So we made it! We finally travelled in time. Well it was only a move forward but one must start with something ok? So we had Lajconik 2025 planned for April 26th and 27th and just a few days before the con the National Mourning was announced and we had travel through time (and space!). We ended up having the same convention in a different venue 1.5 month later. As usually when I am the member of the concom I won’t try to rate the event, but I will share some thoughts about it.
Tuesday Before the Con
On Tuesday before the initial date of the con, three days before our planned entrance to the venue we had to make a very hard decision. Because of the National Mourning our venues were not available on the first day of Lajconik 2025. We had the choice of either trying to limit our event to one day or change the date. It was impossible to held the event on Sunday only so we had to change the date.
If I am not wrong it was the first time in my conrunning career that I had to plan for the date switch at such short notice. I was sure I would be panicking but instead we had a very fruitful concom meeting where we planned all the needed steps. Thankfully Lajconik is a small and simple con so it was not as hard as it could have been with a bigger event. It was an important lesson for me (and I suppose also for the rest of the Team).
Registration desk in our new venue.
The date we have decided would work best was sadly not available for our usual venues. As a result we changed not only the time, but also the location of Lajconik 2025. This of course came with another challenge – new venue meant a lot of extra work. Lajconik spent over a decade in the same place. Some of us knew both buildings, where it used to be held, by hard and we were able to plan everything with ease. New venue meant that we would need to learn how to work there step by step – but this was the work for the (then) future us.
Exiting from the Tardis
So the Tardis took us six weeks into the future and around 4.5 km to the North-East. Not that far away! Sadly I was not able to visit the venue on our first short stop as the “everyday life” took care of my time then. So on the afternoon on Friday June 6th I set my foot in our new venue for the first time. This time we held Lajconik in the building of two primary schools.
The new place was way bigger than our usual one. On a downside – a lot of the tables and chairs were too small for our members. Thanks to one of the organizers we got over a dozen foldable tables for the weekend. This was enough for the big gaming room and for our dealers.
So where exactly is my gaming room?
The school building was rather new and very nice. Also the staff there was very friendly and it was easy to work together. Whoever ran a convention knows how valuable this is. From this place I would love to once again thank everyone from the Wierchy and Źródło schools for their support and for making the school available to us.
Day 1
On Friday before Lajconik 2025 the team managed to prepare the school for the convention. On Saturday morning we all came back and were able to start the con itself. Like in 2024 I spent most of the time at the table of Krakowska Sieć Fantastyki. My task was to talk about our SFF club and sell one of our fanzines (A~Zyn). Despite the fact that Lajconik is an RPG convention, we managed to sell some copies. I hope that the new owners will enjoy them.
A~Zyns were easy to get.
I regret that I didn’t manage to take part in any RPG session. That is the biggest downside of running Lajconik for me. For years it was one of my favourites cons. Now I am happy that I am helping to make it happen but I regret not being able to enjoy it in my usual way. Possibly in the future I will manage to go back to my previous role of participant.
So I didn’t play any game on Saturday but I had plenty of time to talk to people – both to my friends, and to people I haven’t met before. This activity recompensated me for the lack of opportunities to play RPG. I also got a chance to make some rounds around the building to take pictures of people enjoying the event.
Suddenly (who would expect that?!) an evening came. We left the school and headed towards another venue for an evening (for me) or a night (for some others) socialising. It was enriched with water (me), cheesecake (me), and beer (for some members). R’lyeh Cafe (locted in the city centre) hosted us for the evening party as they did many times before. I am sending a big thank you to the R’lyeh’s team!
Some of the rooms in new venue, reminded me of our previous place.
A Bit of Gaming
On Sunday I had a bit more time and thus I made more things apart from sitting at our table. I even got a chance to enjoy a board game. It was Ubongo which we played with gophers at the registration desk (which was not very busy on Sunday). I am not able to tell how much time I played and how much I talked but it certainly was a quality time.
Same as the day before, I got the chance to look around the building and take pictures of people playing. This time I was luckier and I witnessed a few situations where people where doing a lot of role playing with their characters (or with their NPCs). It is not for me to judge whether players had a good time, but I have heard at least a few people who were very happy with their gaming sessions. This alone is a reason good enough for Lajconik to continue.
There were not only RPGs and board games but also war games.
In the evening we had our traditional Awards ceremony. For the second (or third?) year in a row we managed to give something to everyone who stayed till the end of the con. I absolutely love this traditional Awards ceremony. As a concom member I am not eligible to get anything but it is a lovely thing nevertheless. Some people where clearly very happy with what their got and that’s awesome.
One of the lucky winners at the Closing/Award ceremony.
The last thing that was left for us was packing the convention and preparing the school for the next day. This took us a bit more time than in the previous years. Yet taking into account the size of the venue the fact that it was “new to us” it went well. Our gophers did an awesome job of moving tables and chairs, cleaning, and removing all the remnants of the convention.
First Cats Over The Fence*
In the end I am quite happy with how Lajconik 2025 went this year. Despite the fact that we had to change the date (and the location) it was went rather smoothly. Of course there were mistakes made, and there were some issues we couldn’t prevent (some Game Masters getting sick etc.). There is certainly a room for improvement in the future but for now we can all rest. I believe that we can do so knowing that we managed to deliver a good experience for the members. As stated in the beginning it is for them to rate us and we will keep looking for feedback.
The future concom (which I may or may not be a part of) will need to decide about the venue for the next year. Whether we will stay in a new location or go back to the old one is not mine decision to take now. For sure we will need to check with the schools how did everything go from their perspective. The surveys sent to members may also come with opinions about the venue change. Last but not least, everyone involved in running Lajconik 2025 may have comments on that topic.
Everyone seem to be engaged in the game.
Speaking about schools who hosted us – some parents used the opportunity and visited Lajconik with their children. They played in the Games Room and in one case also participated in the RPG session. From my perspective it was a great opportunity that allowed us to show what we love to a new audience.
For now I am quite optimistic about the future of Lajconik. I learned a lot while working on the 2025 “incarnation” of the con, and later I had good time during the event. Now I am looking for the reviews and opinions and I hope that in 2026 we will have the next Lajconik!
You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.
My next post should appear within 3 weeks and treat about Seminarium Literackie!
*Polish has a lot of nice idioms. Some doesn’t seem to have a good English equivalent and I like to share them on some occasions. Here is the example of an idiom for doing something for the first time. The said activity may not be a perfect but the next time it would go better. You can check out more on this idiom, and some more “animal” idioms here.