Having just worked out that I can do a cut & paste from the nifty con schedule app, I’m going to do the programme items first.

• Fallen London – Recreating London in Games
  They’re taking a very wide stance on ‘games’ here; Anything from an RPG to a LARP to a Board Game to an online thing called Fallen London.
  The take-home, as it were, is that there’s so much stuff in London, in terms of history & mythology, and even geography, that there’s material for almost anything you want to do. Also that people seem to focus on Victorian London more than anything else.

  Something(s) I found myself wandering were;
  Is there a railway-building game based on the Underground? If you go with a Beck-esque schematic to simplify the lines you might be able to use tiles, or maybe wee plastic sticks?

  Alternatively, can you cross London Underground trains with Underground political movements, so that you’re linking positions/policies (Stations) with lines to build your platform?

• British Comics: Influences and Influencers
  Pretty much what it sounds like, with a lot of history of comics in Britain; The arrival of American comics leading to The Eagle, that sort of thing.
  To be honest, a lot of the names went by me unrecognised, and I’d probably be better off finding a book on the subject if I needed to know more.
• Fannish Inquisition
  This is the bit where groups bidding for future cons say their piece and answer questions.
  Kansas City 2016 were big on the BBQ, while Beijing went with ‘we are aliens from the future’ as an approach.
  Further out, 2017 is crowded with four bids, Dublin 2019 looks very organised with colour handouts & a secret bar, and there was nobody official there from NZ2020
• Urban Fantasy: London
  Why is it always the Victorian Era?
  There’s a fair bit of crossover with the games panel, as the same points & issues apply to both.
• The World at Worldcon: Eastern European and Baltic SF/F
  Yeah, …
  This could have been good, but was sandbagged by a panelist who was long-winded, rambling, pedantic, and spoke very halting English. Not a good combination.
  There were a few times when other panelists tried to shut him down, but it didn’t take.
• Sci-Fi London Shorts
  Short films, some of them products of a 48 hour film-making competition.