I do reserve the right not to include events that appear to be only very marginally relevant to RPG'ing, and I admit to some bias in favour of 'tabletop' RPGs. No offence or judgement is intended; it's just that I've only got so much space and time for this thing, and I feel entitled to my prejudices. I may mention some live-action events, but my coverage of those is probably all too patchy; LARP fans should search out specialist 'Web sites for more complete information.
I have a little discussion of board game, wargame, and CCG cons and similar, lower down this page, for completeness. Anyone looking for an even faintly complete events listing site should look elsewhere, though.
RSS Feed: Neil Blumfield has kindly set up an RSS feed based on this site, the URL for which is http://feed43.com/british-rpg-convention-list.xml. I should say that I've not tried this out myself.
Calendar File Form: Roger Burton West has set up a site which converts this page to standard calendar file format, and updates that file periodically. See http://firedrake.org/infobot/ics/conventions.ics for this. Or - I'm told that by using webcal://firedrake.org/infobot/ics/conventions.ics instead, you should be able to "subscribe" to this calendar.
If you want your convention mentioned here, or you wish to correct my description of your event, PLEASE e-mail me with one or two paragraphs of information. Please mention events planned, whether or not there'll be space for trade stands, and expected numbers attending. HTML format codes in the text will be preserved, within reason.
13th February: GameCon: The Wrath of Con!, in the Woolf College Seminar Area ("all the seminar rooms >8D") at Kent University, Canterbury, from 9:30-5pm.; admission free. "We will have Roleplay Games, Board Games, Card Games, Wargames, Xbox Games, RPG Workshops/Discussions, a local game store, and a raffle to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)..." For more information, see http://society.adventuregaming.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=783.
20th March: Concrete Cow '10, at The Old Bath House, 205 Stratford Road, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5RL, from 9:00am-11:00pm, with first games starting at around 10am. Organised by Milton Keynes RPG Club; as they say, "Concrete Cow is a one-day RPG convention. We have a couple of traders, Guests of Honour, and lots of wonderful games run by you". See http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow for more details, or e-mail concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com.
26th-28th March: Travcon 10, at the Red Wings Lodge Hotel, Sawtry. "TravCon10 is a UK Traveller roleplaying convention being organised by BITS [British Isles Traveller Support]. It will be held near Sawtry (between Peterborough and Huntingdon just off the A1M)... There is space for about 30 attendees for a fantastic weekend of Traveller roleplaying. Information on the available games will be publicised over the coming weeks and we are looking for volunteers to run games." For more details, watch the BITS 'web site, or contact Andy at TravCon@bits.org.uk.
26th-28th March: Conpulsion 2010, at the Teviot Row Student Union, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AJ. Guests should apparently include Cubicle 7 (publishers of various RPGs including the new Dr Who game, Malcolm Craig (creator of Cold War, Hot War, and A-State), Loren Wiseman (of long-standing Traveller and other games fame), and Avenger Enterprises (ref. Traveller). Admission will be £10 for a day or £15 for the weekend.
There's not much other data on offer yet, aside from the promise of various RPGs, LARPs, etc., but this is a well-established convention. For more details, watch http://www.conpulsion.org.
10th April: Con-Quest, at the Derby Assembly Rooms, Derby. (Formerly announced as Dragonmeet Midlands.) "Con-Quest is a one day show packed with all manner of gaming activities and trade stands. Whether it’s role playing games, board and card games or miniature wargames, Con-Quest has them all, as well as trade stands offering everything from the very latest releases to collectables and hard to find items. Whatever your gaming needs Con-Quest aims to deliver!" Running 10am-7pm; tickets are £6 in advance, £7 on the door. See http://www.con-quest.co.uk for further details.
15th-16th May: The 21st Beer & Pretzels Games Weekend, at the Town Hall, Burton on Trent, Staffs. "10.00-10.00 Saturday, 10.00 - 7.00 Sunday. £4 per day or £7 for both, tickets on the door or in advance from Spirit Games. ... Please see http://www.spiritgames.co.uk for full details ... The people from No Dice RPG will be running sessions, and there will be other RPGs, often decided at the last minute. We guarantee playing space, food and good beer, the rest is largely up to you. If you have a session you wish to run, or a game you want to join, we can match you in advance or on the day. Or you may end up playing something completely different...it happens as often as not."
29th-30th May: ShadowCon IV, at Northfields Community Centre, London W13 9SS. "Shadow Warriors Role Playing Club will be hosting their fourth games and role-playing convention over the second bank holiday weekend in May 2010." Games planned include WFRP, Cthulhu, Kult, Duty and Honour, Beat to Quarters, Dragonmouth, Living Forgotten Realms... See http://www.shadow-warriors.co.uk/Shadow_Con4.htm for details.
4th-6th June: UK Games Expo 2010, at the Strathallan Hotel and Clarendon Suites in Birmingham. "'Everything about Games' ... As in 2009, the Friday will be an open gaming day at the adjacent Strathallan Hotel. The fun starts from 10am with board gaming and RPG sessions ... The main trade show, tournaments, costumed events and all the family fun will be going on throughout Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June at the Clarendon Suites. Saturday evening you can game till you drop at the Strathallan's gaming rooms. ... UK Games Expo is the UK's largest mixed games show where gamers from all types of gaming can get together and enjoy playing games."
Watch http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/ for deatils, or the organisers are on Facebook and Twitter.
2nd-4th July: Summer Stabcon 2010, at The Britannia Hotel, Stockport. The latest occurence of this downright venerable twice-yearly British gaming institution. It'll doubtless be the usual play-what-anyone-brings board/roleplaying/card game event, with accommodation available in the hotel. E-mail bookings@stabcon.org.uk for booking information.
2nd-4th July: Continuum 2010, at John Foster Hall, at the University of Leicester. "Continuum is a games convention featuring, but not exclusive to, games and worlds created by Issaries Inc and Chaosium ... attendees can participate in traditional table-top role-playing games, board games, card games, freeform/LARP games (large and small), discussion panels, and all manner of general silliness." Costs: Early Bird Registration (15th November 2009 - 15th February 2010: £20. Standard Registration (February 16th onwards): £25. En-Suite Room per night: £45. En-Suite for 3 Nights: £120. Twin Room per night: £90. Twin Room for 3 Nights: £240
For more details, including how to pay, see http://www.continuum.uk.net - and there's also a Yahoo Group at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Continuum2010/ and a Facebook event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9.
11th September: Concrete Cow 10½, at The Old Bath House, 205 Stratford Road, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5RL, from 9:00am-11:00pm, with first games starting at around 10am. Organised by Milton Keynes RPG Club; as they say, "Concrete Cow is a one-day RPG convention. We have a couple of traders, Guests of Honour, and lots of wonderful games run by you". See http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow for more details, or e-mail concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com.
25th-27th February: Redemption '11, at the Britannia Hotel, Coventry. "The Multimedia Science Fiction Convention"; "the seventh in the Redemption series of conventions. There will be panels and debates on all areas of science fiction, including books, comics, TV and film ... As at the previous Redemptions, games will form a major part of the convention. Role playing games and board games will feature alongside quizzes and competitions." Full adult membership is £50 for the weekend until August 31st 2009, then £55 until August 31st 2010, then £60 until February 11th 2011; there are cheaper concession and one-day rates, and of course accommodation is available in the hotel. See http://www.smof.com/redemption for further details and online registration.
19th-21st August: Consternation II, at Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall), Castle Hill, Cambridge. The next British Roleplaying Society convention, following Baroquon, Rocococon, Conjuration, and Constitution, and also incorporating an Ars Magica "Grand Tribunal" meeting. Membership is available at the special early booking price of £15 per head until May 1st 2010; see the Web page for details and prices after that date, and generally watch http://www.consternation.org/ for further details.
There are also numerous clubs and regular public games group meets, some of which come and go, some of which last a while. One regular meeting that may be of interest is that which I believe is organised by Gameforce in London; last I heard, they held club meets in The Black Horse, 6 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HH, on the third Sunday of each month, running 2pm-9pm. For details, try e-mailing info@gameforcehq.org, 'phoning 020 8346 2327 (9.30am to 6pm) or joining the Gameforce Community on Livejournal - http://community.livejournal.com/gameforce/.
For board games conventions, one place to look is the UK Boardgame Convention News mailing list; see http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/uk-con-news/.
