Tabletop Scotland 2025 Retrospective: Lessons Learned as Indie TTRPG Exhibitors

As relative newcomers to the tabletop convention scene, we always like to reflect back on our recent experiences and pick out some key bits that might help other aspiring exhibitors. Having UKGE be our first show was certainly a trial by fire, but we did that somewhat intentionally as the lessons we could learn about how to run a stand, how to publicise and advertise our game, and ultimately about how the game plays, we magnified several times over what we would experience at other, smaller conventions around the UK.

That said, how would the value of attending a comparatively smaller convention, with a geographically more diverse demographic, compare to our initial foray into the crazy world of games conventions.

With a unique attendee list of around 1/10th of those that passed through the gates of the NEC would it still be a worthwhile endeavour for small independents with a limited budget?

While I won’t go into the same level of detail as I did for the UKGE retro I still think it is worth picking out some themes and describing the noticeable similarities and differences across the two.

Cost effective?

We have yet to set a goal of ‘profit’ on any convention, given the relative early stage of our games maturity and ‘value’ of our product right now I doubt we could ever hope to do that. However, we optimistically hope to at least cover the price of our attendance from a purely £ per square metre point of view. Accommodation, food, and fuel would be a bonus but unlikely due to the constraints mentioned above. At UKGE we just about covered the price of admission and considering that it is considerably more expensive to have a stand there than any other convention in the UK that is no bad thing. Tabletop Scotland, however, not only covered its own back, but then went on to cover the vast majority of our accommodation cost too!

Some of that will be down to refined selling techniques and sales patter, some more will be due to revised pricing structures and in the implementation of ‘deals’ for upselling opportunities but I’d like to think that our way of describing the unique elements of our game was a key factor in increasing the appeal of our system to interested potential customers.

Quality over quantity?

What made TTS so successful for us over the sheer footfall of UKGE? In my opinion it was the amount of quality interaction we were able to have with our new friends. UKGE is a mad churn of people moving from stand to stand and rarely do they get a chance to revisit somewhere that caught their eye but didn’t stick in their memory enough to fight through the crowds to return. There is a lot of competition and smaller independents will find themselves overlooked in favour of the more established offerings with deep enough pockets to flaunt their success (I’m not bitter, I promise… just jealous and can’t wait to get to that point!). Being able to spend more time with each interested person or group, as well as being easily heard in the quieter, less packed, hall was instrumental in turning opportunity into profit and while that isn’t what it is about for us (right now) it certainly helps justify attending conventions in the future. Being able to share our vision and see how it resonates with our growing community is the true gold in those hills. Fine tuning the unique selling points into core mechanics based on feedback and actual play experience all leads to a better end product that, when we finally launch on Kickstarter, makes for a much more appealing and distinct offering for the gaming community.

As a result we are pumped to look ahead to other conventions across the UK, regardless of footfall expectations. All being well you can expect to see us at AireCon next March, with annual unique visitors around 1/4th that of UKGE, it should be a blast… and the fact that it is just up the road from me is no bad thing either!

Final thoughts.

All in all, would we do TTS again? Absolutely, not only are the people of Scotland amazing, but the organisers work tirelessly to make it a positive and rewarding experience for the exhibitors and attendees. Also helps that the country is absolutely beautiful, even if you only get to see it on the drive through before spending all day in a warehouse next to the airport 😂

We’d like to thank the awesome Tabletop Scotland team for making us feel welcome and putting on a fantastic event. We’d also like to thank everyone who stopped by to say hello, new friends and old, all of those who played a game (or two!) with us over the weekend, and our fellow exhibitors who are fast becoming family forged in the fire of commerce… ok, a bit dramatic, but you know what I mean!