Prelude
Earlier this year I travelled to Canterbury Gaming Convention. This was quite a long distance for me to travel from Birmingham but was well organised. When I saw that the same people were organising another convention, I looked at it.
This was the CGC (for Canterbury Gaming Convention) & Powell-Cotton Museum (for the Venue) TableTop Convention. However, as this only ran from 10am to 5pm each day - with nothing on offer Saturday evening - I initially dismissed it. Especially given the distance.
However, when I found myself at a bit of a loose end - looking for more events to visit - I took another gander at it. With advance booking I could shave some costs off the train journey and by getting up very early Saturday morning, I could save on hotel costs by only rooming for one night.
My other concern was that it was a general gaming convention. There was some role-playing but this was mainly businesses promoting their own games. The Pathfinder Society was there but there was no organised role-playing track.
I decided to dust off my old “Choose Your Adventure” set-up of one hour demonstration games. I got in touch with one of the companies promoting their own games and offered to run games promoting their system. I downloaded their rules and made prgenerated characters for three genres - Steampunk, Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Checking the map of the convention prior to the event I found I’d been allocated a table in the same room as their stand.
Saturday 8th November
I got up at stupid o’clock. The event was actually at Birchington-on-Sea.
No. I‘d never heard of it either.
I arrived on time and caught a Taxi up to the event. People were already coming in but I found the Museum Gallery with my table in. The entire museum was impressive and our room was surrounded on all sides by dioramas of stuffed African animals of all sorts.
The designer of the games rules I was going to use was just starting a game. I joined in. Other players were making characters but I was able to use one of the pregenerated characters I’d made. I had an enjoyable time.
No food or drink was allowed in the part of the museum we were in, so at lunchtime I went first to the bar which only seemed to do hot food. I was pointed to the cafe outside where I bought a rather posh egg mayonnaise sandwich for my lunch.
For the afternoon, I tried to get people involved in my short demonstration games but my table was at the back of the gallery - which wasn’t getting much “passing trade” in any event.
I managed to run one game for a family. They requested Science Fiction and we had a great time.
They boarded the Lost Ship they’d been sent to investigate and non-lethally subdued the Zombified crew members who attacked them. Most of them resisted the mental assault of the alien infesting the ship. One didn’t but the player character Scientist found as way to use a space-suit helmet to help her fight off the alien mind control.
I then expected them to confront the alien menace in the engine room where it was wrapped around the reactor core - growing. No. In their first clever move, they decided to put all the subdued zombified crew into spacesuits, freeing their minds to assist in the final conflict. Their second clever move was to try to avoid that conflict by negotiating with the alien.
It was great fun and very memorable.
A taxi to my lodgings. This was a guest house. Keys in a safe outside accessed by a pre-sent code. Fish and Chip shop and corner store next door and right by the seafront. Perfect!
Sunday 9th November
I fixed myself breakfast in my room and phoned a taxi up to the event.
I had no qualms about using so many Taxis because they were so cheap, a fact that all the local drivers were happy to explain to me. Apparently the company still runs on zonal charges, not by the mile, which is affecting their income. This is going to change soon, they told me. In the meantime, I benefited from the cheapest taxis in the country.
When I arrived I found that the stall I had been working with had moved out of our gallery to a more prominent position. I was left alone in a room with half a dozen empty tables. So I moved to the table nearest the entrance and switched to using my own game systems.
People passed through the room whilst browsing the convention, passing through to get to the Bring and Buy room next door or to use the empty tables for general board gaming. I worked hard catching people for conversations and, in total, ran four game sessions throughout the day - one steampunk and then three fantasy games one after the other. It was a very successful day.
My journey home was disrupted by having to take a Rail Replacement Bus Service but everything worked and I got back to Birmingham at the correct time, a happy man.
Summary
Canterbury Gaming Convention and Cotton-Powell Museum Table-Top Gaming Convention must have the longest name on the circuit. It is well organised. The venue is extremely impressive with high-end catering. The ban on bringing food and drink into galleries used for gaming is a bit onerous.
Birchington-on-Sea is a nice little British seaside town. Despite the distance I had to travel, I really enjoyed the event. Especially the Sunday where I was left alone to just “do my stuff”. It was great to know that my short demonstration Table-Top Role-Playing Games still work.
If you like all types of gaming, this convention has an immense range of events on offer.
Train tickets: £48.89
Accommodation: £78.19
Total cost for the weekend (excluding taxi and food): £127.08
Pint of Lager: £6.95
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