A couple of weeks ago we were looking for a venue for our new convention - Spaghetti ConJunction and - quite by accident - ran across Geek
Retreat in Birmingham. It's a purpose built gaming cafe and was perfect for our needs. The proprietor, Sam, was more then keen to host our convention.
Then, wishing to promote his new store and to attract the RPG community, he arranged to run an "RPG day". As a local lad, I was keen to support this - despite the short notice. With no conventions between DragonMeet and StabCon, I wasn't expecting to squeeze any more roleplaying in before Christmas. But I have my one-hour "Introduction to RolePlaying" demonstration game setup ready to go at the drop of a hat, so the event was well within my wheelhouse.
I also put Sam in contact with Christopher Dean, another local lad. Chris has been developing his own Space Marine type RPG - with a thoroughly detailed setting - "I Love The Corps", for a couple of years now. He's just completed a really successful Kickstarter campaign to produce the book. Chris agreed to come.
Sam apparently asked other Geek Retreat outlets for advice. They pointed him at the Pathfinder Society. This is the group devoted to playing and promoting the Pathfinder
RPG. They send along William Cheung, one of their accredited referees - two star, no less.
So that made three excellent referees (though I say so myself). We posted on every Facebook page and in every forum we could think of, but it was at short notice and we weren't sure how many people - if any - would turn up.
On the day, I was pleased to discover that I have a bus that takes me virtually door to door between my house and Geek Retreat. The event was a bit slow starting - it was a Saturday morning, just before Christmas. But it soon warmed up. Three referees seemed to be the perfect number. Chris was running a game from the moment he arrived - in fully combat fatigues naturally - until he left. He did his usual trick of offering players a one hour game but then hooking them into his epic web, so they lost track of time.
William was the same, but with rather more players. It was fascinating to watch the "Pathfinder effect" at work. William is Roleplaying machine, effortlessly GMing a table varying from 4-6 with only a small break partway, through the day.
I was keen to make the event work. I greeted people as they arrived, explained tabletop RPGs to them and offered them a game. Often as not, if there was a space at Chris or William's table, I'd slot them in there. If someone wanted to find out about "Dungeons and Dragons", it's better to slot them into a 6 person game of Pathfinder than try to run a gratuitous 2 person game of The Black Hack. Still, I managed to referee three games - my "Firefly" scenario, a Steampunk and one "The Black Hack".
Paul Baldowski, designer of THE CTHULHU HACK, had kindly send me an advance copy of the demo scenario he's going to use to show off the game. I was desperate to run it but, alas, no one showed an interest. My other failure was not having business cards promoting my products and blog, or fliers with the details of Spaghetti ConJunction on them. I need to get both of these sorted before the new year.
The business model of Geek Retreat is a "fair usage" model. You use the facilities for free but please try to remember to buy a coffee every so often, eat lunch there etc. When you're deep into an RPG, sometimes it's easy to forget to order another snack, and the kitchen didn't see much trade at first. It picked up throughout the day, however, with coffees and other items flowing out on a regular basis. Their milk shakes seemed particularly popular.
I made a point of eating and drinking there throughout the day. The menu was surprisingly broad and everything was fine on the food front - with the cheesy nachos being a surprising high point.
Though Geek Retreat has capacity for more people, I'd say the day was a success given the short notice and the time of year. The venue is - of course - ideal and I have great hopes for Spaghetti ConJunction. Chris and William are both superb ambassadors for our hobby. My feeling is that most of the people who I meet at these events are people who used to Roleplay years ago (and want to get back into the hobby) or have dabbled a bit on their own (but went some advice). However, there are people new to the hobby and that's great. These often reference Big Bang Theory.
A bonus was that I sold some books! I don't do this sort of event to self promote. I also make a point of selling the books wholesale to a trader or - in this case - to venue itself so both they and I make a bit of profit. But still, two each of all three of my "Code" titles and and the shop asking for more is a pretty successful day for me.
I'll be back at Geek Retreat on February 11th for Spaghetti ConJunction, but don't be surprised to see me there before then. Great day.
Saturday 10 December 2016
Wednesday 7 December 2016
Pathfinder Society at Free RPG games day
Just found this posted on my Facebook page:
"Confirmed I'll be running Pathfinder short 1-hour adventures representing UK Pathfinder Society :) come along, brave adventurers!"
By William Cheung.
The day just keeps getting better!
"Confirmed I'll be running Pathfinder short 1-hour adventures representing UK Pathfinder Society :) come along, brave adventurers!"
By William Cheung.
The day just keeps getting better!
Sunday 4 December 2016
RPG day at Geek Retreat 10th December
Geek Retreat in Birmingham are holding an "RPG Day" this coming Saturday - 10th December. I've said I'll be there to run my one hour demos designed to introduce newbies to the hobby - though I'll also have a range of my "usual" longer convention scenarios with me if anyone wants a longer game.
There's also Christopher Dean coming. He'll be running demos of his futuristic - and massively detailed - space marine RPG "I Love the Corps" which has recently successfully funded on Kickstarter.
So that's two GMs. If anyone else fancies popping along to run some games you'll be most welcome. And, of course, if you want to just pop in play something - well, the whole day's just for you.
There's also Christopher Dean coming. He'll be running demos of his futuristic - and massively detailed - space marine RPG "I Love the Corps" which has recently successfully funded on Kickstarter.
So that's two GMs. If anyone else fancies popping along to run some games you'll be most welcome. And, of course, if you want to just pop in play something - well, the whole day's just for you.
Dragonmeet - is it worth it?
If you're new to or interested in the RPG hobby, is it worth visiting Dragonmeet?
Yes, yes, YES. It's a great place to find out all about the hobby.
If you can, make a weekend of it, booking into a hotel Friday and Saturday night and spend some time doing some pre-Christmas shopping and other events in London.
Do the trade hall and play some ad hoc games in the morning and sign up for a full RPG in the afternoon. If you enjoy it, stay for the evening and play another game. I'd avoid the seminars on your first visit - they can be a bit technical.
Even if you can't make the whole weekend, it's worth visiting for the day, just like I do.
I'll remind you about it next Autumn.
Yes, yes, YES. It's a great place to find out all about the hobby.
If you can, make a weekend of it, booking into a hotel Friday and Saturday night and spend some time doing some pre-Christmas shopping and other events in London.
Do the trade hall and play some ad hoc games in the morning and sign up for a full RPG in the afternoon. If you enjoy it, stay for the evening and play another game. I'd avoid the seminars on your first visit - they can be a bit technical.
Even if you can't make the whole weekend, it's worth visiting for the day, just like I do.
I'll remind you about it next Autumn.
Drsgonmeet 2016 - Simon's Dsy
Dragonmeet is THE big games convention that takes place just before Christmas in London. It's an important part of the U.K. convention calendar and well worth a visit.
It's a one day convention, but it goes on until midnight. In the past I've stayed in London in order to do the whole day. However, as nothing ever really seems to happen on the Sundsy, and As part of my current economy drive, I decided this year to treat it as a one day event. Travel down at stupid o'clock Saturday morning, play two games and then travel back to Birmingham in the evening.
Thursday night before Dragonmeet, I got a text from one of the organisers asking if I could "do muster" at the con. That is, call out the RPG games and read out the players and games so they could go to their rooms with their referees. Flattered, I of course said yes. We sorted the details out in a call Friday.
Then I slept through my alarm. Massive panic but by catching a taxi at both ends (so much for the economy drive) I got the the venue just in time. Phew!
I saw people queuing outside and - of course - blithely swept past as a "guest" only to find that they weren't queuing at the main desk. They were waiting for a lift - which took 8 normal people at a time (or 4 Roleplayers as I found out later in the day). Madness! I don't know if it was the correct way in or if someone had just decided to go in that way and everyone was following. Luckily my taxi driver had pointed me at an alternative entrance, so I went round the side, through the main entrance to the hotel and upstairs to the convention main desk.
Signing in as a guest was easy, but I didn't have time to go to my room and check it out or set up.
The sign up area just past the main desk seemed a bit small. The original plan was to hold muster by the main desk but we decided to do it by the sign up sheets. Referees had been told to come to the muster area at 9:50. Obviously to make sure they were all there on time. But some of them thought it was when muster should start and began asking for their players or calling out for them. Some went straight up to their rooms.
There was supposed to be a call on the PA about muster at 9:55 but I didn't hear it. And loads of punters still weren't in the building - the queue outside apparently went around the block. At about ten o'clock, I took down all the sheets which seemed to have signups and - with one of the organisers calling the area to order (thanks mate!) - I began to call out the games. I had over 20 games to call out - and that didn't even include those run by other, specialised, groups - which were handled separately.
I inadvertently cheated. By leaving my blank signup sheet up (with others) it meant that it gave a limited choice to late comers and, by the time I'd called the other games, it was full. Whereas I'd called some games with only three out of five signups. I didn't mean to fill my game this way and it felt a bit underhand.
I made two errors in the morning muster. I called the referees and players and gave the referees the sheets to take upstairs with their players. They were supposed to be escorted by Cosplayers, but I didn't see any. They may have been around the corner out of my eyeline.
I initially forgot to call the rooms. This apparently led to some wandering around upstairs and one of the more experienced referees kindly came down to inform me of my omission. I began calling the rooms thereafter.
The other error was giving the sign up sheets to the referees. The organiser was upstairs guiding players to their games but, without the sheets, had no record of the rooms to work from.
There were several referees not present at muster, so I began giving the sign up sheets for their games to any of their players who were present and crossed my fingers. Only one group of players got upstairs to find they didn't have a referee. And he'd already called to inform the front desk about his delay. I left the blank and unclaimed signup sheets at the main desk and took my players upstairs to run my first game.
Only to find that I couldn't find MY room. Luckily the organiser was there guiding everyone.
The RPG rooms were nice, bright, meeting rooms but suffered the usual Dragonmeet issue of feeling too cramped for the number of players and games. They all seemed to be full to the brim with happy happy Roleplayers.
My first game was my "Manifold" gritty Sci fI scenario. As usual I had a great bunch of players, though it was slightly derailed by TWO of the players wanting to play cowardly types who had great fun role-playing but tended to duck all the action. That was what they wanted to do, however, and I don't think anyone at the table minded the group missing out on/running away from the major objectives. Their characters successfully survived through ducking and diving, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake.
I'd grabbed some food from M&S on my way down and was glad that I did. The queue at the tiny bar in the break between games was huge. I went to the bar to try and meet and thank David Black for THE BLACK HACK but he was deep in an OSR game at the bar and I didn't want to interrupt.
I checked the signup sheets for the afternoon. There seemed to be LOADS. Far more than the morning. I found the room for my afternoon game (totally different from my morning room) and set up my table.
Then it was downstairs for afternoon muster. We pulled the sheets down at 2:55 and I began calling the games. Again I don't recall hearing a PA announcement or seeing any cosplay guides up to the rooms. This time I called the games and passed the sheets to the organisers who dealt with queries as I called out game after game after game. I honestly don't know how it went or if people could hear me. By the time I'd finished - and it seemed to take forever - loads of people had disappeared but several were left for the poor old organisers to deal with.
I went upstairs to run my Steampunk game. The Great Martian Tripod Race. You know what? THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL is a great little game and this scenario (not mine - "acquired" from Martin Pickett) is fun. And players come to a steampunk game knowing what they want. (All she wanted was a "parasol cannon".)
In the comfort break halfway through, the queue at the bar was still there but was shorter and manageable. I managed to buy a Diet Coke and something they CALLED a slice of pizza. It wasn't. But it was hot, tasty and very very stodgy and filling. I also had a quick look around the trade hall and broke into David's OSR game to say "thanks" and shake his hand.
Having to get back to Birmingham, I left after my second game at 7pm. I didn't go searching for seminar to go to as I'd originally planned. The organiser had to go around the RPG rooms asking Referee after Referee to wrap up their games. Why is it so hard for so many people to stick to the agreed times?
My feelings about Dragonmeet 2016? There's a massive demand for it. People coming desperate to have fun, and finding it. Though theoretically bigger than the IBIS - where it was held to mixed response in 2014 and 2016 - for me the new venue, the Novotel West, seemed to have lower ceilings and things felt a bit claustrophobic in the main Hall. Having the RPGs upstairs in meeting rooms seemed to divorce them from the main hall and, though they were big and bright and better than the playing areas in 2014 and 2015, were still a bit cramped. Also having the convention on the first floor (the hotel had another convention running on the ground floor, I think) slowed people getting in. Also with the massive amount of games on offer, I'm not sure if muster is the way to handle it. I can't think of any better way to do it though.
I also couldn't, in one day, do everything the convention had to offer. Maybe I should limit myself to running one game and spend the rest of the day in the trade hall or seminars or actually talking to all the people I KNOW now, who I just breezed past with a quick "hello".
But it's easy, so easy, for us punters to point out the faults and much harder to say what we'd do to make it work. The fact is that a huge convention was organised and run successfully. In fact the great majority of the feedback I've seen this year is very, very positive. This is due to the one the ground organisers breaking their backs for us. They deserve some sort of award.
I still think there's such a demand for Dragonmeet that it could easily be a two day convention. I'd certainly like it more if it was. I think the organisers might have to consider selling tickets for the RPGs to raise funds to pay for more playing area. However, I'm not sure the current business model would support either of these. And I don't have a good answer for how you offer so many RPGs and get everyone to their referees and rooms. Dragonmeet is a victim of its own success. And a success it is.
It's a one day convention, but it goes on until midnight. In the past I've stayed in London in order to do the whole day. However, as nothing ever really seems to happen on the Sundsy, and As part of my current economy drive, I decided this year to treat it as a one day event. Travel down at stupid o'clock Saturday morning, play two games and then travel back to Birmingham in the evening.
Thursday night before Dragonmeet, I got a text from one of the organisers asking if I could "do muster" at the con. That is, call out the RPG games and read out the players and games so they could go to their rooms with their referees. Flattered, I of course said yes. We sorted the details out in a call Friday.
Then I slept through my alarm. Massive panic but by catching a taxi at both ends (so much for the economy drive) I got the the venue just in time. Phew!
I saw people queuing outside and - of course - blithely swept past as a "guest" only to find that they weren't queuing at the main desk. They were waiting for a lift - which took 8 normal people at a time (or 4 Roleplayers as I found out later in the day). Madness! I don't know if it was the correct way in or if someone had just decided to go in that way and everyone was following. Luckily my taxi driver had pointed me at an alternative entrance, so I went round the side, through the main entrance to the hotel and upstairs to the convention main desk.
Signing in as a guest was easy, but I didn't have time to go to my room and check it out or set up.
The sign up area just past the main desk seemed a bit small. The original plan was to hold muster by the main desk but we decided to do it by the sign up sheets. Referees had been told to come to the muster area at 9:50. Obviously to make sure they were all there on time. But some of them thought it was when muster should start and began asking for their players or calling out for them. Some went straight up to their rooms.
There was supposed to be a call on the PA about muster at 9:55 but I didn't hear it. And loads of punters still weren't in the building - the queue outside apparently went around the block. At about ten o'clock, I took down all the sheets which seemed to have signups and - with one of the organisers calling the area to order (thanks mate!) - I began to call out the games. I had over 20 games to call out - and that didn't even include those run by other, specialised, groups - which were handled separately.
I inadvertently cheated. By leaving my blank signup sheet up (with others) it meant that it gave a limited choice to late comers and, by the time I'd called the other games, it was full. Whereas I'd called some games with only three out of five signups. I didn't mean to fill my game this way and it felt a bit underhand.
I made two errors in the morning muster. I called the referees and players and gave the referees the sheets to take upstairs with their players. They were supposed to be escorted by Cosplayers, but I didn't see any. They may have been around the corner out of my eyeline.
I initially forgot to call the rooms. This apparently led to some wandering around upstairs and one of the more experienced referees kindly came down to inform me of my omission. I began calling the rooms thereafter.
The other error was giving the sign up sheets to the referees. The organiser was upstairs guiding players to their games but, without the sheets, had no record of the rooms to work from.
There were several referees not present at muster, so I began giving the sign up sheets for their games to any of their players who were present and crossed my fingers. Only one group of players got upstairs to find they didn't have a referee. And he'd already called to inform the front desk about his delay. I left the blank and unclaimed signup sheets at the main desk and took my players upstairs to run my first game.
Only to find that I couldn't find MY room. Luckily the organiser was there guiding everyone.
The RPG rooms were nice, bright, meeting rooms but suffered the usual Dragonmeet issue of feeling too cramped for the number of players and games. They all seemed to be full to the brim with happy happy Roleplayers.
My first game was my "Manifold" gritty Sci fI scenario. As usual I had a great bunch of players, though it was slightly derailed by TWO of the players wanting to play cowardly types who had great fun role-playing but tended to duck all the action. That was what they wanted to do, however, and I don't think anyone at the table minded the group missing out on/running away from the major objectives. Their characters successfully survived through ducking and diving, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake.
I'd grabbed some food from M&S on my way down and was glad that I did. The queue at the tiny bar in the break between games was huge. I went to the bar to try and meet and thank David Black for THE BLACK HACK but he was deep in an OSR game at the bar and I didn't want to interrupt.
I checked the signup sheets for the afternoon. There seemed to be LOADS. Far more than the morning. I found the room for my afternoon game (totally different from my morning room) and set up my table.
Then it was downstairs for afternoon muster. We pulled the sheets down at 2:55 and I began calling the games. Again I don't recall hearing a PA announcement or seeing any cosplay guides up to the rooms. This time I called the games and passed the sheets to the organisers who dealt with queries as I called out game after game after game. I honestly don't know how it went or if people could hear me. By the time I'd finished - and it seemed to take forever - loads of people had disappeared but several were left for the poor old organisers to deal with.
I went upstairs to run my Steampunk game. The Great Martian Tripod Race. You know what? THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL is a great little game and this scenario (not mine - "acquired" from Martin Pickett) is fun. And players come to a steampunk game knowing what they want. (All she wanted was a "parasol cannon".)
In the comfort break halfway through, the queue at the bar was still there but was shorter and manageable. I managed to buy a Diet Coke and something they CALLED a slice of pizza. It wasn't. But it was hot, tasty and very very stodgy and filling. I also had a quick look around the trade hall and broke into David's OSR game to say "thanks" and shake his hand.
Having to get back to Birmingham, I left after my second game at 7pm. I didn't go searching for seminar to go to as I'd originally planned. The organiser had to go around the RPG rooms asking Referee after Referee to wrap up their games. Why is it so hard for so many people to stick to the agreed times?
My feelings about Dragonmeet 2016? There's a massive demand for it. People coming desperate to have fun, and finding it. Though theoretically bigger than the IBIS - where it was held to mixed response in 2014 and 2016 - for me the new venue, the Novotel West, seemed to have lower ceilings and things felt a bit claustrophobic in the main Hall. Having the RPGs upstairs in meeting rooms seemed to divorce them from the main hall and, though they were big and bright and better than the playing areas in 2014 and 2015, were still a bit cramped. Also having the convention on the first floor (the hotel had another convention running on the ground floor, I think) slowed people getting in. Also with the massive amount of games on offer, I'm not sure if muster is the way to handle it. I can't think of any better way to do it though.
I also couldn't, in one day, do everything the convention had to offer. Maybe I should limit myself to running one game and spend the rest of the day in the trade hall or seminars or actually talking to all the people I KNOW now, who I just breezed past with a quick "hello".
But it's easy, so easy, for us punters to point out the faults and much harder to say what we'd do to make it work. The fact is that a huge convention was organised and run successfully. In fact the great majority of the feedback I've seen this year is very, very positive. This is due to the one the ground organisers breaking their backs for us. They deserve some sort of award.
I still think there's such a demand for Dragonmeet that it could easily be a two day convention. I'd certainly like it more if it was. I think the organisers might have to consider selling tickets for the RPGs to raise funds to pay for more playing area. However, I'm not sure the current business model would support either of these. And I don't have a good answer for how you offer so many RPGs and get everyone to their referees and rooms. Dragonmeet is a victim of its own success. And a success it is.
Thursday 1 December 2016
Dragonmeet - Muster Master
At Dragonmeet this year (tomorrow!) they're trying a new system where all the RPG players meet in a central area at the beginning of an RPG session. The games and their participants are called out and then the referees escort them up to the playing room.
This is called "muster". It's a system that's worked well at some residential conventions before.
I have just been asked to be the person who calls out the games at Muster. I'll admit to feel a bit flattered.
This is called "muster". It's a system that's worked well at some residential conventions before.
I have just been asked to be the person who calls out the games at Muster. I'll admit to feel a bit flattered.
You wait years for a decent RPG venue...l
...... And two come along at once.
Looking for a venue for our "Spaghetti ConJunction" RPG convention, I've come across not one but TWO new places where you can go to play RPGs.
Geek Retreat is a new shop/cafe right in the city centre devoted to giving geeks a place to play their games. I've popped in. It looks great.
https://www.facebook.com/GeekRetreatBirmingham/
Manaleak is more on the edges of Birmingham city centre and is devoted to the "Magic the Gathering" collectable card game. However, they have a regular RPG night.
http://www.manaleak.com/mtguk/manaleak-com-magic-gathering-birmingham-retail-gaming-centre-uk/
I've got feelers out at both places. Don't be surprised if you see me offering my games at one or both of them soon.
Looking for a venue for our "Spaghetti ConJunction" RPG convention, I've come across not one but TWO new places where you can go to play RPGs.
Geek Retreat is a new shop/cafe right in the city centre devoted to giving geeks a place to play their games. I've popped in. It looks great.
https://www.facebook.com/GeekRetreatBirmingham/
Manaleak is more on the edges of Birmingham city centre and is devoted to the "Magic the Gathering" collectable card game. However, they have a regular RPG night.
http://www.manaleak.com/mtguk/manaleak-com-magic-gathering-birmingham-retail-gaming-centre-uk/
I've got feelers out at both places. Don't be surprised if you see me offering my games at one or both of them soon.
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