As I sit here on the train back from Sheffield to Birmingham, preparing to write about just one day at Seven Hills - the second day - I look back and the morning seems a week away. Is there any other hobby where you cram so much into such a short time? I'm sure there must be, but they don't come to mind.
Breakfast. I left my room, headed up the stairs to breakfast and nearly gave a heart attack to the cleaning lady. I was the first to arrive and popped my toast into the toaster, collected my coffee and was surprised when a hoard of convention-goers all arrived together. It seems everyone else had been waiting for the "proper" door to open and I, somehow, have found a secret back way to get into the Garrison breakfast ahead of the pack. A useful trick that I'll be employing in future.
I had a great breakfast chat with fellow convention organisers (I know I'm rather bigging my qualifications in this area up). It turns out that - guess what - no matter what you do, someone always complains about it.
I'm sure you all already do it but, if you don't, can I humbly suggest that you all take a moment to thank a convention organiser? We need a wave of love to overwhelm the occasional loud moan.
Back to my room to pack and check out. Then I went to my assigned table to set up my morning game - my Blakes Seven scenario. I realise I'm completely out of step with the times on this one. The series isn't on anyone's radar. As I sat there. The table next to me filled up and I had no players arriving. So I went upstairs to check the sign up sheets. As I suspected, I didn't have a single player. Ah well, no worries, I took down my sheet and looked for a game to play.
To my shock, I discovered that the sheets fell into two categories. They were either empty, like mine, or completely filled up. There were no games with any spaces left. I pulled down my sheet and considered going around the tables trying to crash a game or demanding Dr Mitch sort me out a game to play in. Then two guys came in and also checked the sheets. I think one of them was in the same boat as me - a GM with no signups. I pounced and offered them Blakes Seven. He countered with Toon Glorantha. I held firm. (I'm not big on Glorantha.) We grabbed a third player and I had a game to run. Phew!
No Blake but, more surprisingly, no Avon. Vila (naturally), Cally and Tarrant. I've run this scenario a couple of times and this was the best yet. Everyone got into character. Vila tended to dominate earlier on, with Tarrant seeming under powered by comparison but, as soon as conflict started, this switched. I thought I did a much better job running the NPCs than I'd done the previous morning. I got to roleplay Servelan for the first time and even got Avon to make a surprise appearance as an NPC. As usual, because I'm running this at Expo (where it's booked out), I can't discuss the plot details. Suffice to say there were many laugh out load moments, many in-trope scenes and the characters were all portrayed perfectly. Which means we all got to enjoy the marvellous Vila, again! Being a bit of a gonzo Referee I've always tended to randomly roll the effects/powers of the maguffin when/if the characters get control of it. However, the idea they came up with this time was so strong I may seize and use it for all future run outs. It'll be on the random table every time at least. Great game with great players.
Lunch at the Garrison is normally their special Sunday lunch where the huge Yorkshire puddings dominate the plate. But I had some fixings left over from my visit to Morrisons the previous day and am on a bit of an economy kick so I popped down to MacDonalds for a couple of items from their "saver" menu. It's the first time I've popped there at a Garrison con. and I was struck at how close it is to the hotel and how easy it is to nip there and back. I wasn't the only one.
Then you carry your food back and cram into the upstairs room for a chat and wait for the closing ceremony. This starts with the raffle. No tickets required, everyone's name goes in the hat. I won - as often happens - and am now the proud owner of a 5th Ed campaign book (The Curse of Strahd.) Hey, I own the 5th Ed starter pack so I might use it one day. If not there are always bring and buy stalls. The opening of tickets for Furnace was announced and the theme for Seven Hills 2018 was drawn. "Far Frontier". (Anticlimax if you ask me.)
My afternoon game was Simon Beaver's "Stiff upper lip" Fate Hack. You'll have noticed I haven't tended to give surnames in these two Seven Hills reports, but I give Simon's name because he was one of three good convention referees called Simon at the convention and I don't want anyone getting confused when I completely and totally commend his games to you. When he came to the table and began sorting out the pregens, I began to recognise a few things. When you go to as many conventions as I do, you can't remember all the details of every game. I began to worry that I might have played this scenario before. It turned out I HAD played these rules with Simon before and some of the characters were the same. (Some of the players were the same as well.) But it was a brand new adventure. Phew!
"Stiff Upper Lip" is a superb, highly researched, set of rules set at the height of the British Empire and is absolutely spot on in detail and tone. So let's get my reservation out of the way first. The scenario centred around hunting a Maguffin that had been stolen from India by returning members of the East India Company. Some of the citizens of that sub continent had come over to London and were trying to hunt it down - killing people in the process. I felt a bit awkward playing at a table of all white players - and characters - fighting a horde of NPCs antagonists from a different ethnic background. Simon played it straight, it was true to both the history and the fiction of the time ("The Sign of Four" comes to mind), it actually turned out to be sympathetic to our opponents (one of whom was portrayed in a very superior manner) and no-one at the table crossed the line in any way. But I was on tentahooks every moment worried that there might be an inadvertent racist comment. I guess I like my history games to be more revisionist.
That aside, this game was superb. I was struck how close Simon's sensibilities were to my own. We both have "morality" as hit points, for example. The aspects, skills stunts (whatever) are all laugh out loud genre appropriate. And, as I said above, it is meticulously researched. I took the last character, as always, and it turned out that the seemingly straightforward heroic ex-soldier had a deliciously twisted back story. Great fun.
I had accidentally sat right next to the GM for the fourth game of the convention. Normally a sit as far away from the GM as possible because I don't want to dominate the game. I find it hard to wait for my time in the spotlight, especially in the last half hour of the game. I hope I didn't irritate my fellow players too much. They were keen to solve the mystery and find the maguffin before the bad guys to stop the murders. I was keen to roleplay my roguish conman and pretend we'd already found the damn thing and flush them out to be ambushed on our terms (which could, potentially, have included backup from the entire London Police Force.)
The game over-ran slightly so I had to cancel my taxi, order a later one, accidentally steal someone else's and catch a later train - which was delayed. All worth it. "Stiff Upper Lip" is the best iteration of Fate I've played. The system almost makes sense. (Almost. I lost it a bit when an "Invoke" was created and a card dropped on the table.) I really flattered Simon in the hope that I could encourage him to get the bloody thing into print. It's a really fine game.
Whilst waiting for my delayed train, I bumped into Dave M. scion of the U.K. Roleplayers forum and someone to whom the hobby owes a debt of gratitude. Then the train home - where I've just about finished typing this up before my final destination.
Fantastic Convention. Great setting. Fantastic people. I loved my whole weekend.
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