TLDR: Concrete Cow RPG convention. Twice a year. Milton Keynes. Well organised. Great games. Essential. Should be part of everyone's convention calendar. Numbers seemed to be down which is a shame.
I've written about Concrete Cow more times than any other convention. It's held in a Community Hall, in Wolverton, a suburb just outside Milton Keynes, twice a year. The Hall is on a high street near the station next to a Supermarket, food outlets etc. It's a perfect location
I've done it so many times, it's now routine. Though you're not bound to it, you're asked to tell the organisers which games you want to offer in advance so they can list them on the website. Which I did.
Then I caught my usual train. As always, with no preplanning, bumped into Pookie my fellow Spaghetti ConJunction organiser. We chatted. The 90 minute journey from Birmingham was pleasant. We arrived in good time. £5 entry (profits to charity). If you're offering to run a game in the morning, you put down a sign up sheet you've made. There's a good template on the website (recommended but not required) and blank ones are available on the day to make a hand written sheet.
Normally there's time to nip next door to the supermarket to buy some supplies but I just spent my time chatting to old mates. This included James, the other SCJ Mavern, so we had a committee meeting. I was disappointed to see numbers seemed to be down on previous events. 40-50 people I'd guess. There were three traders.
Just before ten o'clock is signups. This is random via ticket. There is no prebooking. Nothing - the exact games offered, who plays in what - is decided until the day. It's the fairest system I know. But you do have to be prepared to take pot luck.
Games offered tend to be outside the mainstream - no 5th Ed, Pathfinder etc - but still accessible. Pulp Cthulhu for example. You're taking pot luck and there doesn't seem to be a pattern as to what runs and what doesn't. But there are more than enough games offered to cover the players there and all of them look to be at least good. At least a third are offered by what I'd rate as "top" Referees. So you'll definitely get into a game you'll enjoy and probably get into one game on the day which will be memorable.
The morning game is three and half hours. Against all logic and expectations, I got a full table of 6 players for my d6 based old school run out of the rules and scenario from the forthcoming "Role Playing Relief" book we're writing. (To sell in aid of Comic Relief. Copies coming soon.) The table spanned from an RPG newbie to some very crusty and experienced old hands. Yes, they decided to set the party up as a gang running a collection racket, who worshipped the Goddess "Moolah", but they were all determined to have fun. The rules were basically validated but I learnt a lot.
Lacking supplies I availed myself of the free tea and coffee in the kitchen during a comfort break.
There's an hour's break for lunch. I was going to the supermarket to buy a meal deal as usual but bumped into Steve who was going for chips and tagged along. He also showed me the plates and cutlery in the kitchen we're allowed to use. So lunch became a very pleasant experience. I'll do that again.
Afternoon sign ups go in reverse order to the morning. If you went last before, you're first now. It's very fair.
My "East End bank job goes sideways"using my own multi-genre rules - garnered three players. Enough. At least two of them were southern lads (Luton) with appropriate accents and all three brought the fun.
This was another new scenario for me. Though from one viewpoint it seems cheeky, I used the "players design the scenario" approach. Rather than prepare a detailed bank vault, for example, I asked the players to each give me two security features and I added two secret ones. They seemed fine to go with this approach and it went well.
As I'd half expected they sunk their teeth into the heist element and side-stepped the secret Cthulhu "bait and switch" bit. There was very little combat, most of it was resolved by intimidation and stunt driving. Turned out to be an enjoyable puzzle solving session with lots of great gags but very little jeopardy. I enjoyed it and they certainly seemed to. I'll run this one again.
There is a third game in the evening but experience has shown that staying for it isn't cost effective for many reasons. So I left just after the raffle (great prizes, good chance of winning, for charity, buying tickets very recommended). Pookie did as well. Pleasant joumey home.
As an RPG convention Concrete Cow is simply flawless. Understated excellence. Should be on everyone's essential annual calendar. TWICE! You'd need to have a good reason NOT to go in my opinion. For me it's up there with Expo and the best of the Garrison cons. Which makes the drop in numbers surprising and a bit upsetting. The next Concrete Cow is in March 2019. Let's all go and give the old girl some support, eh?
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