This weekend (7th/8th April) I would normally have flown up to Scotland for the unique ConPulsion at Edinburgh Uni. But, like so many other events, I've had to skip it.
Then, at the last minute - 2pm on Friday 6th April - I found out I was free to go to DevaCon in Chester. This is a one day event organised by Stephanie McAlea of Stygian Fox Publishing. I'd been aware of it, of course, but had not been monitoring it closely because of my commitment to ConPulsion. It's advertised as a local convention for Chester and North Wales etc. It prides itself on being an inclusive event.
So I booked a train and entrance ticket and posted my intention to attend on Facebook and contacted Stephanie via the website and a couple of other routes. It seemed that loads of games had been organised in advance and publicised via
Facebook. So I doubted that I could slip any of mine in at the 11th hour. Apparently it was OK, though, so I dug out and emailed some old blurbs and sign up sheets from previous conventions for scenarios from my Manifold gamebooks.
Chester isn't too bad from Birmingham. I set out quite early and the journey was fine. I had a bit of a ropey moment when I arrived at Chester and found I'd left my hat on the train. I had to run back to get it. Phew! My flat cap and waistcoat are part of my convention alter ego and I wouldn't want to lose it.
The web-site said the venue - a Crown Plaza hotel - was only a mile from the station and I was early so I chose to walk. I got lost and wet in the rain. I swear Apple maps isn't as easy to use as Google Maps used to be. Still the exercise was good for me and I still arrived early.
As you'd expect, being in a proper hotel the facilities were good. Though it was early the doors to the booked conference room were open and lots people were in. Apart from gaming tables and signup desk (stuck in a corner) and the main desk, there was also a local trader selling TTRPG stuff and and area where the hotel sold drinks and food (burgers, butties, chips etc.)
Some signup sheets were out and some people were already signing up. Many of them, including mine, hadn't arrived yet and I hadn't been able to get any printed myself. When the rest of the sheets arrived it turned out that my Word files hadn't paginated correctly and my sheets were printed across several pages apiece, so I had to rip and stick them to make two very unprofessional looking things.
As I waited to see if I got any players, the room began to fill up. As always with these local conventions there'd apparently been some concern in advance that there might not be enough attendees and there were far too many games on offer. But, as usual, gamers made their minds up at the last minute. The room was full of gamers and I could barely recognise anyone. This is a big and popular hobby.
My Superhero game got no takers, so I pulled it down and looked for something to play. There were half a dozen full tables of TTRPG games, making it a busy and successful convention. The only game with slots left was The Princess Bride. I've never seen the film.
This is a Fudge-based game and is apparently part of a current Kickstarter. It was run by Paul. We chose from pregens. Aaron played Frankie - a female swashbuckler, Andy was a Pirate, James played a French guy - wineglass always in hand and I played the lug.
The artwork and presentation of the game looks good. The interpretation of Fudge seems to work for the game - and there's certainly none of the "tagging aspects" stuff I find so distracting about Fate - but there's nothing particularly clever or inspiring about the rules. They do the job.
It was a straightforward introductory scenario but Paul is a good referee - and it turns out an old aficionado of Golden Heroes - and all the guys were high quality Roleplayers so the session was an absolute joy.
The game finished early. So James pulled out a card game. A bit like "Cards Against Humanity" (which I dislike) but based on you trying to say a TTRPG phrase on a card in the style of a designated NPC. It was a pleasant way to fill the time and some of the phrases on the cards are very funny in their own right.
The morning session was 3.5 hours long with an hour's break for lunch.
My afternoon game - the SciFi scenario form the rulebook - had only one sign up, Andy from the morning game. All the other games on offer were fully signed up. There was one sign up and cross off in a Cthulhu game but not enough for me and Andy. A quick chat with Stephanie and it turned out that Stephen Turner (of Chivalry and Sorcery game) was also at a loose end. Slowly we ended up picking up more players and, before I knew it, I had a table of five.
As it was a "scratch" table I didn't stick to the SciFi scenario offered but let them pick from all four genres in the book and (because I had the pregens with me) my Dr Who and Orville scenarios. They chose Dr Who!
YES! That scenario I've run dozens of times at loads of conventions for three years now was going to get another run out!
Stephen and Pavel chose to run pregens. Stephen picked the Ice Warrior. Pavel chose the 1960's hippie con-man. (It turns out that this character is a bit of a dark horse and can be devastating in the right hands. Pavel handled him very effectively.)
All the others chose to make their own characters. Liam made a Security Guard from the near future. Callum made a Cyborg Space Pirate.
Andy made the philosopher Wittgenstein - in the middle of his military service in WW2 in full uniform with rifle. Quality stuff.
You all know how much I love this scenario and I'm not going to give the details away here. There are still probably a couple of people in the world who haven't played it yet. Let's just say that this was a great group who had great fun and who steamrollered through everything. I'm kicking myself that I forgot about a reroll I'd picked up earlier in the game which I could have used to offset the critical roll which took out the big bad at the end. But that would only have put off the inevitable.
And I got two great quotes about Manifold out of it. Apparently it's:
"High Variance Goofiness"
which I agree with (though I say it has a "cinematic range of outcomes").
But it's also:
"Like the love child of GURPS and Paranoia"
Love it!
The second session was 3.5 hours long with a half hour break at the end. There is a third session in the evening, but I couldn't stay as I had to make my way back to Birmingham.
DevaCon is a pleasant and welcoming convention in a good venue and location. It prides itself on being inclusive - apparently someone was removed right at the start for not sticking to the inclusion policy - and relies upon the niceness of TTRPGers to enable its success. And the people here today were a bloody nice group and the event was a rollicking success. I'd happily come back.
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