ArmadaCon - Plymouth - 31st October, 1st & 2nd November 2025

Run-Up

Saturday 18th October and Saturday 25th October I had no conventions to go to. So I started looking for events I could attend outside the strict realm of Table-Top Role-Playing Conventions.
I came across ArmadaCon. It’s a small Science Fiction convention that’s been running in Plymouth for 30 years. I’d heard about it before - I have a couple of friends who attend gaming conventions who also attend ArmadaCon.

Though I’d been warned there wasn’t much of the gaming I enjoy going on, I looked into it. Despite the fact that it was a long journey and I was deciding to go at the last minute, I worked out a cost effective way to travel by travelling early in the morning and there did seem to be some Role-Playing Games.
My decision to attend was made on Monday 27th October. It was too late to register in advance but I was welcomed. I was also invited to participate in a panel about Role-playing games. 

I was also able to liaise with the people running the Table-Top Role-Playing Game. I was allocated a couple of slots where I could offer to run my own.

Not bad since I’d only decide to go 4 days before the event!

Friday 31st October

I travelled down early. Had lunch at a nice bistro in Plymouth and caught a local bus up to the hotel.  I am going to be using more local buses and fewer taxis now that I am old and have a free bus pass.
The Hotel housing the convention is quite a long way out of town but was easy to find using the maps app on my phone. The bus went straight here.

I arrived too early for the convention start so scouted the area and found a convenient Marks and Spencer nearby where I bought biscuits to go with the coffee in my room.

Registration opened at 6pm and was easy. Along with a lanyard attendees receive a goodie bag with small trinkets in. I attended a small friendly quiz from 6:30 to 7:00pm. My team won. My prize was an official DiscWorld T-shirt.

At 7:00pm there was an opening ceremony. Everyone met in the main hall for introductions, which included me. Clearly ArmadaCon is a family with people returning year after year. I was made to feel very welcome.

The hotel has an excellent restaurant but I opted to take the short walk to the nearby Macdonalds.
Upon returning, I went into the gaming room. There were no organised Role-playing games that night. But the room also contained a some tables selling eclectic items, a large Star Trek miniatures game, a large communal jig-saw etc. I couldn’t drum up any interest from passersby for an ad hoc game so I had an early night.

Saturday 1st November

Unsurprisingly the hotel provided an excellent breakfast. When the locals who were organising the role-playing games arrived, I made up the numbers in a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game - playing the Cleric. I don’t have much experience of this system but all the pieces fitted together as well as I’d heard. Excellent Referee and fun mixture of experienced players eating the scenery and newcomers - discovering role-playing games later in life. It was great fun.

I returned to Marks and Spencers to buy food for lunch and to really stock up my room with snacks and drinks.

In the afternoon was the panel I’d been asked to participate in. It was about what to do if a role-playing game or campaign goes off the rails and gets a bit silly. I really enjoyed it - the only issue being that all the other panel members (and several members of the audience) were experienced Referees or Authors with their own insightful contributions to make. So I had to make myself sit quietly and give other people their chance to speak.

There was only an hour between the end of the panel and the evening game session, where I’d offered to run my Steampunk game.  I was slightly delayed by one of the authors on the panel telling me how much he’s enjoyed Golden Heroes and us having a short conversation. So I went to MacDonalds again. Even doing that, I was nearly late for the scheduled 6pm start of the evening session.

There was a mismatch between the gaming timetable and the main convention programme, which had attendees eating dinner from 6pm to 7pm so the evening games didn’t start until 7pm.

Only one person had signed up to my Steampunk game. He declined a slot I found for him in a Star Trek game on the table next door to mine, but there was plenty going on in the convention for him to do. So I took that slot and had a fun evening as the Doctor on a NX class starship working with colleagues to foil a dastardly Romulan plot. Great fun.

As it’s been running for 30 years, the demographic of ArmadaCon tends to skew towards the mature but most of the players at this table were younger. Possibly the offspring of more seasoned attendees? 
This session was at the same time as the Grand Masquerade and Cabaret so presumably many of the convention goers chose to attend that.

Sunday 2nd November

Another good breakfast. In the morning I played in a great 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game. The second morning of classic old school low level D&D with a mixture of experts and people discovering role-playing games for the first time in their later years. I gave up on trying to be clever and did something I don’t usually do and played a Barbarian. I’ve never enjoyed a 5th Edition game so much.

Lunch was trying to finish up all the left overs from my big spend at Marks and Spencers.

I, again, had no sign-ups for the game I was offering in the afternoon. But the Referee in my morning game asked me for an interview for his podcast. This turned out to be a great way to finish the convention.

Summary

ArmadaCon is a small, eclectic, Science Fiction convention with a real family atmosphere. It has a wide range of activities to take part in and at least two tables of Table-Top Role-Playing Games on offer throughout Saturday and Sunday.

I hadn’t decided to attend until the very last minute and didn’t get to Referee any of my games. But I played in 3 great games and had many other excellent experiences. I’m going to make it a priority to check that it doesn’t conflict with any major gaming conventions in 2026. If it doesn’t I’m certainly going to be back next year. I’ll just plan a bit further in advance to take advantage of early bird offers on travel and accommodation. (And maybe get on the web-site as a “guest”.)

Costs

I’ve decide not to work out a cost per hour of gaming for this convention and may top doing it for all my reports going forward.

Registration: £40 (older person’s concession rate but not “early bird” which would have been a bit cheaper.)

Travel: Birmingham to Plymouth - £33.65
Plymouth to Birmingham - £42.25

Accommodation: £182.24 (Inclusive of breakfast. could have shaved c. £40 off by booking early using convention exclusive rates.)

Total cost excluding food and drink: £298.14

Print of Lager: £6.40

Stop Press: I’ve registered for ArmadaCon 2026!

https://armadacon.org