StabCon - Stockport - 3rd - 5th July 2026

 1. Why I Went

StabCon is a long-running board game convention - which also offers TTRPGs - in Stockport. I’ve been going for many years - apart from my hiatus following the pandemic. I know the event well and have people I meet and play with regularly there - some of whom I’d happily call friends.

As you’ll see from my report on the StabCon in January of 2026, I didn’t have a 100% successful convention at that event. So I was a little bit concerned about attending this event in case I had a similar experience.

I’m afraid I vented a bit about this online in between January and July but didn’t get much response. The great majority of the attendees are board gamers and of the rest, few seem to use social media. There is a “Discord Server” someone set up a few years ago but no-one seems to use it.

However, I used to thoroughly enjoy StabCon and I did manage to make some preparations prior to the event.

Firstly, I managed to made contact with a Referee who is familiar with the current version of the official Dungeons and Dragons rules. (D&D24 or D&D5.5). He agreed to run a short adventure for me Friday afternoon. This was to help me decide if I could or should offer it as part of my free introduction to TTRPGs.

Secondly, I have a regular campaign I play in on Friday evening of StabCon.

Thirdly, I’d spotted that a lot of TTRPGs were posted Saturday morning at Winter StabCon so I - loudly and publicly - decided that I wouldn’t offer any games at that time.

Fourthly, I ran a little poll on Facebook. Despite the fact that I received minimal responses, it helped me decide which three games I would offer to Referee.

And finally, I am lucky enough to be in contact with the Referee who often runs a session set in the TV series Trumpton on a Sunday afternoon. He confirmed with me that he would be doing that on the afternoon of Sunday 5th July and booked me in to play.

I was still a bit nervous about whether this plan would work and if I’d get any players for my games but decided to give StabCon another chance before considering whether it was worth attending or not.

 2. The Shape of the Convention

StabCon is a well-organised convention but has very little structure. You turn up at the Guildhall in Stockport, sign in and are pretty much left to your own devices. You sort out your own games, find a table and sit down and play.

This works well for board-gamers. Most of these seem to have made informal arrangements before the event to dig out and use those big box games they usually don’t have enough time or players to play.

And remember it’s primarily an event for board gamers. I think about 300 people attend. Something like 90% of them are there just to play board games. Of the rest some play both types of game. Only a small minority, like me, want to play TTRPGs for the whole weekend.

Us TTRPG players aren’t provided the usual Safety Net of a set timetable. We’re given a noticeboard where we can post up sign up sheets for our games and can reserve rooms to play those games in but that’s it.

Following “feedback online” from the January event - which was mainly my ranting, as far as I can see - the organisers had bought new noticeboards and arranged with the venue to open up more rooms for TTRPGs. This meant that - for the most part - TTRPGs could have a room to themselves and not have to share. This massively reduced the noise in the rooms.

The old noticeboard had been in use for decades (forty years?). It was small and handled bookings for all three days for TTRPGs and Board Games. There had been some talk, apparently, about it receiving a “Viking Funeral” but I was pleased to see my old friend had been repurposed for another use.

There is no accommodation at the Guild Hall but there are many affordable hotels on the same road. The one I use is cheap because it always has a loud party on until midnight every night. It’s also a bit further away than some of the chain hotels but this makes no difference to me with my free travel pass. It’s only one stop further away.

The Guild has a bar and hot and cold food available for sale. There is a Co-op convenience store next door.

 3. Games Played and Games Run

The doors open 1pm on Friday. Board gamers can come in, sign in and just start playing. TTRPGs don’t tend to kick off until 7pm but I’d arranged for a game of D&D in the afternoon so I travelled up and arrived early in the afternoon. In the past I’d walked from the station but - given my free bus pass - I just walked to the nearest stop and took a bus up.

I signed in and got my personalised badge for the weekend. I put up the sign up sheets for my three games. The new noticeboard was larger and devoted entirely to TTRPGs. It already had sign up sheets for several other games. In particular there were two excellent games on offer Saturday morning - as I’d expected. I was wondering which to choose when I saw my name had already been typed in as the first player on one of the sheets. Flattering.

I made a note of the room it was in and returned to the front desk to reserve that room for all of my games.

Slot 1 - Friday afternoon

I went into the bar and met the two gentlemen who’d agreed to give me a demonstration of the latest version of Dungeons and Dragons, the 2024 update known as D&D24 - or sometimes D&D5.5.

As you know I go to conventions and run simple free games to introduce people to the hobby. Observers sometimes criticise the fact that I use my own rules to do this and often suggest I should have the official D&D rules on offer as that’s the one most people ask for. Before doing this I wanted to see the rules in action refereed by someone familiar with it.

This was wonderful. A short little scenario using pregenerated characters I created and brought along. This referee reminded me of me because this was more than just a demonstration. In a short time - it couldn’t have been much more than an hour - he built a memorable little story. My fellow player was on the same wave-length as me and we just seemed to automatically make the same tactical decisions without needing to exchange a word.

Not only was the session successful - giving me all I needed - it was a proper fun little role-playing scenario.

Slot 2 - Friday 19:00 - 23:00

I caught a bus down the road to check into my hotel and unpack. I was back well before the evening session. I ordered food at the hall. Some people complained that the menu was more limited than at the previous event seeming to be food which could be prepared in a large pot and served quickly. That suited me. I didn’t have to wait long for my chilli and took it upstairs with a lager shandy to wait in the room for my evening game.

This, co-incidentally, was in the room I’d reserved for games the following day. At previous events, there had been two or three games in this room. At this StabCon there was almost always only one game in the room.

My Friday night game is Fallout. Set in the same world as the computer game and streaming TV series. I’m not a huge fan of the setting or the game system. There’s nothing wrong with them but there’s nothing I find spectacular or different.

But I am a huge fan of the referee and players I meet every 6 months on a Friday evening to continue this campaign. Today was more of a filler episode with very few fights and lots of investigation but was an extremely pleasant way to start summer StabCon.

I caught a bus down the road to my hotel and kept my headphones in until midnight when the noise and vibrations from the event abated.

Slot 3 - Saturday 10:00-12:30

I had a buffet breakfast at the hotel. This was extremely humdrum and I was charged more than I’d previously been told.

I travelled up slightly early and popped into the Co-op to buy some supplies.

The morning game was with a referee who’d first run a game I was playing in in the late 1970s. I don’t know if he remembers, but I’ll never forget that bloody giant slug!

His games have always been good value. He runs regular TTRPGs at home and takes the opportunity to be a bit quirkier at convention games. This game used a system called Risus. Easy to use and perfect for the scenario - What would happen if DOGE had gone into Area 51 and sacked everyone?

At the end he announced, sadly, it would probably be his last convention. I guess age is going to catch up with us all eventually.

(Maybe I’ll be the exception that proves the rule.)

Slot 4 - Saturday 14:00-18:00

I ate my meal deal from the Co-op and set up the table for my afternoon game.

Prior to the convention during my social media blitz, one person had said they’d like to play an X-Men game. In the 1980’s, we had all the statistics for the X-Men of the times and even refought a famous battle on table tops at conventions. But that was an earlier game and much more like a wargame.

I’ve never used my more modern narrative Superhero rules to simulate actual comics yet. However, I used them to try to create some X-Men of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and the character sheets looked really good. I created a simple scenario which took the characters from the Danger Room to a meeting with Galactus. It seems to work well and I may take these characters to Midlands Comic Con with me next week.

Slot 5 - Saturday 19:00 - late

My evening meal was “Rogan Josh” curry with rice and chips bought within the Guild Hall. Again it arrived incredibly quickly and was hot and filling. Perfectly adequate.

I have not traditionally been a fan of “horror” TTRPGs but for several years it’s been a tradition for me to offer a horror game Saturday night at StabCon. This, of course, means that I run just about every scenario I’ve got using various systems over the years.

I looked at writing or downloading a new scenario for this event but I realised it had been several years since I’d run my “Flight Into Oblivion” scenario there. So I made it clear when I advertised it before the event and on the sign-up sheet that I had offered it before at StabCon so people could avoid it if they remembered the scenario.

This is a very clever little paranormal mystery. More Dennis Wheatley than H. P. Lovecraft. It had always gone extremely well when I’d run it before. I can’t describe it here because it has twists I don’t want to give away.

I had a player sign up in a reserve slot at the last minute. I didn’t want to turn them away so I decided to play with six players. Everyone enjoyed it but the clever structure of this scenario meant that six players reduced the flexibility I needed. I will never run it for six players again.

This was the first time I’ve run it using my own “The Code of Cthulhu” rules but this wasn’t an issue. The ideas and plot in this scenario transcend any game system used to run it.

Slot 6 - Sunday 10:00 - 13:00

A few weeks ago I had an idea to create a TTRPG based on British TV and movie comedies. Though I knew it was a bad fit, I thought I’d try using my “Code” system first and take it from there. I expected the idea to not work out but to give me a launching pad for further design.

I tested it out at the Dice on the Borderlands convention earlier in the year, with a scenario based on Members of the British Parliament called “Carry on Minister”. Though I could see all the flaws in the system, the players enjoyed it.

So I offered it again here - with all the accompanying warnings. Again through vagaries of fate I ended up with six players who mostly seemed to enjoy themselves. One player who was a board gamer who’d never played a TTRPG in his life, who’d been dragged along by his son, and was playing in his second language and knew nothing about British politics politely dropped out during the first break. Another claimed to have been called away by his wife. Make of that what you will.

I think the scenario idea is so strong - political satire drawn straight from that week’s news - it might hide some of the flaws in the game system.

This game took place in the same room I’d used all weekend. However, this was the only time it had another game in it. That took place at the other end of the room and the noise did impact us a bit. Screens were available which some players arranged to minimise the disruption.

Slot 7 - Sunday - 14:00 - 17:00

I opted to eat from the venue’s menu for lunch. Surprisingly they changed everything for just one day. Gone were chilli or curry and rice. In were pies. I opted for the meat and potato pie with chips, beans and gravy. It was again more than adequate. It arrived quickly and was filling. The baked beans were surprisingly good.

Another StabCon tradition I’ve happily lucked into is the Sunday afternoon Trumpton game.

Based on the trilogy of BBC children's TV series from the 1960s - Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley - these use a fan-written set of rules that are completely inappropriate. For example, though they lovingly detail statistics for all of the characters in all three series, they also have a detailed combat system which includes rules for vehicle petrol tanks exploding.

This referee had got his hands on the rules years ago and started running mash-ups of Trumpton adventures and American action movies. These are very popular games.

This year was “Straight out of Trumpton”. The Mayor had banned Rap music but the NWA (Neighbours With Aptitude) - led by Windy Miller - were planning an illicit concert. It played out like the movie “Footloose” and had far less gunplay than previous games but was still massive fun.

 4. Play Reflections

Despite my concerns following my less-than-stellar StabCon in January, this was an excellent event. I played in seven games and refereed three of them. All of my games were fully or oversubscribed.

Being able to fit in a quick game of D&D24 to allow me to experience the rules before the convention even started was a bonus. Playing in a continuing game Friday night is wonderful. I will continue to avoid offering to Referee a game Saturday mornings and look to sign into the Trumpton game Sunday afternoon.

Because StabCon is twice per year and has a relatively small pool of TTRPG players, it’s not an event where I can re-offer scenarios I’ve run before. I’ll continue to offer a horror scenario every Saturday night - especially now I’ve written my own game system - but I will have to download a new one each time.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning I’ll offer games. System seems to be irrelevant but StabCon attendees seem to like scenarios based on existing IPs - especially slightly obscure ones.

 5. Cost, Time, and Value

Headline figures

Convention cost (ticket): £18.50*

Travel cost: £13.29

Accommodation cost: £113.40

Total convention-specific cost: £145.19

Approximate total hours of gaming (played and run): 23

Approximate cost per hour of gaming: £6.30

Cost of a pint of Lager: £5

* StabCon doesn’t have a website and I always book into the next one as I leave and pay cash. So I have no record. I think I handed over a £20 note and received £1.50 change.

 6. What I Took Away

StabCon remains primarily a Board game convention with some TTRPGs. It has been and remains slightly insular.

To quote from an email from the organiser:

“As is the way of things, the venue hire cost is increasing once again. Eventually, we will need to increase the price for attendees, but in the meantime, we hope to offset these costs by increasing attendance. StabCon has always been less of an open event and more like a club that meets twice a year. Advertising to the wider public would risk doing detriment to the sense of community we have fostered. However, we would love you to bring a friend, so please share the booking link with people that you know who might appreciate what we do.”

StabCon retains a large number of older attendees but now attracts people of all age groups. Though the original organisers are still involved, the front desk is manned entirely by young people - teenage or twenties. They seem to give their time freely. I presume they rotate and take time off to play games but I’ve never seen them do it.

The convention is still extremely well organised but with little structure. Many of us choose to mirror the game slots of other TTRPG events, but this is far from mandatory.

Changes which have been made to encourage more TTRPGs have worked well and I had a great time. As I say, I’ve already signed up for January 2027.

I still wouldn’t recommend people looking for TTRPGs just turn up on spec. But if you can get a friend to take you and get your feet under the table you could have a good time too.