How it works FAQs

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Critter Castle, at its core, is a community. We are just a group of friends with a flair for organisation. The Critter Castle weekend event is a space for gamers, cosplayers and nerds alike to come together and enjoy nerdy hobbies in a suitably aesthetic building.

Critter Castle is not a money-making enterprise. There is never any profit made, nor does anyone on the organising team take any kind of wage. Any money that is left over at the end of the event is either divided equally and returned to each of the attendees, or donated to charity. 

Critter Castle operates as "friends having fun in a castle"; we are not an official organisation. You can, of course, expect the highest level of care, attention and hygiene (in the kitchen) from the organisers, but the success of the event is very much driven by those that attend. Think about it like staying at your mate's house for a weekend. Everyone is expected to muck in with any daily duties (either helping to cook or do the dishes etc), and we are all responsible for the upkeep of the venue.

At Critter Castle you have the freedom to dip in and out of activities as you please. You don't have to sign up to anything. If you just want to be in the space with other nerds, perhaps join the occasional board game, that's absolutely fine! Alternatively if you want to really get stuck in, maybe run a game, play in three others, paint some minis and do a cosplay photoshoot, you can absolutely do that.

The main goal of Critter Castle is to provide a space for people with similar nerdy interests to have fun and make friends. It's really as simple as that!

Once we've found the perfect venue and figured out a ticket price, we'll reach out on the discord server and post on the website to advise when the event will go on sale. To secure a place you'll need to pay a deposit (usually about 25% of the price) and fill out a signup form. Places are first come first serve. The event is fairly small, with generally around 30 places available. However if there are more people that wish to join Critter Castle we can look at bigger venues to offer more places in the future. 

The price of the event differs each time, venue dependant, special events/activities and the number of expected attendees. Generally though we like to keep the price as low as possible, ranging around the £200 mark. This covers the venue, all food, a few welcome goodies and any special activities. 

How this works is that we hire a whole house, then beds are assigned as appropriate by the organisers. The sign up form may contain a few questions about preferred sleeping arrangements to help us. Sleeping arrangements are very venue specific but as an expectation, you'll be sharing a room with at least one or two other people. We've previously had dorm-room style bunk bed situations, and more recently we've had a bit more of a "hotel style" experience with the option for couples to share double rooms, some family-room style arrangements and twin rooms. Information around expected sleeping arrangements for a specific event will be made clear before the event is open for bookings. 

All food costs are covered in the ticket price. All food is prepared onsite eat day overseen by one of the organisers. There is a set menu which is provided before the event. Take a look at last year's menu as an example of what to expect. On the sign up form, you'll be asked about any dietary requirements and we'll take these into consideration.

The event is adults only. However we will consider older teenagers (15+) who are accompanied by an adult to be responsible for them. There will be swearing, there will be alcohol and everyone is responsible for themselves.

There is no upper age limit!

Everything you need to know about the event will available in a centralised master spreadsheet. In it you can view the schedule and the menu, sign up to games, and organise cosplays.

On the sign up form you will be asked if you plan to run a game. If you choose to run a game you'll be contacted by one of the organisers to give a little summary of the type of game you want to run, along with any requirements of the players. This is then added to the master spreadsheet.

Simply pop your name down on one of the empty slots, on the master spreadsheet! All of the games being ran will be listed, along with details of the game master/genre/system and expected length. Before Critter Castle, your DM will likely be in contact to finalise all the extra details with you. 

Cosplay is welcome any time, all the time! Check the master spreadsheet to organise group cosplays and photoshoots.

Currently, no. Generally in the past there hasn't been the budget to hire professional photographers (additionally not everyone attending will be cosplaying). But it is something we're looking into. We can, however, offer discounted places for those who wish to come to the event as an 'official' cosplay photographer. If you are or know of any budding photographers, we'd love to hear from you!