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.)
No comments:
Post a Comment