UK Games Expo 2025
An event that stands out on the gaming calendar for it’s scale and all it has to offer: a trade hall with more games and gaming guff than you could ever want, an opportunity to catch-up with gaming friends en masse and a guarantee that your wallet will be considerably lighter at the end of the weekend.
Perhaps the biggest cost is accommodation, in previous years I have spent far more than I would care to admit on hotels for 2 nights. Like last year a group of us went for an off-site location, but unlike last year there were more of us and the place we stayed at was huge (if not the most luxurious)!
As always the build up is exciting, the anticipation of what is to come, a chance to lose yourself in your hobby with your mates, and this year didn’t disappoint.
Friday 30 May
After a very early start I caught up with the regular gang at the NEC and we spent the morning trawling the trade hall. I would guess that this was the biggest trade hall I’ve seen, covering multiple halls - it was huge! Despite spending 3 hours walking around it on the Friday and a further 2 hours on the Sunday, I still didn’t get to see all of the stands.
We finished in the trade hall at mid-day and headed off to the palatial accommodation we’d be based at for the rest of the weekend. Grabbing a quick bit of lunch, we settled down to a the first games of the weekend. On offer were:
Maelstrom with @davepaters.bsky.social
Golden Heroes with @willoughbywrite.bsky.social
Maelstrom Domesday
While both games were appealing, I’ve long had a hankering to play Maelstrom; I have the original rules from back in the day and ran it once and it has sat on my shelf since (apart from a brief excursion with a review with Bud). The original game is set in the Elizabethan period, a fantastic setting for gaming, but @davepaters.bsky.social was using the Maelstrom Domesday setting; Britain shortly after the Normans had arrived and upset things.
Our band of 3 Normans (including my PC, Sir Charles Blakely of noble birth and a man of means), a Saxon and a Welsh woman were pulled together by Sir Nigel Fossard to deal with strange goings on that were interfering with a castle rebuild near the village of Lythe.
The system held up well with a fair old bit of investigation and a couple of meaty combats all presented admirably. It was a cracking adventure in a very appealing setting, delivered expertly by @davepaters.bsky.social. I’d love to play it again.
Friday Curry
It’s always nice to get out and have a bite to eat and being close to the centre of Birmingham a curry was the obvious choice.
The highlight for me were the ginormous onion bhajis. My favourite starter of all time, two of these beasts were too much even for me.
We wrapped up a great night back at our accommodation with more booze and great conversation accompanied by the sounds of the nearby “A” road and railway track.
Saturday 31 May
The Saturday plan was a morning and afternoon game, then on to the Hilton bar to catch up with a wider circle of gaming friends.
The Saturday morning games on offer were:
Ronin with me
Black Sword Hack with @lintillaz.bsky.social
Ghostbusters with @filmfan68.bsky.social
And the afternoon games were:
Tales of the Old West with @thermalsatsuma.bsky.social
Lex Arcana with @mcookie123.bsky.social
Savage Worlds Rifts with @orlanth.bsky.social
Ronin
After enjoying The 13 Demons of Akuma Saizo for Ronin with the creator @ottomancer.bsky.social at MORPCon a while ago, I knew it would be a great game to run at this weekend.
The adventure is set in Kage No Shima, a medieval Japan analogue where an apocalyptic event has recently occurred and the skies are shrouded by ash. Crops do not grow and people struggle just to survive; add to this the codes and culture of the period and you have a great setting for adventure.
In this adventure the party are charged with the task of chasing down and destroying the recently escaped Akuma Saizo, an ancient sorcerer freed by his acolytes. The adventure has some great set pieces and plenty of challenges for the party. My players fought bravely but fell at the last hurdle resulting in a TPK - Akuma Saizo is a tough nut to crack. Still, despite the TPK we all had a great deal of fun with the adventure, highly recommended.
Savage Worlds Rifts
I’ve been playing a fair bit of Savage Worlds recently, and having played and enjoyed a little bit of Rifts in the past I was keen to see how the two would mesh together. @orlanth.bsky.social had prepared some fantastic pregens, all with the crazy super powered abilities you’d expect from Rifts.
My character was Harv, a combat cyborg who was joined by Brandon Cryos, a Leyline walker and Lady Sareena Alderbrant, a cyberknight. We had to deal with some strange goings on in the nearby settlement of Valiant, encountering unnatural corruption and strange monsters. Our first combat was over in the first round, the PCs blowing away a nasty monster - I think even @orlanth.bsky.social was surprised how effective we were. The final battle of the adventure saw us pushed to the limit, but in between there were opportunities to do a little investigation and get to know some of the odd (and mildly corrupted) folks of Valiant. @orlanth.bsky.social did a great job setting the scene and dealing with some of the complexities of Savage Worlds, and the game moved at a great pace and was a lot of fun.
Hilton Bar
The only tonic for a day of such adventures was a trip to the Hilton bar at the NEC, so we bundled into a couple of taxis and joined other gaming friends there. Despite the extortionate beer prices, I always look forward to the buzz, there’s a good chance you’ll bump into a good few gaming friends you’ve not seen in a while.
Sunday 1st June
It felt like the weekend was over in the blink of an eye as folks started heading off, but there was still time for another trek around the trade hall. A handful of us headed back to the NEC and had another potter around, but at this point I think we were all starting to feel a little jaded and were thinking of the journey home.
We’ve already started making plans for next year; while it’s the best part of a year away, it’s something to look forward, a beacon on the horizon. Can’t wait.
Finally, I’d like to thank all the great folks who shared the weekend with me, running and playing in games, making brews, cleaning up and doing lots of organising, particularly @orlanth.bsky.social and @davepaters.bsky.social. Thanks all!