I am very honoured to be making a guest appearance at what has always been one of my favourite gaming conventions in Ireland and it just so happens to be held right here at Queen’s University in the beautiful city of Belfast.
When I decided to d
o the convention it made me think of all the great times I had at previous QCons (in the mid to late 90s – showing my age here!) and also made me think just how much the gaming community
has changed
over the past 20 years and, in some instances, not changed at all!
Some of my most favourite memories are exploring deep mine shafts for dragon’s treasure in the Gold Final of Dungeons and Dragons (a very competitive lot us RPGers were back then!), to running around the Student’s Union armed with a ray gun and a bag load of anxiety in hilarious games of Paranoia. I remember one year we had great fun playing a Star Trek ship 
combat game. They had taped a grid pattern onto the floor of a huge hall and at each corner was the bridge of a starship, each crewed by
the captain, weapons expert and helmsman. Each turn we would move (or the GMs for us) huge models of our ships into position to attack the enemy. I think our team was the only ship left standing by the end although we had lost the helmsman and most of the ship was damaged beyond repair. Great fun had by all.
Of course now everything’s changing with an added emphasis on anime and Egaming but as an avid gamer (still am!) and protector of a hoard of comics (still in dust
covers) from my youth I really look forward to seeing what is on offer this year. Although – I’m glad that the classic RPGs and tabletop wargames are still popular.
If anyone is around this weekend (17-19th June) pop in and have a chat with me – I will be there to talk about my first book City of Darkness and my up and coming second – Neon Sky – out around September time. Of course if you just want to chat about all things gaming that’s great as well – you never know, I may roll the odd dice myself over the weekend!
Also catch me at…..
D P Wright 