Howdy folks! Michael here with the latest in the world of TIN.
The big news of this month isn’t London-related at all - our northern friends are organising the first ever Manchester TIN social! It’s at Fanboy Three from 18:30 on Saturday 9th September. It’s being organised by RPG designer Freddie Watkins, so it’s worth reach out to him on Twitter or on Discord if you have any questions.
We’re thrilled and humbled that other parts of the UK are following London TIN’s example, and hope it helps tabletop folks share knowledge and opportunities all over the British isles. We’re already talking to other places in the UK that might want to follow suit!
In the meantime, we’ll keep doing our thing here in London, until the next big con brings us all together.
Meetups & Events
The next London Tabletop Industry Networking Meetup is next Thursday 7th September, at The Lamb in Bloomsbury from 7pm.
Our first social at The Lamb last month went really well, with the more accessible Zone 1 location bringing out a few folks we’ve not seen in a while. So let’s call that our new home.
We’ve reserved space at the Lamb for our monthly socials to round our the rest of the year. Our future meetups will be on Thursday 5th October, Thursday 2nd November (the week after MCM Comic Con), and Thursday 7th December (the week after Dragonmeet).
Unfortunately The Lamb is not at all suitable for hosting guest speakers or workshops, which I know a lot of people miss from the old meetups. But I’m going to keep trying to find a way to keep those events alive, at least in spirit. Watch this space.
This month, organisers with the Playtest UK network have put together Playfest London ‘23, an all-day board game playtesting event in Central London. It’s a great opportunity for writers to develop their game designs and for tabletop fans to play upcoming games. It’s hosted at Queen Mary University of London in Mile End, from 9:30 to 18:00, on Saturday 9th September - playtesters can attend for free! You can find more details here.
Interactive Soup is a community funding dinner that supports interactive work - all £5 tickets go into a communal pot, a handful of makers pitch how they'd spend that money, and the attendees vote where it goes. This month the folks at What Am I Rolling will be pitching, so it’s a good opportunity to support London-based actual play streams! It's on Tuesday 12th September at Theatre Deli in central London and tickets are on sale here.
New & Recent Releases
Never Mind the Dice Rolls #24 is now on sale, and includes reviews of Toe Beans, a 5e module about a magical cat café, and Jackals TTRPG, an alternative magical history. As usual, you can sign up for a subscription at the zine’s Patreon.
Bundles, Crowdfunding, & Subscriptions
To celebrate Totally Thames 2023, Tori Truslow is organising the River Thames Game Jam, running right through September. Groups and individuals are invited to make a digital or analogue game that responds to any aspect of the Thames. Coinciding with this, a series of river-inspired workshops is being hosted for anyone new to making games – come along for an introduction to interactive fiction, tabletop games or both. Click here to enter the game jam, and get up to speed with the great work other designers are creating.
The hell site is dead, and I for one couldn’t be happier (commiserations to those who miss it). The Blue Skies Bundle is an attempt to market a fantastic collection of indie RPGs without using Twitter at all. Amongst the many great games in the set are Paris Gondo by Kalum of the Rolistes Podcast, and The Fall of Home by Jo Winter. Get $450 worth of game for just $20 here.
Guest Review
This month’s guest review by Mikhail Malkin covers The Reunion: A Molotov College Story by W.H. Arthur:
It seems like each time there’s a School or College reunion these days folks seem to ignore it. And it is absolutely their loss. Last year I was able to host a digital meet-up for my old highschool class and it was fascinating to see how jocks and nerds, misfits and popular kids can hang out once again and rediscover each other 15 years later. If you have a chance to rekindle or reforge a connection - do not miss it.
The Reunion: A Molotov College Story is an interactive narrative game by W.H. Arthur created for the #MyFirstGameJam Summer 2023. Due to time and technical constraints, GameJam projects are usually brief and experimental so Arthur keeps the pacing fast and their message direct. This story was created using the legendary Twine game engine and is set in the same high stakes, action-first universe of Molotov College, where young-adult protagonists take a stand against dark forces and injustice.
This adventure game plays out as three POVs on the same short storyline, where customizable characters - The Empress, The Hierophant and The World - do their best to get to the actual Molotov College reunion and right some wrongs after. Those of us who are familiar with W.H. Arthur’s TTPRG know that there are at least three more alumni of the Molotov College with their own unique powers and personalities so we can await their storylines in the future.
Each piece of art is political and Molotov College is proud to ditch subtext and allusions to deliver three core concepts with story:
If you ignore problems, things will only get worse.
It is always morally right to punch a Nazi.
Cops are not your friends.
If these ideas resonate with you and you would like to know what Molotov College is all about, please give this GameJam project a try at https://aryl-ether.itch.io/reunion
And if you would like to create a narrative game of your own - you can start your narrative gamedev journey here: https://twinery.org/cookbook/
P.S. You can and you should pet the dog in this game!