You might be wondering what is Nationals? Well nationals is what we short hand the National Student Gaming and Roleplaying Championship (NSGRC) a yearly charity student gaming "competition". I put "competition" in quotation marks because really it's just a convention more than a competition. Ok, but there's still a lot when, where. charity?
- Every year the host University picks usually a local and a national charity for the event to support!
- E.g. Special effect, RSPB, Glasgow and Clyde Rape crisis, etc
- This year Stirling have chosen to support: Stirling and District Women's Aid and The Scottish Refugee Council
- Money is raised through ticket sales, merchandise and every year has Unique reroll dice!
- The event is usually themed and this years theme is Noir!
- When is it?
- It's always held during the April break, this year 9th -11th of April
- This means assessments are done and exams are a couple weeks away so you have time to rest and do something you enjoy!
- What do I do at the event for 3 days?
- Well it's basically a super GUGS event!
- Friday night is arrival and there are usually some fun sober and drinking socials and as always open board games
- Saturday and Sunday is your "competition" categories.
- Saturday evening will see more socials like pub quiz, cosplay competition, speed painting etc.
- Sunday is the closing ceremony once games are done!
- There's also always tabletop vendors!
- What is my "competition" categories?
There is an array of themed RPG categories by genre and/or system/setting. Your games will usually be a oneshot per day (unless it is a small category in which case sometimes it is a 2 day oneshot). It's a great time to meet other TTRPG players and try systems you've never even heard of!
There is a choice of various war games (almost every year it usually just boils down to 40k, kill team, AoS, Spearhead since students across the UK don't tend to play much else
A variety of TCGs are usually offered but it usually just ends up being a magic constructed and draft format
There's a variety of board game categories to choose from like Blood on the Clocktower, social, strategic, cooperative etc. It varies year to year
There is also a LARP for any LARPers here!
There is also the super do everything category where you do a bit of everything!
- This sounds amazing where is it? Stirling university!
- Game Master and other volunteers get free tickets and usually a snazzy t-shirt!
- You then (usually) need travel and accommodation. Given it is in Stirling anyone with a youngscot card 22 or under can travel there daily for free! Trains and busses are cheap to Stirling (around £10) and there is a few decent accommodation options.
- A couple of us are going to camp at the campsite by the uni which is £14-£30 a night. This will be for Glasgow apart from when we host the cheapest you'll be able to attend nationals.
Ok but how serious do people take the competition? Well non-rpgers tend to take it fairly seriously, however, they'll end up playing narly competitive games against each other and chiller people will get paired up with each other but everyone plays fair and has good sportsmanship and are ultimately there to have fun. For RPGers most people don't bother with taking it competitively but you'll play with people that will absolutely go for it with their roleplay and it will give you and amazing time. It's highly discouraged for players to take over the games and as always there will be welfare or anything for players that don't give others a chance to shine at the table so don't worry, it's also incredibly rare.
You'll come out of the event having made new friends, bonded with your fellow uni students and tried games you may have never even heard of. Also if you do well there's usually prizes!