It wasn't brilliant. It wasn't rubbish. It was just okay for me. As a roleplayer there was plenty of stuff for me to have a look at - in fact, I got some bargains - but if I had also been heavily into boardgames and wargames I'm sure I would have had a much better time.
Darth Vader does his rounds
It was a game gathering, not just for roleplayers, and there was some great stuff there. I was impressed by the Warmachine stand, the staff were energetic and friendly, and the game looked superb. That might be worth looking at.
I met Neil Roberts who kindly signed my programme and a print of his 'interpretation' of space marine Hicks from Aliens, my namesake. He was a nice feller and he's into the same things as me. It was a shame because the picture I took, for some reason, came out looking like I'd dropped the camera.
Some random pictures of the event
The bargains I got were three old Mongoose Publishing 'Runequest' books for a fiver each, the rulebook, companion and monster book. Not bad, an entire game for fifteen quid.
It was a pleasure to bump into Carol Mulholland of the independant gaming magazine Flagship (the link might not work as they're having technical problems with their website, so I've linked their Wiki entry) and have a chat. I met her last year and we had a nice conversation about the magazine and games, so I'm hoping to do some writing for her. She deserves all the support you can give.
After all this I had the crowning part of my day - I got to meet Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, the guys who bought us Games Workshop and, more importantly, the Fighting Fantasy books.
There was an hour long talk - the room was packed to the rafters - where they talked about their earliest days in the 1970s, about Games Workshop, D&D, Citadel Miniatures, Fighting Fantasy books, the lot. It was really very interesting and I learned quite a lot.
There was a long queue afterwards for autographs but I paid it no mind... I was the first guy there! They signed for me my first print copy of Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World...
... and I bought a 'Warlock of Firetop Mountain' 25th anniversary hardback edition for them to sign, and they made it out to my son Bruce. Steve Jackson wrote 'To Bruce, may your stamina never fail!.
Ah, man. I'm such a sad nerd. It was ACE!
It was a good day out. Like I said, it would have been better if there had been more roleplaying stuff but there was enough there to keep me happy. Thanks, people who arranged it all! Looking forward to next year!
The ironic thing is that the board game forums are saying there were too many roleplayers and the minis guys too many RPG and board games. Expo is about games of all sorts and with 120+ RPG games on 8 sessions over 3 days and the bulk of the British RPG industry present I think we can say the RPG element was strong.
ReplyDeleteMind you it sounds like you enjoyed meeting Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Glad you did.
To be fair I was only there for the stalls as I was not participating in any of the RPG sessions that were going. As far as that was concerned there were definitely more of the other games than RPGs. I'm not denying that there was good representation of all games it's just that I was there for a specific reason. I'm going back next year, as I no doubt will every year.
ReplyDeleteThe Jackson/Livingstone appearance was the highlight of the day for me for sure.
Agreed, really enjoyed Jackson and Livingstone. Not a hardcore gamer myself, there mainly as big Star Wars fan and enjoyed the old WEG/Wizards stuff, but like Jon will always have Expo in my diary. Here's to the 4th visit next summer!
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