The Dudley Bug Ball

Dudley Bug Ball

TLDR: a small convention punching above it's weight. Massive range of activities on offer. Incredibly friendly.

There's a history to The Dudley Bug Ball. Apparently it used to run regularly a decade or so ago, successfully - progressing to the Birmingham Hilton before even Expo got there. Then it petered out.

I knew nothing about all this (though I may have visited one with my son when he was going up). So when the comeback was announced, I didn't know what to expect. I was torn because it was on the same date as the wonderful ConQuord in Bristol.

But given that it was nearer and cheaper, and one of the organisers personally approached me about coming, I opted to give it a go. Rather than offer games in the organised TTRPG track, I enquired if my "Choose Your Adventure" set up of one hour introductory adventures would be appropriate and was told it would be. As is typical for UK conventions, they had plenty of Referees willing to offer games.

Dudley Bug Ball is a one-day convention in a Big hotel in Dudley in the West Midlands. I'd call it an extended one-day convention because it was timed to run from 10:00am to 11:00pm. (More on that later.)

As I live in Birmingham, I could have travelled to and from the event in a day but that would have meant leaving before the official end time of the event (as I said,  more on that later) and I wanted to give it my full support. So I booked into the hotel where the event was due to take place for the Saturday evening. £25 for the night. (Actually I visit a lot of places and had accrued some points with my booking web-site and got the room for £4.) That was so cheap that I decided to book in Friday night as well. I had a lot to carry on public transport - my Demo set up and Role Play Relief books to sell - and travelling at leisure Friday afternoon meant I'd be fresh for the big day.

I travelled by train and taxi as the fastest option. But in hindsight, bus might have been better. The hotel isn't right by a train station and buses go straight to the hotel.

It's been a few decades since I've visited Dudley. The Hotel was near the famous Zoo. Alas from the outside it seems to have fallen on hard times. I'm sure there are nicer,  more modern parts of Dudley but the bit the hotel and zoo are in seems to have been abandoned in a cul-de-sac of history. Let's just say that if you were filming a post apocalyptic Mad-Max type film, you wouldn't be short of backdrops or locations to shoot in.

The Hotel itself is massive. As I'd expected from the dirt cheap price tag, it was a typical "faded glory" place that must have had a great hey-day in the mid 20th century. Peeling paint but some glorious architectural features. However, it's far less run down than most establishments of its ilk because of the wonderful friendly staff. And it's busy busy busy with event after event. Dudley Bug Ball was just one of several it was hosting that weekend.

(The Friday evening I arrived it was hosting a Psychic Fair. The Hotel Facebook page announced that one of the mediums attending had been replaced due to "unforeseen circumstances"! True story.)

One of the organisers booked a table for us at a famous nearby "Pie Factory" where we enjoyed good company, Black Country ales and various forms of comfort food. Then back to the Hotel for more socialising and drinks in the hotel bar.

I paid extra for breakfast the following morning. Inexpensive and generally of the standard you'd expect - though there were a couple of touches that again showed the staff were trying to exceed the hotel's limitations. (The sprigs of Parsley on the sausages and bacon trays was a bit odd, but the fresh strawberries and raspberries in the fruit course were a bonus.)

The convention itself was based around a vaulted banqueting hall, adjacent to the hotel bar. The convention offered:

- traders (mostly indie/unusual publishers, artists, etc.)
- Demonstration games (board games, pathfinder, 5th Ed, general TTRPGs)
- A full range of TTRPGs in three organised slots across the day*
- Bring and buy
- Raffle

In other words, it was a full and proper CONVENTION in every meaning of the word - rather than being just a "Games Day".

In addition most (I think all) attendees got a free figure of "Duggley" the convention Icon - a nice touch.

* though some were pre-advertised, games were signed up for on the day at a table at one end of the main hall. The organisers had prepared sheets for pre-advertised games but people were free to offer games on the day. Games took place in nearby smaller rooms away from the hall. I didn't take part in any of this but think they were the usual 3-4 hour slots and people seemed to have a good time. (Though the planned third slot didn't materialise. See below.)

In fact, the TTRPGs were so popular that, when they were on, the main hall went a bit quiet. During those times there was a lot of networking amongst the traders and game demonstrators.

For myself, I ran three one-hour demonstrations across the day. Two were my standard The Black Hack version of The Delian Tomb to introduce newbies to "D&D". In both cases I had a couple of young people new to the hobby rounded out by one or two Grognards who seemed to really enjoy holding themselves in check to help the newbies enjoy themselves. The demo delivered as always.

The third of these was a steampunk adventure "The Great Airship Robbery" with three Grognards new to the genre/system. They managed to shoot down the captured airship in the channel before it got to France but were blasted out of the sky as they descended to finish it off, ending up in a French prison. Great fun!

I'd call it a 50% hit rate for the day. I got to run several games but could have run more.

I was flattered to be asked to call the raffle. I seem to be developing a reputation for getting through them quickly. As usual companies had been extremely generous and there were loads of great prizes worth an inestimable value.

Before the raffle two awards were given out (voted for by attendees) - for best independent published game and best demonstration game.  There was one for best Cosplay but there had been none evident on the day.

There was also a speech which explained why the convention had been brought back on this date in honour of the organisers' son. This was nicely handled and life-affirming rather than maudlin.

After the raffle, all of the traders left and so did most of the attendees. Amongst the people left, there wasn't any interest in putting together one last TTRPG. So the day ended with some drinking and socialising in the bar.

And this is what alway seems to happen at "extended game days" in my experience. (Concrete Cow, Dragonmeet et al.) Unless attendees are very local, then travelling down early, attending morning and afternoon and travelling back up at night is far more cost effective than staying for the evening session and paying for a hotel room for the night.

I'm merely making an observation, not making a value judgement. It would be nice if something could be offered on Sunday morning, but that would involve a whole new level of expense and organisation. So I don't have any suggestions to make.

For me though, that sort of sums up Dudley Bug Ball. The organisers came back with huge plans and delivered a well organised convention with a full programme of activities. On the day there were, I believe, fewer than  70 attendees so things looked at bit sparse at times. But the convention covered its costs and delivered over £500 to a very worthwhile charity. (More when the spare "Duggley" figures are sold). And even if people spent a significant minority of their time networking with friends old and new, rather than gaming, everyone enjoyed themselves. The whole event had a friendly atmosphere. So, by any measure, it was a success and I'm pleased to say it will happen again next year.

What I will say is that in its current form the convention has massive capacity for expansion. It could easily cope with double the number of attendees without changing a single thing or offering any more activities. And they'd have a great day out. But Dudley seems to me to be a little bit out of gate way for many casual convention attendees. So I'm not sure where we're going to find them from.

I hope we DO find them though, because Dudley Bug Ball is a proper old-school convention that deserves to succeed.