Tallarn's GenConUK Report! (now with photo link)

[Mathew_Freeman]

OK, I've been to GenConUK and experienced most of what was on offer. I have a few complaints, and some things that were great, so here goes, the full story

Part 1 - Friday.

Arrived at GenConUK around 4pm on Friday, having picked up Bagpuss from the coach station and dropped his bags off at the flat. Chatted on the way down to the Olympia centre about which games to try and get in, and what sort of campaigns we'd been in before.

First gripe about GenConUK (I'll try and keep them to a minimum). I couldn't pay by credit or debit card, so Bagpuss kindly leant me the £25 required for a four day pass. This year, the passes were little bits of plastic on chains with no identifying marks or signatures on them. Curious.

We looked around briefly on the ground floor, but as last year it was mostly CCG players and the new LAN network that had been set up. At £2 for 30mins, it seemed a little expensive, although the addition of a nice big screen to show what was going on was good. We swiftly headed up to the Trade Floor.

Again, kind of disappointing. Seemed as though there were not very many stands, and those that were there were pretty much all selling the same things. There were also a few demo games running, but I noticed a real lack of people. It seemed much quieter than last year. Didn't take us long to wander round, and the most interesting thing I saw were the new miniatures from WotC, which seemed pretty well done. I think I'll be investing in some of those when they come out.

At this point we met Zoskia from these boards, and whilst talking to him I realised someone else was trying to attract my attention. This turned out to be Morrus' flatmate Jason, who informed me Morrus was around somewhere and was only staying the one day. A few minutes later he turned up, and the group moved to the cafe for a chat. We were also joined by Inconsequenti-AL, S'mon and Upper_Krust. Everyone sat down for a drink and a good chat, and at this point I finally got to meet Maldur.

I have to remember in future that Dutch people are generically tall.

After getting over the fact that Maldur is much bigger than his avatar would suggest, we decided to go for food and continued discussion. The pizza place across the road seemed as nice a spot as any.

S'mon and Upper_Krust moved off elsewhere, and the rest of us ate a good meal and talked of many things RPG related. We all agreed the convention was pretty quiet, but the time of year wasn't perfect for the English. Easter weekend tends to be a time when families get together and the rail service shuts down somewhat.

Morrus and company headed off back to Southampton, and Maldur, myself and Bagpuss went back inside and returned to the top floor, the RPG centre. We found the second great GenConUK gripe - the RPG desk couldn't sell tickets for games, you had to do that at the desk at the front door. Bah. Back downstairs, where we booked some games for the following day.

A little more chatting upstairs, and we headed home, with a full day's gaming ahead of us.

Day 2! Are the games any good? Can we stay awake all day? Will we meet more ENworlders? And why does one of them need to be sacrificed? Coming soon!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Part 2 - Saturday, the Day Of All-Day Gaming!

After a decent nights sleep and quick breakfast, we journeyed back across London for our day of gaming. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, and I even managed to meet my brother very quickly before my first game.

The game was Feng Shui, 1850 style, and we had some fun bashing mooks, performing outrageous kungfu, and uttering melodramatic dialogue. Highlights included a dying Grand Master, a fight in a tea house which swiftly spread to the nearby market, mooks being used as weapons, a box that blinded all that looked in it, flaming swords, mid air calligraphy and animated statues being set on fire. Much fun had by all.

Speedy lunch, met two more friends in passing, next game!

Live action Paranoia! Sadly the last one at GenCon, being as the Storytellers don't think they can make Amsterdam, but enormous fun. The Computer is down! Secret societies and mutant powers are encouraged! The Society for Free Enterprise is in charge...and here's the REALLY weird bit. We were all playing 8 year old kids.

We swiftly formed into factions, by society, and proceeded to try and lie, plot, stea and backstab our way to the final bottle of Bouncy-Bubble-Pop. Much creation of forts, trying to outwit our teachers, use of mutant powers, threatening behaviour and general confusion ensued. Our society made a grand stand, before dying in a variety of horrible ways.

I was first.

Lurking in one corner having a rules discussion when a stun grenade lands next to us. Unable to get clear in time, I have to sit and watch as a second grenade bounces into view...

I get permission to haunt the other members of my society as a ghost. Good fun. Kudos to the organisers for keeping the game running at a smooth but frenetic pace.

Quick journey out for more pizza, and a meeting with Ravellion. I tell him about the Rocky Horror Show viewing later that night, and he agrees to watch it with me. We arrange to meet.

Final organised game of the day is Call of Cthullu! Great experience, and certainly the most humourous CoC game I've ever been involved in. We had a mixture of very rich people in a luxury resort, miles from anywhere, including a truly mad scientist with a dodgy European accent. After much bemusement, we managed to get our heads invaded by small flying things, and proceeded to shoot each other, the owner of the resort, some of the staff, and one of the flying creatures. Two players got away (probably) and I was left inside the house, mad, wondering how to explain all the bodies when the police turn up later...

On to the Rocky Horror Show! Ravellion has bought a crate of beer in the charity auction, and is offering it around. We move to the auditorium, and as things are being set up I let slip that Ravellion is a Rocky Virgin...thus he has to be sacrificed up on stage This duly occours, and a bemused Ravellion tells me he doesn't understand what the heck he's let himself in for.

"Don't worry!" I say. "Keep drinking beer, it'll all make sense later!"

The film starts, there is enormous amounts of heckling, audience participation, dancing, singing, more heckling ("Where's your f***ing neck!?"), dancing, singing, shouting and a final boogie over the end credits. I spot Ravellion getting on down in the group, and realise we've made a convert to the Way Of Rocky. Richard O'Brien gets several rounds of applause, Tim Curry too, and we all move back into the main room.

Ravellion, Bagpuss and myself have a slightly drunken conversation, and then a good game of Zombies! which Bagpuss wins. The rest of the night is spent wandering around trying to stay awake, because anyone that falls asleep is poked by GenCon security staff and woken up. Argh.

Next - Day Three! The ENworld game! Meeting Morbidity! More card games! A Welshman called Nimrod! Beer!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Part 3 - Sunday

Sunday morning wanders into view. We find a nice cafe hidden away and get a full cooked breakfast - very reviving! Bagpuss and Ravellion head off to look at Trade Hall stuff, and I agree to sit upstairs, chill out, and relax.

I'm too relaxed, I'm nearly falling asleep. Fortunately, I find the Welshman named Nimrod, who in a spirit of good gaming invites to play various card games with him, including Lunch Money (play as children! Beat other people up! Fear the Big Combo! Humiliate your opponents!) and some others which I can't remember...

Various strangers join in, and after the game I go grab some lunch and wait for the ENworld game. One of the other players, an Australian woman, is also sat waiting around. We get chatting, and I ask her if she's in a game this afternoon.

"Oh yeah, I'm playing D&D."

"Huh? Which game?"

"The ENWorld game."

"HUH? Uh, OK, well I'm Tallarn...you are?"

"Morbidity. Hi."

"Uh, I thought you were a guy...what with the avatar and all...uh...I'll shut up now..."

Ahem.

The ENWorld game arrives, with Zander, S'mon, Upper_Krust, Bagpuss, myself, Maldur, Ravellion, Morbidity, Zoskia, and one more random person playing out a bar room brawl. Everyone has their own agenda, and although Ravellion's mage is cut down in short order by Maldur's Paladin, and I'm nearly drugged and sold as a slave myself, in the end the good guys win, the bad guys flee or die, and everyone has fun. Best thing really.

We adjourn to the pub, deciding that hanging around to watch The Gamers might not be worth it. Most of us are still wretchedly tired from lack of sleep the night before, but the conversation and beer helps somewhat.

The group thins out to myself, Bagpuss, Morbidity and Maldur? (so sorry, my brain has shut down on this one ) and we talk for a fair while before heading back to our respective haunts for the final day tomorrow.

Next! Day Four! Card Games! The Zombie Conga! More beer and pubs!

Edit to Day Two - randomling was also there that day, although I didn't manage to speak to her much! I'll let her add her own report next time she's online...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Edit to the previous edit - randomling was at GenCon on Saturday, not Sunday!

Day Four

Feeling somewhat refreshed, Bagpuss and myself went back to the same cafe for more breakfast, and returned to the RPG floor to entertain ourselves. I had been promised a Crimson Empire game by Nimrod, and tried to find him...no sign.

So instead, I went back to the Trade Floor and played a demo game of Crimson Skies a Heroclix style game of aerial combat and dogfights! I was very impressed with the system, it just seemed to work well and feel right. If I had the money, I could be tempted to play this on a regular basis.

Back upstairs and Nimrod was found just starting a few card games. I got another round of Zombies! in, including possibly the longest continuous Zombie-Conga ever (all together now "Da-da dum-dum-dum da-da, da-da dum-dum-dum da-da, da daa daa daa BRAINS!, da daa daa daa BRAINS!) and a bizarre storytelling game. There was also a man wrapped in bubble wrap who fell over. I don't recall why.

A massive game of Combined Munchkin was about to start when the convention began to close, so instead we relocated to the pub again and played there. After much back and forth, the game was abandoned in favour of food. I moved across the room, to find Morbidity again with some other random people, and we stayed chatting until about 9.30pm.

All in all, I really enjoyed myself. Thus concludes my account of my weekend, further comments shall appear below!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

General comments

Firstly, attendance was poor. I head various reports and rumours, but the consensus seemed to be that the Con was around 60% down on last year. A combination of poor transport and bad timing really affected it badly. The Trade Hall seemed emptier than on previous years, and a few people even told me that the CCG tournaments were well down on the previous figures. The words 'financial disaster, probably' were mentioned.

Secondly, the organisation was appalling. The RPG desk on the 3rd floor couldn't sell tickets for games, couldn't tell you what games were still available and were really quite pointless through no fault of their own. They did a good job at staying so upbeat.

The ticket system was terrible. If the same game was playing on multiple tables, each table had a seperate reference number, so you had to apply by each number to check if the game was free. But the ticket desk didn't bother to do this, so if the first table was full they simply told you the game was full. This lead to a lot of people missing a lot of games which were actually quite empty!

The security guards were overly picky. We weren't allowed to sleep in the convention centre. Even during the day. Dose off for more than a second, and the guards would poke you awake. Bleh.

Finally, the guests were wasted. I didn't hear anything from nearly any of them. From what I heard, they spent quite a lot of time sitting in the Trade Hall by themselves, as there weren't enough people to talk to them! No signs, no announcements, no fuss...awful. So much could have been done, but even the charity game run by some of the guests had to be reduced from £12 to £4 before anyone would play in it...

HOWEVER, all that said, I really enjoyed myself. The games were a blast to play in (special congratulations to S'mon and the Paranoia team!), I met some lovely people (not least of which were Maldur and Morbidity, whom I didn't know beforehand) and the Rocky Horror show is a must see from now on at Conventions for me.

I would love to go next year in Amsterdam, but I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it. They'll have to sell it and advertise it much better, or it'll be the end of GenCon in Europe. I had fun despite everything that was going on. Many others were very disappointed.

 

[Ravellion]

I had a fun time, though I was absolutely nackered after the two days I went. I also played clix Crimson Skies, which is very good indeed. Especially because of the octagonal templates. My fighter plane made a very close maneuver next to a high rise building which made the entire table gasp. Lots of fun.

I met quite a few Dutch people as well... perhaps there is some hope for Gencon Amsterdam next year. I will be attending, since I can probably either go there by bike or by free public transport. Tallarn, Bagpuss, S'mon, if you want to come and bring a sleeping bag, I can probably get you place to crash (I don't know how my housing situation is going to be in a year jsut yet ).

I also played my first Fudge game. DM'ed by Ann Dupuis and Katherine Kurtz. Yes, this was the discounted celebrity game. It was a lot of fun, and reminded me of the fun I had in my very first D&D sessions... it was great.

Ah, I'll join in the bitching as well.

I played my first RPGA event, and actually loved it. Nice people to play with, balanced party, high action, humorous DM.

But I couldn't play another game, because they did the same module over and over again (if you were of low level that is).

The "no sleeping" rule was very irritating. Prisoners of war are protected by the Geneva convention against sleep deprivation tactics such as used by Gencon security people. Look, I was awake up to 5. If I fall asleep accidentally, what's the problem? I paid at the door. It is not like I am going to book a hotel room from one of your affiliates at half past 5 in the morning.

The cashmachine in the convention hall for Gencon Europe accepted American Express, but not Eurocard. Incredibly irritating. I had to walk all the way to Hammersmith for a working cashmachine.

Anyway, some thanks:
Bagpuss, for playing a mean game of "Zombies!"
S'mon for DM'ing the Enword game (that evil look on your face when you made the cleric say "I thought you wouldn't mind bit of red on your robes" is going to give me nightmares. I know it will.)
Tallarn for introducing me to Rocky Horror goodness.
Maldur for spotting my food bill in the pub (related to the cashmachine goodness) and killing my character.... errr...
His girlfriend for winning a game that is out of print and promising to trade it with me when I return to the Netherlands.
South Central trains for miraculously not having any delays at all. Go figure.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Hey gang,

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend GenCon last year in Milwaukee, and it was spectacular. However, hearing the reports coming out of GenCon UK has me spooked. I'm sure the date had something to do with it, but I'm actually more worried about the lack of D&D (and, by extension, much of the d20 market) at the convention.

Has the sale of the convention to Peter Adkinson given WotC cause to drop support? I notice that there are no WotC seminars listed in the event registration system right now. Last year, those seminars were the highlight of the show for me. I was at least hoping for something similar.

The logistics problems sound like they could be freshman mistakes, but I'm not kidding when I say if they don't get smoothed out by GenCon Indy I'm going to be very displeased. Money problems, ticket problems, organizations problems....one of the things I loved about GenCon in Milwaukee was that I walked in, they handed me a program book, and I knew exactly where to be, and when. I hope I'm just being a worrywart.

 

[Morbidity]

"Uh, I thought you were a guy...what with the avatar and all...uh...I'll shut up now..."
[/B]

Lots of fun meeting the ENWorld crowd and enlightening everyone as to my female status in life ... and recovering from my devastation that no one else apparently thinks my avatar is a female, sex goddess

This was my first Con, so I was spared any ability to make comparisons with previous or other cons. It seemed to be incredibly disorganised with the people selling the tickets not knowing what they were selling and the people running the games not knowing anything about what had been sold. Despite everything the RPG desk seemed to be doing a fantastic job of keeping everything somewhat afloat.

The ENWorld game was lots of fun with a definite lack of both trust and morality in the air. After discovering that she was a hopeless pickpocket (or die roller), my character eventually found the easiest way to obtain the money to buy her freedom ... looting bodies still shuddering from their death blow!

I went to the Con knowing no one, but rarely had a moment where I wasn't either playing or busy chattering away to people who I'd met. It's amazing how by the 4th day I was constantly running into people I'd met on previous days. Everyone was generally very friendly and lots of fun. There's nothing like playing cards until 5am with people you'd just met at the Rocky Horror Show ... and then discovering the following day that the 'virgin' sacrificed was Ravellion.

 

[Mark]

I am SOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo jealous!

Sounds like everyone had a great time despite the various difficulties. I look forward to eventually metting each and every one of you fine people when I someday make it over to your side of the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks for the updates and keep them coming!

Tallarn - We'll have to find a way to get me a bit of stage time while I am over there...and I don't mean Rocky, though that'd be fun also.

 

[S'mon]

Hi Tallarn et al - I'm glad people enjoyed the game I ran!

I enjoyed running it but thought it was a bit short myself (about 2.5 hours) - my previous Gencon game went overtime (5 hours) and didn't get finished, so with the bar-room brawl I wanted something that would definitely be completed in the time available. I think I'm learning, hopefully if I run another convention game I can get it completed in the 3-4 hour sweet spot I'm aiming for!