phrase of the day

"he had hands like spatchcocks"

Games Day preparations

Whilst the convention season is over for many RPG companies, we're still waiting for the culmination of our events calendar- Gamesday 2006

Yep, we're going to be at the Birmingham NEC in just a little over a fortnight, talking the talk, walking the walk and running some games.

Besides our info stand (where you'll be able to see both Tome of Corruption and the WFRP companion) we'll be running two convention games.

There's 'Pigs, pies and Punches'- an introductory games for folk new to roleplaying. Loosely based on a scenario called 'bar room brawl' from a really ancient White Dwarf, it involves four or more Player Characters, all with a reason to get in a ruck with each other. We've been feverishly painting minatures for this scenario (With mixed results, it has to be said) and are particularly pleased with our snotling pot boys.

Continuing on with our 'swine' theme, we have a veteran game entitled 'The Pig, the Witch and Her Lover' It's two hours of mystery, lies and peasant revenge in an out of the way Reikland village. No figures for this one- as it's aimed at chaps who have roleplayed before. If it plays well as a convention game, we'll use it as the basis of organised play for GenCon Indy next year.

Of course, we still have a million and one things to organise- somehow it wouldn't be Gamesday if we weren't running around madly the night before, searching for gaffer tape, D10's or some such. Still, we've got a good feeling about this year.

There is going to be tons going on- from Golden Daemon awards to author signing- and we're hoping to persuade Chris Pramas to come over and take a look at the carefully controlled madness that is UK Gamesday.

Maybe we'll see you there too!

Min Max your physiology

Here are our four top tips for making sure you’re in the best shape possible to role play.

1) 40 minutes of fun.
Most people can concentrate on one topic for about forty minutes before they start to get tired, their thoughts begin to wander or they simply get bored. Time your Roleplay heavy scenes or combat encounters to about 40 minutes and you’ll get the best from your players. Over run and you’re likely to loose them.

2) Savoury snacks.
Sounds odd, but munching on sweets or drinking sugary cola can actually diminish your energy levels. Roleplaying demands lots of attention- you’re juggling imagination, rules systems, listening to the GM and all the social interaction of portraying a character. Munching Haribo or swigging Mountain Dew will give you a temporary blood sugar spike- but this will soon crash, leaving you with less energy than before. Stick to carbohydrates like Crisps, toast and nuts. (Pies are, of course, mandatory for WFRP)

3) Get the blood pumping.
A good combat session or spooky horror scene can get the heart beating fast, but most of the time when you’re roleplaying; your body is quite inactive. Make sure you have regular breaks where you get up, move around and get your circulation going. This will save you back problems, increase your attention span and give your brain a welcome break. If you’re roleplaying in a cold room, this is extra important. Check your fingernails- if they are bluish/purple, you need to get up, move around and get warm.

4) Drink!
Schools recognise that their pupils need to drink plenty of water if they’re going to pay attention and do well. You loose water when you sweat, talk and take. err… ‘Comfort breaks’ it’s a lot easier than you think to become dehydrated. If you find it hard to concentrate, or find your group gets grumpy after and hour or so of Roleplay, think about a round of non alcoholic drinks. If you feel fuzzy headed, vague, ‘hungry’ even though you’ve just eaten or get a headache across the crown of your head you probably need to stop the game and get a drink.

TimCon and photos

Well, we've returned from TimCon V, tired but happy.

TimCon is a two day WFRP only convention held in London, where folks sign up to various games before hand, turn up and, well... roleplay.

We'd long since signed up for various games, and were looking forward not only to roleplaying with new people, but also getting to be players for once! We also figured we would go to the Saturday night BBQ and hob nob with the likes of John Foody, Tim Eccles (the man who puts the Tim in TimCon) and Natascha Chrobok (Strike to Stun's Server Godess)

So we arrived, a little late in some cases, and launched straight into the action on Saturday morning. We played in Wim van Gruisen's 'Witches Coven' game, which involved an awful lot of Chaos and cackling, plus John Foody's 'Who was Has Kottor of Ensendorf?' in which a group of thoroughly despicable PC's compteted for an inheritance...

The Gaming was great. Everyone was friendly, keen to play well and very much in Character. We were almost sad when time came to end the adventures and head off for lunch.

The afternoon saw us launch into Steven Hanlon's 'The Spice is Right' in which we set sail in search of Nutmeg, and found alot more than we bargained for. The adventure ended in a suitably cinematic total player death, when we lit our blackpowder magazine rather than be taken alive... Ah, how WFRP!

Then we repaired to a local pub, swapped gaming stories, tried to find out how you could do the adventure and not die horribly and got to know our fellow players. The scent of grilling meat greeted us on our return to the center, and we got stuck into a very reasonably priced BBQ. Despite us all being old WFRP hands, no one baulked at being served sausages...

A pub crawl followed (really, how could it not?)... and then sleep.

The following day, a little tired it has to be said, we cracked into Simon Crowe's 'Lost and Found' in which we washed up on an island and had to figure out what was going on. In the afternoon, John Foody GM'd the fantastic 'Bubba Lichemaster' starring the Elf Viss, Joseph Bugman, Sigmar and the Great Enchanter Drachenfels (you probably had to be there...)

Again, it was a friendly, fun time.

All in all, a good convention to go to- there was a nice atmosphere, especially amongst the London contingent who all knew each other fairly well. That said, even the first timers seemed to fit in fine. It was well organised and good value for money- the two things you really want from a convention.

If there is one next year, think about taking part- we certainly will be!

Find out more about all the games here


In other, unrelated news, we've started up a Flickr album. You can check out our pics by clicking on the link button thing on the right hand side.