Cover photo by Nika Benedictova
Greetings, friends!
Emerging into this glorious new space, I’ve stocked the shelves of this kitchen with all sorts of resources for the tabletop RPG and creative writing communities. This particular cupboard shelf is for a live document which I’ll refer to as a TTRPG digital community ritual calendar. Less focused on being an exhaustive list of conventions and industry events, and more a series of networked happenings which the community at large engages in. This includes things like:
- Online rituals, great and small, that foster engagement on social media.
- Physical events that generate a buzz online due to releases, previews, content creation, and other items.
- Game jams and gave dev rituals that are main-stays in the indie circuit.
- Event organizations that host meaningful programs which positively affect those in need.
- Kitschy temporal baubles, like national/international holidays, etc.
Note that this list is not:
- An exhaustive list of every game convention imaginable, or a way to expose new conventions to notice. There are too many amazing events for little ole me to do that meaningfully.
- A static page. This page is subject to changes, and prone to mistakes, as naturally not every event stays the same, persists through the steady march of time, or even needs to!
- Without a method of feedback! .. At this moment, if you have thoughts about what is here, or what could be here, you can drop an internal comment below, or comment on the original thread on Bluesky!
Enjoy!
| Event name | Type | When | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZineMonth | Community Ritual | February | Internet | A community-driven celebration of TTRPG zines and new crowdfunding projects. |
| ZineQuest | Community Ritual | February | Internet | Kickstarters original branded celebration of Zine Month |
| Zinetopia | Community Ritual | February | Internet | Backerkits spinoff celebration of Zine Month |
| Free RPG Day | Community Ritual | June (3rd or 4th Saturday) | Internet | A collaboration of multiple publishers to offer free demo materials for their games. |
| #RPGaDAY | Community Ritual | August | Internet | Social media ritual celebrating TTRPG experiences daily through August. |
| GenCon Indy | Event/Convention | July | Indianapolis, INA, USA | The largest tabletop game convenion in North America, and a popular event for new releases! |
| Origins Game Fair | Event/Convention | June | Columbus, OH, USA | A large Ohio-based tabletop game convention. |
| ENNIE Awards | Awards Ceremony | July | Indianapolis, INA, USA | A prominent celebration of excellence in tabletop roleplaying gaming. |
| International GMs Appreciation Day | Community Ritual | March 4th | Internet | March 4th unofficial holiday honoring/thanking our beloved game masters for their hard work! |
| New Gamemaster Month | Community Ritual | January | Internet | Month long event teaching new GMs the tricks of the trade across multiple game systems. |
| GaryCon | Event/Convention | March | Lake Geneva, WI, USA | A game convention named after Gary Gygax, hosted in his hometown of Lake Geneva. |
| National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) | Community Ritual | November | Internet | A community challenge to write a novel within one month, OR write a certain number of words within that month. |
| National Game Design Month (NaGaDeMon) | Community Ritual | November | Internet | A community challenge to develop a game within one month. |
| UK Games Expo | Event/Convention | May | Birmingham, UK | The largest hobby games convention in the UK |
| Essen Spiel | Event/Convention | October | Essen, Germany | The world’s largest public fair for board games, bringing together passionate game fans with national and international exhibitors in Germany. |
| PAX Unplugged | Event/Convention | December | Philidelphia, PA, USA | PAX’s tabletop gaming convention, focusing on non-digital experiences (as opposed to the main PAX convention which focuses on video games). |
| Breakout Con | Event/Convention | March | Toronto, ON, Canada | A game convention in downtown Toronto. |
| Gamehole Con | Event/Convention | October | Madison, WI, USA | A game convention in the heart of the upper midwest, and great spot for demoing new games. |
| International Tabletop Day | Community Ritual | June 6th | Internet | A community celebration of everything tabletop gaming. |
| Extra Life | Community Ritual | November | Internet | A DIY fundraising program for local childrens hospitals, hosting gaming marathons, tabletop events, live streams, content creation campaigns, and more. |
| Solovember | Community Ritual | November | Internet | Solo Tabletop Appreciation Month, focused on solo TTRPG experiences. |
| CRIT Awards | Awards Cermony | September | Internet | Creation Recognition in TTRPG Awards, honoring contributions and achievements in the industry. |
| Origins Awards | Awards Cermony | June | Columbus, OH, USA | Awards ceremony hosted by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design (AAGAD) during Origins Game Fair |
| Indie Groundbreaker Awards | Awards Cermony | May | Internet | Awards provided by the Indie Game Developer Network recognizing indie designers and games that push the boundaries of innovation, promoting diversity, and expanding on what it means to be “indie” |
| DnD Direct | Publisher Seminar | Autumn | Internet | Wizards of the Coasts own yearly seminar showcasing upcoming releases, products, and changes concerning the Dungeons and Dragons line of TTRPGs |
| Meatopia | Event/Convention | November | Morristown, NJ, USA | A game convention performed for gaming industry professionals |
| Dragonmeet | Event/Convention | November | London, UK | A game convention in the UK hosting a number of consumer-facing experiences. |
| NecronomiCon | Event/Convention | August | Providence, RI, USA | The International festival of weird fiction, art, and academia, hosting mostly horror-fiction themed TTRPG games. |
| Tabletop Gaming Live | Event/Convention | February | Doncaster, UK | A game convention hosted by Tabletop Gaming magazine. |
| The One-Page RPG Jam | Game Jam | July | Internet | ENNIE award winning game jam hosted on itch.io focusing on one-page gaming experiences. |
| Appendix N Jam | Game Jam | July | Internet | A jam that pays homage to retro pulp fantasy of the Appendix N hosted on itch.io |
| GAMA Expo | Event/Convention | Springtime | Baltimore, MD, USA | A professional trade show aimed at game industry professionals. |
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