Conquord 2017 - day 1

Conquord 2017 Day One:

There was an old lady that swallowed a spider...........

Faded with a plethora of choices on International Tabletop Gaming Day, I opted to attend Conquord. Partially through loyalty (the organisers have always been very good to me) partly through convenience (Bristol is a darn sight easier to get to than Dorchester), partly because I totally support it going up from one day to two days and partly because I know it's going through growing pains and really needs the support.

Games were pre-advertised via a rather scrappy website and GMs were invited to run "quests" making players want to come to play their games. (You'll have seen me posting my "quests" on here.) There were a range of activities on offer, not just RPGs, and it looked to be an interesting convention.

I booked a one night stay in Bristol as the hotel rates are relatively high. It's a popular destination, and advance-booked some specific single tickets to get the lowest travel rates possible. I was able to get up reasonably early in Birmingham, get a 7:42 train and get into Bristol in time to walk to venue. It's a stiffish walk from the station but manageable. The entrance is down a side road and took me a couple of tries to find.

I think it was same venue as last year. However, whereas last year both floors were a single business - bistro downstairs and function room upstairs - I think that business has gone bust. The two floors are separate entities. The convention was in the upstairs room which is now a small comedy club.

Which is where one of ConQuord's quirks comes in. There was a show on in the evening so the Saturday of the event had time for two 3.5 hour sessions and we had to be finished by 4:30 and out by 5:00.

People were thin on the ground. Initially there didn't seem to be many people but - like last year - people elected play my game. The Great Martian Tripod Race - again! One by one the table swelled until it passed the GM plus 6 mark and hit the GM plus 7, which meant we could split into two table of GM plus 3. So Dr Bob was able to offer her Dropship Down scenario - again!

Characters were duly made. An Engineer, a "percussive mechanic" (fixed things by hitting them) and a Martian Entrepreneur. Not a Martian who was an entrepreneur but an entrepreneur who dealt with Martians. A guy who'd popped into say hello to his mates and offer support was co-opted in halfway through and given a pregen - a charming Knight of the realm (who'd been travelling with a circus - go figure) and we were off.

This wonderful scenario by Martin Pickett always delivers. Through a fluke combination of technical, business and social skills and useful character subplots - one character has a secret Martian lover, another was secretly half Martian - they were the most effective group ever to tackle this scenario, but I don't think they realised this, and a good time was had by all.

Then lunch - the bar opened early and I had a pint of lager. I'd bought my own lunch but the venue is within 5 minutes of every kind of outlet. So even though the break was only 30 minutes, you could nip out to (eg) a supermarket and easily grab something in plenty of time.

After lunch everyone agreed let me GM again and I ran my Anime scenario - Kong Island Raiders. Because at least one person has left, we went to a single table and I had six players. An archeologist, a biologist, a vet, a physicist, a big game hunter and a cyborg commando. Because we started late, the larger number of players and a couple of plot derailments, only one of the group received their "Power Ranger" style upgrade and the characters never found the ancient Mecha. Oh, and they released the giant spiders (you were expecting an ape?) to run riot on the island. Hopelessly outclassed (except for the mutated character who became queen of the spiders), it became a case of a hasty retreat with the big game hunter willing to sacrifice his life buy time for his comrades to escape. But someone rolled a double and introduced a new plot element (you know my game system) - giant wasps to attack the giant spiders.  Then, when THESE proved to be a threat, someone introduced giant birds to eat the giant wasps. When THESE proved to be an even bigger threat than the wasps.........

Somehow - I'm still not sure how - the group avoided a TPK. It was a laughter filled but gonzo session.

After our early departure from the convention venue, a group of 8 of us hied to a local restaurant to have a friendly chat and grab us some vittles. I'd've been happy to check into my hotel room and watch Dr Who or pop into the cinema next to the venue to watch The Gardens of the Galaxy, I was invited around to Dr Bob's for a game of The Gentle Ladies Tea, Monstrosity Destroying and Quilting auxiliary. I've seen her offer this, successfully, at conventions before and was keen to try it. It was a really pleasant way to spend the evening but the designer in me found the game frustrating. There's a lot to it and the system's seem clever and well balanced but it felt like half a game. I felt like, if I got my hands on it, I might be able to finish it off and turn it into something - but I've already got too much on my own plate.

Then back to my hotel where I'm typing this. I've had a great day.

If, YOU'VE had a great day tabletop gaming wherever you are, can you please let us all know about it here. I'm really interested to know how all the other events went.