MuppetMeet 2026
Join us and a host of fantastic guest speakers on the evening before Dragonmeet (Friday 27th Nov 2026) for an evening of TTRPG industry networking and knowledge sharing.
This event is completely FREE but be sure to grab a ticket to get entrance.
What's On?
Whether you’re just getting started or an industry veteran, MuppetMeet 2026 will have something for you.
Our main room will serve as a dedicated, no-alcohol, networking space and is open throughout the evening with optional networking workshops.
There are two tracks of seminars occurring over the evening: the Business Track and the Creative Track. Each aims to provide specific and useful information no matter your focus within the industry.
We're also hosting two "Spotlight" presentations, featuring the Tabletop Industry Network (TIN) and the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). When those talks are not ongoing, the space will serve as a second casual low volume networking space.
Business Track
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18:30-19:15: Breaking Into American Retail: Collateral and Communication for US Distribution
with Zach Cox, Founder/Director of SoulMuppet Publishing
Margins are good but volume is better. In 2025, Zach decided the best way to get SoulMuppet into the big leagues and away from the vice of twice-yearly crowdfunding campaigns was to break into the US game store market. Join this keynote talk for a breakdown of how to get into Big Distro, why GAMA is the industry’s most important show, and how to prepare your business to get your products in front of peoples’ eyes at a scale you’ve never seen before.
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19:30-20:15: A to B: Getting Games Where They’re Supposed To Be
Moderated by Zach Cox, with Alex Levene, Laura Gaworska and Eryk Sawicki.
It's been a hell of a year for organising anything related to logistics. Wars, tariffs, surging fuel prices, blockades, and constant waves of new regulation have given the industry’s various ops, supply chain and logistics staff (as well as anyone running a one-person shop) no shortage of splitting headaches. Along with a paracetamol and a nice cold glass of water, Muppetmeet has assembled a panel of charming, well-natured logistics professionals to break it all down, give you some sound advice and tell you it’s going to be alright.
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20:30-21:15: Getting Your Game Seen: Working with Reviewers, Press and Actual Play
Moderated by Liv Kennedy, with Chase Taylor-Carter, Mollie Russel, and Zack Fortis-Gomme.
You’ve worked tirelessly and made something beautiful, the game sits waiting to be played, but how do you share your creation with the world? Word of mouth is the most powerful tool on any marketers shelf, but shouting from the rooftops will only get you so far. For this panel, MuppetMeet brings together a range of reviewers, journalists and content creators to explore the world of finding other people to help get the word out and professionalising your communications function.
Creative Track
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18:30-19:15: Games As Art: Exploring the crossover between Tabletop Games and Contemporary Art
Moderated by Chase Taylor-Carter, with Angela Washko, David Blandy, Wingshan, and Samuel Clarice Mui Soon.
As creatives the things we sell are products, but the things we make are art, right? Everyone wants something different, and the more that line blurs, the more challenging the competing needs become. For this panel, Muppetmeet invites a collection of interdisciplinary working artists, who ground their work in not only the tabletop games scene, but also in the bewildering and equally fantastical world of galleries, exhibits, museum, academia, and (perhaps most dreaded of all) Arts Council Funding.
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19:30-20:15: Actual Play vs Actual Value: Making an Actual Play Designers Want to Pay Money For
Moderated by Jess Jewell, with Michelle Kelly, Zack Fortais-Gomme, Matt Risby and Drakoniques
The theory: you pay a group of folks, they play your game, the internet sees it, sales go boom.
Seems simple... so why doesn't it always work like that? When used right, sponsored Actual Play is an invaluable tool in your marketing arsenal, but there are so many common pitfalls publishers and producers can fall into when it comes to the question of 'value'. Jess Jewell of 12 Sided Studios has gathered some of the most experienced, diligent, and gorgeous creative professionals to share some insights and give you a breakdown of the hidden values of Actual Play in your market.
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20:30-21:15: Art Direction 101: The conversation between writers, designers and artists
with Mol Joule, Johnathan Sims, Johan Nohr, Riot Bones and Toby Fox Drew.
“A picture tells a thousand words” is the common phrase, but no artist wants a 1000 word pitch per piece. So what are the best ways to bring a vision to life? MuppetMeet brings together a panel of artists and art directors to help you understand the world of Art Direction, from your words to their brush and everything in between.
Spotlights
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18:30-19:15: Tabletop Industry Network (TIN) Spotlight
with Mikhail
Learn about the networking and knowledge-sharing organisation for the UK tabletop gaming industry in this talk from the Tabletop Industry Network (TIN).
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20:30-21:15: IWGB Spotlight: Why You Should Join A Union
with Ben Newbon and David Chapman.
Did you know that there is a Union in the UK specifically for tabletop game workers? This talk provides an introduction to the IWGB Game Workers’ Union’s Tabletop branch and highlights the benefits and support you can receive by joining, and what they hope to achieve in the coming months.
FAQs
Where and when?
6pm - 10pm at the Excel Centre London
Do I need a ticket?
YES! Tickets are FREE but please grab a ticket from the Dragonmeet website: https://dragonmeet.co.uk/tickets
Should I bring anything?
A wad of business cards, a way of taking notes, and a healthy dose of enthusiasm!
Breaks and timings
There's a roughly 15 minute buffer built into every step of the schedule to let folks filter in and out of rooms and account for any sessions running over.
I have an issue - who do I talk to?
Any member of the SoulMuppet team can help. We'll introduce ourselves at the start of the event, but here's a few identifying features so you can spot us in the crowd:
- Mol: elf ears, short blond hair.
- Zach: wizard's hat, too much very dark hair.
Accessibility
The venue is physically accessible with lifts.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a BSL interpreter.
The talks and panels will be recorded and uploaded at a later date.
If you have any accessibility requirements or questions please get in contact with mol@soulmuppet.co.uk
Where can I provide feedback?
Shoot all questions and bits of feedback to info@soulmuppet.co.uk and we'll make sure one of us gets back to you.
About Our Speakers
Zachary Cox is the JellyMuppet (they/them) and serves as the Director of SoulMuppet Publishing. They are the moon-obsessed creator of Paint The Town Red, Inevitable and Best Left Buried, and one of the co-creators of Orbital Blues and Doomspiral. Zach is a seasoned RPG creator and producer, who makes ideas into books. They dabble in everything from printing, distribution and product and project management.
Chase Taylor-Carter (he/him) is a journalist and critic currently living on the south coast of the UK but originally hailing from the Lone Star State. He's known for co-founding Rascal News, a worker-owned website where he currently covers analog games and their attending industries and online spaces. Previously, he worked as a news reporter for Dicebreaker and wrote about video games as a freelance writer.
Angela Washko (she/her) is a media artist, game designer, and filmmaker who creates new forums for discussions about intersectional feminism. She is the Catherine B. Heller Professor of Art and MFA Program Director at the University of Michigan where she directs the Roleplaying Realities Lab.
David Blandy is an artist who makes videos, installations, videogames and TTRPGs. Author of games including Eco Mofos!!, Lost Eons, Babel and The Strain, he co-runs Copy/Paste Co-op, publishing first and third-party games and adventures. As part of Dying Earth Catalogue, he helped arrange an exhibition looking at art and TTRPGs for Bonington Gallery, Nottingham in 2025.
Wingshan (she/her) is an artist, curator and games designer working across contemporary art, tabletop gaming, ritual and world-building. She is the founder of Twisted Spire, creating games shaped by folklore, fantasy and meaningful play, and runs Warp Miniatures, an independent miniatures company and tabletop games studio, alongside her husband Alex. Her work has taken her from galleries and arts organisations including Tate Britain, Nottingham Contemporary, Wysing Arts Centre and Freelands Foundation to the wider tabletop games industry. Her tabletop roleplaying ritual Sirens’ Oath: Tides Turning was recently performed at Tate Britain, bringing miniature gaming, live performance and collective storytelling into the gallery.
Samuel Clarice Mui Soon (he/any) is a London-based artist, game designer, & special needs support worker exploring interdisciplinary applications of tabletop roleplaying games; from creative health, to decolonial anthropology & cultural studies, to experimental poetry. His practice is founded on an unshakeable belief in the power of TTRPGs to enable players in critically exploring (and ultimately transforming) their relationships with their own lived experiences. Notable works of his include Horse Girl, a solo journaling game where you play a woman who consents to be surgically and mentally transformed into a horse, and The Enlightened Alain Cooke, an adventure about dark enlightenment for Hollows by Rowan, Rook, and Decard.
Alex Levene (he/him) is Rowan, Rook and Decard’s logistics expert. Thanks to him, enormous quantities of books find their way into the hands of players all around the world. He combines his operational experience with a love of fiction and storytelling.
Laura Gaworska (she/her) is Peregrine Coast Press’ battleaxe - Joining us 'for a few weeks' in 2025 to impose some structure to the warehouse and somehow never leaving. You will now likely encounter her if your query involves spreadsheets, logistics, or counting things. Laura has made an accidental career of moving things (mostly) made of paper from one place to another, including stints at Waterstones, Random House Lush, Dowsing & Reynolds, Kikki K, and Amazon. On her days off, she’s an internationally renowned choral singer, sword fighter, LARPer, and DIY queer.
Eryk Sawicki (he/him) is film school graduate on a permanent side quest. After doing time in UK tech startups, Eryk was fired for union organising and, in turn, spent a short while working as a union organiser in the UK videogame industry where he oversaw the first UK games industry union recognition in history at ZA/UM. He now runs Peregrine Coast Press, the UK's hub for independently produced tabletop roleplaying games, sat on the board of the UK Tabletop Industry Network, and knows more about international import/export logistics than any arts graduate should. His upcoming tabletop RPG, Milk Bar, is about Polish sci-fi Communists.
Liv Kennedy (she/her) is a UK-based tabletop performer, presenter, producer and Game Master best known as a host of the award-winning Three Black Halflings podcast. A familiar face in the Actual Play scene, Liv has appeared in projects with Oxventure, No Rolls Barred and other leading tabletop creators. Passionate about storytelling, chaotic roleplay and inclusive gaming, she hopes to champion making tabletop spaces welcoming for everyone.
Mollie Russell (she/her) is editor of the tabletop gaming website Wargamer, and she's been writing for the site since 2022. When she's not writing about board games, RPGs, TCGs, and the occasional wargame, she publishes the occasional video game article, or poem about movie monsters.
Zack Fortis-Gomme (he/him) is an actual play producer for 12 Sided Studios, working both in front of and behind the camera. He has worked with large and small publishers from around the world, including Free League, Wizards of the Coast, Modiphius, Mongoose Publishing, and Snowbright Studios to create entertaining and educational actual play.
Jess Jewell (any pronouns) is a producer and performer for 12 Sided Studios. They have produced Actual Play and promotional tabletop projects with brands such as Red Bull, Critical Role, WOTC, Brotherwise Games, Fandom, Modiphius, MCDM and more.
Michelle Kelly (she/her) is an actual play performer and producer for EUphoria Actual Play. She has worked with publishers such as SoulMuppet, Rowan, Rook and Decard, and Evil Hat to create promotional actual play one-shots showcasing their games.
Matt Risby (he/him) is the creator and host of The Bad Spot YouTube Channel, where he plays, talks and celebrates games with a focus on the indie TTRPG scene, including his multicampaign Actual Play collaboration with The Gauntlet.
Drakoniques (he/they) is a Black British TTRPG content creator specialising in actual play production, streaming/performing, and tabletop game design. He has written for Paizo, Cubicle 7, and many others, as well as produced and performed in several award-nominated actual plays, including Beyond the Brook and My First Dungeon: Orbital Blues.
Mol Joule (they/them) is SoulMuppet’s Events and Marketing Manager so you can often find them in their froggy hoodie hunched over making silly posts on bsky or running convention stands and other awesome events. Outside of SoulMuppet, Mol also makes and designs TTRPGs and a wide range of multimedia art @molomoot.
Jonathan Sims (he/him) is a games designer, author and VA. He is one half of TTRPG duo MacGuffin & Co., along with Sasha Sienna, who have put out such games as the award-winning micro-setting collection Odd Jobs.
Riotbones (they/them) is a queer Filipino illustrator and comic artist with a passion for all things haunting, dark, and tender. They have worked in comic books and TTRPGs with clients such as SoulMuppet Publishing, Dark Horse Comics, Lost in Cult, and DANGEN Entertainment. Their debut graphic novel Strange Cases, a gothic horror-legal drama set in an alternate universe 19th-century colonial Philippines, was published by Andrews McMeel.
Johan Nohr (he/him) is a visual artist, graphic designer and all-round nerd mainly drawing skulls and making games in the Swedish cold.
Toby Fox Drew (he/him) has worked as an illustrator in the role-playing game space for over 7 years, as well as in academia and arts education. When he's not drawing for work, he's drawing for fun. Toby can also be found exploring the south coast of England, baking, or lost in second-hand book shops.
Mikhail Malkin (he/him) is an illustrator, LARPer, method Dungeon Master, Planescape enthusiast and voice actor. He is one of the Directors of the Tabletop Industry Network.
Ben Newbon (he/they) is the Vice Chair, IWGB Game Workers’ Union, with 12 years working in videogames from consulting with Unity to being falsely labelled a saboteur by Build A Rocket Boy’s Leslie Benzies, to creating his own tabletop games the last 8 years, producing an actual play podcast and performing on a multitude of livestreamed games, Ben has a wide and varied experience base.
David F Chapman (he/him) is the current Tabletop Officer for IWGB Game Workers’ Union, with over 25 years of experience in the games industry, working on games such as Conspiracy X, Star Trek Adventures, The Laundry, and Doctor Who, and creating the #RPGaDAY initiative to get people talking in a positive way about tabletop roleplaying games.
Liv Kennedy (she/her) is a UK-based tabletop performer, presenter, producer and Game Master best known as a host of the award-winning Three Black Halflings podcast. A familiar face in the Actual Play scene, Liv has appeared in projects with Oxventure, No Rolls Barred and other leading tabletop creators. Passionate about storytelling, chaotic roleplay and inclusive gaming, she hopes to champion making tabletop spaces welcoming for everyone.