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!