Continuum Convention 2023

Continuum is a medium sized convention hosting TTRPGs, Boardgames and Freeform LARPs held at Leicester University. This years con ran from Friday 28th to Monday 31st July.

Venue:

This year we were at in a slightly different part of the uni, across the road from where previous cons had been held. The rooms were less overheated and the kitchens were much larger. Unfortunately the showers were comically small with many having plumbing issues (which would probably have been resolved if we had reported them before handing our keys in at checkout). The worst thing for me was the horrifically bad mattress (despite sleeping on top of 3 duvets to give it some extra padding I could still feel all the springs) that led to a distinct lack of sleep.

The games were held in three different buildings that were all maze like which I found utterly charming. Two were beautiful old houses that had been converted into halls of residence, but no longer seem to be used for that purpose. The campus was beautiful, the walk between venues littered with vast lawns and huge trees. 

The bar was oak panelled with deep leather chesterfield like sofas and felt very old fashioned, it would have been an excellent place to run a 1920s Call of Cthulhu game. The canteen was efficient and even served some main meals that I could eat which was a bit of a bonus. 

TTRPG Slots:

There were eight slots on offer, two on Friday and three each on Saturday and Sunday.

GMs are offered a perk in the form of a pre-sign up for each game they run.  All other games are signed up at the venue when the sheets are pinned on the board attracting a scrum of players vying for the game they fancy.  I ran three games, one each day in the evening slot and pre-signed for three more. I arrived around 3pm on the Friday, partway through Slot 1 which meant I only had to face the scrum once for the afternoon slot on Sunday. As I had already secured games in six slots, I held back to the end of the queue in deference to other players who may not have been so fortunate. When I got to the board there were still slots in a few games, but they were ones with too much crunch for me on a Sunday so I opted out in favour of a visit to the board-game library.

Freeform LARPs:

These were mostly organised before the convention to allow players a chance to organise costuming suitable for the characters they were playing. There were a few spots left in a Zombie Freeform on the Friday evening. I've never joined a LARP before and would definitely have been tempted by the idea of a Zombie one, but it clashed with one of my GM slots so it was not to be, maybe I'll take the plunge next year.

Boardgames Library:

The library was provided and run by two very lovely volunteers who seemed to be there all the time from when the convention opened until late Sunday evening. They were very happy to teach new boardgames (or play familiar ones) with anybody who popped their head in the door. 

Tradehall and Bring and Buy:

This was only open in the gaps between slots to enable the stall holders to join in the fun, which is fair, but this meant I never got to look in the room as I was too busy socialising, which was probably good for my bank balance.

Slot 1:

I intended to catch the 12 o'clock train, but ended up on the 13:37, which meant I only arrived at the venue around 3pm. So the first slot was spent unpacking and freshening up then I had time for a walk to Asda (mainly to buy an adult sized towel as well as decaf coffee and some more oat milk). Then I chilled out on the very comfy kitchen sofa looking over the rules for my game in slot 2 with a sandwich and a coffee before heading over to the bar to catch up with people in the gap between slots.

Slot 2:

I was running Mausritter in "Kingsport" above the bar. The room was rather large with 2 tables and a couple of sofas to boot. I had two younger teenager players which was a first for me as I'd only had adults at my table before. I was a little worried as one of the best practices for the game is "fight dirty, die, roll another mouse" (I'd printed 18 character sheets) and wasn't sure how I'd feel if I ended up killing a young person's character. But I only managed to kill off one pc right at the end of the game 🦹‍♂️🤣🦹‍♂️ so I needn't have worried. The game was a hoot from the beginning, everyone getting into the silliness of the game readily. Amusingly I was completely incapable of remembering the accent I'd picked for one of the npcs, a centipede, so much so that someone piped up that he had an accent for every leg. This became a running joke and when we got into combat I wrote his stats on a character sheet which was passed from player to player, so they could each roll for him and do daft quotes in a new voice each round. I'm chuckling at the memory as I write this. One of the players even drew a portrait for him.

Something else that made us all laugh at the start of the game was an attendee peering through the doorway to read the timetable on the door, very loudly saying "Nahhhhhh" shaking their head and walking off. If I'd still been waiting for my players that would likely have dented my confidence, but as the table was already full it was hilarious.

Slot 3:

I was playing Savage Worlds, one of my favourite systems, in this slot. This time in "Dunwich", also above the bar. One of the things I love about Savage Worlds (apart from the exploding dice) is the hindrances which provide great roleplaying hooks for your character. My pre-gen had been given curious, phobia - snakes and sarcastic. So, during introductions when Mortara our fire-mage was describing their phobia - open bodies of water, my character (Elessa a Scoundrel) immediately took the mickey and everybody responded in character, it was brilliant. Especially when Elessa called our patron, Thane Tostick, a less than charitable nickname. We could probably have filled the entire slot with banter between the characters, but reigned ourselves in sufficiently to pick up the plot and venture through the frozen city to find the magical artefact, encountering dead guards from the advance party, a kidnapped party leader (the Thane's favourite niece) and a mercenary from a previous group of adventurers who was the only survivor of his party. Luckily were sensible enough to talk to him rather than attack him as he proved invaluable when we found the big bad at the end (he was properly nails in a fight). We also encountered a huge snake, much to Elessa's distress (but to Debbie's glee) before rescuing the "princess", finding the mcguffin and escaping home to warmer climes.

Slot 4:

This time we were in "Pavis" in Treroose (one of the old houses) that looked miles away on the map, but was actually only about 5 minutes walk from the flats we were staying in. The room was oak panelled and had a beautifully carved fireplace that took up most of one of the walls. It must have been impressive with a fire burning in it in its hayday. The game was Cthulhu Dark, run by someone I'd met in the Mitchester Arms, an online pub for gamers set up during the pandemic. I'd never played it before and got out all my percentile dice before realising it was a d6 system 🤦 Introductions this time took the form of being asked our names, roles, and hometown as well as what family we had left at home and  the worst thing that had happened to us since we came out here (with the answers being slotted into the wibbly-ness later on).  The game was set in a small depot in Ypres in 1917, Morty and Tom the miners, Corporal Stubbs, Bob the "boy" soldier and Florence the recently graduated nurse all stuck in a back lines trench wishing we had never left jolly old blighty before being given one last mission to reach an outpost that had ceased comms 24 hrs before. At least it was something to take our minds off the thundering of the guns overhead. 

This was, unsurprisingly, the most sombre game I played all weekend, but we still managed to squeeze some laughter into the proceedings. 

On the way back I nipped into reception to grab a couple of spare duvets to try and pad the mattress in my room a bit more and took a nap to try and refresh myself before the next game.

Slot 5: 

I was running Those Dark Places in "Arthur" in Shirley, the other old house which was also home to all the Freeforms over the weekend.  We were in what must have previously been a shared room if the two sinks (either side of the huge bay window) were anything to go by.  My players were very taken with the mini chalkboards and set of coloured chalk pens I use for players to write their names and character details on, a couple of them taking photos so they could remember them later. Once we got to the station to answer the mayday, it was clear that I'd got a very tactical bunch at the table so I had to let them in on the secret of the bad guys only appearing on a random die roll mainly so they wouldn't "murderize" me if I made the roll. The shocking sights on the station caused a few "episodes", with a couple of PCs running away in the middle of a fight to compose themselves before diving back in. There was some talk of abandoning some of the survivors to their fates once they had hacked into the security cameras, but they managed to save them all in the end and undocked from the station in time to see it blow up spectacularly. Talking of "episodes", I nearly had one halfway through the game when I heard, drifting up through the open window, "Everybody get inside, this is a police raid!" until I realised that there was a freeform LARP in progress downstairs.

Slot 6: 

I was in "Arkham" above the bar, joining a playtest of the Book in Yellow, a horror game designed for people who have never role played before. We were all linked to a 1920's Detective Agency in some way, working a case. The system was very simple with character creation consisting of a concept, in my case Secretary, three stats and some tables for you to pick a few starting items (or randomly roll for them). The game flowed easily and the only time I remember rolling was to see how the "Horror" we witnessed affected us. I failed a roll and chose hysteria as my consequence (that is not the term used in the game, but I can't recall what it was), as this seemed in keeping with the tropes of the time. This played out as my character uncontrollably laughing when we found the next body, I'd considered singing inappropriately, but dismissed this as my choir days are loooong behind me. Despite being a horror game there were still moments of levity, eg my character feeding a sad werewolf dog treats and Ed, the driver, making sure I was carrying silver as well as defending my honour whenever necessary.

Slot 7:

This was the slot I hadn't pre-booked for so I headed off to the boardgame library and learned how to play Sagani which I'd never heard of before. I liked it so much that I ended up ordering it when I got home. (It arrived yesterday and I've played the solo game three times already.) Then I headed back to my room, catching sight of one of the Freeforms in progress and got to see the fancy dress kimono that I lent to someone in action,  the players looked like they were having a lot of fun, so it was worth digging it out of the back of my wardrobe and bringing it with me.  I took the chance to wash my hair and start packing to save me time in the morning, after I'd done that I chilled out reading my book for bit then grabbed the stuff for my final game and headed back to the bar, arriving just in time for the closing ceremony. This consisted mostly of a few well deserved thank-yous from the committee to people that had helped out or run games, freeforms or seminars. Then there was a raffle with prizes for people nominated as mvp for the Runequest games they had played in. One of my friends who had already left was one of the winners so I grabbed a prize for him.

Slot 8:

I was running Bones Deep, which uses the Troika engine, in the last slot of the convention, back in Arkham above the bar. I love this game, but was a little nervous about running it here as I'd realised I had forgotten to pack some of the props for the game. I wasn't too worried about the tablecloth as that is purely set dressing. However, I'd also forgotten the stretchy skeletons that I use to match the colour of the skull beads I use as initiative tokens, and the dice bag I use to draw them from. Luckily my coloured chalk pens had enough colours that matched the skulls that this didn't matter and I used the box for my portable fan to draw the tokens from. This game is always slightly bonkers when I run it, and this time was no exception. Everyone was great, but I'll be remembering the Infested skeleton with her parasite named "existential crisis" for a long time. We were in fits of laughter most of the time. It was a great last rpg to finish off the convention.

After gathering my props, I headed down to the bar to see who was still around and ended up playing the card game Scout. It had a very simple premise, lay down sets or runs that were higher or wider than the player before you or add a card from the table to your hand. It sounds really easy, until you discover you are not allowed to rearrange the cards in your hand in any way, other than turning the whole hand upside down to use the alternative numbers instead. The game was fun, but I was glad when it ended as it meant I could go back to my room, finish packing and go to bed.

Monday morning meant it was time for a last chat over breakfast in the canteen then an Uber to the station to catch the train home.

It was a brilliant weekend filled with laughter, hugs and catching up with old friends in meat space rather than over the web and meeting some lovely new folks as well. You should definitely join us next year if you can.