Until recently I was not sure exactly which conventions I'd be going to after Expo. I have a certain number that I'm committed to but I wasn't actively farming for more - as I have done in previous years.
However, things eased up a bit a couple of weeks ago, and I had a few weekends freed up.
I'd been aware of a charity Games Day - for "Ollie's Fund" - in Tring run by the people who have run Gamesfest in Tring for a while. I'm not sure how I originally found out about it, but I'd signed up for their Facebook event a while ago and received a drip feed of announcements ever since. So as soon as I'd stated planning for my post Expo gaming, I dropped them a last-minute line asking if they wanted my to come and run my "Choose Your Own Adventure" set up, which they accepted.
I was totally oblivious to any other options offered by "Free RPG Day."
The organisers certainly did a good job of selling the convention - through Facebook at least - though I'm not sure how widely the word got out. I suspected it was going to be a small local affair but with a wide range of games on offer - the typical more games than players situation I'm used to from Spaghetti Conjunction, South Oxfordshire Games day etc.
The convention was a one day affair, from 10am to 5pm - nominally two game slots. I had no idea where Tring was, but it turned out you get to Milton Keynes and swap trains so it's "down there" somewhere and between 1 and 2 hours travelling. But - hey - I'm an addict in search of a convention gaming fix.
The first shock was getting to Tring station only to find that it's one of those that isn't anywhere near the town it's named for. Almost two miles out of town, in fact. And, carrying my Furnace bag full of my CYOA stuff it would've been stiff walk. So I had to get a taxi into town.
Tring is amazing. Very very twee and old school. Lots of black and white historical buildings (Jacobean?) it'd be a great place to run a LARP. The venue was a town hall type place. When I got in and upstairs, I could see that there was plenty on offer for punters. At least three D&D/Dungeon Crawl tables. A clutch of Wargames, a couple of board games a handful of traders - including Ed Jowett of Shades of Vengence (the Era The Consortium et al guy). Plenty to occupy a hall full of punters.
I grabbed two tables - one to layout my CYOA setup, the other to play on.
10am came and nothing happened. No punters. The D&D referees sensibly got together with a couple of other people there to get at least one game going. The Tring wargamers entertained themselves. I had a great time chatting to Ed. I've bumped into him at a few conventions and have to same sort of relationship with him that I do with Pete Cakebread (One Dice etc). Mock rivalry. Winding each other up. I especially love Ed's monomania - his focus on his products above and beyond all else. However, as always, it's fascinating to chat to fellow game creators. He has a new card game - which doesn't seem to fit with the rest of his line at all - and is bubbling with ideas.
People began to drift in. I was sort of positioned to welcome them but Ed soon jumped in to hijack them to play his card game. (He's so predictable it's funny.) I noticed Lloyd arrive and we chatted about conventions and RPGs. (And he moaned about the distance from the station and the fact that the bus service is highly irregular - hourly I think he said.) I also met a few new people, one of whom was a sculptor aiming to get into RPG figure modelling. (Some of his 3D image work on his phone looked amazing - but what do I know?)
Gamesfest apparently attracts shout 150 people. This event - excluding exhibitors - looked more like it attracted 15. (I may be exaggerating a bit, but not by much). Obviously the organisers hadn't counted on it being such a warm pleasant summers day with lots of other events going on. There was certainly enough on offer to occupy 150 people, sadly not many people turned up to experience it.
I got to run one game for a family of mum, dad and two sons. One of sons had very short hair but I didn't twig that it was actually "Ollie" himself. It was my standard one hour introduction to "D&D". Everyone seemed to enjoy it, though Ollie was the cleverer player and his dad would've done well to listen to his cunning plans. They could've saved the child AND killed the bugbear if he had.
For lunch I turned left and went next door to the pub for the suggested burger and pint. The pint was really pleasant and good value (£2.50 for a pint of specially crafted pale ale). The burger was very pleasant but not such good value (£13). I later found out that I could've turned right to find a range of much more cost effective options.
Despite the poor punter turnout, lots of us bought raffle tickets and there were loads of good prizes. (Ed and I each threw something in of course.) So, overall, a decent amount of money was raised.
The convention wrapped up early - though the second D&D game was still going strong - so Lloyd and I shared a taxi back to the train station. As I'm on an advance single I've been able to come up to Milton Keynes early to sit in comfort and type this. However, I'll have to wait for my booked train to arrive in a a couple of hours, so I'm going to go and find a coffee.
So hours of travel just to run a 1 hour game. Was it worth it? The networking with Lloyd and Ed and lots of other people was great. It's also important to support these small events so we get more and the hobby grows. And, yet again, the hobby has raised money for a good cause. So, yes, I think it was worth it - just! If you see Gamesfest in Tring advertised - I think it's around October time - and you're nearby and want to play, I think that's going to be a more successful event. You should even get takers if you want to offer to run a game - but don't hold me to that.
Just be prepared for that extra journey to and from the station.
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