This has been a huge summer for the Lore Link team. Not only was the team’s tabletop role-playing game campaign management tool released to the public, but it was summer convention season! The team attended two cons, one with a booth in the exhibit hall, and one as panelists and gamemasters.
First, the team packed up their gear and made the trek to Columbus, Ohio, for the 50th Origins Game Fair, which took place from June 18th to the 22nd. The team, consisting of Mark, Mike, Emily, and Tony, was incredibly excited to be at the front of the convention hall this year, with a corner booth. That visibility, combined with an amazing banner at the escalator, made for a busy weekend. It was the first event where Lore Link was readily available, and the team talked to a lot of fantastic people about using the software for their games, using it for their world-building for books, and even using it for educational purposes. The days of the convention were filled with those conversations, while the evenings were spent playing games, including some Magic: The Gathering, the Fallout board game, and even some Pokémon Go. They also came home with some new games, like Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition, which Tony will be streaming in September, or Blue Rose from Green Ronin, which Mark will probably stream sometime in the future.. The team had a great time and is looking forward to being a part of the 51st Origins Game Fair.
July was spent making sure all of the new users for Lore Link are being taken care of while continuing to make improvements to the system. The team continued their streams on Twitch and their posts on BlueSky as they prepared for Gen Con at the beginning of August.
Gen Con is in Lore Link’s backyard, so even though we didn’t get a table this year, it wasn’t hard to have a presence. Mark and Mike spent Thursday afternoon talking to attendees about “What to Do Before Your First Session as a GM,” helping rookie GMs realize there’s more to getting the game together than pizza and Mountain Dew. Then on Friday, Mike ran two sessions of the Pendragon game that he’s done on stream, and on Sunday, he ran a session of The One Ring, which he’s also done on stream. They also had the opportunity to meet with people about Lore Link, and Mark took the opportunity to pick up both Starfinder 2E, which the Lore Link Players are already looking forward to playing again, and Subversion, which is a cyberpunk fantasy indie game.
Unless the crew gets lucky with PAX Unplugged, Gen Con will probably be the last convention for 2025. They’re already looking forward to 2026 and the conventions they’re hoping to attend. They are looking to attend Origins and Who’s Yer Con again, plan to return to Gen Con as exhibitors, and are also considering attending additional shows. In the meantime, though, they’re spending the rest of the summer in the air conditioning, away from the crowded vendor halls, and continuing to make Lore Link a great tool for GMs, DMs, Storytellers, and all types of game runners.
