AireCon NorthWest 15th - 17 August 2025

Analogue Gaming Conventions

There are several different types of gaming convention. One of these I’ll describe as the “general analogue” gaming convention. These are large events with lots of trade stalls devoted to all sorts of non-computer games - mostly board games. They have spaces provided for actually play games. Some of these are part of organised events and some is for “open” gaming.

These conventions are usually professionally organised and fully ticketed.

TableTop RolePlaying Games is a big hobby. Board gaming is bigger. Most general analogue gaming conventions welcome TableTop RolePlaying but our hobby makes up a small percentage of the games. 90%+ is board-gaming.

The grand-daddy of all General Analogues conventions is UK Games Expo in Birmingham in May/June every year. This is so massive that even at under 10% of the event, the TableTop RolePlaying Games track is big enough to sustain itself.

At smaller events, our representation is smaller and we can find it hard to get traction. There are always plenty of Referees ready to offer a wide range of games. This is typical of the scene in the United Kingdom. However, we can struggle to find enough people looking to play table-top games at a convention offering so many other shiny things to attract the punter’s eye.

This was the case at Canterbury Gaming Convention last weekend. A lovely medium-sized analogue gaming convention with a good-sized chunk of tables set aside for organised TableTop RolePlaying Games where only about half of the games offered ran.

What is AireCon?

As I understand things, a few years ago some guys up North looked at UK Games Expo and thought “we can do that”. And slowly (doing things right) they’ve been growing -  offering a slightly bigger event each year. I went to a couple of their earlier events and each time, though they welcomed and catered for TableTop RolePlaying Games, the interest from attendees was so small that it didn’t appeal to me. I only care about TableTop RolePlaying Games - playing them but, mainly, Refereeing them. If a convention can’t give me that, I’ll think twice about going. So I stopped going to AireCon.

Upon my return to the scene, I checked the conventions available and found that there are now multiple AireCons. 

https://www.airecon.co.uk/

The main one - in Harrogate - is still going. The next one is in March next year. This seems to have grown into a large event mirroring early iterations of UK Games Epo. The plan seems to be on track!

However, there were now two others AireCon NorthWest in Manchester - the one I’m writing about today - and AireCon West in Telford. AireCon West seems a bit quirky. They hire convention space in a hotel, you pay to go in, play your games (you organise them yourself) 24 hours a day for four days and leave. Basically it’s just a big meet-up. (More on this later.)

AireCon NorthWest seems to be a more typical Analogue Convention with trade stalls, organised events and open gaming. Smaller than AireCon Harrogate and UK Games Expo but still a full, professional event.

Planning

When I read the web-site I discovered that there was - as I expected - a small organised TableTop Roleplaying Game section. 

Given my previous experiences with AireCons, and the cost of Accommodation in Manchester, I decided my best course of action was not to attend the whole weekend but to travel up and down from Birmingham for just one day - Saturday.

So I contacted the event organisers and offered to run some games. This was very early on in my return to attending conventions - I hadn’t actually returned to refereeing at this point - and months in advance of AireCon NorthWest. I was initially informed that they had enough Referees for the event, but they would try to fit me in. Luckily, I am quite well known on the circuit and their adviser is someone I know well from our mutual convention experiences and they managed to fit me in for the two slots I wanted - Saturday morning and Afternoon.

So I advance booked (for reduced cost) train tickets and waited.

During the wait, I was able to monitor sales of tickets for my games. Attendees buy entrance tickets and then buy tickets for the organised Tabletop Roleplaying Games they want to play in at an additional £3 each. Before the event, I sold one ticket - for Saturday morning.

In the week immediately preceding the event, I received, unprompted, an email with QR codes for tickets for the event.  Offering two games I was given two daily tickets which I could use on my choice from the three days available. I wasn’t tempted. I stuck to my one day.

I also received an email from the Tabletop Roleplaying Game adviser saying that he wouldn’t be there on Saturday but giving all of us Referees, advice and the full programme. Some games were sold out but for most the ticket sales were “slow”.

The Event

Got up early. Caught an early train. Got breakfast at Costa rather than MacDonalds for a change. Mistake. Won’t do that again.

On the train journey I had a slight delay. But I had booked an early train and was only slightly inconvenienced. However, a fellow AireCon Referee had a more torrid experience - apparently getting a train across from Leeds to Manchester is a non-trivial experience (no wonder people in the North complain about their trains) - and posted this on social media, so I was able to re-assure him that I’d pass his message on.

AireCon NorthWest is held in the Manchester Central Convention Centre. My iPhone showed it as a 20 minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly station. There are buses, trams and taxis but I’m young and fit so I chose to walk. Headphones in - Apple Maps on my iPhone is like having personal SatNav. Brilliant! I walked there in well under 20 minutes. A pleasant and healthy walk.

Getting in was a breeze. When I said I was Refereeing Tabletop Roleplaying Games they greeted me, scanned my ticket gave me a lanyard and directed me.

The convention centre is a new, modern, light and airy location. The convention was in a large hall downstairs. Lots of trade tables and open gaming space. But the Tabletop Roleplaying Games were upstairs.

Upstairs were hundreds of small convention rooms. Our games were in two of these. They were sign-posted and - good sign - there was a convention employee (looked but didn’t act like a Security Guard) to guide us but our two rooms were a bit hidden away and I got lost at first.

Referees often complain about conventions that cram too many games into rooms for cost purposes but these rooms seemed fine. Four well-spaced round (ugh!) tables with black cloths (hooray!) in each one and only three meant to be used at any time. Had all four been in just with full tables I can imagine they could get a bit noisy. But there was no chance of that!

I checked the bookings and I still had sold only one ticket. But I still found my table and set up.

There was another “old pro” Referee in the room in the same position. He did the same. We agreed that us plus our two players would make a single game if necessary. Another one of the “old pro” Referee crowd wandered in. He wasn’t actually running a game in the morning but was scouting the area for later.

A printout of the game programme had been printed out and left by the door of each room but there was no-one from the convention around to inform about the delayed Referee and we were left to organise things ourselves. Luckily they were able to do that because all of us there were old hands and knew our stuff. But there should have been someone in charge.

As it turned out, I had two players who’d bought tickets. The “scouting” Referee joined in so we had a table of three which was wonderful. (He also acted as unofficial “Room Captain” keeping an eye on the door and guiding anyone who walked in. This helped the other table in the room get up to three players as well. He did this unprompted - HERO! - but he shouldn’t have had to.)

Fun game. I know my stuff and these were the usual good British Role-Players.

The morning slot is timed at 3 hours (10:30am - 1:30pm) and the game fitted it perfectly.

I’d brought my own lunch but nipped down to buy additional beverages from the catering booth. No hot food. It was sandwiches etc. I had to check out the lager cost to be consistent in this blog.

The afternoon slot is timed at 4 hours (2pm - 6pm). It costs the same as the morning’s 3 hours slot (£3).

I again got three typical UK role-players and again we all had a great time. But the game again only ran for 3 hours, not 4. Everyone found that acceptable so I didn’t need to tack on any gratuitous additional scenes.

I left at that point. Because I’d had to book a long time in advance and take specific advance single tickets, my train wasn’t until later so I had some time to kill in Manchester station and its environs. I didn’t manage to find a bespoke bijoux bistro - despite looking - but there were plenty of chain establishments and the wait wasn’t unpleasant.

Train journey home was disrupted by a train breaking down between Wolverhampton and Birmingham and a diversion around it. It looks like the poor state of UK railways is STILL going to feature in this blog!

Summary and Closing thoughts

Well organised event at a good venue. Highly recommended if you like board games AND Tabletop Roleplaying Games. 

If you’re a Roleplaying player you’ll find a wide range of interesting games. There were some of the “standard ones” listed but they were far from the majority. How you feel about paying a ticket for entry and then a further ticket for each game is up to you.

If you’re a Referee then you’ll have to get in quick to get your game listed. But if you’re a Referee who wants to offer one, good, game and then use the free ticket to browse the rest of the convention you’ll be quids in.

Though the Tabletop Roleplaying Games were well organised and in good rooms, they were tucked away upstairs out of sight. I think this is an issue and has been for a while. Personally, I’d like to see this part of the more general gaming hobby grow and for this it needs to be more visible. During the “growth” phase of these analogue gaming conventions, I’d prefer our games to be visible in the main hall and to be free. This is model I saw at Canterbury Gaming Convention. The convention is getting the Referees for free. That doesn’t cost them anything. And if they put us in a corner of the general gaming area - already paid for - they wouldn’t need to pay for the hire of additional convention rooms. Then, after a couple of years when the Roleplaying section has grown and established itself, they could hive it off as a separate aspect.

But for now - let us be seen! Don’t hide us away upstairs.

I’ll be back next year, whether for one day or all three remains to be seen. My decision to go for one day was justified this year. I have found cheap accomodation near the event but it would need to be booked well in advance and I’m not prepared to have to shoulder my way into a crammed Refereeing schedule. So it’ll probably stay a one day event for me unless things change. (A “Games on Demand” area might work for this event.)

My personal costs

Travel: 2 x advance train tickets - £27.60

Hours of gaming: 7

Cost per hour: £3.95

CAN of Lager (500ml Budweiser): £6.50

 

Canterbury Gaming Convention

8th to 10th August 2025

Where Canterbury Gaming Convention fits in

There a many different types of gaming convention.

That’s the whole point of this blog. To show the differences between them. 

Two of the major types are dedicated TableTop RolePlaying conventions and more general analogue gaming conventions which have a TableTop RolePlaying element - often called a “Track”. (I use the term analogue to leave out digital or computer gaming conventions.)

I am only interested in TableTop RolePlaying. It is a golden age for Board Games and other types of games but all of those leave me cold. Whether I attend a general convention or not is determined by the size of TabelTop RolePlaying track and how it seems to be organised.

The UK Games Expo, for example, is so massive that the dedicated RolePlaying track is like an event of its own. I’m in!

Next weekend, however, is AireCon NorthWest, in Manchester. The AireCons are general analogue games conventions that have always tried to offer a RolePlaying Track, in my experience, but with varying degrees of success. Looking into the one next weekend it seems to have a very small area devoted to dedicated TableTop RolePlaying games with too many Referees for the space. But it seems to be very well organised by someone I know and trust. So rather than attend the full weekend, I’ve decided to to travel up and down in one day to get a “taster” for the event.

Planning for the event

But what about CANTERBURY GAMING CONVENTION, you ask?

This is also a general analogue gaming event. They seem to be making an effort to identify and support TableTop RolePlaying and have allocated a reasonably big chunk of floor space to them. Games can be submitted before the event and booked via Warhorn though spaces are available at the event.

I know nothing about the history of the event but it has the feel of something which has only been going for a year or two. Long enough to iron out kinks but not long enough to have really established itself.

Though the event itself is only two days, Saturday and Sunday, there’s a Friday gaming quiz to turn it into a full weekend experience, which I appreciate. However, I only care about playing TableTop RolePlaying so the quiz held no appeal for me.

The event is held on a University Campus with on-site accommodation available. The accommodation is not bundled in with the convention, however, and booking is flexible. Canterbury is a long way from Birmingham and the comfortable was to do things would be to travel down on Friday for the quiz and be on site for the start of the event proper on Saturday.

But that would involve paying for a night’s accommodation Friday evening. So I decided to get up at stupid o’clock Saturday morning to catch the first train from Birmingham to London which should - with perfect connections and a taxi - get me to CGC just before its start at 10am. Much more cost effective.

CGC runs 5 organised slots of TableTop RolePlaying. Saturday morning, afternoon and evening. Sunday morning and afternoon. So I offered to run games in the Saturday afternoon and evening slots and on Sunday morning. This would avoid any issues if the trains meant I arrived late and would allow me to leave in good time to catch my train home on Sunday.

I bad to do this a long time in advance of the actual event itself. When I did this I hadn’t retuned to Refereeing yet following my 5 year hiatus. So I played it same by offering adventures I’d run before several times in “the old days”. Nothing new or innovative.

I booked in to play a game Saturday morning and got permission to offer a short play-test of the quikstart adventure for my upcoming Horror game in the first half of Sunday afternoon.

There were also, of course, loads of open gaming spaces and stalls offering demonstration games.

Saturday morning

The trains ran seamlessly and I got to the event 10 minutes before it officially opened. The local tax I driver knew about the convention, which is a good sign. But their booking app didn’t recognise it. The postcode I had covered loads of different addresses none of which matched the convention details - as far as I could see.

Note to large convention organisers - send a blanket email to your local taxi firms with details of the event.

CGC is in a large University Sports Hall. It filled the Hall. It was rammed with tables and stalls and things to do. The TableTop RolePlaying area had several tables with lots of experienced Referees set up and ready to play. There were loads of sheets on offer to sign up to games in the afternoon - including mine.

What there wasn’t a lot of were punters. Convention attendees. At a quick estimate, the event could have accommodated four times the number of people who came - though three times would probably be the comfortable number.

My game - Daggerheart the new “hot” game, Refereed by one of the first people to play it, a real expert - had two players including me. The table next door had no players. So that Referee scrapped his game to join us. And we had a very amiable game.

There was a moment I felt slightly uncomfortable. A passing punter asked if he could join in. In the game we’d just completed the fist encounter and arrived at a village. We only had three players. We were using pre-generated characters. It would have been so easy to say we’d met a new character at the village and let the guy join in. But the Referee apologised and said he couldn’t join in because we’d already started the game. I really had to bite my lip. If I’d piped up with my opinion it could have soured the mood at the table.

Saturday afternoon

There was a small stand set up with sandwiches, cans in a fridge, a couple of beer pumps and people to run and get pizzas and burgers from the kitchen. Just enough to cater for the event with prices that weren’t exploitative but weren’t exactly cheap. I got some cans and a tuna sandwich for lunch.

The afternoon I’d offered to run my Steampunk game “The Code of Steam and Steel”. I’d recently released a quikstart adventure for the game called “One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing” and this was that adventure with an added T-Rex and airship to extend it to a full convention slot.

In my experience, you don’t tend to get many people signing up RolePlaying Games in the morning at general conventions. People come in, spend the morning browsing the stalls and demonstration games. Sit down for lunch and then look for something to do in the afternoon. So the RolePlaying area was a bit busier in the afternoon but there were still empty tables. People tend to play it safe so the full tables were for “big name” games. My game attracted three players.

The side effect of this was that these three people had chosen it because they actively wanted to play Steampunk and we had a great time. 

It tuned out my padding of the one-hour quikstart adventure to a full session was a bit under-stuffed and with only three players the game plays more quickly anyway. So the game finished early.

Luckily.

My plan had always been to check in to my accomodation in between the afternoon and evening sessions and then grab a bite to eat. It was then that my casual pre-planning let me down. I’d assumed the evening sessions started at around the same time as most conventions - 7pm or 8pm - and that the accomodation would be convenient to the event.

The evening slot started at 6pm and the accomodation was a significant walk from the main convention.

Saturday Evening

After a cardio-workout of a walk to and from my accommodation (good, clean, typical University student accommodation type) I got back just in time for my evening game. So I was ordering and eating a pizza whilst going through the game set-up. No-one seemed to mind but I felt unprofessional.

All the trade stands in the middle of the hall were covered over and the area sealed off with “do not cross” yellow tape.

This time, I only had TWO players. My preferred number of players in a convention game is 3 to 5. I’ve long ago discovered that I can run games for 6 people - if I stand up. And, following much on-line debate and advice, I’ve decided I WILL run for two players if they are okay with it.

Both players wanted to play. I offered them secondary characters but they chose to have me run a single non-player character to fill in the gaps not covered by their characters. (They were the Pilot and Astrogator so I threw in an Engineer).

This was “The Planet of Darkness”, the example scenario from The Code of the Spacelanes rules. I hadn’t run it in years but could run it in my sleep.

During the session, one of the organisers brought a punter to me and asked if I could fit him into the game. In the story the characters had landed on an uncharted planet occupied only by a strange race of blue aliens. But I said “no problem”. And he joined in.

Because of the small number of players - and there efficient play - we finished a bit early so I was able to walk the distance to my lodgings and get to sleep in good time.

Note to self: If you’re wondering whether to bring an iPad to ad event or not - BRING ONE. iPhones are great for the journey but not good your evenings entertainment or catching up.

Sunday morning

Breakfast was good but I couldn’t find a fruit course, pastries or porridge. Very clean but not buffet. Served at a Counter (Student accomodation.)

Another cardio-workout back to the event (this time trailing wheelie case). My morning game had no signups. So I gave it a few minutes. There seemed to be even fewer punters than on Saturday - so I pulled my game and joined in with a game of Space 1889 to take it from 2 players to 3 players.

This was basically Wacky Races. No Space. No Mars. (Though there was a Martian in the Race, briefly.) The first vehicle to cross the line after an extended race across the deserts of Egypt and Sudan would get a contract to be developed for use on Mars. Much skullduggery of course and then the twist of the discovery of an invading Sudanese army with the  - surviving - racers have to team up against a common foe and race to get a warning to the authorities.

Again the players had actively chosen to play the setting with at least one chewing the scenery like it was going out of fashion.

Great fun.

The Referee had enjoyed himself so much that - with our permission - he’d extended the game back to its usual full convention length so we finished after lunchtime. I’d had not chance to promote my horror game playtest and there was no official signup sheet. I doubt it would have attracted players here anyway. So decided to leave at this point and find a nice place to eat lunch in Canterbury. I could (possibly should) have tried to find a short game to sign up to. I did find a great place to have a lovely lunch in the City but I still had a long wait for my train back. (I’d bought a specific ticket to save money.) 

If I’d had an ipad I could have written this report on the way back but I couldn’t do it on my phone.

Summary and costs

Canterbury Gaming Convention is a great medium-sized analogue gaming convention which is punching well above its weight. It needs - and deserves - many more punters. If you like games, especially board games, it’s a really good event. There are lots of good TableTop RolePlaying Games on offer run by experienced Referees. If you’re a Referee wanting to run games you’ll find slim pickings unless you’re running a popular game. It wasn’t dominated by Dungeons a Dragons though. (Is this because of the event or is it part of the zeitgeist?)

If I were in the area, I’d go again. As it is - for me - the distance - both to the event annd between the event and the accommodation -  and lack of punters means I’ll probably won’t return next year. This event certainly won’t miss me as Referee.

Train tickets (including underground transfers): £50.19

Taxi: £25

Accommodation: £52

————

Total: £127.19

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Hours of gaming: 15

Cost per hour: £8.50

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Cost of a pint of Lager: £6.30 

But…and this was surprisingly important to me:

IN A PLASTIC GLASS.

 

Simon’s plan for conventions

Which conventions you’ll see me at in the coming weeks and which you won’t. And why.

Note: some of the dates below don’t seem to line up. I’ve gone from the information on-line but I’d recommend you double-check them.

Canterbury Gaming Convention

9th and 10th August

https://canterburygamingconvention.co.uk/

This is a new one to me. It is a multi-format convention. There is a quiz on the Friday night but that doesn’t interest me so I’ve booked the on-site accomodation for the Saturday night only. I’ve offered to run 3 games. I’ll have to get up and set out at an ungodly hour to get there from Birmingham but that’s better than paying an extra night’s accomodation.

Airecon North-west

15th to 17th August

https://acnw.airecon.co.uk/

A large multi-format convention in Central Manchester. The Role-playing games don’t seem to be a big part of it so I’ve decided to to treat this as a one day convention, travelling up from Birmingham on the Saturday, running a couple of games, and travelling back down.

Grand Tribunal - not going

15th to 17th August

https://www.grandtribunal.org/wiki/Main_Page

A very small intimate convention in Cheltenham.  Though nominally  devoted to the Ars Magica system and other games from that publisher, loads of other games are offered. It’s on the same weekend as Airecon so I had to choose. I think GrandTribunal is the better experience but I couldn’t commit to the full weekend.

Strange Games Festival - not going  

22nd to 25th August

https://strangegamesfestival.co.uk/

Camping - ‘nuff said.

Norwich Games Convention - not going

23rd August

https://www.norwichgames.uk/whats-on#roleplaying

A one day con which seems to have some nice role-playing on offer. However, it looks too late for me to offer to Referee.

Tabletop Scotland

5th to 7th September

https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

Big multi-format event in Edinburgh (near the airport) with a strong TTRPG presence. I’ve booked my flights, accomodation and am offering to run some games. Half the tickets in each game can be prebooked with the other allocated at the event. My games already have enough players so I know they’re running. 

Other times, I’ll be offering or playing in games in the “Games on Demand” area.

Really looking forward to this one. It’s one of the events I couldn’t go whilst I was still working. I’ve been waiting years to get a chance to attend.

The Owl Bear and the Wizard’s Staff

13th to 15th September

https://asakosoh.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/the-owlbear-and-wizards-staff-13th-15th-september-2024/

This is a one-day event in Leamington Spa which has grown to cover the whole weekend as years have gone by. It is highly regarded by a niche group of attendees on-line and usually books out quickly. I was too late to run games this year but I’m still going to play. It’s that good. I’m only going on Saturday to play two games. It’s easy to get to and from from Birmingham.

Armaghged(C)on - not going

19th September to 21st September

https://www.facebook.com/armaghgedcon

Overseas. ‘Nuff said. Also - no offence - I’ve got a much better alternative that weekend.

Concrete Cow

20th September

https://www.concrete-cow.org.uk/

A small-medium sized convention in Wolverton near Milton Keynes. The perfect convention of its type. If you can get to Milton Keynes on 20th September, come.

The beauty of Concrete Cow is you don’t have to preplan in any way. You wake up in the morning and decide on the day if you’re going or not. (I am.) You can decide what games - if any - you want to run on the train if you want. You can decide everything on the day.

If you can get there - attend. It’s great.

Autumn Leaves in London

27th September

https://warhorn.net/events/autumn-leaves-in-london

Organised by the Dahn Sarf organiser. A games day in London. A (good) venue is provided but it looked liked you had to sort out your own games and layers. This lack of structure put me off initially. As I’m not local I didn’t think I could get enough players together to make it worth my attending. Since then I’ve attended the wonderful Dahn Sarf II - The Games Can’t Be Stopped - and the organiser has advertised for some games. Do I’ve booked the cheapest advance train ticket I can and have decided to go.

Dice and Balls - not going

10th October to 12th October

https://www.diceandballs.co.uk/events/

Nottingham. The link goes to a generic Hub for a club and I couldn’t work out anything about the event. Too much work for me, sorry!

Airecon West

2nd to 5th October

https://acwest.airecon.co.uk/

A sister con to Airecon North-West based in Telford. I’ll decide about this one after attending the one in Manchester.

Furnace - not going

11th and 12th October 

https://furnace.org.uk/

Really good convention based at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield. I’m not going because by the time I’d decided to start going to conventions again, it was full up. Let alone being able to offer to Referee games. People will leave it on 12th October and immediately book into the event for 2026. So that’s what I’m going to be doing.

It’s just one of a number of brilliant conventions at the hotel throughout the year. Here’s where you find the details:

https://garrison.omnihedron.co.uk/

Gaelcon - not going

24th to 27th October

https://iga.ie/gaelcon/

Overseas - ‘nuff said.

SoxCon - not going

2nd November

https://www.soxsgamingday.org.uk/

South Oxfordshire. I think I went to this one once years ago. Small event in a church hall with homemade cakes on sale etc. Seems to be the special event or games day for a local club. It was extremely welcoming. But it starts at mid-day so its too far for me to travel for so little gaming.

SpireCon - not going

4th November

https://www.facebook.com/Spirecon

A one-day event in Chesterfield. Organised via Facebook with the page being unclear and not often updated. Probably be fun for those in the know.

Twin Con - not going

1st November

https://twinconrpg.com/

North London. Seems a nice little event but at over 3 hours travel either way, it’s just not worth it for a one day event, for me.

Epic-LAN - not going

8th to 10th November

https://www.epiclan.co.uk/tt7

Warwick. This seems to an adjunct to a computer event. Just loads of table for Role-Playing. You organise stuff through Discord. I’ll look into it more but it feels a bit too free and easy for my tastes. My mind might be getting a bit too old for this and the idea of having to organise your own games and pay for the privilege feels a bit odd.

Condensed

14th to 16th November

https://www.facebook.com/groups/499592967602345/

Worthing. I know nothing about this. The facebook page isn’t very helpful - sorry. I guess it’s one of those “if you know, you know” events. But it’s organised by people who I know are brilliant at this sort of stuff so I’ll look into it and will probably be going.

Dragonmeet

29th November

https://dragonmeet.co.uk/

THE big one day convention in London. Of COURSE we’re all going!

Dahn Sarf III - The Gaming can’t be stopped

2nd August 2025

Earlier this week I was preparing  a post listing the conventions I’m planning to go to (and the ones I’m not - with reasons). 

I’ll publish that post a couple of days after this one but before the weekend.

I came across an event in London in January - Dahn Sarf IV. I contacted to organiser for details and discovered that Dahn Sarf III was happening the next Saturday! 

The event and all the games were organised via Warhorn* but I was allowed to offer to run a playtest of my forthcoming horror game at the last minute. The organiser even moved a few things around to fit me in and find me players. For which I was immensely grateful.

I checked Warhorn, found a space in an afternoon game and signed up. I was so excited at getting a chance to playtest my game I didn’t even look to see what it was.

I quickly booked train tickets to and from the capital. It was more expensive than I’d like because it was last minute. (The pricing of train tickets in this country is not good.)

I had my game all set up from Continuum the weekend before, when it hadn’t run due to lack of players. So all I had to do was to throw that folder in my bag and catch the train down to London.

Getting to the venue was super simple. A few minutes on the tube followed by a couple of minutes walk. It couldn’t have been easier.

I hope Londoners never take the Underground for granted. As a mass transit system it is remarkable. The speed, the simplicity, the signage. It is like magic.

The event was at a typical London shabby chic bar. The bar opens at 12 noon normally but the event started at 11:00am and we were let in from 10:30am.

The event is free. I guess the organiser has done a deal with the proprietors. Apparently the bar is rammed during the week with working Londoners and is a bit quieter at the weekend. So bringing in a couple of dozen extra punters during the daytime probably helps the venue out.

There were two game slots: 11am-3pm and 3pm to 7pm. 

Obviously, setting up and the (damn) raffle eats into that.

It’s very free and easy. Games had been booked and organised in advance via Warhorn.* The organiser pointed us at the two areas where we were allowed to play and gave us a printed list of our players and left us to it. 

First session

I had four players (including the organiser himself) but this rose to five when someone arrived ad hoc.

The tables we had were tiny little round bar tables but two were shoved together and, because we were all grown-ups, we coped fine.

As I say, the game was a playtest of my forthcoming horror game:

I won’t go into details. The players were fun and I learnt a lot. We ordered drinks and lunch during the game and ate at the table.

This was the real drawback of the event - for a midlander - London prices are eye-watering! But - I suspect typical of these London bars - my burger was excellent. Real gourmet standard and probably worth the price.

Raffle and Second game

In between the games was the raffle. The organiser had worked with Chaosium at a previous convention and been given oodles of goodies to give away. I threw in one of my near perfect proof copies.

You got tickets for just turning up. Of course some people bought more to raise money for a “good cause”. But in theory you could come to Darn Sarf for free and win a raffle prizes without spending a single penny.

I was offered a Runequest Starter set as a thank you for running a game and some raffle tickets, I refused both.

The raffle was the usual fun and ate into my gaming time in the way it usually does. (I am not a fan of raffles at Role-Playing Game conventions.)

My afternoon game was “Questworlds” with a competant Referee and three amiable players - me included. I’ve not played the system before and won’t seek to play it again. But I won’t avoid it if it’s the only thing left at an event. There was nothing in the game to set the world on fire but it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

The game finished at 6:30 so not only was I able to make my train home in good time - I had enough time to buy some nice food for the journey back.

Simon’s summary

Darn Sarf is basically just a games day for Londoners. Set up because some people were allegedly getting upset by the fact that there were “so many Table-Top Role-Playing events in the North”. (Probably because at those events you don’t feel your wallet has been mugged.)

For me it counted as a convention because of the two organised slots. 

There is another Dahn Sarf event in September but this one, I think, counts as a games day not a convention. The same - nice - venue has been booked and the event is on Warhorn* but there are no organised slots. You just sort everything out yourself. I guess I’d have to contact the organiser, up up the details of the games I’d want offer and cross my fingers. I don’t think I’ll go to that one, but never say never.

If you’re in or near London - and are used to London prices - then I think you should seriously consider attending these Dahn Sarf events. I enjoyed it. Recommended.

* if you’re not registered on Warhorn yet, you should be. You can use it to browse events if nothing else.

Entry: Free

Train tickets: £40.49

Underground: £5.60

Total: £46.09

Hours of gaming: 8

My cost per hour: £5.76

Pint of Lager: £7.95

(And I can probably get that down for future events.)

Continuum 2025: Fri 25th July - Mon 28th July - 4

 

Monday 28th July - convention summary

I don’t know if I’ve ever blogged about a Monday at a convention before.

Continuum - uniquely - has a Monday morning check out. This is specifically to allow attendees to squeeze in one last slot on Sunday evening. I know in the old days there was a “leaving ceremony”. If there was one this year I missed it. (Even if I know about it, I would have ignored it. I’m here for the Role-Playing games.)

Update: Apparently there WAS.

Now I’m retired it’s easy for me to stay to Monday morning. I can use it to  write my summary of the event.

After breakfast (as before) you can leave checking out until 11am, which is what I did.

Things I may have missed, writing my blog at the event and not editing it (one to self, edit the blog better for the next convention): 

Alongside the Role-playing games there’s a strong programme of Freeforms/LARPS. There are also some seminars but I didn’t even look at what those were, let alone when. The convention is based around a central hall where the Role-playing noticeboards are with continuous free coffee/tea etc. Lots of people seem to play board games in this area. Role-playing games are played in small “breakout” rooms which are a perfect size for one game and are equipped with flip charts and (surprisingly useful) whiteboards.

Post convention chatter on the Facebook page - which it turns out is really vibrant and interesting - seems to show that lots of people found the some of the rooms a bit cold. I didn’t notice.

Accomodation (and bar) is on-site and in another part of the building. Not quite a hotel but - if it was - I’d guess it would be 4-stars.

Minor, minor areas for improvement: 

- There are a couple of unusual choices made about the food provided. I’d guess this one of the cheaper convention packages the centre offers and the food is still very good. (Post convention chatter particularly flagged up the lack of choice in bat food and extolled the virtues of the nearby Co-op which I hadn’t bothered to seek out.)

- I find the crowding at the sign-up boards more uncomfortable than charming these days. But, then, I’m extremely fussy about sign-up systems and it is extremely well organised and managed. (Again there we a couple of comments in the post-convention chatter. So I’m not alone.)

Good points:

- Superb organisation and management both before and at the convention. Seamless. A really well set up and informative Web Site. Well done The Committee!

- Family atmosphere. Everyone seems to know each other be welcoming to newcomers. (Post convention chatter had loads of people saying it was their first Continuum and they’d be back.)

- A really, really good venue. It’s set up to house Business Conferences and it shows. Very friendly and helpful venue staff.

- An eclectic range of games offered. Very little D&D, if any. There is Runequest and Call of Cthulhu but they account for less than 50% of all games offered.

- Superb Referees. All the ones I played with were excellent, at least. And I have very high standards.

- Magnificent players. Everyone has a great attitude, is friendly and keen to get stuck in. Role-players generally are a great bunch but the Continuum demographics seems to be particularly good.

- EIGHT game slots across the weekend. That’s 33% more role-playing than the best other weekend cons and 60% more than most. That is simply amazing.

My personal costs:

Continuum membership/weekend pass: £60

Three nights accomodation including Breakfast and dinner: £237

Open return ticket to Milton Keynes: £20.59

Taxi to/from venue*: £30

TOTAL: £347.59

Total hours of gaming: ( 2 x 3hr + 6 x 4hr) 30.

Cost per hour: £11.59

Cost of a pint of Lager: £5.70

* I don’t normally include local travel costs but I will from now on if they’re significant. I’ll still not include incidental food costs - in this case lunch.

Conclusion: Highly recommended. Get your feet under table here - if it’s convenient for you - as soon as possible.

Continuum 2025: Fri 25th July - Mon 28th July - 3

 

Sunday 27th July

After a much better night’s sleep, I was able to wake up early. Breakfast as the same as yesterday. Good with the same subtle differences from what you’d expect. Because I’d been was so early I was able to compose an extended Social Media post about my personal struggles with the Saturday night game system.

I’d been avoiding the crowding at the noticeboards, so I hadn’t carefully selected my games - signing up for ones with remaining player slots. Maybe a game where you played cats in historical Japan wouldn’t have been my first choice but it turned out to be an absolute blast.

The Referee had based her game around historical Japanese artistic representations of cats but she’d also found some disturbing Japanese depictions of other creatures which she worked into an engaging scenario.

At one point I suggested she use the whiteboard in the room and it became a focal point for a major section of the game.

She clearly loved cats as shown by her dice tray:

We finished a bit early and - for the first time - I was able to investigate the lunch options. (Breakfast and Dinner were prepaid.) The choice is either a Burger or Burrito in the restaurant (£12) or a meal deal of supermarket style Sandwich, wrap or baguette with drink and snack in the bar (£8).

I grabbed a sandwich meal deal which I took back to my room and was able to finish off my social media post from the morning and do my blog post about Saturday.

The afternoon game was “The Rivers of London”. Again, avoiding the crush, I’d just picked a game with open slots. It’s not something I would have looked at for a first choice. It was another excellent game session. Based on books I hadn’t read, but you could see why people wanted a game based on them. It’s a really good paranormal investigation setting based in contemporary London. A clear and engaging system - basically streamlined Call of Cthulhu. A really good Referee who had crafted a clever (too clever for me) paranormal mystery based around an actual historical book. (He had an actual copy at the table.) And - again - friendly, engaging and exceptionally clever players who managed to crack a mystery which would have left my head spinning. Great fun.

Evening meal was a sort of take on Sunday lunch. It was of reasonable quality and “did the job”. Dessert was…….a tiny tub of Ice Cream.

The game I’d offered to run had garnered no players. So I took down the sheet and signed up for the last available slot on the board. This was a Monty Python Role-playing game run by yet another luminary of the UK role-playing scene and White Dwarf Alumni.

No complaints here.

I have strong views on games based on existing properties. Personally if I was designing a Monty Python game I would have a taken a different tack. But, as I said, we had a seminal Referee and the group of players was excellent. To be honest, I reckon you could have given any of us a blank sheet of paper and told us to make up a scenario on the spot, we could have busked a great session with the rest of this group.

A great end to a great convention. So I’ll try not to complain that it ran over until fifteen minutes after midnight.

 

Continuum 2025: Fri 25th July - Mon 28th July - 2

 

Saturday 26th July

I slept extremely poorly. Nothing wrong with the accommodation. I may have been over-excited or worried about the coming day. I had two slots booked to run games in. The second of these was the first playtest of my forthcoming (I hope) horror game. Now to add to my worries was concerns I’d be too tired to do that properly.

Breakfast ran from 7am to 9am. I tried to get an extra half hour lie in a got there 7:30. It was a typical quite good hotel-type breakfast. However, I was starting to get the feeling that whoever is in charge of the catering at the conference centre has some ideas about “efficiency”. Everything you needed was there (except for Pains au Chocolate) but slightly “off”. For example the fruit course was cut into large pieces than normal. 2cm chunks of melon rather than 1cm. It’s a little thing but when you;ve had as many hotel breakfasts as I have, you notice these things. Couple with the idea of a barbecue outside and tubs of ice-cream for dessert, a picture was beginning to emerge.

My first game was a Savage Worlds game. An anime-type game set in a high school on the outskirts of a future Tokyo. Our high school students were oblivious to the paranormal organisation shenanigans our History Professor was mixed up in. I ran the teenage school reporter for half of the game. When I played her too well and managed to get onto the departing gyrocopter with the kidnapped Professor - Lois Lane style - rather than splitting the group I suggested to the Referee that I gave up her and ran one of the other pregens instead. So I switched to the bug lug mechanic who saw the reporter as his little sister and was desperate to get her back.

The morning slot is only 3 hours long. Savage Worlds combat is quite involved. And the scenario being run was actually part of an extended campaign. The session was FUN but we didn’t get to rescue the Professor.

I had felt myself dozing off during the slot, so, worried about my afternoon and evening games I skipped lunch and went back to my room between 1pm and 2pm to get my head down. I don’t think I slept but the 50mins or so meditation seemed to help.

My afternoon game was my “Amnesiacs in Space” one. This is the third time I’d run it (StabCon and the emergency extra session on Friday at Continuum.) I knew what I was doing. The players - including at least one person I consider a luminary of the UK Table-Top Role-Playing Scene) were experienced and up for fun. I got to use the whiteboard again even more than yesterday. Though I can’t seem to manoeuvre this scenario to an explosive climax - it is always resolved well and everyone had a good time. Me included.

I checked the board. I had zero signups for my Horror game playtest. I went to my room to review it anyway. Another feature I’d noticed was that the fully sign-up games leave some stragglers and a game can pick up players at the last minute.

Between 6pm and 7pm I relaxed in my room. Checking notes and resting my head a bit more.

At 7pm the evening meals was in the restaurant this time. A buffet style selection of hot food (think school lunches) but there was a massive queue again. (They should lay out identical selections at opposite ends of the serving area to allow two groups to select simultaneously.) Again the selection was of high quality but showed efficiency in the selection of what was on offer. Lasagne etc. Again dessert was a small tub of ice-cream. No complaints, did the job, but not spectacular.

My horror game playtest still head zero sign ups. Trying to to feel rejected, I took down the sheet and signed up to something with a space. I didn’t check what it was. (All games at Continuum are good).

This turned out the be a “DramaSystem” game where we played a rock band at the end of a long tour deciding whether to sign a future contract and continue as a group or not.

Great Referee, great players (me included) created a wonderful emergent storyline which would make a great basis for a movie.

But…..

the game system is all about the emotional relationships within the band. As someone who is famously socially awkward - possibly autistic - I found the emotional “stuff” a bit difficult to cope with. Nobody’s fault and it didn’t spoil the game. I doubt anyone even noticed how uncomfortable I was feeling. But I don’t think I’ll play this system again.

We finished well before midnight and I was able to get a good night’s sleep. This time.

Continuum 2025: Fri 25th July - Mon 28th July - 1

Friday 25th July

Continuum has been running for (I think) more than four decades. It’s a private and slightly insular convention. Friendly and massively welcoming but one of those “if you know about it you know about it (and keep coming back)” jobs.

It started out as a convention devoted to Runequest - more specifically, I think, Glorantha, the world of Runequest - then branched out into wider Chaosium games - specifically Call of Cthulhu. Then into a more esoteric range of games. There is not a big D&D presence here. Thee are several obscure games or games being play tested or demonstrated.

Alongside the TTRPGs there have always been other activities. LARPing seems very popular here and there are seminars and social events (none of which I can tell you about because I always ignore them.)

For decades the event ran on alternate years at Leicester University but last year it moved to Conference Centre in between Bedford and Milton Keynes. (If there’s a Bedford University, it’s on that campus.)

There’s a large committee that’s been organising this convention years - and it shows. There is an informative web-site (which has barely changed in decades). You have to register, preferably booking accomodation on-site. Very affordable. 

As of writing 160 spaces were available 155 of which we booked. You can just turn up on the day a get a day pass but this isn’t the norm. 

You’re encouraged to submit games in advance, though you don’t have to. These are then posted on the web-site. Signing up for games happens at the convention but if you submit a game you can prebook a slot. (When I went to do this, I couldn’t choose which games I wanted to prebook. There were too many good ones. I decide to leave it to fate.)

The convention has 8 slots starting at 2pm on Friday and ending on 12 midnight Sunday. This is a unique thing about Continuum. It’s a weekend convention with 8 slots. You’re encouraged to stay Sunday night and leave Monday morning. There’s no incentive - other than your job - to leave on Sunday.

Having submitted my games and booked my room - both incredibly easy processes - there was very little else I had to do.  This convention is so well organised.

I caught a train the Milton Keynes. Ate a quick lunch at the station. There is a bus up to the venue. This allegedly takes just over half an hour and costs in the region of £5 or you can get a taxi for £15. I took the latter.

I arrived at the convention at 1pm. Like Stabcon (cv) it’s mainly aging types (like me) who’ve been doing this since time immemorial. (There are people here who wrote for White Dwarf magazine in the 1980’s or earlier.) But - also like Stabcon - the registration desk was staffed by young people. There was a free commemorative d6, personally printed name tag and choice of coloured lanyards - depending on whether you were willing to be photographed or not.

Then I went to the noticeboard to find a game to play for the afternoon from  2pm.

ALL the games were full! 

I bumped into the guy in charge of the games and offered to run an extra session of one of my games. I offered him a signup sheet (I had a spare ready) but the convention prints standard ones for all the games. He quickly printed one and showed me to my room.

I quickly clocked the flip chart, whiteboard and pens on the table.

I set up and waited. Despite the last minute, I got 3 excellent players - who’d also found nothing to play or been reserves in other games.

I ran my “wake up amnesiac in a wrecked spaceship” game I’d first run at StabCon. It had started well but fizzled out a bit. This one started well and ended up with a PCs fomenting mutiny on an alien spaceship. It was much better. It runs out  a whiteboard is a great way to describe how spaceships are manoeuvring in relation to each other. Fun.

The slot was due to end at 6pm but we finished a bit early. I went o check into my room. Check in was an easy as picking up a preprepared envelope and going to my room. Great organisation.

Room was very well appointed. 

At 6:30pm the two noticeboards get turned around to reveal the signup sheets for the Friday evening slot and the Saturday morning slot. Apart from pre-signups given to Referees offering to run games, there is no prebooking. A large group of polite middle-aged men hover around and descend up the boards determined to sign into the games they want. They don’t seem to sign up to games unless some other people have signed up first. (Or if they have to crouch down.)

So if you don’t join the first (polite but awkward) crush by the time you get there most of the games are fully signed up and the other sheets (usually the ones at the bottom of the board) are completely blank. By the time I got there, few spaces were left in the popular games. I saw a slot in a game I vaguely remembered looking at on the website and signed up.

Moving to the Saturday games it was the same situation but I saw a Savage Worlds game (a system I’ve played) so I signed up for that without checking any of the other details.

I can’t help but wonder how female delegates feel about the signup process. I didn’t see any in the crush.

We can debate sign-up systems endlessly but I feel Continuum might benefit from adopting the system used at most Garrison conventions such as Furnace. It’d be a lot of work but be fairer on everyone.

Though the final slot of the day starts at 8pm, dinner doesn’t start until 7pm. It was a barbecue outside. Very pleasant apart from the wasps but it didn’t start on time. Then there was a one queue to get served followed by a long queue to collect out cups of ice-cream for pudding. So getting to start games at 8pm was not a trivial procedure.

For the evening game I played in a Savage Worlds game about American preteenagers scouting in a forest and coming across supernatural stuff. Great referee, great players, great props. Fun. Luckily finished a bit before midnight. 

It was Friday night and I’d already Refereed one game and played in one. Continuum was off to a good start.

Simon’s upcoming Conventions

To date I’ve mainly written reports after I’ve been to conventions. These might be of interest to some people but they’re not going to directly useful to most of you until this time next year, when that convention may be due to come around again.

So what I’m going to do is to periodically list the conventions I’m planning to go to. I’ll tell you why I’m going to them, what I think I know about them and how I’m preparing and planning for them.

Maybe you’ll decide to join me.

Note: Anything on this page is my opinions based on my thoughts and experiences. These can be subjective.

Planning Information

In the old days you used to have to trawl forums, facebook and web-sites to find out about upcoming conventions. These days one man - David Wright - does it all for us.

This link is where I look for my conventions:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p5iZrLlU7EthiItODGO5ZweyhCIOVFu7ULj2c25iPQU/htmlview#

I cannot speak too highly of it. It is brilliant!

There will sometimes be a convention happening somewhere that isn’t listed. But that’s normally the conventions fault rather than David’s. If you find one is missed off please contact him ASAP.

Another good place to look is Phil Masters’ web-site:

https://www.philmasters.org.uk/RPGs/conventions.htm

Which conventions am I going to?

At the moment the only conventions I’m planning to attend are Table-Top Role-Playing ones. David lists board game conventions as well and - in the old days - I’d sometimes attend Steampunk, Comic and Anime conventions to promote the hobby.

Continuum - 25th-28th July Cranford

Where’s Cranford you ask? Halfway between Milton Keynes and Bedford. The convention is based at a “Management Development Centre”. So it’s basically a residential convention. I’ve never been to the current location but I reckon if you’ve ever been to a business conference you’ll know the kind of place. Not quite a hotel but better maintained than many.

As of writing, prebooking is closed with 156 attendees listed out of a possible 160. There will be some daily tickets available, though. Check the web-site:

https://continuumconvention.co.uk/continuum-frequently-asked-questions/

Continuum has been going for decades. I’ve only attended a handful and that was at another location.

It seems to have started with a group of friends who wanted to get together to play Runequest and has grown from there. There’s still Runequest games and other Chaosium stuff but other games are welcome.  I don’t think there’s a massive Dungeons and Dragons presence.

Some us have submitted games we intend to offer to run and they’re listed on the web-site. So look there to get a flavour. But nothing is decided until the event itself. No pre-booking. 

As I recall there are notice boards. Prospective Referees put up sign-up sheets for their games. (You used to get “beer tokens” for offering games.) It’s the usual 3 x 4 hours slots per day. Games are put up - as I recall - three slots in advance. At a given time during a slot, the board for that slot is cleared and the sheets for the next available slot (3 in advance) go up. So about an hour into each game, suddenly everyone takes a comfort break to he’d to the notice boards to see what’s available and try to find a game they’d like. I don’t think anyone struggles to find game they’d like to play but some games are very popular. (I’m not the only person who used to write for magazines like White Dwarf who is attending. There are also some well known Internet-types. Oh a certain age.)

What makes Continuum unique is that it offers a slot Sunday night with the intent that you’ll sign out Monday morning. Weekend residential conventions usually have only 5 or 6 gaming slots across the weekend. Continuum has 8. There are also other events on but I don’t pay attention to those - I only care about the gaming.

It’s a well organised convention with a family feel. First time you might feel overwhelmed but you’ll soon be sucked in.

I’m looking forward to it but I’m not sure I’ll get sign-ups for my games. (I usually did in the old days.)

Canterbury Gaming Convention - 8th to 10th August 2025

I know nothing about this one other than what’s on the web-site.

https://canterburygamingconvention.co.uk/

It runs from Friday night to Sunday evening. Since I wasn’t interested in the Friday quiz, I’ve opted to go just for Saturday and Sunday. That way I only have to pay for a single night’s accommodation. This is on-site (University) and seems a reasonable price. It’s a long way to go for me and I’ve had to advance book specific trains and split ticket etc. to keep the price down. I’ll also be setting off at an ungodly hour.

It’s a multi-format convention with TTRPGs as only one thread. I had to submit my games a long time in advance so they’re basically just my Steampunk scenario about the missing dinosaur. I haven’t been about to work out how to check if anyone’s signed up for them yet. This one is a bit of a punt.

Airecon - 15th to 17th August 2025

I first went to Airecon several years ago. I got the impression that a couple of guys were trying to repeat the success of UK Games Expo, growing from the same nimble beginnings. They seem to be well on their way with multiple large events across the year in various locations. 

This one is in Manchester:

https://acnw.airecon.co.uk/ 

It’s a multi-format convention and the TTRPG bit is still quite small. But this year it’s being organised by someone I know and trust. Highly experienced. But I’m not certain about the exact set-up so I’ve submitted a couple of games (again my Steampunk Dinosaur ones) and intend to travel up to Manchester Saturday morning, run a couple of games and travel down at night.

Tabletop Scotland - 5th to 7th September 2025

I’ve been wanting to go to this one for YEARS. I can finally go now I’ve retired and it’s moved to Edinburgh, right by the airport.

https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

I’m flying up Friday morning and back down Sunday night. 

Another large multi-format convention but there are loads of TTRPGs. I’ve offered to run 3 different games across the weekend. Most game tickets are booked in advance through WarHorn but two seats in each game are reserved for allocation at the weekend. When I’m not Refereeing, I hope to be offering short games at the weekend”Games on demand” area.

I’m booked in the play on of my own games - The Comics Code. I call this “designer bombing”.

Financially, this is going to be an expensive event for me, but should be worth it.

The Owlbear and the Wizard’s Staff - 12th to 14th September 2025

This is in Leamington Spa. I don’t think there’s a web-site for this. If you’re on the inside track, you know about this one. It happens once per year organised by one man who does a terrific job. Everybody that goes loves it and looks forward to the next one and pans for it months in advance. By the time I knew I could attend, it was too late for me to submit a game and I nearly missed out on a spot as a player.

It’s basically a one-day two slot event on Saturday 13th September but there are other gaming and social slots bracketing the main event.

Though I’m not Refereeing at it, I am “designer bombing” a game of Golden Heroes. So that should be fun!

Summer StabCon Friday 4th - Sunday 6th July 2025 - 3

Sunday 6th July

Morning

Got up. Hotel breakfast. (Didn’t have black pudding this time.) Packed my bag. Because I had to fit in all my clothes and everything this time, it was the heaviest it had been since setting out from home on Friday. Made sure to keep the folder for my morning game on top.

Checked out. 15 minutes walk up to convention for the last time. But this time with a heavy backpack.

Stopped in at the co-op to grab a couple of bags of sweets to put out on my table halfway through my morning game.

Upon arrival I checked the sign-up sheet for my morning game. My Steampunk Game “The Warlords of the Aether”.  Only three players signed up, but I’m generally happy with three. (I prefer four.)

I like to think of myself as a bit of a maverick when it comes to convention Refereeing. The conventional (sic) wisdom is to provide pregenerated characters. I usually have character generation at the table because my character generation systems are FAST and because it lets me - and the whole table - benefit from the imaginations of the players.

(I would never have created the characters in my Saturday afternoon game as pre-generated characters!)

For this game, I’d decided to go a bit further.

I’ve recently been championing the idea of “Prologue” scenarios for campaigns. Most Role-playing campaigns start with a Session Zero where players discuss the campaign, lay down agreed guidelines and make their characters. I don’t think players know enough at that stage to make informed decisions. So my advice is that they play a one-shot using pregenerated characters first. Most games come with a quikstart. Use that. This introduces the players to the game rules and game world before they have to make the crucial decisions in Session Zero.

I had this bright idea that I could do that in a convention slot. Give players pregenerated characters first - I had several ready from a quikstart I’d just published for the game. Run through a quick prologue - I have literally dozens on one hour intro scenarios for my Steampunk game. THEN do character generation and play out a full scenario.

In hindsight, I made two mistakes. Firstly, I ran the game in a morning slot. Even though there are no set slots at StabCon, afternoon slots can easily be 4 hours whereas to make morning slot 4 hours you have to start at 9am, which most people don’t want to do on a Sunday. So I’d put a 3 hour timing (10am to 1pm) on the game. Far too ambitious for a Prologue - Character Generation - Full scenario idea.

Secondly, I based the tertiary part of the session - the “Full Scenario” - on an expansion (“novelisation”) of another of my one hour demonstration games. I didn’t think enough about making it a full scenario in its own right. I didn’t think enough about the climax and - again - my role-playing of the non-player characters was a bit limp.

But the session was saved by the three brilliant characters the players made. A fisherman, an  anaesthetist, and a children’s nanny with a flying umbrella. Any pre-generated characters I made would have paled by comparison.

As I was clearing up I met a wonderful couple. They run a friendly local games store and it was their first StabCon. We had a chat about upcoming conventions they could attend.

Afternoon

I’d timed my game to finish at 1pm. My fellow Referee had timed the Trumpton game to start at 1pm. So I rushed to find the room to apologise. I was the only player to get there even close to the starting time. So I had enough time to order lunch - Samosas again.

For those that don’t know, Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley were much loved stop-frame animated children’s TV series on the BBC decades ago. This Referee has specialised in running satirical games set in the Trumpton world for many years. 

I’ll be honest, the system he uses isn’t optimised for the series. It has a hit location system, for example, and espionage is listed a a skill on the character sheets. But it works well for the satire. Think the final scene of “Hot Fuzz” where the quaint villagers all pull out machines guns and blast away in the village square.

I played Chippy Minton - the town carpenter. He is a canon character.

The session was absolute hoot right from the off with hi-vis-wearing workmen setting up portacabins and bringing bulldozers into town. It turned out a giant American (chocolate?) egg had done a dodgy deal to buy up all of Trumptonshire. He was desperate to get all the building improvements done before anyone stopped him.

Humpty J. Dumpy. Wearing a MEGA hat. (Make Eggs Great Again!). He wanted to build a wall around Trumptonshire, displace the population and build a golf course around the landmarks. Eg. Windy Miller’s windmill on hole 9.

The satire wasn’t subtle.

I’ve been aware that role-playing games that allow players to “punch a Nazi in the face” have been part of the zeitgeist recently. For the most part, they’ve passed me by. But as soon as Humpty J Dumpty turned up, I could see players getting really worked up. Annoyed by recent news stories coming out of America, this was their time to vent their frustrations.

There’s a supplier in the game called Mr Wantage. (I don’t know if he’s canon in the Trumpton world. I doubt it.) He supplied the player characters with various forms of weaponry (including a dismantled Trebuchet). Battle commenced.

One memory I have is of Mrs Cobbett, the flower seller (Canon Character), taking out Dumpty’s Deputy - “DJ Vinney” - with a sniper rifle and continuing to pump bullets into the fallen body. The idea of a BBC animator, animating the twitching form as bullet after bullet thumped into it, tickled me.

Of course I rebuilt the Trebuchet and the climax involved Humpty J Dumpty -  very cracked by this time - being loaded into it and fired over the horizon.

Pure unadulterated fun.

Departure

Before departing the convention I went to front desk to ask about the dates of Winter StabCon. Friday 2nd January to Sunday 4th January 2026. I filled in a form to sign up for it and pay. £25 for the weekend but £17.50 because of the early bird rate.

There is a risk the date will bump into my New Year activities but even if I can’t make it, I’ll happily pay £17.50 to support this wonderful event. Anyway, StabCon carry over some of your money to the next event if you can’t come.

I hefted my heavy backpack and walked back to the station to the station to catch my bus back to Birmingham a happy man.

Final thoughts

Cost of Entry: £17.50

Cost of Hotel: £145.80

Train ticket (including Senior Citzen’s Travel Card): £34.99

Total Cost (excluding food and drink): £198.29

Total hours of gaming: c.22.

Cost per hour: £9.

Cost of a pint of Lager: £4.80.

What’s changed: It’s no longer a residential convention. The new venue is really good and a step up. If you eat in you’re required to eat good food and drink good beer. You can buy cheaper food nearby but just can’t bring it in to the venue. 

Anyone wondering about how the Freemasons Lodge relates to Role-playing just has to look at the banner I spotted in outside one of the rooms:

Try telling me that’s NOT an advert for a Role-playing game!

There are a LOT of younger people attending now and - even - running the convention, which is a good sign for the future.

What’s the same: Most of the same old faces. The same smooth organisation. The same “we’ve provided the venue - sort out your own games” attitude. The same old role-playing game noticeboard.

Final thoughts: StabCon is an odd one. It’s a lovely convention but you need to get to know it and it needs to get to know you. It’s mainly a big board game convention but it has quite a strong Role-playing game track. You need to get to a StabCon, feel confused, work out what’s going on, get to know people and then you’ll be set up for life.

Summer StabCon: Friday 4th - Sunday 6th July 2025 - 2

Saturday 5th July

Morning

Got up. Worked out how to use the electric hotel shower. Hotel Breakfast. 

Hotel Breakfasts are one of the reasons I love travelling to conventions. Cheap and cheerful hotel so it wasn’t perfect but it was quite good. I didn’t ask if they did porridge so I had a cereal course and orange juice. The fruit offering was a bit limp so I skipped the fruit course. The cooked breakfast was fine. Bacon was cooked but not well done so I skipped that. Sausages mostly well done and surprisingly nice. Black pudding was okay but could have been done more. Something has been added to flavour the mushrooms which I couldn’t place but which wasn’t unpleasant. Scrambled eggs surprisingly close to way I like them - loose but without too much milk added. Hash Browns were very good. Large, loose, lumps of potato and well cooked. I skipped the queue for toast in favour of extra hash brown. Two cups of coffee due to the small hotel cup size. Very satisfying. 

I filled my backpack with just what I needed for the day - including the two preprepared folders for my games - and made the 15min walk up to the convention. Dropped into the Co-op on the way and bought two good value packs of chocolate coveredbiscuits. The first game - in the Small Lodge again - was Risus. Run by an extremely experienced Referee. One of the hosts of one of the longest running Actual Play Roleplaying series online. He regularly runs GURPs and Runequest games for his home group and uses StabCon to Referee something a bit different. I hadn’t played Risus before but - basically - lots of narrative description on the character sheets. Narratively justify the aspectsyou are using. Roll the dice assigned to that aspect - 2, 3 or 4 six-sided dice. Total them to resolve skill checks. Highest dice in the pool in opposed or combat checks. Easy enough. 

The scenario was called “Something BadCooking”. In a continent devoted to Hedonism, the King’s beloved daughter had just married the best chef in the realm - Jeremiah Grace “The God of Stews”. As a wedding present the King had fed Jeremiah The Best Stew. This had forced a crisis of faith on the chef who sneaked out of wedding bed to go and find the secret ingredients the King had told him about. Our player characters were woken from our post-wedding-party beds to pursue him and bring him back. 

I played a female swashbuckling Satyr, who played a Dwarfish stringed instrument and got along well with animals. My fellow party members were a Dwarf, A Rogue, a talking cat and a magician made of clay (a sort of Golem). We had to travel to a land of black mud (I put on trousers) and giant spiders to rescue the errant chef from an evil hag from another planet. All good. Probably the kind of game you’d get at a convention but not at home.

Afternoon

I checked the sign-up sheet for my afternoon game, my fantasy one about a giant dragon crashing into a remote village pursued by a cannon wielding flying ship. “Claws and Cannons”. The last game I’d written before the convention. It only had two people signed up! I panicked. This was going to be my first game Refereeing in over 5 years - since before the Covid Pandemic. I don’t like refereeing for only two players. So I posted a panicked plea on Facebook and went to ask the front desk for help. The young lady on the front desk advised me to just walk up to people who seemed not to be doing anything and tell them about the game or just shout it out in the room. This was actually very good advice and typical for StabCon. But it didn’t suit my shy personality. So I girded my loins prepared to run the hell out of a game for just two people and went to order lunch. On my way I passed two young men who’d just arrived for their first StabCon looking at the RPG noticeboard. I pointed to the sign upsheet and told them there were a couple of slots available in an excellent game. 

As I said earlier the range of food does not include anything cheap and cheerful or sandwiches so I ordered Samosas for lunch. These were excellent. 

I got to The Small Lodge and set up for my game. My two players arrived, a couple who I’d apparentlyRefereed games for in the past. If you know me, you’ll know that I don’t usually provide pre-generated charactersfor players in my convention games. I prefer players to make their own. The lady in the couple chose to make a Fairy character. A very intimidating and martial Fairy. Her partner chose to roll randomly and got a disgracedTroll noble with a small pet hamster. 

Then the two young men I’d accosted turned up! I had the four players I craved. They both chose to roll randomly. We got a disgraced, warped Dwarf noble with scales down half of his body and - I kid you not - a Squirrel Wizard. An adventuring party who basically travelled in a Troll’s pockets. 

My game is not designed specifically to be played gonzo, but can trend that way if that’s what the players want.

 

The start was the party hiding out in remote village, rich after a successful adventure. However, one which required them to keep their heads down. After the usual bar room hassles, they settled down for the night. In the morning they awoke, to the sounds of a Dragon crashing into the outskirts of town pursued by a flying ship - carrying anarcane cannon - winged warriors and a “Purifier” Warrior. In the ensuing tussle, the enemy Wizard escaped, her winged warriors were defeated and the characters somehow managed to crash the flying ship right onto the injured dragon - killing the noble beast outright. 

At about this time I dropped the packet of chocolate biscuits on the table for everyone to share.

Somehow - with all the wild magic being thrown around -the Troll’s hamster grew to giant size and developed the ability to teleport. (As I say - gonzo.) With the noble dragon dead, there was no way to find and rescue her brood of eggs. So the only option was to question the captured purifier warriors. 

They revealed that an arcane ritual was being undertaken to rid the world of dragonkind. Cue a giant hamster teleport to that location. 

Four giant sky ships holding a lens aloft focusing sunlight onto an altar which forced dragonkind upon it through a portal into a void beyond. And with today’s eclipse, that light would cause all dragonkind on the world to be banished. On the altar were a clutch of dragon eggs. The characters bravely took control of one sky ships and used it crash into another to disrupt the ceremony. During the battle,the Squirrel Wizard caused the Dragon Eggs to hatch. Ritual disrupted, dragons saved. 

However, I had a final twist. 

The portal stayed open and one by one the previously dispatched Dragons began to return - driven mad by their ordeal. These were unimaginably unbeatable by the characters’ standards. I had no idea how the players were going to resolve this but trusted they would find a way. It turned out that all they had to do was to complete the evil ritual. Mercilessly slaughter the innocent, newly born, dragon babies and throw their dead corpses through the portal to seal it and trap all the banished dragon-kind there forever. Epic. Tragic. Great players. A bit gonzo but lots of laughter. I felt I’d recovered my Refereeing mojo and may well play this scenario again at future conventions.

Evening

I checked the sign-up sheet for my evening game. Three players. Fine. I could live with that. 

For an evening meal I chose a curry with rice and naan. Again excellent. I ordered a different lager (£5.80). The lager most people seemed to be ordering was even more expensive than that. And there were named artisan ciders on blackboards. It seems Masonic lodges have a wide range of specialist beverages on offer. 

The three players for my evening Science Fiction game were the couple from earlier on - who’d played the vicious fairy and the Troll with the teleporting hamster - and an old convention friend of many years occasional acquaintance. She’s an extremely experienced convention Referee specialising in “hard” military SciFi games. And luckily a fourthplayer turned up. Another old friend (see below). 

This was the scenario where the characters wake up in a ruined ship with no memory and have to work out what’s going on and how they got there. This game went well. The players were extremely competent and unravelled all the mysteries. A bit too competent. They nursed their battered, unarmed, old ship and cunningly escaped, rather than taking over another ship which did have weapons and fighting their way through their problems - as I’d hoped. A success of brain over brawn which felt a bit unexciting and anti-climactic to me. Also - note to self - prepare in advance how to role-play each species and non-player character. 

With me dropping my packet of chocolate biscuits halfway through.

The fourth player, it turned out, was the guy who used to run games of “Trumpton - the Role-playing game” on Sunday afternoons in the old days. In the intervening years he’d tracked down the original author and gained permission to type up the rules and distribute them - on a private basis. He offered to email me a set. I asked if he was running a game Sunday afternoon as I was looking for a game to play in. His answer was that he hadn’t planned to but he would now. He put me down to play. 

I’d manifested what I wanted for Sunday afternoon. That plus getting back on the Refereeing horse moderately successfully (7/10 room forimprovement) meant I slept well after walking back to my hotel. (All this walking was good for me.)