Did anyone get a head-count on the day? I think we surpassed thirty which is always a pretty good month, the pre-meet was a grand outdoorsy affair, as befits the season, although gaming wasn’t ideal given the furniture.
But so many of you showed up, and so many of you put the effort into the steampunk theme of the day. Top hats, waistcoats, the finest of attire, and a couple of artistic contributions to the inventors fair. Fun, laughter, games, and general geekery, and so much to do in the long gap between now and August’s Shrewsbury Event. Continue reading “GeekOut Shrewsbury July ’18 – Steampunk’d”
Shrewsbury has just had a busy weekend, pouring into the growing geeky community we have played host to a Steampunk festival for which I rearranged some booked holiday time to ensure I’d be free to attend, and then I foolishly organised an all-day Dungeons & Dragons marathon for the sake of advertising the new business on the same weekend. So I squeezed a couple of hours out of the festival on the Saturday before D&D on the Sunday, let’s talk about that one first.
If you’re reading this on the day of publishing, you should already be on your way to GeekOut Shrewsbury, you can read this tomorrow or something just get to Monty’s Tower! If you’re reading this from Friday onwards, or if you are for whatever reason incapable of getting to GeekOut in Shrewsbury, then you have a lot to look forward to next year.
Note that all the details listed here are subject to minor changes, mostly additions, this is just a trailer after all, the finished product is still in the editing suite. So here I write in the past on the matter of the future, for you to read in the present. Moving swiftly on with the terrible march of time!
January 25th GeekOut Resolutions
We’ll ring in the new year with some pledges to change our ways for the geekier! No, there’ll be no demands to give up your vices or pledges to shed the Christmas-kilos, but why not finally commit to reading that book series you’ve always had your eye on, or digging into that unplayed collection of games in your Steam list? There’s that event you’ve been planning to attend, the cosplay that’s been sat on your to-do list for far too long, and all those films people have been telling you are essential viewing!
It’s time to resolve! In the mean time expect a Geeky Pub Quiz, we’ll be holding them every odd numbered month, gotta change things up from time to time.
February 22nd Sweet Lovecraft
As couples unite under strange stars, dancing to forbidden tunes, so too do the lovelorn yearn for the love that dare not speak its name, for fear of what horrors that name may invoke. Take up the felt-tip pens and assorted craft supplies, and sacrificially pour out your heart into creepy, eldritch, and alien Valentines cards (tentacles not required, but not discouraged).
Brush up on some Lovecraftian horror in February, you may wish to cite the verses found in the Necronomicon to profess your agonised screaming… or whatever emotions you may be feeling at the time.
March 29th March at the Movies
The unrelenting tide of cinema moves us to compose an entire quiz comprised of film and film related media and media that has itself been made into films. Red carpet pending, possible red welcome-mat stand in on hand, we’re on a budget here.
And on the subject of films…
April 26th DC vs Marvel
Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe… but this does put a smile on my face.
The trailer says May, but in the UK it’ll be the day after April’s GeekOut Shrewsbury. Seems like a perfect day to pitch Marvel against DC, villains against villains, heroes against heroes, with the occasional 2000AD or Vision Comics cameo just to muddy the waters. We may or may not have to organise a GeekOut Cinema Trip while we’re on the job.
May 25th May The GeekOut Be With You
Star Wars and science fiction in general will be the focus of May’s quiz and overall event goings-on. If you can tell your Peacekeepers from your Stormtroopers, split your Jedi from your Rangers, and know which boxes to file Cylons and Borg then you’ll be off to a good start. You may also want to look up the meaning of the word Muadib.
June 28th Gamers Gauntlet
Time to run some tournaments. Victories in a variety of games – tabletop and video – will raise you through a bracket to compete for the disappointing prize which may or may not be a gauntlet. The games will be decided based on your votes throughout May and June, so keep an eye on GeekOut South-West for news and your chance to have some input on June’s Gamers Gauntlet.
July 26th Steam Punked
Gather ye round innovators and inventors, you’ll need to have your life’s work ready and on the table to be torn apart by the mustachio’d and judicious judging panel (it’s me). If times are hard, just slap some gears on something. Take your table lamp and show me your Situated Illuminatrix, show me no sofas but your Multicapacitated Respitor might turn heads. It’s the “Stick Some Gears On It” Inventors Fayre!
Class yourself up to the teeth in the latest in retro fashions, technolysed victoriana, top hats and chimney spouts, and sink your teeth into a the months quiz.
August 30th Tengen Toppa GeekOut Lagann
At the height of summer is the height of our untamed power! Kick off from underground and blast straight into the heavens with unrestrained might!
August’s anime themed GeekOut Meet will see us building prototype mechs to take us into the future and into victory, but in accordance with the space we’ll have to work with they shall be small and made predominantly of paper and cardboard.
September 27th Harry Potter and the Shrewsbury Geeks
Back to school, but if we must don uniforms lets at least keep it geeky. Septembers quiz shall be unapologetically strong on the Harry Potter themes, we’ll keep it mostly accessible but there’s no doubt that the Muggles will be disadvantaged. Dress wizardly or witchly for cheeky extra points, and expect September’s Disappointing Prize to be sourced from Labyrinth in Grope Lane.
October 25th Lycanthropic
Bang on full moon too, almost like we planned it that way…
Hallowe’en need not be a theme in it’s own right. It’s filled with potential, and subgenres and possibilities. Nor should we feel restricted to werewolves when the notion of humans becoming carnivorous monsters has been around longer than Anthony Hopkins. Competition and survivors TBD.
November 29th NaNoGeKo
Nearly finished NaNoWriMo?
They say everyone has a book inside them, well we’re not looking to extract the whole thing, just give it a peak at the outside world. Whether you’ve been taking part in National Novel Writing Month or are still in the planning stages, come prepared, or prepared to prepare to write the blurb for that book you’ve always wanted to put to paper. Expect a literary quiz, meaning no fewer than two competitions with prizes to boot! Arrive dressed in a dust jacket and your finest bookmark.
December 27th GiftWrapped GeekOut
Mimicking the annual habits of GeekOut Bristol, we shall be running a Super-Secret Santa, and this is important because we may very well be running the same this year on the 28th! This year we’ll impose a £5 spending limit, next year raising to £5.50 to account for inflation, but deducting fifty pence to account for economic disaster. The task is simple enough: buy a present for someone, you don’t know who. If you put a present in you can take a present out!
Running it in 2018 and in future years will pend the success of running it this year, much the same as GeekOut itself. So far you’ve made the effort that goes into running GeekOut all the more enjoyable. See you later on today, and again next month, and hopefully, all year after that. If you’re enjoying GeekOut then spread the love through Facebook and Meetup.
If you’ve ever been fascinated about the wildly popular theme that is Steampunk, then this is a quick look at what Steampunk is and isn’t, as well as all the do’s and don’ts of the fandom. Join Timlah as we delve deeply into the fascinating world of Steampunk, an old bygone era mixed with modern day technologies and theories. It’s truly a wonderful, bizarre world, so be prepared to hold onto your bowler hats!
If you’ve ever been fascinated about the wildly popular theme that is Steampunk, then this is a quick look at what Steampunk is and isn’t, as well as all the do’s and don’ts of the fandom. Join Timlah as we delve deeply into the fascinating world of Steampunk, an old bygone era mixed with modern day technologies and theories. It’s truly a wonderful, bizarre world, so be prepared to hold onto your bowler hats!
Another month has passed us by and the GeekOut Bristol Meet has come and gone once more, but don’t fret, we’ll be back with another amazing event next month. In the mean time, you can relive all of what happened this past Saturday via our gallery. Join Timlah as we talk about the happenings at GeekOut Bristol Meet this past August 13th.
Another month has passed us by and the GeekOut Bristol Meet has come and gone once more, but don’t fret, we’ll be back with another amazing event next month. In the mean time, you can relive all of what happened this past Saturday via our gallery. Join Timlah as we talk about the happenings at GeekOut Bristol Meet this past August 13th.
On August 13th, GeekOut Bristol is happening once again, with fun and games galore planned and a theme most befitting those fans of a bygone era. Be it a supremely elegant cravat, or a dress that’ll wow everybody, our meetup will be getting all Victorian? Join Timlah to find out what on earth is going on in our next meetup: Steampunk edition!
On August 13th, GeekOut Bristol is happening once again, with fun and games galore planned and a theme most befitting those fans of a bygone era. Be it a supremely elegant cravat, or a dress that’ll wow everybody, our meetup will be getting all Victorian? Join Timlah to find out what on earth is going on in our next meetup: Steampunk edition!
On Sunday, Tim discussed world building from a far more broad perspective than I did in my article DMing 101 – World Building. By and large we have looked at these things from the perspective of creating new worlds, fantastical, fictional, completely fabricated, when in fact we have our own rather stunningly rich history filled with incredibly weird and wonderful characters, places of incredible natural beauty, and complexities beyond comprehension. Many of the worlds we create heavily draw from the real world for inspiration for that exact reason.
I’m not a fan of reality, that’s why I play in fantasy worlds and devise new marvels, wonders and weave such rich tales as I am able, it’s escapism, a break from a world that annoys me, but sometimes you really have to sit back and acknowledge that there are parts worth looking into. If you – like me – simply cannot bear reality as it stands there are ways of making it more enjoyable with only a few little tweaks. Continue reading “Rewriting History”
Now I’m no rap fan, but there are two great exceptions to that particular preference. The first has to be Epic Rap Battles of History, as long time readers will know we are big fans here at GeekOut, and while I know that plenty of rap artists have clever lyrics, it’s rare to find any quite so educational. I guess it’s just that rap doesn’t speak to me culturally.
Of course if you’re looking for a rapper who taps the kind of culture I associate with, well then cast thy gaze at yonder pith-helmeted adventurer.
Brit, steampunk airship pilot, friend to geeks of all manners, tea enthusiast, former English teacher, and rather good rapper to boot, Professor Elemental occupies a niche he sculpted for himself in the music industry. Between himself and arch nemesis Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer they have cornered the market on upper-class lyric slinging that is more commonly referred to as Chap-Hop, a form that’s starting to spread amongst apologetic Englishmen with a love of song.
Elemental (or Paul Alborough without the helmet) has spread his brand to comics, toys, games, a plethora of other media works, and all in the name of a jolly good time. He’s a firm favourite on the convention scene, in particular featuring regularly on the stage at Kitacon, and milling around the crowds off stage too. It was here that I took a liking to his style and approached him for an interview, and despite his enthusiasm time and opportunity repeatedly got in the way until at long last we managed to squeeze in a few minutes on Skype for a quick geeky Q&A.
Here’s what we talked about…
Lovely.
Check out Ape Quest here, the story of the search for the Prof’s loyal orangutan butler Geoffrey through space and time, or have a gander at his other works here. Keep your eyes on the guest list at Kitacon, and on the billboard at your local venues.
And as always, a huge thanks to Professor Elemental for his time, and his unflappable cheer.
Welcome back to the genre’s series, where I go in-depth on how different genres can effect the style of your games, not just the content, but the very emotions that they evoke session to session. This week, a slight challenge for myself: Continue reading “DMing 101 – Technology Punk”
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