The Owlbear and the Wizard’s Staff - 21st September 2019 - Leamington Spa
TLDR: A large, well organised and superior two slot games day organised by a Magician with a “Create Food and Drink” spell.
There seems to be a resurgence in conventions at the moment. Presumably this is part of the general resurgence in the hobby and the availability of more gaming-suitable spaces coupled with the ubiquity of Social Media to advertise them.
I was aware of OB&WS in its first year, last year, but it didn’t fit my schedule at the time. I’m still not sure of its USP but it seemed to be part of the nostalgia for UK TTRPGs of the 1980’s - the heyday of White Dwarf.
Anyway, it did fit with my schedule for 2019 so I contacted the organiser MONTHS in advance offering my services as a Referee - as usual. I was politely informed that all the refereeing spaces were filled. I can’t remember exactly how far ahead this was but I feel it was about 6 months ahead of the event. I was invited to attend as a player.
I am not proud to admit that some of my baser instincts crept in. I’m not used to being rebuffed as a referee and - with my particular addiction to running games - don’t travel to conventions merely to be a player. 6 months out and all refereeing slots taken? It felt like an in-house stitch-up. Didn’t they know who I was?
So I began pestering the organiser to let me know if any referees dropped out. I’m not proud.
Despite the fact that this is just a typical one-day two slot event the organiser hypes it on-line - especially through Twitter - as if it’s the one, the only, the best RPG convention there’s ever been. So when he started asking referees to confirm their games and some didn’t seem to respond, I was in there - pestering. Eventually I was granted as slot. However, it turned out he DID know who I was and specifically asked me to offer a game of Golden Heroes - not my first choice for con games these days.
As the event drew nearer people began tweeting excitedly about their refereeing preparations, booking hotels etc. They seemed happy to travel from all over the country for this convention and pay the requisite travel and accommodation costs. I couldn’t see the particular appeal.
Personally, having given GH an outing at “Mug and Dice” earlier in the year, I didn’t prep, knowing I could just pull that game out of the box.
Along with relentless up front promotion the organiser also allocated all players to games in advance of the event. He seemed keen to micromanage the numbers up front.
When date drew near, I pulled out my GH box only to find my pregen characters missing. So I checked online and found a print shop in Leamington Spa I could dash to upon my arrival to get character sheets printed and do character generation at the table. (Amateur!) Luckily the character generation system is fun.
Leamington Spa is only half an hour from Birmingham. It’s a delightful town. Very English middle class. I arrived early and camped out in a twee coffee shop waiting for the print shop to open. By use of a taxi I got my sheets printed and arrived at the event venue in good time. If I hadn’t had the last minute glitch it would have been easy to walk.
The event venue is a musical rehearsal building. Entrance was through a medium sized room contained a gaming table, kitchen area, several comfy sofas and all the paper work - a single sheet listing tables, games and players. The adjacent room - which is where my game was - was clearly and orchestra rehearsal room. It was was big and bright. The entrance area was clearly a break-out room for orchestra players.
Both rooms were full of people catching up. This seems to be an event for Twitterati to meet up face to face. Many had arrived Friday night and had already been out for a curry and/or beer together. This is a very social event. (If you like that sort of thing.)
I found my table easily. It had been labelled with a printed A4 sheet giving game title, system, Referee and scenario description along with full colour convention logo. VERY professional. I was also given a Referee’s “goodie bag” as thanks. (As of writing I still haven’t opened it. I’ll do that at the end.)
A player wandered over and we began making his character as i began setting up. (Dear God I’d forgotten what its like to have to get all the miniatures out and lined up ready for the scenario). Soon we had FRACTAL the laser Hero. Other players drifted over and made ALBATROSS, a flying mass of muscle, GAMMA and his sidekick RAY and SHELL SUIT, an armoured alien who, unfortunately, had first landed in Liverpool. The two last players to arrive were given my only part-gen (an archer he named THE GOLDEN SHOT) and pregen - POLYMER - Growth and stretchiness. A great quote at the table - about one of the newly rolled characters - was “I want to draw him.” GH character generation still delivers.
The scenario - my standard time stop scenario “The Long Minute” - went well though with 6 characters and my intent of telling a whole story in a 3.5 hour convention slot meant combat were short and (for the bad guys) brutal affairs. I made a note to myself that if I run GH again at a con, I’ll just run a large “Battle of New York” style event.
During a comfort break I popped to the break-out room. I asked the organiser how much the bottles of Diet Coke were. Nothing, I was told, they were a donation. The room contained bottles of coke and water, coffee and tea, cake and biscuits. All free. All donations. Amazing!
When I got back to my table I heard one player saying to another “I can imagine your character’s comic.” Joy!
The scenario ended with a very experienced player coming up with a wonderful “reverse the polarity” trick - turning against the bad guys the exact ploy the Mega-villains was going to employ against them. I had difficulty keeping a poker face when he suggested it.
At lunchtime, boxes of samosas we delivered. As I packed away all my stuff (so MANY bloody figures!) I saw people bringing plates through and worried they might all be gone before I could get there. I shouldn’t have worried. They didn’t run out all afternoon, no matter how many I ate.
Lunchtime was more smiling faces catching up. This is such a joyful event.
In the afternoon I played in a “Forbidden Lands” adventure run by a charming Mexican referee. Started in the desert (where my Orc Druid grabbed the one waterskin and doled it out a swallow at a time - I’m incorrigible - an awful player) before getting to an oasis which was basically the “two witches” scene from the the classic D&D module “Horror on the Hill” on steroids. Great fun with charming scenery chewing players. Imagine Queenie from Blackadder 2 playing a (powerful) goblin warrior. So it was enjoyable despite a quirky and un-intuitive system.
When the event wrapped up, it was a 10-minute walk to a superior (not cheap but worth it) pub - where the organiser had prebooked some space for us all.
Attendance was 90 people. About a dozen games in each slot. Mostly eclectic but with 5th Ed deliberately sprinkled in. The organiser is charming and puts in loads of work. He is paranoid about everything working and was pleased the last minute drop outs and last minute arrivals balanced out. It is an excellent event the result of one man’s vision and hard work.
I still can’t work out what makes it so popular that people are willing to travel so far to come and look forward to it with such joy. The constant relentless promotion on Twitter is one thing. But having thought about it - I think the pre-allocation to games is a big factor. It creates the (correct) impression that its a well organised event and nothing is being left to chance. And you know before you arrive exactly what games you’re playing in - there’s no risk of last minute disappointments.
And so much - endless - free food and drink!
What about my Referee Goodie Bag, you ask? Hang on.....
..... sweeties (swizzles, black jacks, a liquorice pipe), three branded Owl Bear and Wizard’s staff dice and a very impressive Owlbear Figure with a wizard’s staff - some assembly required.
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