Last month, the ExCeL Centre in London opened its doors for 3 days of the geek euphoria that is MCM Comic Con. From Friday October 27th to Sunday October 29th, we were treated to all sorts of nerdy goodness. This ranged from live shows, panels and gaming areas to more merchandise than you could shake a d20 at!
What made this year extra special to me was seeing just how much of a presence Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs) had. As a genre of games that has so much potential for creative storytelling and a sector that has so much blossoming talent in it, it warmed my heart to see it so well represented this year. If you want to learn more, check out this previous article on the TTRPG scene at this year’s MCM Comic Con.
Whilst I try and plan as best as I can for events such as these, I also made lots of great discoveries on the weekend itself. There are far too many to list exhaustively, but here are my 6 highlights of this year’s MCM Comic Con London.
Critical Role – Panel Show
Now, this had to be on the top of a lot of people’s lists this weekend. Just a few days after their massive liveshow in Wembley Arena, the cast of Critical Role were on the Main Stage in a superb display of fan service.
The Cast of Critical Role taking questions from their fans.
Even before the cast arrived, the feeling of excitement and camaraderie in the packed Main Stage was incredible! Because of the popularity of Critical Role, attendees for this event had to arrive early and eagerly await the cast for hours.
Just as it was time to start the show, the excitement reached fever pitch, as Chants of “Role. Critical. Role. Critical” came from the speakers and spread across the audience. That then rolled into the Critical Role theme song with everyone singing along in one voice. Then finally the cast arrived on stage and the crowd went wild! Everyone was there from the Wembley show: Matt Mercer, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe and Travis Willingham.
Seeing them live, they had a mixture of rock star energy and cozy approachability like hanging out and joking with your friends. They clearly love creating and entertaining together, something that everyone attending must have felt.
They took questions from the host and from the audience discussing all sorts about their characters and the world that delighted the audience and the rest of the cast in equal measure. Part way through, Matthew Mercer, casually mentioned a few things he had planned, including that there were underwater nations the cast seemed just as surprised about as we were!
For those of you who missed the panel, the highlights are available to watch below on Popverse’s YouTube.
Dicebreaker’s TTRPG Live Shows
As mentioned in a previous article, the TTRPG Actual Play scene in the UK has really been blossoming these past few years. To celebrate this, Dicebreaker treated us to 2 live shows made up of talented individuals from across the scene.
The Biggest Names in UK TTRPG
On Friday, we were treated to a show featuring Liv Kennedy, Shamini Bundell, Jasper William Cartwright, Johnny Chiodini and Jess Jewell with Mark ‘Sherlock’ Hulmes as the Dungeon Master. Mark led the cast in a game of Dungeons & Dragons where the cast played attendants at a big halfling wedding where several criminal conspiracies were afoot.
Dungeon Master Extraordinaire: Mark Hulmes provides these veteran players with a wedding to remember!
Liv played a highly strung bard and close friend of the bride, trying to control the chaos emerging from all angles. Shamini played a nature loving druid, dotingly arranging her flowers for the special day, whilst gently reminding them that it’s impolite to eat the guests. Jasper played a Kobold waiter with a mysterious secret agenda and a James Bond-esque quality to him. Johnny and Jess arrived to the wedding as a grifter double act. Johnny as the least subtle criminal in the world, and Jess as an enchanted supplies closet.
The show was wonderfully chaotic as this ensemble cast initiated and untangle plots of kidnap, assassination and general trickery. Seeing such skilled performers take on new characters and deal with trials against the clock was a such a treat!
UK TTRPG’s Rising Stars
The next day, Dicebreaker were back with another ensemble show, this time, in the more intimate setting of the Live Stage.
Sexy Battle Wizards! Assemble!
It featured Zack Fortais-Gomm, Fiona KT Howat, Drakoniques, Edward Spence, and with Liv Kennedy returning to run the show herself. Instead of Dungeons & Dragons, this time we had the one-page TTRPG, Sexy Battle Wizards, by Grant Howitt.
In an inspired setting that certainly had nothing to do with the fact that we were at Comic Con, Liv charged the sexy wizarding cast with infiltrating Wiz Con and finding a rogue wizard. Zack played Polonius, a dark, brooding wizard with a love of sinister speech and evil laughs. Fiona played Kirkland Signature (definitely not something she read off the back of a water bottle), the legendary dancing wizard. Drakoniques was Smash, the incredibly buff wizard who makes sure his roommates never skip leg day. Edward Spence was Gandilf the Bae and his performance was as incredible as that sounds!
What followed was a gloriously funny show filled with sexy wizarding antics, convention jokes and homely roommate drama.
Honey Heist with Grant Howitt
Speaking of Grant Howitt games, the man himself was there at the Rowan, Rook & Decard stand. For those unfamiliar with Grant, he is a TTRPG designer who specializes in fun and intuitive one page games. Not only was he there selling and signing games and other merchandise, but he was also there to run games for those of us who were able to book a slot quickly enough!
Don’t get between a bear and their honey!
Myself and my 4 co-players were treated to the fan favorite game; Honey Heist. In Honey Heist, you play as bears trying to break into Honey Con 2017 and steal a prize of great value. In our dice roll generated scenario, we were breaking into a lakeside resort to steal a 19th Century Beehive haunted by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Our characters were also generated by dice rolls, leading to some brilliant creations. For example, I got a retired Panda, skilled at hacking, who I called Grandpa Bob and had a lot of fun playing.
Grant did a great job of helping players new to the world of TTRPGs get into the swing of roleplay and improvisation. We all had differing abilities and ideas, but we were all able to get creative and be a part of the shared experience. I enjoyed myself so much, I brought the special edition of Honey Heist, along with a pack of 15 one-page games to take home and play with friends!
Dragon’s Duel: The D&D Gameshow With Audience Participation!
The appeal of a D&D Gameshow where you might end up on stage was just too good to pass up! The premise is that 2 teams compete in 6 rounds, that match the 6 main stats of a D&D character; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. This means instead of simply comparing numbers, each team will end up with a unique character build to size up against the other team!
Dragon Duel contestants just having the best time!
Dragon’s Duel is a long running YouTube series hosted by Hamilton. He was running things on the day along with team captains; Fiona KT Howat and Taylor van Biljon. The audience was split down the middle with one side on Fiona’s team and one side on Taylor’s team. Each round, the captains picked a volunteer from the audience to be their teammate. Together, they faced challenges that tested their trivia and improvisation skills.
Despite this being a competition, everything was very good natured. Each guesting audience volunteer was be made welcome on stage and their contributions celebrated by everyone. Because of this, they were able to throw themselves into their roles and do some wonderful performances! With so many shows where we sit and watch talented industry veterans, it was a joy to celebrate the fans that make up the TTRPG community.
Bridge Command Simulation
As you may know, I came to MCM Comic Con London eager to experience the incredible roster of TTRPG events and features. However, I couldn’t just walk past this Star Trek-esque Bridge Command simulator! Bridge Command is a game where you and your teammates sit at physical consoles and work together as if you were actually the crew of a starship.
Get together a crew and take command of your own starship!
The crew is made up of the Captain, Helm (Pilot), Communications, Weapons, Engineering and Science. Each of the console you sit at provides different information and different functions in running the ship and completing missions.
This means that communication between the different stations is absolutely vital to ensure the smooth running of the ship. Luckily, we had a Starfleet captain leading us and calling upon each station when needed. As the Communications Officer, I was responsible for relaying messages and monitoring positions of allies and enemies.
In this simulation, we responded to a distress call from a supply convoy under attack from bandits. Managing the ship took a bit of getting used to and the bandits didn’t have very nice things to say to us. But, after all that, the satisfaction of coming together and completing the mission just felt so good.
Bridge Command will be opening in its London facility sometime in 2024. When it does, you will be able to explore the entire starship, not just the bridge. This means, for example, if there is a problem with the shields, you would need to exit the bridge and head to the engine room in order to fix it. The facility will be so immersive, that even the toilets will have windows that allow you to look out into the vacuum of space.
Just Lots of Lovely Talented People!
The beauty of events like MCM Comic Con is that the scope for finding and meeting interesting people keen to talk about the incredible nerdy stuff they do is just astronomical. Here are a handful of my favorite people and groups I connected with:
Backwater Bastards
The Backwater Bastards are an Actual Play podcast that combine wild and wacky comedy sci-fi performances with incredible artwork. Check out their website and listen to their podcasts if you think you’re ready for the world’s greatest best friend story featuring a giant bear and a space jellyfish! The podcast is run by Taylor van Biljon, Daniel Matthews and Richard Kimber-Bell. I was able to meet up with Taylor and Dan for an interview all about what they do as well as how and why they do it, which you can catch in a future article.
Dan and Taylor of Backwater Bastards.
DM’s Book Club
The DM’s Book Club is a podcast that discuss various Dungeons & Dragons ruleset and how to implement them in their games. They have currently just released an episode discussing bards and have previously discussed key locations, characters and much more! The podcast is run by Fiona KT Howat and Hamilton with special guests joining occasionally. This podcast is great for people who are struggling to digest the rules of D&D or are looking for inspiration to improve their game! Expect to read more about them in an upcoming piece soon!
The DM’s Book Club. Your best stop for learning about all things D&D.
What Am I Rolling?
‘What Am I Rolling?’ is another podcast run by Fiona that focuses on running one-shots with guest players. This is a great podcast for discovering new TTRPGs you might not have considered and just enjoying some great improvisational performances from talented folks in the TTRPG community.
What Am I Rolling? Find your new favorite one-shot here!
Blighthouse Studio
Blighthouse Studio are an umbrella group that contain many different productions including Counterbalance, Four Top Threes, Real Dragonsand, The Lucky Die and The Sprouting. What sets Blighthouse Studio apart from other Actual play productions is that they create their own worlds for their campaigns. Their shows are a mixture of fiction podcasts with non-fiction podcasts and streams.
Escape to original new worlds with Blighthouse Studio.
Misty Mountain Gaming
Misty Mountain Gaming are leaders in the field of incredible D&D accessories. I have to admit, I spent a lot of time eyeing up their incredible dice sets and journals I could just imagine being of great use in my adventures!
Find incredible dice and more at Misty Mountain Gaming.
Pokémon Zoology
Josh Dunlop and his Pokémon Zoology stand.
Roll & Play Press
Roll & Play Press are a group that specialize in producing resources to help you and your TTRPG campaigns. Their books contain a wealth of resources from random encounters and NPCs to critical hit effects. They have recently developed a book of One-Shot Wonders containing over 100 one-shots for you to pick and choose from. Each of these adventures are uniquely crafted complete with clear guides, plot points, NPCs, locations and more.
The Roll & Play Tavern is a great stopping point for players looking for more resources and more adventures!
The Roleplay Haven
The Roleplay Haven is a charity fundraising club that has branches in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh. They are the largest of their kind in the UK. By attending paid events or buying membership, you can attend great TTRPG sessions and support their charitable causes. The charities they support include MIND, Shelter From The Storm and LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity.
With a Role Play Haven membership card, you can attend TTRPG events in your area and support some very worthwhile causes while you’re at it.
And there you have it. My highlights from this October’s MCM Comic Con London. Do you have any highlights you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments and keep an eye on KeenGamer for more on the world of gaming!
