Tag: Winter Con 2020

A Great Time was had at Wintercon

Go Play Manchester Wintercon went down a storm yesterday. Twenty-five attendees made it through the rain, and the cold, and eight games were played throughout the day. We even squeezed into the Port Street Arms for a post-con chat.

I ran RuneQuest in the morning, we went up the Winter Gods Glacier – and an epic time was had. In the afternoon, I ran my cyberpunk game, Reboot the Future, and that was awesome too 🙂

I’ll be sorting out dates with Fanboy 3 soon. Thanks to everyone who came.

Here’s some feedback via Twitter

Tales from the Loop this afternoon at

@goplaymanc Great GMing from Udo. Deadly robots, the bending of time, and beating the bullies at roller hockey. Odd how the GM found an actual photo of me from the 80s for my character

Blythy @sjamb7 on Twitter

Really great to get around the table for a day at @goplaymanc WinterCon at @goplaymanc – enjoyed getting into being an Ewok in @ottomancer ‘s excellent Edge of Empire game. Very atmospheric and fun! Kenner have been on, they’re making a line of Flunge for next Xmas!

Dirk the Dice – The GROGNARD files RPG podcast @theGROGNARDfile on Twitter

Fantastic day at the ebullient @Newtus @goplaymanc WinterCon – I played an ewok shaman in @ottomancer ‘s excellent Endor’s Game, and Trouble Brewing from @cubicle7 ‘s Soulbound RPG – a great pub crawl one-shot. Will deffo get Soulbound to some cons now – a smooth system.

Guy Milner, orgaiser of Go Play Leeds. @milnermaths on Twitter

I had a great time at #WinterCon today. I ran FFG Star Wars in the morning, and played 2d20 Conan in the afternoon. Lots of fun with @_AndyHemming @RoderiHamilt @theGROGNARDfile @milnermaths @Newtus and many others.

In person RPGs are still > online RPGs.

John Ossoway @ottomancer on Twitter.

Finally, here are some photos from this great day out.

Winter Con 2020 a Big Thanks!

The idea was simple to run a day meet up, with games in the morning and afternoon, to celebrate Go Play Manchester’s 1st Anniversary.

Two months of constant publicity, on Twitter, Facebook, word of mouth through the shop at Fanboy 3, later and suddenly on Saturday 11th at 10 am when I walked through the door 40 odd people were already there eager to get on with the gaming. And after my brief introduction, they did, sorting themselves out with tables and getting down to the hard work of rolling dice and describing their characters actions.  I joined John Ossoway’s River of Heaven game and had a cracking time being a space marine in a slick sci-fi action thriller (read my review here).

Even due to last-minute dropouts we ran 13 games over the two slots

The Mermaids of Magda, The Guns of Olympus Mons, Only Fools Rush In, Fire, The Great Wain Robbery, Legions of Gold (Redux), Murky Waters, Breakout!,
Manta Prowl Tank Down., Hostile Negotiations., Captain Moonray and the League of Unspeakable Evil., GoblinQuest., The Rumble in the Bronx (Marvel Superheroes FASERIP).

Fanboy 3, as usual, were excellent hosts.  I cannot emphasise how much of Go Play’s success both at Winter Con and during the usual monthly meetups are down to Hedi and her staff. It’s a lovely, comfortable venue, where the game shop side of the business is neatly pushed to the side to allow a massive amount of organised play as well as pick up games in-store. The games side of it is well maintained and fantastic, with a wide range of boardgames and RPGs. My wallet is significantly lighter after browsing the excellent selection of RPGs during the con.

We took an hour for lunch which gave folk time to socialise as well as decamp to local eateries nearby in the Northern Quarter and Piccadilly Gardens. After the con was over a large group of us went to the Port Street Beer for a few post-con real ales 😊

Will we be doing it again this time next year? Hell yes! It’s inspired me to run another one day con later in the year (details to follow because it is still in discussion), as well as commit to more regular afternoon meetups which starting next month.

Note, there have been two changes in how we organise things that arose from the day.

  1. Saturday suits us so much better than Sunday, and more importantly Fan Boy 3, who run regular D&D events on Sunday. We were struggling for numbers and they were struggling to fit us in alongside the D&D. So while neither side is not ruling out Sunday Go Play’s in the future, in the main, we shall now be meeting on Saturday afternoons.
  2. To help with the increased attendance, and if I can’t make it on the day, Roderick, who some of you have had the pleasure of playing in his WFRP/W40K, is going to be my deputy.

Thanks to everyone who came along and played or ran a game at Winter Con and made it such a triumphant day.

Enjoy

;O) Newt

Other reviews of the day:

A gallery of photos from the day.

 

The Rumble in the Bronx

System: Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP)
GM; Kris Main

Wild animals, mutants beasts, and Dinosaurs (yes, dinosaurs) are reportedly terrorising citizens in The Bronx. Whilst the authorities are capable of dealing with a few wild animals, this requires more Heroic intervention before things get out of control.
Can the Superheroes of New York stop the rampaging beasts, discover how and why they appeared in The Bronx, and bring an end to this nightmare? Only time will tell…

GoblinQuest

System: GoblinQuest
GM: Joy Phillips

GOBLIN QUEST Goblin Quest is a tabletop roleplaying game about slapstick violence, fatal ineptitude, and the greatest adventure of your life.

Play five goblins each (in sequence, not parallel) and watch them meet hilarious ends while failing to achieve the most basic tasks.

Will they survive the dangerous world of the Great Battle Camp and avoid the attentions of brutal orcs, murderous bugbears, mean-spirited hobgoblins and scary wizards?

Probably not. But you’ll have fun finding out!

More Information:

The game was previously Kickstarted and is available to buy via itch.io

Captain Moonray and the League of Unspeakable Evil

System: The Doomed (Blades in the Dark reskin)
GM: Declan Feeney

For decades the league have been second rate villains in Epic city, hardly rating a byline in the papers, but last year you hit it big. You were listed in Captain Moonray’s Annual as part of his Rogues Gallery, at the bottom of page six, just under Donny the double-headed squid. Now its time to seize your newfound fame and perform a crime so auspicious it will forever immortalise your league and ensure your place in future rogues galleries.

For two weeks the city are holding a gala to celebrate the Heroes of the city and City Hall has an entire wing dedicated to the ‘Awesome Six’. You’re plan, so audacious it makes you weep, is to sneak in at night and to steal the masks from statues of the ‘Awesome Six’ permanently revealing their secret identities. Whilst there you might even deface the statue of Moonray, or reposition them in the most compromising of poses. Do you have what it takes to make yourselves legends?

More information
The Doomed by Sage Le Torra (co-author of Dungeon World) is a reskin of the Blades in the Dark RPG, and is one of its stretch goals. It takes the game into the worlds of superheroes. You’ll be playing the small-time villains trying to make it big in a world where an alien invasion is just another Tuesday. New characters and crew types give you everything you need to play in the style of The Superior Foes of Spider-Man and the Giffen/DeMatteis Injustice League.

Hostile Negotiations

System: Star Wars (WEG version)
GM: Kris Main

The Rebel Alliance has need of as many friends as it can make, even if they are less than reputable. So when Jabba the Hutt asks for assistance escorting one of his employees to a trade negotiation on the planet Dosha, the desperate Rebels assemble a crack team to answer the call.

Your mission is simple: get the negotiator to his meeting and ensure that the negotiations remain civil, or at least profitable, and show Jabba that he can work with the Alliance.

Second Wave of Games

We’ve now completely filled two slots of six tables with spaces for 30-36 gamers on the day. Since the first wave of games, we’ve had another four submissions.

  1. Murky Waters, an adventure for The Cthulhu Hack.
  2. Guard of Honour, an adventure for Ars Magica.
  3. The Bishop’s Treasure, step into the world of the Medieval Outlaw in this Fate driven adventure.
  4. Breakout! – A Marvel Heroic adventure featuring the Avengers.

If you want to be in on it go sign up on the Winter Con 2020 page.

More games are coming, just waiting for the details, and we’ve now expanded the convention beyond its initial six table allocation, to twelve tables, taking over Fan Boy 3 for the day 🙂

Breakout!

Game System: Marvel Heroic
GM: Guy Milner

The electricity is down across New York, and a breakout is happening at The Raft, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s super-prison. Amidst the confusion, can you find out who staged the breakout, and find out who is really behind it.

MHRPG is a Cortex-plus Narrative comic-book RPG which emulates the furious action of the Marvel comics. If you’re a Marvel nerd, this adventure is the start of Brian Bendis’ New Avengers run. If you’re not, no problem – no prior knowledge required, and it’ll diverge pretty fast anyway.

Guard of Honour

System: Ars Magica
GM: Martin Smart

You are members of Berinor, a covenant of the Order of Hermes. One of your covenant’s wizards, the revered arch-magus Scribonius, is travelling to another covenant in preparation for the Grand Tribunal. It is a long and arduous journey, and potentially dangerous, as King Louis is at war with the Duke of Normandy and his ally the Emperor, and mercenaries, outlaws and other predators roam the land. Naturally, a powerful wizard such as Scribonius has little to fear from such petty mundane threats, but equally, it would be inappropriate for someone of his standing to arrive at the covenant without a suitable entourage. Your task, therefore, is to escort the archmage to his destination, deal with routine matters that are beneath his concern, and ensure that you and he arrive in a presentable manner, one befitting his station.

Ars Magica is a game set in the Middle Ages, but in which magic and the supernatural are very much real and have an influence on the everyday world. The game’s focus is on magi of the Order of Hermes, their companions and servants. No prior knowledge is required for this scenario.

Murky Waters

System: Cthulhu Hack
GM: Richard August

People have been disappearing close to the canals of a major city. They vanish during the day or late at night. They are old, young, men and women. The only thing that connects them are the old, dark waterways snaking through the city’s heart. What is the cause of these disappearances, and how can they be stopped? Maybe you’ll find out. Or maybe you’ll end up another victim of the polluted waters.

Content Note: This is a dark adventure, based (loosely) on actual events. If it’s too much, don’t hesitate to let me know. Definitely adults only.