Dudley Bug Ball Con Report

Dudley Bug Ball 2022, Dudley Town Hall St. James's Road, Dudley DY1 1HP

Saturday 26th - Sunday 27th February 2022

https://b-m.facebook.com/events/4551765188168869

I have never been to this convention, I never been to Dudley before, but I had heard good things so I decided to run a few games there.

I was a little worried as there wasn’t a great deal of information about it nor was there any chatter or excitement going on. The comments were closed on the Facebook page and on the event so I couldn’t ask any questions in advance, especially about game sign up and how to get to the venue.

However I packed my bag and set off early morning on Saturday to travel across to Dudley. I boarded the train but I was slightly concerned as Dudley doesn’t have a Railway Station in its centre but is serviced by several satellite stations. Which one is the best? Unknown unfortunately but I was armed with Apple Maps (as Google Maps wasn’t doing directions) so I took the risk. I went for Sandwell & Dudley and caught a bus into Dudley town centre.

I got in nice and early whilst the stalls were setting up. I introduced myself to the con organiser and they suggested setting up in the Banqueting Hall that functions as the balcony bar for the Town Hall for concerts and gigs.

The venue was nice with a large hall with a stage at one end. Stalls were set up along the sides of the hall and gaming tables were in the centre.

The Main Hall at Dudley Bug Ball

There were Viking re-enactors, artists with artwork on display, table selling bone-saw props, and a couple of game companies displaying their wares.

I set my gaming table up in the room and got it ready for my game. I laid out my character sheets with name places, pencils, cheat sheets, and Archetypes guides. And I waited. And waited. Unfortunately I had no players for my first game.

Banqueting Hall at Dudley Bug Ball

I wandered the hall and noticed that the attendance was low, especially for a large venue. There were games running so I didn’t interrupt them so I checked out the bar and the food service. They had bacon cobs (called Baps) on sale for £2 each and tea, coffee, soft drinks, snacks, confectionary, as well as the bar for stronger drinks. I got a bacon cob and settled down with a bit of writing as I waited for the next game slot.

I had two players for my afternoon game of Alien RPG. I was running ‘Empty Vessels Make No Noise’ my own scenario that can have up to seven players but I reduced it down a little for two. I gave them a choice of four player characters and they chose Cooper Rescue Technician and Lieutenant Starck.  I was playing the Captain, Pilot, Engineer, and Doctor.

I started with the briefing with Admiral Hollis about a distress signal causing a hazard to navigation in the Delos System. They are to head there, investigate the cause, shut off the signal, and launch a rescue mission if applicable. They are to uphold the sovereignty of the USAC but not cause an international incident. The Mission Briefing

I then took the players through the character sheet and the game system explaining the Stress Mechanics, skills, and their agendas. I showed them how to use the folding agenda sheets too.

Then we jumped straight into the mission with the Lewis and Clark encountering the source of the distress beacon and both characters having to go out to it via EVA to investigate it. Once they did that, and got spooked a little bit, they located the titular empty vessel. Again the same two characters to explore and investigate the empty vessel and discover it’s secrets. The stress points slowly mounted up, normally by this time most of the characters will be suffering a lot of stress, but with just two players and quite a few successful dice rolls, they were still able to cope and not induce panic. However by the time they got the reactor working and discovered the empty vessel secrets they were in full panic mode and the characters had to escape. Fortunately they managed to escape by the skin of their teeth and successfully survived the scenario.

It was a good, fun game made different with only two players as I had to cut a lot out but add a few bits on the fly. When the players got a little stuck I just interjected with comm calls asking questions from either the Captain, the pilot, or the doctor. I avoided splitting the group that I normally do, as there were only two players, but they managed to explore most of the empty vessel anyway.

When the game came to a conclusion we chatted about the game system as both players had played it before I was looking to play it more often themselves. We also chatted about the merits of the convention and Dudley itself. It seems a shame that the convention was so quiet and poorly attended on the Saturday. The venue is fantastic and could accommodate a lot more games, convention attendees, and players. It seems the transport links to Dudley are not as good as it should be, for example the train stations aren’t in the centre at all and there’s a choice of stations to get dropped off at. They are a good strong bus links to and from Birmingham so there is that good catchment area and I think all the convention needs is a good solid marketing push to get some more attendees for next year.

I did enjoy myself and it’s nice to get out but it is a real shame that my first game didn’t run a second only had two players. Also for me travelling meant catching a bus, two different trains, another bus and a bit of a walk to get to the venue. I am not sure if I could risk attending on a one day basis next time but it might be worth it for residential weekend.

Let’s hope that the Dudley Bug Ball can get to it’s former glory.