1990 and onwards - a potted Convention history by Larry Horsfield

"The Convention", as we all know it, came about after intrepid adventurers Sue Roseblade and Jackie Bennett had come down to London to attend "The Adventurer`s Club" Awards, organised by Henry Mueller.  Sue and Jackie met Jack Lockerbie there, and soon became subscribers to "Adventure Probe" magazine, a (then) bi-monthly fanzine for adventure players which, at that time, was edited by Mandy Rodrigues.  "Probe" then boasted a readership of well over 250, spread over the entire British Isles, and there were also quite a lot of readers in Europe and beyond.

Some time later, Sue Roseblade thought it would a great idea if all the "Adventure Probe" readers could get together at a convention, similar to the one they had been to in London, and suggested it in the magazine.  I phoned Sue to tell her what a great idea that was, and was she going to organize it?  "Not bloody likely!" was Sue`s response, so I decided to try to organize it myself.  Not having a clue how to go about such an undertaking, I enlisted the help of fellow "Prober" Vicky Jackson, one of a small group of us Probers who met for a drink (or three) every month in Central London.

Vicky said we needed to find a hotel somewhere central (bearing in mind that people might be travelling from the extremes of mainland Britain) with a conference room large enough to hold, say, 100 people.  Birmingham was the obvious choice, having good road & rail links, and calls were made to various hotels in the area. The Strathallan Thistle Hotel (see picture right), in Edgbaston, Birmingham, was selected, and I was lumbered with printing and distributing all the tickets, how-to-get-there maps, name badges, etc., while Vicky handled the financial side of things.

The convention was called "The Adventure Probe Convention", and took place on Saturday 15th September 1990, with just over 100 people in attendance, travelling from as far afield as Scotland and Cornwall. One aspect of the Convention which became apparent very quickly was the average age of those attending. A lot of people associate computer games with youngsters, but adventure games tend to be played by adults who prefer a game you have to think about, rather than one that requires fast reflexes. The average age of those attending The Adventure Probe Convention was around 35 years old! There were a few youngsters there, but they were far outnumbered by the adults - and there were also a lot of women adventurers as well, fortunately for us blokes!

The main thing about the first convention was that it bought together a bunch of like-minded people who mostly, apart from a few, had never met face-to-face before.  We were all either just names in Adventure Probe, a voice on the other end of the phone, or someone who you wrote to.  Putting faces to the names we had known for so long was absolutely wonderful, and many lasting friendships were forged on that day.

Events during the day included a "Megapoints" game, suggested by Jim O`Keefe, and there was also an awards ceremony, the whole of the Adventure Probe readership having previously voted for their favourite adventure games and authors, both commercial and "home-grown", with certificates being awards to the 1st, 2nd & 3rd places in each of many categories.  It was hoped that Mike Gerrard, adventure pundit of "Your Sinclair" magazine, would attend and present the certificates.  His journalistic work unfortunately took him elsewhere that day, but he did send a very nice letter wishing us success, which was read out on the day.

One thing you must understand is that, in those days of the early `90`s, home computing was dominated by the 8-bit computer, i.e. Sinclair Spectrums, Commodore 64`s and Amstrad CPC64`s and CPC128`s.  The equivalent of the average home PC we take for granted today was the size of a room in those days.  There was a thriving "home-grown" market for text-only adventures, written by amateur adventure authors, as well as the commercially available games by distributors such as Level 9 and Magnetic Scrolls.  The all-singing, all-dancing, point`n`click graphic adventures which are the norm nowadays were a mere dream way back then!  There were, of course, adventures with graphics, but purists would almost always turn these graphics off if the option was available.

There were a couple of Atari STs and Commodore Amigas at the first convention, and these attracted great interest (and a small amount of scorn) from us 8-bit enthusiasts.  There were quite a few "home-grown" text adventure authors present and some bought along games to sell.  The emphasis was - and still is - on informality, and the atmosphere was one of relaxing camaraderie.  Many of us stayed at the hotel overnight and after the convention a contingent of us trooped along the road to an Indian restaurant for an evening meal.  Breakfast the following morning was "graced" by the presence of England cricketer Mike Gatting, who was also staying at the hotel, it being near Edgbaston Cricket Ground.

The whole day was a huge success and everyone asked if we could do it again the following year, which indeed we did. However, some people asked for the convention date to be a bit later, so as not to clash with annual holidays, so the second convention was organized for the last weekend in October, 1991.  Also, we were unable to hold it at the Strathallan Thistle, the room being already booked for the weekend we wanted.  However, the hotel recommended their sister hotel, the Royal Angus Thistle Hotel on the other side of Birmingham, conveniently situated at the end of the A38(M) motorway. This venue was to become the home of the convention for the next 9 years.

The second Convention, in October, 1991, was the biggest, with over 200 people attending.  It was also the subject of an "official" video, courtesy of the daughter of the late, and much loved, Joan Pancott, who worked for the BBC and who turned up with an assistant and a huge BBC video camera and tripod.  The whole event was videoed and there were even interviews with the organizers and other people attending.

Over the next few years, the Convention changed in various ways.  The following year Adventure Probe magazine underwent a change of editorship after Mandy Rodrigues had to give up for personal reasons.  That year`s convention was being planned when this happened, and as it was unclear whether the magazine would continue, we took the decision to change the name to "The Adventurer`s Convention".  Adventure Probe did continue after a short break, under the editorship of Barbara Gibb, who is still the editor to this day.  Even the hotel changed it`s name in 1998, to the Birmingham Thistle Hotel.

By the mid-90`s, 8-bit computers were a dying breed and a lot of people had moved on to 16-bit Ataris and Amigas, although a few die-hards, myself included, retained their Spectrums to write their text adventures on.  Graphic adventures were beginning to make their mark and more and more were appearing at the convention.  The Ataris and Amigas eventually gave way to PC`s, and these days they dominate the convention.  It is a rare occurrence to see a working Spectrum or Commodore 64....apart from as an emulator on a PC!

 

 

The Adventure Awards Ceremony - 1992
Standing at the table: Bob Adams (left), Larry Horsfield (centre) and The Grue (right) - Look at the smart jackets and ties - we are much more informal these days...

 

 

As the text adventure market had all but died out, and graphical adventures were only produced by big software houses, the Annual Adventure Awards were the next to go.  Voters had been able to choose their favourite commercial games and authors, but when we sent the certificates that were awarded to the recipients, they never bothered acknowledging them.

In October 1999 we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Convention, and looked forward to many more years of making the annual pilgrimage to Birmingham.  Indeed, for many of us, the year wouldn`t be complete without the convention.  It therefore came as quite a shock when, at the end of February 2000, Vicky Jackson telephoned the Birmingham Thistle Hotel to book the room, only to be told that we would have to pay the going rate for the room we used, the Ariel Suite, instead of the discounted rate we had enjoyed for the past few years.  As this effectively doubled the cost, it would have meant charging much more per ticket, and we would also have to pay the normal rate for accommodation, instead of discounted rates.

The only option was to find an alternative venue, and we were lucky enough to find one quickly, thanks to the efforts of Jill Nott in obtaining a Golden Rail Travel brochure!  Details and photos of the hotel we currently use can be viewed on the 'hotel' page.  The Convention is now organised by Doreen Bardon and details of this year's event can be found HERE