York Board Games Convention

Kids in the Autumn Realm

GM: Ed Jollyboat | System: Lost in the Autumn Realm

You’re a gang of 1980s kids - you ride bikes, dare each other to eat bugs, and play Dungeons & Dragons. But today, taking a strange path home through the woods, you have slipped into another world, where the fantasy is all too real. What will you learn about yourself?

Tags: Beginner friendly, Family Friendly Content notice: Magical Realism, Coming of age, Story-first, Character Growth

Content notice: Enclosed spaces, gore, violence, supernatural horror, raiding of other people's culture under the pretext of archaeology.

Safety tools: X Card, Regular Check-Ins Systematically

Character creation: Build at the table (rules light)

The Necropolis

GM: The Tall Tom | System: Call of Cthulhu 7e

November 26th, 1924. You have been working tirelessly with shovel, spade, and trowel in the Egyptian Valley of Kings. The sun beats down upon you as you carefully unveil the façade of an ancient structure cut deep into a cliff face, buried by the sands of several millennia. You stand proudly at the top of thirteen steps that descend to an entryway covered by a large stone slab...
From Chaosium’s Gateways to Terror comes this short introductory scenario, perfect for your first game of Call of Cthulhu (or for old hands who haven’t had the experience of Egyptian tomb robbing yet...)

Tags: Mature themes; Beginner Friendly; Player v player

Content notice: Enclosed spaces, gore, violence, supernatural horror, raiding of other people's culture under the pretext of archaeology.

Safety tools: X Card; Lines, Veils, Ask

Character creation: Pre-generated characters

Life and Soul

GM: Matt Taylor | System: SPIRE

Infiltrate the birthday celebration of Mr Winters, a prominent Red Row gun runner and gangster, and kill him. He's been secretly selling weapons on the cheap to the Paladins and the City Guard, and the Ministry can't keep up with the arms race. Don't make it look like an accident, we're sending a message to anyone who considers siding with our oppressors.

Tags: Mature themes; Beginner friendly

Content notice: Language

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Delivering the Goods

GM: Owlbear | System: D&D 5e

One off adventure!
A group of adventurers is recruited to help deliver some vital goods to an unknown, underground location… Expect Goonies-style thrills, spills and shocks as you venture into the old mining tunnels.

Tags: Beginner friendly; Family friendly

Content notice: Rule of cool; Play aids

Safety tools: Lines, Veils, Ask

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

The Clockwork Chateau

GM: Jack Tindle | System: D&D 5e

A prominent heiress has gone missing in broad daylight, the only clue to her whereabouts: a puzzle cube of impossible design left behind in her room. What begins as a simple missing persons job will soon take our party into the bowels of an impossible manor, left behind by a forgotten visionary. Will your characters be able to escape the impossible clockwork labyrinth, or will you be lost forever in its endlessly shifting halls?
The Clockwork Château is a mystery-themed D&D 5E adventure ideal for new or returning players, offering a mix of investigation, combat, and exploration, where problem solving and lateral thinking will be key to success.

Tags: Beginner friendly; Family friendly

Content notice: While on the whole family-friendly, mild warnings for: Discussions of Kidnapping, Moderate Violence, Depictions of Distress

Safety tools: X Card; Lines, Veils, Ask

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

The Sunset Wanderers

GM: Ed Jollyboat | System: Lost in the Autumn Realm

Life in a senior’s home is routine and predictable, but you won't let them extinguish the spark in your soul. At nightfall, your little club of elderly terrors sneaks off to the woods to rekindle the spark of living. But tonight, while revelling, you have slipped into another world - a magical woodland which has something to teach you about yourself.

Tags: Beginner friendly, Family Friendly

Content notice: Magical Realism, Reflections on old age and life, Story-first, Character Growth.

Safety tools: X Card, Regular Check-Ins Systematically

Character gen: Build at the table (rules light)

Crush Depth

GM: Matt Taylor | System: Mothership 1e

Crush Mare is a maximum security prison located deep beneath Titan's methane sea. The worst criminals in the sector are kept here. Now you have to break 2 of them out. A massive quake has just hit the prison, threatening to sink the whole facility. It might be a coincidence, it might have been intentional, but now the inmates are rioting, the place is falling apart and you're going to need to find some way to escape...

Tags: Language

Content notice: Beginner friendly

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Build at the table

Trainkill

GM: Jack Tindle | System: HEART

"You are in a subway car. You are 8 miles underground. You are knee-deep in sewage water when you see the nightmare...In times like this, it’s good to reflect on where it all went wrong."
In Trainkill, players assume the role of profoundly strange and uncanny Delvers, willing to risk life, limb, and sanity for a glimpse at the Terminus Point, the place beneath the earth where the ancient and occult subway lines of the Vermissian intersect, and where the last train ever to run on these cursed lines still travels.

Tags: Mature themes; Conflicting agenda

Content notice: Depictions of mental illness, explicit violence, Blood & Gore, Body Horror

Safety tools: X Card; Lines, Veils, Ask; Script Change

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Abduction at the Red Falcon Inn

GM: Owlbear | System: D&D 5e

Colin (DM Owlbear) presents a mystery/chase adventure with all sorts of obstacles along the way. Expect adventuring across the countryside as you piece together the mysterious kidnapping... This adventure is supported by ready made characters for you to adopt, with everything you need provided so you can just jump in and play!A loose sequel to the Adventure: Delivering the Goods (but you don’t need to have played it).

Tags: Beginner friendly

Content notice: Rule of Cool; Unique monsters

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Witch Hunt

GM: El Miles | System: 'til it kills us

Magic came to this world ten years ago, and when it did, it threw England into chaos. Magic users – witches – are hunted, forced to hide and flee their homes in order to escape the witch trials that now plague every town and village. In Wichtley, where our story takes place, there are five such witches. Five magic users, upon whom suspicion is slowly beginning to turn.
But the witches are being hunted from all sides, as terrifying monsters stalk the woods outside the village. Running is no longer an option, when even one step into the trees leads to death.
How will the witches escape the accusations against them? What are the monsters in the woods? And how long will it take, before they begin to turn on each other to survive?
‘til it kills us (v0.4) is an urban dark fantasy system, focused on narratives of queer liberation, mental health struggles, and the way those can conflict. To survive, your characters will need to combine dice pools and work together, but the magic and the village would rather see the opposite. A happy ending for your character is not guaranteed.

Tags: Mature themes; Beginner friendly; Conflicting agenda

Content notice: Discrimination, body horror, fantasy violence, references to mental illness, NPC death, risk of PC death

Safety tools: X Card; Lines, Veils, Ask

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Sexy Battle Wizards

GM: Grant Howitt | System: Sexy Battle Wizards

You are a member of the College Errant - an organisation based in a magical flying castle that roves the land looking to avert arcane disasters and fight injustice. You have precisely zero authority to do this, the cops hate you, and you are wanted in several countries for collateral damage caused whilst saving the world.

Tags: Mature themes; Beginner friendly

Content notice: Sexy; Battle; Wizards

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Build at the table

Operation Nosferatu

GM: Jack Tindle | System: Eat the Reich

It is 1943, and Paris is firmly under the boot of its Nazi occupiers. Amid the throngs of war, Allied intelligence receives word that the newest brainchild of the Nazi Occult-Scientist division; the Werwulf Programme, is nearing completion. Should the Reich be allowed to complete this scheme, the tide of the war could change forever.
The solution: Vampires.
In Eat the Reich, players take on the role of Vampires from F.A.N.G, the secret allied special division of supernatural fighters with one goal: drink all of Hitler’s blood.

Tags: Mature themes; Beginner friendly

Content notice: Graphic or explicit violence, References to Nazism, Blood and Gore

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Crash Pandas

GM: Grant Howitt | System: Crash Pandas

You're a bunch of raccoons, all trying to drive the same car, looking to make their names in the dangerous world of LA street racing. Driving is handled with a blind-bidding system that could see you all try to turn right at the same time and smash the car into a wall.

Tags: Beginner friendly; Family friendly

Content notice: Driving; Crashing; Raccoons

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Build at the table

Too Many Heads! A Pirate Adventure

GM: Owlbear | System: D&D 5e

Join us at the helm of the galleon Full Moon, playing as the new pirate crew of a less than inspiring captain - who nonetheless has an uncanny nose for gold!
Can you retrieve long lost treasure and maybe save a doomed romance? A not too serious bout of D&D adventure on the high seas, with pirates, parrots, ghosts and way too many heads….This adventure is supported by a cast of ready made pirates for you to adopt, with everything you need provided so you can just jump in and play!

Tags: Beginner friendly

Content notice: Rule of cool; Unique monsters; Minis

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Honey Heist

GM: The Tall Tom | System: Honey Heist

It’s Honeycon 2026. You are going to undertake the greatest heist the world has ever seen. Two Things – One: You have a complex plan that requires precise timing. Two: You are a GODDAMN BEAR. Come play Grant Howitt's legendary one page TTRPG! You have one stat and a random hat, I as GM do no prep, we roll some dice and see what happens. Bring your imagination, two actual physical d6s and an open mind.

Tags: Beginner friendly

Content notice: Bears

Safety tools: X Card; Lines, Veils, Ask

Character gen: Build at the table

Administrative Carnage

GM: Grant Howitt | System: Administrative Carnage

YOU are a luckless administrative assistant to a Space Marine – an immortal giant, a genetically-engineered weapon, whose wrath is legendary and to whom collateral damage is a fair and just sacrifice upon the altar of the Galactic Commonwealth. Can you help out with The War and survive long enough to secure a promotion into a cushy desk job?

Tags: Beginner friendly

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Build at the table

Abduction at the Red Falcon Inn

GM: Owlbear | System: D&D 5e

Colin (DM Owlbear) presents a mystery/chase adventure with all sorts of obstacles along the way. Expect adventuring across the countryside as you piece together the mysterious kidnapping... This adventure is supported by ready made characters for you to adopt, with everything you need provided so you can just jump in and play!A loose sequel to the Adventure: Delivering the Goods (but you don’t need to have played it).

Tags: Beginner friendly

Content notice: Rule of Cool; Unique monsters

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Pre-generated characters

Year of the Rat

GM: Jack Tindle | System: Mothership 1e

The lost casino ship Year of the Rat has reappeared in the void, and you have been sent to retrieve its black box with the promise of salvage. With a potential jackpot, will you get a lucky streak, or end up paying the ultimate price for your greed?

Tags: Mature themes; Beginner friendly

Content notice: Body Horror, Depictions of mental illness, Explicit violence, Drug and alcohol abuse, Graphic/Disturbing Imagery

Safety tools: X Card; Script Change

Character gen: Build at the table

Jason Statham's Big Vacation

GM: Grant Howitt | System: Jason Statham's Big Vacation

Can YOU make sure international superstar Jason Statham has a nice holiday, despite the efforts of the WESLEY SNIPER? Will he end up bored, arrested, sad or dead? Find out in JASON STATHAM’S BIG VACATION.

Tags: Beginner friendly; Mature themes

Safety tools: X Card

Character gen: Build at the table