Something is stirring in the Borderlands... Armed with a missive from the Bishopric of Durham empowering them to investigate the calls for help emerging from a village in the Borderlands our team of investigators join forces with a cast of characters from the road to help rid the settlement of whatever evil has befouled it. They soon discover it is much worse than the priest reported... will you prevail?

Blasphemers in the Borderlands' is the opening scenario of 'Unholy Marvels: The Seven Trials of the Guardians of the North' campaign, the debut collaboration for Dicelings, our new collective working in conjunction with the History and Games Lab at The University of Edinburgh, producing fantasy/horror tinged adventures based on actual medieval textual sources and archaeological evidence and their studies to delight and bedevil in equal measure!

Please join us in playtesting this scenario, helping guide us in developing our campaign of medieval malevolent, murder, mayhem and more...

Games Master

ABS programs and produces the Cymera Festival Games strand amongst other things and he is hoping you would like to playtest the adventure he has written called 'Hunt the Gowk!' set in Auld Reekie, running on Liminal the excellent urban fantasy system set in present day UK and ‘The Hidden World’. This is part of the 'Seasons of the Sun' campaign he is creating. He is also showcasing the adventure he has been co-creating with the History & Gemes Lab at Edinburgh University

He can be found at https://morefunwith.games/ or https://bsky.app/profile/abs.ventures or Insta @_A_B_5_ or @ABS@mastodon.social

About the game

Players: 2-5 player

Trigger warnings: Medieval Horror, Medi-evilness, Some dirt and squalor, Poverty, Historical Accuracy, Historical Fantasy, Occult Terror, Bed Bugs, Slurry Pits, Potential Thuggery & Violence, Madness

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System: Call of Cthulhu Dark Ages - Handouts and resources can be found here and a general quick start guide can be sourced here

Oni is a social stealth delve into a mob boss’s derelict ship, inspired by Japanese Oni folklore and mythology. The players will have to act the part of honoured guests from 200 years ago to avoid the attention of ONI, the ship’s hallucinating AI, and the 20 brothers. Can the players escape the notice of ONI long enough to steal the 15 million credits and save the princess? Play to find out!

Games Master

Jamie Heitler is a tabletop roleplaying game designer and writer based in Edinburgh. He’s been obsessed with board games and role-playing games since he stole his first Fighting Fantasy book at the tender age of eight. When he’s not working his day job at the University of Edinburgh, Jamie writes RPG modules. He worries that his massive RPG collection may be contributing to land sinkage on the north side of his tenement block. So he distracts himself from this worry by starting a new project every two weeks. You can find him at https://bsky.app/profile/wind-blown-vagrant.bsky.social

About the game

Players: 2-5 players

Trigger warnings:  Amputation, Alcohol consumption, Multiple personalities, Organised crime, Parental abuse, Suicide, Violence

Age recommendation: 16+

Game System: Mothership

In this adventure, based on an old Scots folk ballad, the player knights have been sent to deal with a fearsome dragon which has taken up residence in a local lord’s lands. Seven knights before them have been slain in an attempt to defeat the wyrm. Will the player knights be able to succeed where others have failed? And is there more to the dragon’s tale than meets the eye?

Games Master

Iain Nisbet

Iain is an experienced GM and has run roleplaying games at Conpulsion, Tabletop Scotland, Airecon and now Cymera! He has also tried writing for role-playing games and in particular enjoys creating adventures for Chaosium's Pendragon RPG based on old folk ballads. These have included "The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline" and "The Adventure of the Loathsome Wyrm and the Machrel of the Sea".

About the game

Players: 2-4 player

Trigger warnings: Some combat. Somewhat gory descriptions of injury. Possible capital punishment. Fire.

Age recommendation: 14+

Game System: Pendragon

Choose a board game you want to play. Feel free to browse and select together from our extensive Board Game Library courtesy of Blackwells Books

Game- TBC - Your choice!

Content Warnings: Game Choice Dependent - Players will have the opportunity to select games to suit

2 to 6 Players (game choice dependent)

We will be asking everyone to use safety tools, at the very minimum the X-card at games played in our space and ask all who join us to familiarise themselves with our code of conduct and other policies to ensure a diverse, accessible and safe space for all.

The Cymera festival is in full swing, but something odd is happening in the games hall. A cry goes out. A storyteller is dead and it can only mean one thing. A demon walks among you. It’s down to a plucky band of attendees to hunt the demon. Will good triumph or will impish evil succeed?   

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game from The Pandemonium Institute. Players are opposing teams of Good and Evil, overseen by a Storyteller. The goal of the game is to successfully deduce and execute the demons before they outnumber the townsfolk. Each player receives a token with their unique character. Good players share information to solve the mystery of who has the demon token, while evil players lie about who they are and what they know. Good wins if they can find and execute the demon during the ‘day’ phase. Evil wins by killing players in the ‘night’ phase, sowing distrust and evading detection until the final two players. 

 Games will be beginner friendly running the Trouble Brewing introductory script.

Trigger warnings 

Death, talk or murder/execution, the game mechanics revolve around deceit and mistrust.

Game- System: https://bloodontheclocktower.com/

Your GM

Fiona Leslie is an Edinburgh-based author. Her first novel, an urban fantasy exploring the history and urban myths of Edinburgh, is currently out on submission, and hopefully, she will have news to report soon! She is also a moderator of the Edinburgh SFF Writers' group and ‌part of a guild of Blood on the Clocktower Storytellers that run games in association with Ancient Robot Games.   

Find her online @biblo_fi/ bibliofi.bsky.social  

Running time: 120 minutes +

Price: from £0

Venue: Munro Room

This event takes place in person. Please note the Munro Room is not wheelchair accessible.

Our crew thought the Mad March Hares were more than enough merriment for one month but then they forgot about April Fool Misrule... can they ride the madcap rollercoaster of Huntigowk Day which has fae, fops and fools alike in an uproar... can they stick the landing....
A playtest of ‘Hunt the Gowk!’ the next scenario of the Seasons of the Sun campaign as our intrepid, arcane adventurers get drawn into a race against time to try to work out why both sides of the Veil seem to be running amok and what this means for them and their burgeoning crew.

Games Master

ABS

ABS programs and produces the Cymera Festival Games strand amongst other things and he is hoping you would like to playtest the adventure he has written called 'Hunt the Gowk!' set in Auld Reekie, running on Liminal the excellent urban fantasy system set in present day UK and ‘The Hidden World’. This is part of the 'Seasons of the Sun' campaign he is creating. He is also showcasing the adventure he has been co-creating with the History & Gemes Lab at Edinburgh University

He can be found at https://morefunwith.games/ or https://bsky.app/profile/abs.ventures or Insta @_A_B_5_ or @ABS@mastodon.social

About the game

Players: 2-5 player

Trigger warnings: Folk Horror, Eldritch Happenings, Modern Life

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System: Liminal - https://modiphius.net/products/liminal-quickstart has a free copy of the Quickstart Guide

What ancient horrors lie slumbering in a newly discovered tomb deep in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings? Are you allowing local superstitions and the unfortunate events surrounding the opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb to play on your mind as you wait to step down into the darkness…

Games Master

Marco Rinaldi is an author and founder and co-host and GM of the actual play and interview TTRPG podcast, Narrative Damage, as well as also hosting the popular writing podcast, Page One - The Writer’s Podcast. Most ‘free’ time he has is spent recording and editing podcasts or prepping new adventures for his players! In between all of that, he tries to write books, and won the Pitch Perfect prize at Bloody Scotland in 2025 with his Lovecraft meets True Detective story set in 19th Century Venice.

Instagram: @marcorinaldiwrites and @narrativedamagerpg

Bluesky: @marcorinaldi.bsky.social and @narrativedamagerpg.bsky.social

www.marcorinaldi.info

https://linktr.ee/narrativedamagerpg

https://www.youtube.com/@narrativedamagerpg

About the game

Players: 2-5 player

Trigger warnings: Horror, Monsters, Enclosed spaces

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System: Call of Cthulhu

Choose a board game you want to play. Feel free to browse and select together from our extensive Board Game Library courtesy of Blackwells Books

Game- TBC - Your choice!

Content Warnings: Game Choice Dependent - Players will have the opportunity to select games to suit

2 to 6 Players (game choice dependent)

We will be asking everyone to use safety tools, at the very minimum the X-card at games played in our space and ask all who join us to familiarise themselves with our code of conduct and other policies to ensure a diverse, accessible and safe space for all.

The Cymera festival is in full swing, but something odd is happening in the games hall. A cry goes out. A storyteller is dead and it can only mean one thing. A demon walks among you. It’s down to a plucky band of attendees to hunt the demon. Will good triumph or will impish evil succeed?   

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game from The Pandemonium Institute. Players are opposing teams of Good and Evil, overseen by a Storyteller. The goal of the game is to successfully deduce and execute the demons before they outnumber the townsfolk. Each player receives a token with their unique character. Good players share information to solve the mystery of who has the demon token, while evil players lie about who they are and what they know. Good wins if they can find and execute the demon during the ‘day’ phase. Evil wins by killing players in the ‘night’ phase, sowing distrust and evading detection until the final two players. 

 Games will be beginner friendly running the Trouble Brewing introductory script.

Trigger warnings 

Death, talk or murder/execution, the game mechanics revolve around deceit and mistrust.

Game- System: https://bloodontheclocktower.com/

Your GM

Fiona Leslie is an Edinburgh-based author. Her first novel, an urban fantasy exploring the history and urban myths of Edinburgh, is currently out on submission, and hopefully, she will have news to report soon! She is also a moderator of the Edinburgh SFF Writers' group and ‌part of a guild of Blood on the Clocktower Storytellers that run games in association with Ancient Robot Games.   

Find her online @biblo_fi/ bibliofi.bsky.social  

Running time: 120 minutes +

Price: from £0

Venue: Munro Room

This event takes place in person. Please note the Munro Room is not wheelchair accessible.

‘Inside the Rookery’ join us live at Cymera as The Rookery host a special of their weekly RPG shindig.

Expect some lively chat and special birds of a feather joining our flock as we take a deep dive or should that be swoop into the ways and wynds of games in the company of our experts.

Hosted by The Rookery’s feathered flock

With special guests Elaine Lithgow and Marco Rinaldi.

Marco Rinaldi is founder and co-host of the popular Page One - The Writer’s Podcast and the actual play and interview TTRPG podcast, Narrative Damage. Most ‘free’ time he has is spent recording and editing podcasts or prepping new adventures for his players! In between all of that, he tries to write books, and won the Pitch Perfect prize at Bloody Scotland in 2025

Elaine Lithgow is an award winning writer and game designer known for her work in the tabletop roleplaying scene. She has over 30 books to her name, including numerous Warhammer Roleplaying Game titles, Dungeons and Dragons setting guides, and Heart: The City Beneath books. She has a special love of worldbuilding and shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

About the event:

Running time: 60 minutes

This event is free to attend but spaces are limited. Arrive early to avoid disappointment.

This event takes place in person and is broadcasted via the Rookery live stream. We will have a QA at the end of the panel, we will take questions from the in person audience and from folks inline via the Cymera or Rookery Discords or social media feeds.

Who are The Rookery?

The Rookery are Andy Law, Andy Leask, Mark Gibbons, and Lindsay Law, four award-winning TTRPG professionals with over a century’s combined experience in the gaming industry. They not only host Inside the Rookery, but also run their own company, Rookery Publications. Out now from Rookery Publications is Dark Deeds a darkly humorous game of skullduggery and suspicion for 2 to 5 players, created by industry veterans Andy Chambers and Mark Gibbons available online via Modiphius or in-person at your FLGS.

Watch their previous livestreams on YouTube and Twitch and support Inside The Rookery on Patreon and find them on Bluesky

The Family is a GMless, diceless reverse horror rpg (slated for release soon) where players embody the conspiracy of villains at the heart of a horror or thriller movie ranging from The Wicker Man to Society to Hot Fuzz. The perfidious "Protagonist" has arrived on your property, and over a three-act structure players must thwart their intrusions, their investigations, and their eventual attempts to ESCAPE, EXPOSE or EXPUNGE the Family.

Games Master

Alexa MacBett is the creator of The Family. She ran her first RPG at the age of 19 and hasn't stopped since. You can find her running games at several conventions and festivals throughout the year and also at @clevercrumbi.sh on Bluesky

About the game

Players: 3-4 player

Trigger warnings: Sympathetic portrayal of violent villainy, and for group victimisation of a fictitious person

Age recommendation: 12+

Choose a board game you want to play. Feel free to browse and select together from our extensive Board Game Library courtesy of Blackwells Books

Game- TBC - Your choice!

Content Warnings: Game Choice Dependent - Players will have the opportunity to select games to suit

2 to 6 Players (game choice dependent)

We will be asking everyone to use safety tools, at the very minimum the X-card at games played in our space and ask all who join us to familiarise themselves with our code of conduct and other policies to ensure a diverse, accessible and safe space for all.

On a quiet night in the Prancing Pony, the companions are approached by a mysterious adventurer promising riches for anyone who can help him claim them!

Games Master

Morgan Edmonds

Morgan has been running roleplaying games for over a decade now and has no intention of stopping. He’s one of the managers of Ancient Robot Games and this gives him the pleasure of constantly discovering awesome new roleplaying games regularly. He’s bought way too many and is futilely trying to catch up with his back log.

About the game

Players: 2-5 players

Trigger warnings: Veiled violence against children, kidnapping, possible gore

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System:The One Ring

An expedition from the Royal Academy of Carris travels to the abandoned fortress-island of Rathen, scarred by war and thaumatic devastation, to assist the naturalists studying its strange and hostile conditions. The Crown has expressed a keen interest in reclaiming the island, and the eye of the Temple Draconis remains ever watchful. What secrets will the scholars uncover?

Games Master

Alex McGivern is a videogame developer and TRPG designer whose credits include Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer, the adventure game Gatefold, the narrative authoring system Folia, and the upcoming dungeon-RPG The Black Tower; and who is currently acting as a referee for Vanitera 451, a large-scale real-time wargame based on Cataphract by Sam Sorensen.

About the game

Players: 3-4 player

Trigger warnings: Fantasy religious themes, some horror. Some familiarity with at least one other RPG is recommended.

Age recommendation: 16+

Game System: Draconis

In Dark Deeds, players are cast as malicious minions in service to a powerful, mysterious, and clearly villainous Patron. In the service of this dark power, minions must perform acts of thievery, violence, and betrayal, all whilst avoiding suspicious authorities, interfering do-gooders, and the machinations of their rivals. Rich rewards await the most successful minion, alongside horrific punishments for those who fail. https://www.rookerypublications.com/darkdeeds

Games Master

Rookery Publications

About the game

Running time: 60 minutes

Players: 2-5 players

Trigger warnings: Mild Horror and Peril, acts of thievery, violence, and betrayal

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System: Dark Deeds is a darkly humorous card game of skullduggery and suspicion

A planetary surveying mission has been out of contact beyond its planned communication cycle, and has been unresponsive to automated jump drones.

Your ship, the Resupply vessel Seventh Sea, is the nearest ship with sufficient resources to provide medical and security assistance.

Safe recovery of Company assets is imperative. The Company will pay well for speedy and successful conclusion to the mission, if not, no bonus for you! 

Games Master

Andy Carey has been playing and running games since the Dark Ages of the 1980's, and can wax lyrical on the glory days of White Dwarf and Games Workshop, prior to the Warhammer hegemony!
Enthusiastic on playing old games in new ways, he's a big fan of indie games that play with the classic SF & Fantasy tropes. 

About the game

Players: 3-5 players

Trigger warnings: Cosmic horror, body horror, sudden death, mystery

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System: Mothership

On a quiet night in the Prancing Pony, the companions are approached by a mysterious adventurer promising riches for anyone who can help him claim them!

Games Master

Morgan Edmonds

Morgan Edmonds has been running roleplaying games for over a decade now and has no intention of stopping. He’s one of the managers of Ancient Robot Games and this gives him the pleasure of constantly discovering awesome new roleplaying games regularly. He’s bought way too many and is futilely trying to catch up with his back log.

About the game

Players: 2-5 players

Trigger warnings: Veiled violence against children, kidnapping, possible gore

Age recommendation: 12+

Game System:The One Ring

Choose a board game you want to play. Feel free to browse and select together from our extensive Board Game Library courtesy of Blackwells Books

Game- TBC - Your choice!

Content Warnings: Game Choice Dependent - Players will have the opportunity to select games to suit

2 to 6 Players (game choice dependent)

We will be asking everyone to use safety tools, at the very minimum the X-card at games played in our space and ask all who join us to familiarise themselves with our code of conduct and other policies to ensure a diverse, accessible and safe space for all.

Join Narrative Damage for a spooky live play Call of Cthulhu adventure especially written for Cymera, called 'Under A Yellow Moon'. Set in 1890s Edinburgh, it features some of your favourite authors as the investigators.

When a visiting professor from Miskatonic University turns up dead, a motley group of investigators are put into a race against time to find his killer. Why was he murdered? And what happened to the manuscript he brought with him? Join our players (all authors attending Cymera!) as they attempt to follow the clues, uncover dark secrets - or go mad trying!

Narrative Damage is an actual play and interview TTRPG podcast where writers put down the pens and let the dice tell the story. For this adventure our Keeper is Marco Rinaldi, co-host of Narrative Damage. Connect to Marco on Bluesky and Instagram

Our intrepid cast are:

• Annabel Campbell @annabelcwrites.bsky.social on Bluesky and @annabelcwrites on Instagram    

• Ben Anning - @benedictanning.bsky.social on Bluesky    

• Dave Goodman @davegoodman.bsky.social on Bluesky and @davegoodmanauthor on Instagram

• Ian Green - @ianthegreen.bsky.social on Bluesky and @ianiangreen on Instagram

• Nick Binge @bingewriting.bsky.social on Bluesky and @nickbinge on Instagram

Follow Narrative Damage on Instagram and Bluesky and watch on YouTube or listen on your favourite podcast app.

About the event

Venue: Highland Room/Games space

Running time: 180 minutes

This event is free, no ticket required