TLDR: Huge house party thrown by the excellent comedy duo "Jollyboat". Heaven for Nerds. Lots of appetite for #TTRPGs.
I take my "Choose Your Adventure" - an introduction to #TTRPG sessions - to many non-gaming cons. But JollyCon has to be the weirdest - and best - I've ever been to.
I first became aware of Jollyboat a couple of years ago when they started performing at UK Games Expo. They are a comedy musical pirate brother duo. I then met them, briefly, last year when a mutual friend introduced us as we were all arriving at Expo early in the morning. I guess we're all just equally professional. This year, as part of me trying to wean myself off my #TTRPG refereeing addiction, I actually went to see one of their shows at Expo. And was blown away.
When they mentioned, as part of the show, that they had a convention for their fans, I immediately messaged them to ask if they wanted my to offer games at their event. Despite it being early hours of the morning, and them being tired (and, I'd guess, drunk) after doing a show, they replied immediately accepting my offer. This is one thing I've learnt about them. They always reply.
Didn't hear much but then in the week before the event I was suddenly hit by lots of info. This makes you very excited and I even invented and sent them a Pirate joke they'd never heard of - which made me inordinately happy. (Why does the Pirate Captain use conditioner?*)
Which meant it was time to get my "Pirate costume". I'd left it to the last minute because I figured my usual "gaming persona" outfit would get me by just through substituting a scarf/bandana for the flat cap. Who knew that buying a headscarf/bandana in Birmingham on the Friday evening would such a non-trivial task? I ended up buying a cheap and nasty pirate set from a Party store with a bandana two sizes too small for my head!l
There is a pre-con meetup (and drinks) Friday night but I chose to travel up Saturday morning. Because Liverpool is not too far, and the con didn't officially start until 11:00am, I didn't have to get up at stupid o'clock for once. The venue was walkable from the station (especially as I discovered my Apple Watch links to the Maps App and gives you brilliant instructions - better than holding a phone.) It was the Nordic Church and Civic Centre in Liverpool's "Baltic Triangle". (They have all sorts of explanations for the name but I still think it's a rip-off of Birmingham's BALTI triangle.)
I got there by 10:00 an hour before it started. Allowed straight in. The venue basically has three floors. The bottom floor is liked a large meeting room with a small stage. The top floor is a chapel designed like a small church with vaulting roof and pews. The middle floor, where I was based, was the socialising area. I'd been given a small table and chairs at one end - identified by a huge inflatable d20 and couple of small games books. ("Weave" the RPG of textiles magicians and a "Magic Girl" Anime RPG. In both bases, thanks for the suggestion but no thanks.) I later found out they'd been left by my friend who was at the event, performing.
The room also contained tables down one side where food (and drink) were sold. The food was of the "home made" variety often found in churches. The drink was mainly ales and rum - suitable for pirates. Both were extremely moderately priced. The end of the room contained the JollyBoat merchandising stand. The rest of the room was filled with tables.
The whole venue had been decorated and styled for the event. JollyBoat bunting and pirate flags were everywhere. The downstairs room was "below decks", the upstairs room was "the crows nest". Toilets were "the poop deck". JollyBoat themselves were there greeting everyone and "Ed JollyBoat" himself escorted me to my table.
I set up my banner and table. I'd decided to bring a cut down version of my setup - no stands or table covers - which I could fit in a backpack rather than wheeling a large suitcase. I was glad I did. Only one small table. But I set up a display of my available games.
The doors opened at 11:00 and people flooded in. I don't know the exact numbers but I think it was about 200. Lots of people showed interest in my table and we soon had a game going. Firefly using my The Code of the Spacelanes rules. We had mix of people who'd role-played before and newbies. People who'd seen the series and those that hadn't etc. As always happens, the young player who'd never seen the series chose to play River Tam. We'd just had the gratuitous bar room brawl when everyone was called "below decks" for the opening ceremony.
This was an absolute blast! JollyBoat are a musical comedy duo and started out by singing a new song about the convention and everything it offered, with comedy callouts to many of the presenters. There was full program of events in each of the two performing rooms. Singers, open mic, a live roleplay. (Not me. It was called "the Dungeonmster is a Dick"). Live game design on stage, a stripping granny etc. They seemed to be going for a "mini Edinburgh Fringe" festival.
I had two thoughts. Firstly was "with all this on, I'm not going to get any players for games". The second was "who cares. I'd be happen just watching the shows."
Actually I'd even offered 5 mins of gag-telling for the open mic - as long as I wasn't running games. They didn't have a guitar available and I don't have a travelling acoustic or I would have offered a song. As it happened the open mic was over-subscribed. JollyBoat and the audience they've fostered create an inclusive vibe where every feels they can safely have a go at stuff.
But the highlight of the opening ceremony was the Health and Safety announcement. This was given by an older lady - I suppose the equivalent of a church warden. After last year's event, the Venue staff had bought themselves Pirate costumes and prepared some material. It was the funniest - and filthiest - safety warning ever. Eg. "If the fire bell goes off, just run like f@ck". The audience chant of "Health and Safety, Health and Safety......." shows how popular she was.
We returned to the table but some players had chosen to remain downstairs for the "speed friending" event. I filled the table with replacements and we finished the game off. (Wash turned up at the bad guys' door dressed as a Waiter with a food trolley. As he rammed into into the boss, and River unfurled from beneath it, Jane burst in with his SMGs. Very in trope and great fun.)
As people drifted off, I really expected it to be my one and only game of the day. I bought lunch - a huge bowl of steaming vegan soup and a roll. Just veg. but so well seasoned and with such good use of herbs it was lovely and filling.
I collared a family doing the "draw yourself as a pirate" giant blackboard and they syuat down the play. A mum and dad (ex-roleplayer) a young daughter (early secondary school?) a hyper-hyper active younger son (late primary?) and a babe in arms (wearing the cutest Harry Potter romper suit). The daughter chose play horror. So I took out "The Cthulhu Hack" by Paul Baldowski and the intro scenario he'd kindly given me. Another grown man joined us - another experienced role-player and I think a friend of the family. (You can never tell. These games make us all instant friends.)
As you can probably tell, the boy was ball of energy wanting to do everything NOW! Somehow I coped and luckily his character (and one other) boarded the departing steamer (not in Paul's original scenario - and addition of my own) as the rest investigated the spooky warehouse.
My favourite moment was when the young boy's character discovered a desiccated corpse and he said "Like Dr Who?"
Good parenting.
It was sometime around now that Ed JollyBoat took the time to come over, check that I was OK and got me a drink. This is typical of the two of them. Organising and running the event, putting on multiple shows but still taking the time to meet people and check they're OK.
The instant that the Horror table cleared it filled again. This time there were enough newbies to justify my standard intro to #TTRPGs - Matt Colville's (check YouTube) The Delian Tomb using The Black Hack rules by David Black. It's a match made in heaven and I've run it dozens of times - never the same twice - and it always delivers. This time the Conjuror was the star, braining goblins with her staff and saving the day with a LUCKY sleep spell.
After the shortest of breaks, I had another full table for a Steampunk game. They chose to do "The Great Airship Robbery". A critical success in the initial "find out what you know" roll meant that I did a massive information dump to the table. I told them EVERYTHING about the plot - including all the twists. I had no idea what this would do and thought it might have spoiled the adventure. However, the info proved simply too much for the group and - whilst they were able to foil one side of the plot they couldn't stop the actual robbery. Still, there is something really satisfying about having a group of "French Terorrists" burst into a warehouse - expecting to find everyone inside poisoned - running into massed ranks of British Rifles. And then the characters took their small army with them to pursue the real baddies meaning that, in the end, both airships were recovered in perfect condition. (A rare outcome for this scenario).
This scenario finished shortly after 5pm when tea was served. This was massively well organised. You handed over a fiver and took one of the plates already laid out. These contained salads, crisps and a food option. By the time I got there most of the remaining options seemed to be vegetarian but there was a massive range - "burger", kebab, some kind of sausage thing. I took a plate with sizeable piece of cheese and onion quiche and some bread rolls and butter. For a drink I bought myself a "Mai Tai" rum cocktail. Despite the cute sign saying the more you drank, the more it helped JollyBoat - and the oft repeated exhortation from the lads themselves to eat drink and be merry - I'd kept off alcohol all day for personal reasons. I figured I was due some. It was lovely and so was the meal.
Amazingly, in between tea and the "group photo" at 7pm, I got ANOTHER table of players. Steampunk again. This time my standard "Evolution of Species" scenario. Again a good roll at the start meant that the Lamplighter spotted a pattern in the strange disappearances and the team were given a squad of officers to escort them into the sewers. (Slightly hampered by the fact that the Sergeant in charge fell head of heels for one of the characters and spent all his time protecting her.) The other unique feature of the game was a newbie (in his 30s/40s?) who was enjoying the freedom and trying to make things up before waiting for me to announce them or rolling the dice. My usual giant rats were replaced by giant centipedes. (Later eaten by giant millipedes.) And the whole plot was masterminded by Aliens, not my usual Prussian Vivisectionist.
I was rushing this and made a couple of arithmetic all errors which the table spotted. I blamed this on the Mai Tai - and I wasn't totally lying. (That may also explain why the aliens were "Greys" when I should have used Martians.)
I'm guessing I banged through this whole story in about 45mins, in time for the group photo. So I CAN demo games in under an hour. This was also the opinion of a player at the table - a fellow referee and one of the country's premiere #TTRPG convention organisers - whose views I totally respect.
Then it was outside for the group photo. A motley crew of 200 pirates - many with stuffed monkeys (an inside joke) outside a church. Don't know what the passing traffic thought but there were plenty of honks.
Then inside for the headline shows. Upon arrival punters received goodie bags. (I didn't get one or seek one). Inside one of these was a wristband - either blue or gold for the upstairs room or downstairs one. I had a red band - because I was important. This meant I could do "whatever the f@ck you want" but Ed suggested strongly that Red bands should be in the upstairs room as it was larger. And this WAS the better option.
We got to see the support act - a really talented young magician - first and JollyBoat second.
With the Magician everyone was a winner. We got a great show and he got to try out a whole new act he was preparing for the Edinburgh fringe in front of a supportive audience who didn't mind pauses to check his script. I'm an incredibly picky audience member and my evil critical little man inside would have preferred a larger trick to patter ratio. However, though I think I know how some of the tricks were done, I didn't actually catch him doing it and there was at least one great new twist on an old standard. And every so often he broke off for no reason to give us teasing snippets of his own life story which always cut off unresolved. I loved that and wanted more of it. It was of course resolved at the end of the act.
Then back down to the main room for drinks between acts. BUT the two old ladies who were the venue staff were there in their pirate costumes regaling us all with sea shanties. It was great. The only problem with the venue is the lack of disabled access and they're trying to raise money for a lift. If I HAD a CD player, I would have bought a CD off them as many people did.
Then back to the chapel for the final act - JollyBoat themselves. We got them when they were slightly tipsy, high from a great day, slightly ramshackle (Ed's guitar string broke, Tommy couldn't find the words to a song on his phone - only to be passed a phone by an audience member who'd found them on the website Tommy had made himself!), and absolutely not giving a sh!t. We got their classic songs (the one about D&D monsters was ace as always) but also two of their filthiest and most rarely performed. It was absolute joy!
After 11pm we were supposed to leave the venue. Everyone else was going on to a drunken "after party" ( most having been drinking since 11:00am) but I didn't trust myself and made my excuses to get a taxi to my B&B.
The day had been one of absolute joy. I ran 5 fun games, saw one good show and one completely unforgettable one. Even if I hadn't had any games, I would still have had a great and day. There was just too much to see and do.
At the centre of this were JollyBoat and the crew they've built around themselves. Everything was massively well organised and they seem to be two really genuine guys who'd make any mother proud, who everybody wants to be friends with and - I suspect - many people would like to be MORE than friends with. And they seem to have time for everyone, both in person and on social media. My only conclusion has to be that they are two angels sent down to earth just to bring joy.
I hate 'em. They're just too nice and too bloody talented!
From a #TTRPG point of view is worth coming to JollyCon? Well yes. Apart from my demo games (and I'll be back next year unless something serious happens) there are board games in the main hall and numerous shows to pique your interest and as a nerd. BUT spaces are strictly limited and by coming you'll be squeezing out a real JollyBoat fan.
BUT if you are going to UK Games expo next year, make sure you catch one of their shows. It's the same cost as a Hilton pint, lasts longer and will bring you much much more joy.
Or catch them on tour. I can't recommend them highly enough. They're my friends.
(But they're still far too good looking, nice and talented! B@stards!)
http://www.jollyboat.co.uk
* because of 'is Coarse 'Airs (Corsairs)
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