Anyone Thinking about Gen Con UK?

[JRR_Talking]

vast horde of the uk rpgers are currently at conception from wed 31st jan to sun 4th feb, so u may not got much input to your post until the return!

. Im told is much betta than gencon uk.

John

 

[Bagpuss]

It's great that it's back in a campus setting again.

Gencon UK was easily at it's best when it was at Loughborough University, reasonably good at Manchester Uni, and just went downhill when it moved to convention facilities in London and downright terrible when it was in a big top at a Butlin's Holiday camp.

I've been to Reading Uni for a games convention years ago and it was great fun. The time of year is much better as well. I just hope the previous couple of years and the fact it didn't run last year doesn't mean it's lost a lot of people that were regulars.

It use to be that I would definitely make the effort to go, after Easter in London and a big top in Minehead, I'd pretty much decided never to go again. Reading might win me back but now I've found other things I can spend my money on, so I'm not sure if I'll be willing to give it a chance.

Are they making any effort to advertise it?

 

[pedr]

I've not been to Conception (darned thesis!) but keep hearing great things about it.

I think they're very different: Conception is held at a holiday village with quite cheap chalet accomodation and the ticket-price for games donated to charity. It seems to be an RPG/LARP convention in contrast to GenCon's attempt to cover all genres of gaming. It's run on a 'sign up at the convention' model with very little to no pre-booking.

GenCon UK attempts to be more formally organised, attract the attention of the industry, have a large trade-hall and host launches of products etc - essentially being a UK version of GenCon Indy or Origins, though clearly on a far smaller scale. It is far more planned, with pre-booking and so on and, this year, is being held at a University. It's considerably more expensive than some other UK cons but, unless I'm calculating things wrongly, compares reasonably well to the overall cost of GenCon Indy.

 

[Bagpuss]

Well certainly if you take the air fair from the UK into account....

 

[pedr]

Heh, no I excluded that!

Accommodation: 4 nights at $50 in the US = £105, 4 nights at £30 in the UK = £120
Badge: $70 in the US = £37, £75 (very early bird, with tickets) in the UK
Tickets (assuming playing every session): $33 = £17, £9 in the UK, I think

Total: £159 in the US, £204 in the UK. That's for a single dorm room in the UK (shared bathrooms) vs three sharing a hotel room with one bathroom in the US.

Of course, the convention in Indy is always going to be streets ahead of the UK one - the scale is incomparable. Nevertheless, you'll not spend /that/ much more money on GenCon UK, and considering the cost of land and living here compared with the mid-west of the US, it's not surprising it costs more!

 

[CharlesRyan]

Yeah, as an American newly replanted to the UK, I can agree that if Gen Con UK is only 30% more expensive that Gen Con Indy, it's doing pretty well compared to the general cost-of-living differential between the two countries!

As for the location: The site is spread out over about four buildings, but they're all tightly bunched around an open quad, which the con also intends to use. The "headquarters" building and exhibit hall are nicely located, and the accommodations are right nearby. So it should have a pretty cohesive feel, and I don't think they have too much room for a couple thousand gamers.

 

[Jonny Nexus]

Yeah, as an American newly replanted to the UK, I can agree that if Gen Con UK is only 30% more expensive that Gen Con Indy, it's doing pretty well compared to the general cost-of-living differential between the two countries!

If you're new here, you might not be aware that there are also some very good conventions in Ireland, that I'd strongly recommend, as well as the excellent Conpulsion in Edinburgh. Flights to these are all pretty cheap and short (say £100 return and an hour).

The next ones of these coming up are K2 and Conpulsion in March.

Here are my writeups/reviews for some of the British & Irish conventions I've been to (hope no-one minds me posting the links).

Gaelcon 2002 (Dublin)

Conpulsion 2005 (Edinburgh)

Warpcon 2005 (Cork)

QCon 2004 (Belfast)

K2 2004 (Killarney)

Dragonmeet 2002 (London)

 

[PieAndDragon]

I'll be there, probably with a few others from Devon. No doubt I'll run a couple of D&D one-offs, either as scheduled or in the DOGS (delegate-organised-games-section?) area.

After GenCon 2000 in the US, I'd agree about the UK ones being far less impressive. However, its still a good place to meet old friends, game with new people and try out some games you otherwise wouldn't.

Good to be back on Uni campus again, and Reading is far more convenient (for me) to get too. We should organise an Enwolrlders meet nearer the time