May is always busy, no maybe about it. Oh ho.

Honestly, though, we’re hurtling towards June like our temporal brakes have failed, and I’m not totally sure where the first chunk of this year has gone.

Nonetheless, I’ll try to bash through the highlights and tell you about all the stuff that’s in the works – of which there’s quite a lot.

I hope you like pictures.

(If you want to skip to future stuff, scroll down until you hit ‘What I’m Going To Be Doing’.

In brief, it involves my stand at the UK Games Expo, a mini upgrade for TERMINUS, an Unconference I’m running, a group project on BackerKit I’m joining, EMF Camp, a Mystery Project warning, and Trick or Retreat.)

What I’ve Been Doing

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Things I have done since my last newsletter, back in… checks notes… January.

• I persuaded some lovely retailers to carry my games. US distribution is in-progress, so you might find my games in actual shops over there this summer!

• I saw a stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s story A Murder Is Announced, performed by the Studio Theatre Club at the Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon – which occupies part of the still-standing ~15th century abbey buildings! The play was good, and so was the undulating floor of the Long Gallery.

  

• I worked on a project that I’m not allowed to talk about yet! (Sorry!)

• I went to the Isle of Wight, where I stayed in an thatched cottage at the end of a dirt track, and looked after two imps black cats. The rest of the island was also appropriately spooky.

  

• I was unwell. Quite a lot. Over the last four months, I’ve had cold/cough/sinusitis about 50% of the time. This has sucked, and really slowed me down for, well, everything really.

  I’m feeling mostly better now, but am still trying to fully shake off the fatigue.

• I went outside, and it was nice!

  

• TERMINUS was nominated for Best Role-Playing Game Adventure
  at the 2026 UKGE Judges Choice Awards! It didn’t win, but the nomination was still very nice. 😊

• I installed some new leather in the antique writing slope I whimsically bought at a local auction last year. As you do.

  

• I went to the Milford Writers’ Retreat at Gladstone’s Library again! I took the writing slope.

  

  I couldn’t sit outside much this year, because the weather was miserable, but I enjoyed working in the Library’s picturesque main reading room (even if the roof repair works involved a lot of angle-grinding).

  

  While there, I mostly focused on editing a fantasy/mystery novel I started over 15 years ago (then shelved for about a decade, then resumed in 2023, then had to shelve again in 2024 when I impulsively Kickstarted Darkened Hill & Dale).

  However – I also designed three silly little games for miniature figures, and wrote up a draft ruleset for a new TTRPG system… More on those to follow!

  

What I’m Going To Be Doing

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UK Games Expo! (29–31 May)

I’m currently up my armpits in preparations for the UK Games Expo (UKGE), which is next week.

(By that, I mean that I keep having to pause in writing this to print off more handouts for Darkened Hill & Dale. Each copy comes with 21 handouts, some of which are double-sided, and I’m trying to print 150 handout sets, so… yeah, that burning smell is my printer.)

Anyway, I’ll have my own stand at UKGE! This is a first for me, and quite exciting. I look forward to meeting lots of people and completely losing my voice.

💀✨ Visit me at stand 4-912! ✨🚇
(That’s in Hall 4, near the Games Workshop painting zone)

I’ll be stocking a variety of items including my games, prints of game art, and games I’ve collaboratively published with other creators.

Also!
If I can tidy them up in time – and that’s a fairly big if – I’ll be selling some rough-and-ready copies of my silly new miniatures games! Drop by to see if I make them in time!

Also!!
I may have a few items of jewellery made from particularly pretty mosaic tiles to offer, such as earrings, brooches, and pin badges…

Also!!!
I’ll definitely have a display of artwork from TERMINUS, including mosaic pieces and the large ‘NO WAY OUT’ piece.

ALSO!!!!
In the spirit of collaboration, I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be hosting a small showcase of nine games by other indie creators, themed around the genres of horror and strangeness. Some of these are available for the first time in this showcase, so please do come along and see if any of them take your fancy!

Even if you’re not looking to buy anything, please do say hello if you passing by!

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As an aside…

If you already have a copy of TERMINUS, you might like to know that there’s a small ‘upgrade’ of sorts available to you!

I was never really happy with shipping the map handout in plain red envelopes, but I ran out of time/energy/money to do anything else with it.

That has changed!

All physical copies of TERMINUS will now ship with the map in a fancy little folder (much like Darkened Hill & Dale). However, I don’t want earlier supporters to miss out!

So, if you would like to upgrade your envelope to a little folder, you can:

• Order one through my web shop via this secret link, for £2 including postage.
  As a heads up, I probably won’t manage to post these until beginning of June, after UKGE.

  I’m added this to the shop in a bit of a rush, so it’s currently only set up for UK postage. If you’re overseas and want one, give me a shout and I’ll sort it out!

• Pick one up at UKGE for £1.

  I’ll bring a small number along anyway, but if you let me know that you’ll be there and want one, I’ll set one aside for you.

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Tabletop Game-Makers Unconference! (Sat 20th June)

Some of you who know me in person may have heard me lamenting the lack of a conference-style gathering for tabletop game-makers to meet each other, discuss issues they're facing, and potentially chat about collaborations.

Somewhat predictably, I've decided to try and resolve this issue myself. So, I'm now running an event...

🎲 Tabletop Unconference 2026 📝

10:30am–4:30pm, June 20 2026
Doreen Bazell Hall, near St Pancras, London
Tickets £1+

This is fairly soon, but that's what I get for trying to book a venue so close to the summer. It's a nice little venue, though – imagine a village hall with a little garden, but in a city! 

The event is an unconference. That means there won't be scheduled talks or speakers – attendees create the schedule to suit their interests. The vibe is generally 'I'll bring the Post-It notes and you bring a packed lunch'.

Anyway, if you're a maker of tabletop games (board games, TTRPGs, miniatures, etc.) and possibly interested in coming along, check out the full details at this link. 

Hopefully I'll see some of you there! 

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The ENNIEs Emporium! (6–16 July)

What is the ENNIEs Emporium?

Well, there’s a proper description of it over here on the main project page, but it’s essentially a curated group of ‘ready-to-ship’ crowdfunding projects being run by folks who were nominated (but didn’t necessarily win) at the 2025 ENNIE Awards.

I’m one of those folks, as it happens.

You can find my project page over here, and sign up to be notified when it goes live on July 16th.

What will my project entail?

I’ll be honest and tell you that I haven’t totally nailed that down yet, because my brain is fully in UKGE preparation mode and my ADHD isn’t acknowledging the existence of July yet.

I expect it’ll mostly be a chance to pick up my existing games, probably with some extras, and maybe a couple of new little bits. What it won’t be is a full-blown new project – sorry! That’s coming later this year.

I dare say I’ll work it all out fairly promptly once UKGE is over and I free up some space in my head.

Anyway, I’m unlikely to send many (if any) pre-launch emails to project followers, so there’s no downside to signing up to follow the project, just in case I forget to post a newsletter about it.

So, click here if I’ve convinced you and you want to sign up for untold horrors!

(Or to be notified of told horrors, anyway.)

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EMF Camp (16–19 July)

There’s no point in me promoting EMF Camp because it’s extremely sold out, but I’ll be there and I imagine some of you might be there too!

Maybe I’ll be giving a talk or running a little ad hoc mosaic workshop or something, or maybe not, but I’ll generally be loitering around the Brighton Consulate a lot.

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A New Project?! (late summer)

I’ve already been scheming around my next Kickstarter project, and I’m aspiring to launch said project in July–August.

What will that project be? You’ll find out in due course! Keep an eye out for more information nearer the time…

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Trick or Retreat! (21–26 October)

Trick or Retreat returns this October! 

👻 Trick or Retreat 🎃

Weds 21–Mon 26 October 2026
Moira, Derbyshire

Trick or Retreat is best described as ‘a few days of hanging out with gamesy folks doing things like playing board games, going for little walks, doing crafts, and generally having a nice time.'

The atmosphere and activities vary a bit year-to-year, because there's no schedule and attendees so whatever they feel like, but there's always boardgames. I think folks brought 150 different games with them one year!

This'll be the fifth year for the event, and a lot of folks keep coming back, so it must be alright. 

I don't run Trick or Retreat for profit, so the standard £250 ticket gets you access to the event as a whole, a bed to sleep in for five nights, and three meals a day (plus some snacks).

For more information, check out the Trick or Retreat website.

And I think that might be it for now?

Not much to report, really… 🫠

Perhaps I’ll try to send out newsletters slightly more frequently in the future, to avoid this essay-length nonsense. Whether I’ll succeed is another matter entirely, of course.

Until the next time!

Your plate-spinning friend,

Sarah 💜

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P.S. Sorry if there’s any unfinished thoughts/sentences in this newsletter; I’ve written it across three sittings while quite tired and distracted.