One Ring at Conventions

[tp1983]

I've been playing RPGs for donkey's years but only ever in my own little group. I've decided to branch out and hopefully will be attending the UKGE later this year. There is a One Ring game being run, which I am interested in joining. However I know nothing about how convention games work. Do they all use pre-gen characters? I presume I will be expected to bring my own rulebook, dice, etc? I have not played One Ring yet and will probably be a bit rusty on the rules, does this matter?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

[zedturtle]

Hey tp1983, welcome to the forums!

In my experience (and of course things might work differently if the organizer does things differently), con games usually have pregens, so that folks can sit down and play that much faster. Also, with pregens their abilities and backstories can be tailored to the scenario.

I wouldn't expect someone playing at a con to know the rules inside and out and even if they did, there's things that I usually skip past in con games (like tracking AP precisely). So being rusty should be no problem.

When I run demo/con games I bring lots of spare dice, reference cards, etc. I also have the relevant rule books with me, though I find that the only thing that I usually look up is the Hazard table. But that's just personal experience and I do tend towards "fast and fun" over "detailed discussions of options".

In any case, go for it. Have fun!

[Hermes Serpent]

As someone who runs a lot of games at UK cons including UKGE I can explain how it works at Expo.

Having signed up for the game you turn up at the table about 5 mins before the start so the GM knows if they are going to be short of players compared to signups (at Expo some people sign up for several games and then select which one to play at the last minute). It also gives the GM time to collect the game tickets (which are turned in to prove that the game ran for credit).

Everyone get's to choose from a set of pregenerated characters (some games where chargen is short may offer to allow players to make characters but thats fairly unusual at Expo). Everyone should bring a pencil, eraser and dice (although TOR using specific dice means that these may be provided by the GM. If you have TOR dice bring them). You generally aren't expected to have rule books at the table and the GM will usually explain what you need to know as the game progresses. Many players seek out games at cons that they haven't played but which they want to try out so scenarios tend to be simple and fairly straightforward so system knowledge isn't necessarily required.

Most games run to time and sometimes have a mid-game break for refreshments/bathroom breaks of about 15 minutes.

At Expo the trade halls are about 15 minutes or so away from the hotel where the RPG's are run (it may be different this year though as there are more trade stands and less hotel space) so don't leave it to the last minute to get to the game from the trade halls. Food and drink is expensive in the hotel so bring your own snacks. The last couple of years there was a set of lunch wagons outside in the hotel forecourt that did a decent lunch at a reasonable cost but the lines tend to be fairly long.

[tp1983]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to know.

[Hermes Serpent]

BTW if you don't already have a hotel then you'll be a long way away from the con as there's a major concert happening locally and also a comic con style event at the NEC so all the nearby hotels are generally full and extremely expensive (by UK standards) if not completely out of rooms.