"Choose your Adventure" is back on the road!
I've never been to a Steampunk convention before. The July "Convivial" is one of a number of events of that name held around the country on different dates. This one was in New Malden in Greater London. It was held over two days, Saturday and Sunday. Looking at the cost of a hotel in the area, it seemed sensible for me to just dip my toe into the water and treat it as a day trip this first time. (Sorting the trains out took some finagling but I eventually managed to beat even the Split Ticketing websites on cost and flexibility.)
The convention seems to be knowing celebration of the great British Eccentric with events such as Teapot Racing, Tea Duelling, Worseminton etc.
So I got up stupid o'clock in the morning and travelled down to London. The route and connections are actually very straightforward once you've done the journey. The event is close to New Malden station and is based in a Church and a pub over the road (or vice versa).
I was based in the middle of the trading area in the main church hall, surrounded by a dozen or so stalls. Amongst the clothes and other Steampunk items, there was a table full of crystals and - next to each other - a stall selling knitwear octopi and a stand with half a dozen live snakes for people to hold. Eclectic.
The Church Hall was directly adjacent to the main body of the church where music acts were "setting up". The noise level gave me concerns that - once they started playing - I wouldn't be able to hear any players I might get. I suggested to the organiser that I move to the Foyer of the hall but he said I could over to other part of the event in the the pub if I wanted.
The Pub.
I moved right over!
The actual event was in the function room upstairs and seemed full so I set up on a table in the main part of the pub. Getting interest was intermittent but I did get to run three games:
Two parents and a son played through my standard "The Evolution of Species" introductory scenario. This was fun as always with the son's character whipping up an ambulatory flame thrower at the end which ended up killing as many hostages as bad guys.
This climax was watched by a couple of people who I corralled into an immediate game. As they'd seen the climax of my usual scenario, I brought out one of the two new ones I'd thought up for this convention. "One of our Dinosaurs is Missing". I thought: evil scientist, shrink ray, kidnapped Brontosaurus. No problem. I wasn't expecting the character's souped up automobile leading a Godzilla sized Brontosaur on a chase across the Home Counties before luring it into an unstable quarry via a "Thelma and Louise" style leap. One of the players bought the game and bought me a drink.
Then it was a long wait until, just before the end, I had a young couple play through "Evolution of Species" again. In a rare turn of events, they did as asked and took evidence to the Police instead of trying to sort matters out themselves. This gave them Police back-up and they resolved the final battle extremely well - capturing the bad guy and converting his Frankenstein-type creation to their side. They bought me a drink as well.
Because of my positioning, I didn't see much of the rest of the event - though there was some good mass ukulele playing in the beer garden. The costumes were great as you'd expect with a predominance of Pith helmets and Khaki due to the weather. Everyone was very friendly and though I only had three games I had a lot of interesting chats.
Was it worth it? The jury's out. Maybe thinking a bit more about the position of my table would help and if we can build up a repeated presence, people might start expecting it and looking for it. But it's competing in a convention jam-packed with myriad other events. There was a lot of waiting about but the three games I played were - as always - so much FUN that it just about made up for it. One to go to if it fits a gap in my diary, I think, but as a one day visit. Not worth paying for a hotel yet, for me.
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