Dragonmeet 2024

There was a lot of fuss that the convention was sold out for the first time and therefore that tickets would not be available on the door. This is obviously good news for the convention (although if demand is outstripping the availability then it feels like the Novotel’s days hosting the event are numbered) but it had a slightly odd effect that the morning felt quite quiet. There was no queue at the desk and with the trade hall not opening until 10am it wasn’t until around 11am that people started turning up and the event felt lively.

The convention also went on to the Sunday for the first time this year with Soul Muppet hosting seminars on the Sunday. I didn’t attend them because it is a bit of a trek to get to the other side of London but again this is an interesting trend if people are going to stay overnight and use the facilities the next day.

The trade hall is split over two floors now and the upper hall felt like it had been expanded with a shrunken set of tables for free play and socialising in the upper hall. It was busy and probably just starting to get to the point where it takes a long time to see everything that is on offer. Last year it felt that a lot of people were realising projects and ideas that had been conceived in the lockdowns, where as this year was more of the usual increment.

There was a lot of gaming on but illness seemed to be wrecking havoc and leading to a lot of last minute scrambling for games. In the upper floors it felt there was plenty of space for gaming but bizarrely chairs seemed in short supply.

Socially this is still London’s biggest convention and therefore it is still a big day out meeting loads of people and catching up with old friends.

The after-convention bar felt a bit livelier this year but is still relatively quiet as traders can’t store anything on-site and therefore anyone commercial tends to have to leave after the trade hall closes.