LEEDS STEAMPUNK MARKET 7th/8th December 2019

LEEDS STEAMPUNK MARKET 7th/8th December 2019

As you know, over the past couple of years I’ve started to fill in my slate of convention-going by going to non-Gaming geek/nerd events. I offer to run short demonstration TTRPG scenarios to introduce people to this wonderful hobby

Some of my best and worst experiences have been at Steampunk conventions. Best because Steampunks are remarkably splendid people. It’s something they pride themselves on. Also, many Steampunks put a lot of effort into creating a Steampunk “persona” - which is not dissimilar to creating a TTRPG character. Worst because the events are rammed with things for them to do and many people simply don’t have time to sit down for a game.

And I’ve come to love the two worlds I run Steampunk games in. My own alt-Victorian British Commonwealth setting and Martin Pickett’s Victorian Colony of Mars.

A few weeks ago I was sent an email by the Organisers of the Leeds Steampunk market. I’d written to them previously offering games but their events had never matched a gap in my diary. This time, however, it slotted neatly into the pre-Christmas convention drought. (There’s never anything between Dragonmeet and the New Year.)

It wasn't addressed to me personally but was a general mailing. Rather than feeling slighted this actually pleased me. It meant that Steampunk organisers are now proactively thinking about offering games at their events. AND that they have a list of people to approach to offer them. Looks like we're going mainstream. (Steam-stream?)

For some reason the event wasn't actually in Leeds but had been moved to Castleford, a place I was completely unfamiliar with. I found cheap accommodation and booked a train. Luckily I could travel up Saturday morning and save paying for Friday night lodgings.

The event was a two day one but had nothing happening in the evening. As usual when this happens I looked around for a venue to offer a game in the evening if I could find players, but nothing leapt out at me. I did have one pub recommended to me, so I kept it in my back pocket just in case.

I did some minor promotion through the event's FaceBook page but - to be honest - most of my focus was on Dragonmeet and I didn't do as much as I usually do.

So I got up early Saturday morning and set off. Because I just can't trust the buses early Saturday morning in Birmingham, I got a taxi into the city. This got me to New Street station early enough to catch an earlier train. However, after I'd boarded, I checked my new route only to find it included a 46 minute walk between stations in Wakefield! I quickly got off and waited for my pre-arranged train.

Everything was fine until we got to Sheffield where I was due to change trains. Then -as it so often does - the UK train system imploded. For the longest time there were no trains out of Sheffield and - when there were - none seemed to go to Castleford. Luckily I was looked after by a very helpful young man won told me - eventually - to just get onto a train to Barnsley and to get off there to look for a connection to Castleford. After this safari around the North of England, I was over an hour and half late getting to the event.

But, and I can't stress this enough, because I'm a professional and build in buffer time I was still there before the event opened.

The venue was an old water mill. The biggest stone ground mill in the world? It's on a weir and the view out of the windows are stunning. It's been partially refurbished as a multi-use venue and is full of amazing spaces with oak beams, girders and many huge iron features. The games room was on the top floor but there was a lift. It was large, light and airy. A perfect place to play. I found most of the tables were already taken over by a young couple offering board games. I'd worked with them before at the Fantasticon SciFi convention.

There was also a table in the room reserved for the "Coffee Jousting". I was aware that many Steampunk Events had "Tea Duelling" but this was first experience of this version. Apparently Tea Duelling has evolved and there is now a National Governing body which only register victories from officially affiliated events. Hence this iteration, whose rules were totally totally different but just as complicated and were informed by the same ethos.

We waited. And waited. I'm used to things being slow at Steampunk events. In fact my morning spiel normally tells people to look around and come back to play a game when they want to rest their feet because we have the chairs!

However, this was even slower than usual. The event opened at 11:00 am but it was 11:48 before the first people even found the room and they didn't stay very long. We were on the top floor, it turned out, at the top of a secondary staircase. In fact when I popped out for a drink and something to eat (the Mill has an exceptional tea shop - and bar - attached to it) I couldn't find my way back our room. The door to our staircase was very obscure.

Eventually a family of three - mum, dad and son - accompanied by the son's friend, sat down to play. The dad was a TTRPG referee in his own right and I was mainly interested in showing his wife what the hobby was all about. We were joined by the son of one of the traders and I ran a game of the "The Occidental Express".

This is one of those scenarios which  started off as a title suggested by someone on an online forum which is rapidly developing a life of its own. Five huge Steam-liners joined together to make a single huge ocean train. What could possible go wrong?

Luckily the game was a hoot - literally. (I wasn't expecting the extremely vicious Owl that popped in to guest star.) The kids seemed more interested in robbing the casino than solving the mystery. The dad - who was like a hyperactive kid himself - went full noir private eye. Whilst the mum sighed, rolled her eyes, and did all the sensible stuff. The game coincided with the coffee jousting and may have been so loud that it interfered with that. But I didn't really care, I was having so much fun.

But that was literally the only game I ran all day. The board games seemed to get very little interest as well. Whilst tweeting about it, I was invited to an event in Leeds the following day and began to make arrangements to jump ship.

However, at the end of the day, and unprompted, the organisers moved us to a room on the main staircase lower down where we'd get more passing trade. So I decided to give the event another chance on Sunday.

Though I remembered to pack my Top Hat away, I forgot about the waistcoat and bow tie. So I checked into my accommodation (a "salt of the earth" type pub) and walked the streets of Castleford to an nearby ("salt of the earth") Fish Restaurant still wearing them! I must have looked a real sight!

Sunday morning was a revelation. The sub £30 room came with included continental breakfast - hot being a bit extra. I was considering buying the hot breakfast to fill up but the morning staff at the pub made the cold offering as good as anything you'd find in a four star hotel. The fruits looked individually polished.  I filled my boots and was VERY happy.

The Sunday room was smaller but busier. We got more passing trade. There was a close-up magician who was so good he made my brain hurt. I had to tell him to go away. What he was doing was literally impossible.

I ran three games of The Black Hack. Most of my clientele were children accompanied by a smaller number of adults. Some stayed on for more than one game. It was lucky I've now got three totally different demonstration scenarios. My favourite punter was a granny who was looking for a game to play with her grand-children at Christmas. Though I was able to show her the principles of TTRPGs, I wasn't able to recommend an out-of-the-box game which would do the job in the same way that Monopoly used to. I need to do some research there.

At the end of the day, I checked the trains and the system had imploded again. I set off a bit early on a wing and a prayer - heading in the wrong direction - via Leeds and managed to connect with a delayed train home. In fact I ended up getting home earlier than I'd planned.

This event was an end of the year poser for me. Going to conventions costs money, time and effort. I need to look at the costs and benefits. I ended up with four one hour games over a weekend, which I'd call a net loss. Sometimes - like when I ran games at The Town That Never Was Steampunk event - I'd call it a Loss Leader, making contacts and preparing the ground for a more successful year next year. However, before I do a Steampunk MARKET again (as opposed to a Convention) I think I'd have to insist on having a highly visible place near the front of the event.

I'd always recommend visiting a Steampunk event. They are lovely welcoming places full of splendid people. What ComiCons should be but too often aren't. But they aren't all set up to make the best use of somebody like me.

Dragonmeet 2019

Dragonmeet 2019 - Saturday 30th November - Hammersmith, London

TLDR - A massive pre-Christmas all-you-can eat buffet of a convention. Too much to fit into a single day. Whatever you’re looking for you’ll find it here.

Dragonmeet has been going for years. As the big analogue gaming event in the nation’s capital you’d expect it to be one of the country’s premiere events. Though it has always been good, it has had trouble in the past living up to it’s potential - in my humble opinion.

Recent years have seen an upturn with it moving to bigger and bigger venues and expanding its size and the breadth of what it offers. This hasn’t always been an easy process. Though the 2018 event was large and successful, the event outgrew traditional paper-based game booking systems, for example, with some unfortunate consequences.

But the current organisers pressed on. The same venue - a huge convention hotel in Hammersmith London - was used again but with far more space booked. The convention was advertised months in advance and referees were asked to submit games.

Though the convention caters for all manner of “analogue” (non-computer) games, this blog only concerns itself with #TTRPGS and these come in several different packages at Dragonmeet. There are living world games prebooked and organised by their respective societies. Traders selling and demonstrating their games - and all the new and latest games can be found here. Then there is a wonderful “Games on Demand Room” where you can drop in to play 2 hour games, with new games starting every hour. Of course there’s lots of open gaming space and people come and set up ad hoc games. Finally - and of most interest to me - there’s the organised track of 4 hour games.

For this latter we were asked to submit games months in advance. This always gives me some pause because I always worry that my tastes may change before the day. So I left it until the last minute - mere weeks before the day - and submitted a Steampunk game for the morning, a Star Trek Game for the afternoon and a quirky game based on a Channel 4 comedy series in the evening. My games were advertised on the web-site. I was a bit put out by the number and quality of other games on offer and wondered if I’d even get any players.

If you offer to run games, you get free entry to the convention - so it’s well worth offering to run one game session as you’re left with plenty of time to experience everything else.

Then, as the convention neared, the organisers announced they were introducing an electronic prebooking system for #TTRPGS. This is pretty typical to be honest. Dragonmeet is like an Iceberg with 90% of the work and preparation going on behind the scenes - out of sight. Things are only announced when they’re finalised. Often quite late in the day.

To prevent people booking games and then not turning up to play - a problem with pre-booking systems and some #TTRPG players - there was a nominal £2 charge per ticket - on top of entry to the convention - but this money was donated to charity.

Then we had the pre-convention fun of checking our games to see if we had any bookings. My Star Trek game booked out almost immediately. My Steampunk game was slower. My quirky evening game gained no traction, but I’d half expected that. (My evening game hadn’t run in 2018.)

Days before the event communications boosted at all levels. PDFs of the - impressive - programme were emailed to all attendees and Game Referees received clear instructions.

One of the drawbacks of Dragonmeet is that it is a full day in London near Christmas. If you want to stay to the end, you either need to be local or book overnight accommodation which is pretty expensive. (Though convenient, staying at the convention hotel is costly.) To be honest, I’d resigned myself to Dragonmeet being a one short one-day event for me - travelling down in the morning and back home later, missing the evening session, most years. But the British railway system spoilt even that, with me often being delayed by late trains. (This year there was an actual Train Strike on the day of the event!) Luckily in recent years and in return for a couple of favours I’ve had people kindly offer to put me up in London, so I can travel down Friday evening and back on Sunday - enjoying the whole Dragonmeet day.

If you can only get there for morning and afternoon sessions, the event is still amazing but if you CAN stay for the whole thing, it’s even better.

Hammersmith is easy to get to from anywhere in London. I heard of people booking cheaper accommodation elsewhere in the city and travelling to and from the con on public transport options they’d researched, so you don’t even have to stay particularly nearby. The nearby shopping precinct above the underground station has lots of great places to grab a bite to eat. 

Not having to rush down, I booked a cheaper train for Friday evening and had a pleasant and relaxed journey and pre-convention night with my acquaintances. I rose early Saturday morning, grabbed breakfast, bought some comestibles from a nearby supermarket and went to the venue well before opening time. As a Referee I was let in early and was able to find my gaming room and select and set up a table. From my point of view everything seemed well organised.

I had some time to browse the two trade halls and other offerings. This included the excellent programme - which includes #TTRPG scenarios and a Space Whale Game. Nome of these were needed but they were great inclusions.

I was surprised how many traders had seemed to leave setting up until the morning of the event. However, I suppose they also want to avoid the London accommodation costs and travel to and from the venue in a single day. It must be hard work for them (but profitable).

Apart from the two trade halls - which seem to sell everything anyone could want (and more) - and all the gaming I listed above, Dragonmeet also has a massive bring and buy area, an excellent  programme of seminars, a podcast zone - where listeners and broadcasters can meet - and is the big annual industry meet up. Anyone who is anyone is there - somewhere.

And this is another issue with the event - there’s simply too much for any one person to do. You have to carefully plan your day and - even then - you’ll probably have to miss out something you wanted to do. I don’t see how anyone could claim they’re not getting their money’s worth.

In a cunning bit of planning, doors open for #TTRPG players at 9:00am, aiming to have games starting by 9:30am. The trade halls don’t open until 10:00am. Thousands of people come to the convention and this smart idea staggers the opening, reducing the queues - a bit.

Any games which are fully prebooked or which have only once space left are considered full. Any games with two or more spaces spare have written sign-up sheets which punters can sign into on the day. These one the day sign ups are free.

This is the first year of the electronic pre-booking system and it is excellent. It certainly ameliorated all the issues with having hundreds of people trying to sign into games on the day. However, I hope in a future upgrade they’re able to produce more attractive on-the-day signup sheets. 

Gaming takes place in conference rooms on the floor above the trade halls. Tables in each room are left free so games don’t encroach on each other. In fact some referees chose to push tables together to make larger tables for their games. I like to keep my tables small and intimate. But they needed room for all the gaming bling they’d brought - which, I’ll admit, slightly intimidated me. I may need to up my game a bit in future years to compete.

As I’ve said, my first game was Steampunk. This was an expansion of a one hour demonstration which I’d taken round Steampunk conventions in 2019 which had begun to develop a mind of its own. Giant Drill, Hollow Earth, Dinosaurs. You know the kind of thing. Great players, great fun. Oddly for me I over-ran into lunchtime. However as the lunch break at Dragonmeet is now two hours that was no problem.

For lunch you have the option of eating in the hotel - expensive but high quality - nipping out to one of the nearby hostelries or snacking on your own smuggled in goodies. (Remember my visit to the Supermarket earlier on?)

I then had a full 90 minutes to tour the trade halls, chat to friends, visit the podcast zone etc. (I resisted the urge to tell them who I was and trying to get them to interview me.) This was enough time to remind me that my “thing” is refereeing games and all of the other convention stuff just doesn’t interest me. 

My afternoon Star Trek game was great. Players just turned up, picked their characters and we had a great time. Uhuru and Sulu were a bit more proactive than usual. Kirk seemed a bit bewildered. Scotty and Spock were both spot on. In fact Spock was so effective that I had great fun reining him in by having a female Vulcan scientist outranking him in every field and questioning his logic. (Of course she turned out to be a Romulan spy and revenge was sweet.)

The break between the afternoon and evening games was shorter than at lunchtime. The trade halls close in the evening and most people seem to leave then to go home or go out socialising in the big city. My plan was find a game which needed an extra player and join in.

For speed I chose to eat in the hotel. There was a buffet which was a bit pricey (£18) but was proper restaurant food and the gamer-friendly all you can pile on your plate idea appealed to me. I also enjoyed a pint of lager. Whilst hotel prices - £5 isn’t bad for London and is still cheaper than UK Games Expo. (Which being in Birmingham should be cheaper.)

I then waited around the signup sheets seeing which games needed a player. When there were a handful of us in the same boat I cheekily offered them a Steampunk game - and ended up with a 5 player game! I ran my classic Missing Dinosaur game and it delivered as always. Though this bunch didn’t choose to turn the mad scientist in to the authorities, instead electing to seize his crazy inventions for their own commercial ends. Great fun though.

Then back to my accommodation and an early journey home on Sunday.

Ten different people visiting Dragonmeet would have ten different days out, all good. The expansion in size and electronic booking system for games seem to have made it even better. On a personal note, finding ways to do the whole day cost effectively has transformed my approach to and view of the event. It’s more relaxed and less rushed.

It’s an essential part of most people’s calendar and one they look forward to. Though a great event to arrive at ad hoc, it’s best enjoyed with some careful and cunning pre-planning.

Grogmeet - 9th November 2019 - Fan Boy 3, Manchester

Grogmeet, 9th November 2019 - Fan Boy 3, Manchester

TLDR: Offshoot of the charming Grognard Files podcast. Clear USP. Games from "back in the day" for players who were there to see them. Heaven for Grognards.

There is an extremely quirky and charming UK based podcast where the host "Dirk the Dice" talks "bobbins" about games from "back in the day" - the early days of the hobby from the 1970's and 80's. It is an absolute delight and, through its consistency and success - they've even interviewed Ken St Andre! - has developed somewhat of a cult audience. With its success it's diversified into a classically-styled fanzine, an online convention and a face to face convention.

Full disclosure - I never seem to have the time to listen to it. I'm aware of it because Dirk interviewed me about the early days of Golden Heroes. I'm not part of a fan group or the patreon for the podcast. So when the second Grogmeet was organised, I didn't look into it or consider attending as I thought it was for fans and patreon supporters of The Grognard Files. But Dirk invited me personally to run Golden
Heroes and it would have been churlish to refuse.

As is becoming common these days, the convention was managed mainly through Social Media, especially Twitter. So attendees were individually micromanaged prior to the event with games being advertised in advance and booked into via the
WarHorn app.

The con was initially billed as a one-day event but, as the date drew nearer and people began chatting on Twitter, it seemed grow. A game of "Mothership" was offered on "Grogmeet Eve" - the day before - which somehow seemed to grow into a mini event of its own. I don't know all the details but some people posted about playing two games on the Friday before the main event and there was some drinking. This passed me by. Probably a good thing as I work on Friday and would have been too tired had I come up.

A live recording of the podcast in front of an audience was also arranged for the Sunday. So there was scope for a full weekend event. Especially if you enjoy socialising, drinking and are a fan of the podcast.

But for me, it remained a one day event.

Though I was invited to Referee Golden Heroes, the event suffers from the UK curse of having far far too many brilliant referees offering games. So I was asked to Referee in a slot and play in the other slot. Games booked up via WarHorn incredibly quickly as people rushed to play the ones they wanted. Whether a classic game and scenario from back in the day that they'd never played but always wanted to, or just relive old times with a system they'd always loved. I wasn't that bothered and left choosing to the last minute and promptly forgot what I'd picked.

Twitter based cons are as much about the anticipation as the event. The run-up the the event was a flurry of excited tweets. Dirk posting about the Grog-merchandise he'd commissioned, people for whom this seems to be their only or first con posting about their game prep etc. TBH seeing everybody  posting their game bling made me feel a bit ashamed about my own fairly basic prep. Just taking the old stuff out of the wardrobe and dusting it off.

Birmingham to Manchester is a short hop, so I decided to travel up in the morning and back the same day, making it a simple two slot game day for me. Because I was running a trad SHRPG, I was travelling with maps and figures. Grrr. I prefer modern times. "Theatre of the Mind"  - less to carry.

As so often happens I bumped into Pookie, my fellow convention organiser of Spaghetti ConJunction, and we spent the journey chatting about the next SCJ and putting the TTRPG world to rights generally.

Grogmeet takes place in Fan Boy 3. This is a superb gaming venue and is rapidly becoming one of the key UK TTRPG convention hotspots. It may be the best game day venue in country. Certainly if any TTRPG event is arranged there, I'll consider coming. (Unless - BurritoCon - it's on the same date as one of my own events....) I thoroughly recommend it as a venue if you see an event advertised there or want to run one of your own.

We arrived shortly before the doors opened. A small group of fans were there early and Dirk arrived and began handing out minty balls to suck on to keep out the cold. He also was distributing "merchandise" to those who'd preordered it. Grognard Files mugs, t shirts, dice trays, dice etc. Sometimes taking payment for them. He was like a mixture between DelBoy and a Drug Dealer. Shows how much people want to part of the Grognard Files community.

When the door opened, I snagged a table and began setting up. The event was supremely well organised. Lists of the games and players were put out on a central table and every table had a preprinted sheet which showed what games were on that table in the morning and afternoon sessions. In a masterstroke, the same sheet was also printed as a X-card, so every game automatically had one. It wasn't optional. Even though the event was for old school gamers. And there was no dissent.

I was handed a Referee's pack, a sealed parcel as thanks for running a game. I haven't opened it yet.

Having snagged the table I nipped downstairs to the lower floor to visit the gents. There I realised my mistake. The upstairs floor is the shop and has nice coloured round tables to play on. Downstairs is a bit less salubrious but with the larger rectangular wooden tables. I hadn't realised how big Grogmeet was. They'd booked out the whole  two floors of the shop. I could have had a bigger table in the quieter room downstairs!

Doors opened at 9:30 and games were due to start at 10:00, but I had two players at my table ready to go by 9:40. I'd opted to have players create their characters at the table. Many reasons for this but the main was was that character generation was such key feature of Golden Heroes that I didn't feel I was fully showcasing the game if I used pregens.

And I was right. Despite the relative complexity of the system, the combination of people who had experience of the game alongside newbies who were just skilled players meant we soon had five excellent Heroes, all of whom deserved their own  their own comic.

- Overlord, the walking tank
- R4 an artificial lifeform with the ability to affect electricity and temperature.
- Tepe Nahuatl, Aztec god of earthquakes
- BlackThorne, a sorceror
- Amphibeing - a hyper-evolved frog

They decided to start as a team (not my preference) - The Brum 5. It later turned out they'd only teamed up for Tax Purposes, not to actually fight crime together.

The scenario I ran was "The Long Minute" - which I'd previously run at The Owl Bear and Wizard's Staff convention. (And many other conventions over the years.) I can't give away the story because of the mystery at its heart. (Something to do with Time.) Suffice to say if found it a bit of a rush at OB&WS and tried conflating the first two scenes into one this time around. This made it all a bit too confused. Much as I love this scenario, it might be time to retire it unless I get a longer slot at a convention and - possibly - have the characters created BEFORE the event.

The first slot at Grogmeet runs from 10:00am to 1:30pm. By 12:00 noon everything was on track. Then something really did happen with time. The "Roleplaying bit" flew by and suddenly it was 1:00pm and I had to rush the final scene and encourage the players to find a way to finagle it. Luckily Blackthorne did something clever with his illusions and convinced the villain his plot had been thwarted (when it hadn't, yet) causing him to depart swearing to come back to get his revenge.

It had been a great time with some excellent players. One of them hadn't played for decades and this was his first convention and first game back on the scene. Another hadn't been born when GH was first published and had only heard about it online. He acted as virtually an assistant referee, prompting the other players before I could many times. I could have happily run another two hours with this group.

Though Grogmeet seemed to have booked all the gaming tables, the shop was extremely busy, with lots of customers in store browsing the immense selection of games and accessories.

Fan Boy 3 sells drinks, snacks and some basic sandwiches. Oddly you get these from one corner of the shop but then proceed to the till in the other corner to pay, a system that relies upon the honesty of the customers. And, in the only flaw in the whole set up, the shop seems to have a single coffee machine that, slowly, dispenses one cup at a time. They definitely need to invest in something faster. You could stay in the shop and buy some sandwiches. But most people nip out for an hour at lunchtime to browse for something to eat.

There isn't a big chain nearby but there are lots of more bijoux places to eat. I saw a sign pointing down a side street and discovered high end shabby chique venue selling posh kebabs. Full of hipster mums. I had a really nice Lamb Shwarma (and paid for it). The antithesis of gamer food but I'm old enough to have earnt it.

I returned to find out that I'd signed into the classic "death dungeon" The Tomb of Horrors. The Referee was the young guy who'd acted as my A-Ref in the GH game in the morning. He was running the game using rules of his own design - built on an Advanced Fighting Fantasy base with various ideas from elsewhere. Strangely at least two of the other players had been in my GH game in the morning.

We had a selection of pregens (on cute 3 p-fold A5 character sheets). I ended up with the guy with etiquette, a good weapon, tired horse and crown. Clearly a deposed Prince. We also had a woodsman, a sapper, a rhinoman and a couple of others who's exact skills I've forgotten (sorry).

Anyone who knows the dungeon knows it's a classic slog vs. deadly traps. Also, though the game system was Superlight and has great potential for pick up  Swords and Sorcery games, I felt it wasn't a great match for this particular module. I should have hated this session.

But I loved it. Firstly the Referee wasn't merely good, he was gifted. His going round the table doing the intros at the beginning was clearly a step up from the norm. I later found out that he was knowingly applying techniques used in support groups where people find it difficult opening up eg. AA meetings. Secondly the other players had the mixture of experience, charm and  gregariousness that seems to typify Grognard cult members. We played sensibly and cautiously all the way through but at the end my character was stripped naked by a trap - losing all of the party's meagre loot in the process - and then died by stepping in a Sphere of Annihilation. I would have happily played another couple of hours with this group.

Throughout the venue there were about a dozen games being run in each of the day's two slots and - as far as I can tell - they all seem to have been of superior fare. By having a clear USP - "games from back in the day" - this convention has a consistency many lack.

Many went to have a few social drinks and stayed in Manchester overnight. Tomorrow there's a live recording of The Grognard Files which they can take part in. If you're a fully paid up member of the Grognard cult, there's a whole weekend of fun to be had here. Me? I chose to catch a train home having had a great day playing games with some wonderful people. It's the first time in ages I've wished both the games I've played had been longer.

Listening to podcasts isn't something I do.  But The Grognard Files is the best of those I have tried. I'll say it again, having a clear USP helps. As does the wit and charm of its presenter and the fact that it's structured more like a proper radio show than a Podcast. I never post links but here's one for you try:

https://thegrognardfiles.com/2018/04/18/episode-20-part-1-golden-heroes-rpg-with-simon-burley/

And because this convention draws from the audience of such a focussed show it gives the whole thing a coherency others lack. Throw in the (almost) perfect venue and I can't recommend Grogmeet highly enough.

Spaghetti ConJunction 3b - Sat 19th Oct 2019 - Geek Retreat Birmingham

Spaghetti ConJunction 3b - Saturday 19th October 2019

TLDR: Small friendly casual two-slots games day at a bright easily accessible venue in Birmingham. Good referees and players.

Full disclosure: I’m one of the organisers of this event.

Four years ago travelling to and from the wonderful Concrete Cow in Milton Keynes, me and a couple of “convention acquaintances” of mine from Birmingham - but from different spheres of the #TTRPG hobby - found out we’d all been toying with the idea of setting up a small convention. A good pun for the name, a bit of brainstorming and the discovery that the perfect venue had just opened up and Spaghetti ConJunction was born. 

This was our sixth one.

It’s a one day, two-slot games day held at Geek Retreat - a dedicated gaming cafe -  in Birmingham. Two slots because the venue’s times don’t allow us to fit in three game sessions. But that’s not a problem because Birmingham is pretty easy to travel to and closing earlyish (8pm) lets people travel to it and back home in a single day from quite a distance away.

From the beginning we were determined to emulate what we saw as the successful Concrete Cow template. Pre-convention promotion but no actual decision as to what games are offered or who plays in which game until the day itself. I was particularly keen on this because - as someone who goes to lots of conventions - I’m often asked to submit games months in advance. I also see the game-playing that goes on as people are desperate to get into “prime” games which excludes the very people I want to encourage - those new to the hobby and/or conventions.

On the surface the day is pretty easy to organise. We just turn up and the venue give us the top floor. Job done.

But as any convention organiser will tell you, the devil is in the detail. There’s stuff you don’t realise until you try to do the job. As someone whose been commenting on #TTRPG conventions for many years, I’ve glad I help run even such a small event because of the new viewpoint it’s given me.

One of the original “three amigos” has now moved away from Birmingham which leaves two of us to do everything now. To be honest this is a bit thin. If one of us had to drop out for any reason the other would have to do it as a one-man band.

Anyway, my partner as always did a superb job of promoting the event and we got loads of people offering great games. We met 8:30 at a bijoux tea house around the corner from GR to run through arrangements for the day. He brings the raffle prizes, I review the anti-harassment policy with him. We both panic a bit. 

The big problem with running a casual unticketed event without prebooking is that you always get nervous because you never KNOW who is turning up - if anyone. We could have too few or far too many attendees.

However, when we finished our breakfast and turned the corner to the venue there were a crowd of about 20 people waiting outside. One flaw of the day is that the venue doesn’t open up until 10am - even for us organisers - so there is some waiting around outside. Sorry!

Then everyone comes in together so I have to start issuing tickets whilst other people set up the room. It’s all rather a mad rush. Luckily our attendees are such lovely people that they queue and wait politely and don’t mind being co-opted into issuing raffle tickets or setting up tables. 

By the time I’d gotten everyone in, the table with the sign up sheets was set up. There were ten games on offer, more than we needed for the 30-40 people present so I decided not to offer a game of my own. As a con organiser you have a duty to let other people Referee. 

I also found out I’d made a personal mistake. I’d offered to run a “Blakes Seven” game in the pre-con promotion and then forgotten it and brought two different games I wanted to run instead. And people were asking specifically for that game. They took my apology with far better grace than I would have done. But it’s a feature of these more casual events that you won’t always get the game you want.

Sign ups were as usual. People were called up in small groups based upon the numbers on their entry tickets and a random list. Equally fair/unfair to everyone and stops people pushing in front to get the game they want. 

Runequest, Firefly/Scum & Villainy and Dungeon Crawl classics filled up right away. Four games got no sign ups at all even after referees pulled their games and signed up to play. Tales from the Loop and a modern update of 5th Ed got minimal players and were able to start. 

I chose not to play. I spent the morning signing in late arrivals and finding them places in games. I also folded all of the raffle tickets and liaised with the venue. There was new management. The previous guys were lovely but this group were better. Just a bit better but better. They’d taken the effort to close the doors to the upper floor and printing notices to put on them explaining that it was closed to casual cafe punters for the day. That meant we didn’t have to turn away groups of MAGIC players looking for a spare table.

The buzz in the room was lovely. Every was clearly enjoying all of the games and whilst some got noisy at key moments, everyone generally played with good grace. There was a stead flow of “gamers food” and drinks up to the con. Because of the limited access early on, the first slot runs from 10:30 to 2:30 so you really need to eat lunch during the game. But - hey - you’re in a GAMING CAFE and the food here is DESIGNING to be eaten while gaming.

By the end of the morning slot at 2:30 we had 5 full tables of gamers. We announced that the raffle was to be drawn at 3:15. When the raffle prizes were put out jaws dropped and there was a flurry of requests for more raffle tickets.

People either stayed and chatted or nipped out. We’re in the centre of Birmingham. You can find ANYTHING you need within a 5 minute walk.

At 3:15 we did the raffle. I HATE #TTRPG convention raffles, especially when they drag on. But I got through all 29 lots (29!) in 3 mins and 10 sec. That’s 6-7 seconds per lot. Beat that! In fact we were through the raffle and all signed up for games by 3:30. 

A few people had only been able to come for the morning. Some only stayed for the raffle! So we had fewer players in the afternoon. Seven games were offered. The Aliens game filled up with 7 players immediately. A second game of DCC was also popular. A play-test of a new game which hadn’t run in the morning got players in the afternoon. And I garnered four players for a game based on the TV series “The Year of the Rabbit.”

One of the great things about the lightweight “Code” rules I write, publish and play is that I can reskin them for multiple IP’s really really easily. So Matt Berry’s sweary, gritty, Victorian, police procedural comedy was a doddle. We had Mabel Wisbech, Detective Wilbur Straus, Flora the Contract Killer and Murky John the “tosher” hunting a missing “Prince Albert”. In this case it was a massive iron clad warship spirited away from London Docks in the middle of the night.

No one chose to play Inspector Rabbit so the game started with him being brutally ejected from a first floor window in the media res first fight scene. John “the elephant man” Merrick’s theatre was successfully defended from the protection mob but only by Flora luring them into the abandoned building opposite and blowing it sky high.(1)

Then the team were set the mystery of finding the missing warship. They successfully tracked the Prussian spy ring who’d used their cover “London City Tours” to steal it away. Unfortunately none of the spy ring survived when Wilbur Strauss blew their premises sky high (2). Luckily the firm’s safe survived the blast and the papers within allowed the group to track the missing ship. By a stroke of fortune (yah gotta love my game system) the airship carrying the - now mysteriously shrunken - ironclad had come down on the cliff of Dover and was easily recovered. The mad scientist behind the theft had escaped, however, on a giant pigeon.

The final scenes were a mad Harryhausen extravaganza of giant pigeons, tiny lions, human sized monkey, gigantic tarantula etc. The group cunningly sidestepped the giant bees and “the case of the Bonsai Battleship” was duly wrapped up. Half an hour early (7pm). But every seemed happy. 

Most games finished early and we tidied the room helped by the Geek Retreat Staff.

So a small - 40 people, 5 table - two slot games day. But c.£200 raised for Birmingham Children’s hospital - they’re beginning to love us and actually sent me a reminder letter this year asking if we wanted anything from them for the con. The players were wonderful. A truly lovely bunch. Referees were ace. The Geek Retreat Staff were lovely. And - you know what - the convention organisers were pretty good too.

Furnace 14, October 12th/13th 2019 - Sheffield

Furnace 14 - 12th and 13th October 2019

TLDR: The “old hands” of the UK TTRPG convention scene deliver another peerless event. Unreservedly recommended.  

I’ve probably written about Furnace half a dozen times by now. It never changes and is all the better for that.

One USP is that it takes place at The Garrison Hotel in Sheffield which is converted from the armoury and gaol of an historic Napoleonic era barracks. You can actually play in the gaol cells, which are basically old school D&D rooms. Very evocative. 

The event has taken place so many years now that the organising committee have “trained” the venue into the needs of gamers and there is now synergy between the event and the hotel. This is excellent and I’ve only seen it at a couple of other long-running events.*

The other USP is that games are submitted a long time in advance. Months. Every attendee who books in advance is recognised and offered a free pre-convention signup to a game of their choice. The event is blessed/cursed with many, many excellent referees. You get another pre-signup for each game you offer to run. So with there being 5 game slots, if you offer to referee 2 games, you get a total of 3 pre-signups which cover all the other games across the weekend. (A pretty BIG hint from the organising committee that they want refereeing addicts like me to offer exactly two games over the weekend.)

Several other events have sprung up at The Garrison which follow the Furnace template. These are all good. But Furnace is the first, the biggest and the best.

I submitted two games in advance - my “Manifold” East-end gangsters game and a re-run of my historically-based “The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes” game which had run so well at Seven Hills earlier in the year. To play, I chose a couple of Cthulhu games (one 7th Ed and one Pulp) and a Marvel Superheroes 1980’s Mash-up.

There is a meet-up and drink in the bar on the Friday night but no official gaming. It’s a really pleasant event and I’d recommend it if your budget stretches to it. This year I decided to travel up to Sheffield early Saturday morning. It saves a night’s hotel cost. The venue is good value but when you go to as many events as I do, any savings help.

So I popped onto a train early Saturday morning and got the hotel in time to meet old friends and set up my table. After the usual welcoming speech, people queued to sign up for slots in games for the first session.

I was lucky enough to get a table of 5 players who created a crime family operating out of a greasy spoon cafe in the East End. The interactions were great. For example one character was “Alberto” who’d been raised in Italy. “Ma’s” first husband (“a real bugger”) had taken him away when they split up. Returning under shady circumstances - everyone just called him “Bertie”.

In this game every player creates two security features of the bank they’re tasked to rob. And I tack on two secret ones of my own. The intelligent and learned player of “Ma” put down “Security Guard” - singular. Because “that’s how many they’d had a the Hatton Garden robbery.” (One of my secret features was that all the other employees - cleaners etc. - were ex-Israeli military - a feature I’d stolen from an earlier run-out of the game.)

The players had put in so many electronic security devices that one character decided they needed an “EMP” device. (I think he’d watched “Captain America: Civil War”.) Somehow with the swingy nature of my rules, they found an ugly old high-tech fence who could get one but only in return for hooking him up with the woman of his dreams, which they somehow did. They even managed to marry him off in double quick time.

So they got their EMP bomb, de-activated all the devices and the hit went well until the ex-special forces guards revealed themselves. Then it was a real bloody massacre. “Ma” and the son who’d taken the role as a bank customer managed to get out with a decent slice of loot. But all the other sons were slaughtered.

The whole game finished with the line (wait for it..........)

“So that’ll be four funerals and a wedding, Ma?”

Doesn’t get any better than that!

There’s free, endless, coffee on hand throughout the morning. There’s also a form to sign to pre-book your evening meals.  For lunch you have basically three choices. Just over the road there’s a big supermarket for meal deals and cafe. Just down the road there’s a fast food burger place. Or you can stay in the hotel bar and enjoy superior bar food with friends. I took the latter option. Soup of the day and a wrap. Comfort food.

My afternoon was Call of Cthulhu. My first experience of 7th Ed. I found it functional and a slight improvement on earlier editions. The referee was fairly new to convention Refereeing but took us through an engaging little scenario smoothly and well. His pregens were gender-locked but, apart from that, it was a typical enjoyable CoC romp going through the research phase to the investigation phase, where the wheels REALLY came off and we found we were in too deep before realising it.

For my evening meal I’d booked pie and chips. In the bar with friends and drink.

The daytime sessions are 3.5 hours long with 1.5 hour breaks in between. The night-time games at Furnace are nominally 4 hours long but often run into the wee small hours and can be legendary. I prefer to be in bed before midnight.

I’d signed up for “Pulp” Cthulhu. In my limited experience I prefer this to “classic” as the characters have about double the skill success levels, meaning they usually succeed rather than usually fail. However, tonight I found that pulp and 7th Ed. Cthulhu seem to be basically the same game.

Again another Referee fairly new to convention Refereeing. Pregens had non-gender specific names. This game was a romp through prohibition era America, starting off as the Untouchables and ending up as The Great Gatsby - with ghouls. Many, many referees pride themselves on doing a superb job at Furnace and post on line before the event about how much preparation they’re doing. THIS Referee obviously felt he had to rise to the challenge. When we found a clue in the warehouse, we got given the actual piece of paper. When we found the stack of wax-sealed envelopes, we were given the stack - individually wax sealed - containing bespoke invitations to a masquerade ball. When the raid on the warehouse went belly up, we got to read about it in the actual morning paper. And when we got to the ball we were all given individual masquerade masks to wear! Bling of the highest order.

The game itself was also highly engaging. Knowing my problems as a Referee-turned player I was on my best behaviour and sat back to let the other players’ characters shine. I did such a good job of this that the referee actually forgot about me and I had to gently remind him that he hadn’t asked me for my actions for a while and received an unneeded apology. I then got to perform some completely outrageous stunts. The game finished before midnight and I went to bed happy.

Breakfast is included with the room and is a good quality hotel breakfast.

My morning game only got two sign ups and I dragooned someone who is rapidly becoming a good “convention friend” into making up the numbers. It turned out he’d already played this scenario at Seven Hills earlier in the year but didn’t spot that until the (real, historical) mystery was revealed. This is a good scenario but a bit more cerebral from what I usually run. I may shelve it for a while and keep it to dust off at an appropriate event down the line.

The hotel does a pretty standard Sunday Lunch with a stupidly large Yorkshire pudding hiding the rest of the food. But I chose to opt for steamed fish, sauce and mash. Nice.

Then there was the final speech. A long-serving member of the hotel staff was leaving and the event had had a whip round for him. Nice touch. Then the Raffle. (Urgh!) But it had good prizes and didn’t take too long. No raffle tickets were sold. You get free entry and your raffle number is on your name badge.

Then the afternoon game. I’d picked the Marvel Team-Up game for several reasons. Firstly, the excellent referee who tends to run a gonzo game Sunday afternoon. Secondly, I’ve never actually played the “Marvel Superheroes” system - which had been the major rival to our own SHRPG back in 1984. Finally it was set in the era of Marvel comics which I’d read and knew all about.

He had the character sheets and figures for just about every Hero of the time. I elected to play “Wonder Man”. I was teamed up with Polaris, Wolverine, Colossus and the Scarlet Witch. We were pitched into a series of contests by the Collector and the Gamesmaster fighting such varying villains as Magneto, Kang the Conqueror, the Grim Reaper etc. Not the cleverest of scenarios and it did expose the weakness of the system. Whatever attack you make - punch, magnetic blast, probability manipulation - they all use the same mechanic and the player and referee have to fill in the individual effects from their own imagination. (I use basically the same technique in one of my own games, so I can’t complain.)

But it was the romp I expected with fun players.

Furnace is a successful and well-organised convention. It has built up a clear fan base and style over the years but it isn’t in any way cliquey. If you can get yourself signed up I highly recommend it. Numbers seemed to be fractionally down on last year - I suspect as more and more people set up their own conventions. But as far as I can see, that just opens up some slots for more new people to come along and experience one of the best two day TTRPG conventions on the UK. Peerless.

* venues agreeing to host TTRPG events - but then insisting and using their usual catering offerings and costs - is an issue within the hobby. The best events recognise this and work hard to ameliorate its effects.

WynterCon - Eastbourne 28th/29th September 2019

WynterCon - Eastbourne 28th/29th September 2019

TLDR: Two days of non-stop one hour demonstration games at an eclectic and friendly event. With Wolves.

I can’t tell you what WynterCon is... exactly. It’s a two day event in Eastbourne - one of those wonderful out of season holiday resorts which this country is still blessed with.

It isn’t a games convention or a ComiCon, a Science Fiction Convention or a steampunk convivial. It has elements of all of these but no overall USP. There’s stands selling fudge and biltong, MCU Memorabilia and artwork.  There’s full size X-wings, Captain Jack’s ship, CGI photo booths, Daleks, light sabre training and stuff I didn’t get time to see. And Wolves. A pack of wolves.

It’s the flagship of a successful local charity. “Whatever world you’re from you’re welcome in ours!” It boasts.

Over the years its “RPG Zone” has become well established. Half a dozen tables (2x 5th Ed, One Dice, Fate(?), my stuff and one of the co-ordinators ready to fill in with odd games) all prepared to do what I usually do on my own - offer one off one hour introductory TTRPGs to newbies. Two days where, basically, all that’s offered is Games on Demand - and the public lap it up.

For personal reasons I was slow getting ready for it this year. I hoped to produce some new pregens - faux Harry Potter (there are a lot of Potterheads at the event) and SheRa and the Princesses of Power but I never got around to it. I basically threw all the usual stuff into my new suitcase (my old reliable one having finally died) the night before I set out. I decided to travel light and not take my banner or display stands.

Though Eastbourne is a long way from Birmingham, it makes economic sense for me to travel down at stupid o’clock Saturday morning. Even though you can get some great deals on good guest houses and hotels in Eastbourne, it doesn’t make sense to pay for that extra night’s accommodation.

I have to say that, with all my travels, I’ve seen the worst of this country’s railway system - especially passing through London - but this journey was a breeze. Even the onboard WiFi worked!

The taxi driver taking me to the convention knew all about it. This is almost unheard of. In most of the events I go to, the local taxi drivers know nothing about the event happening right under their noses.

 I got to the event just it was opening. Last year it had been under a massive circus tent which was.... interesting. This year it had moved to a sports centre which was a perfect setting with a really nice ambience.  The RPG zone was near the entrance, just past the Light Sabre arena, and was one of the first things punters would see coming in. 

The organisers had set up two tables in an L shape - the way I like it - one for display, one for playing. Even without my stands I was able to put an impressive set of games on offer. 

As always, things started slowly. Punters were flooding in but there’s so much to see and do before they feel the need to sit down. And when they did, it was the 5th Ed tables that filled first. However, it didn’t take too long for me to get my first table. Two pairs of young - teenage - people, new to TTRPGs, who - after much vacillation -    asked for a Steampunk game. Then they couldn’t pick a title from the ones I offered them. Eventually we agreed on “Murder on the Occidental Express”. This was a mistake.

You often get a quiet player in a game who takes a while to get going. All four of these players were quiet and seemed to find it hard to make a decision. “The Captain shows you the murdered body of Lord Carnaby. What do you do?”

The set-up was also a bit “big” to get their heads around. Five giant (Titanic-sized) steam liners linked together to create a gigantic cross-Atlantic steam “train”. Eventually the Confederate gun-runner was foiled and only one liner had a hole blown in its side. Fun was had but - it was not an easy start to the convention.

Then things took off. I ran my standard introduction to “D&D” - The Delian Tomb using The Black Hack.  Following recent debates, I switched it up a bit. Instead of the farmers couple begging to have their children rescued, I had the kids beg for their parents to be saved. And I had the party check with the Priest PC about the morality  of ambushing  or killing captured goblins. Made very little difference.

I ran it three times - in rapid succession - normally for family groups, which is always a rewarding. But....three times!? I swore to swap out the scenario if asked to do it again.

In between I grabbed a quick Hog Roast for lunch (“outside, through the tent, past the wolves, past the pirate ship”).

Emerging from my fantasy marathon, I was asked if i could run a Dr Who scenario in half an hour. COULD I!?

Canon characters. It ended up (somehow) with Ryan playing bridge with Soloman (and his two red robots) for the fate of The Tardis Team.

The day was rounded out with a game of Fireball XL5. I found myself with a player who’d been born to play Zonney the Lazoon - overacted all the aliens and tore my throat raw with their accent. I refereed standing up - just trying to keep up with the enthusiasm of the 5th Ed referee who was running games with far more players than I was.

The convention wrapped up at 5:00pm. There is an additional after party with music, drink etc. But I chose not to go. Instead I headed into town to run my standard Dr Who scenario (the one I’ve run dozens of times over 5 years) at a local gaming cafe. 

I’d arranged this via Facebook ahead of time. Four young men - late teens to early twenties. Oddly they hadn’t attended WynterCon during the day and no-one came from WynterCon for the evening event.

They were enthusiastic and gonzo. The biscuit craving Ice Warrior. Grey-ham - Graham’s dark counterpart from another dimension. Grey-ham failing to land the Ice Warrior ship on the moon and pulling his “I packed something for that” special effect.

“Superglue!” “How does Superglue help you land a spaceship?” Cue the most side splitting mime I’ve seen. Four limbs flailing above and below the table accompanied by a description of the buttons being pushed. I had to give it to him.

And, my favourite bit, when the penny dropped and a player realised what they were up against (the worst Dr Who fan-fic opponent concept ever) he just said “That’s it! I’m getting out of here!” Instead of heading off to fight it like most groups do.

It was a great evening in a lovely venue. It’d tried this last year and got no players. I’ll try it again every year from now. The players were begging me to come back to Eastbourne earlier.

I rose to pouring rain. When I got to the WynterCon venue we found to marquee set up beside the sports hall - the one containing the X-Wing and Pirate ship - was flooded and shut.

After only the shortest of pauses, I got my first game. Intro “D&D”. So ran my alternative scenario - the Goblins adventure I’d designed for my live on stage role-play at Fantasticon. This group decided to pull down the rocks the goblins human captives had been stacking in from of the giant cave and release the monster within. TPK. Half the party were crushed in the avalanche, the rest were killed by the escaping dragon. Some of captured villagers were released though and the goblin threat was much reduced by Dragonfire.

Then the same again. This time I started with two players and the table slowly grew to a full five. This party went the more sensible route of fomenting rebellion amongst the goblins whilst they sneaked in to tackle/behead the chieftain.

Then AGAIN! Again the “big red button” of the blocked up cave attracted their attention. But this time through a lucky Charisma roll they did a deal with the dragon and defended its egg from goblin attack whilst it went all Game of Thrones on the goblin town.

I grabbed a quick burger. The Marquee had opened up again with wood chips scattered all over it’s floor.

When I got back the organiser asked me if I could run Star Wars game for SEVEN players! Could I!? Luckily it turned out to be only six players and two - Newt Scamander and his friend - left early to attend the final of the Cosplay competition.

My day ended with a quick “One of our dinosaurs is missing” Steampunk game which started with two people and ended with four.

I had been so busy over the weekend that I hadn’t had time to explore the convention. Despite my busy day, I was still beaten by the 5th Ed referee who at one point, apparently, ran a game for EIGHT pikachu’s.

I was exhausted but happy. This is what I love doing. 12 games over two days. Overall the RPG zone had run 49 games for a total of 216 customers with many being turned away because all the referees were busy. We need at least one more referee.

If you’re into Cosplay and/or Nerd/Geek culture (or Wolves) WynterCon is well worth a visit. If you only want to play TTRPGs you might find it a bit limited. If you want to Referee, get in touch.

A strange, eclectic, lovely event.