• Customers expect to pay less on Vinted - I certainly do when I’m a customer.

• If you sell something for £10, you get the full £10 (no seller fees apply), however sellers need to be mindful that the buyer will be paying an admin fee and postage on top, so your asking price needs to adjust for that.

• Vinted is often an impulse shopping experience. Most buyers will sort by newest items first and I’ve generally experienced that most of my sales come within the first 2 days of listings. If buyers are using a broad search time like “board games” and sorting by newest - the Vinted App will only show the most recent 200 or so listings, so your listing is essentially dead and stagnant if they’re getting older than a day on the platform. A price drop will send an alert to anyone who has favourited your item to try and catch some attention after the initial listing.

• One of my favourite parts of shopping on Vinted is the experience of bundling to save postage, and to try and get a further discount. As a seller, you can set automatic bundle discounts eg. 10% for 2 items, 15% for 3 items etc. and I always have bundle discounts on. What this means for me when listing is that I try to list lots of items in the same category at the same time so that someone browsing has the opportunity to look at what else I’m selling and maybe build a bundle.

• Buyers ask for big discounts on Vinted. Vinted allows you to make offers as cheeky at 40% off and many buyers will start there to see if you’ll take it. You can counter-offer and perhaps come to a deal. In general, I think that half of my Vinted sales come from offers rather than sales at my full asking price. You might consider building a little bit of buffer into your asking price if you want reasonable offers.

It’s been a few months since I’ve sold anything on the platform, so let’s put some of these ideas to the test. I’m listing 10 items in the board game and tabletop roleplaying categories - all are pre-owned but in very good condition and complete. I’ll start by listing them at full market value, based upon research of eBay sold listings. Let’s see if they sell quickly, if I need to take offers or if there’s no interest at all.

• Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion - £24 (Buyer pays £28.29)

  SOLD - Accepted an offer at £20 after 48 hours

• Unmatched Cobble and Fog - £20 (Buyer pays £24.09)

  SOLD - Full price within 12 hours

• Getaway Driver - £10 (Buyer pays £13.49)

  SOLD - Full price within 12 hours

• Heirs to Heresy Roleplaying Game - £6 (Buyer pays £9.29)

  SOLD - Full price within 12 hours

• 5E Adventures in Middle Earth Players Guide - £24 (Buyer £32.49)

  NOT SOLD

• Venice - £12 (Buyer pays £15.69)

  NOT SOLD

• Mint Delivery - £8 (Buyer pays £11.39)

  NOT SOLD

• Teotihuacan - £18 (Buyer pays £22.99)

  NOT SOLD

• Monki - £8 (Buyer pays £11.39)

  NOT SOLD

• AD&D Fiend Folio - £32 (Buyer pays £36.59)

  NOT SOLD

Within 30 minutes, I received offers on 5 out of the 10 items, with four of them being a full 40% off. In the next 48 hours I sold 4 out of the 10 items. After that, there was no activity on the listings at all, and since relisting the items is against Vinted T&Cs those items will now just languish on Vinted until someone either checks out my profile specifically, or maybe searches very specifically for my game titles.

Once you’ve made your sales, you can print your pre-paid label, or choose a digital label, and drop it off with the appropriate courier. You can customise your account settings to limit courier options to ones that you trust or ones that have a drop-off point that’s convenient for you. I choose to limit to just one courier so I don’t need to drive around to various locations based on the whims of my buyers on any given day!

Vinted sales come quickly if you price competitively (bearing in mind the fees your buyer has to pay). With the ease of listing and simplicity of postage, it’s a great option for quick sales, but you might struggle to sell your less popular titles and may need to employ some “bargain basement” pricing.

The largest individual Magic: The Gathering sale was a PSA Gem Mint 10 Alpha Black Lotus, which was auctioned by Goldin for $2.208 million (including the buyer’s premium). Only three Alpha Black Lotus cards currently hold that grade, making it one of the rarest, and most desirable, versions of Magic’s most famous card.

The result sets a new public-auction record the card, although uit still remains below the £3 million paid privately in 2024 for a CGC Pristine 10 Alpha Black Lotus.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing for myself, and no doubt a number of older gamers, as I remember having a number of Black Lotus cards from the Beta and Unlimited sets, as well as Moxes and plenty of Dual Lands. Still have a few Dual Lands, but sadly I parted with the other cards very early on which has resulted in me writing away here for my next meal as opposed to lounging around on a Caribbean beach nestled behind my own villa…

Under almost any other circumstance, the sale of the Black Lotus would have been the week’s headline sale. However, it was eclipsed by two exceptionally rare Pikachu Illustrator cards, which sold for more than $7.8 million combined.

(The above Pokemon Pikachu Illustrator Unnumbered Promo CoroCoro Comics PSA 9 card sold for $5 million at Heritage on 18th September)

According to Card Ladder data, every card among this week’s five largest TCG sales, recorded between 13 and 20 September, exceeded $500,000. Alongside the two Pikachu Illustrators and the Black Lotus were a sealed first-edition Pokemon Base Set Booster Box and a PSA 10 Legendary Collection Reverse-holo Charizard.

(The cheapest of the ‘Top 5’ cards from last week was the above Pokemon Charizard 3 Legendary Collection PSA Trading Card Game Mint 10 which sold for $575,00 at Heritage on 18th September)

The sales arrive amid renewed interest in Pokemon following the worldwide launch of the Pokemon Trading Card Game’s 30th Celebration, which generated queues, purchases restrictions and inflated early resale prices, with one card from the set - the Red RGB Mew - having already sold for $5,670.40 in a verified completed sale. A Blue RGB Mew, from the same set released last week (15th September) was reportedly sold for $20,000, although that has not been officially verified.

A big difference is that last weeks multi-million dollar auction sales involve exceptionally rare historical cards, not ordinary modern releases, although as seen from the RGB Mew prices from last weeks brand new set they can still sell for thousands, but even those cards are unusual compared to prices for most of the set.

(The above 1998 Japanese CoroCoro Comic Promo Holo Illuistrator Pikachu CGC 9 was sold by Goldin for $2,806,271 on 19th September).

What it does show is that Pokemon, and other rare TCG cards, are increasingly resembling established markets for fine art, rare comics, and elite sports memorabilia, where provenance, condition, and extreme scarcity can attract wealthy collectors prepared to spend millions. Unfortunately there is also the flip side which has also seen criminals looking at the TCG market due to the prices involved, alongside the easy and numerous routes to liquidate the cards to cash.

According to Kent Police, 26-year-old Jack Young-Larter supplied cocaine and cannabis in Maidstone, accepting payment through cash, bank transfers - and Pokemon cards.

More troubling, police said Young-Larter asked drug users to settle their debts by stealing collectible Pokemon cards.

Officers searched his Maidstone home on 1st May 2026 and recovered more than 25 grams of cocaine, almost 110 grams of cannabis, weighing scales, deal bags, apporximately £2,000 in cash and a box of rare cards considered to be of a significant value.

Evidence recovered from two mobile phones included messages advertising drugs, footage of Young-Larter leaving packages for customers to collect and references to payments being made with Pokemon cards.

Young-Larter pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and cannabis and possessing criminal property. On 17th September, Maidstone Crown Court sentenced him to three years and four months in Prison, with Kent Police publishing details of the case the following day.

Investigating office, Detective Constable Emily Hill, said:

Young-Larter is rightly serving time behind bars for selfishly taking advantage of vulnerable members of the Maidstone community for his own financial gain.

He attempted to mitigate his crime at court, claiming family commitments should be taken into account. The judge refused to accept this as reasonable argument and point blankly expressed that family must be so disapponted in him.

Trading Pokemon cards is a fun activity for all ages, but substances are dangerous; they destroy communities, and - in the worst cases - leave friends and families bereft.

So when it comes to those dealing drugs on kent’s streets, our officers are on a mission to catch them all.

More than another unusual payment method

In this instance Pokemon cards were apparently being used as a form of payment within an established drug-dealing operation. Customers were allegedly instrusted to obtain them through theft, after which the dealer accepted them against money owed.

Kent Police have not identified the retails from which the cards stolen, or disclosed their estimated value. It would therefore be prematire top connect the recovered collection to any particlar shop burglary from the growing tally of British retailers being targeted for trading cards.

Valuable cards are small, light and concealable. They can be carried without attracting the attention generated by jewelry or quantities of case, while the busy international collector market provides numerous possible routes to sell them and turn them into cash. Ungraded cards may be difficulty to identify the owners of, while sealed products can be separated and sold through online marketplaces, conventions, priovate groups, or legitimate looking collectable businesses.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that the wider trading card market is routinely being use to launder crimonal proceeds, and there certainly isn’t enough evidence to make that claim, but what the Maidstone case does demonstrate is that criminals recognise cads as transferable assets.

A wave of attacks on British retailers

Young-Larter’s conviction follows a spate of burglaries and thefts targeting Pokemon stock at British game and collectable shops.

One of the best documented cases involved brothers Keith and Shane Johnson. In April the pair broke into Celestial Collectables in Warrington and stole around £62,000 in Pokemon cards, packs and booster boxes. More than £3,000 of additional damage was caused during the four-minute raid.

Six days later they targeted The Graded Gallery in Rugby, stealing further stock and causing losses reportedly exceeding £9,000. Investigators used CCTV and vehicle movements to trace the men, and card were recovered during the subsequent searches. Both men admitted two counts of burglary with intent to steal with Keith Johnson receiving a 29-month prison sentence, while his brother was sentenced to 45 months and four weeks.

Other British stores have reported raids in which intruders appeared to known precisely which cabinets, products, or individual cardsa to target. A February investigation estimated more than £200,000 of Pokemon cards had been stolen from UK storesduring a period of just two months. In another case this year police recovered rare cards valued in the mid-four figures after a theft from an Aberdeen city-centre shop and charged a 34-year-old man.

Two people working together, repeat offending, or the use of cloned number plates are no evidence of organised crime but, collectively, do show an increasingly informed form of retail crime, with offenders identifying specialist stores with specific highly sought after or resaleable stock being targeted.

An international criminal commodity

Unfortunately the problem isn’t only confined to Britain. Far from it in fact.

In January 2026. three masked robbers reportedly entered a New York Pokemon shop during a public event, threatened those inside, and escaped with more than $100,000 in rare cards. In July 2025, a burglar stole cards valued at $113,650 from a Massachusette store, with the thief apparently knowing which unporiced cards to select, although the certification numbers attached to professionally graded cards did give the owners a potential means of tracing them.

In Australia, Victoria Police investigations linked four men accused of stealing around A$50,000 in Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering, Disney: Lorcana and sports cards to an alleged organised-crime syndicate. The same investigation also involved commercial burglaries, stolen vehciles, firearms, drugs, and the theft of cryptocurrency ATMs.

Japan has also seen established criminal organisations enter the market. In 2024, Tokyo police arrested an executive of the Takinogawa gang, part of the Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza syndicate, over the alleged theft of goods that included 25 Pokemon cards. Japan had already experienced several major card shop thefts, including 10,000 cards stolen in Yamanashi Prefecture and stock worth 6.5 million yen taken from a newly opened shop in Kumamoto.

Officers on a mssion to catch them all

The pattern of targeted store robberies for TCGs seems to be, worringly, only growing. So far this year there has been roughly 12-15 UK stores, and about 100+ worldwide stores, that have reported robberies of Pokemon and other collectible card games in 2026 so far.

So, in the words of Kent Police Detective Constable Emily Hill…

our officers are on a mission to catch them all.

Every week in Crowdfund Quest Weekly we list a whole bunch of new tabletop gaming and miniature campaigns that have launched over the last seven days, providing links to their campaign pages.

Whilst we sadly can’t include every launch – there are hundreds each week – we’ll do our best to try and find campaigns that will hopefully interest you!

ROLEPLAYING GAMES

Audiobook of Mysteries of the Ancients – AUDIORPG by AudioRPG “Mysteries of the Ancients is a complete campaign for Traveller and in turn forms the first part of an even larger campaign! Prepare to unravel secrets of the mysterious being known as Yaskoydray, or Grandfather, and his descendants.”

Backdoor Buisnesses – 20 dubious places for Dnd 5e (D&D) by Secrets of Alexandria “20 complex businesses with dubious background activity for Dungeons and Dragons 5e ,3d printable STL miniatures, VTT tokens, maps, NPCs”

Blood Mage: A Complete Class for D&D 5.5e by Lukas Friis “The Blood Mage class is an occult spellcaster empowered by sacrifice, providing an exciting risk-reward playstyle.”

Budapest 1899 – An occult mystery TTRPG by Dragonmount Press “Budapest, 1899. One of the most technologically and architecturally advanced & culturally upcoming cities at the turn of the century… Yet something sinister lurks beneath the façade of bohemian nightlife, artist cafes and politics rules by the monarchy. It’s up to you and your group of investigators brought together by the Institute to find out what’s behind a series of mysterious & inexplicable events.”

Darkness Protocol by Kobayashi “OSR meets Modern Survival Horror”

Dead Net – A Solo Tabletop RPG for High-Tech Low-Lifes by A Couple of Drakes “Dive the Dead Net, snag the paydata, survive the churn.”

Dieborne – Ritual Compendium by Nerdura Games “Forbidden rituals for Dieborne. Some assembly required. Possibly sacrifice.”

Echoes of the Vanquished Empire – Dark Fantasy Module by DeAngelo Murillo “An ancient realm returns, trapping you and your group within its lands warped by eldritch forces.”

Everdoom by Tremor Pings “A shared-authority narrative game for four players who discover the destiny of a legendary hero by telling their fable together.”

Fairy Tales End Here: Fey Hunters & Horrors for D&D 5e/5.5e by MCUP Publishing “Hunt the Fey with dark subclasses, backgrounds, feats & ancient lore...or unleash a bestiary of horrors that even the Fey fear.”

Fetch My Blade: A Solo Journaling Roleplaying Game by Hit Point Press “You are the dog of a retired legendary master, tasked to retrieve your master’s blade in time for their final duel. For 1-4 Players.”

GRIDSHOCK Zero Edition by Paul Vermeren / VX2 “You are a new breed of heroes, fighting to restore hope to a warped world in the grip of villainy. A new, standalone tabletop roleplaying game of superpowered resistance on the run, powered by the Year Zero Engine.”

Henshin Hero, Forever! A Toku Roleplaying Game by Notepad Anon “Super Power Rider Sentai Ranger Roleplaying Game - Budget Not Included”

Heroes of a Thousand Tales by Adventure_Horizon “This isn’t just a TTRPG with an anime skin. Every rule is designed to make you play, feel, and fight like you’re the hero of your own anime series.”

Hope Dies Last by Infinite Citadel & Mike Underwood “A triptych of Daggerheart-compatible frames where defiant heroes fight against overwhelming odds. Heroic Fantasy, Cyberpunk, and Space Opera frames bring whole new worlds, enemies, and mechanics to your Daggerheart campaigns!”

Ivory Tower: World’s End Edition by RiftKid Games “Save your flying city, witness the end of the world, and rule the remaining rubble in this TTRPG about a scheming council of archmages.”

Mega Bosses by Jimbo “8 WoW-like Raid Bosses for 5e and beyond”

Murder of Crows by Michael Endo Weil “This murder of crows has never seen a murder so fowl. Ask questions, shove your beak where it doesn’t belong, find the killer.”

Myco//Drift by Crimson Adder “Myco//Drift is a biopunk tabletop RPG where players take on the role of genetically altered pilots bonded to skyscraper-sized fungal bio-mechs known as Myco Suits. Once child soldiers in a war, humanity barely survived: you now wander the glowing fungal wastes.”

Nesloke TTRPG by Kevin “An original fantasy RPG. One die, 12 archetypes, collaborative combat. A world built from the ground up, now at your table.”

Pirates Compendium Vol. 1 – D&D 5e & 5.5e by ChronicleMaker “2 subclasses, 3 feats, 10 spells and 1 legendary boss inspired by sea legends compatible with D&D 5e & 5.5e.”

Populated Hexes Monthly Issue 60 by Todd “The Brass City of Pesh and the Kingdom of the Frost Giants”

Séance at Satterthwaite: Haunted Zine Adventure for WHPA-13 by Greg Setliff / Bug Professor “A Halloween TTRPG adventure for the Weird Heroes of Public Access Role-Playing Game”

ShadowSun Campaign Setting by Chubby Funster “The kind of world that mainstream TTRPGs are too afraid to publish anymore”

Shifting Tides by FASA Corporation “Three new books for our 1879 role playing game.”

Slime Crime! – Quest for Shadowdark RPG by Fireball Studios “A fishing village has reported strange lights at the ruins upstream. They believe it's affecting the wildlife.”

Sneaky Book of Monsters – D&D, Pathfinder, and Savage Worlds by Sneak Attack Press “Over 100 monsters for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and Savage Worlds. Including drakes, hags, golems, goblins, haunted carriages, sapient polyhedrons from another dimension, and so much more.”

Tales & Twists – A collection of Campaign Frames by Jack of all Tracks “A collection of Daggerheart compatible campaign frames with fresh mechanics! Dive into a menagerie of brand new worlds, filled with whimsy, adventure and horror with new rules for resistance, dungeon crawling, and the tug of war between resilience and corruption.”

Tempora: a time-travel TTRPG by Tempora RPG “Tempora is a tabletop RPG of time travel where you rewrite the past, reshape the future, and risk everything to make history unfold your way.”

Temporal Tides: A Mothership RPG Adventure Zine by Terry Herc “A 44-page Mothership 1E salvage-station sandbox of temporal anomalies, stolen cargo, labor unrest, and kill bots.”

The Cradle of Skulls in OSRIC for OSR Classic Fantasy RPG by Advanced Fantasy Games “46 Page Soft Cover Module + Trifold Cover + PDF + 8 PCs + Classic Blue Maps + Tournament Scoring System, OSRIC, 1E AD&D, OGL/OSR RPGs”

The Dead Spaghetti Trilogy: a Frontier Scum adventure by Punk Overlord Games “An epic 3-part RPG campaign for Frontier Scum, where your wanted outlaws will race to save the Lost Frontier from a most hellish fate!”

The Forgotten God: A 5e Campaign by Rose (r-n-w) “A cosy, chaotic 5e sandbox adventure - uncover buried secrets, awaken a slumbering god & rally your friends to defeat the colonisers!”

The Long Watch by StudioSquidink “The Long Watch is an uncanny solo RPG that sees players joining a mysterious and underfunded organisation. They’ll tend their own transdimensional lighthouses – known as Beacons, assist strange beings, defend against threats, and investigate the weirdnesses that unfold.”

The Man Who Died Tomorrow for D&D 5e by Hidden Hoard “A mystery one-shot adventure fully compatible with D&D 5e, built and tested for 4-5 players at 6th-level.”

The Rapid Encounter System – Prep Epic Sessions in 1-2 Hours by Dungeon Influence “2,000+ encounters across 100+ wilderness locations. A repeatable prep system for busy Game Masters. [5E]”

The Sundering Shroud: D&D 5E Steampunk Campaign by Gearwheel Grimoires “A 119-page D&D 5E campaign from level 1 to 10, blending steampunk fantasy, eclipses, clockwork enemies, and divine horror.”

Thomas Jefferson’s Speedway Hell: Dangerous Playtest Edition by Greg Stolze “It's a tabletop RPG where sinners race through Hell to win brief moments of peace. It's handled with tremendous silliness.”

Tsukikage – A Japanese Mythology-Inspired D&D 5e Class by Matthew Rosta “A complete 5e-compatible class for Osmoria, wielding lunar phases and three moon-shadow paths of blade, judgment, and protection.”

Twin Soul Tower: The Soul That Left, 5e level 3-8 by Anthony David “One soul had gone missing. The tower is pretending not to panic...”

Wild Hearth: Cooking Monsters & Building Towns in D&D by Pointy Hat “Hunt, harvest, forage, and COOK EVERYTHING with this incredible supplement for 5E and 5.5E.”

Winter’s Bones: An RPG for Doomed Mice by We Be Dangerous Publishing “Become mice. Tiny, fragile creatures battling for survival against the horrors born of the Deep Still. Monsters lurk beneath the frost. Do you have what it takes to evade their clutches?”

Witches of Winter by Violet Blitz “A modern fantasy TTRPG about witchcraft, community, and climate collapse.”

Wyrdspell: A TTRPG for Witches by Josh Melamed “A game of collaborative worldbuilding and fantasy adventure, grounded in folklore, where magic is personalized and powered by roleplay.”

Zenith’s Outer Reach: Sci-Fi Anthro Roleplaying & Tabletop by ZOR Publishing “Explore the galaxy with an all-new sci-fi setting for DND & Starfinder, miniatures for One Page Rules, plushies, and more!!”

BOARD/CARD GAMES

50 to 1: A game of survival (solo) PnP by John H. Kohn “As your army of 50 warriors explore different challenges, can your warrior token be one of the few (if any) surviving at the end?”

Alimentarya: Mix by Hugo Humberto Arroyo Montenegro “A fast and colorful family-friendly cooking card game for 2–8 players. Easy to learn, quick to play, and fun with family and friends.”

Arcologies by Alban Viard, artwork by Adrien Rives by Alban Viard “Build a 3D Arcology. Feed the Population. Obey the Ministry. Pass the inspections. Happiness is mandatory—and measured in milligrams!”

Ascendance: Build your unique pyramid of medieval society! By G’day Games “Draft cards into your pyramid as you go from the life of peasants to the grandeur of the mighty in this unique, aussie 2-6 player game”

Baba Is You: The Board Game & Party House: Deckbuilding Game by Nick Murray of Bitewing Games “Two sensational award-winning video games — Baba is You and Party House (UFO 50) — leap off the screen and onto your table!”

Bake or Break!? A Fast Chaotic Cooperate Game by Café Storybook “Work together, stay in sync, and keep the orders moving before the cafe turns into chaos.”

BLOOOOOOM by Corne van Moorsel/Cwali “Focus and variate in your path to collect the best flowers.”

Boardquest: Blight of Undead by Ramezware “Boardquest is back with its first expansion – Blight of Undead – and a reprint of the original Tales of Liria.”

Bratva: a Russian Mafia Strategy Game by NukaZombee “BRATVA is a 1–3 player crime strategy game set in the post-Soviet 1990s. Build your gang, take control, and outsmart rivals and police.”

Cacahead Card Game. Don’t Be Last. Don’t Be the Cacahead by Todd Foxx “Race to get rid of your cards, burn the pile and survive the blind endgame. Every box includes wooden dice and positive-message Jokers.”

Caravanserai by Everland Studio “Wealth is at your fingertips. Trade with the caravans of the Silk Road in this 2-4 player resource management family board game.”

Chocolate Factory Remastered by Caezar and Kuly from Alley Cat Games “A remastered edition of the classic board game Chocolate Factory, featuring a collector's edition & two brand new expansions!”

Cosmic Command by Alex “A tactical 2 player card game where rival space crews battle across shifting sectors to outplay, outscore, and survive.”

DAVOS by MartyGames “Welcome to the forum, and to this meeting in particular. It is an honor to sit here with those who represent the big capital in the world through your megalomaniacal investment firms. Tonight, we’ll be playing out our activities for the coming years.”

Dead Trail by Marco Salogni “A Print & Play zombie survival game where every step could be your last.”

Defenders of the Dictionary by Adam Rehberg “Reimagine a classic word-building board game! "Word together" to complete missions and unpuzzle the master villain.”

Dice Commandos: Infestation by Gabe-Barrett “The sequel to Dice Commandos, Infestation is a tactical dice puzzle game where you control a team of elite commandos facing an evolving alien threat.”

Discopoly by Steven Dodge “A disc golf board game. Money is a means to an end. Become World Champion and win!”

Dragon Slayer – A Print & Play Hex-Crawl Adventure Game by Round One Studio “Explore the Wilds. Hunt Monsters. Grow Stronger. Slay the Dragon.”

EXNONE: ORIGIN by Wlktor Przybyla “A competitive sci-fi extraction board game of exploration, risk, escape, and survival for 2–4 players.”

FIRST DOWN: Tactical Football Board Game by Andre Beucler “A tactical football board game. Call the play, outsmart your opponent.”

Gods’ Will: Your chance to become an Olympian God! by George Manois “A deeply themed social deduction game where arguments, logic, and deception collide until the final vote...”

Guacamask! by SmackDeck Studios “A fun and fast guacamole beatdown brought to your table as a card game!”

Heroes of Havokk by WeirdDadGames “Heroes of Havokk is a tabletop card game for 1-8 players that distills thecustomisation of a tabletop RPG into a high-stakes, hero-centric deck-building system. Multiple formats offer a range of experiencesm from quick competitive duels to immersive, narrative-driven campaign adventures.”

Hex Moon: The Board Game by Devon Thurgood “A last-man-standing board game for 3-5 players featuring vampires, fairies, angels, knights, and witches!”

Kart by Patrick Leder “Crash through the neighborhood with Kart, a new tabletop racing game for 2-4 players!”

Lionwake by Nuwa “Strike the ritual drum, impel your Lion guardians, lend your Qi strength, and face the Nian beast from Asian myth”

LongeviTrumps: the card game for biohackers by Kush Patel “30 evidence-scored longevity habits, from sleep to cold plunges. Play a stat, win the card, and argue about what actually works.”

Matter of Nuts by MatterOfNuts “The only card game where grabbing someone else's nuts is encouraged.”

Millennials The Game by Entitled Games “A card game of strategy, luck and bluffing, packed with the slang, stereotypes and chaos of millennial life.”

Mobamon: MOBA Monster Taming Board Game by Sean Lee “Capture, evolve, and dominate the arena. Competitive 1-6 player monster battler in a MOBA arena”

My Five Year Almanac – A Solo Print & Play Farming Game by Michael Shane Mecham ”A cozy farming game played across five years where you create a personal Almanac recording what happens along the way.”

Naruto Shippuden Battle by This is a GAME & Don’t Panic Games “The first official NARUTO SHIPPUDEN miniatures arena board game. Build your team, unleash devastating jutsu combos, and battle for victory in fast-paced 30-minute fights.”

No Offence by No Offence Ltd “Rank Your Friends”

Oceanic: A Cozy, Crunchy Deep Sea Strategy Game by Jason Link “🪸 Build biomes. Play species. Keep the ocean in balance. Ready for 2-5 ocean explorers to dive in”

Oink Oink Woof: A Game of Utter Nonsense by Antsie Games “WARNING: Please ensure all monkeys, pigs, ducks, and grandparents are securely fastened before playing.”

One Way Ticket Board Game by Judyta “A board game that simulates the ‘simplified’ experience of long haul to safety within the main migration routes in the world”

Onryo: First Seal by Lemery Games “A cooperative 1-5 player strategy game where Ninjas use their skills to seal a vengeful spirit.”

Perennial by FLATOUT GAMES “A puzzly build-your-own polyomino tile-laying game of prairie gardening from the team that brought you Calico, Cascadia, and Verdant!”

Pirates Behaving Badly - The Card Game by Taylor Hayward – Green Meadow Games “A cutthroat quick game of plunder, betrayal & poor life choices for 2–5. Guard your Captain while stealing cargo for the win.”

Pirates Board Game: Embark on the adventure! by Pirates “Pirates is an easy and fun board game where you will sail the seas, search for treasures, board enemy ships, and experience life at sea”

Plushie Panic! – Cute Cards. Total Chaos. by REQ Games“A fast, funny family card game packed with clever choices, surprise twists, and just enough mischief to keep everyone guessing.”

Primacy by Spielcraft Games “Medium-heavy strategy combining area control, tactical action management, engine building, and zero-luck simultaneous combat.”

Quest-O-Graphs Vol 2: Trouble at the Tower!By T. Charles Howser “The sophomore installment of Old Schrader Creek's PENCIL BOARD GAMES puzzle books, now zine-sized (4x6"). All you need is a pencil!”

Quiet Quitting by Arlington Game Studios “The card game about doing just enough.”

RACER Escape Rooms – September! By Andrew Prowse (Rogue Artist Creations) “A puzzle adventure escape room based on the BAYEUX TAPESTRY, currently on view at the British Museum in London!”

Roham: The Trading Card Game – Shadows Unsealed by Fernando R “A fantasy creature-battling TCG where players become Summoners and command the powers of six magical regions.”

Small Game Trilogy by Kaloss Games “A chance to get your hands on our three small games: Betty Two Bricks, The Fable of Mabel on the Witch's Table and our latest game, Nessie Hunt.”

Speedway Heat: A Print-and-Play Stock Car Racing Game by Odd Dice Studio “Shift gears, attack the corners, and manage tire wear in a fast dice-driven race for the checkered flag.”

Steam and Cheese by Skellig Games “Steampunk Mice making Cheese! Mice become the dominant species with a great appetite for quality cheese! An appetite so great, in fact, they started importing spices from the Far East by zeppelin and built huge machines to produce it and refine their craft. In Steam & Cheese you are one of these mice, with an ambition to produce the finest quality cheese!”

Sub-Zero by Dawn Town Games “You are a faction of Arctic animals taking over territories and stockpiling food to survive the winter. Fight the cold, avoid humans, and escape the polar bears!”

TeakTouch: The Material Revolution in Mahjong by Xuanying Li “When we say 'never plastic again,' we mean the cheap, plasticky feel — not the material. TeakTouch is something new entirely”

Tend: Hive & Cellar Expansions by IV Studio “Two new expansions for the highly-acclaimed & strategic cozy farming game.”

The Stone of Madness – Dicefall by Undigital “Take on the role of one of five prisoners, each haunted by fear and madness, and work together to outwit the Inquisition, survive your own phobias, and uncover the dark secrets hidden within the walls. Inspired by the acclaimed video game, The Stone of Madness – Dicefall brings the tension, the suspense, and the psychological challenge straight to your tabletop.”

The Unheist of Hearthburn House: Mansion Decorating Madness by Zero Strategy Games “In this chaotic board game, you serve a dragon who has been asleep for many years. During its slumber, you "borrowed" it's valuables to decorate your home. Now the dragon is waking up, and you must return its treasures before it's too late!”

Too Much Loot by Verne Adventures “A party card game for people who like adorable heroes and shiny gold!”

Track the Trickster by Beau Gilbert “The bottomless box of treasure hunts for kids ages 3+”

Tres Tesoros by Dreamkeepers Games “Collect Gems. Outsmart Rivals. Every Roll Opens New Possibilities.”

Vault Zero by Horse Thief Games “Build your machine! Hack into Vault Zero! Spill its secrets to incite rebellion!”

YOKAI: Cats Between Two Worlds by Will Harper “A strategic fantasy board game where mystical cats cross between the Human World and Spirit World.”

Yokozuna – Sumo tabletop action! by Metamorph Games “Yokozuna is a card-driven duel game that brings the adrenaline and tradition of a thousand year old sport to your table!”

WARGAMES

Ace of Aces: Handy Rotary & Flying Machines Deluxe Editions by Mr B Games “Ace of Aces returns for the next two Deluxe reprint installments, Book 2, Handy Rotary, and Book 3, Flying Machines!”

Afrika Korps 41 by Crisanto Lorente Gonzalez “A tactical historical wargame of the North African campaign. Featuring 3 difficulty levels, logistics, and a dedicated Solo AI System.”

Austerlitz, 1805 – Un Coup de Tonnerre by Les 3 Zouaves “Soldiers, the hour draws near. As at Austerlitz, everything will hinge on a flash of decision, a precise maneuver, a moment seized. This new game is forged in the spirit of the great Napoleonic campaigns. Join the campaign and secure the heights before the enemy!”

Dinoniche: The Accurate Dinosaur Minis Games by Joseph Ritzer “Paintable models - Scientifically Accurate Gameplay - Ecosystem Simulation - Unique Species Abilities”

Midway 1022: A solitaire Carrier battle game by Solo Wargame “Command American carrier forces at the Battle of Midway in a solo PNP game of dice drafting, and carefully timed a air strikes.”

The Warcode by RedMakers “The Warcode is a 2-player sci-fi wargame with a lean ruleset and deep tactics. 4 asymmetric factions, 32 unique miniatures, and 6 randomized map layouts mean the battlefield never plays the same twice.”

Wyldwood by Tabletop Titans “Stone age fantasy with display scale miniatures, fast and competitive skirmish games with card decks”

MINIATURES, STLs, PAINTING, etc

2000 Sci-Fi STL – Build Your Own Universe by Michael “2000 unique 3D printable STL files packed with characters, aliens, mechs, vehicles, spaceships, buildings, terrain, weapons, and props”

Blades & Ashes – Mercenaries by Jandro “32mm grimdark fantasy STL miniatures”

Capybara Sluice Wars: Battle for the Golden Watermelon STL by MiniForge Studio “200 STL designs across 12 rival clans. Print your army and battle for glory! Deluxe adds PDF cards, a map and game rules.”

Circus Macabre by Furry Forge “Pre-Supported High Quality 3D Printable Figures 70mm (STL Files).”

Exploring Cosmic Horror – Tentacles of Arkham by Ismael Prieto “Eldritch Collection STL Miniatures of Tentacles, Manifestations & Supernatural events. Cthulhu Mythos Adventures for RPG games”

Frostborn Tribes 1 by Fronthero “Heroes of the Frozen North”

Hollywood Havoc 3 – 28mm Survivor Miniatures by Hayland Terrain “A New range of 40+ 28mm Resin Survivor Miniatures”

Industrial Part 2 – STL 28 32 75mm by Polywizard

Lunar Knights by Chris Smith “STLs for an 8mm Faction of 3D Printable Miniatures”

Modular Trench Mosque 28mm STL by Symbiot Forge

Near Modern Australia (1/100 Scale) by Jason Miller “3d stl files for Modern Australia”

ODYSSEY Voyage of Legendsby 3D IPStudios “Epic Greek Mythology STL Miniatures for 3D Printing”

Pirate World – The Epic STL Collection by Epic Dragons “200+ Epic STL Models of Ships, Pirates, Towns, Taverns, Forts, Treasures & Mysterious Islands”

Rustland’s Wolves – 32mm STL Files by Underground Minis “Grimdark cyberpunk bikers miniatures for 3d printing.”

Space Dwarves by Macrocosm “28mm Sci-Fi Space Dwarves cast in a white metal alloy.”

The Sunken Star: Deep Sea Horrors of Fathom Point by Kongclave Miniatures “A full proxy warband and matching terrain system for grimdark trench-warfare tabletop games”

The Water World 2 by 3D_FORTRESS_

Vermin of the Undercity by Wasteland Forge “3D Printable Miniatures for RPG & Tabletop Wargames”

Whispering Hollow STL / 3D Print by 3D asset library

Whispers from the Grave Miniatures – STL Files for 3D by Echo Art Studios LLC “Enter a haunted graveyard of skeletons, wraiths, banshees and cursed souls in a dark fantasy STL collection for miniature collectors.”

DICE & OTHER PROJECTS OF INTEREST

BG Solutions – Mars & Jupiter Modular Gaming Tables by BG Solutions “Premium Italian-made gaming tables with hidden storage beneath removable top panels, and modular extensions – where design meets game night.”

DisplayBox World – 3D Printable Miniature Showcases by Jurij Karabutov “Themed display cases with swappable 3D-printed backgrounds. 5 sculpted boxes, 35 scenes, LED-ready — every background fits every box.”

Dragonforge Dice – Choose Your Dragon Clan by Dragonforce Dice “Four dragon-inspired colorways, intricate engravings on every face, and a complete 7-piece polyhedral set made for your next adventure.”

Duskwheel Fate Dice: Dawnsworn, Voidstep & Emberword by Doloir “One shattered wheel. Three factions. Three complete sets of seven gemstone dice - every emblem carved by hand into natural gemstone, every roll a whisper of fate. Light, shadow, or fire: which one answers you?”

Help Build the Pack Rat Guild Hall: Gather, Play, Belong by Pack Rat Guild “We got the space! Help us transform it into a family-friendly arcade, game hall, food spot, and community gathering place in Warrenton, Missouri.”

Infinite Dice Towers and Cups Vol.14 by 3DVision “3D Printable Dice Towers & Dice Cups - and their Terrain Versions”

Printed Storage Boxes For Trading Cards Games Collection! by Polandgames “Trading card storage solution designed with popular games in mind! Up to 1400 cards in one box!”

Realms of Doom: 3D Printable Dice Towers STL by Leo Ye “Realms of Doom: 3D Printable Dice Towers 5 epic dark-fantasy towers for TTRPGs 3D Printable STLs. First 30 backers get 2 FREE bonus dice box STLs”

Sci-fi Desert Dice Tower by New Leaf 3D “3D Printable Pieces for Wargames, Tabletop RPGs & Boardgames, Fantasy, Tabletop Accessories, Gaming Gear, TTRPG, D&D, Dice Rolling”

Sleeve Kings Season 6 – 74 Sleeve Options including CCG/LCG! by Imperial Publishing Inc. “Our MSRP went up. Our Season 6 prices didn't. This may be your last chance to stock up at these campaign prices! CCG/LCG Sleeves too!”

Starmonk X-tend Table by Starmonk “From dinner to game night: an expandable solid-wood table with a recessed play area, magnetic rails, and 10 modular holders.”

The 2027 Gaming Calendar by Scott King “A build-your-own calendar with hundreds of photos to choose from!”

The Frazetta Dice Collection by Misty Mountain Gaming “These one-of-a-kind dice sets were designed to highlight some of Frank Frazetta's popular art pieces.”

Today’s Alignment Pin by Mick McArt “Nine Ways to Explain Your Bad Decisions.”

UK Games Expo announced the appointment on 15th September, describing it as part of it’s long-term plans for the fture of the show rather than an immediate change of leadership.

Cooke will work alongside UKGE founders Richard Denning and Tony Hyams over the next few events, gradually taking on greater responsibility for the planning and delivery of the convention. Denning and Hyams will remain closely involved during the transition.

The appointment comes only weeks after the announcement that AireCon will end in 2027.

Cooke founded AireCon with a group of friends in 2015, with the first gathering taking place in his flat and attracting just 28 people. The convention subsequently moved to Harrogate and grew into one of the largest tabletop gaming events in the UK, attracting around 5,000 attendees in 2026.

Its final convention, dubbed AIREMAGEDDON, will take place at the Harrogate Convetnion centre from 11th-14th March 2027. AireCon’s other events are also being wound down, with ACWest holding its final gathering this autumn.

Cooke will comntinue working on AireCon through its finale before transitioning to UK Games Expo full-time.

“My aim is to build on the fantastic foundations already in place while helping UKGE continue to grow and thrive for many years to come.” Cooke said in the announcement.

Richard Denning said that as UK Games Expo has expanded, its organising team has grown alongside it, adding event managers, administrators, and logistics support. He described bringing Cooke on board as the next stage in ensuring the convention can continue well into the future.

The longer term running of UK Games Expo has almost certainly played a part in Mark’s appointment, with Patrick Campbell, one of the founders of the show, passing away in February 2026. With Mark’s personal experience of growing a convention from a couple of dozen to over 5,000 attendees and running multiple events each year he is a fantastic appointment, not only to add to the existing team but for the longer term future of the show as an experienced event organiser and a ‘safe pair of hands’ for whenever Richard and Tony eventually step away from the show themselves.

UK Games Expo returns to Birmingham’s NEC and Hilton Hotel from 4th to 6th June 2027, when the convention will once again occupy five NEC halls.

Jackson is not retiring, nor leaving the company he founded back in 1980, as he will be remaining President of Steve Jackson Games. Jackson has said that the new structure will allow him to spend moe time on design and development rather than executive management.

Sabrina Gonzalez takes over as CEO

Sabrina Gonzalez has worked with Steve Jackson Games since 2013, beginning as a production artist before moving through increasingly senior production roles.

Her early work included Munchkin reprints, advertising material and the visual design for the company’s Munchkin Tavern presence at Gen Con. She later became Production Manager and has servbed on the Steve Jackson Games board since 2021.

Gonzalez also spent a period working outside SJG in game manufacturing, giving her experience of the production side of the industry.

She says her priority will be balancing new games capable of bringing younger players into the company’s audience, along with continued support for SJG’s extensive catalogue.

“The goal is always to make great games that people love,” she said in the announcement.

The company has products such as Ogre and Car Wars whose histories stretch back almost half a century, with GURPS remaining one of the industry’s most recognisable and longer lasting roleplaying systems, and of course Munchkin has been a major part of SJG’s businesses for more than two decades,

A new GURPS4th Edition Revisedrulebook was recently crowdfunded alongside a new supplement called Ring of Fire, based on a novel series by Eric Flint, whilst a new edition of the Munchkin Roleplaying Game was announced in partnership with Lynnvander Studios only last week. The ambitious Seven-Part Pact TTRPG, from imprint Possum Creek Games also raise over $1,000,000 on Kickstarter this summer.

Allison Page becomes COO

Gonzalez will be joined in a senior management by Allison Page, who has been promoted from Managing Editor to Chief Operating Officer. Page joined Steve Jackson Games in 2023.

Before entering the company she worked in narrative design, theatre and comedy, including serving as Executive Artistic Director of San Francisco comedy organisation Killing My Lobster.

Her new job places her closer to he practical running of the company, oevrseeing the processes that take projects from idea through development and into production. Page has described herself as a problem solver and says part of the role will involve making sure staff have clear expectations and the resources needed to keep projects moving.

The pairing certainly gives Steve Jackson Games something of a new leadership generation without breaking continuity with the existing company.

Jackson had only recently returned to the CEO chair

Steve Jackson hasn’t always been the company’s CEO throughout its history. He first stepped down in 2014, when Phil Reed became CEO. Meredith Placko took the position in 2023 but left in April 2025, with Jackson temporarily taking direct control again, with department heads reporting to him while the company worked out its next leadership structure.

Now, 17 months later, with the appointment of Gonzalez, Steve can take a step back from the day to day running of things and concentrate on designing again.

Nearly half a century in games…

Steve Jackson’s first published game was Ogre in 1977.

Created for Metagaming Concepts, the small format science-fiction wargame pitted conventional military forces against a gigantic cybernetic tank and became one of the landmark titles of the early microgame boom.

Jackson followed it with Melee and Wizard, which developed into The Fantasy Trip roleplaying system, which returned with a new edition after a successful 2018 Kickstarter.

After leaving Metagaming, following disagreements over the development if the line, Jackson founded Steve Jackson Games in 1980, with success quickly following.

Car Wars appeared in 1981, combining armed vehicles, post-apocalyptic highways, and tactical combat into one of the defining games of the early 1980s. The fantastic Illuminati followed, transforming secret societies and global conspiracies into a brilliant and hilariously fun card game. Then, in 1986, came GURPS.

Steve Jackson had wanted a roleplaying system that was not tied to one particular genre or fictional world. Developed through the early 1980’s, and released in 1986, Generic Universal RolePlaying System - or GURPS as it is known - became a groundbreaking system and one of the more popular roleplaying games of the following decade.

GURPS greatest strength was not only its core rules, but the extraordinary range and quality of supplements that followed. GURPS books covered fantasy, science fiction, horror, superheroes, espionage, historical eras, technology, religion, alternative history and dozens of highly specific subjects. A number of licensed setting books came out, including GURPS Riverworld, GURPS Wild Cards, GURPS Lensman, GURPS Witch World, and GURPS Discworld. Even other TTRPGs got the GURPS treatment, with titles such as Vampire: The Masquerade, Traveller, Conspiracy X, Castle Falkenstein, and Deadlands among them.

One of my own very early credits appeared in a GURPS title, GURPS Cliffhanger, which I helped playtest was released in December 1989.

GURPS supplements were fantastic resources regardless of whether or not you actually played the game itself. Many of the books developed reputations as useful reference works and some of the highest quality of writing and content in TTRPGs of the time.

For a generation of RPG players, the phrase “theres probably a GURPS book for that”, become only half a joke.

Then Came Munchkin

The Munchkin Card Game appeared in 2001. The game took familiar dungeon-crawling RPG behaviour - kill monsters, steal treasures, gain levels, and sabotage your friends - and reduced it into an accessible card game built around John Kovalic’s artwork and an endless supply of RPG jokes.

Players begin at Level 1, kick down dungeon doors, fight increasingly ridiculous monsters and collect equally ridiculous treasure and equipment to make themselves more powerful. Defeat a monster and you generally gain levels and loot. Reach Level 10 and you win! The complication is that everyone else at the table can interfere, strenthening the monsters you fight, throwing curses at you, or offering you help at usually an extortionate price. Alliances therefore tend to last precisely as long as they remain advantageous. Steve Jackson Games own wonderfully concise description remains “Kill the monsters! Steal the treasure! Stab your buddy!”.

The game become a phenomenon. Steve Jackson Games has sold well over 12 million Munchkin games and its many supplements worldwide, and the range has grown vastly beyond the original fantasy parody. By 2021 an official collector’s cehcklist already stretched to scores of core games, expansions, and mini-expansions - and deliberately omitted 44 licensed properties because there were so many of them! Those licenses have included Marvel, Harry Potter, Rick and Morty, Batman, South Park, Scooby-Doo, Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, Pathfinder, Conan, Shadowrun and, more recently, Critical Role’s Vox Machina. Steve Jackson Games own home-grown offshoots have ranged from Star Munchkin and Munchkin Cthulhu to Munchkin Zombies, Super Munchkin, and Munchkin Apocalypse.

The game, at times, kept Steve Jackson Games alive with the game accounting for 30% of the companies turnover in 2003, growing to around 75% in 2008!

Jackson later created the lighter push-your-luck Zombie Dice and sanity crushing Cthulhu Dice games.

The Secret Service Raid

Of course Steve Jackson Games also gave us one of the weirdest episodesin tabletop gaming history.

On 1st March 1990 agents from the United States Secret Service raided the offices of Steve Jackson Games while investigating computer crimes linked to employee Loyd Blankenship, a hacker and author of the forthcoming GURPS Cyberpunk book.

Computers and other equipment were seized, including anything connected to the GURPS Cyberpunk book, with the Secret Service claiming the book was a “handbook for computer crime”. The manuscript was rewritten using older drafts when the material wasn’t returned, eventually being published later that year.

Steve Jackon Games went on to successfully sue the Secret Service for damages arising from the loss of revenue due to the removal of their computers, as well as invasion of piracy. The case was supported by the newly formed Electronic Frontier Foundation.

What’s next for Steve Jackson?

Steve Jackson Games is 46 this year, and its founder is 73.

Rather than announcing his retirement, Jackson has said he intends to focus on game design and development. Something he has been involved with for over half a century, with the 50th anniversary of his first published game (Ogre for those who may have skim read this article and missed it’s earlier mention) coming up next year.

Given the number of classics he has created over the decades it’ll certainly be interesting to see what comes next.

Regardless, Steve Jackson has played a major part in the industry, from its early days in the 70’s all the way through to today, and many of his designs are still enjoyed as much today as they were when they were first released. In fact, after writing this article I have a strong urge to get a copy of Illunimati off the shelf and back on to the gaming table. Thanks for all the fun Steve, and good luck with the next chapter!

Every week in Crowdfund Quest Weekly we list a whole bunch of new tabletop gaming and miniature campaigns that have launched over the last seven days, providing links to their campaign pages.

Whilst we sadly can’t include every launch – there are hundreds each week – we’ll do our best to try and find campaigns that will hopefully interest you!

ROLEPLAYING GAMES

20 Rival Adventuring Parties – 100 Evolving NPCs for D&D 5E by imageboardgame “100 evolving NPCs who level up, compete, ally, betray, and grow alongside your players.”

100 Open Doors: Ready-to-use Haven & Refuge Locations for 5e by Cryptic Quill Chronicles “Every door leads to opportunity, a safe place, a stranger's kindness, or adventure. A ready-to-use GM supplement for any TTRPG.”

Capes: Super Powered Heroes… In Capes by Keyboards Optional Games LLC “A new modern era tabletop role-playing game experience. Become a powerful hero fighting villains and protecting the innocent.”

Complete Town 10, The Final Piece of the DnD Realm: Ivedra by James Kay “Explore Ivedra: 14 cities, 13 provinces, and one epic D&D adventure in the final volume of Complete Town.”

Fantasy Heroes Unbound RPG – Unleashing Fifth Edition by Dyskami Publishing Company “Unshackle player creativity with near-limitless character options in this new core RPG, which redefines and brings a balanced, point-based framework to the Fifth Edition foundation.”

Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol. 2 by Beadle & Grimm’s Pandemonium Warehouse “All-new book of deadly one-shots based on the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Adventures show.”

From The Town Records of Shadow River Park – Solo Story Game by Shawn “You are a councilmember of a small town full of weirdness, personalities, and maybe Bigfoot.”

Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG 2^nd Edition by Storybrewers Roleplaying “Navigate the pitfalls of romance, reputation, manners, and marriage in the sumptuous new edition of this award-winning regency rpg.”

High Winds – A Sky Pirate TTRPG by Scale Bound Games “Fly through the skies, embracing a life of piracy, adventure, and exploration.”

In Search of Adventure by Third Kingdom Games “A collection of starter adventures for Old School Essentials and Bree-YARC”

Let Me Be Your Thrall: Aftertaste by Milkboy Games “A duo game about vampires in love”

Liquidation. An Alien Capture Mission for Mothership by Marco Serrano “An extraction mission through a recently abandoned and half-flooded stimpak laboratory complex.”

LoomWeaver – Prep, Run, and Remember Your Campaign by Jason Tromborg “Build your world, prepare sessions with The Loom, and run every encounter from one connected campaign studio.”

Magic Chronicle: Cities by Chamomile Has A Project “A solo TTRPG app and electronic GM screen, now with urbancrawling, shops, jukebox, and more.”

Monsters of Lost Civilisations by Break Glass Games “50 cryptids. 50 expeditions. 50 fragments of lost civilisations for your players to explore. Zero-Prep for D&D 5E”

Mr. Ringtail’s menagerie: A Level 1 DCC RPG Adventure by Citrine Hearts “Come one! Come all!! Welcome to Mr. Ringtail’s Menagerie!!! Explore a Level 1 DCC RPG adventure where you will discover the sinister, hidden secrets of this uniquely strange exhibition. Race to find the missing guests before you become missing too!”

Nobunaga;s Black Castle by Nicole Lindroos of Green Ronin “A Sengoku Doom Metal Fantasy TTRPG for MÖRK BORG, now in English!”

One Night One Monster by Phoenix Grey “Rules-light occult horror in a single session. One d12, characters in ten minutes, and a monster with no promise you'll survive.”

Origins of Craft & Trade – Backgrounds & Feats for 5e / 5.5 by Narrative Ninjas “Every adventurer has a past, and every story has a beginning. Make your character’s profession matter. Fully compatible with D&D!”

Reuel Havelock’s Cantrip Compendium: Master Edition by LKD Products “Expand everyday magic for D&D 5th and 5.5 Editions: Cantrips, Arcane Catalysts, Spell fusions and more!”

Sage Council by Kelly Whyte “A card-based roleplaying game of local politics and city councils.”

Sematary on Graveyard Hill & Mission to Devils Mountain by Mark Taormino “TWO SOFTCOVER + PDFS for 1E & 5E! You also get 60 PDFS with ANY $25+ Reward!”

Shadows Over Port Royal by Two Starving Gnolls “Port Royal, 1692—a system-agnostic Lovecraftian horror adventure of pirates, forbidden lore, and cosmic terror.”

SoloQ: Your to-do list just got a D20 by Jess Williams “Turn your real-life goals into a cyberpunk RPG campaign. No DM needed.”

Something in the Water: A Nautical Horror Campaign for D&D! by Adventure Ripples “A four-session DnD 5e campaign for levels 3–7, featuring nautical horror, survival, exploration, and piracy.”

Stories from the Dungeon Heart by SeaBreeze Games “The Ultimate Collection of Plug-and-Play 5e Dungeons!”

The Blood Secret by Mario Barbati “A Shadowdark adventure powered by Battlemaps Scenery!”

The Gate of the Blind Warden £1 TTRPG Maps by Benjamin Weisz “Get 4 handcrafted TTRPG maps for £1. A hidden lore puzzle awaits those who look closely... ”

The Grand Academy Collection: Arcane Universities For D&D 5E by Pars “The Complete D&D 5E and TTRPGs Toolkit Featuring 20 Complete Magic Schools, 200+ Pages of Content, Encounters & Campaign Content”

The Lighthouse at the End of Every World: 5E Dark Fantasy by Matthew David “Five worlds collide around one black lighthouse. Defend it for seven turns—and decide who receives dawn. A campaign for levels 9–12.”

The Menagerie Circuit – 15 Growing Pets for DnD 5E by Sumida “15 evolving pets and companions for DnD 5E, with bonding, training, combat rules and more.”

The Overlords of Steel by Pulp Hummock Press “From an empire’s ashes arise cruel warlords, savage hordes, and man-eating giants—all seeking the cosmic steel to become like gods—in this pulp sword & sorcery mega-adventure for Old-School Essentials.”

TrapCraft: Create your own traps & hazards for DnD 5E by Legendary Scribes “The complete trap and hazard toolkit for Game Masters. Build balanced traps in seconds, scale them to any party, and keep players guess”

Underworld: Sunless Depths for 5E D&D and TOV by Kobold Press “Expand your world with new drow, duergar, aboleth—plus 6 new subclasses, 42 new monsters, drop-in caverns, a full campaign, and more.”

BOARD/CARD GAMES

A Question of Dragons – A Cold Case Mystery set in 999AD by Red Herring Games “Cosykiller's New Case File Mystery Game designed for serious sleuths and lovers of ciphers and codes. Based on facts, fictional story.”

AetherFall – The War of the Elements by RanghosGames “An ancient prophecy has awakened the Wizards of Etherea. Choose your Wizard, conquer elemental zones, cast powerful spells, and outwit your rivals through tactics, memory, and bluffing.”

Andromeda Arena – A Two-Player Dueling Card Game by Joshua Lindberg “Two fighters enter. You choose in secret, reveal together, and win by reading your opponent before they read you.”

Apumon – Parody Collectible Cards by Ron “A parody tabletop card game of Frens for Frens.”

Barbaric: Crown of the Frost by Hexa House “A new Energy Core is discovered. A new journey begins in the frozen north.”

Bunch of Issues – The Emotional Intelligence Card Game by April Iavin “A card game that helps you understand your emotions and connect with the people around you.”

Castaway Survival – A Solo Print-and-Play Survival Game by Solofun Games “Survive the Island. Endure the Days. Find a Way Home.”

Catvale: The Board Game with Claws! By FUdice “A strategic adventure game where rival cats explore, build, quest and clash for pride in a modular, ever-changing world.”

CookieCrunch by Richard Reyes “Bring everyone together for a fast-paced card game packed with fun, laughter, and friendly competition!”

Cozy Bundle: So Happy You’re Here!, The Witches’ Road & Nemi by Fiammingo Games “Three delightful cozy board games that will fill your home with joyful moments.”

Cyclemental: The Card Game by Cyclemental ““Take-that!” Strategy Card Game inspired by the East Asian Elemental Cycle. Each creature beautifully painted with ink and watercolor.”

Dinomada by FunFireGames “A deck-building, worker placement board game where you play as a tribe in control of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures.”

DungeonKids Education Card Game by George A “Play cards, build stories and put homework to the sword with 90+ unique challenges filled with dragons and dungeons - for kids!”

Everdell Journeys by Tycoon Games “Explore the cozy world of Everdell from an all-new perspective in this card-drafting adventure.”

Forgotten Paths by Tabletop for World “Enter the mist as a Mistwalker in a solo print-and-play campaign of exploration, dangerous encounters, and meaningful choices.”

HAIL CAESAR! Kill Your Friends & Take the Throne by EZ Games “A chaotic trick-taking card game modeled on the antics in Rome during the year of the 6 emperors.”

Meet Kat, Nora, & AJ from bestselling author Nicholas Harvey by Nicholas Harvey “A dive adventure board game, a special edition thriller hardback, and a hilariously dry-witted weekly desk calendar.”

Micro Empires by Thistroy Games “Build structures, fortify your borders, and pursue knowledge to guide your empire through the ages.”

Native Plants & Insects / A Matching Game by Jacey Lucas “Learn about the wondrous world of North American plant and insect relationships in this illustrated ecology game of matching.”

Of Wheat & Wonders – The Cozy Solitaire Civilization Game by Beaverlicious Games “You lead a growing civilization through ever-changing scenarios.”

Old Crone. A reimagined horror themed variant of Old Maid by Puzzlemaster69 “A terrifying new card game.”

Oquur: The Story of Mons by FirstPerson “A cooperative deck-building boardgame in which losing your character may be a favourable result.”

ORGANISM by Elephant Laboratories “ORGANISM is a board game of growth, exploration, survival, and reproduction! with simple rules and boundless potential”

Out of Sorts – Second Edition by Always Awake Games (Connor Wake) “Work together to sort the strange books in an alien's library”

Phantom Epoch: Last Chance + Localizationby Doteira Games “A cooperative sci-fi fantasy tactical campaign dungeon crawler with mission books.”

Pleesheez by Snovid “A trick-taking card game of plushie tossing at a sleepover party.”

Rat Queens – Vengeance on Villains by Talespinner Games “A fast-paced, co-operative deck-building tower defence game where friendship makes you stronger and villain slaying makes you richer.”

Shake it UP! by DiceTiki “A delicious Roll & Write game where dice, colors, and clever choices help you create the awesome milkshake in a retro diner.”

Siclen Valley Limited EditionbySiclen Studio “A resource management board game and a novel set in a new sci-fi universe. What's the future for humanity stuck on an orbital station?”

The Adventure Store by Conor McGoey – Inside Up Games “Build your deck by purchasing powerful equipment in this trick-taking combat game.”

The Friday 5 – A Family Card Game by Jim Ettwein “A year's supply of unexpected questions: The ultimate Friday night family conversation starter.”

The Helpful Dungeon by Ryan Carnelison “A tabletop board game intended to help nonverbal children enjoy quality family time.”

Trials of Maya by Zain Memon “An arena-based expandable card game set in the MAYA Narrative Universe.”

Vacations to Greek Islands: Corfu and Rhodes by Teetotum Game Studios “Summer in Greece is full of beach, fun and food experiences. Do you want to live it? Take a three-day vacation to a Greek island.”

Valley of Sky Lanterns: A Dice-drafting Eurogame from Taiwan by TBD Games LLC “A 1–4 player strategy game combining dice-driven actions, hand management, and resource conversion in a compact box.”

When Nerds Attack! By Raorgen Games “This 3 adventure set for Comic Crawl Classics pits superhero PCs against that most classic type of supervillain - mad scientists. Can the hero teams save their cities from these nerds gone bad?”

Wild Fjords & Runic Isles Expansions – Iron Quest by Giza Games “Expand your voyage in Iron Quest: The First Ember Print-and-Play game with 2 new expansions”

Z Horde by Little Rocket Games “Print & Play of a solo zombie survival game built on the One Card Dungeon system.”

WARGAMES

Chopper Pilot Vietnam by Compass Games “A highly immersive narrative game in which you fly as a US Army Warrant Officer helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War.”

Command & Defend: Modern War Expansions by Florian “A modular modern warfare strategy system inspired by classic RTS and TBS games.”

In the Desert by Sergio Schiavi “1940–1943: WW2 in North Africa”

MINIATURES, STLS, PAINTING, etc

ArmyMech: 3d printable mechas by Cybermech Studios “32mm mechas STLs for 3d printing, tabletop gaming & collect.”

Ashen Front. Your Army. Your Colours. Your Story. by Earpick Troll Studio “Bring your battlefield to life with 290 STL models, 300 printable cards and a bonus tabletop game.”

Fantasy Terrain & Scenery Library by Dragon’s Lake Miniaturas

Helios Frontier Outpost: 3D printable modular scifi terrain by Corvus Games Terrain

MECH Champions – 3D Printable Miniatures by Lily’s Minis

MECHANICA by RedBadger “Cyberpunk Female Miniatures”

MechScape Sci-Fi Terrain by RPE Miniatures and Games “Hex based 6mm micro scale FDM printed models for use with games like Battletech”

Middle Ages, Part 1. STL 28mm / 3D Printable by ArcaneMesh “medieval architecture, Middle Ages, STL, stone buildings, stylized architecture, tabletop gaming terrain, RPG scenery, 28mm scale”

Pay What You Want – Streets of Arnheim by wolfgatestudio

Pirate’s Port 28mm STL by Oksana Klingel

Prehistoric World – Build Your Own 3D Printable Dinosaur Universe by Dino World “Dinosaurs, Creatures, Terrain, Plants, Fossils, Ruins & More – A Massive 3D Printable STL Collection to Build Your Own Prehistoric World”

Rot vs Steel: Two Grimdark STL Armies by Azure Forge

Segone 7 : Heirs of the sea STL Heagon World Map DnD by Stressed_Raccoon “Turn your 2D maps into 3D maps with Segone tiles! Will you rule the oceans or will you be a kind leader ? Adventure awaits you !”

The Curse of Barovia: 100 Gothic NPCs. STL presupports. by Edair Digital

The Hollow Watch – Chapter 2: 3D Printable Swamp Fortress by Ross “Printable swamp terrain, 23 miniatures, 3 books, maps and campaign extras”

The Ogre Wars, STL Miniatures for 3D Printing by Nickey’s Hatchery Miniatures

Tidewatch Citizens & Heroes 2 : Tiefling & Tabaxi by Black Blossom Games “3D Printable Extremely Detailed Heroes & Citizens Miniatures for your D&D and RPG adventures. Get the STL collection.”

Tunisia Terrain by Brad Sanders “STL Files for the Battles of North Africa”

Vanatori de Munte – Romania’s Forgotten Elite of WWII by 3D_Forge

WW2 The Italian Gothic Line – 28mm by Matthew Deet

DICE & OTHER PROJECTS OF INTEREST

Adventure Cats: The Outclaws by Becca Lee Gardner “D&D Cats meets a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Novel in this whimsical, rowdy sequel to Adventure Cats: A Choose Your Cat Adventure.”

Black & Wood: Board Game Inserts by e-Raptor “Inserts designed for a series of games: Nemesis, Tainted Grail, and ISS Vanguard”

Legendary Book Nooks and Dice Boxes Printables Collection by Swords and Flowers “3D printable LED-ready Book Nooks with hidden dice boxes! Immersive STL dioramas tailored to your favorite character classes.”

MAXG-ONE: Foldable Gaming Desk with an Internal Lift Vault by maxgok “Height-Adjustable Gaming Desk/ Folding Office & Gaming Desk/ Wargame Players/ Small-Space Living/Board Game Enthusiasts”

Rollacrit’s Con Bag of Holding by Rollacrit “A new, improved convention bag from the minds that brought you the original Con Bag of Holding. Stronger, Expandable, and Customizable!”

Tantrum House – Lucky Season 13 – Board Game Media by Tantrum House “Do you feel lucky? Help us make Season 13 possible!!”

The Complete Gamers: Nodwick’s Tale by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment “A graphic novel by Aaron Williams, set in the world of The Gamers.”

UNBOUND – The Cartography Art Book by Francesca Baerald by Spiridon “If you're into board and video games, or novels, you'll eventually stumble over Francesca's incredible maps, now collected in a book.”

Vector Illusions – The Modular Deck Box by Industrial Illusions “Your Deck. Your Style. Your Illusion.”

Wizard’s Light: A Staff-Lamp That Brings Magic to Your Space by Eldencraft “Rechargeable LED staff, portable, customizable - bringing a touch of fantasy back into your everyday space.”

Oh, you think I’m talking about the music group. Yeah, I like them too, but the best would actually be Iron Maiden.

No, I learned the philosophy of KISS in sales. It’s an acronym that means “Keep It Simple, Stupid” (with Stupid referring to the salesman. This was a common philosophy to avoid talking your customer out of a sale by overwhelming them with details of minor relevance). It’s also just plain good advice when it comes to game design.

As a game designer, I’ve specialized in D&D 5E and derivations of it (such as Apocalyp5e, Last Fleet to Vega, and the Daring & Dread RPG) since it was originally released in 2014. I would describe most versions of D&D as Medium-Complex. First edition had a lot of rules that didn’t conform to any kind of a standard, but it was super easy to learn and to play. Second edition and Basic were also pretty much the same. It wasn’t until third edition came along that the rules became significantly more complicated, with hundreds of different character options, and rules elements that tried to accommodate every possible other rules interaction that might occur, especially corner-cases where you combine rules and weird things happen. Third edition was complex enough that Ryan Dancey (then the Business Head of Wizards of the Coast and the guy who dreamed up the Open Gaming License) described the game as half an hour of fun condensed into four hours. By comparison, 5th edition is streamlined, it plays faster, and the rules are easier to digest.

By comparison, E. Gary Gygax, one of the two men who originally created Dungeons and Dragons (and arguably roleplaying games themselves) created a game called Dangerous Journeys: Mythus after being ousted from the top spot at TSR. I know a lot of people who owned Mythus. I owned all five of the core books that were released before TSR acquired the company, effectively killing the game line. Mythus was an interesting case because the system was so incredibly complex that I don’t know of anyone who ever figured out how to actually play the game (if you were the one who did, it’s important that you drop that in the comments so we can take proper note of it… for historical purposes).

And therein lies the problem. Yes, there is an audience for rules-crunchy roleplaying games. However, the vast majority of people who play are more interested in their character’s back stories, their motivations, their voice, and the action happening on the table than they are in sitting around the table doing repetitive math problems for four or five hours.

As a designer, KISS means that after you’ve come up with your brilliant rules addition, you take the time not just to playtest it, but to look at it for the following elements:

·Are the rules stated in the simplest terms possible? Nobody wants to read a paragraph worth of rules when one or two simple and concise sentences will do.

·Can you achieve the desired effect by creating rules that are easier to learn and remember?

·Are the edge case scenarios your rules discuss really important to gameplay, balance, or comprehension by using existing rules guidelines?

 For example, modifiers used to be all the rage in RPGs. Your character’s opponent is partially hidden behind a wall on a foggy day, on lower ground than you, and is distracted by a mime pointing at him thirty feet away. This particular set of circumstances are likely to affect the attack roll against the target. There’s probably going to be at least three modifiers you need to take into account before you make the actual attack roll. Alternatively, rather than arguing about each modifier you should be entitled to, and taking the time out of the game to do the repetitive math to figure out what each of the modifiers actually is before you resolve the roll, you can just give the character Advantage. They roll two dice, take the highest result, and the game moves on.

You might also ask why you would want to sacrifice detailed accuracy? After all, taking the time to add every modifier to your roll could significantly improve your chances of hitting the target. The answer is that adding a bunch of mathematical modifiers to a single roll can burn on average of a minute for each a single roll. This can expand dramatically if people don’t have all the modifiers committed to memory, there’s a rules disagreement, the rulebook needs to be consulted, or if the math gets complicated enough that you can’t do it in your head in two seconds. The result of the time drain is that you get less done in the same amount of time, or less adventure per session.

Accessibility is another major factor. If your rules aren’t as clearly and concisely written as you can possibly make them, actual players are likely to either become confused by them, possibly giving up on your game system entirely, or they condense the meaning of the rules down themselves, which often leads to misinterpretations becoming standard play. As a side note, during first and second edition D&D, no two tables ever played by the exact same set of rules because of this.

So if you’re a game designer and you want your system to be as easy to play, and with the least amount of unintended friction as possible, KISS is a game design philosophy you might want to put sme serious thought into.

Image Attribution: This photo is an alternate version of the cover of KISS Alive II and was taken from their official website.

For decades the basic shape of a tabletop gaming event has been fairly predictable. Hire a hall. Fill it with traders. Put games on tables. Charge admission. Encourage several hundred (or several thousand) hobbyists to spend a Saturday walking between them and possibly trying out some new games.

Now there is nothing particularly wrong with that model. Britain, and many other countries, have extraordinary healthy calendars of tabletop gaming conventions, shows and tournaments, with multiple events taking place across the country on any given weekend. I’ve even helped set-up and run conventions in the past, helping out organise events as Gen Con UK in the late 90’s and being the team who started London’s Dragonmeet convention and then owned and ran it for a number of years until 2011 when I passed the torch along.

But look slightly beyond the established circuit and something interesting is happening.

This summer, RulesFest put board games, camping, outdoor games and fireside social deduction together on a farm in Pembrokeshire. Strange Games Festival gathered more than 500 gamers at a woodland activity centre in Sussex, with RPGs, board games and social deduction sharing the weekend with archery, megagames, outdoor activities, food, drink and campfires. Field of Games has been pursuing the even simpler proposition of getting tabeltop gamers together on a campsite for years,

Meanwhile, Wanderer Market brought fantasy makers and tableop gaming into a Nottingham pub venue; Brotherhood Games effectively turned a Bermondsey street market into a TCG festival; and SPRU, later this month, is building a sizeable convention specifically around independent wargaming rather than the industry’s largest manufacturers.

Taken individually, none represents an entirely new invention. Taken together, however, they suggest that the definition of a British tabletop event is widening with a growing number of events looking at doing something different. More unCONventional.

The Gaming Convention is Becoming The Gaming Festival

The most obvious departure from the convention mode can be found in a field.

This July, Cardiff retailer Rules of Play launched the first RulesFest, explicitly subtitled A Board Game Camping Festival, at Dewslake Farm Campsite in Pembrokeshire. Rules of Play described the event as an evolution of its existing RulesCon conventions, combining tabletop gaming with its love of camping and the outdoors. Gaming took place in a barn, marquee, and cafe, while the programme included outdoor games such as Molkky and Kubb and fireside social deduction sessions. Attendees were actively encouraged to wander off, visit Tenby, go to the beach, eat, drink and return to play more games afterwards.

Alongside organised tournaments and RPG sessions, there was also yoga on Saturday morning, open gaming, and a Rules of Play pop-up shop. RulesFest charged separately for event admission and the campsite, with the gaming ticket cocvering the additional organised activities. In many aspects the event model owed at least as much to a small music or folk festival as it did to UK Games Expo.

Strange Games has spent a decade developing the idea

If RulesFest indicates that established gaming businesses are noticing the potential of the festival format, Strange Games Festival demonstrates that the idea has much deeper roots.

Strange Games began in 2016, essentially because a small group of friends wanted to play Werewolf in a field, and then the simple gathering grew.

By 2026 Strange Days has developed into three seoarate camping events: the smaller Strange Days Campout in Sussex, a new Bristol event, and the flagship Strange Days Festival back at Bushy Wood in East Sussex. The flagship Festival, held over the August Bank Holiday weekend, catered for more than 500 campers.

On offer at the August event were board games, RPGs, dedicated social deduction areas, mini-megagames, archery, quizzes, mobile immersive games, organised D&D Adventurers League play, food stalls, a bar, and other activities spotted around a woodland site.

Games took place in marquees, shelters, glsdes, and among the trees. Communal campfires became locations for storytelling and playing Werewolf. The organisers explicitly tell visitors that participation in optional, so if you simply want to disappear into the woods, sit around a tent playing something quietly, or simply spend some time with friends you’re entirely welcome to do so. The campsite becomes a little temporary gaming village, and you decided what you want to do while you’re there.

Here is a campsite, Here are a lot of gamers…

Then we have Field of Games. A BoardGameGeek listing from 2017 describes Field of Games simply as “an informal gathering of tabletop gamers camping in an open field”, bringing friends and family together. Rather than attempting to programme every of the event, the proposition is essentially “here is a campsite, here are lots of other gamers, bring some games and start playing”.

That informality has survived through to its current event information. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own tables and chairs, contribute games to a communal library, use the Bring & Buy, and to invite people who don’t seem to be in a game into their session, with games lasting well in to the night if people are up for it.

There is no attemnpt to imitate a typical convention, or trade show, the attraction is 100% the other gamers, playing games, and getting away from the computer screen to the open air and closer to nature for a few days.

Wanderer Market takes tabletop into fantasy-market culture

The campsite festivals aren’t the only sign that tabletop events are spreading out from the convention centres and town halls. On the 5th-6th September the first Wanderer Market took place at the Old Cold Store at Nottingham’s Vat & Fiddle pub.

Admission to the event was free and gave you access to an market-style environment with more than 30 independent artists, makers, and small businesses with a strong emphasis on fantasy and tabletop gaming. The traders were also joined by Pen and Board, a Nottingham based board and Gamemaster hire company that caters for parties, corporate, and pop-up events. Pen and Board ran a selection of games from Blood on the Clocktower, to a number of hour-long drop in RPG sessions, all aimed at being accessible to beginners.

TCGs take over Bermondsey Market

The Brotherhood of Games Market, held on 29th August, effectively took over The Blue Market, an existing pedestrianised community market in Bermondsey, London, for a day of trading cards, collectibles, games, artists, food, and live music.

The event, now in it’s second year, included Card Galaxy, The Subcenter, Azgard Collectibles, Loongcana, and Brotherhood Games among the TCG vendors, with demonstrations of Lorcana, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cyberpunk taking place alongside board games, arists, face painting, a Creative Alley, local traders and live entertainment. eBay Live also attended, hosting a £20,000 live stream from the event.

The event was open for all and saw existing collectors checking out the stores and entertainment alongside local residents and familes.

SPRU - A Big Event For Small Stands

SPRU - SpruConvention, which is taking place in Nottingham on 26th September, is slightly different as it is a convention in the, er, conventional sense, as it is not escaping the convention hall. Taking place over both floors of he Albert Hall Conference CentreSPRU wsa created to highlight those companies that usually have the smaller stands at larger conventions dominated by big named companies.

SPRU describes itself as “an independent convention celebrating the independent wargaming community” with 20 independent participatio games, 20 independent traders, and talks and Q&As involving designers, artists and sculptors. Participants include Bad Squiddo Games, Turnip28 creator Max Fitzgerald, Planet Smasher Games, Ramshackle Games and Rogue Hobbies!.

The organiser has this to say about the show:

SPRU, to me, is a missing piece of a very obvious puzzle. The creative space of tabletop wargaming, roleplaying and board games is full of some beautiful events and I’m happy to have attended some of them in the last couple of years. Yet they all share one thing: They’re massive, and dominated by massive companies.

Small conventions do exist, small gaming events are very common! But there’s not enough big events for the small events. As silly as that sentence sounds it was this slapdash statement that started the conversation and led to the early planning of SPRU.

SPRU was conceived as essentially a big event for the people who usuallu occupy the small stands. What’s more, traders aren’t being charged anything for their table space, and every trader is given the same amount of space so there are no' ‘big stands’ at the show.

And some gamers are taking the convention to sea

If camping festivals demonstrate how far tabletop events can travel from the exhibition hall there is an even more literal example taking place in the US, and elsewhere.

Some of them have gone to sea.

Board game and roleplaying crusises have developed into quite a business over recent years, basically inserting a gaming convention onto an ordinary passenger cruise. Instead of hiring a hotel ballroom for a weekend, organisers reserve dedicated areas aboard a cruise ship. Participants get the restuarants, bars, entertainment, swimming pools, and the destinations of a conventional holiday, but also have a ready-made community of people with whom to spend hours playing games.

Meeples at Sea, for example, deliberately keeps its cruises really intimate, capping the gaming group at around 100 people. Attendees receive access to a dedicated 24-hour gaming space, a library of more than a 100 board games, learn-to-play and play-to-win titles, welcome bags, and organised social events. Its announced 2027 voyagers use Celebrity Cruises ships for Caribbean and Alaskan trips.

At the larger end, both BoardGameGeek and The Dice Tower have turned thier existing convention communities into recurring cruises.

The Dice Tower Cruise has been operating since 2016, when Tom Vael and Jason Levine set out to take the Dice Tower cpnvention experience to sea. Its January 2027 event is aboard Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas and combined a week-long Caribbean cruise with the Dice Tower’s gaming community and organised tabletop programme.

BGG@SEA runs much like a travelling version of a BoardGameGeek gathering, with substantial open gaming and a large BGG library of games available to choose from. The 2026 Caribbean cruise even allowed each participant to nominate games for the travelling library in advance. Future BGG@SEA cruises are already scheduled for Asia and Alaska in 2027.

Youtubers No Rolls Barred have a Caribbean cruise planned for March 2027, on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, which alongside the gaming areas will also see exclusive sessions with the No Rolls Barred cast, as well as live shows and opportunities to playtest games.

D3atSea have taken the same idea, but for tabletop roleplaying as opposed to board gaming. Its October 2026 Alaskan cruise, aboard Norwegian’s Encore, includes more than 12 hours of scheduled gaming with professional Game Masters, with campaign sessions deliberately concentrated on sea days soplayers remain free to explore the ports when the ship docks. Its games extend beyond D&D, with previous voyages including systems such as Monster of the Week, Kids on Bike, Starforged, and Call of Cthulhu.

Taking a look at BoardGameGeek’s current convention directory shows a remarkable amount of gaming voyages, including Spiel@Sea, Clocktower Cruise, and Stonemaier at Sea, and others travelling through the Careibbean, Alaska, Europe, and Asia.

Gaming gatherings are certainly diversifying and finding new locations for people to meet-up and play. If you’ve been to one of the above, or a gathering held in a weird and wonderful location, please let us know in the comments.

However, it’s a love/hate relationship. For whatever reason, Vinted seems to attract many sellers who simply couldn’t care less about packaging quality and description accuracy (seriously, “Brand New” means in shrink wrap, like it’s on the shelf in a shop!). Combine that with a customer service system which is infuriating, unreliable and probably doesn’t even comply with consumer rights (why does the buyer have to pay for return shipping on damaged, faulty or fake goods?), Vinted is a frustrating experience at times.

But, there’s no doubt that you can find some bargains if you’re clever with your search terms, fast to make decisions and savvy about what you buy. I spent last week casually buying from Vinted and here’s my experience.

Things in Rings - £5.09 (All-In inc. Buyer Protection fees and postage)

• New in shrink and seemed like a bargain!

• Badly packaged in just a thin mail bag. Game box got dented on its travels.

• Definitely fake, but the seller has not accepted responsibility and I will have to pay to return the item

Regular Show Fluxx & Joking Hazard - £13.20 (All-In inc. Buyer Protection fees and postage)

• Great price made even better by bundle pricing and combined postage.

• Well-packaged in a cardboard box with padding.

• Seller has applied tape to keep the game closed and it is so strong it can’t be removed without damaging the games.

Oink Games Switch Game - £23.99 (All-In inc. Buyer Protection fees and postage)

• Possibly not a bargain, but an impulse buy as I had never seen this before and had ‘Vinted fun bucks’ to spend from personal items I’ve recently sold.

• Packaged adequately for the item type, in a thin mail bag.

Tussie Mussie - £5.79 (All-In inc. Buyer Protection fees and postage)

• Amazing price, especially given that Button Shy games are hard to find in the UK now.

• Packaged adequately for the item type, in a thin mail bag.

• Complete and in very good condition.

Go Nuts for Donuts - £7.89 (All-In inc. Buyer Protection fees and postage)

• Great price for an out-of-print game.

• Packaged well in a box with padding.

• Missing some cards. Seller refunded after they found out that I would have to pay for return postage.

In the past I’ve also bought some fantastic Warhammer bits, including genuine Forgeworld, rare dice sets and more, but it definitely seems much harder to find a bargain these days.

So…a cautionary tale. If you’re going to give Vinted a try, then here’s some top tips to shop as smartly as you can.

Photograph your packages when they arrive, before you open them, especially if the packaging looks poor.

• Vinted’s “super helpful” AI chatbot customer service demands to see packaging photos and if you’ve already disposed of that carrier bag, birthday wrapping paper, or nappy (yes, really, people package things in nappies!), then you’ve missed your chance to send the photo and your hope of a refund is out of the window.

Is it a fake? If it’s new and sealed and the price is too good to be true, then it’s highly likely to be a fake. Some tell tale signs are;

• A white label on the shrink wrap, usually stating “Game Name - New” and probably with some Chinese writing.

• No publisher logo.

• Cover art that doesn’t sit central on the box and bleeds over the edges.

• Typos on the box - many fakes of Deep Sea adventure have a mis-spelling of the word ‘suits’.

Check seller feedback and give honest feedback

• Vinted automatically gives 5* positive feedback if no feedback is given within a certain timeframe.

• Check for non-automatic feedback.

• Leave negative feedback if warranted to help warn others.

Consider avoiding overseas sellers

• No-one wants to receive a badly packaged board game, but bad packaging can sometimes survive the UK postal system if you get lucky. It certainly can’t survive overseas shipping!

• Overseas listings can be hard to spot. I usually spot them because they have exchange rate generated pricing eg. £5.27 rather than round numbers, and you also can’t buy using your Vinted balance when shopping overseas.

Toronto-based Beaches Therapy Group recently advertised for a Therapeutic Group Co-Facilitator to help run a new D&D programme for children aged 9-12, offering CAD $30 an hour for a role initially involving around three hours of work a week. The DM would run a 60 minute group session, with the rest of the time being spent on assisting session setup and post-session administrative tasks such as documentation. Potential also exists for the role to grow as new groups are added throught the year.

What makes the vacancy unusual is that the tabletop experience isn’t simply a desirable hobby mentioned at the bottom of the advert, but that applicants are specifically expected to have meaningful experience with D&D, or another tabletop RPG, and to be comfortable running a game as GM. The applicartion even asks candidates directly about their experience as a D&D player or Game Master.

The successful candidate would work alongside a supervising therapist, helping children develop communication, collaboration, emotional regulation and self-confidence through collaborative storytelling and roleplaying. Experience working with children, especially neurodivergent young people, is also required, while relevant professional registration or Child and Youth Care qualifications are described as a strong asset rather than an absolute requirement.

Beaches isn’t simply looking for a therapist who happens to play D&D. Its model sees the clinical and gaming expertise divided between two people: a supervising therapist and a co-facilitator who knows howe to run tabletop RPGs.

And they are not alone.

The Rise of the Therapeutic Game Master

In the United States, nonprofit Game to Grow was publicly recruiting what it called “professional therapeutic game masters” as far back as 2021. Executive director Adam Davis specifically approached the D&D community looking for experienced GMs to join its therapeutic social-skills groups, which became particularly associated with helping autistic children and young people develop confidence and interpersonal skills.

The idea has since developed far enough that specialised training now exists. Game to Grow’s methodology has been turned into formal Therapeutic Game Master training, teaching practioners how to use RPG techniques alongside goals around social development, group management,and participant engagement.

Elsewhere, RPG.LLC in Spokane, Washington, has gone considerably further and effectively turned Game Master into a formal job classification. One advertised role sought Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists who were also professional roleplaying Game Masters, with pay ranging up to US$80 an hour depending on qualifications and experience. Its requirements included substantial experience running RPGs and familiarity with several different game systems, while the actual duties included preparing adventures, creating characters and running roleplaying sessions for clients.

There are also practices using almost exactly the two-person arrangement proposed in Toronto. At Heather MacGIbbon Psychotherary, RPG therapy brings together a therapist and a separate tharapeutic Game Master. The therapist can participate in the game while the GM creates and runs challenges tailored, in consultation with the therapist, to the needs of the group.

From Homelessness Services to Correctional Facilities

In the UK, Game Therapy UK has been using tabletop roleplaying games in work with people experiencing homelessness. Its projects in Camden, London, have included sessions delivered through homelessness organisations, using D&D and other games as a way to create social connection, build confidence, and support people dealing with issues including isolation, recovery, and broader wellbeing.

This shows how far the idea can extend beyond the increasingly familiar image of D&D being usded with children or neurodivergent young people. Tabletop RPGs are also being explored as structured social environments for adults experiencing homelessless, addiction recovery, and social isolation.

The idea has even reached correctional institutions. In Washington State, public money has been allocated specifically for therapeutic gaming rehabilitation in juvenile secure facilities, with an outsider provider commissioned to run professionally facilitated roleplaying game programs at Echo Glen Children’s Center. Other detention programs have used tabletop RPGs to build communication, empathy, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. They may not advertise for a “prison Dungeon Master”, but the principle is much the same - someone is being paid because they know how to use the skills of a good GM in a setting far removed from the usual hobby table.

From Classrooms to Corporate Offices

The professional value of Game Mastering is also beginning to appear well outside therapy.

In education, US provider Concorde Education has advertised specifically for paid Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters, offering US$50-100 an hour to run after-school RPG programmes at partner schools. In Britain, north London’s children programme Flamethrowers & Dreamcatchers has recruited Game Masters at £30 an hour to lead RPG-sttyle after-school adventures combining storytelling, teamwork and elements of the school curriculum.

Businesses are paying for the same skills. Reddit UK has brought in professional Dungeon Masters from London’s RPG Taverns for staff team-building, while professional DM Devon Chulick has previously been hired to run games for companies including Google and Nintendo. UK agency Rolldark now maintains a network of professional Game Masters specifically offering corporate as well as private RPG sessions.

These aren’t necessarily permanent “Dungeon Master” positions inside schools or multinational companies, as the work is frequently contracted through specialist providers, but the fact is that Game mastering itself is now something organisations are prepared to pay for because of the communication, improvisation, collaboration and group-management skills involved.

An Emerging Profession?

For decades the skills involced in being a good GM have largely been treated as abilities useful only around the gaming table but organisations are now beginning to put a monetary and professional value on them.

Job Image from Simply Hired, photo courtesy of RPG Taverns.

It’s a ‘Two Parter’ this week! Due to the number of campaigns that launched we decided to split the column in two to avoid a never ending scrolling feat of endurance! The first part covers tabletop roleplaying games, dice, and other projects of interest, while the second part covers board & card games, wargames, and miniatures.

Every week in Crowdfund Quest Weekly we’ll be listing a whole bunch of new tabletop gaming and miniature campaigns that have launched over the last seven days, providing links to their campaign pages.

Whilst we sadly can’t include every launch – there are hundreds each week – we’ll do our best to try and find campaigns that will hopefully interest you!

BOARD/CARD GAMES

3-Game launch: SWAT, Galaxy Farmer & Package Pandemonium by Neil @ DeckBox Games “Supplied complete in a deck box, our games are uber-portable, whilst providing gamers with an exciting 'big box' gaming experience!”

Astral Forge TCG by Lucie Harkins “A cosmic space trading card game where Astrals travel, mutate, and battle for planetary domination”

Battle Goomis – The Crochet Card Game by Louie’s Loops “Battle Goomis is a dice rolling strategy card game where teams of adorable crocheted Goomis compete for glory. Use unique abilities, manage your resources, and outsmart your opponents as you race to wind up your Yarn Ball first!”

Beast Hunt Colossus by Moneer Marouf “Battle Colossi using a unique directional combat system in this 1v1 strategic tabletop game. Summon Radiants to help pave your way!”

By Order of the King by Loosejaw Games “Gallows humor, social deduction, and ruthless lies. One player executes their friends while the rest bluff, lie, and try to survive.”

California Dreamin’ by Kevin Sherwood “The satirical California board game where traffic, taxes, and bad luck stand between you and a "New Start".”

Clank! – Cube of Holding and The Forgotten Vault by Dire Wolf “Celebrating ten years of Clank! with a spooky new expansion, a deluxe storage cube, and updated cards & components!”

Cola Wars by OneMoreTurnGames “It’s 1985. You’re in charge of marketing for a radical new cola brand. Economic strategy, worker placement, and tableau building.”

Countdown To Blastoff! by Ray Jeffrey Otto “A competitive and family-friendly rocket-launching card game!”

Crabs in a Bucket: Crustacean Invasion by Blue Rondo Games “The brand new expansion for the award-winning shedding card game, Crabs in a Bucket! Band together as you defeat the aliens from below!”

Dead Draw – Print and Play by PRINTANDGAME “A Print & Play card game of Wild West duels, where every decision—and every bullet—can be your last.”

Fairway 18 – The Golf Card Game by Kate “Bring a full round of golf to your tabletop: Play the course. Choose your clubs. Survive the hazards. Sink the putt.”

Flagged by Flagged “A PvP hybrid combining tactical board game mechanics with trading card gameplay.”

Food Chain Magnate Special Edition Redux by Lucky Duck Games “A Special Edition of a Legendary Euro Game is still available, until it lasts!”

Fox Flip by Ticket Booth Games “Fox Flip is a quick, easy-to-learn 2-4 player game of skill, luck, and timely flips. Play special fox cards to outfox your opponent and win the pile!”

HEXplore It: Side Arcs by mjdesigns “HEXplore It: Side Arcs are compact adventures that transform your playthrough with new objectives, fresh mechanics, and memorable encounters.”

Huddle – The Fantasy Football Board Game by Sandlot Studios “A game about a game that's about a game. Huddle's new 2-4 player edition: a full fantasy football season in one game night!”

Hybrid: Natural Order – The Strategic Multiplayer Card Game by Jay Umboh “One shared deck. Adapt. Lead Tribes with unique abilities. Outplay opponents through tactics, timing, bluffing, and shifting alliances.”

Jurassic Crisis by Sperling Spiele “A 1-2 player (up to 4 with expansion) survival board game.”

KILL CHAIN: Exploit, Escalate, Retaliate by Fallen Dominion Studios, LLC “A cyberpunk strategy game of worker placement, deck building, asymmetric factions, corporate hacking, and multiple paths to victory.”

Korpi: NFC Adventure Game by Hiirosoft “Explore deep forest in old Finnish folklore setting and beat the story boss with your friends. Extra immersion from embedded NFC tags.”

Kung Fu Kittens – an Elemental Trick-Taking Game by MothSpire “A trick-taking game of cats who wield martial arts expertise and elemental power. Show off your style, and discover who is the strongest!”

Legion Bears by BytheStreamGames “A simple and adorable 2-player tactical card game for ages 6+, Play as the mighty Legion Bears or the fierce BarBearians.”

MovieDEX: Game Night for Movie Lovers by DEX “A movie-themed game night system with 8 unique games in one box. All played from one deck of 120 real films. 3 to 8 players.”

Murder of a Christmas Elf: The North Pole Case File by Bridget Wilkinson “Unwrap the Evidence. Follow the Clues. Solve the Crime.”

Murder, She Crows by Benjamin Sperling “Score murders of crows with a triangle deck”

Opera Magna by Ludus Magnus Studio “Supply Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence in this tactical game from the authors of Barrage and Potion Explosion.”

OR ELSE! – The Standoff Card Gameby Joshua McMurray – Author & Creator “20 ridiculous space guns. Do what the gun says, or grit your teeth and pray it malfunctions. A party card game for 3-6 goons.”

Pincer: A Gentleman’s War by Julian Birke “A 2–4 player, turn-based strategy game set in the 18th century, where players compete to build powerful empires across a hex-based map.”

Pioneers in Peril by Deadwood Games “A 2-4 player Western of grit, greed, and shifting alliances. Every copy hand made, and limited to 100 copies”

Plague Cards by Carps Cards “Survive The Plague! Outsmart Your Opponents! Adapt Every Round!”

Prism Card Game by Prism Cardgame “The trading card game that refuses to make you choose between beautiful, competitive, and collectible.”

Questiny : The Board Game by Leon Simmonds “An immersive, cooperative dungeon-crawling game for 1-4 players. Easy to learn, no GM required and full of nostalgic fantasy adventure!”

Ranch Lands: Pioneer the Frontier by Ryan Skingle “A 2-4 player card game that brings strategy and good old fashioned rock, paper, scissors combat into the Wild West.”

Red Tail Pirates by Jerry Mendheim “A Strategic Board Game of Crews, Cunning, and Contraband Gum-Drops.”

Renewable Energy Card game – Art Campaign by Riley Huth “An up and coming table-top card game based around renewable energy and endangered species. Raising money to hire an artist for the game”

Reverie by Dux Somnium Games “Find your inspiration in Reverie: the ultimate Victorian Art School game for 1 to 4 daydreamers.”

Seize: Guilded Treasures TCG by Kings’ Games “Seize: Guilded Treasures a strategic trading card game where players outwit foes, and plunder rivaling Guild Masters to claim victory.”

Silent Express: deliver anything, anywhere, ANYONE.by alphaau “A strategic tabletop game that simulates human trafficking transactions in the underworld.”

Snatch the Cat! – Card Game by Lukas Grau by Ryan von Grau “Collect Radar points in hand, hide Traps in your hoard, and unleash chaos. Family strategy card game by Lukas Grau. 108 cards, ages 8+.”

SPACE KING: The Board Game by Flashgitz “Crush aliens, plunder loot, and enslave children in this rip-roaring SPACE KING action game PACKED with minis and lore!”

Tangled Yarns – A Cooperative Stand Against a Cosmic Horror by Kadena Entertainment “Epic Cosmic Artwork Adorable Sheep CharactersDeep Co-op PlayEnvironmentally Friendly Materials”

Tank Tango by Nathan Cook “A Fast-Paced Tactical Tank Game For Families, Friends, and Tabletop Tacticians.”

The Colormatch Game: A Fast Moving Brain Teasing Card Game by Ari Phillips “Think fast. Match faster! Challenge your friends & family in the addictive colour-matching game that tests your brain, speed & focus”

The Crypto Plug – The Board Game That Teaches Money by Andrew Pick “Build your crypto empire, dodge Rug Pulls, survive Crypto Winter, and race to the Cold Vault. Monopoly met crypto — and leveled up.”

The Nights of King Ludd by Jim Dietz “Rage against the Machines at the Dawn of the Industrial Revolution”

Spartan Speech by Jay and Lucy “Give the shortest clue… and hope it’s enough. A fast, laugh-out-loud word game.”

Time Weavers the TCG Tabletop Battle Game! by Dream Diamond Games “A 1-4 player strategy card game where you battle with Era specific elemental magic, fearsome creatures and loot! Decks. Dice. Destiny.”

Trinket: Fantasy Trading Board Game by Ambervine “2-8 avian characters barter for their favourite Trinkets in a fantasy rainforest.”

WARGAMES

Devil Worshipping Cyberpunks 666: Tabletop Skirmish Game by Zak El’Tanamli “Rules-Lite D.I.Y Heavy Trash Dark Tabletop Skirmish Game”

Free Void Flotilla: Spaceship Wargame – STLs and Box Sets by Aeon Eclipse Games “A spaceship tabletop wargame with innovative vector mechanics, intense void combat and customization.”

Kosmo Taktiks by Martin Tajima “From the lead developer of Gaslands™, Glenn Ford. A small scale miniatures wargame set in a weird eldritch future!”

MINIATURES, STLs, PAINTING, etc

Arkham’s Nightmares Vol.3 – Investigators Cthulhu 32mm by Falcata 3D Studio

Battlefront Legends Hero by CineRealm “36 unique characters 32mm miniature versions 76mm miniature versions STLs”

BlackSheepSystems – Old-City Edition by BlackSheepScenery – Michiels Tim “Digital files of FDM printable, grimdark tabletop terrain set”

Burrows & Badgers: Reinforcements by Oathsworn Miniatures “A set of high quality miniature figures for use in the Burrows & Badgers tabletop skirmish game.”

Cesaro’s Conquistadors by Medbury Miniatures “28/32mm Fantasy Figures”

Division Mecanisee – STL Models of French 1980s Armor by Brad Sanders

Dungeons & Toons 3D Printables by Javier Tejedor “Premium character collection for your role-playing adventures, board games, and model making.”

The Lost Frontier: 107 Printable Fantasy Miniatures & Modula by STLWarehouse “A complete adventure collection: heroes, monsters, modular village buildings, ancient ruins, goblin caves, mines, Wilderness, and props”

Northern Realms: Viking Fantasy Heroes, Giants & Beasts STL by Arca Minis “Build a legendary Norse inspired fantasy realm, with heroes, ancient giants, mythic beasts, villagers, companions & terrain.”

Romanesque Chronicles / STL / 28mm by ArcaneMesh

Space Sharks – beQuest Miniatures by bequest Miniatures “Oldschool inspired tabletop miniatures. 15 high-quality handsculpted white metal spincasts!”

Tales of Nippon: The Fantasy Samurai Army – 3D Printable STL by Fierce Females Factory

The Fall of Salandor – Sci-Fi STL Miniatures by Govannon Studio

The Insurgents 2 – Modern Warfare Operators 5 by IronFrontMiniatures “Irregular Forces — 15 Elite+12 alternative bases 32mm STL Miniatures”

US wheeled vehicles + Soldiers of WW2 Volume 2 (28mm) by Marharyta Bohush

Villages on Sleeping Titans by Polywizard

The sale began at the end of August and is running until 11.59pm ET on Sunday 13th September 2026, although Chaosium has warned that a number of the products have limited stock and may sell out before the sale ends.

The sale represents a great opportunity for players looking to try one of Chaosium’s games for the first time, with core rulebooks and starter sets up to 40% off their usual price. The Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, and Pendragon Starter Sets are all reduced by 40%, as are the full rulebooks for 7th Sea Second Edition, Basic Roleplaying, Rivers of London, Pendragon, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper’s Guide.

Beyond the rulebooks, discounts range from 20% all the way to 80%, making some of the deeper catalogue open for fantastic savings. An extra bonus with Chaosium purchases is that generally each copy of a physical product comes with the corresponding PDF as a free addition.

There is one possible complication though. Chaosium fulfils orders through separate warehouses in the USD, UK, EU, Australia, and Canada, and not every discounted title is available at every warehouse. So make sure you’re ordering from the correct warehouse!

The Chaosium Fall Sale ends 13th September, while stocks last.

The free service began rolling out on 1st September and currently covers Pokemon, Magic: The Gathing, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and Disney Lorcana cards. with further expansions planned. The guide currently supports both raw and graded cards.

Find the value of cards on the eBay Mobile app

Probably the most useful feature is the ability to scan a card using the eBay mobile app. Users head to My eBay, select Scan cards and photograph the front of the card. eBay’s image recognition system then attempts to identify the card before presenting pricing information and comparable sales.

The amount of data available is immense. Collectors can examine up to two years of completed eBay sales, with the information refreshed every 24 hours. This includes the actual prices paid when sellers accepted a Best Offer, rather than simply covering the original asking prices. You can also compare prices between different grades and examine individaul transactions.

The guide additionally incorporates Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) and Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) population reports, while Card Ladder indexes provide another way of following market trends. Once a card has been identified, you can then jump to comparable cards currently for sale or begin creating your own listing.

eBay loves Collectables…

The Price Guide follows eBay’s introduction of its Authenticity Gurantee for Trading Cards in the UK earlier this year, and is the latest launch of a much broader push into an increasingly valuable collectables market. Pokemon was searched for more than six million times on eBay UK in July 2026 alone, while collectables were the largest contributor to the company’s global GMV growth during Q2 2026.

Card scanning currently requires the eBay mobile app. Pricing is also necessarily indicative, with condition, scarcity and rpaid changing demands still causing cards to sell well above or below the guide price. But this is a major help to UK collectors, and even more so for those of us that might still have a box or folder full of cards from years ago hiding in a cupboard, under the bed, or in a box in the attic, to help answer that oh so common question, “What is this card actually worth?”.

The Trading Card Price Guide is available to UK eBay account holders, with no subscription fees, and no usage limits.

First released in 2018, Welcome To… was originally designed by Benoit Turpin, and later by Alexis Allard, with artwork by Anne Heidsieck. The original Welcome to Your Perfect Home helped popularise the flip-and-write genre, with cards replacing dice while allowing every player to take their turn simultaneously.

New versions, and settings, such as Welcome to the Moon, followed with the games being translated in to numerous languages. According to Asmodee the range has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. It’s digital adaptation, available on Board Game Arena is also immensely popular with over three million games played, and an average of around 3000 unique players each day.

"Welcome To… established itself as landmark titles in modern board gaming, combining elegant game design with exceptional accessibility," said Benoit Clerc, SVP of Tabletop games at asmodee. "We have tremendous respect for the work accomplished by the Blue Cocker team, Benoit Turpin, and everyone who contributed to the success of the game and their different iterations. We are excited to welcome this intellectual property into asmodee's portfolio and join our building its future.

Blue Cocker founder Alain Balay added: "From the very beginning, our ambition was to create a game that would stand the test of time and bring people together around the table. We are incredibly proud of everything Welcome To… has achieved over the past years, and we are confident asmodee will now carry the brand forward and introduce it to even more players around the world.

“This acquisition goes beyond bringing a strong IP into our portfolio” added Mathieu Aubert, Head of Collections at asmodee “we see huge potential to expand the Welcome To… universe, and the team already has plenty of ideas to bring it to life. I look forward to sharing more about our projects in the coming month”

The acquisition gives Asmodee another established family gaming property alongside brands including CATAN, Ticket to Ride, Dobble/Spot it!, 7 Wonders, and Exploding Kittens. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The acquisition comes only days after Asmodee appointed former Exploding Kittens executive Carly McGinnis as Chief Product Officer, overseeing the group’s global product and publishing strategy.

Along with the annoncement of the 2027 dates came the news that it will also be the last ever Airecon. Affectionately named AIREMAGEDDONthe show will be taking place from 11th-14th March, with tickets going on sale on 11th September at 5pm.

Breaking the news on social media earlier this afternoon (27th August), organiser Mark Cooke simply said “It’s true, tickets for the LAST EVER AireCon go on sale in 2 weeks”

AireCon moved from it’s previous home in Bradford to Harrogate in 2017, with AireCon 3 attracting 683 attendees. It more than doubled in size for AireCon 4 with 1593 attendees and has kept growing ever since. No physical event was held in 2021 due to Covid, so they ran an online show called AireCan’t, which was there only online event.

The AireCon website carried the following announcement:

After more than a decade of dice, cards, games and friendships, we have some big news to share: the next AireCon will be the last AireCon.

AireCon began back in 2015, when Mark and a group of friends decided to put on a little gaming event. The first gathering, now affectionately known as AireCon 0, was the beginning of something none of us could quite have imagined.

Since then, with your support, AireCon has grown into a much-loved fixture of the UK tabletop gaming calendar. The next event will be our 12th public AireCon, alongside AireCon 0, ACNW, ACWest and the rather unusual AireCan’t (our online-only event during the COVID years) bringing the story of AireCon to its final chapter.

There have been countless games played, new friendships made, old friendships strengthened, tournaments won and lost, late nights, early mornings, questionable snacks, and an enormous amount of fun along the way.

Most importantly, AireCon has always been about the people. Everyone who has attended, volunteered, exhibited, demoed games, run events, helped behind the scenes, or simply turned up with friends has been part of what made AireCon what it is.

Why is it Ending?

When AireCon moved to the Harrogate Convention Centre in 2017, we couldn;t have asked for a better home. We built a fantastic relationship with the team there, who were always a pleasure to work with and genuinely seemed to enjoy havign AireCon at the venue.

there was also a shared understanding of what AireCon brought to harrogate and the wider region. It wasn’t simplly an event taking place in a building - it brought thousands of visitors to the town, filling hotels, restuarants, pubs and shoips, with many returning year after year..

Over time, however, a combination of factors has made it increasingly challenging to run AireCon in a way that preserves the character and spirit that made it so special in the first place.

With that in mind, we’ve made the very difficult decision to end AireCon on a high, with 2027 being the last event. This also means the end of all AireCon events, including ACNW (no more scheduled) and ACWest (the last one will be in October).

But we’re not going quietly…

Far from it.

We’re already hatching plans to make the final AireCon the biggest and best AireCon ever and we’re going to make sure we go out with a bang.

In fact, we’ve already started referring to it as AIREMAGEDDON.

Expect games, events. guests, surprises, ridiculousness and probably a few things that we haven’t quite figured out how we’re going to pull it off yet. After all, we’ve got one last chance to throw everything at it.

AireCon will be missed, having become one of the biggest tabletop gaming conventions in the UK, with only UK Games Expo (Birmingham NEC) and Salute (London ExCel) attracting more attendees. AireCon was probably the third largest UK show, with both Dragonmeet (London ExCel) and Tabletop Scotland (Edinburgh) attracting similar numbers, and Bournemouths Beachhead Tabletop Games Expo not too far behind.

Thanks to Ben, Mark, Nabil, Rick and all of the AireCon crew for all the effort and enjoyment they brought to the hobby over the years and here’s to a fantastic finale!

Perhaps you buy pre-loved clothes, toys or video games...but how about board games, Warhammer and RPGs?

The price of a luxury hobby like tabletop gaming is noticeably increasing, with a standard size board game like Ticket to Ride having an RRP of £45 these days, compared to being able to buy it new for £25-30 just a few years ago. For a pre-owned retailer like Tabletop Rescue, it certainly feels like more people are looking at pre-owned options to fuel their insatiable need for new gaming goodness!

The good news is that larger the gaming hobby gets, the more pre-owned items are in circulation and finding a pre-owned bargain is getting easier each year. If, like me, you enjoy a charity shop or car boot sale bargain hunt, then the frequency of finding ‘good’ gaming items seems to be increasing. With hobby games on sale at mainstream retailers, more people are receiving gifts of games that are not a great fit for them and looking to sell them on. Plus, those of us who have been in the hobby for many years, and those who “comfort-shopped” during Covid, are somewhat keen to make some shelf space, and so pre-owned games are constantly being offered for sale on Facebook Groups, at conventions and on eBay and other marketplaces.

Shopping pre-owned has many benefits. You should save some money, you'll be helping the environment and you have a chance to discover some older and out of print gems that you might not find on the shelves of your friendly local game store.

However, it's not without risk. Unlike other hobby categories, particularly video games, where pre-owned has been a large segment of the market for decades, pre-owned board games come with their own challenges. If you’ve bought a copy of Discworld Ankh Morpork on Vinted that arrived in an partially sealed bin bag - you’re not alone! Not everyone packages their games in the same careful way that most hobby gamers would expect! Plus, make sure that you count the pieces when those bargains arrive. Doing a part count before adding your new game to the shelf is a lesson learned the hard way for those of us who buy pre-owned online.

Buying from reputable sellers, who check that games are complete, and making sure you're protected by buying on marketplaces with buyer protection, or using Paypal Goods & Services, is your best way to achieve peace of mind.

The reality is that most gamers take care of their games. It's hard to ignore that many games on your shelf only hit the table once, or maybe they're still unpunched! Many pre-owned board games and RPG books really are as good as new. And not just that - someone has done the labour of punching the components, bagging them and maybe even stickering the pieces, so you can get the game straight to the table. And for less than the brand new price? What a bargain!

The publisher, best known for games such as War of the Ring, Wings of Glory and Swords & Sorcery, was hit but thousands of fraudulent requests which overwhelmed its servers’ bandwidth and processing capacity. Both the company’s main website and its online store were affected, disrupting direct sales, preorders, and access to crowdfunding pledge management.

Roberto Di Meglio, Ares Games production director, thankfully confirmed to Boardgamewire that no customer data was compromised during the incident and believes the company was probably the victim of an opportunistic attack rather than being specifically targeted.

The incident comes as Ares has been placing increasing importance on its direct-to-consumer business, as well as during the pledge management window for their recent Mega Empires: The Far East crowdfunding campaign, which raised over $230,000 in May and opened its pledge manager last month (July).

Following the attack,. Ares Games is now looking at strengthening the protection surrounding its websites and e-commerce insfrastructure to reduce the risk of similar attacks and disruption in the future.

John Blanche, who sadly passed early this summer, was hugely influential in the early days of the UK gaming scene, as well as shaping much of the look and feel of Warhammer and Games Workshop.

Secret Passages is a 72-page zine packed with all-new interviews, essays, and illustrations from some of the best writers and artists in the scene. Inside the mutagen-powered fourth issue, you’ll find Warhammer 40,000’s first foray into live-action, the origin of SLA Industries, Dungeons & Dragons’ first campaign setting, Britain’s 1980s paperback RPG boom, a long overdue reappraisal of Gorkamorka, and so much more. 

We're also paying tribute to the late, great John Blanche with a standalone zine picked with new articles, artwork, and essays exploring his contributions to the worlds of Fighting Fantasy and Games Workshop, the origins of grimdark, and some beautifully baroque miniatures from his collection.

You can sign up to Secret Passages #4 prelaunch page on Kickstarter to keep upto date with the campaign developments. If you would like to pitch an idea, artwork, or other contribution you can contact the magazine on secretpassagesrpgzine@gmail.com. The issue is due for release later this year.

So we’re going to talk about them.

Oh, by the way, I worked there from 2000 to 2004, so I’ve actually seen how the company operates from the inside. Before we get to the current news, I’d like to provide a brief history of WotC:

1997: WotC acquires TSR, which includes games like Dungeons and Dragons, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, and others.

1999: Hasbro acquires WotC (mainly because they were making a mint off the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game at the time).

2000: WotC releases 3^rd edition D&D along with the Open Gaming License, thus making it possible for anyone to release game material compatible with D&D.

2003: WotC releases 3.5.

2014: WotC releases 5^th edition, which has proven to be the most popular roleplaying game of all time.

2023: WotC tries to revoke the OGL, temporarily throwing the industry of third party support into chaos. This results in them changing course and officially releasing 5E via the Creative Commons license, effectively changing nothing, but introducing a whole new layer of licensing into the mix of third party support.

Also in 2023, WotC send the Pinkerton private investigators (a notorious group with a long history as the largest private police force that was especially concerned with union busting over a hundred years ago) to the house of a fan who accidentally released a YouTube review video of a set of Magic: The Gathering cards prior to its official release date.

So what’s the latest news out of WotC that has gamers talking? This year at Gen Con, they’ve announced that they’re going all-in on reviving several campaign settings that have been almost completely ignored since TSR’s heyday. But, there’s one setting in particular that has people talking: Dark Sun. The reason is simple. Ever since the launch of 5^th edition, WotC has been engaged in making D&D a kinder, gentler sort of roleplaying game (never mind the irony of trying to make a game about hacking your opponents to bits with medieval weapons and magic nicer).

Dark Sun, originally written by Timothy B. Brown and Troy Denning and released for 2^nd edition AD&D from 1991 to 1996, was never what you would call nice. With this setting, D&D dropped its feudal Tolkienesque origins and embraced a darker post-apocalyptic world that had more in common with the He-Man, Gor, and the Sword and Planet genre. Magic destroyed life, so most resorted to psionics instead. The entire planet was a desert except for a thin thrip of green called the Verdant Zone, and it was ruled by dragon kings. Most of the humanoid population was enslaved by these tyrants.

Let’s talk for a moment about slavery. Despite the fact that early D&D had an entire series of campaign modules collectively called the Slave Lords, depicting slavery in RPGs has fallen out of fashion. While slavery has been a persistent evil for just about as long as humankind has existed in the real world, it took on a particularly ugly form in the United States which was based entirely on racial inequality (in ancient Rome, you could be an ordinary citizen who fell behind on their bills and thus became enslaved to your debtors). For that reason, enough people have chosen to become offended by the inclusion of slavery in roleplaying that many major publishers have backed away from using it as a plot device entirely. Paizo Publishing was one of the first to say that they would not have any depiction of slavery at all in Golarion from a certain point foward, while WotC has quietly backed away from the subject matter without saying anything in particular about it publicly.

For this reason, Dark Sun has for years been considered the one setting WotC could never touch again after the more sensitive turn D&D has taken under 5^th edition. This is why the world was shocked when it was announced this year at Gen Con that the setting was getting new life.

Now, I’m going to be blunt and honest. My initial take was that I couldn’t see them doing this without destroying the very things that made Dark Sun special: the violence, the slavery, the blatant nihilism. This is a world you couldn’t even visit using spelljamming ships because the presence of one ship harnessing that much magic would probably be enough to destroy the entire verdant zone. How could WotC do this book without filing all the sharp edges off and making it milquetoast?

Well, there’s a response to that. They’ve announced that this will be the first R-rated product since 3.5’s Book of Vile Darkness and Book of Exalted Deeds (the latter of which was the first major gaming product I managed to get my name on. What was so mature about the book of Exalted Deeds still mystifies me, but it carried the warning sticker nonetheless). This time, they’re going to shrink wrap it, and the artwork is going to depict ultra-violence and nudity, and the setting content is going to throw caution to the wind and really dig into the mature themes.

Following their rejection of half-species in the core rules which ignored decades of having some of D&D’s most well-known characters like Tani Half-Elven being members of those half-species, I have to wonder how they’re going to handle the Mul, which were a half-human, half-dwarven slave race. I mean, if we’re abandoning the desire to appeal to everyone, the mull make a certain kind of sense. Or, maybe, the Mul will just be rationalized as a species that was bred into existence from human and dwarven progenitors. Who knows? As a quick aside, I still have half-elves and half-orcs in the Daring & Dread campaign setting because there have been half-elves and half-orcs in my games and I’m not about to change it because the latest half-edition decided they were somehow problematic.

So, given the fact that I’m talking about a book that isn’t even out yet, which I’m not working on, what do I think of it?

If I have any concern, it isn’t that they’re including subject matter that many find problematic, but that it looks like they’re going so far in the opposite direction that they’re likely to change the tone of the original. The original Dark Sun setting and its line of support products prominently featured gorgeous art by Gerald Brom, which featured savagery, the stark beauty of the desert world, and a distinct alien element that set it apart from standard D&D. Likewise, the writing was descriptive, informative, and dealt with mature subject matter in a very calm and matter-of-fact manner.

With all the available information, my main concern at this moment is that by making this a mature title, they’ll have to set the elements D&D normally won’t touch to 11 in order to justify the Mature label, thereby changing the flavor of the setting. At present, there is no indication that the original authors of the setting, or even Brom for that matter, will be involved in the creation of this setting book. While it is entirely possible to bring new professionals in to recreate something from 30 years ago, what are the odds that they’ll manage to get the flavor just right?

And that’s where WotC frequently fails. As intellectual property managers, they have a reputation for diluting, subverting, and fundamentally changing their core intellectual property. Tieflings, Dragonborn, Goliaths, weren’t core playable species they added them, yet under the new rules choosing them is just as valid as playing a dwarf or halfling used to be, thereby diluting the original game’s distinct flavor. Both Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms underwent dramatic changes to both their magic systems and their geography… at least until the fan backlash forced them to change them back to the way they were (and to be completely fair, Dragonlance 5^th Age began in the declining days of TSR and didn’t last long). And the novels line… let’s just say that outside of the new novels by Weis and Hickman, and R.A. Salvatore, the less said about the new ones the better.

My hope is that WotC does justice to Dark Sun. My hope is that the mature rating on this means they won’t be diluting or exaggerating what made that setting special in the first place. In short, I hope they get it right. But, after seeing the way they’ve handled pretty much every other setting they own, I have my reservations. Fortunately, the 2^nd edition AD&D material still exists and can be purchased in both PDF and print-on-demand form, and there’s more than enough 3^rd party/fan-made rules out there to make it work with 5E. Sometimes the best thing about a setting revival is that it serves as a reminder of how great the original was, and provides incentive to revisit it again after all this time.

The Eternal TTRPG Jam is a monthly game jam for TTRPG designers to test ideas, experiment with concepts, and an opportunity to be creative. It’s completely optional and some people do most months, others drop in and out depending on their time and interest/inspiration in the months subject, and others lurk, watch, and enjoy the results.

Every month has a new theme, as well as an extra (optional) challenge for designers.

Theme: Fictional Sports

In our world, sports often have their origins in combat. The Olympics, for instance began as a series of martial tests to show the strength of various city states. Whether literal shows of combat prowess, or metaphorical proxies for national or political conflict, both reflect the primacy of military combat in he lives of the participants.

While you craft your own fictional sport, think about the daily lives of those playing and watching it. Consider their jobs, social class, concerns, and interests. Let those attributes guide the specific design of the sport. Create proxies for those activities,. Think of how the sport os regarded culturally. How are the athletes treated? How does the culture define the structure of the sport? Is it played solo or as a team? What are the goals and how are they reached? What is the etiquette of play?

Optional Challenge: Couch Co-Op

This challenge is about emulating the feeling of playing along side another person, working together against a shared challenge. It is about sitting together and facing outward. It is about comradery built by facing an external difficulty together. Where can you as a designer facilitate that feeling? My thought is to create a system that is semi autonomous: that opposes the players without much input on their part, though I’m sure there are many ways to chase this feeling.

So, if the above gets you thinking about a game, setting, one pager advenbture, micro-zine, etc, and you fancy joining in head over to The Eternal Jam August 2026 page on itch.co for more information. The event is hosted by Rowan Sender and the Jam also has its own Discord channel.