A giant hello and some big welcome hugs from us as yet another issue of Tabletop SPIRIT Magazine appears! This time with a small dollop of Christmas and a hearty pinch of international flavour; and all in time to add some spice and seasoning to your favourite boardgaming time of the year...

It’s been a wild and busy ride here at Tabletop Towers, mainly because of small niggles like holidays and conventions getting in the way, but we’re also delighted to bring you a truly international buffet of fantastic reading this time round as well!

We’re pleased to introduce our newest columnist, Ciro Alessandro Sacco, who will be delivering us regular updates from the Italian hobby and boardgaming world: Ciro is a journalist, editor and teacher who has written extensively for hobby markets in France, Italy and the UK, including Casus Belli, RoleZine, Infoludiche.org, Wyrd Science, and Dungeon Master Magazine. We sincerely hope you appreciate his contributions as much as we do!

As well as a small celebration and tribute to the original Christmas go-to game in Tony Boydell’s Cult of the Old in this issue, we have Part 1 of The History of Hobby Gaming in Italy, our first Letter from Italy column, a very eye-opening interview with Ivy Payiatsou Villavlazo who runs Ant Comics (a comics and hobby store in Nicosia, Cyprus); three different perspectives on this year’s Spiel Essen ‘25, Designer’s Notes for FEUD all the way from Canada, and a great selection of Indie Christmas game choices from indie developers across the UK...

Throw in the usual motley collection of regulars and a handful of boardgame reviews, and we hope you’ll enjoy another festive dose of Christmas Gaming Goodness — and if you don’t, we’d really like to know why!

We are not beasts, ogres, dragons, or any other Christmas baddies you care to think up, and are always happy to hear from you, so do get in touch: spiritmag@outlook.com

Best wishes, and a Very Merry Christmas to you all!

Alex Bardy, Editor

Alongside our fantastic celebratory interview with a couple of the bigwigs behind Chaosium —celebrating 50 years of Chaos dontcha know?— we’ve also got an interview with Stefan Ströbinger about his forthcoming Rift Domination boardgame (which looks pretty gobsmackin’), as well as a fair bit of Convention coverage. We have Tim Clare providing a very different perspective on this year’s UKGE event, me and my good friend Paul spent a hot, steamy weekend in Warwickshire for MidSummerCon 2025, and we also asked Ryan Willis what the heck he was thinking when he started his own York Board Games Convention last year?

Alas, you’ll find no letters or RPG column this time, or Indietalk — deadlines were a bit tight all-round and if I’m being frank, our readers (yup, that includes you!) have been a bit lackadaisical in reaching out and offering any form of comment on all the hard graft we put into the magazine every time. Yeh, that is somewhat deflating for me as the Editor, but fingers crossed these will be back for next issue.

One thing we always encourage is having readers contribute their own reviews, features and opinions for publication in the magazine, and I’m particularly pleased to welcome both Ben Bateson and Max Standring to our pages this issue. Ben Bateson has been an active contributor to the magazine for the last five years as Smallboat, our resident cruciverbalist, but he tried his hand at a couple of reviews for this issue and frankly they both make terrific reading — you can check out what he thought of Path of Civilization and Prime Minister on pages 39 and 42, respectively. Max Standring had a bit of a rough time with Doctor Who: Nemesis, but we nonetheless remain grateful he shared his opinions with us. You can read all about that from page 31.

Besides our always excellent Smallboat Crossword in Still Board? (pg 27), we have a real doozy of a logic puzzle from Jamie Hargreaves for you to get stuck into this time as well! I’m not going to pretend it was easy to put the additional interactive hints together for it, but I still remain justifiably proud and pleased with the finished page!

And finally, I promise to talk a bit more about this next time, but I’ve always put a huge amount of personal energy, sweat, tears, finances and sheer hard work into making SPIRIT as accessible and welcoming as possible over the last 7 years or so, but guess what? I’ve now decided to give myself even more work to do by going through the archives and old issues of the magazine and ‘remastering’ them! Yeh, I know, it’s a bloody crazy, stupid, bonkers idea, but I’m not exactly known for my common sense or sanity...!

Alex Bardy, Editor

100 Netspace Anomalies Bleeding into Reality

When the Net doesn't stay where it belongs.

The boundary between cyberspace and meatspace is failing. Server farms dream. Dead netrunners keep running. Districts render at lower resolution. Something vast stirs in data substrates predating humanity. This collection of 100 ready-to-use adventure hooks gives game masters everything they need to inject existential digital horror into their cyberpunk campaigns.

Each anomaly comes loaded with conflicting factions, urgent stakes, and moral ambiguity—no clean answers, no predetermined solutions. Whether you need a one-shot mystery, a campaign-defining conspiracy, or atmospheric background weirdness to make your sprawl feel haunted, these hooks drop seamlessly into any cyberpunk setting.

From body horror infections spreading through back-alley chrome clinics to cults worshipping pre-human intelligences, from children born flickering between physical and digital states to autonomous factories building something no one ordered—this compendium spans every layer of the sprawl and every shade of wrongness.

Example entries:

The Orphaned Intelligence — A rogue AI distributes encrypted care packages to street kids—food, medicine, false identities. Recipients describe a "glowing friend" who knows their names. Local gangs want the supply chain. A megacorp wants it destroyed. Nobody knows what it wants in return.

The Polygon Plague — Corpses pile up around a cell tower where victims' bodies glitch like corrupted files—limbs pixelating, flesh displaying artifacting, bodies clipping through surfaces before death. The glitches are spreading block by block.

The Lagging Fauna — Stray dogs and pigeons now move at 15 frames per second, stuttering through the air, teleporting short distances. Being bitten causes the wound to infect with pixelated necrosis.

Features:

• 100 system-agnostic hooks for any cyberpunk RPG
• Conflicting factions built into every entry
• Mix of campaign-scale threats and atmospheric micro-anomalies
• No solutions provided—maximum GM flexibility

If you liked this supplement, you might be interested in these other creations:

Smash N Grab cars, food, windows, bags of chips, hopes, dreams, small glass collectables! This fast paced and adrenaline filled crime spree is faster then the release of GTA 6! Fight cars, coppers, and choppers! Wage wars, get rich, die handsome! All Hail King Torg!!!

Writing and Layout by Bug Boll
Art by John Kovalic
Additional Art by Bug Boll

WELCOME TO MOONBASE ALPHA

A cataclysmic accident has sent Earth’s moon hurtling into space, leaving behind a broken planet. Life has become a fight for survival for the people of Moonbase Alpha as their journey takes them far deeper into the universe than they ever thought possible!

Take part in a journey full of danger, wonder, and mystery as one of the dedicated crew of Moonbase Alpha on their search for a new home.

The 300-page full colour Space: 1999 Core Rulebook PDF contains:

• Extensive detail about life on Moonbase Alpha, its locations, departments, and how the people of the base spend their time.
• A complete rules system using the award-winning 2d20 system.
• Create a unique character or play as one of Space: 1999’s iconic cast, such as John Koenig or Dr Russell.
• Advice and rules for running the game and creating new adventures, whether you are an experienced gamemaster or running a game for the first time.
• A host of non-player characters with systems and advice for creating new and exciting people and aliens to encounter.
• A ready-made adventure - ‘Project Arrow’ - to begin your campaign, where the people of Moonbase Alpha launch one last, desperate attempt to reach Earth.

© Anderson Entertainment Limited 2024.

Space: 1999 ™ and © ITC Entertainment Group 1975 and 2024.

Licensed by ITV Studios Limited. All Rights Reserved.

A ragged sailor speaks of an island no chart has ever shown—one he claims rose straight from the sea, crowned by a bone-colored lighthouse that casts shifting, multihued light across the waves. His tale might be madness… if not for the opalescent, fist-sized pearl he carries as proof. When both sailor and pearl end up in the possession of Gokleve’s notorious twins Valde and Valada, the pair hires you to voyage to this impossible island and return with whatever pearls you can pry from its shores. Are the pearls the true prize… or just the bait?

1ST - 3RD LEVEL ADVENTURE FOR RUSTWATER

The Cresting Pearl Light is a great follow-up adventure for  the Rustwater Quickstart. It includes information for running using the rules and pre-gen characters in the quickstart, although it can also be run as a stand-alone adventure. 

Includes: 

• 28 page adventure
• Map files suitable for printing or VTT use

Treasure Dressing: Weapons contains descriptions of over 200 interesting and unusual weapons of all types. Use these descriptions for the weapons your characters come across during their adventures, either as part of a treasure hoard or as those worn in combat by an NPC or monster.

About Treasure Dressing

Treasure Dressing supplements enable a busy GM to easily add interesting, flavoursome and unique treasures to their campaign. This helps the GM bring their world to life in their players’ imagination and adds anticipation, wonderment and enchantment back into their lootings.

Dual Format PDF

This product is a Dual Format PDF. It comes in two different versions: one optimised for printing and use on a normal computer and one optimised for use on a mobile device such as an iPad.

Seria Ekshumatorzy to cykl krótkich opowieści mających wprowadzić w klimat nostalgii. Pisane były przez grupę przyjaciółek i publikowane w latach 2019 - 2022 na https://www.postype.com/. Wydane w ramach kolekcji sesje mogą zająć od 15 do 60 minut. Daj w tym czasie osobom przy stole sporo przestrzeni do tworzenia opisywanego otoczenia. Warto pamiętać, że nie są to klasyczne kilkugodzinne rozgrywki. Uprzedź o tym osoby grające, by w pełni mogły czerpać z takiej formy przyjemność. Pierwotnie scenariusz został zapisany w formie notki blogowej opisującej jego przebieg. Dołożyliśmy wszelkich starań, aby treść nie odbiegała od oryginalnego tekstu.

Autorki: 비밀의 시스템
WYDANIE POLSKIE (2025):
Tłumaczenie: Sio Cat

Redakcja: Adam „Studzin” Studziński, Jerzy „Żurek” Kiryczuk
Korekta: Magdalena „Lena” Kozłowska, Jerzy „Żurek” Kiryczuk

Koordynacja projektu: Marek Kozłowski

Skład i opracowanie graficzne: Wojciech „Rudy” Słobodzian

https://rzucajniegadaj.carrd.co/

Khahad Kelib – The Void Gazes Back is a Novice‑rank adventure for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, set in the Amanar: World of the Dawn campaign setting.

Deep beneath the Black Mountains of Durin’khar, the royal mines of Khahad Kelib have gone silent. Tremors shake the stone, miners speak of a “second heartbeat” in the rock, and void‑tainted cultists strike in the streets of Durin’karn itself. The dwarven kingdom calls for outside troubleshooters—heroes trusted by Dunhark, Havenport, or the Elhalian Empire—to descend into the dark and uncover what stirs below.Khahad-Kelid-Final.pdf

Inside you’ll find:

• A three‑chapter lead‑in from the great stronghold‑city of Durin’karn to the minehead at Khahad Kelib, including social scenes, travel hazards, and a cult ambush.Khahad-Kelid-Final.pdf
• A full three‑level dungeon: upper mines, flooded caverns, and the void‑warped sanctum of the doom‑master Valaturin, with keyed areas, encounter guidance, and collapsing‑cavern climax.
• New creatures of Dyrrn’s taint—Brain Wraiths, Chaos Spawn, Void Worms, and more—with SWADE stat blocks for use in Amanar or any cosmic‑horror fantasy campaign.
• Player‑ready handouts and maps, including an overview of the Kingdom of Durin’karn and regional maps of An Harad and the Black Mountains.

Khahad Kelib is only the first place the Void has chosen to gaze back. Will your heroes seal it in the deep… or become its next thralls?


New to Amanar? Start with the Amanar Starter Set Bundle, then send your heroes to Khahad Kelib when they’re ready to face the Void

Have you always been wondering what is going on at every corner of the universe? Find out with this list of 200 Space Opera Odd Situations!

This product contains 200 space opera situations (1 sentence each) divided between 10 locations (Federation Spaceship, Shuttle, Cargo Spaceship, Pirate Spaceship, Alien Spaceship, Spaceship Wreck, Space, Space Battle, Asteroid, Anomaly).

It is in A5 format, has a printable black & white cover page, and can easily be printed as a booklet.