Saturday 23rd February 2019
https://mugandgameblog.wordpress.com
Set off nice and early from Derby on the train taking in the misty landscape from the train window as I crossed counties. I got to Congleton with no issues and arrived in pleasant sunshine.
With a short hop in a taxi to the venue due to my broken leg still healing, I got there with the Games Day in full flow. The venue was a church community hall, stone built with modern amenities, and accessed through the graveyard. I was greeted warmly on arrival at the reception desk and offered help and assistance in joining games.
There were over forty people in attendance in the church hall with seven full tables of roleplaying games, board games, and war games taking place. More people arrived during the afternoon too so it was nice and busy.
They also had a huge board game library of new games and a Bring & Buy stall too.
As my game wasn’t taking place until the afternoon I joined in a board game based on the film ‘The Thing’. There were seven players for an intense game of trying to survive in the Antarctic Outpost with an alien thing infecting the human crew. I managed to remain human throughout but the things were able to beat us. It was a fun game to play so I hope to try it again soon.
Next I set up my Tales from the Loop game, Atomic Butterflies and Feral Buddleia. I had six players signed up but only four players showed up, two being a father with his young son. He was the youngest player I have ever had at my gaming table.
I started straight away with character generation and we got some cracking characters.
We had young Joe Thompson, a Hick with a German Shepard called Dave as a companion and a love of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’.
His older brother was Tucker Thompson, a Troublemaker armed with a sharp knife and constantly plays Gary Numan’s ‘Cars’.
Next up was the Weirdo called Ratty, carrying his pet rat Stubs, who rocks out to ’Touch’ by Daft Punk.
Last but not least is the Computer Geek, Maximilian Smyth, who listens to AC/DC ’TNT’ as he codes his computer.
Their Hideout was an old barn with a cellar on Stocker Flats Farm with electrical power for a TV and multiple computers. There were comics, board games, magazines scattered around and a nice supply of cigarettes and alcohol.
The game started with scenes from home life and the Thompson Brothers were doing their chores and collecting hens eggs. They noticed two of the laying chickens had escaped out of the chicken coop and were nowhere to be found. Joe fixed the hole in the chicken wire whilst Tucker followed the tracks of the two chickens. The chickens were gone, escaped beyond the farm boundaries so they could only hope they return of their own volition.
Ratty wasn’t at home but instead was with his friend, Simon the Conspiracy Theorist, who was tending his ‘tomato plants’ and mumbling about missing pets, Government vans, and thunderstorms.
Max was at home on his own, emptying the food cupboards to fill his back pack full up of sweets, crisps, and bottles of Coca Cola before heading out to the Hideout.
The Kids has no real plans so headed to the ‘Meadow’ to play. The ‘Meadow’ is waste ground near the Loop Facility that was destined to be a housing development but the Government stopped the works. Trenches were dug for the utilities and the foundations before the work stopped so the whole area has been left fallow, overgrown with weeds and summer flowers. It’s ideal to play in and out of the trenches, games like War, British Bulldog, Hide and Seek, Kick the Can, and the like.
As the Kids investigate the area they discover strange contraptions, lots of little bones, an absence of animal life, unusual tracks, and stories of missing pets.
When the Winfields, a family of school bullies, arrive on the scene then things heat up and the adventure continues.
It is the first time I have ran this game that the players chose not to seek the help of their ‘cool’ science teacher, but instead got the help from the annoying school swot, Specky Neubert. It is also the first time the Kids used the Atomic Butterflies *against* the Feral Buddleia, that was a nice touch to get rid of both issues in one fell swoop!
This was a great game, the father and son team playing brothers was sweet to behold and the rest of the players were creative and also did a great job keeping the content clean for the young player.
The table labels were great too!
The Games Day was great too. The new venue works very well. The kitchen with flowing coffee, cake and chilli con carne was a marvellous too. The attendance for a con held in a provincial town was high, better than some big city conventions that have been running for years.
Well done to the organisers and the volunteers for such a great convention day. Let’s hope that they continue for years to come.
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