ST Forge Event Coverage: UK Games Expo 2024

“Greetings gamers!” That was something I said very often over the past few days. The UK Games Expo was a series of monumental firsts for us as a studio, and myself as a content creator and a human.

A view of Hall 1 - Image by El Horton

UK Games Expo is an exceptional event, the size and scale of which is close to Britain’s answer to GenCon. I had the unique opportunity to represent Storyteller’s Forge at this event, bringing The Black Ballad in its 300+ page hardback goodness to new players. As well as this, our stall had offerings from our good pal John at Biscuit Tin RPG and plenty of fliers to advertise The Mystic Muses DND Podcast.

As we arrived nice and prompt on Thursday, we were met with a sea of people wearing construction vests (or high-visibility jackets, as a proud Brit like me chooses to call them), all putting up the rigging for their huge stands and many seas of shelving units for the mass of board games and other tabletop offerings. Though we were hard at work, every chance we got to rub shoulders with other creators in this immense gathering spot was very welcome. I even enjoyed pretending I worked as a volunteer teacher for some of the more tricky games that I deeply love, on one of my little breaks.

UKGE is an event that truly shows every side of the tabletop gaming business, and everything was there in full force! Our stand was in Hall 2 and was a lot more modest than the seas of tables for taster sessions and TCGs. We had a table and two chairs tucked neatly between a very popular board game publisher and a well-handled stall for a miniature manufacturer and, while I found it quite tricky to engage with every passerby, it was fun to try! So, despite our cool behemoth neighbors, we had many amazing attendees coming over to see us and marvel at The Black Ballad’s beautiful art.

Do you dare to play? - Signage by El Horton

Visitors to our stand were deeply fascinated with The Black Ballad. The richness of the artwork and the quality of the soundtrack was easily grabbing people’s attention. While the convention was at its busiest, it was fun to bring people in by playing games of Purgatory Poker with people who had to barter for their mortal souls.

There was definitely a lot of excitement and aspirations going into this event given its huge size in terms of scale and footfall. It did wonders to get the names of The Black Ballad and Storyteller’s Forge out to a wider market, especially to many new readers and players. The convention was, quite expectantly, a chaotic flurry, but even with that, my loving partner and I had a phenomenal weekend. We talked at length with creators making things in all sorts of spheres in the tabletop gaming business. I caught up with dear friends from Cubicle Seven and Legend Story Studios. We talked with factory owners who make components for games all the way in China, the developers in Tabletop Creator’s Hub, Women Who D&D, and even some high fantasy comic-book artists. UK Games Expo brings creators of every kind together, and they’re quickly becoming my favourite people.

There are a lot of things that we have learned managing an event like this. Knowing our audience and setting our expectations going into any convention is definitely a big part of it, and for my first time working as an exhibitor at a convention, it was definitely a trial by fire. For Storyteller’s Forge’s first time at an event this size in the UK, it put us in good esteem with UK and European movers and shakers, and you can expect to see us a lot more at future UK events!

Behold all the wares! - Image by El Horton