Winter StabCon 2018

I love StabCon. However, most of you won't need to read this report because I've posted and written about it so many times and it's always the same. (Which is why it's so flipping great!)

So:

TLDR: remains the cheapest residential convention by far. Friendly atmosphere. Mainly board games but RPGs are growing. I ran four Manifold games and played in one Savage Worlds. All games fully booked mostly with returning players who seek out my games StabCon after StabCon.

StabCon is twice per year, Winter and Summer, in Stockport. It's residential, in a low cost hotel and is very popular. The convention can host 300 attendees and was fully booked out for Saturday well in advance of the event.

Because of the way the dates fell this year, it was in the last weekend of my Christmas Holiday, so I had the luxury of travelling down quite early on Friday - instead of rushing to get there after work. In theory that meant I could arrive in time to fit in an extra game session Friday afternoon. However, there is relatively little pre-convention chatter prior to this event and I wasn't able to round up any players before the day.

What I did do, however, was to pop into Element Games in Stockport to have a meeting about the Convergence convention being held there in March. From their website I had the impression that I'd left it too late in the day to throw my hat into the ring as a GM. A face to face meeting disabused me of that notion and I could see how it suited my needs for early 2018. So it was well worth having the chat. I also got one of the guys to carry fliers for Spaghetti ConJunction and Manifold down to Contingency. Win, win!

So I got to StabCon mid afternoon. There was a queue for checking into the hotel. Apparently they'd been strict this year and not allowed anyone to check in before 2:00pm anyway, so if I'd arrived earlier the queue would probably have been even longer. The hotel is at the cheaper end, just over £100 for two nights including breakfast. But it has been recently refurbished so is good value for money. And there is a great synergy between the convention organisers and the Hotel with its friendly and accommodating staff.

After dropping my bags in the room, I went to sign in at the convention. As usual I received my personally hand made name badge. These must take ages to make and show real commitment on the part of the organisers. I booked tables for my RPG games and turned to pin up my sign up sheets. I noticed two things. Firstly, there were far more RPGs being offered than at the last StabCon - and the ones already pinned up were already booked out. Secondly, this year everyone seemed to be using the typed A5 "house" signing up forms. My fully colour A4 sign up sheets looked a bit out of place and seemed to take up rather too much space.

I ordered my usual StabCon evening meal (12" American Hot Pizza) and waited for my evening game to start. This is one of the rare games I play in and the only regular campaign in which I have a continuing character. Savage Worlds Pulp - Indiana Jones with minor Superpowers. (I basically play a WW1 cyborg.) Great GM, wonderful group of players. Always a great way to start the convention.

During a comfort break I noticed all the games on the RPG board - including mine - were fully signed up, and there were even more people scanning the board looking for games to sign up to. StabCon remains primarily a board game convention but the  RPG games seem to be getting more and more popular.

Because the beer is reasonably priced - and the convention bar is open to midnight -  I drank quite a bit and nearly got sucked into a card game. However I ducked out and got to bed just before midnight.

I got up early and ate the adequate hotel breakfast as soon as it opened at 7:00am. This gave me time to get set up for the day.

2018 is going to be the year of MANIFOLD my multi-genre RPG. I need to promote and hone it. Every RPG opportunity I get in the first half of 2018, I'll have to run Manifold. So at StabCon 2018 I offered to run three of the four example scenarios from the rulebook.

In the morning I ran the Science Fiction scenario. Pure TV space opera. Fully booked with 5 players, I think I'd run games for all of them before. Particularly pleased have a father and his two daughters at the table with me. They seem to choose to play one of my games every single StabCon. It's really gratifying.

As the pilot film of a TV series the scenario is written to bring together 5 disparate characters. This group fragmented immediately with, at one point, all 5 in different locations. In an indigenous alien native's hut, in an audience with their parliament, a prisoner of the catlike aliens in their orbiting ship, being tortured by the captain and, finally, drifting in space in an escape pod! Bringing them together for the climax took some work. But it was fun.

The afternoon was the Fantasy scenario from the rulebook. Again this was fully booked including one player who I know of old. I first came across him four decades ago. I was extremely gratified to see him signing up. Two of the other players were ones who'd played in my Dr Who scenario at a previous StabCon and were happy to regale me with stories of it. It had had a stunning climax that even I remember. A further player was one who'd played in the morning SciFi game. He told me I had refereed for him before and told me I was his favourite GM. This is all incredibly gratifying.

Another group of fun players. I'd been worried that this scenario was the weakest in the book and was considering updating or replacing it. However, it worked really well. To be honest I found myself telling the story rather than bringing it to life by fully Roleplaying every NPC, but the players seemed happy. The wise old player, however, spotted every trope and managed to cleverly short circuit the bad guy's plan (to the extent that he was probably lynched off-stage by his disgruntled followers), so the game finished a bit early after only three hours. But no-one complained.

After tea I ran the Superhero game from the rules. Most of the group were players who'd played with me in the Saturday slot at StabCon before. However, those scenarios were horror ones - including the one from the Manifold rulebook. I felt guilty about not having a new horror scenario for them but it's not a genre I have many ideas for. So of the three scenarios on offer, they'd requested the Superhero one. This is the one where you play Superheroes who have to track down their old mentors, who've come out of retirement, before they do themselves an injury. The twist worked well and we had a satisfying climax. So, effectively I've got a regular Saturday night group now. I REALLY need to sort out a horror adventure for them next time.

Sunday morning was, as always, my Star Wars campaign. I ran a refight of "The Force Awakens" two years ago at StabCon when the film came out and the players have been returning for more every convention since. Today was the 5th chapter in what was meant to be a one off game.

TBH, though the game, the characters and the players are all great I'm finding the Star Wars universe - especially the contemporary one with the "First Order" etc. a very limited setting for designing adventures. So I had a chat with them after the game. We agreed to park the campaign and start a Superhero one in the summer.

There is time for another game Sunday afternoon but as I'd got work Monday morning, I set off home early. I have stayed for afternoon games in the past, though, making it a six game weekend.

I made sure to book into StabCon Summer - as I always do - before leaving. You can't afford to leave it to chance.

Obviously I'd recommend StabCon whole heartedly. It's a family atmosphere where everyone knows everyone and I get regular players returning to my game offerings. Still the cheapest residential convention of the year by far with a bar that stays open until midnight. You have to get in early to book a place and it's a bit quirky and eclectic so you might need a guide the first time you come. (Feel free to ask if you need help.)