#UKTTRPGCONS I’m starting to travel the country again attending cons - oft in places unfamiliar or completely new to me. OK there are sometimes delays and buying a ticket on a train or place last minute is very pricey. But overall, the pubic transport system in this country is pretty good. 1/x

I feel seen…..

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 Have you EVER actually USED an X-Card? (Other safety tools are available.) Tell us your stories. We talk about safety tools but has anyone actually USED one? Tell use why and what happened. I have invoked an X-Card twice. 1

#UKTTRPGCONS Costs for going to cons are tickets, travel and digs - in that order. (I don’t include food because you have to buy that even if you stay at home. It might be more expensive.) Weekend conventions are the most expensive to go to. Do you REALLY need to stay for the Sunday? 1

#DUDLEYBUGBALL I’d put a 2 hour game up on WarHorn at the last minute but only one person signed up and, somehow, the signup sheet wasn’t printed. So my one player offered a game of his on on a written sign-up sheet available at the con. There were two games on offer. I didn’t fancy either one. 1

Philomena CyberCunk 2077

#DUDLEYBUGBALL During the morning games the organiser comes round to take food orders - for the Indian place next door - which arrive at lunchtime. Good system. I suspect that the hall proprietors are able to rent the hall as a reasonable rate knowing they’re going to make money on the bar 2/x

#DUDLEYBUGBALL Sunday morning. Ran The Comics Code for the first time in Years. It’s suffered from first child syndrome. My refinements in other genres had taken my love. But other people have been running it at cons so I thought I’d better give the old girl a run out. It was fine. But… 1/x

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 A change is a good as a rest? So you’ve got the perfect #TTRPG. It does everything you need, perfectly. But if you play it over and over and over again, do you get jaded and want to switch to Refereeing or Playing something else, just for a change? 1

#DUDLEYBUGBALL 50 people with a capacity for twice that. This is a lovely convention organised with a light hand but organised with everything working in its right place. Friendly, welcoming. The organiser thinks he’s finally got someone who can sort out web-site etc. That’s what’s really needed.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL I ran the Discworld Starter set at Con-tingency. Not 100% successful. So I decided to run the same scenario using my own Fantasy rules. Again not 100% successful. I won;pt try running this scenario or this game again. But no complaints it cost me nothing. 1/2

#DUDLEYBUGBALL Because my afternoon Steampunk Game ran at less than 4 hours, I had time to check the notes for my evening game. Good job I did. I’d left the character sheets at my hotel and had to dash back to get them!

#UKTTRPGCONS At a convention players can choose the games they want to play in and the Referees they want to play with - if they know the Referees. Referees can choose the games they want to offer but not who turns up to play in those games. Fin.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL My Steampunk game is on pause whilst they draw the f*cking raffle! A fellow old timer has just said he liked the way I ran the raffle at Spaghetti ConJunction.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL Steampunk - one of the characters is called Alan Quarterbrain. Made me laugh.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL In my hotel room By 2pm with a sandwich and pasty from the bar. plenty of time to write this and get back to the con by 2:30. It’s even closer than I thought. My Starfleet Academy game this morning was brilliant! Good I love this scenario! It so lacks nuance. I may have to publish.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL I grabbed a table and got my wristband. Players are turning up and being friendly whilst I’m trying to type.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL Bus journey was easy and flew by. I arrived 3/4 hour early. Venue clearly marked on my iPhone maps but a bit hidden away IRL. Doors open. Everyone in and setting up. No obvious ticket table. Very laise fair. Small hall with bar. Traders round the outside. Game tables in the middle.

#DUDLEYBUGBALL DBB in about an hour door to door on the bus for me. Which is free travel for me. So I was going to bus in and out for both days SAT/SUN. At the last minute it turns out I’m staying overnight in Dudley Sat night. I’ve become aware of a unique feature of DDB. 1/x

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 Lights, Camera, ACTION! I was watching Star Trek Academy last night (a wedding episode - turned it off haven’t finished watching it yet*) and found myself thinking: “I’m not really enjoying this. I’m only watching its as a Star Trek completionist at this point.” 1

Good instincts.

#UKTTRPGCONS No two conventions are exactly the same. There are ones out there trying to copy the success of UK Games Expo. There some operating to a template - the Garricons and our attempt to clone Concrete Cow when we ran Spaghetti ConJunction. There are some that run according to what their… 1

There have been some brilliant responses to this thread. Brilliant! But the one that got me thinking & actually scribbling ideas down is British Situational Comedy. Not just “Carry On” but also Dad’s Army etc. I’ve long said you shouldn’t write a comedy game. TTRPGs do emergent humour well. 1/x

I resonate with this having also aged into an understanding of my own, apparent, neuro-diversity. Different type, though. A major factor of mine is a failure to understand/build/maintain relationships. I have no interest in complex rule systems just ways to create faux friendships at a games table.

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 What game should I write next? This is not a post about conventions. But I’m reaching the time where I have to submit games to conventions c. 6 months in advance and I’m thinking it’s about time I started submitting playtest sessions for my next new game. 1

TLDR: Currently c. 1 convention per week. (I’ve missed a couple of weekends since Xmas but one of the cons was a week long.) But these are multi-game events. So c. 4/5 games per week on average. In person. Caveats: A) I’ve been off the scene for c.5 years so this is recent and may not continue. 1

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

To me this whole thread is “no shit Sherlock”. But, apparently, it needs restating for some people and this a cogent and well reasoned explanation. Me? I regularly say “Without jeopardy, what’s the point?” I blame most of it on Challenge Ratings. I love the trope of the unbeatable foe. 1/x

#UKTTRPGCONS These are my posts/threads right? I can do what I want. I’ve been pondering which con to post about but I can post three things if I want. Firstly, and please repost for reach, is anyone going to eastercon2026.org ? Science Fiction Con. NEC. I was too late to submit ideas. 1/x

Wise words.

Wise Words.

One of the great unanswered RPG questions is if one person is doing funny accents & another is talking in the 3rd person, & the GM houserules combat whilst claiming to use the text as written, & then another character becomes the Platonic ideal of simulationism, did the OGL kill your favourite game?

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 Clock formats. I’m failure oblivious to what’s going on in the mainstream. But people seem to be using “clocks” at lot. The Referee sets an obvious countdown timer and advances it when things happen. When it reaches zero - “game over, man!” 1

Sturgeon’s Revelation.

#UKTTRPGCONS My blog post for #Revelation is now done. rpgs4all.blogspot.com/p/revelation... (Don’t bother telling me there are some inconsistent font sizes. I can’t work it see it and I’ll fix it as soon as I work what’s happening.) TLDR. PbtA. I played 5 games. Was not a Ref. Still enjoyed it.

If my Uncles attempted murder-suicide taught me one thing it was the importance of sequencing.

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 This is how Sturgeon’s Revelation applies to TTRPGs. Ironically, usually called Sturgeon’s Law because most of the population can’t cope with “Revelation”*, Theodore Sturgeons defence of the quality of Science Fiction Famously was: “90% of everything is Crap.” 1

I suspect that while some “Staff worked themselves to the bone” (Heroes!) others may not esp. Management. Insufficient training/support to staff. (I was a teacher.) A simple external analysis of fees vs. Delivery isn’t much to ask. If there’s no case to answer why did one Uni settle with an NDA?

THIS! Heck even I’VE had a shared stand at Dragonmeet!

#UKTTRPGCONS - early decisions. I’m going to go to Canterbury Gaming Convention on 15th and 16th of March. canterburygamingconvention.co.uk I know it’s a bit of a haul from Birmingham but I went last year and enjoyed it. It’s another Expo-type con. (I TOLD you there are LOADS.) 1

Repost with a photo of yours that would make a good album cover.

I didn't expect that.

This is who runs this account

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 “Not every school situation is Grange Hill” - yes. But rather than closing things down can this give new stuff?. There was apparently a debate on-line yesterday. I didn’t look at it but I saw the above quote. I’m really not a “we’ve had this debate before” sort of person. 1

The game sounds good but now I want to see the film. It’s been over 50 years…….

forest path #digitalart #rpg #D&D

Where’s the game, Paul?

Rewards = Bennies. (A) I HATE rewards being given at the behest of the Referee. “Make me laugh” Reward. “Be a ‘good’ player“ Reward. Gauges that measure actions against published criteria eg. Defeat a Team of Supervillains. You’re now at level 7 in impressing the public. Yes. 1

I am never going to stop repeating: Watch Seasons 1-4 ONLY. Do NOT watch the final episode of Season 4. Watch the final episode of Season 5 instead. Do NOT watch anything else (yet.) You’ll experience the best SciFi TV ever. As it was meant to be told. Catch up with the ancillary stuff later.

Good read. Is it OK to reply, hotel post here? I was gong to comment on the blog but realised people might not realsie how little I buy/read TTRPGs. Pretty early one you make a character, right? Isn’t that one of the first things everyone does? Then there should be a quick-start scenario. 1/2