Recovering after UK Games Expo

It has taken a week for me to get around to writing something about the hectic (and warm) experience that was UK Games Expo 2025. Was it good? Yeah, I think so... 

Just a fraction of the convention. It was huge.

Getting there was pretty easy, thanks to the way the NEC in Birmingham is connected to the train station (which is brilliant), and the lovely people at the NEC even had places to look after our luggage while we walked around that first day before we checked into the hotel. 

The only problem was, it was WARM. So darn warm. The queues just for the water refill stations were epic. The food and drink places were overwhelmed. Even the Londis in the NEC were struggling to refill the fridges fast enough. But, we arrived, had a very brief look around before deciding it was too warm, and went off for a tea and some fresh air. Then it was back in to meet up with Eleanor from the UK Tabletop Industry Network and the legend that is Joe LeFavi from Genuine Entertainment. Great to catch up with you both!!

The hotel (the Holiday Inn at the Airport) was really nice, and even had a free shuttle bus that connected with the NEC/station. Excellent! Good air conditioning, huge breakfast, and we were back for day two...

Debs' first encounter of Saturday was with some Ghostbusters and someone from Star Fleet.

Day Two was slightly better as the air conditioning in the halls seemed to be better. We met up with Stoo Goff (publisher and creator of Aegean, and publisher of WILD... you may have heard about him on this blog before) and then it was back to wandering the halls. Debs had a great chat on Friday with the lovely folk at Monte Cook Games and really loved the weird hand thing that was in the original Invisible Sun Black Cube, and talked to them about maybe having a demo of the game while we were there. However, the halls were so big, and all blurred into one, we struggled to find their stand again (until Sunday). How is that even possible? Their stand was pretty big! 

The Hand from Invisible Sun

    Anyway, we wandered the halls some more, remembered to stop for cups of tea more often this time, and remembered to keep taking it easy. We caught up with Gareth Sleightholme, the artist who did the amazing tarot deck art for WILD, as well as some of the most striking and arresting art for the upcoming second edition of The Laundry Roleplaying Game, based on Charles Stross' The Laundry Files.

Was a long and exhausting day, topped off with a trip to the bar at the Hilton for the obligatory 'industry mixer' hosted by the lovely folk over at Rowan, Rook and Decard. It was busy, and the queue for the bar was huge, but lots of people were having a blast and chatting, and I got to catch up properly with Gareth and Stoo, and I think Debs enjoyed it all too. 

Sunday was (thankfully) a little cooler again, and we went in with a battle plan. However, we were all tired, and worn out by the whole experience, and by the time it got to around 1pm we'd had enough and started the long (very long) train journeys home. Debs bought some cool vegetation from Gamers Grass, and discovered a couple of cool games that she's going to keep an eye out for when they hit Kickstarter. But thankfully, we made it home and passed out... just in time for me to go back to work the following day. 

What was the final verdict of the convention? 

That's a really tricky question. When we went to Tabletop Scotland last year, it was a lot quieter as you'd expect, but we saw some really cool games and I sat there inspired. My mind was filled with ideas, I flicked through Mothership and was a bit stunned by all of the information. I just couldn't wait to get back home and start doing something. To create. Draw, write. Anything. 

Whereas UK Games Expo was massive. Huge. So busy, I hardly saw anyone I'd promised I'd try to catch up with - either I just didn't see them, or they were just too busy and I didn't want to interrupt. There was so much to see, so many cool games, so many books, I kinda just left the convention thinking 'why am I bothering?' There are so many RPGs out there, no one's going to notice anything I do. And the social mixer on Saturday night was filled with so many new and talented creators that I didn't recognise, I just felt that I'd had my time making RPGs and maybe I should just 'diminish, and go into the West...' 

But I won't. I'm going to keep at it. But it has left me a little unmotivated. Completely the opposite of what I wanted to get out of the convention. 

Still. It was great to catch up with Stoo and I haven't had a chance to really chat to Gareth in years.

Me and Gareth, and a big dice.

Will we do it again? Definitely. But maybe not all three days. I don't think my bank account can take it!

Roll on Tabletop Scotland!! 

UK Games Expo on the horizon

 

At the end of the week it'll be the UK's largest gaming convention, UK Games Expo.

I've been a few times in the past, and have always been completely overwhelmed by the size of the convention, but this is the first time I've gone for longer than a single afternoon. Usually that's enough for me, it can be exhausting and so much happening, but this time I'm going to brave it a bit longer – mostly due to having the support and backup of my lovely wife this time. 

What do I hope to get out of the convention? 

Not sure. I know lots of people going and that's the real reason for it – meeting up with loads of cool gamers and developers. There are a few people going I haven't seen for many years, and some I've never met in person (only over the internet) and it's going to be great to catch up and chat. 

I also want to check out those cool minis at Crooked Dice – surely they have to have made a Mulder and Scully set by now? 

And, Darrington Press... I'm not much of a fantasy gamer, but Daggerheart is looking more and more tempting...  

I've printed out maps of the halls, marked on stalls I definitely need to visit. There are so many people I need to say hello to! It should be good!! Exhausting, but good!

If you're going and see me wandering the halls, looking as bewildered as I always do at these things, say 'hi!'.

[I may try to record a video or something while I'm there. I was going to do another "what's in the box?" video today but the footage was awful. I'll need to try again...]

EXPOsing Oneself

Just one of the halls at UK Games Expo 2019 at the NEC in Birmingham

Hi all!

Sorry it's been very quiet on here for the last month and a bit... Thankfully that's been mostly due to being busy with a writing project. Though, as usual, the regular brain irregularities of self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and thinking I should just pack in the whole RPG writing malarky and resign myself to a life in the underpaid and under-appreciated realms of retail, have reared their ugly heads along with other brain farts.

Anyway - writing project. Hurrah! Yes. Can't say too much at the moment, but it's taking an existing system and giving it a once over - taking out the unnecessarily wordy, the complicated, and the superfluous, and making it faster, cooler, and even more accessible than it already was. It's been cool so far, and good to get back into it again. If I can just get over the doubt, the self criticism, and general fatigue.

Meanwhile, this weekend was UK Games Expo in Birmingham. I've never been to one of these, usually only heading to London for Dragonmeet as it's easier for me to get to. Thankfully, I'd been given some monies for my birthday to cover some of the cost of this, and I thought it would be good to say Hi to some of the cool people in the industry.

Dragonmeet is big, but UK Games Expo is HUGE. That photo doesn't do it justice. And that's just one of the halls. In the background on the left you can see there's a double decker bus. A real bus. It's enormous. Just walking up and down the aisles and taking in all the stands was exhausting, especially after a 4:30am start to get there! Was worth it though, as I got to catch up with all the awesome people on the various stands, met up with my GM Stoo who was there plugging the playtest of his Greek mythology game Aegean, and got to see all the cool stuff that had been announced and released that I can never afford.

"Hot Dumbledore" mini from Knight Models as part
of their amazing Harry Potter miniatures game

I was only there for the one day, the Friday, but I managed to take most of it in thankfully. I must say many thanks to the awesome people at Cubicle 7 Entertainment for putting up with my usual badgering, and to the fantastic people from Fria Ligan for taking the time to chat (why they didn't have a bigger stand amazes me - some of the coolest games around and they only had the smallest of stands). Thanks to the chaps from Effekt Podcast (formerly Coriolis Effect Podcast), especially Matt who decided I was interesting enough to interview for an upcoming episode (mostly about my Harry Potter hack of Tales from the Loop), and to all the other people I got to chat with and catch up with.

I'm so sorry if I babbled at any time, or said something stupid. I was very tired...  I'll be more coherent at Dragonmeet I promise.

Okay, I'm going to try and catch up on the sleep, before getting back to the writing. Deadlines to meet!

Oh, and I need to work out prompts for #RPGaDAY... *wink*

Until next time, stay multiclassy!!