Last weekend I was a Skyrim tavern wench

Well, on the Saturday night I was, at the SFX Weekender in cold, cold north Wales and was an absolutely amazing two and a half days of unashamed geekery. I would have gone as an adventurer, but then I took an arrow in the knee…

I've been back a few days, and knew I wanted to blog about it, but I don't know what I want to talk about most. Is it the strange experience of walking around with Stormtroopers looking menacing on every corner? Is it the fact I hung out with some amazing people and deepened friendships? Was it the fact that I had my photo taken with He-Man, Cloud from Final Fantasy and the Beastie Boys all in one night? (Or rather, people dressed up as them.)

No, I think I want to talk about how inclusive and friendly the people were. Never have I been in crowds, in packed bars, in rooms full of strangers and felt so at ease. Everyone was genuinely friendly, whether met in a queue, or already in a large group. There wasn't a whiff of clique behaviour, snobbery, unpleasantness or anything else that got my hackles up. Splendid.

The costumed ball

This was a highlight for me – I'd been sewing a costume frantically for the three weeks leading up to it. This is what it turned out like:

I'm the one on the right

So why a tavern wench?

Ideally I'd have gone as my level 40 warrior in full dragon armour, but that's beyond my crafting skills. I needed to find a costume that I could sew in three weeks (I only found out about the costumed ball in early January) and as I'd been playing Skyrim, I looked there for inspiration.

The various goddesses had outfits eminently sewable, but I just don't have the ego to turn up to an event as a goddess. So I went for the brown outfit as it was relatively simple and could easily be adapted for steampunky goodness.

I'm really glad I dressed up – it was great to be part of all the fun of running around and admiring costumes. So many people put so much effort into theirs and I dashed about like a mad thing having my picture taken with them. Here's the album on Facebook for you to see for yourself. I don't think I could fly my geek flag with more pride. Oh, and in case you can't make it out, that thing I'm carrying is the dialogue box that comes up in the game when you go to a tavern

This is the picture I modelled it on – I also dressed my Imperial warrior in the same outfit to look at it full length but as it's on the Xbox, I can't take a screenshot.

Another highlight…

Was being able to show people the hardback of 20 Years Later and their reactions to it. Everyone loved the cover and admired the high quality of the binding etc. That was so lovely.

Next year

I have already booked my hotel (I will never stay in one of the chalets ever again) and can't wait. Thanks SFX magazine, it was a great weekend, see you next year!