Concrete Cow 19.1

TLDR: despite falling numbers, Concrete Cow ALWAYS delivers.

Anyone who's read my conventions reports on any format knows about Concrete Cow. Twice per year in Wolverton near Milton Keynes. Superbly organised. Perfect location and venue. IMHO simply the best TTRPG games day on the circuit AND its twice per year!

Normally I catch a train from Birmingham early doors Saturday and miss the evening game, going back up in the evening. This year I booked into a nearby hotel. Quite expensive but, as it turned out, worth every penny.

Concrete Cow is in a community centre near the station. Though you're invited to advertise games before the day on their massively informative web-site (a model for others to follow) nothing is decided until you get there. You turn up and put down your sign up sheets. For example, I swapped out one of my games at the last minute.

Signups follow a scrupulously fair random ticketed system. There were a LOT of games on offer in the morning and the number of attendees seemed to be slightly down. My 13th Doctor game garnered no players. So I signed up for a 2d20 Conan game. This was great but possibly a little bit TOO much on trope. We rescued the Aquilonian noblewoman from the Lizardman cultists but our barbarian went down fighting their tentacled God in its pit.

My first time with the system. I feel about it exactly the same way I do about 5th Ed. The basic system is fine but there is a little too much character customisation built in for my tastes. Too many bells and whistles which add nothing major.

Some great banter and quotes from players though. Following the evisceration of one NPC the statement "We live intestine times" broke me up.

For lunch you nip next door to a massive Tescos for sandwiches etc. Perfect location.

The afternoon game was the one I'd swapped out. There seemed to be fewer games offered and more people present by this time.  I offered the Dinosaur and Steampunk game that's sold out at Expo. TBH this is one of the one hour scenarios I've been offering as a demo game. I've extended it and wanted to see if the additions worked. Could I pad it to four hours without it seeming stretched? The answer was a resounding YES. In fact we ended up pushed for time. Great players slowly sucked into crazier and crazier situations.

For tea you go over the road to grab whatever take out suits your fancy. I got fish and chips. Perfect venue.

I returned to find the raffle and afternoon signups had taken place. Too me this seemed earlier than previously announced. But I had a full table for my Blakes Seven game. Most of the players weren't born when the series originally aired and we had the strangest team ever. Soolin, Dayna, Cally, Jenna and Avon. Gan was with us for a while but the player had to leave leaving an almost completely female team.  Dayna took charge. Her player had played in the Steampunk game in the afternoon - his first experience with my games - and was happily teaching everyone the rules. In fact at one time I found myself with two ad hoc assistant refs and could just sit back and watch things unfold.

Remember I'm normally home in Birmingham by this time but this game totally justified staying.

It finished a bit early so a couple of us popped over the road for a print. As I say - perfect venue.

I cannot speak highly enough of Concrete Cow. It is one of the truly essential conventions on the circuit IMHO. Which is why it's such a shame to see numbers falling. They were healthy enough - at least six full games morning and afternoon (though only three in the evening - one a board game). However, it's been twice this size in the past and the venue could easily accommodate many more players. There are many great new conventions springing up, but we don't want to lose the old classics. Use it or lose it. If you can get to Milton Keynes, Concrete Cow should be on your list of conventions to attend. As far as I can see it's faultless.