Tabletop Scotland 2025 – Convention Preview
Tabletop Scotland is rolling down the road towards us and Jamie and I, along with many of our friends, will be in attendance. We will be back running the pub quiz, but other than that commitment we are footloose and fancy free. To that end I thought I would check out who is going to be there and what events are on to give you some highlights, at least as I see it!
Exhibitors
There are 133 exhibitors attending the convention which makes it very unlikely I will be able to spend time with them all. There is something for every gaming taste but here are the ones that immediatedly caught my eye as I went through the exhibitors.
A company I hadn’t heard of before Tabletop Scotland and they immediatedly stood out with their game Champions of the Mirror Realm. It has a very evocative art style, evocative of what I am not really sure! Curiosity will no doubt get the better of me and I’ll check it out and let you know what I think.
Eerie Idol have been on the lips of many an influencer of late, or at least their game The Old King’s Crown has been. I recall playing an early version of this back in Tabletop Scotland’s Perth days and I would be intrigued to see where it has ended up with the level of development that has obviously gone into it. Is it as good as folk are making out
Fria Lagan, Free League, are a huge and growing presence in the world of TTRPGs. I’ve enjoyed playing Vaesen and Dragonbane and Jamie has had some fun with Bladerunner. They do some excellent looking starter sets I am keen to check out from a critical persepctive. Would also be good to make some contacts at the company.
Hachette Boardgames UK get bigger and bigger each time I see them. They are launching Leaders at Tabletop Scotland but I am just keen to check out the catalogue. More than any other distributor I think Hachette do a great job of curating their offer to have interesting games at a really good range of price points. They are also launching a game at the conevention called ‘Leaders’. Will be a bonus if Flavien, the head of the UK branch, is there as he is always a delight to talk to.
Always a pleasure to catch up with the Handiwork Games team, a local company that produce some excellent RPGs. The forthcoming Hot War/Cold City is from this outfit and the designer of those games, Malcolm Craig, will be in attendance alongside giving some talks (see below).
Indie Connection
A group of indie RPG designers who get together to share booth space at conventions. Includes Tanya Floaker amongst other excellent local talent and always a pleasure to check out what they have on offer. They don’t have a central website I can link to but I will be sure to highlight the cool games I’ve seen in my post-con breakdown.
Not a company I know much about at all other than they sound very Scottish! They have some sort of dice bowling game in development and I have no idea what that is but I do want to check it out.
Makers of huge, expansive, ambitious games that frankly put me off. Which makes their attendance at Tabletop Scotland a perfect opportunity to challenge my own preconceptions of their games. I think it is good, especially as a critic, to challenge your own ideas about the games you like and avoid. Hope I can get a demo of something.
At the other end of the scale we have Peregrine Coast Press who distribute small, weird, RPGs of a variety of flavours. I have already contacted them hoping to get my hands on a particular title. Looking forward to seeing the booth in person and making some new contacts in a world I am increasingly spending my critical and personal time in.
Another scottish publisher that has been making waves in the last few years. Deep Regrets, their game of fishing up abominations from the sea, seemed pretty fun after our demo last year. Might get around to picking up a copy and do hope to speak to the designer.
Events
Dr Malcolm Craig talks
Dr Malcolm Craig is a friend and excellent speaker on the subjects he is passionate about. At the moment he is doing research into how TTRPGs handled the threat of nuclear war and is giving two talks about the subject over the course of the convention.
An Oral History of Wars that never were
I’m only interested in this because Jamie will definitiely be interested in this. Maybe we should enter and go up against each other! Anyway Gwent, the card game from the Witcher computer game has now become a fully fledged product that you can buy. It existed briefly a few years ago and an online community has kept interest in it going. I have no idea what it is like but I am always interested in cross polination of games between the digital and physical.
Pub Quiz
This will be a highlight of the con for me I am sure as it was a total blast to run last year. Our format remains largely unchanged though we are trying a new round style this time out so a bit nervous to see if we can pull that off. With some actual trophies to give out and some prizes as well I hope everyone has a brilliant time.
The Rest
All the rest I am looking forward to
I love a food truck. Cath always jokes that I send her more photos of the food I consume at cons than the games. She might be right. After last year’s move the team had some issues with the folk providing food, but this year it sounds like they have all the bases covered and then some. Really looking forward to making my way around them over the course of the convention.
Bring & Buy
Tabletop Scotland is my annual clearout, moving on games that just aren’t getting played enough. I think this year will actually be a smaller purge than normal but still want to put a few things up for sale. Hope to maybe pick up a bargain or two along the way! You’ll need to book games in before you arrive via the GAME system.
While I won’t be in the playtesting zone myself, I hope to make some time to check out any designers that have made it along. I used to love running this myself so it would be good to get a taste for the more experimental edge of games again. Being run by the fine folk at Ancient Robot Games.
See you there!
Jamie and I will be at the convention all 3 days. Don’t be afraid to come up to us and tell us bout the games you are playing, the cool things you have seen, and what you think we should check out. We are bound to miss something cool and we are always grateful to have interesting titles pointed out to us. Tabletop Scotland is one of the friendliest cons we attend and the team always do a great job to accomodate everyone. We hope to see you there!
