Wednesday 16 July 2014

Conventions in England - Call for GM's and Special Events

Morning Everyone

Things have moved on a little since the last time I mailed out about conventions, some of you will be aware that I’m now doing the organised play at Dragonmeet, but there’s more than that as Worldcon/Loncon have just asked for last minute support on their games front as well.  Previously there’d been a tentative request for support at this convention, but I wasn’t happy with it because there weren’t any rewards for GM’s, in fact, the entire package was “Turn up, Pay anyway, miss all the things that you wanted to do at the convention so you can run games for us.” The call went out as a courtesy, but at the cost of this convention per day, I didn’t get any takers.

Not the most inspiring thing to receive and you all know me, I’m not one to believe that GMing is something that anyone can do and as such you can put any people down there and expect something good from them.

Cheerfully, that’s been resolved, but we’re now short on time, so my apologies for that.  The following conventions are going to need GM support this year and I’m going to list the convention, website, Rewards and what’s expected to get the rewards.  If anyone’s interested, come back to me on the blog, doddherderofcats @ gmail dot com, john_automatic at yahoo dot com, or through the facebook, spread it to any GM’s that you know, I may have already reached them with this, but it’s always good to get the word out there.  Anyone out there I know, share this to everyone you can, some of these conventions haven’t got long to build the profile.

In chronological order

Worldcon/Loncon (http://www.loncon3.org/) August 14th to August 18th

First time in a number of years that this convention has seen these shores, there’s so many different things going on that I’m not even going to try and list them.  They’re looking for GM’s ideally to run drop in games, in the hour to ninety minute range, spread through the day at various points and they’re willing to work around the things that you want to do at the convention to make sure that everyone’s happy.  Four hours worth of games being run gets you a pass for the day and I’m needing people for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, although I am suspecting that Thursday and Monday are going to be dead sticks in terms of games actually being played with them being the put up/breakdown days.  The pass is good for the day and the evening slots and will cover any non-pay events that are at the convention.

No accommodation costs covered on this one, but anyone interested, let me know and I’ll make the arrangements.  I have to point out on this one that I’m only acting as Logistics support, so I’ll be on scene on Friday and I’ll be available through the day Saturday and Sunday on the phone if there’s any problems, but the on site team will be other people.

Dragondaze (http://allis020.wix.com/dragondaze) 20th September

A smaller convention, but one with noble aims, the entire of the proceeds from the con are going to charity and that’s something that can’t be said for a lot of conventions.  There’s a bunch of things going on, all the different types of games, but they’re needing more GM’s as the RPG’s are a little slow at the moment.  Drop in games and full sessions are required and four hours gets you the day pass.  I know it’s a bit of a distance being in Newport, but it’s for a good cause, and anyone that’s going can take my marker for a favour in return when you need one.

Wyntercon (www.wyntercon.com)  31st October to 2nd November

Similar to Worldcon albeit smaller, there’s a number of evening events and seminars as well as the day events and a ton of special guests from every aspect of fandom.  We’re looking for GM’s to run both drop in games of an hour to ninety minutes and they’re also looking for the longer sessions of four hours plus for the hardcore games crowd that are going to be there.  Four hours of games will get you entrance to the day events, six hours will get you entrance to the day events and the night event for that evening. Given the crowd that’s expected at this event, I think that it’s going to be more likely that drop in games will be favoured, but I’m flexible on this.  I’m on site the whole time, so if there are any problems, I’ll be on hand.

Dragonmeet (www.dragonmeet.co.uk) 6th December (day and night).

It’s been around forever and this year it’s getting the facelift it’s needed for a few years, new location and the convention is going to be starting at 0900 with games going on till late in the evening and then both on the Friday and Sunday there’s going to be meets going on in London where there’ll be socialising and games being played as well. We’re looking for GM’s to run a mix of games between the drop in games of around an hour and the longer games of up to three hours, but we’re looking for games that get people interested in playing, so any games that favour colourful setups, props, games that are interesting to watch as well as play, and games that can be run continuously with people dropping in and out through the day depending on their mood.  We’ve got a number of scenarios and game systems already set up to work for this sort of set up and I’m more than happy to provide the systems and games well in advance for anyone interested.  Four hours of games in any combination gets you the day pass and I’ve got a lot of space to fill this year.  Speaking to Chris Birch about the convention, he’s definitely got ideas on making this a bigger and better convention than it has been, and that starts this year, and you all know me, I remember those who helped in the beginning, and as this gets bigger and better, it’ll be to those people that I come first for the big events.

And that brings me to Expo

I know it’s been less than two months since the last Expo, but I’m starting again now.  

Last year we had the most roleplaying games ever at a convention in England, but this year, I want more, I’m looking at special events, things you can’t do anywhere else, and I want to know two things...

What do you want to see there?

What will you do to help me make it happen?

Let me know


J