Continuum Friday 24th to Sunday 26th July 2026
1. Why I Went
Continuum is a long-running residential gaming convention that I’ve been to before. It started as a biennial (once every two years) event devoted to the RuneQuest TTRPG but has more recently expanded to become annual and cover many more types of games.
I didn’t attend regularly but, because there are people who have been attending for decades, it still retains a family atmosphere.
It has a large number of attendees and I can be fairly certain to get people who want to play in my games if I offer to referee. It is well organised and the venue is excellent, if slightly remote. I went because it suited my needs.
2. The Shape of the Convention
Continuum these days is sited at a business development centre a few miles away from Milton Keynes. The same centre used for ChaosiumCon UK and TravCon - both reported earlier in this blog. It also hosts, or will host, other gaming-related events at other times in the year.
It is modern and extremely well appointed. It is an expensive taxi ride or long, infrequent bus journey from Milton Keynes Central railway station but, once you are there, everything is great. Accommodation is a reasonable cost. Food is available on site. There is a convenience store a short walk away.
My favourite bit is that the main atrium has multiple coffee machines serving high-quality coffee and other hot drinks whenever you want at no extra cost.
The seminar rooms are perfect for playing TTRPGs in. The convention also caters for board games, has several - allegedly - excellent LARPs and seminars on interesting topics.
I only attend to play or referee TTRPGs.
These are offered in eight slots - far more than the average convention. Friday afternoon and night. Saturday morning, afternoon and night. Sunday morning, afternoon and night.
Games are promoted in advance but players sign up via sign-up sheets displayed on noticeboards at the convention. At Continuum I had witnessed a bit of unseemly behaviour as middle-aged men - who should have known better - desperate to get into the games they wanted to play rushed to the boards and jostled for the best position. I’d fed my impressions back to the excellent organising committee.
I don’t think I was the only one. They’d spent a year planning and put in some restrictions on access to the boards and supervised the sign-ups. I didn’t witness the key signing-up times this year, but things seemed to be more orderly.
Continuum is a perfect example of a well-organised multi-slot TTRPG convention.
3. Games Played and Games Run
I had submitted a game for Friday afternoon but a real-life appointment intervened. I contacted the committee well in advance and it was moved to one of the two slots I’d left free to play in.
On the day I was delayed so I had to catch a taxi up from the station instead of waiting for the much cheaper bus. I missed the evening meal I’d pre-ordered - which was the very pleasant outside barbecue - but arrived just in time for my game.
Slot 1 - Friday 14:00 - 18:00
As I say, I missed this slot due to outside circumstances.
Slot 2 - Friday 20:00 - 00:00
I ran my standard "Tainted Beer" scenario from my forthcoming horror game. I’ve run this many times before.
Secondly, they followed a different route through the plot and arrived at the end through guesswork and with less preparation than most groups. They still succeeded though.
Finally, the horror games I run at conventions never run the full four hours to end at midnight. They normally wrap up at about eleven o’clock. Somehow this one went the full length and I didn’t even notice it.
Slot 3 - Saturday 10:00-13:00
A perfectly adequate breakfast is included in the accommodation price. I’m sure this would be a great slot to socialise in for those who enjoy such things.
This slot is a shorter one. Three hours instead of four.
I’d been to a Michael Moorcock-themed convention earlier in the year where I’d run an adventure based on his Ice Schooner novel. Basically Moby Dick on ice. This had gone well so I decided to give it another run out here.
It worked out well again. The tropes of the novels on which it was based gave players lots of scenery to chew on and the climax was incredible, with the players winning on the final die roll.
Slot 4 - Saturday 14:00-18:00
I wasn’t refereeing in this slot so I checked the sign-up boards. As a referee I could have claimed an advance sign-up for each game I was offering. (So the optimum thing to do is to offer four games and sign in early to get the games you want to play in for the other four.) However, I reasoned that all the games offered at Continuum were excellent, so whatever I signed up for at the last minute would be brilliant.
All the sheets were signed up except one. But this was from an excellent referee and game designer running a game of his own - which I’d heard about and wanted to play. It had one player signed up. So I added my name and fully expected that some people who were "reserves" in other games would come in later.
I popped over the Co-op to get a meal deal for lunch.
When I got back I found that no one else had signed up. The game couldn’t be played with two players and so was cancelled. I could have gone to the committee’s reception desk to see if they could slot me into another game or play a board game. However, after all the hassle I’d had on Friday, followed by a late night, I decided to catch up on some sleep in my room.
Slot 5 - Saturday 20:00-00:00
I’d pre-booked my evening meal. This was an Italian-themed buffet meal. Basically like really high-quality school dinners, with my mounding lasagne, chips and other nice things on my plate.
Unfortunately, though the break in games is from 18:00 to 20:00, the venue does not widen their dinner slot. They insist on serving at 19:00 which means there’s some queuing and waiting and you have to rush your meal a bit.
This game was another horror game. The one where I’d taken an officially published Call of Cthulhu scenario to see if it could be adapted to my system. Again I’ve run this one several times before and it worked well here. Some of the players were suffering signs of fatigue and, for some reason, this game also lasted the full four hours. But this didn’t seem to affect anyone’s enjoyment.
Slot 6 - Sunday 10:00-13:00
Following another hearty, adequate breakfast, I ran my Starfleet Academy game. It went well, as it always does.
Slot 7 - Sunday 14:00-18:00
Another meal deal from the Co-op.
This session was the game that had been postponed from Friday afternoon. My Dinosaur Steampunk game you’ve seen me mention so many times in this blog. I was surprised that this only garnered three players. Maybe I’ve offered it too much now and everyone’s played?
Slot 8 - Sunday 20:00-00:00
I’d pre-booked my evening meal. This was a Sunday lunch-themed buffet meal. Boiled/roasted bacon and chicken portions for the meat but, apart from that, all the vegetables and fixings you’d expect from a Sunday lunch.
I had zero sign-ups for my game and all the other sign-up sheets appeared to be full. Again, I didn’t trouble the front desk with finding me another game to play. I’d had a good convention, so decided to retire to my room early.
In the morning I had breakfast and caught the bus into town with several other convention attendees. Another opportunity to socialise.
4. Play Reflections
In theory, I had the opportunity to referee six games and play in two at Continuum. A real-life commitment robbed me of one of those and the vagaries of the sign-up system caused two of the other games not to run.
There seems to be an almost perfect match between the number of spaces offered and the number of people wanting to play, with just a couple of people popping out the end without a game.
However, I was able to referee five successful games, which is what I’m able to do at most conventions. So it was a successful convention. The "new" adventure - Moby Dick on Ice - seemed to be more successful and popular than my standard two - Star Trek and Steampunk. Maybe it's time to consider retiring those two in favour of new stories.
5. Cost, Time, and Value
It is not the fault of the event that real-life commitments caused me to miss a game. Nor do I blame the committee for two more games being unable to run and me choosing not to seek alternatives. I’ll calculate as if all eight games had run.
I won’t include my unexpected taxi fare in the total but will report it so people know the cost.
Headline figures
Convention cost (ticket): £60.00
Travel cost: £20.59
Accommodation cost: £192.00
Total convention-specific cost: £272.59
Total hours of gaming (played and run): 30
Approximate cost per hour of gaming: £9.09
Cost of a pint of lager: £5.80
Taxi from station to venue: £28.00
6. What I Took Away
Continuum is a friendly, well-organised event at an excellent venue. Eight slots over three days gives you a higher than average number of games. Every game I saw advertised looked interesting.
Highly recommended.
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