Conventions (and ears) in 2022.

So, as with many things, attending conventions in 2022 have an element of hesitation about them.

Many of us who go to multiple conventions per year can't wait to get back to visiting them, whilst at the same time we're all maybe a little bit apprehensive.

So when this year started I had it all worked out.

• March - AireCon
• June - UK Games Expo
• August - Gen Con
• August - Tabletop Scotland

and anything else was a bonus.

Of course, the best laid plans etc etc...

At the start of the year I developed a lovely (it wasn't) ear infection in both ears. An infection that prove resistant to all attempts to treat through the usual means (I have a long medical history with my ears).

The infection's main impact was pain followed closely by an inability to sleep. Fortunately pain killers exist, unfortunately I needed really strong ones. If you've ever been on really strong pain killers for any length of time, you'll know that when you stop taking them it isn't a pleasant experience...

So January came and went, then February, and March (had to skip AireCon) too. With April approaching and no improvement it became clear (well to be fair it already was) that surgery was the only answer. Now, because of my long medical history with ear issues that's never a simple thing to consider but it was becoming a 'necessary evil'.

As I type this it's the day after surgery and already I can tell a big difference. It's not a long term fix but it'll do for now and means I can now actually have confidence in my plans for going to conventions and organising Tabletop Scotland (the latter was never actually in doubt!).

UK Games Expo - Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th June 2022

For me this will be Thursday 2nd to Monday 6th June purely from a travel and social perspective.

I'm really, really, looking forward to UK Games Expo this year. I've missed the event and the people that I normally see there. Plus it's always a useful event from a Tabletop Scotland perspective.

Gen Con - Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th August 2022

For me this is Tuesday 3rd to Monday 8th August factoring in flights etc. Technically Tuesday 9th August as that's when I get home, timezones huh.

If I am really, really, looking forward to UK Games Expo. You can probably add another 2 or 3 reallys onto that for Gen Con. Returning to Indianapolis after 4 years away and going back with Richard, Simon and of course Greg. The festival atmosphere of the convention and the whole celebration of the hobby that the event has really is special.

The event catalog gets released tomorrow and I am looking forward to planning my Gen Con experience.

If I could only go to one convention every year, and could justify the cost every year, then it'd be Gen Con. No Greg that doesn't mean we're going every year.

Tabletop Scotland 27th & 28th August 2022

Then we have Tabletop Scotland. It's amazing to see so many people excited about our event this year. After 2 years without it, we as a team have really missed hosting it. It seems that our attendees and exhibitors feel the same, which is really special.

We have a lot planned and we really think this will be our best event yet. So if you're in Scotland or can make it to Scotland at the end of August, come to Perth and visit the convention.

More RPGing + Board Games on the horizon?

2021 was a year of more roleplaying, 2022 looks similar but with regular board gaming hopefully on the horizon.

I came into 2021 with a reasonable expectation that unless there was a significant improvement in all things COVID, I would continue to game exclusively online.

That expectation became reality fairly quickly, with a couple of small exceptions where I had friends over to play board / card games. Although in all fairness those were more about seeing these friends for the first time since the before times, rather than being specifically board game meetups. I continued my reluctance / disinterest in playing board games online so those occasions also represent the totality of my board gaming in 2021.

RPGs continue to dominate my gaming thanks to those same D&D games I reflected on at the end of 2020.

• Homebrew D&D campaign that's been running fortnightly for 3 years / 10 levels and now starting to build towards what the characters actually have ahead of them. I think the next few sessions will help to shape how the next 12 months of that campaign will go.
• D&D Adventurers League: Avernus Rising has been going for more than 12 months and we're now on part 14 of 20, in fact I think it's possible we might finish part 14 before we get into 2022.
• D&D Adventurers League: Eberron Oracle of War game that I play in. Run by Rich for Iain, Ian, Pete, Shane and I. It's been fantastic fun and a great opportunity to spend time with great people that I would normally see once or twice a year at most. I missed a few sessions this year due to illness or power cuts but I'm looking forward to what's next.

Other than D&D, my 2021 gaming included running games of Trail of Cthulhu, Call of Cthulhu (although that was only for a playtest), ALIEN, Star Wars FFG and The Expanse. Mostly these were one or two sessions.

I also took part in the RPG Writer Workshop again and published the currently 4.8 out of 5 rated and Silver selling "The Oxford Articles" for Call of Cthulhu.

Writing for a system that I had zero experience with was challenging but it's definitely got me thinking about writing more for it. I had hoped to do the workshop again in November but post AlbaCon 2021 I think I needed a break from being creative!

Speaking of AlbaCon, after raising > £3,100 for It's Good 2 Give in 2020 we were delighted to raise > £3,300 for Penumbra in 2021. It's a fantastic feeling that the effort we put in to make the event a success not only results in people having fun but also enables us to support charity.

Day 366 of Year 2020...

It has been 31 days since my last post and it also happens to be the last day of 2020.

As far as leap years go, it has been a year full of challenge and no doubt many people will be keen for it to be over with as soon as possible.

While looking forward to 2021, I have some hesitation about how quickly things will improve with respect to the pandemic, politics, and ongoing aspects of other things 2020 will be remembered for.

But this blog is not about those things and I am not planning to change that any time soon.

Let us talk about tabletop games.

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I usually start one of these with a reflection on the year gone but I think my most recent posts do that for me.

Some brief highlights?

AlbaCon was a success and raised over £3,000 for an amazing charity.

I published Unsettled Ground. An adventure for Dungeons & Dragons on DMsGuild after taking part in the RPG Writer Workshop.

The Dungeons & Dragons Scotland Facebook Group has grown from 0 to 725 members and the associated D&D Scotland Discord Server now has multiple games running on it every week. Not bad. Naturally there was a big upturn of members after March...

I’ve DM’d more sessions of RPGs than I have since my teens including continuing to DM two ongoing D&D campaigns and running several intro sessions of D&D at work and for friends looking to explore RPGs. My two campaigns are made up of:

• Homebrew set in Forgotten Realms with some flavourings of my own. We hit two years of running this in October and successfully migrated to playing online back in March.
  
  
  
  
  
• The other is a run through of Season 9 of Adventurers League – Avernus Rising.
  
  
  
  
  

I’ve also played more RPGs than ever including playing in games of the Eberron - Oracle Of War storyline with Shane, Pete, Iain and Ian run by Rich.  Fabulous people I would usually only get to see at events like UK Games Expo but thanks to the wonders of online gaming I have the pleasure of spending time with them semi-regularly.

Probably worth a few hobby related lowlights too? Although in the grand scheme of things these really are not that important…

Lots of conventions were cancelled, including Tabletop Scotland 2020.

I haven’t played a board game since March, largely due to East Neuk Tabletop being on hiatus.

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So with 2021 on the horizon, what plans do I have?

Conventions?

If (and it's a BIG if) in-person events are actually possible in 2021 then my plan is to go to the following: AireCon, Conpulsion, UK Games Expo, GenCon, Glasgow Games Festival and I plan to finally go to Dragonmeet.  That’s with organising Tabletop Scotland 2021 and AlbaCon 2021.

If in-person events are not possible then I’ll look at attending an equal number of online conventions, although most likely to play RPGs.

Other stuff?

After completing the RPG Writer Workshop I intend to write & publish at least 3 more DMsGuild products & maybe some other non-D&D stuff too.  I’d like that number to be nearer 6 but that’s going to be dependent on available time which will be driven by whether Tabletop Scotland goes ahead or not.  I fully expect to take part in the RPG Writer Workshop events in July and November 2021 either way.

Alongside continuing to run my alternating D&D Tuesday campaigns I want to run at least 6 games other than D&D for more than a one-shot.  Now that’s not with the intention of starting up another campaign but more a case of running short (2 to 4 sessions maybe) arcs.  What games?  Damn good question…

Night’s Black Agents – Unlikely to be the Dracula Dossier (given the session constraint above) but want to run a short arc, likely one of the published ones.

The Expanse or Ashen Stars or maybe both.  They can offer similar play experiences but are different both in setting and play style.

Mutant City Blues or something else that’s police procedural. Maybe 2021 is the year I run Cthulhu?

I’d like to run some Savage Worlds although unsure what setting I’d use.  I could use this as an opportunity to write some Savage Worlds stuff as I have run games of it at cons "back in the day".

Plus it’s about time I tried out 2d20 (maybe Star Trek?), Cypher, Cortex and a couple of other systems to see if they work for me.

Typing that up highlights the challenge I’m setting but I think it’s doable.  Especially if my roleplaying remains online exclusively.  52 weeks in the year. If I run 3 sessions on average for 6 games that is 18 sessions.

Something tells me I’ll be reflecting on failure with this challenge but that’s why it’s a challenge!

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Before I wrap up it’s probably worth reflecting on my Objectives & Principles...

Objectives :

1. Balanced gaming – This is very RPG centric now.  Nothing wrong with that and a complete u-turn on previous times I’ve checked it.
2. More gaming overall – So, I think I’m still doing this.  Between the campaigns and running one-shot demos of D&D I think I’m “up” on previous years albeit RPG only.  Board gaming has stopped and likely will remain thus until ENT can return.
3. More involved – Interesting one this. Conventions help with this a lot and now with a plan to publish more RPG material I think this will develop further.
4. Event Attendance – Technically I attended 5 conventions this year.  All of them were online.
5. Organise Events – AlbaCon is the shining light for this.  I may revisit other ideas in 2021 depending on how things pan out.

Principles :

1. Only buy it if you're going to use it – Well this took a nosedive in March / April. When the first lockdown came, I started to buy more board games. Partly because I wanted to support Scotland's FLGS’ but also because I wanted some retail therapy. I stopped buying board games shortly thereafter and instead bought a lot of RPG books. Mostly D&D books but also other RPGs and lots of PDFs…
2. Is everyone having fun? Including you? – Continues to be key and is a regular topic when people ask me for advice on running RPGs.
3. Accept that you're going to be the GM – I called this an eternal principle a few years back. It still is and something I’m still very comfortable with. Getting to play is nice though 😉.
4. Change is a good thing and is necessary – This one has never been more evident than now. I’ve historically been resistant to playing RPGs online but when it became the only option, I embraced it.
5. Opinions aren't as important as knowledge and experience – This remains to be a truth for me. I continue to value input from lots of people, moreso when it comes to feedback on conventions I organise and of course with the release of Unsettled Ground. That said, I continue to reserve the right to ignore opinions in favour of relying on knowledge and experience!

Day 148 of Year 2020...

So it's been 67 days since I posted.  What's changed?  Well in many ways, not a lot.  In other ways, quite a bit.

Conventions -

The catalogue of convention cancellations has grown exponentially with essentially everything from mid-March onwards being cancelled.

Greg and I had already decided to cancel our trip to Gen Con as even if it was to go ahead (it isn't), we didn't think we should go.  Of course we are now looking at 2021...

So yeah the rescheduled versions of UK Games Expo and Tabletop Scotland (more below) have been cancelled.  As has Gen Con in Indianapolis and Spiel in Essen.

The impact on the hobby cannot be underestimated and it will be a multifaceted one.  I'll probably reflect on that later.

If you want to see the sea of red / cancelled cons go here - http://bit.ly/UKIRPGBGCons

Game Stores -

To repeat what I said in the last post...  If there was ever a time for you to support brick & mortar game stores, now is that time.
Many in the UK are starting the process of re-opening which means, amongst other things, they're spending money to bring in products to sell.  Your support will make that effort worthwhile.

Community -

I would encourage you all to explore the options available to you, especially as right now I'm seeing more and more people (re)turning to this hobby as an outlet for escapism.

You can do this via the various social media platforms but also through forum services like BoardGameGeek (link to Scotland forum), ENWorld (for RPGs), D&D Beyond (for D&D specifically) and there are many more.

Facebook is littered with groups.  Here are a few I'd point those in Scotland at :

Dungeons & Dragons Scotland - https://www.facebook.com/groups/DnDScotland/
Dungeons & Dragons Glasgow - https://www.facebook.com/groups/525585977643435/
(Aberdeen) Granite City D&D - https://www.facebook.com/groups/245802669125748/
Open Roleplaying Community Edinburgh - https://www.facebook.com/groups/605318762823146/
Scotland Tabletop - https://www.facebook.com/groups/164138950300208/
Board Game Player Glasgow - https://www.facebook.com/groups/BoardGamesPlayersGlasgow/
Edinburgh Board Gamers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/EdinburghBoardGamers/
Juniper Green Board Gamers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/393090567800456/
(Aberdeen) Granite City Gamers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/366948050026563/
there are lots more...

Ultimately though if you're not sure where to start get in touch and I'll see how I can help.

Looking forward - 

In many respects I think the tabletop hobby will see 2020 as an aberration and attempt to write it off.  It's never as simple as that but as we all look for brighter days and a time when we're all able to get round a table to play games again I wanted to spotlight a little on Tabletop Scotland 2021.

It's going to be a 3 day affair and we're back at our regular time of August.  What will adding a third day bring to the convention? 
Right now that's not 100% clear.  We want to enable the whole range of game playing options that are available normally as well as things like the Bring & Buy.  Exhbitors wise it's TBC how this will work and until we've discussed it with them in more detail it is far too early to speculate.

Now the trick here is we're all largely working on the assumption that by August 2021 we'll be back to "normal" from a hobby perspective.  We'll be able to sit together in large numbers again etc.  There's a fair bit of fingers crossed associated with this and in reality we have to plan on the basis of "normal" anyway.

What would you like to do on the Friday at Tabletop Scotland?
With this extra day, what would you change about the Saturday & Sunday?
I'm curious to know.

Day 81 of Year 2020...

2020 huh.  The year of the Critical Hit etc etc.  It's certainly going to be one for the history books for the saddest of reasons.  The next few months are going to be really challenging for everyone and I hope you're all keeping safe and staying well.

I'd like to focus on what effect COVID-19 has had on the tabletop games hobby for this post.

Conventions -

AireCon went ahead.  I opted against going, asthmatic and all that.
Conpulsion has been cancelled.
UK Games Expo has moved to the August dates for Tabletop Scotland (in consultation with us).
GenCon is hanging in there but I have serious doubts it'll go ahead or more accurately if I'll be able to get there.  Given the impact on the airline industry there might not be a flight for me to get on.
Tabletop Scotland has re-scheduled to the 10th & 11th October.
Glasgow Games Festival date hasn't been announced yet but I expect they'll be mid-November as usual.

Beyond that a lot of conventions have naturally cancelled.  I maintain a Google Sheet with all the UK & Ireland Board Game & RPG conventions on it if you want to see.

Game Stores -

If there was ever a time for you to support brick & mortar game stores, now is that time.
You can support by contacting them to see if you can buy stuff and get them to post it out to you.
As well as being employers, these businesses are crucial to the community they serve.  If you can't support them financially ask them how you can help and encourage others to do the same.

Here's a list of the Scottish based brick & mortar stores that we compiled for Tabletop Scotland 2019.

Location	Name	Website
Aberdeen	ABZ Games	https://www.facebook.com/abzgamesonline/
Aberdeen	Asylum Books & Games	https://www.facebook.com/asylumbooksandgames/
Aberdeen	Plan 9	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plan-9/341081725918660
Airdrie	The Last Outpost	https://www.facebook.com/outpostcomics/
Ayr	Unboxed Gaming Café	https://www.facebook.com/unboxedcafe/
Cumbernauld	Castle Comics	https://www.facebook.com/castlecomicsuk/
Dundee	Highlander Games	https://www.facebook.com/HighlanderGamesDundee/
Dunfermline	Little Shop Of Heroes	https://www.facebook.com/LittleShopOfHeroes/
Edinburgh	Black Lion Games	https://www.facebook.com/blacklionedinburgh/
Edinburgh	Edinburgh Game Hub	http://www.gameshubedinburgh.com/
Edinburgh	Geek Retreat	https://www.facebook.com/GeekRetreatEdinburgh/
Edinburgh	Murphy's Vault	http://www.murphysvault.com/
Edinburgh	Noughts & Coffees	http://www.noughtsandcoffees.co.uk/
Edinburgh	Red Dice Games	http://www.reddicegames.com/
Elgin	The Pop Shop	https://www.facebook.com/ThePopShopElgin/
Falkirk	Geeks & Games	https://www.facebook.com/GeekGearBox/
Glasgow	Geek Retreat	https://www.facebook.com/GeekRetreatUK/
Glasgow	Geek-Aboo	https://www.facebook.com/thegeekaboo/
Glasgow	Lucky Sparrow	https://www.facebook.com/luckysparrowgamescafe/
Glasgow	Max XP	https://www.facebook.com/pg/maxxpgaming/
Glasgow	Static Games	https://www.facebook.com/StaticGamesUK/
Glasgow	West End Games	http://www.westendgames.co.uk/
Hamilton	Settlers	https://www.facebook.com/SettlersHamilton/
Inverness	Ellerium Games	http://elleriumgames.co.uk/
Kirkcaldy	Kingdom Comics & Games	https://www.facebook.com/kingdomcomicsfife/
Lanark	Knightly Gaming	https://www.knightlygaming.co.uk/
Largs	Bus Stop Toy Shop	http://www.busstoptoyshop.com/
Paisley	Comicrazy Café	http://www.comicrazy.co.uk
Perth	Big Dog Books	http://bigdogbooks.co.uk/
Stirling	Common Ground Games	http://www.commongroundgames.co.uk/

Community -

This hobby is all about socialising with others whilst playing games and when that ability to socialise is limited or even removed entirely it can be very difficult.

I've never been in a situation like this before and whilst I know that between my family and other things I can keep myself busy and entertained, I will miss playing games and socialising with others.

So how does someone tackle that?

Play online.  Get organised as a group and get online together.  If you meet up at the same time every week or fortnight then try and get people to do the same but online.  It won't be the same but it will be better than not doing it at all.  It's not something I've done but it is something I will explore.

RPGs -

Wizards Of The Coast recently published this article - https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/remote - and whilst it's Dungeons & Dragons centric it's useful in general for all RPG players and those looking to explore that.
In there they mention Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds as well as chat/video tools like Discord, Zoom and Skype.  It's worth noting that there are other online RPG platforms like Astral and D20Pro which offer similar functionality to Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.  Try them out and see which one works best for you.

Update - Chaosium have also published an article - https://www.chaosium.com/online-gaming-getting-started/

Board Games -

There are several options here and I won't list them all mainly because I'll end up forgetting something.  So here's 5 I found whilst searching online -

• Board Game Arena - https://en.boardgamearena.com/
• Tabletopia - https://tabletopia.com/
• Yucata - https://www.yucata.de/en
• Happy Meeple - https://www.happymeeple.com/en/
• Tabletop Simulator - https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/games

Whilst many of these RPG & Board Game online platforms have free versions be aware that their services are seeing huge spikes in players and that by buying a license, not only are you getting more functionality, you're enabling the companies involved to provide a better service overall.  So if you can, do.

Closing out this post I hope everyone stays safe and well over the next few weeks and months.  Let me know how you're dealing with this exceptional circumstance and get in touch if I can help.

Oh and WASH YOUR HANDS!

2018 is on the horizon and it's going to be a busy year...

So as ever I've not posted here for some time.

Why now?  Well this remains my primary "brain dump" source for what's going through my head hobby wise.  I do brain dumps less and less these days because I have a number of other channels in which to do that but if I want to rattle off a few things then I'll likely come back here.

2017 has been an interesting year for me and my hobby.

End The Turn ended.
Largely down to availability, surprisingly not my availability but Liz's.  Will we revisit a podcast in the future? Unlikely but only because of other stuff that's going on that is eating up time.
It was an interesting and enjoyable experience doing the podcast and whilst I have no desire to start another one I'm not ruling it out.

RPGLiveUK happened.
I ran a RPG at it and that seemed to go down really well.  The weekend as a whole was great fun and I came away from it with the desire to run more RPGs but also accepting that right now that isn't going to happen for all the reasons I've listed previously in this blog.  I'm not giving up but if I do run something I can see it being one-shots and I'd definitely re-run Brave New World again if the notion took me.

Roll Against Cancer faded.
Largely down to venue challenges, i.e. not finding one but more on that to come...

Convention Calendar on Google Sheets became a "go to" thing.
People on Facebook and Twitter started to contact me about it and were actually USING IT to plan their convention travels and perhaps more importantly convention organisers started to contact me about getting their 2018 dates on it.
If you've not seen it before I've tweaked the Bit.ly link to be - http://bit.ly/UKRPG_BGCons - if only because it's not just a 2017 list now...

Objectives & Principles largely remained on track...
If you ignore the lack of RPGing and End The Turn ending that is.

What does 2018 look like then?

Well 1st of all this is happening...

After 4ish years searching for a suitable venue, one appears from left field and I have to say it's damn near perfect.  So on the 1st and 2nd of September 2018 you should come to the Dewars Centre in Perth to attend Tabletop Scotland.
I've written a fair amount on this blog on what a convention should and shouldn't be.  34 posts (excluding this one) are tagged with convention.  I'm sure some of that will come back to haunt me but that's absolutely fine.  If my team and I fail to hit the heights of what I expect then I assure you the first people who'll be pointing that out will be us.

Alongside that I will be going to GenCon again. Whilst I won't be posting with quite the same voracity as I was ahead of that first trip, I hope to post some stuff in the run up to this trip.

Since announcing Tabletop Scotland I've visited a lot of game stores that I haven't been to before.  That will continue with some repeat visits no doubt for those I've recently visited.

I'm hoping to be at UK Games Expo, potentially going to AireCon and more than likely will be at Conpulsion at least for the Saturday to promote Tabletop Scotland.

I'll obviously continue pushing East Neuk Tabletop Games forward and go to DWARF for regular gaming.

Beyond that I've no idea.  All of my spare time and energy is going into making sure that this convention is all that it can be.

So yeah.  2018 is going to be a very busy year.

UK Games Expo 2016 - Teaching with Games Seminar

So the seminar was billed as - "How are games used to teach and learn? Games Jams, boardgames sessions and design are increasingly used in universities around the UK to help the next generation of games developers explore gaming. Come and find out how games help us learn, what academics are getting up to in various universities around the country, and where you can learn games design! 

Dr Esther MacCallum-Stewart is joined by Douglas Brown, Brian McDonald, Patrick Morrison and James Wallis."

Well, did it live up to that?  Kinda sorta...

The seminar covered two key things -

• Game design whether it be video, mobile or whatever has it's foundations in board game design.  If you can design a board game then you have the building blocks for any sort of game.
• Game Jams are cool (more below) and give attendees the opportunity / challenge to create a game from scratch over roughly 48 hours.

What it didn't cover was the use of games as an tool for education as it was focused on the use of tabletop games as a design method as part of an educational programme.  No biggie, I still got stuff out of it just not what I wanted or went in to get.

The topic of using games as a tool for education is what "Teaching with Games" suggests it would be about.  Granted the description doesn't spin that way and does lean more to the game design aspect.  I would have liked to have heard something for the former but was happy with what I heard ultimately anyway.

Core element of the seminar that I took was the power of Game Jams.

So what is a Game Jam then?  Well it's like a lot of "creative bubble" events. You enter with nothing more than a desire to create something and leave with an idea developed and physically represented by a prototype.

In the 1st Chapter I ran 24 Hour Comic Book Day and 24 Hour RPG / Game Chef events at the shop.  These are essentially Game Jams by a different name.  Arrive with nothing, take some keywords and formulate an idea either on your own or in a team then turn it into something tangible.  Sites like 1000 Monkeys, 1000 Typewriters specialise in distributing that kind of content in games at least.

The Game Jams that the panel talked about tended to 48 hour events (long enough to crash and burn then recover to achieve something) which is different from those I've hosted and I can see the advantage of that.  Especially in the case of 24 Hour Comic Book Day which is 24 pages in 24 hours, a much harder task than you'd consider on the face of it.

So having taken away the Game Jam guidance they gave I think I see their inherent advantage over the one's I hosted in the 1st Chapter.  Not least of which is the 48 hours involved as the number of times someone "won" a 24 hour event was few and far between.  Giving them 48 hours enables that reset and try again opportunity plus of course it also means you're more likely to come out with a pretty decent prototype game and associated components!

For those interested in holding a Game Jam here are some links -

Global Game Jam

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/GlobalGameJam/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/globalgamejam

Website (with UK filter) - http://globalgamejam.org/2016/jam-sites?country=GB

Scottish Game Jam

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/Scottish-Game-Jam-136412446403315/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/scottishgamejam

Moray Game Jam Website - http://www.moraygamejam.com/

Glasgow Caledonian University Game Jam - http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsroom/news/article/?id=110100

BBC News Coverage - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-35438716

Plus Game Jam Central - http://www.gamejamcentral.com/

If you do host one or are interested in doing one, let me know!

UK Games Expo 2016 - Summary Thoughts

Summary

I had fun, met some great people, played some great games, bought some games, drank beer (some good, some not) and all in all had a great time.

Highlights

• Travel there and back went smoothly. No real delays and we made good time despite some crazy drivers on the road at times!
• RPGLifeUK TweetUp - Will cover that in a separate post, both the tweetup(s) themselves and the outcomes I am considering, but all in all it was fantastic to be able to meet up with folks.
• Seminar on Games in Education - Also a separate post but at a high level the seminar was a) overly focussed on those who want to work in the industry (negative) and b) great at providing an insight into the Game Jam process (positive).
• Using the NEC really gave the con a feeling of scale and of course fantastic presence with general public.  What it also enabled was a fantastic amount of game space in the Hilton which removed the need for what must have been an expensive marquee from last year.  There are niggles with the split site (see below) but overall the UK Games Expo team delivered.
• Trade presence. Good balance between small press <=> publisher <=> retailer and but still some notable absentees. Someone needs to kick people like Wizards Of The Coast to make sure they know how big a deal this convention is becoming. 12,500 unique attendees (current estimates) is a huge deal.  Last year the Origins convention in Columbus Ohio reached 15,938 unique attendees with a turnstile attendance of 43,791 over 5 days (versus an estimated 25,000 over 3 days at UKGExpo).  This isn't to be sniffed at as Origins is a flagship event for the hobby.
• Food trucks were fantastic serving some fantastic food at great prices.  I can't compliment them enough.
• General ambiance of “comfortable happy” with added sprinkles of fun. It was a more relaxed experience compared to last year where the whole con felt rushed and compressed.  There was room to breathe this year.

Lowlights

• Split site…  Ok so I always knew that this was going to be a grumble topic. 2 perspectives of the split site arrangement between the NEC and the Hilton.
• The NEC set up - Hall 1 is pretty big. What that meant was that on the Friday the hall felt bigger than the con needed, on the Saturday that was less the case though as the masses turned up. Is that emptiness a bad thing?  Well no but it sends a signal (to me at least) that the event wasn’t necessarily getting the industry support that it requires.
  Now to be fair(er) the leap in space from single site is significant but at the same time there were areas of non-use in the hall and areas of “poor” use in the hall.  By non-use I mean there were cordoned off areas that were actually empty.  Devoid of content.  Not small areas either. Unsure if this was a necessary evil or something else was at play...
  Poor use elements would include the seminars being in a cordoned off area that struggled to cope with the background noise of the wider hall - or at least they did in the case of the 1 seminar I attended.  Not exactly a representative sample I know.  I would have thought that seminars would have been better served in the Hilton OR if they'd used / created an actual room in the NEC for them...
• The dual site nature - It’s a short walk which is absolutely fine. I’d almost go so far as to say it was a good thing to encourage attendees to take in some fresh air and move (other than round the trade hall) as the temptation is to sit and play games all day.  The kicker is though that by having the con split it breaks the ambiance and atmosphere a little. It also breaks the attendees into 2 distinct groups.  Those who are there “just to shop” and those who are there to game throughout the con.  If I’d been playing in RPGs all weekend or even the Heroclix events I wouldn’t have done as much browsing in the trade hall never mind any actual shopping.  Plus given that 99% of all the ticketed events were at the Hilton I don't really understand why the ticketing was at the NEC...
  
  Obviously this is all a learning curve for the organisers as the inclusion of the NEC has added some extra funkiness.
• Bring Buy - I think this has become too big to be something that can be adequately managed. It's almost become one of those "big cons don't do it" things.  To give it the space that it would need to make it work better & smoother and avoid it being disruptive to surrounding traders I think the con would reach or breach that point where it made sense financially.  Yeah it raises a fantastic amount of money for charity, truly a fantastic amount but there must be a tipping point where the square feet it would need would cost more than the money involved.
  Or an alternative is found... 

So there are more bullets under Highlights than Lowlights and in reality the Lowlights are more about the challenges that scale brings to any event.

There are other things I still want the con to do that it isn't and other things that I'd change / seek to improve on but those aren't Lowlights per se...  I may re-visit my evolutionary steps post from last year to look at what I’d change for future years but in reality there's very little wrong with UK Games Expo and that is something to celebrate.