Messages from the Far Havens

With some judicious planning of food and drink, along with running three games, playing two, and a seminar to attend, I knew I was in for a packed Continuum. I had a great weekend, much fun, completely made by the meeting of friends that I hadn’t seen in many a year.

The journey down from Sheffield with my convention buddy Andy was great. We had a good old catch up about politics and the environment. I always like to test Andy as a sounding board for politics as he has been steeped in it for his entire life. As expected we broadly agreed on the main issues, but got a bit depressed as we discussed the situations. In fact I was so interested in the discussion, we missed our turning and had to come back up the M1 from the next junction! We switched topics to all things games to cheer us up as we approached the venue.

The convention got off to the most perfect start imaginable. I met Mark Galeotti at reception, who handed me one of only two printed copies in existence of Gran Meccanismo, Clockpunk roleplaying in Da Vinci’s Florence, using the TRIPOD gaming engine. Hoorah! I could have left then and still regarded it as a win! Mark’s game comes out later in August and it looks terrific.

Now on a significant high, I went to collect my room key so that I could get my chilled food into the flat kitchen, only to discover that I wasn’t on the list! A short while later all was resolved, so it was time to unpack and get myself off to the first game at 14.00. This was a frantic rush, but I got to Nigel Clarke’s Bethorm game set in Tekumel only a little late. This was a gentle game of social conventions and random encounters on the Sakbe road to Sarku. A nice start to the convention, and Nigel did really well as he had a fall on the way up, had taken a bash to his head and lower back, So was slightly recovering from that trauma. Additionally, he is currently having to use a magnifying glass, post cataract operation, to see dice and text. Undeterred, he was to be running more games over the weekend. Hero!

The late offer of food at Continuum was underwhelming, so I continued with my plan to take meals, drinks and snacks with me, and use the flat’s kitchen. By doing so, I also got to meet Alan and Charlie as we shared the kitchen and got to talk about our background and families and what we were up to. A few cheery greetings to Marcus Rowland too. I find that my room and our kitchen were nice places of interlude and chat between the more focused game playing and convention ad-hoc socialising. So, the self-catering was a real plus, also helping me to manage the cost of the event.

I like the way game RPG sign-up happens slowly over the convention. Sign up sheets are provided with two slots worth up at any time, with a gradual reveal of more slots as the weekend goes. With me running three games I got to pre-select a couple to play in. A slight mix up on the schedule meant that I was running my Saturday morning game on Friday evening. Not too much of a problem, except perhaps for the pre-sign up player. A feature of the generic sign-up sheet was that, despite clearly stating the number of players at the top, the number of sign-up slots on the sheet were generic and greater than the game capacity. I had prepared my own sheets, but that required me to actually coincide with Kiery with them actually in my hand. As a result, unexpectedly, my first TRIPOD game, Suffer the Children, had eight players! A differentiation between play and reserve, by a simple line, was implemented during the convention.

I completely failed to get any photos of my games! 

I suffer from a fair bit of GMing anxiety, despite a good track record and many years of experience. ‘Suffer the Children’, a Dickensian TRIPOD game was the most riotous fun. It was one of those sessions that remind you why you are deep into this hobby. I had a great crew of rufflers, which is the key ingredient, with Mark Galleoti, Simon Bray and Colin Driver from the old guard, Dr Moose and Mooseling, a very engaged Dad and Son combo and David Gallico. Somehow, the eight players added to the game, made possible by great roleplaying and group spirit, the light game system, and some spotlight switching from me. Young and old and full of fun, it stands as one of my most successful games ever. What a start, and it was only Friday!

It was great to get Trudvang Chronicles to the table on Saturday morning. I was a touch lucky, in that another game group had to fold and so the refugees filled up my game. We launched into ‘Taken by Trolls’ and started to get to know the game through play. This was definitely a four hour game but unfortunately, due to some scheduling shenanigans, the game got moved to the three hour Saturday morning slot. Instead of a quick hacking of the material, I decided to run it along as written and wind up at the three hour mark. As  anticipated, the combat system was the most compex area by a long margin. I need to tighten up my description of the combat points system to convey it better, which will be quite tricky with short time and new players. Players were thankful and I think had a good time with it, with the complexities starting to be understood as the game progressed.

(I am running Trudvang Chronicles twice at Furnace and I’m looking to get a short series of it going on Foundry too).

The packed schedule only allowed me the briefest sniff at the Bring n’ Buy, the nicely curated Leisure Game selection, and the small Pelgrane stall. I picked up a copy of Band of Blades at Leisure Games.  I’m developing some thoughts on a #hopepunk FitD fanatsy game called Lodestar, and got this to see another fully developed iteration of the engine. I’ve also heard great things about it! Near misses included the Burning Wheel reissue, Root, along with After the War. The Bring and Buy had a few nice temptations, but my lack of time meant that I missed those that dangled the most provocatively.

On Saturday afternoon I took my traditional walk around Stamford Hall and up to Launde Primary School, my childhood place of play, discovery and learning. I was there from 1967 (4 years old) to 1970. It was a reasonably short tenure, but the memories there are some of my most vivid, with few cares that I recal, and much fun out in the extensive grounds of the Hall.

My old family home bottom right with some pictures of my playground

My energy levels were a touch low through that game, so missed some obvious things on my character sheet, before being helpfully prompted. I was very glad for my bed and slept like the proverbial log (I
think I therefore gained a Hero Point). This was a sign that I was relaxed and having the most splendid time!

Dura

My third game was TRIPOD again and ‘Into the Haunted Ruins of Dura’, another opportunity to tell a story in and about Palmyra in the mid 3rd Century CE. A nice group and a good  game. Sometime, maybe, I should write-up the two scenarios I have in this setting. I would point everyone at Zozer Games’ Zenobia, an inspiration of a game and to Harry Sidebottom’s Fire in the East novel which details the siege of Dura, five years before my adventure takes place.

The afternoon game of Runequest I had signed up for was unavoidably cancelled, so I decided to spend a little time writing up these memories of a wonderful time at Continuum. Now home there is just the closing ceremony to mention, which had the longest raffle in the world. This became increasingly hilarious as people just willed each other to take everything that was left. There was then a follow-up raffle(!) which was an inside track for those playing Runequest Glorantha over the weekend. The prizes looked to be special editions of the RQ Glorantha range. I was graciously granted a ticket for signing up for a game that didn’t happen. I only went and won a book, so I grabbed the core rules. I’ll have to give it a read!

Some goodbye’s and an adventurous journey, taking Mr Gow into Leicester city centre, rounded off the weekend. Closed roads, police cars, chases and escapes, irrate satnav, but we managed to deposit Neil outside the station and then fought our way out of the city through several barricades, random revellers, and sunshine so bright it peeled off your retinas.

I am unable to make Continuum next year, but look forward to attending again the year after.

Marvellous time all round.