Wednesday 30 May 2007

Tentacles Untapped Con Report

Tentacles Untapped 2007 Con Report.


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0 Tentacles Untapped. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.

Friday 25th - Monday 28th May 2007.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/

Well I had a complete blast!

What a fantastic con. And the usual problems that have plagued this con in the past [things not under the control of the convention organisers] have been resolved.

All the guests were approachable and very talkative, the freeforms just looked amazing with almost every player being in costume, and all the games I ran had international players of very high standard.

The Friday went well and did seem to start earlier with the Opening Ceremony going well. The Moon Design Seminar was good, Rick Meints and Simon Bray explained about the new products and about the completed manuscripts they have lined up. Authors Greg Stafford and Jeff Richards also added further insight.

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There was plenty of new product released at Tentacles, ‘Blood over Gold’ the 154 page trader princes campaign book, ‘Champions of the Reaching Moon’ the Lunar Hero/Hero Band book and ‘History of the Heortling Peoples’ one of the Stafford Library unfinished works. All look fantastic and it is good to know that Rick will stick to doing the larger page counts rather than splitting books down that has been done in the past.
Interesting to hear that they have a number more books in the pipeline, an Elf Book, a Prax pack, two books about the West, the Great Argrath Campaign by Greg Stafford, and of course the new setting-less HeroQuest core rule book.Though there are plenty of works ready to come out there was a call for more.
Any idea will be considered though there will be a contract issued with deadlines and a project leader will be required – any interest contact Mark Galeotti.

The rest of the evening was more of a social gathering, drinking beer and chatting with friends new and old. Also had a good talk with the 'Smart Party', a group of players from Nottingham who were Tentacles Virgins though regular convention goers. We even played the pub quiz as one of the teams and didn't do too badly considering the other teams had the creators and writers of the games we were being asked questions on!

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All day Saturday I ran my Serenity:HeroQuest games for 12 hours and had a good time. The first game was with the Smart Party and a couple of others joined in as well. A very good game though I did have problems putting on the blue rubber glove under the table, which spoiled the surprise some what. The players managed to get me in a fit of giggles at one point. I was annoyed with myself that I didn’t take a photograph of the group though.
The second game was also a hoot with the players really got into the characters and hammed it up a little even though some did not know the setting that well. All the players were surprised by the big reveal at the end.

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The last game ended up being a player verses player as the player of Johner accepted the bride and turned on the rest of the team. All the players were up for this, all played like they weren't expecting the double cross and we did run with it; putting us all on the spot as I had to make it up as we went along.

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One thing I do love about running games at Tentacles are the international players. I had English, German, Dutch, French and American players in my games and was a nice mix to have. I am just sorry they had to struggle with my Derby mumble.

On the Sunday there was a little mix up with where the group photo would be taken due to the rain. The tried to fit everyone into the main hall but due to sheer numbers they wouldn’t all fit in! Luckily the rain had stopped in time for us all to file out and get into position. I wore my silly Jayne hat that is bright orange so that I would be stopped easily. The mess about with the group photo delayed the set up for the freeform so that ended up starting a little later than hoped.

The Serenity/Firefly freeform 'You Can't Take the Sky from Me!' that I helped to write and run went very well. I was very nervous as this was the first freeform/Larp I had run and GMed and I wasn't sure if it would go well. Once we started the game none of the GMs were need for about the first hour; all the players just carried on playing and staying in character, getting twisted deeper and deeper into their plots. So good to see.
I think part of the reason it went well was the support of Simon, Colin Driver and Bazz Hoftijzer as the GMs and the quality of the players.
I think I will do another again now that I have caught the bug!

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Sunday ended with sitting in the auction and the closing ceremony where I had won a prize [and a cool tentacles badge] for running games. It is good to have a convention that rewards the GMs.
I did witness the ‘Daughters of Darkness’ book burning that I am always in two minds about though it was funny to see Daniel Fahey spill a drop of his drink on the burning ashes to see them explodes in a great gout of flame!

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So the highlights were winning a set of duck miniatures on the tombola, being declared having the loudest snore, getting excellent players in all my games, laughing so much over the whole weekend and meeting old friends and making new ones. The lowlights were being declared having the loudest snore, going up and down the stairs of the castle and the fact that the weekend is over.

So special thanks to Fabian and all his team for organising such a fantastic convention. I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into running a convention from my experience with Continuum and Furnace but I do not think that I could do it each year!

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Cheers and here’s to Tentacles 2008, Friday 9th to Monday 12th May 2008.

To see photos of this year’s Tentacles go to my Flickr Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darran/

Tentacles Untapped photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darran/sets/72157600285540891/

Nick's Tentacles Untapped Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23016277@N00/

Tuesday 22 May 2007

Do I like Tentacles?




I managed to get away with getting my wedding cake to look like Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany. This is the venue of http://www.tentacles-convention.de/next.htm







Castle Stahleck.



My Wedding Cake.





Sunday 13 May 2007

Beer & pretzels Con Report




Beer & Pretzels XVIII.
Saturday 12th May 2007.

I do enjoy this convention, plenty of people playing games plus as an added bonus Burton Beers [the name of the con gives it away].
I got there early to help set up the tables and chairs and to get ready early.

I was intendeing to run three of my Serenity:HeroQuest games but I managed only to run the first, no one was interested in the second and I had to go home early as my wife was missing me [I am going to another convention, Tentacles, later this month so I didn't want to push my luck].

The first game went very well, 'Echoes in the Black' is a popular game. Had a few pre-sign ups from the East Midlands D&D Meet-up and from RPGnet so I had four players for a good game.


The game started well and the players got into their characters very quicky, rolling along with the dilemmas and the incidents. As like every other group that have played this scenario they took the extra job from the bar keep even though the main man told them to avoid any distractions on their mission. Though this time they managed to get more out of the deal than most.


Part way through the mission two other players joined the game, I said their characters were sleeping off a serious hangover that explained their absense from the mission 'briefing' in the Palace Saloon.


All the players came up with a good plan for the heist and all worked together to get the job done. The heist went well and they managed to bypass most of the opposition and dealt with the rest.


The only downside is the ending was a little anti-climatic due to me being hit suddenly by tiredness. Working late the night before and a sleepless night marred this event for me.


So in all a good convention and one I hope to go to again and again over the coming years.

Friday 4 May 2007

RPG Conventions 2007/2008.

May Update

0 Beer & Pretzels XVIII. Town Hall, Burton-upon-Trent, UK.
Saturday 12th - Sunday 13th May 2007.
http://www.spiritgames.com/bnpdetails.php

0 Tentacles Untapped. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.
Friday 25th - Monday 28th May 2007.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/

0 UK GAME EXPO 2007. The Clarendon Suites, Stirling Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
Saturday 2nd - Sunday 3rd June 2007.
http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk

0 Vaticon 2007. Student Centre, UCD Belfield, Dublin 4. Ireland.
Saturday 9th - Sunday 10th June 2007.
http://www.ucd.ie/gamesoc/vaticon/

0 Q-CON XIV Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland.
Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th June 2007.
http://www.q-con.org.uk/

0 Game '07. New Century House, Manchester, UK.
Saturday 23rd - Sunday 24th June 2007.
http://www.game07.eu/

0 Summer Stabcon 2007. Britannia Hotel, Stockport, UK.
Friday 6th - Sunday 8th July 2007.
bookings@stabcon.org.uk

0 Ludicrus '07. Rushmere Sports Centre, Ipswich, UK.
Saturday 7th - Sunday 8th July 2007.
http://www.ludicrus.org/.

0 AmberCon UK 2007. Renaissance Hotel, Reading, UK.
Friday 13th - Sunday 15th July 2007.
http://www.ambercon.org.uk/

0 Recombination, New Hall, Cambridge, UK.
Friday 10th - Sunday 12th August 2007.
ttp://www.recombination.org.uk/

0 Gen Con UK 2007. University of Reading, Berkshire. UK.
Thursday 30th August - Sunday 2nd September 2007.
http://www.horsemenevents.com/

0 Confess 2007. The Southern Hotel, Sligo. Ireland.
Saturday 15th - Sunday 16th September 2007.
http://www.flatearthsoc.com

0 CONcrete Cow '07½. Old Bath House, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, UK.
Saturday 29th September 2007.
http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk

0 Spiel 2007. Messe Essen, Essen, Germany.
Thursday 18th - Sunday 21st October 2007.
http://www.merz-verlag.com/spiel/e000.php4

0 Furnace 2007. The Garrison Hotel, Sheffield. UK.
Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st October 2007.
http://www.rpgfurnace.com/

0 Gaelcon 2007. Clontarf Castle, Dublin. Ireland.
Saturday 27th - Monday 29th October 2007.
http://www.gaelcon.com/

0 Consequences 2007. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK.
Friday 16th - Sunday 18th November 2007.
http://www.consequences.org.uk

0 Dominicon 2007. N.U.I Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland.
Friday 16th - Sunday 18th November 2007.
http://www.dominicon.ie/

0 Grand Tribunal 2007. Cheltenham. UK.
Saturday 17th November 2007.
http://sagalocator.myfreeforum.org/forum12.php

0 Dragonmeet 2007. Kensington Town Hall, London, UK.
Saturday 1st December 2007.
http://www.dragonmeet.com/

0 Warpcon XVIII. University College Cork, Ireland.
Friday 25th - Sunday 27th January 2008.
http://www.warpcon.com/

0 Conception 2008. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK.
Wednesday 30th January - Sunday 3rd February 2008.
http://conception.modus-operandi.co.uk/

0 Continuum 2008. New Hall, Leicester University. UK.
Friday 1st - Monday 4th August 2008.
http://www.continuum.uk.net

_________________
Darran Sims Furnace 2007 - http://www.rpgfurnace.com/
A roleplaying game convention in Sheffield UK, October 20th and 21st October 2007.
"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an Emergency on my part"