Con-Densed - 14th - 16th November 2025, Worthing

 Prelude

Many years ago there used to be an excellent residential convention in Dorset at an out of season caravan/holiday home park. When the owners of the park chose to change their business model and sell off the accommodation to individual private owners, the convention was forced to stop running.

It was so popular, though, that some fans of the convention created a temporary replacement at the same time of year called Con-tingency. This is “temporary” convention is still going and - possibly - has even eclipsed the original convention that spawned it.

This group of fans has evolved into The Wyrd Sisters:

http://www.con-tingency.uk/

A group of three women who seem to have a flair for organising conventions. 

As well as Contingency their site mentions two other events, Con-densed and Con-ducked. I know nothing about Con-ducked but I signed up to Con-densed knowing how good Contingency is and expecting more of the same.

It isn’t.

There is very little information on-line about Con-densed. It doesn’t seem to have its own web-site or facebook page. By talking to people I knew on-line or at events, I discovered that its USP is that it runs longer slots. Rather than the standard 5 or 6 four hour slots across the weekend, it ran 4 six hour slots in the past.

This gave me a conundrum. I am VERY good with short games. What could I offer that would fill a six hour slot?

I knew some people were going who were too young to have experienced my Superhero Role-playing game from the 1980’s - Golden Heroes - so I chose to offer that in one slot. There is a classic dungeon from a magazine in the 1980’s I enjoy running, so I offered to run that in another slot. 

I decided to be a player rather than a Referee in the other two slots.

Games were organised in advance of the event using Warhorn. My Golden Heroes game booked out immediately months ahead of the date.

Nearer the event I discovered, in passing, that the slot lengths had been reduced from six hours to five hours to allow more time for eating and socialising. I also discovered that my old Golden Heroes rules, figure and game boards were so securely stored, I couldn’t get to them before the event and had to buy a replacement set of rules on line.

But I did find an inexpensive Bed and Breakfast place near the venue. Other attendees recommended it to me but I’d already discovered it for myself and booked it by then.

Friday 14th November

As a special favour I’d been allowed to keep my first slot at six hours - from 4pm to 10pm. 

Even though Worthing is some distance from Birmingham I was able to get there in good time.

I exited the station, turned left and walked along a road to my Bed and Breakfast in less than 15 minutes, passing the event venue and a row of food take-aways on the way. I signed into my room, dropped my luggage, grabbed my Golden Heroes gear and walked down to the venue, passing all the take-always on the way.

The whole area is perfect for a convention. My B&B, a convenience store, every conceivable sort of food take-away and the convention venue all on the same road within a 5 minutes walk of each other.

The Venue itself is a well appointed Sea Cadet Training Centre/Drill Hall. I was given a room full of tables and chairs to set up and run my game as I saw fit.

The game ran from 4pm to 10pm as planned, with a break at around 6pm for everyone to nip out and get take-away food to eat. 

I’ll be honest, I was not happy with the way it went. It was forty years since I’ve run the game so rules which used to be second nature to me, I had to look up. Working with cardboard figures and black and white photocopies of the maps from the rulebook made it feel less engaging. The chip shop messed up my order, so the whole table lost time as I was late getting back. I had to short-cut one encounter to fit everything in.

If I ever run Golden Heroes again, I’ll know what to do better. It was fine but I expect more from myself and my games.

Saturday 15th November

I had a personally cooked breakfast in my Bed and Breakfast and walked down to the venue. At the venue the organiser was cooking breakfast for some of the attendees and had a large pot of soup on the go for later in the day.

I set up for my classic dungeon crawl. I used my own Dungeons and Dragons type rules - the one which only use six-sided dice. Again this session was fine but I felt I was a bit rusty. It ran from 9am to 2pm. I bought a meal deal from the convenience store.

In the afternoon/evening I played in a “Powered by the Apocalypse” game about escaping from an Island full of Dinosaurs.

This felt EXACTLY like the game I’d played in at Furnace a month before. But that game had had a big shiny box full of full colour character sheets and cards whereas this one had been downloaded from “Itch” for a fraction of the price. And it was just as much fun.

The game finished early. Some players left. After going out for a takeaway (Chinese this time. Faster and testier than the Fish & Chips) those of us remaining played another short game downloaded from Itch about a haunted house. More simple fun.

Sunday 16th November

I booked my breakfast for a bit earlier and checked out of my lodgings.

In the morning I played a fascinating experimental game Refereed by an experienced published game designer. Engaging setting. Enjoyable unfolding story. But it was all about solving an ancient mystery and decoding ancient runes and was a bit too cerebral for my tastes. It was excellent and intricately constructed but I like a bit more action in my games.

It was an easy walk down to the station and a good journey home.

Summary

I keep this blog to show that not all conventions are the same. Con-densed is a case in point. It is an excellent convention. Well organised with games going up well in advance on Warhorn and sign-up sheets showing all games and all players being printed out at the event. Tea and Coffee, cakes and biscuits freely available (for a donation). Breakfast and soup provided on request. If you are on a budget you can sleep at the training centre on a camp bed for a nominal fee. This could be an extremely cheap convention - almost certainly the cheapest on the circuit.

The longer slots make it a unique experience.

It had twenty people attending.

This makes little difference to those taking part. You get four games whether 20 or 100 people attending. Possibly you see the same faces at a couple of games, but that’s it. 20 people is more than enough for three tables.

But these low number must make it difficult to keep it viable. Money WAS raised for the Sea Cadets, though, so I suppose it was a success.

It’s organised as if it were a much bigger event and could easily accommodate far far more people. I’m not sure all of us Refereeing games made best use of the longer slots but all the games on offer were good and eclectic.

Maybe it needs its own web-site and more promotion rather than being lost in the shadow if its larger cousin, Contingency. The venue and local area alone make it a great event and the longer slots could make it something really special.

Costs: 

Registration/ticket: £0 (I was Refereeing. It would have been £10 if I wasn’t.)

Train ticket: £50.84 (after 1/3 off for senior rail card)

Accommodation: £160

Total: £210.84

CGC + Powell-Cotton Museum TableTop Convention 8th and 9th November 2025

 Prelude

Earlier this year I travelled to Canterbury Gaming Convention. This was quite a long distance for me to travel from Birmingham but was well organised. When I saw that the same people were organising another convention, I looked at it. 

This was the CGC (for Canterbury Gaming Convention) & Powell-Cotton Museum (for the Venue) TableTop Convention. However, as this only ran from 10am to 5pm each day - with nothing on offer Saturday evening - I initially dismissed it. Especially given the distance.

However, when I found myself at a bit of a loose end - looking for more events to visit - I took another gander at it. With advance booking I could shave some costs off the train journey and by getting up very early Saturday morning, I could save on hotel costs by only rooming for one night.

My other concern was that it was a general gaming convention. There was some role-playing but this was mainly businesses promoting their own games. The Pathfinder Society was there but there was no organised role-playing track.

I decided to dust off my old “Choose Your Adventure” set-up of one hour demonstration games. I got in touch with one of the companies promoting their own games and offered to run games promoting their system. I downloaded their rules and made prgenerated characters for three genres - Steampunk, Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Checking the map of the convention prior to the event I found I’d been allocated a table in the same room as their stand.

Saturday 8th November

I got up at stupid o’clock. The event was actually at Birchington-on-Sea.

No. I‘d never heard of it either.

I arrived on time and caught a Taxi up to the event. People were already coming in but I found the Museum Gallery with my table in. The entire museum was impressive and our room was surrounded on all sides by dioramas of stuffed African animals of all sorts.

The designer of the games rules I was going to use was just starting a game. I joined in. Other players were making characters but I was able to use one of the pregenerated characters I’d made. I had an enjoyable time.

No food or drink was allowed in the part of the museum we were in, so at lunchtime I went first to the bar which only seemed to do hot food. I was pointed to the cafe outside where I bought a rather posh egg mayonnaise sandwich for my lunch.

For the afternoon, I tried to get people involved in my short demonstration games but my table was at the back of the gallery - which wasn’t getting much “passing trade” in any event. 

I managed to run one game for a family. They requested Science Fiction and we had a great time. 

They boarded the Lost Ship they’d been sent to investigate and non-lethally subdued the Zombified crew members who attacked them.  Most of them resisted the mental assault of the alien infesting the ship. One didn’t but the player character Scientist found as way to use a space-suit helmet to help her fight off the alien mind control.

I then expected them to confront the alien menace in the engine room where it was wrapped around the reactor core - growing. No. In their first clever move, they decided to put all the subdued zombified crew into spacesuits, freeing their minds to assist in the final conflict. Their second clever move was to try to avoid that conflict by negotiating with the alien.

It was great fun and very memorable.

A taxi to my lodgings. This was a guest house. Keys in a safe outside accessed by a pre-sent code. Fish and Chip shop and corner store next door and right by the seafront. Perfect!

Sunday 9th November

I fixed myself breakfast in my room and phoned a taxi up to the event.

I had no qualms about using so many Taxis because they were so cheap, a fact that all the local drivers were happy to explain to me. Apparently the company still runs on zonal charges, not by the mile, which is affecting their income. This is going to change soon, they told me. In the meantime, I benefited from the cheapest taxis in the country.

When I arrived I found that the stall I had been working with had moved out of our gallery to a more prominent position. I was left alone in a room with half a dozen empty tables. So I moved to the table nearest the entrance and switched to using my own game systems.

People passed through the room whilst browsing the convention, passing through to get to the Bring and Buy room next door or to use the empty tables for general board gaming. I worked hard catching people for conversations and, in total, ran four game sessions throughout the day - one steampunk and then three fantasy games one after the other. It was a very successful day.

My journey home was disrupted by having to take a Rail Replacement Bus Service but everything worked and I got back to Birmingham at the correct time, a happy man.

Summary

Canterbury Gaming Convention and Cotton-Powell Museum Table-Top Gaming Convention must have the longest name on the circuit. It is well organised. The venue is extremely impressive with high-end catering. The ban on bringing food and drink into galleries used for gaming is a bit onerous.

Birchington-on-Sea is a nice little British seaside town. Despite the distance I had to travel, I really enjoyed the event. Especially the Sunday where I was left alone to just “do my stuff”. It was great to know that my short demonstration Table-Top Role-Playing Games still work.

If you like all types of gaming, this convention has an immense range of events on offer.

Train tickets: £48.89

Accommodation:  £78.19

Total cost for the weekend (excluding taxi and food): £127.08

Pint of Lager: £6.95

 

ArmadaCon - Plymouth - 31st October, 1st & 2nd November 2025

Run-Up

Saturday 18th October and Saturday 25th October I had no conventions to go to. So I started looking for events I could attend outside the strict realm of Table-Top Role-Playing Conventions.
I came across ArmadaCon. It’s a small Science Fiction convention that’s been running in Plymouth for 30 years. I’d heard about it before - I have a couple of friends who attend gaming conventions who also attend ArmadaCon.

Though I’d been warned there wasn’t much of the gaming I enjoy going on, I looked into it. Despite the fact that it was a long journey and I was deciding to go at the last minute, I worked out a cost effective way to travel by travelling early in the morning and there did seem to be some Role-Playing Games.
My decision to attend was made on Monday 27th October. It was too late to register in advance but I was welcomed. I was also invited to participate in a panel about Role-playing games. 

I was also able to liaise with the people running the Table-Top Role-Playing Game. I was allocated a couple of slots where I could offer to run my own.

Not bad since I’d only decide to go 4 days before the event!

Friday 31st October

I travelled down early. Had lunch at a nice bistro in Plymouth and caught a local bus up to the hotel.  I am going to be using more local buses and fewer taxis now that I am old and have a free bus pass.
The Hotel housing the convention is quite a long way out of town but was easy to find using the maps app on my phone. The bus went straight here.

I arrived too early for the convention start so scouted the area and found a convenient Marks and Spencer nearby where I bought biscuits to go with the coffee in my room.

Registration opened at 6pm and was easy. Along with a lanyard attendees receive a goodie bag with small trinkets in. I attended a small friendly quiz from 6:30 to 7:00pm. My team won. My prize was an official DiscWorld T-shirt.

At 7:00pm there was an opening ceremony. Everyone met in the main hall for introductions, which included me. Clearly ArmadaCon is a family with people returning year after year. I was made to feel very welcome.

The hotel has an excellent restaurant but I opted to take the short walk to the nearby Macdonalds.
Upon returning, I went into the gaming room. There were no organised Role-playing games that night. But the room also contained a some tables selling eclectic items, a large Star Trek miniatures game, a large communal jig-saw etc. I couldn’t drum up any interest from passersby for an ad hoc game so I had an early night.

Saturday 1st November

Unsurprisingly the hotel provided an excellent breakfast. When the locals who were organising the role-playing games arrived, I made up the numbers in a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game - playing the Cleric. I don’t have much experience of this system but all the pieces fitted together as well as I’d heard. Excellent Referee and fun mixture of experienced players eating the scenery and newcomers - discovering role-playing games later in life. It was great fun.

I returned to Marks and Spencers to buy food for lunch and to really stock up my room with snacks and drinks.

In the afternoon was the panel I’d been asked to participate in. It was about what to do if a role-playing game or campaign goes off the rails and gets a bit silly. I really enjoyed it - the only issue being that all the other panel members (and several members of the audience) were experienced Referees or Authors with their own insightful contributions to make. So I had to make myself sit quietly and give other people their chance to speak.

There was only an hour between the end of the panel and the evening game session, where I’d offered to run my Steampunk game.  I was slightly delayed by one of the authors on the panel telling me how much he’s enjoyed Golden Heroes and us having a short conversation. So I went to MacDonalds again. Even doing that, I was nearly late for the scheduled 6pm start of the evening session.

There was a mismatch between the gaming timetable and the main convention programme, which had attendees eating dinner from 6pm to 7pm so the evening games didn’t start until 7pm.

Only one person had signed up to my Steampunk game. He declined a slot I found for him in a Star Trek game on the table next door to mine, but there was plenty going on in the convention for him to do. So I took that slot and had a fun evening as the Doctor on a NX class starship working with colleagues to foil a dastardly Romulan plot. Great fun.

As it’s been running for 30 years, the demographic of ArmadaCon tends to skew towards the mature but most of the players at this table were younger. Possibly the offspring of more seasoned attendees? 
This session was at the same time as the Grand Masquerade and Cabaret so presumably many of the convention goers chose to attend that.

Sunday 2nd November

Another good breakfast. In the morning I played in a great 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game. The second morning of classic old school low level D&D with a mixture of experts and people discovering role-playing games for the first time in their later years. I gave up on trying to be clever and did something I don’t usually do and played a Barbarian. I’ve never enjoyed a 5th Edition game so much.

Lunch was trying to finish up all the left overs from my big spend at Marks and Spencers.

I, again, had no sign-ups for the game I was offering in the afternoon. But the Referee in my morning game asked me for an interview for his podcast. This turned out to be a great way to finish the convention.

Summary

ArmadaCon is a small, eclectic, Science Fiction convention with a real family atmosphere. It has a wide range of activities to take part in and at least two tables of Table-Top Role-Playing Games on offer throughout Saturday and Sunday.

I hadn’t decided to attend until the very last minute and didn’t get to Referee any of my games. But I played in 3 great games and had many other excellent experiences. I’m going to make it a priority to check that it doesn’t conflict with any major gaming conventions in 2026. If it doesn’t I’m certainly going to be back next year. I’ll just plan a bit further in advance to take advantage of early bird offers on travel and accommodation. (And maybe get on the web-site as a “guest”.)

Costs

I’ve decide not to work out a cost per hour of gaming for this convention and may top doing it for all my reports going forward.

Registration: £40 (older person’s concession rate but not “early bird” which would have been a bit cheaper.)

Travel: Birmingham to Plymouth - £33.65
Plymouth to Birmingham - £42.25

Accommodation: £182.24 (Inclusive of breakfast. could have shaved c. £40 off by booking early using convention exclusive rates.)

Total cost excluding food and drink: £298.14

Print of Lager: £6.40

Stop Press: I’ve registered for ArmadaCon 2026!

https://armadacon.org