RopeCon

This weekend, both Jeff and I attended the Finish gaming convention RopeCon in Helsinki. It was a rather interesting experience on many levels, not least because this was the first Con I’ve attended which really counted as work, but also due to the size and demographics of its attendees.

RopeCon is possibly the largest gaming convention in Europe with around 5,000 participants. Not everyone there is a roleplayer by any means, but most were gamers of one sort or another. The shocking thing was that despite living in Scandinavia for eight years or so, I’d never even heard of the event till now. With the bustle, huge playing areas and many fantastic costumes it felt more like a huge American Con.

It was nice to finally meet the Kalikos guys and make some new friends. There seems to be a lot more RQ and Glorantha fans in Finland than I’ve found here in Sweden so far. Fortunately everyone spoke perfect English so my limited 3 words of Finnish were unnecessary, although being able to ask for more steam did help in the sauna.

Another personal highlight for me was appearing on a philosophical panel along with Frank Mentzer and Erik Mona, luminaries of the RPG world. That was a real honour, one I shall remember for many years, if for nothing else, Jeff’s continual reference to the Ancient Greeks and their view of heroism.

One interesting aspect of the Con was the vast number of female attendees, which someone informed me was almost 40%. This is a very pleasant trend which I hope continues, recalling my own experiences at the start of the eighties when almost all gaming groups were composed solely of teenage boys.

What with the panels, forging new contacts, saunas and running our own demo games, both Jeff and I ended up somewhat exhausted – not helped by staying out Saturday night/Sunday morning when  Jeff realised he’d misplaced Johan’s address, stranding us. Fortunately we were rescued by a group of young Finns; who not only supplied us with alcohol, but enthusiastically invited us back to a student apartment they were crashing at once they realised we were ‘Almost Famous’ guys.

All in all, I had a wonderful time and intend to return next year. There’s something for everyone, so I heartily encourage other gamers to give this one a shot. Kippis to all those who made RopeCon such a great event!