Seventh in this series of one-day conventions in bustling metropolitan Baildon (suburban Bradford).

Friday

The trip out was… worse than usual, six hours altogether. The M40 was closed between J15 and J16 (near Warwick), so all the traffic for Birmingham was being sent via the M1; but actually the traffic didn't get much lighter even after I'd got past the M6. Oh well.

I think next year I should probably take a day off work, and set out either very first thing in the morning or late the previous night. Since Shipley is on the canal network, I had a look at what it might take to get there by boat, but the answer is more than three weeks of travel each way, which is a bit excessive even for me.

This meant that the game which I'd been meant to run in the afternoon ended up being delayed and cut short; it's a very strange narrative system, so after the long introductory bits we didn't end up getting much actual playing done. (I'm being cagey about what it was as it's a playtest of an unpublished game.)

Then a ten-minute walk along the towpath to the traditional pre-Games Day drinks and meal - and chat. For all the gaming is important, this is a very social convention; and it was useful, too, since it looks as if a project that was stuck may now be moving again.

One of these days I should set an adventure in Saltaire; there's lots of potential for strangeness around Titus Salt and the town he built.

Saturday

The event proper starts at noon, to allow for people to get in from nearby towns (a rail strike didn't help). I ran The Fractured Mind in its first public outing; the Great Detectives solved the murders, though only just. And I managed to get away from the raffle with a sensibly-sized prize, a Lovecraftian-themed deck of playing cards – unlike the chap who got the 2-by-3-foot framed dungeon-generator poster. (It's a very nice poster, but.)

After that, it was up the hill to Pickles for the traditional Games Night… though this time no actual games came out, as we were having too much fun eating and chatting.

Sunday

On previous occasions that's been the end of things, but this time there was a Sunday morning event: brunch at Betty's in Ilkley. So over Ilkley Moor we went (my 'at was in the boot of the car).

The prices weren't as bad as I'd expected, and the quality was genuinely excellent - the second-best kedgeree I've ever had.

Then home… this time I took some of the more interesting side routes just for fun, and had a remarkably trouble-free journey.

This event continues to be a great deal of fun. I've been to all of them except number six (thanks to a date change that clashed with Essen) and I'll keep going back… and running games for as long as they'll have me.