Central Michigan University Press @ Gen Con Booth #2759

My semi-smiling face, in a selfie pose, with the CMich Press Gen Con banner behind me.

Another day working the #gencon2025 grind with @cmichpress.bsky.social (despite the happy face, my body is falling apart, getting old is dumb 😂).

In 2025 Chaosium turns 50, making us the oldest ongoing roleplaying publisher in the industry. We're delighted to have a special display cabinet at #Gen_Con, celebrating the games that have captivated gamers, readers and mythic adventurers worldwide for the past half-century.

Day One of Gen Con was a blast! From building our Exhibit Hall booth to selling games and meeting visitors at Trade Day to finishing it up with a fantastic Demo Night, the CLGS team is hard at work and having a great time! Stay tuned for more updates!

Plush golden dragon in a maroon sweater with a golden 'c' knitted into the front looks up from atop a sign that says BOOTH 2759. It is surrounded by more handouts and signs.

'Twas the night before leaving for Gen Con... and all hands (and dragon talons) are on deck to get the CLGS and CMich Press to Indianapolis! See you there!

Picture of two printed copies of the rules for “The Cracked Mirror: An Epistolary Duet for Five Hundred Year Old Vampire”

Hey, what’s this? Rules for a duet version of Five Hundred Year Old Vampire? What’s that even mean? I wonder if you’ll be able to check these out at @cmichpress.bsky.social’s #GenCon2025 Exhibit Hall booth (#2759) this year? Now, I’m not one to gossip, but I have it on good authority that you can!

Half is teal background with an orange heart with text Making History by Nicholas W. Proctor. Half is gray background%2C black woodcut gathering of people with text Witch Hunt 1649 by Martha McGill.

Happy weekend from CLGS and CMich Press! If you're looking for some Saturday reading, try this from the @wyrdscience.bsky.social newsletter -- scroll down to read their section on Making History and Witch Hunt 1649! https://bit.ly/3IGztqJ
Both are still crowdfunding on BackerKit until August 7th!

Platform Games This week Itch is in trouble, the true children of chaos return and did your neighbour look at your cow funny? Burn the witch!

This week...

Itch 😑
Witches 🧙‍♀️ from @cmichpress.bsky.social
Beastmen 🐺 from Ian Miller & John Robertson

plus so much other stuff to look at whilst you pretend to work this afternoon

The Gen Con countdown is ON and we’re packing up our essentials for the ultimate tabletop pilgrimage! With dice and more, CMich Press is ready to roll deep in Indy.

📍 Find us at Gen Con 2025!

#GenCon2025 #WhatsInMyBag #TabletopGames #CMichPress #IndieGames #DiceGoblin

Map of Gen Con booths shown as rectangles with booth numbers. A round yellow circle in the upper left holds the maroon logo of Central Michigan University Press. Booth 2759 is CMich Press's booth.

In ONE WEEK, Central Michigan University Press will be at Gen Con! Find us in the Exhibit Hall and meet game designers Wendy Robertson (Hydrologic Cycle) and Jason Cox (Five Hundred Year Old Vampire (FYOV))! Staff members and affiliated designers will be part of various Gen Con events, too!

Planning: The Gen Con 2025 exhibit hall map is now available as a PDF should you be attending and trying to plot how to make it from one booth to another easily: files.gencon.com/2025.exhibit...

By the way, you can find BoardGameGeek GeekUp bits at the Meeple Source booth #2909. —WEM

Letting July Be July: CMich Press Newsletter  From the Team If you are still following along with our monthly updates, thanks! This is our third newsletter, and I (Jon) am still trying to get a feel for how casual I should be. (Most of my writing tends to be heavy, footnote-laden historical treatises, so freeform monthly letters are both nice and a bit terrifying.) As usual, there’s a lot of ground to cover in this edition.

Hot off the (CMich) press! Here's July's roundup of June...August promises to be just as chaotic (and fun).

Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History are live on BackerKit! Support Central Michigan University Press in bringing these games to life.

https://bit.ly/4lCkDzl

#IndieGames #WitchHunt1649 #MakingHistory #CMichPress

A stuffed golden dragon sits on a table with tabletop game materials. In the foreground is a folder with the words 'FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY REACTING TO THE PAST: GAME DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 2025'.

A young white woman with dark hair and a baseball cap which reads BEAVER ISLAND holds the stuffed golden dragon and smiles. They are in front of a white boat surface with a porthole.

The golden stuffed dragon is in the foreground of a scene which shows a wooden balcony overlooking sand dunes with tall grass and a lake beyond. The sky is gray and a rainbow arches over the scene.

A man stands behind a table marked CENTER FOR LEARNING THROUGH GAMES AND SIMULATIONS with games on the tabletop. He is white with glasses and tall. He is speaking with two young blonde white women.

A lot happened at the CLGS this week! Our crowdfunding campaign made its goal (and is still taking pledges), and some staff attended the Reacting to the Past: Game Development Conference at Ferris State University and a game design retreat on Beaver Island while others met prospective students!

The last three from above are 500 Year Old Vampire, Eyeball to Eyeball, and Monumental Consequences, which are all pedagogical TTRPGs by @cmichpress.bsky.social

Looking forward to diving into all these games, and thank you for being at Origins and helping make it awesome!

Photo showing the following games: Star Trek into the unknown Star Trek adventures Archduke's manual of fun Intelle Women are werewolves

A photo showing the following games: Five hundred year old vampire Monumental consequences Eyeball to eyeball

I am finally getting around to posting my Origins haul!

Shoutouts for all the games are below, and I'm excited to try these out 😁

Rectangle%2C both game covers split diagonally%2C with teal background and MAKING HISTORY by NICOLAS W. PROCTOR in one corner and a gray background and WITCH HUNT 1649 by MARTHA MCGILL in the opposite.

Our crowdfunding campaign for Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History has taken off in a magnificent way! We are less than $1,500 away from achieving our goal. Help us cross the finish line by pledging here! https://bit.ly/44RLJwW

Round golden circle with maroon tower within it. Maroon words CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Quick announcement that this month's Break Our Games event will be cancelled. Look for our next event in August!

Been pretty much the focus of my work life for the last few months. Come check out a couple of cool, history-themed card games that work in both the classroom and the family room.

How to support the crowdfunding campaign. Backers should click the BACK IT buttons on the campaign landing page and for their pledge. Full description of text on Facebook post on CMU CLGS page.

For any first-time crowdfunders, here's a quick summary of how you can support our campaign to produce Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History! We are over halfway funded right now! https://bit.ly/44CAxTs

Yellow background with maroon text LAUNCH DAY! Below the words are two game boxes: a teal box with the words MAKING HISTORY and a gray box with a black woodcut design and the words WITCH HUNT 1649.

Today's the day! Go to BackerKit and follow our crowdfunding campaign to launch Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History! https://bit.ly/4lCkDzl

Witch Hunt 1649 | Making History - A Game Double Feature Two history-based card games–Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History– from Central Michigan University Press

And we're live with our new crowdfunding campaign on @backerkit.com for two history-themed card games: Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History. Help us have a great launch day! #cmichpress

Maroon background of fireworks. White text PLAY A HAND IN THE CREATION OF HISTORY. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Game boxes for Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History are below text.

Happy Independence Day from the CMU Center for Learning through Games and Simulations and Central Michigan University Press! Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History launch July 8th on BackerKit. Follow the campaign today! https://bit.ly/4lCkDzl

Quote by Dr. Martha McGill%2C "It's not evil people necessarily who are perpetuating witch hunts. It's normal human beings who are trying to get by." Witch Hunt 1649 boxes and Beyond Solitaire logo.

Historian and game designer Dr. Martha McGill discussed Witch Hunt 1649 on Beyond Solitaire in 2023. Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/W_LjAgGXq0U?si=rJHq6ywrU1ZGJ-Hi
Follow the campaign on BackerKit -- Witch Hunt 1649 launches for funding on July 8th! https://bit.ly/4jjFNB4

Quote IT'S HILARIOUS FUN BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT TWO COLLEGE STUDENTS BREAKING UP by Nicolas Proctor with images of the teal MAKING HISTORY game box and the BEYOND SOLITAIRE logo%2C info about episode.

Making History is more than just a game. Catch designer Dr. Nicolas W. Proctor on Beyond Solitaire as he chats about Making History and more! Watch here: https://bit.ly/3ZYVAyd

Follow us on BackerKit to launch Making History and Witch Hunt 1649 on July 8th -- ONE WEEK! https://bit.ly/4jjFNB4

A selfie of a smiling red-haired light-skinned person and a smiling brown-haired light-skinned person with glasses in front of framed artwork.

A green tabletop surface covered with papers%2C packets of clay%2C and cards. The box for Five Hundred Year Old Vampire%2C which is magenta with an image of a vampire smiling over sunglasses%2C is visible.

We had a fantastic time yesterday playing Five Hundred Year Old Vampire at Source Comics and Games and afterwards meeting up with the amazing Liz of @leder.games and Beyond Solitaire! Thank you to everyone who joined us!

A great interview by Steph from @ttrpgkids.com with @cmichpress.bsky.social's Jonathan Truitt!

#kyedrpg #gamebasedlearning #LevelUpEDU #EduSky #TTRPGsky

www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/06/19/i...

Learn to Play Making History: A Roleplaying Game about Breakups, Bias, and the Construction of Historical Narrative by Nicolas W. Proctor. This storytelling ... Introducing Making History

Join us on our Central Michigan University Press YouTube channel at noon for the premiere of our video explaining how to play Making History, one of the games for our double feature BackerKit campaign launching July 8th!

https://youtu.be/sgXIzUoAUpQ

Square graphic in three rows. Top row is a fractured orange cartoon heart on teal background. Middle row is diagonally split with heart and a woodcut image of a demon dinner party. Lower is woodcut.

Two card games. Two timelines. One question:
What do we do with the truth once we find it?

Witch Hunt 1649 and Making History launch 07/08/2025 on BackerKit from Central Michigan University Press. https://bit.ly/4jjFNB4

Follow the campaign now. The past is waiting to be played.

An image of the boxed game "Making History%2C" which features a shattered heart rendered in bold orange and red shards against a blue background.

What really happened to Briar and Skye?

Making History by designer Nicolas W. Proctor is a game about truth, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves. Every conclusion is a choice. Every version is contested. Launches 07/08/2025 on BackerKit. https://bit.ly/4jjFNB4