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 short paragraphs of information. 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.
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 September: Raiders of the Game Cupboard XII, at The Salvation Army Citadel, Mosley Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1DR, from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. "The Twelfth Board Game & RPG event ... A full day of gaming with plenty for everyone. New players are always welcome and the organisers are on hand to help you find a game. All sorts of games will be played: board games, mini's, card games and roleplaying games. Past popular games have been: Arkham Horror, Wings of War, Axis & Allies, Settlers, Dominion and many many more... Event Fee: £ 2.00 (Accompanied Children under 16 Free) Whilst children are welcome, attendees younger than 18 should be accompanied by a responsible parent or guardian." See http://raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk/ for more details, or e-mail events@raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk.
9th-10th October: Furnace 2010, at Garrison Hotel, Sheffield. "Furnace is an annual roleplaying convention in Sheffield ... held in a converted gaol. Each year for four years 70+ people have come and enjoyed a relaxed, friendly, and yet game-packed weekend amongst the seven hills of Sheffield ... registrations will open in spring 2010." Watch http://rpgfurnace.com/ for more details.
4th-7th November: Indiecon, at Hobourne, Naish, Christchurch, Dorset. "The Independent Publishers' RPG and Gaming Convention ... Indiecon's mission is to provide a friendly, relaxed and flexible gaming atmosphere where players can play new games and their favourite classic games, and playtest the games of tomorrow." The focus of this event is obviously on "indie" games, but "The main gaming hall will be indie/home games as a priority. Other areas can accomodate classics and LG, CoC etc..." There are also several dealers set to attend.
Rates vary with the range of on-site accommodation on offer, or convention passes without accommodation are £10 per day or £20 for two or three days. For details of the event and how to book, see http://www.indiecon.net/.
27th November: Dragonmeet 2010 from 10am, at Kensington Town Hall, London. "Dragonmeet 2010 promises a day jam-packed with games for you to play. Whether you want old favourites or something new, there’s space for all and everyone can join in; on the day you simply sign up for the games you want to play. We also have a full schedule of panels, seminars and other events going on throughout the day in additional to our great selection of traders and special guests!"
Dragonmeet is indeed a significant date in the UK RPG convention calendar; see http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/ for further details.
7th-9th January: Stabcon 2011, 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.
29th January 2011: AGS GameCon 2011, at Woolf College, University of Kent, Canterbury, opening at 9am with games starting from around 10am. "The University of Kent's Adventure Gaming Society is a venue for games of all sorts, including RPGs, board games and war games. Details will be appearing on the web at http://wiki.adventuregaming.co.uk/index.php/AGS_GameCon."
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 March: Concrete Cow 11, at The Old Bath House, 205 Stratford Road, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5RL. Assuming that this works like previous cons in the sequence, it'll run 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 March: Conpulsion 2011, (presumably as usual) at the Teviot Row Student Union, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AJ. There's not much other data on offer at the time of writing, but this is a well-established convention, and these dates were announced immediately after the 2010 event. For more details, watch http://www.conpulsion.org.
30th April: Con-Quest 2011, at the Derby Assembly Rooms. "Con-Quest Midlands 2011 promises a day packed with games for you to play. From old favourites to something new, there is plenty of choice..." (A follow-up to the successful 2010 event, obviously.) See http://www.con-quest.co.uk for further information, or to buy tickets; tickets will be available from the box office from the 1st of October onwards.
3rd-5th June: UK Games Expo 2011, presumably at the Strathallan Hotel and Clarendon Suites in Birmingham. No specific details yet, but this event has previously been a substantial convention covering a wide range of games, including RPGs, using the Clarendon Suites during the day on the Saturday and Sunday, and having gaming sessions in the hotel on the Friday and Saturday nights. Watch http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/ for details, or the organisers are on Facebook and Twitter.
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 £17 per head until May 1st 2011; see the Web page for details and for prices after that date, and generally watch http://www.consternation.org/ for further details.
1st-3rd June: UK Games Expo 2012, presumably at the Strathallan Hotel and Clarendon Suites in Birmingham. PROVISIONAL DATE - TO BE CONFIRMED. Watch http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/ for further news, or the organisers are on Facebook and Twitter.
20th-23rd July: Continuum 2012, presumably at the University of Leicester. (Note that a previous date given for this con was evidently provisional and incorrect!) To quote a past announcement of an earlier incarnation, "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."
Not many specific details yet, but watch http://www.continuum.uk.net for further announcements.
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/.
