Morning
I had my breakfast early as usual. I always make sure to fill myself having far more coffee and courses than I need.
Because a special event was happening first thing - I was a PLAYER in a game I’ve designed (this is rare) - I didn’t have to panic about getting to the venue early. I knew I’d had to book a taxi again. So I had a fair chunk of time between breakfast to pack my bag and write some of this blog.
I checked out. Not wanting to take the risk of my route being blocked, I ordered a taxi and arrived at the event in good time to find the table the game was at. We were playing a group of Marvel Supervillains on some kind of reform programme. I played Shocker. Due to some Hank Pym shenanigans, we woke up in an altered reality where people thought we were still villains and had to contend with that reality’s anti-hero team whilst trying to find a way to undo what has been done. It was great fun and I was really pleased when I finally rolled a double on the dice to come up with a small but game-changing idea. (I love the options players get when they roll double in my games. I get so few options to use them.)
During the comfort break I was able to dash to the main hall to talk to a friend who I’d spotted the day before. The hall seemed busy but not as busy as Saturday. My friend was on a trade stall and said they’d had a successful convention. Friday had seemed quiet and they were worried but Saturday was much better. Apparently they’d noticed punters coming in “waves”, possibly related to breaks in the TTRPG timetable.
Afternoon
My Superhero game wrapped up at 1:30pm. I was booked in to Referee Games on Demand at 2:00pm. I’d done that because I wanted to be out of the convention at 4pm to give me time to get to the airport to catch my plane home. That gave me only 30 minutes for lunch.
Luckily there was a “deli” counter in the main hall - slightly hidden away - where there was no queue and where I was able to grab a (more than adequate) chicken wrap and canned drink. I was at my Games on Demand Table, eating my wrap, 20 minutes before the start of the session.
I had three players. They chose to do my Steampunk Missing Dinosaur game - which I was pleased with. They agreed to create their own players characters which were as magnificent as always.
There seems to be something about the players I attract at Tabletop Scotland. The Superhero game I’d played in that morning had a group that was mixed in age and understanding of table etiquette - with some getting over-excited at times. The groups I’d refereed for seemed to be mainly men of a certain age who were experienced with role-playing games, were up for fun, were inventive, and literally chewed the scenery every time. The group of players for my final game created a truly epic adventure in just two hours. I had to play the final scenes at a really high pace to conclude a memorable story. I would have been happy to play for far longer with them.
I thanked the superb TableTop RolePlaying game organisers again. They put in an immense amount of effort and their systems and organisation are really slick.
I left the convention shortly after 4pm. My phone told me it would take 48 minutes to walk to the airport but I knew the walk to convention has been much shorter on Friday. Talking of which, the heavens opened again and I had to use my umbrella all the way there.
As it was I arrived at the airport and got through security by 4.50pm. My flight isn’t until 7:15 so I’ve used some of the waiting time to write up this section of the blog.
If I wasn’t someone who is paranoid about getting to appointments on time, I could probably have stayed until the end of the convention at 6pm and still caught my flight on time.
My plane was slightly delayed but public transport in Birmingham is good. So I was still home and wrapped up in my bed well before midnight. I slept like a baby after a really really good weekend.
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