Conventions and Events - Concrete Cow 11½ - 17 September 2011, Milton Keynes

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Apr 30th 2011

Milton Keynes RPG Club are holding another of their games days on 17 September 2011.

WHO?
We're Milton Keynes RPG Club. Find out more about us at http://www.mk-rpg.org.uk.

WHEN?
Saturday 17 September 2011. Doors open at 9.00am, first games start at 10.00am. We'll finish at 11.00pm.

(Concrete Cow 12 will be on 10 March 2012.)

WHAT?
Any roleplaying or board game. You want to play it, bring it along and run it. Previously we've had on offer 3:16, Amber, Call of Cthulhu, Cold City, Dead of Night, Dogs in the Vineyard, GURPS, Gwenthia, HeroQuest, Hollow Earth Expedition, Hot War, Landston, Mouse Guard, Mythic Russia, Primetime Adventures, Savage Worlds, Spycraft, Tekumel, Trail of Cthulhu, Transhuman Space, True20, Vampire, and some more that I've forgotten. Latest updates will be posted on the Concrete Cow website.

A full list of games on offer is on the Concrete Cow games page.

WHO'LL BE THERE?
Leisure Games and Reaper's Revenge will be returning as traders, continuing their mission to part you from your money in return for the nicest possible shinies.

More importantly, there's all the fantastic games gamers who'll be there and all the fantastic games you'll bring along. If you let us know what you're planning to run, we'll put it on the Concrete Cow games page.

(Note that for child protection reasons, under-16s will need to be accompanied by an adult at Concrete Cow.)

WHERE?
The Old Bath House, Wolverton, in the north-west corner of Milton Keynes. The full address is

The Old Bath House
205 Stratford Road
Wolverton
Milton Keynes
MK12 5RL

Maps are available on MK Web, Google Maps, and Streetmap.co.uk.

Directions for drivers are on the directions page.

Regular trains to Milton Keynes run from London Euston station. The nearest station to the con is Wolverton (one stop north of Milton Keynes Central), about five minutes' walk away.

HOW MUCH?
£5.00, payable on the door. This'll cover the cost of hiring the hall.

For more information, visit our Yahoo group, email concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com, or ask here!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Jul 21st 2011

It's not long now until Concrete Cow looms large in all our calendars, so time to start reminding people about it!

So, please, consider yourself reminded. In case you've forgotten, Concrete Cow 11½ will be on 17 September at the Old Bath House in Milton Keynes, the same place as usual. Leisure Games and Reapers Revenge will both be there with tempting shiny things. The lunchtime indian buffet is in hand.

All we need now are games and gamers!

So, if you're planning on offering a game, please let me know. The Concrete Cow games page is looking distinctly forlorn. If you're thinking of offering a game at Concrete Cow, please let me know and I'll post details on the Concrete Cow games page. Then it's up to you to beat off the hordes of gamers who will flock to your wonderful game!

I'm looking forward to seeing you all in September!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Jul 31st 2011

Well, let's try that again! If you're thinking of running something at Concrete Cow, please let me know some details. Then I can put things up on the Concrete Cow games page. Let people know what you're up to, then be amazed by how much people want to play them!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Aug 3rd 2011 edited

We're getting a few other games on offer at Concrete Cow (see below). But we need more! Please let us know what you'll be running and we'll add it the Concrete Cow games page and tell the world about it!

In other news, the Indian lunch details are confirmed. We'll be back at the Eastern Paradise (the same place as last time, just round the corner from the Old Bath House) for another lunch buffet. The deal is £8.95 for a buffet of:
2 veg dishes
1 chicken dish
1 lamb dish
2 starters
1 rice
1 naan
poppadoms and sauces

I think everyone enjoyed it last time.

Games on offer!

Cthulhu Dark: Ad Astra
London, 1887. Something is growing in the slums of Bethnal Green. Some might call it a new religion, others may see it as a political movement. Those in power see it as dangerous, but those caught up in it see it as salvation. And you? You are as close to the centre of it as it is possible to be. Will this be your destruction or will it take you to the stars themselves?

GM: Scott Dorward

Dead of Night: The Future Generation
Lewisham, 1979. The third year of Meadhall Secondary School are going through some changes. Puberty has brought some unexpected side-effects, and their bodies and minds are changing in ways that their biology teacher never mentioned, some for the better, some for the worse. The driven ones are finding new ways to use these abilities to try to get the things they've always wanted, no matter who gets hurt. Your world is becoming a very dangerous place, and that's without thinking about the black vans that seem to be following you, or those creepy little fuckers in the second year who don't seem to need to use words to speak to each other…

This uses a slightly modified version of Dead of Night, designed for player characters with unnatural abilities.

GM: Scott Dorward

Dust Devils: Redemption
Two weeks ago, William Benton visited Anna Mercer. She laughed at his small pecker, he slashed her face. Joseph paid Mary Knox for her loss of earnings as Anna can’t work no more. William is now paying him back. He’s just arrived in town with the latest installment: a lot, from selling stolen cattle. But Anna and her friends have scraped together a reward for his death, and Charles Sanford has arrived in town to do the deed. The PCs are all intimately involved with one or more of these characters, and everyone has guns. What are the chances of death and mayhem?

GM: Neil Smith

Never to Die: Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Another gig, another after party; you're all young, famous and rich, a chart topping boyband with a string of hits and a fanatical following of girls, young women and gay men. You're on fire and the papers love giving you coverage.

Tonight, it all ends, because candles that burn brighter also burn shorter... Tonight is the night that tragedy strikes and brings an end to all your dreams.

Never to Die is a game about a lad's night out in a typical British city; the player's take on the roles of the lads, who look for fun, test their courage and strengthen their bonds with their mates. The GM is the City and portrays everyone, everywhere & everything the lads encounter. It's like a chav dungeon crawl, but it ends in a tragedy when one of the lads goes too far and something happens that ends not only that night out but all their nights out together as lads.

Each lad is based on an archetype and they interact with each other by giving dice to or taking them from other lads when they roll to do something; this can cost a lad something or give them a bonus. The City has a limited amount of challenge to face the lads with it; when it runs out, the tragedy occurs and the game wraps up.

Warning: This game is rated '18' for strong language, violence, alcohol/drug references and sexual situations.

GM: James Mullen

Mansions of Madness is a multiplayer board game that pits a team of investigators against the evil lurking in a hidden house. Can you unravel the clues before all is lost ?

GM: Andy Nicholson

Unknown Armies: Happy Families
A meeting has been arranged in a lonely, run-down motel off Route 89 in Arizona. It is not a meeting that should change the world. The outcome should affect few people other than those in attendance. It is only meant to be a simple exchange.

Nothing is ever that simple, though. Everyone lies. Everyone has their own agendas. Everyone has a secret. And sometimes not even the players know what the stakes are.

Please note that while this game uses the setting from Unknown Armies, the mechanics will be those from Hot War. Some knowledge of the UA setting would be beneficial, but is not essential.

GM: Scott Dorward

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Sep 4th 2011 edited

Less than two weeks to Concrete Cow, so time for another post reminding you to come along.

So, come to Concrete Cow! Consider yourselves reminded.

The Concrete Cow games page is filling up nicely, but we could always do with more games. So far, we have games of:

* Cthulhu Dark
* Dead of Night
* Dust Devils
* GURPS
* Love in the Time of Seið
* Never to Die
* Mansions of Madness
* Shadowrun
* A Taste for Murder
* Unknown Armies

offered by people such as:

* Roger Burton West
* Scott Dorward
* Phil Masters
* Mark "Mist77"
* James Mullen
* Andy Nicholson
* Indie Pete
* Neil Smith

Plenty there, but more is always better! If you're thinking of running something, let us know and we'll add it to the list.

If you're driving to Concrete Cow, take a look at the directions page. If you're coming by train, get a train to Wolverton (one stop north of Milton Keynes Central). If you're coming by jetski, helicopter, teleporter, or something odder, ask, and I'm sure someone will give you appropriate advice.

Leisure Games will be along to sell you all sorts of shiny things. Don't forget, they won't be bringing any boardgames this time, to give more space to concentrate on RPGs. If there's anything in particular you want to order, let them or us know beforehand to ensure it's there.

And remember, in these days of austerity measures, it's still only £5 for a whole day's gaming!

See you on the 17th!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Sep 7th 2011

Ashen Stars UK launch!

To celebrate the UK release of the dead-tree version of Ashen Stars, Leisure Games have teamed up with Pelgrane Press to run some demo games at Concrete Cow.

The details of exactly what's happening are unclear at the moment, but I'm sure things will be fine on the day. I know that at least one game of Ashen Stars will be run by Neil Ford. I don't know if any other games are yet organised. If you want to run a game of Ashen Stars, please let either me or Mike (at Leisure Games) know.

And if you want to run a game of something else, let me know.

For those of you who don't know what Ashen Stars is, here's the blurb:

Ashen Stars is the newest full-length, stand-alone GUMSHOE product from RPG legend, Robin D. Laws.

They call you lasers. Sometimes you’re called scrubbers, regulators, or shinestars. To the lawless denizens of the Bleed, whether they be pirates, gangsters or tyrants, you’re known in less flattering terms. According to official Combine terminology, the members of your hard-bitten starship crew are known as Licensed Autonomous Zone Effectuators. You’re the seasoned freelancers local leaders call when a situation proves too tough, too baffling, or simply too weird to handle on their own. In the abandoned fringe of inhabited planets known as the Bleed, you’re as close to a higher authority as they come.

In this gritty space opera game, the PCs are Lasers, freelance troubleshooters and law enforcers operating in a remote sector called the Bleed. They’re needed in the wake of a massive retreat by the Combine, the utopian empire that colonized it. Amid the ashes of a devastating war, the lasers solve mysteries, fix thorny problems, and explore strange corners of space—all on a contract basis. They balance the immediate rewards of a quick buck against their need to maintain their reputation, so that they can continue to quickly secure lucrative contracts and pay the upkeep on their ship and their cyber- and viroware enhancements.

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Sep 13th 2011

Concrete Cow is on Saturday!It's still not too late to tell us about the games you'll be running on the day and for us to add them to the Concrete Cow games page.

Just a reminder, doors open at 9.00am, there's the Indian buffet for lunch, and doors close at 11.00pm. Details of the venue are on the Concrete Cow page and the Concrete Cow directions page.

See you there!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Sep 14th 2011

A last-minute reminder: Leisure Games are bringing along a limited stock of games to Concrete Cow, concentrating on what they actually sell! So, if there's something you specifically want to buy from them, let them know beforehand (preferably by Thursday afternoon) so Mike can dig it out and bring it along for you.

Also, Indie Pete's having second thoughts about the popularity of Until We Sink so will bring along Dungeon World, an Apocalypse World hack for dungeon bashes.

See you on Saturday!