Conventions and Events - Concrete Cow 12 - 10 March 2012, Milton Keynes

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Oct 17th 2011

Milton Keynes RPG Club are holding another of their games days on 10 March 2012.

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

WHEN?
Saturday 10 March 2012. Doors open at 9.00am, first games start at 10.00am. We'll finish at 11.00pm.

(Concrete Cow 12½ will be on 8 September 2012.)

WHAT?
Any roleplaying or board game. You want to play it, bring it along and run it. A full list of games on offer is on the Concrete Cow games page and you can see the list of games offered at Concrete Cow 11½.

If you want to run a game, let us know and we'll put it on the list.

WHO'LL BE THERE?
Traders are TBC, once we've done the whole diary-checking-and-confirmation thing.

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: Jan 15th 2012

A couple of months until Concrete Cow, and it's time to remind you all about it! Now you're all out of your turkey-addled have over Christmas, it's time to look forward to all the great gaming in the year to come.

There are a few games listed on the Concrete Cow games page, all by the indefatigable James Mullen:

The Final Voyage of The Selene

A guided-narrative freeform telling the story of a disaster in space, but the story begins with the The Selene leaving the frontier of explored space, heading for Earth, and the disaster doesn't happen until almost the end of the game.

In Camera

This is a game that's meant to capture the style & tone of films likes The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity and Apollo 18.

In the first two rounds of play, everyone creates cameras, using them to introduce locations or characters that will appear frequently in the story.

In subsequent rounds of play, each player can direct an event: during this, a deck of cards is used to pace the event, with red cards equating to light or positive situations and black cards equating to dark or negative ones. The director of the scene has a small hand of cards to hand out to the other players, facing their characters with an appropriate situation as he does so, but the director can make use of the cameras in the scene to 'edit' the footage with cuts, pans and zooms, changing the cards he has and therefore the situations.

There is a reciprocal process in action, in that players decide how their characters respond to the situation they are dealt and this decision feeds back into the cards that are available in later events, weighting them towards light or dark content.

It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out to Get You

A reverse-hack of the well-known Paranoia RPG, this is a super-rules light version of the game, where players only ever roll two types of dice: Hazard & Treason.
Roll Hazard when you follow orders, use skills, operate tools, live up to the ideals of your Service Group, display loyalty or heroism and ask the Computer for aid or guidance.

Roll Treason when you use forbidden knowledge, disobey orders, possess contraband, live up to the ideals of your Secret Society, use your Mutant Power or openly exhibit treachery and betrayal of your fellow Troubleshooters.

Got Sixes? You succeed! Rolled a set? Sh*t happens!

But that's only three games. We want more! If you have a game you're thinking of running, let us know and we'll add it to the website.

Look forward to seeing you all in March!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Jan 25th 2012

Some updates from Concrete Cow central.

First is that I'm pleased to welcome Reaper's Revenge back to Concrete Cow! Bob will be there with his buckets of shiny dice, previously-loved games, and other gaming paraphernalia. Come along and support him with your cash.

Reaper's Revenge joins our other regular trader, Leisure Games.

We also have a few more games offered. One is Grim's Gangs, Bob's own RPG. The other is a playtest of another small-press RPG, Mirror of the Soul: Panthea. The blurb is:

Set in an Fantasy-themed world with Magic and Antropomorphic races. The game-world is rich in politics and turmoil to suit all parties, with multiple factions and a deep and unique history that has evolved from direct player interaction.

The system moves away from the old "Golden Rule" of "If the ST doesn't like the rule, change it" to "If the player can blag it, then they can try it." This has produced some 'interesting' results like a sword being deflected by a smile... no, seriously... a smile.

The scenario starts with a simple job offer you can't refuse, but the unfolding of events depends greatly on player choice.

But we need more games! If you're thinking of offering something, let us know and we'll add it to the Concrete Cow games page.

More details of the day are on the Concrete Cow webpage.

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Feb 19th 2012

More games! Neil Grant is offering a Call of Cthulhu scenario:

A Death in Winter

The funeral of an old friend is never pleasant…especially when he is dead by his own hand. You have drifted apart since the war, but his death has brought you all to the remote Wiltshire village where he spent his last months. But now, can you solve the mystery of his death, or will something worse happen?

An investigative Call of Cthulhu scenario set in 1920s England.

Nick Reynolds is offering a session of Microscope:

Microscope is a world building game where you create a society then take a stretch of time and describe it using pivotal moments. It can be as broad as the rise and fall of a millennias old starfaring society or narrow as the short and bloody reign of a mad Goblin king. The genre is chosen at the start and you pick things to add in or exclude to make it slightly more interesting and drive you away from cliche.

There are no 'characters', you will pick up people at these great moments and most likely discard them for the next. Some may last but it's the sweeping theme you are working with.

Mock chronological order.

Defy time and space.

Build worlds and destroy them.

Very Indie/hippy, very little conflict resolution, strongly collaborative.

You can see the other games on offer on the Concrete Cow games page. There are plenty there, but we could always do with more on offer! Let us know what you're offering, and we'll do our best to tell the world about it.

Remember, Concrete Cow is now less than three weeks away. Hope to see you all there!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Feb 26th 2012

Less than two weeks to Concrete Cow 12 and things are looking good!

Games!
The list of games on offer is increasing and now includes:

Call of Cthulhu
[*]Cthulhu Dark
[*]Dead of Night
[*]The Final Voyage of The Selene
[*]Grim's Gangs
[*]Hot War
[*]In Camera
[*]Microscope
[*]Mirror of the Soul: Panthea
[*]My Life with Master
[*]Squadron UK (2nd Edition)
More details on on the Concrete Cow games page. But we could always do with more! If you're thinking of offering a game on the day, drop me a line and we'll do our best to pimp it. As always, you're very welcome to turn up on the day with a game, too.

Traders!
Leisure Games and Reaper's Revenge will be along again, with all manner of shiny things to entice you. If there's anything you want specifically from them, either ask them directly to bring it along, or post something here and I'll pass the message on.

Food!
The lunchtime curry has been confirmed. The good news is there there should be more veggie options on, but the bad news is that the price has gone up slightly. The deal now is a buffet offering:

[*]1 starter
[*]2 veg dishes
[*]1 chicken dish
[*]1 lamb dish
[*]1 rice
[*]1 naan
[*]poppadoms and sauces

all for £9.45 each.

10 March is shaping up to be another great day of gaming and it'll be great to see you all there.

Be there or be square!

Posted by: Neil Smith On: Mar 5th 2012

A last-minute reminder about Concrete Cow on Saturday! The list of games on offer continues to grow and it looks like there will be a great variety of great games on the day.

It's not too late to let me know some blurb for games you're planning to offer. Or, you can always grab a sign-up sheet on the day and go from there.

We've got games, we've got traders, we've got a curry at lunchtime. All we need now is a bunch of gamers to have fun. See you all on Saturday!