stick with me so I could detect and then raised an eyebrow to them every time they ran off and got caught.
It was a romp and massive fun. All the time your mind is half on the other table wondering how your design was doing. At the end we had a debrief and swapped notes.
A simple idea but highly effective and engaging.
Lunch is about an hour. If you don't go back to your lodge, you can buy a bespoke filled roll for £3.50 or soup and a roll for £3. I had both. The roll was adequate and overfilled. The soup was uninspiring seeming to be mainly tinned tomatoes.
And meeting people and chatting of course.
At muster I found out I had a full table for my Steampunk game. The usual shennanigans with almost all the players buying into the conceits of the setting and the system. Except one.
It's wasn't as if he was unpleasant. He was just completely out of step with the system and the setting and the timing. Literally 15mins after scene was resolved he'd stop the game with a query and a complaint about it.
He also kindly explained to me during every comfort break and almost half an hour past the end of the game the flaws in my rule system and what I could and should do to fix it.
Up until now I've been very happy with my ability to read the psychology of a table and bring in every player. I must admit this encounter gave me a knock to my confidence and food for thought for future conventions. A learning experience.
I also broke my resolution not to drink alcohol during an afternoon game.
With this kind feedback, I was slow to start my evening meal in the restaurant. I took a basket of chicken strips and a basket of breaded haloumi with a side of chunky chips. I should have only taken one basket. The portions were generous.
The evening break is a generous one - one and half hours - but what with the extended feedback session, trading in my players game tickets for a GM ticket and opting for restaurant food, I was running late by the time I got to Muster.
My evening game was a run out for my simple Introductory D&D game which uses only d6. It was the simple introductory scenario which I intend to include in the rulebook. I had a table full of experienced Grognards. I even had the head honcho of Shades of Vengeance. He'd been running games, events and multi-tables for a week and his team had told him to take some time off. I actually felt honoured he'd chosen to play my game. With this table of players I knew my rules would get a good workout.
I expected these experienced players to destroy my simple adventure. Instead they tried to "epic" their way through it, without paying any attention to the hints, clues and foreshadowing. So before we knew it there they were face to face with the designed to be unbeatable big bad using ever trick they had to try to take it down. To their credit they actually managed to hurt it - something I thought impossible - before the first character fatality caused them to flee.
Of course after some rest, regrouping and planning, they came back and, this time, DID rinse the adventure.
As I'd expected the adventure didn't fill the whole slot and I was prepared to run a follow up. I offered the players the option to level up so they could see how the system worked. I then merely upgraded all the goblins to Orcs in my follow up game. This was a more open and epic adventure which they seemed to enjoy. They played well and avoided pushing "the big red button."
I used my GM ticket from the afternoon to buy (most of) a pint of beer during the game.
This session is timed to end at a sensible time, well before midnight, but we had a post game chat. Other games seemed set to play on into the early morning despite the loud and repeated ringing of the bar bell.
My new, personal, lodge was literally a minutes walk from the main entrance. I didn't even bother troubling either bedroom, just choosing to crash out on the couch again.
SUNDAY
Getting up in the morning was hard. As well as getting breakfast and getting ready for my morning game, I also had to pack for the journey home. I ended up getting a slightly lighter breakfast than my usual one.
My morning game was full and we had great fun with a group of Mega-city Judges trying to escape the Cursed Earth whilst all the time trying to work out which one of their number was a traitor killing them off one by one.
During the game I used my GM ticket from the night before to buy some Diet Coke. And one of the organisers sought me out personally to ask what time I wanted a life back to the station. Personal service! It's the little things....
I opted for an earlier ride as I had no interest in the raffle. Attendees are very generous with prize donations and, even though they'd clearly streamlined the raffle procedures this year, I expected the raffle to be another marathon.
I left my game tickets with a friend with instructions that he could claim and use the GM ticket they earnt and caught my lift. This time I shared the car with a couple of younger people and we spent the time swapping our stories of the convention. I was pleased to hear from the young lady that this was her first con and she was keen to go to more. After warning her that NOTHING would equal her Contingency experience, I was able to point her in the direction of a couple of appropriate ones.
Naturally my journey home was awful - it being a Sunday, this being the UK and me being on trains (supposedly). Not the fault of contingency but the reason why I could only stay for Sunday morning.
When I got home there was a Facebook post from the main organiser - the "mum" - warning people about post event comedown and giving sensible advice about how to manage it with affecting your mental health. It's the little things.
IN SUMMARY
So I'd travelled miles and spent significant money for just over a day's gaming and four and a half games. But it was worth every penny. The organisers, the attendees and the venue staff at the event are all just blooming overly people and everyone seems determined to make sure that YOU have a good time. It's supremely well organised and the venue is great. For a player of TTRPGs, it's like heaven of earth. Literally.
Clearly the way to do it, if you can, is to go for the whole week and self cater in your Lodge. This will give you the opportunity to offer or taken part in special events - multi-table events, campaigns within the con etc. Also to take rests between games and do other things. Walk along the beach, swim in the pool etc. 90% of the park's facilities are open.
But be careful. The convention has sensible "mum" timings which can conflict with the sensibilities of the "overgrown kids" who often attend. The morning games are at 9am with muster starting before that! The last games of the evening are due to end at 11:30. If you run over into the wee small hours every night, over seven days you're going to get exhausted. Pace yourself.
Clearly the word has gotten out. Aside from the people I met or who posted on Facebook for whom this was their first convention, I saw a lot of "faces" I know from the UK con scene who I didn't see last year. When an event is THIS good, it's going to grow. The organisers feel they have capacity for LARPs for example.
The organisers put themselves out to make sure everyone's having a good time and through use of labour intensive measures. I salute them for this but there will come a time when the attendance is so large that they'll have to step back and use more informal procedures just to survive. Though they'd never want it it wouldn't surprise me if at some point we saw accommodation booking bring handled directly by the holiday park and game bookings being entirely through WarHorn.
At the moment, though, as long as they're willing to burn themselves on the pyre of our enjoyment we're the impossible situation of being able to have our cake and eat it.
I'm a teacher. I already get 13 weeks holiday a year. It's practically and financially difficult - and morally reprehensible - for me to take a 14th off just to take part in a hedonistic week of gaming. But I'm already trying to work out how to do that just so I can do the full week of Contingency 2021.
Heaven of Earth. The best UK TTRPG covention, by far. HIGHLY recommended.
MY PERSONAL COSTS
Travel:
- Train £50
- Lifts £10
Accommodation - £95
Drinks (taking into account GM tickets and those bought by players) - c. £10
Food - £40
Game Tickets - £6
Total cost: £161
Cost per game (assuming 4.5 games) - £35.78
Cost per hour (18 hours of games)- £8.95
