September Newsletter
Minutes, Miniatures, Mechs
Hi folx,
I hope you’re keeping well! The other directors, our social media maven, and myself held a quarterly meeting this month (August). If you’re interested, the minutes are available in the public Google Drive folder that also hosts our TIN talks: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PjxQ1Rc5z_8O5LBXUiKAniz9-ZSIjSbC?usp=sharing
We also continue to take part in RPGaDay, more information is available here: https://www.autocratik.com/2024/07/announcing-rpgaday2024-for-august.html
Anyway, onto the regularly scheduled newsletter, which is available as a video summary here:
To support us, join our Patreon or give a one-off donation on Ko-fi.
You can also find us on Discord, on Facebook, on Bluesky, on Twitter, on tumblr, and on Instagram.
Meetups & Events
On Thursday 15th August, TIN East had our latest chapter meet at the brilliant Albion Games Café, a welcoming space for all kinds of gaming, with a fantastic café menu. It was great to have industry professionals and aspiring creators chatting about their projects, and we're very much looking forward to working with Albion as a venue in the future.
Our upcoming meetups are:
London: Thursday 5th Sept, 7pm (first Thursday of the month)
@ The Arcanist’s Tavern, 87-91 Hackney Road, Shoreditch, E2 8FEManchester: Saturday 7th Sept, 2.30pm (first Saturday of the month)
@ KRO BAR, 325 Oxford Rd, M13 9PG (TBC)Glasgow: Friday 6th Sept, 10am and Friday 20th Sept, 10am (fortnightly)
@ Beco Building, 62 Kingston StreetNorwich: TBC
Virtual Coffee Morning: Sunday 15th Sept, 11am (third Sunday of the month)
@ coffee-morning channel in the UK Tin Discord server.Creatives of Colour virtual hangout: Saturday 14th Sept, 8pm
@ PoC-Lounge channel in the UK TIN Discord server (remember to ask a Discord mod for the “creative of colour” role for access)
Remember to keep an eye on our social media channels for any updates to these expected times or locations.
For our next TIN Talk, Taylor Navarro will be presenting “It’s Dangerous to Go Alone: Why and How to Make Games with Other People”. Given Taylor’s experience collaborating with others (including the game Not Yet with Poorna M., which we featured in last month’s newsletter), this should be a valuable talk for budding game designers. The TIN Talk will be held on Thursday 12th September at 7.30pm on the Seminar Stage of the UK TIN Discord.
Last month’s cancelled talk by Eryk Sawicki on the Game Workers branch of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain will be rescheduled.
If you can’t make it, remember that this talk (as well as all our previous TIN Talks) will be available at the TIN Talks Archive.
Fanatical about Necromunda or model making? Check out Every Model Is a NEcromunda Model (EMINEM) 2024! A model making and painting competition created by Fueled by Chaos and sponsored by Element Games. Sculpt, kitbash and paint your way to the perfect gang to fit the Necromunda setting!
There are tons of ways to show your creativity, with individual categories such as kitbash creativity, quality, narrative, painting quality and many others!
Want to get involved? Check out the info link, or join the Fueled by Chaos Discord server. The deadline for submissions is 15th September 2024.
Tabletop Scotland is taking place from 6th to 8th September. In the last newsletter and subsequent bulletin, we said we would be working in collaboration with Hive Mind Games to sell games by UK TIN creators. Unfortunately, TIN won’t be exhibiting with Hive Mind Games at Tabletop Scotland this year. This was a joint decision, and we remain hopeful about future partnerships.
New & Recent Releases
Burnborough is a new zine from Gwendol the Goblin, about surviving in a city on the brink of collapse. Your mind is also under threat, with your character constantly at risk of losing the few pleasant memories they have.
Featuring super light rules and collage art, this is a game that stands out, and for only £3, it’s a steal. Download the PDF from Itch here.
Bundles, Crowdfunding, & Subscriptions
Salvage Union is an ENNIE-nominated post-apocalyptic game where you play as members of a community fighting to survive against megacorporations who reduced the world to a wasteland. The game revolves around heading into the wastes to scavenge for scrap and supplies, upgrading your home base (a giant mech), as well as your own smaller mech that you take on missions.
Published by Leyline Press, the game has enjoyed great success, and now an official Salvage Union Starter Set is live on Backerkit, featuring a new campaign module, a world map, premade characters ready for play, new mechs and character equipment, and even a unique set of dice! You can back the campaign here.
Button Kin Games is currently Kickstarting Jude’s World, a solo tarot-based journaling TTRPG. The player takes the role of the titular pre-teen protagonist, Jude, who doesn’t intend to take their parent’s upcoming divorce lightly. Inspired by “Parent Trap”-style media and 90s sitcoms such as Boy Meets World, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Clarissa Explains It All.
You can watch a preview of the game on Youtube, by Kat the Lore Mistress, or back the Kickstarter, which runs until September 12th.
UK Tabletop Industry Network has a Patreon! All contributions via the Patreon (or to our Ko-fi for one-off donations) go towards our goal of supporting up-and-coming creators in the tabletop industry without a paywall or other barrier to entry. In particular, Patreon funding is currently the main way we cover up-front fees for conventions and events (partly reimbursed by a cut of sales). The more funding we get, the more events we can attend, and the more games by aspiring creatives we can put in front of excited games that might otherwise never see them!
What’s more, if you support the Patreon at the £5 tier or above, you’ll get access to some great free games, such as Michael Duxbury’s LadyBeaste, Yvris Burke’s Drama Llamas, and Biome by Black Armada Games.
Contributors to this month’s edition of the TIN newsletter were Ryan Wheeldon, Stephen Morffew, Josh Gane, Jack Terry, and Eleanor Hingley. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter, drop a message in the #tin-volunteering channel of the UK TIN Discord or contact Stephen Morffew via email at stepintorpgs(at)outlook(dot)com.