Monday 8 December 2014

[Con-RPG] Dragonmeet 2014

On the 06/12/14 some friends and myself went to Dragonmeet 2014 held in the Ibis Hotel London, having only been to a single face-to-face convention beforehand (back in the dim and misty past when there was a Gen Con UK) I wasn't really sure what to expect and was a bit nervous if the truth be told, the decision to attend the convention had all been a bit last minute but I was hoping to attend some of the panels and maybe even interview some of the game designers (in addition to promoting the Red Dice Diaries of course).

I had a press pass for the event courtesy of friends from Dark Cleo Productions who myself and my wife would be accompanying down to the convention; it was only a one day affair and I thought that it would be a good introduction to conventions for when I plan to attend the larger UK Games Expo in 2015. It turns out my worries were pretty much unfounded, most people at the convention were very happy to chat about and demonstrate their products and I was able to secure audio interviews with a number of people (I only took a dictaphone to avoid having to carry heavy video recording equipment across London) only one of which unfortunately wasn't usable due to the background noise.

Highlights of the weekend for me include:

  • Talking to Graham Bottley from Arion Games.
  • Picking up a couple of indy games (Intrepid and Sci-Fi Beta Kappa) from the UK RP Design Collective and talking to Leo.
  • Having a couple of interesting chats with Gary Harper from RP Haven.
  • Getting to talk to some of the people from Modiphius and Pelgrane.
  • Playing a number of games include Stakbots, Sopio, Lords of War and a very entertaining little AFF scenario where the GM recognised me from TheRogueDM's Broken Jade campaign videos.


I'll put a few pictures from the weekend below:

All ready to head off to Dragonmeet 2014


Catching the London Underground



Never could resist the opportunity to take snaps of scenery


Just time for a spot of breakfast before hitting the Con


Just grabbing a drink of coffee before the event


Arriving at the venue


Our first seminar of the day - Pelgrane Press



Looking at the excellent new version of Campaign Cartographer, sadly the interview I recorded with the guy demonstrating it didn't come out.





My purchases from the weekend


Interviewing Graham Bottley from Arion Games


Playing a cool little AFF scenario ran by Stuart Lloyd







The strategic card/wargame 'Lords of War' celebrated it's second birthday and we were lucky enough to get shown how to play it by one of the co-creators







End of a great first day




Ready for the second day social at the Ibis


Playing Stakbots in the Ibis pub, great card game with loads of tactical thinking involved.




Heading back home



Just time for a game of Sopio on the train


We all had a great time at Dragonmeet, was great to meet and talk to so many people with such great enthusiasm for the hobby, we certainly hope to be attending next year's convention :)

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