Up top, I gotta share the newly release video of my time at GalaxyCon Raleigh! I spent my four days there talking to strangers in cosplay and gathering as many as I could to film a movie-like scene together.

Watch the 24-minute adventure here!

Rick Liebling is looking for playtesters for First Bulletin, his tabletop roleplaying game of Cold War espionage set in Europe, 1948–1961.

If your spy fiction runs toward le Carré, Deighton, McCloskey, and Mick Herron's Slow Horses rather than the gadget-and-martini end of the spectrum, this was built for you. The world of First Bulletin is one of forged documents, compromised contacts, bureaucratic obstruction, and operations that go wrong because the institution is the problem.

Rick is currently playtesting the starter mission: Operation Failsafe. A night in contested Trieste. A scientist who has decided to walk voluntarily onto a Soviet ship, not because he wants to, but because he believes it's the only way to keep his children alive. Your job is to find him before he reaches the gangway and get him to the West before dawn. Covert action, a ticking clock, and no one you can fully trust.

Rick will send you a self-contained playtest packet with everything you need to run it. You'll need a couple of dice (d6 and d8); that's it. One session of 3–4 hours, honest feedback, and your name will appear in the finished book.

If The Sandbaggers is your benchmark rather than your guilty pleasure, get in touch: [email protected]

Hope your 2026 has been filled with fun geeky and nerdy events. I’m just getting back into the swing of things with the YouTube channel, but I’m hoping I can start making this a regular thing again!

As always, send me an email if you have any thoughts or ideas related to North Carolina’s geek scene.

– Matias