Gaelcon... Probably The Greatest Convention In The World

Tuesday

Nothing really happened on Tuesday. We had thought of spending the morning in Dublin, but surprisingly enough, no-one really felt like that. Bog Boy was apparently feeling "unwell" and missed his breakfast. In fact, he was still asleep at 11 am, when the landlord came up to politely ask us if we were thinking of pissing off anytime soon.

That was basically it. We got up, dressed, packed, took a cab to the airport, sat around for a couple of hours, and finally got home by about 5 pm.

Our Thoughts On Gaelcon

Well as you've probably already gathered, we thought very highly of Gaelcon. It was well run, fun and friendly. (Example of friendliness: Everytime I happened to walk past the GM in my first game, he greeted me by name, and asked how I was doing, which was really nice).

Now some of you might be thinking that perhaps we got special treatment, on account of being Critical Miss. It's true that there might have been an element of that. But I don't it has given us a biased view of the convention for two main reasons:

a) I'm pretty sure that the majority of the organising staff didn't know who we were. It wasn't as if we were walking around in Critical Miss T-shirts, and if we had, most of them would probably have just gone: "who?"

b) We were able to observe the convention in action, seeing not only the experiences that we were having, but the experiences that other people were having. We didn't seem to be getting special treatment (except for not having to queue, and that was actually because we'd prebooked).

We can only really come up with minor nitpicks, most of which I've mentioned before.

The arrangements for non-Irish people to pre-book could be streamlined a bit.

Fibbers isn't actually called Fibbers, which can cause some confusion for lost Englishmen wondering up and down Parnell Street.

The room where the non-smoking games take place would, in an ideal world, be bigger. The tables are a little bit close together, which can be distracting when someone on the adjacent table is shouting their head off.

And that's about it.

Should You Go?

Well we're giving Gaelcon our strongest five-star recommendation.

If you're in the UK (or a nearish European country) then I'd definitely recommend that you go. You only need to take two days off work, and your flight and accommodation should cost less than Ł200. In a word, go.

If you're further afield (the US for example) then it isn't quite so simple. But I'd be inclined to say that if you were thinking of making a trip to Dublin/Ireland anyway, then I'd suggest combining it with a trip to Gaelcon. From what I saw, Ireland's a great country and Dublin's a great city - and you'll have a great time at Gaelcon.

A Word From The Muppets

As with previous articles of this type, I thought I ought to give the final say to the other guys who came on the trip. So I've asked them to give me their thoughts, although this time I asked them to avoid any incoherent abuse. This is what they had to say:

Bog Boy

What can I say that has not already been said?

"We came, we saw and some fought the urge to regurgitate and others lost that fight."

Evil G.

"It was at this point that these hardened Irish drinkers introduced us poor innocent Englishmen to the concept of drinking games."

I feel this statement needs a foot note just to point out that I "Evil G" am not entirely English but at least half welsh and furthermore spent three years living with a rugby team, and also that I am fully trained and practised in the gentle art of the drinking game (but purely as a recreational activity).

Mark

Any convention which can reduce that epitomy of mankind Jonny Nexus to a drooling buffoon beneath a table will always get my vote. But add to that a cylon taxi driver and you've got a winner.

Finally

Well that was Gaelcon, and in the spirit of James Wallis, I can think of no finer way of finishing this review than with the following words:

Thank you Dublin... And good night!

Contents...

Back...