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.
10th March: Concrete Cow 12, at The Old Bath House, 205 Stratford Road, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5RL. This will 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, and lots of wonderful games run by you". Admission £5. See http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow for more details, or e-mail concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com.
31st March: Raiders of the Game Cupboard XVIII. Presuming this is like previous such events, this will be at The Salvation Army Citadel, Mosley Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1DR, from 10:00am till 8:00pm. "A full fun-packed 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. ... Sign in Desk for all games; Tea & Coffee Provided."
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. None of the organisers are insured, qualified, certified or trained to be responsible for minors please bear this in mind when you plan your visit to the event.") See http://www.raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk or e-mail events@raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk for more details.
6th-8th April: Conpulsion Apocalypse, at the Teviot Row Union, Edinburgh. A convention that always features a fair few RPGs, along with LARPs, board games, CCGs, wargames, traders, guests, and a bring-and-buy - and this year, apparently, a steampunk disco. Tickets are £10 for the weekend if booking in advance (£15 with a T-shirt), or £15 for the weekend or £10 a day on the door. For more information, see http://www.conpulsion.org.
14th April: Con-Quest 2012, at the Derby Assembly Rooms, DE1 3AH, from 10am-7pm. "Whether it's role playing games, board and card games or miniature wargames, Con-Quest has them all, as well as trade stands..." (LARPs are also promised.) This one has run successfully a couple of times before, incidentally. Tickets are £6 in advance or £9 on the door.
See http://www.con-quest.co.uk for further information, or to buy tickets; tickets should also be available from the Assembly Rooms box office.
25th-27th May: UK Games Expo 2012, at the Clarendon Suites and Strathallan Hotel, in Edgbaston, Birmingham. A very substantial hobby games convention with a decent amount of roleplaying alongside everything else. A three-day adult ticket will be £18; one and two day, child, and family tickets will also be available. Booking on the Web site opens in March, and it'll also be possible to pay on the door. There are plenty of hotels in area (aside from the Strathallan) for those needing accommodation.
See http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/ for further details, or I undestand that the organisers are on Facebook and Twitter.
23rd June: Raiders of the Game Cupboard XIX. Presuming this is like previous such events, this will be at The Salvation Army Citadel, Mosley Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1DR, from 10:00am till 8:00pm. "A full fun-packed 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. ... Sign in Desk for all games; Tea & Coffee Provided."
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. None of the organisers are insured, qualified, certified or trained to be responsible for minors please bear this in mind when you plan your visit to the event.") See http://www.raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk or e-mail events@raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk for more details.
6th-8th July: Summer Stabcon 2012, at the Britannia Hotel, Dialstone Lane, Stockport. The latest incarnation of an extremely long-established, twice-yearly general games convention, including a fair amount of roleplaying. For more information, e-mail bookings@stabcon.org.uk.
20th-23rd July: Continuum 2012, at John Foster Hall, Leicester University Halls of Residence, Oadby, Leicester, UK. "Continuum is a games convention featuring, but not exclusive to, games and worlds created by Issaries Inc and Chaosium ... The main theme of the convention will be Apocalypse, End of the World/Galaxy/Universe/Multiverse, Judgment Day, Ragnarök, Götterdämmerung, Qiyamah, End of Days, Armageddon, etc. ... 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." (Note that a previous date given for this con was evidently provisional and incorrect!)
The con's Guests of Honour are game designers Robin D Laws, Sandy Petersen, and Mark Galeotti. Watch http://www.continuum.uk.net for further announcements.
10th-12th August: Congenial, at Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall), Castle Hill, Cambridge. The next British Roleplaying Society convention, following Baroquon, Rocococon, Conjuration, Constitution, and Consternations I and II (among others), is also a "Unicon" science fiction convention, with guests cartoonist/writers Phil and Kaja Foglio. Membership is £30 per head (£1 for children); accommodation in the college is £63.75/night with en suite facilities, £43.75/night with shared facilties - but there is a discount of £5 for weekend bookings received before 10th January 2012. Send cheques, payable to Congenial, to 19 Uphall Road, Cambridge, CB1 3HX.
For more information, see http://congenial.org.uk.
8th September: Concrete Cow 12½, at The Old Bath House, 205 Stratford Road, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5RL. This will 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, and lots of wonderful games run by you". Admission £5. See http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk/Concrete_Cow for more details, or e-mail concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com.
29th September: Raiders of the Game Cupboard XX. Presuming this is like previous such events, this will be at The Salvation Army Citadel, Mosley Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1DR, from 10:00am till 8:00pm. "A full fun-packed 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. ... Sign in Desk for all games; Tea & Coffee Provided."
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. None of the organisers are insured, qualified, certified or trained to be responsible for minors please bear this in mind when you plan your visit to the event.") See http://www.raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk or e-mail events@raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk for more details.
1st December: Dragonmeet 2012, at Kensington Town Hall, London. Still a long way off at the time of typing, but the date has apparently been confirmed, and this is a major UK one-day convention, so it merits a mention. Watch http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/ if you're interested.
29th December: Raiders of the Game Cupboard XXI. Presuming this is like previous such events, this will be at The Salvation Army Citadel, Mosley Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1DR, from 10:00am till 8:00pm. "A full fun-packed 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. ... Sign in Desk for all games; Tea & Coffee Provided."
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. None of the organisers are insured, qualified, certified or trained to be responsible for minors please bear this in mind when you plan your visit to the event.") See http://www.raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk or e-mail events@raidersofthegamecupboard.co.uk for more 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/.
