Gotta Catch ‘Em All!
Mark Tarver has been with us since the beginning, when just a few hundred people put faith in us and backed our Firespitter Kickstarter. So, who better to share some thoughts from a player’s perspective? Our thanks to him and all the rest of you who have joined us on this journey.
I am writing this after attending a most successful event, run by the amazing keeper of the Lore that is Suzie (her first ever event).
Playing at Suzie’s recent birthday party event against Dhimesh.
Whether she had just grown tired of me talking, or the bribe of buying her a drink was enough, or maybe it was all my new grey hairs reminding us of the passage of time - she asked me to have a go at writing something, attempting to cover my time with this wonderful game. I have tried to cover my time with Moonstone over the last 10 years, but it will ramble and unless Suzie edits this, my punctuation will be terrible. Thank you for reading!
1. The First Roll of the Dice Cards
My memory is hazy as to how and why Kickstarter told me I would enjoy this. Nowadays we call it the algorithm, so my son tells me, and for once I am thankful for it. In 2016, it told me that I might like this model called Firespitter for an upcoming game called Moonstone. When I could also add a model called Baron von Fancyhat, I was sold and snapped them both up. I downloaded the beta rules and loved it from day one (cliche I know).
An insight into my gaming life is this:
Buy the latest shiny -> Play them rarely -> Buy more new shiny
Board games, miniature games, and card games are all in my hobby time. Ten years ago I was playing and hating dice-based games (I still do, stupid fickle dice gods), so a friend had told me about Malifaux, and I loved the change from dice to cards and cheating!
My gran used to teach me to play Bridge, Canasta, and Whist as she lived with us while I was growing up. My blankey in one hand and a deck of cards in the other. Later, after University in 2001, I almost accepted a job with a local casino to go and train in Las Vegas. Instead, I worked for 25 years in the IT industry (ahhhhhh the life choices we make).
I am in a happier place when fiddling with cards. So that first read of the Beta rules, realising it was not only card-based, but shared cards, different mechanics based on those cards and bluffing!!! Yes! I was an easy mark.
So the rules immediately got my interest, then the models came through the door, I was even more hooked, and my journey to collecting them all started that day!
My metal Beaky is still going!
Fast forward a few months, and I found myself all-in again on the very first Moonstone Kickstarter. Those metal models still have a special place in my heart. Quack is still my favorite character, my Beaky Bobby is suffering from weak ankles now - but he’s invented some strange copper tubing to keep him going. There is also something comforting in knowing that if I was losing really badly, a well-placed Friar Flavious could cause serious harm!
So, having all the models released in my possession and the game rules seemingly hitting all my boxes. The beginning had begun.
2. Learning the Ropes
So I had the rules, all the models, but I needed to play. I can read rules 24 hours a day for fun, but until I physically play a game I cannot really understand why the ability is good, why a rule works in a certain way, or what the rule actually means.
My first games were against my wife, she was trapped in the house with me, so had no choice! This cemented my love for this game and its ability to let non-gamers play it and enjoy it.
I went with a friend to Salute in 2018 and insisted he got a demo. He was hooked and purchased all he could. Luckily it wasn’t long before a tournament was being held by Tom and GKG.
I actually did a write-up of it for OnTableTop! Re-reading that article again, I must say it covers a lot of what I was also going to put in this section, so just read that instead… (You can see my goblins on the forest board in this article, the first of many whuppings I would receive from Mark over the years- Mick)
So at this point, I had bought into an upcoming game, attended a tournament, and looking back at the most significant part, I met Tom.
3. More Than Just a Game
Hindsight is a wonderful gift. Now in 2026, gaming and gaming culture is more mainstream than ever before. Everyone should attend Essenspiele to see how big a boardgame convention can be. In the UK you should get to the UK Games Expo, or get out there, and go to local conventions, you will find a happy place. A community of disparate beings, converging and enjoying a common hobby and love of gaming.
But all things have to start somewhere. Having met Tom in 2018 at that tournament, we kept in touch, and I was honoured enough to be asked to help demo the game at Tabletop Gaming Live hosted in the Alexandra Palace in 2019. I was nervous, to say the least, talking to new people, worrying about making mistakes, not doing a good job, and putting people off the game before they even started, and lots more. Despite my nerves, of course I agreed, and for those of you that do run games or introduce new players, you know that the game sells itself, and we game demonstrators have a pretty fun role.
Spending the weekend manning the demo table really cemented in my mind that this game was special. Seeing the enthusiasm people had not just for the mechanics, but for making Doug fart over the Baron was spectacular.
My first official volunteering for GKG was in 2019, and I am lucky it hasn’t stopped since. Man that’s a long time now I write these dates down!
A game’s rules can only take it so far, the people and the community make it. For me that is the most rewarding aspect of gaming, not just Moonstone, but all games that make us gather together, sharing a common interest and being in the moment. If you are reading this, you are in no small way a part of this community of gamers and are among the best of people.
4. Accidentally in Charge
I’ve been lucky enough to demo at UKGE a few times now.
So Suzie put me in charge of this article, which sums up my journey so far. Playing a game I love, volunteering for GKG, running local events, and attending events, something the me from 10 years ago would never have imagined was something I was capable of.
Tom putting his faith in me that I could demo his game at conventions, gave me the belief in myself that it’s something I could do. This had the knock-on effect of joining a local games store and setting up regular demo sessions of Moonstone. This allowed me to play and meet other people, but also helped bring people into the game and slowly grow a local community. I am known as Moonstone Mark at the store now and have met many new lifelong friends due to this.
A short section this, really an intro into the next one, this is here to say to those folk out there thinking of bringing the game to the local store, running events, running demos. Do it. You will find it very rewarding.
5. If You Build It…
They will come; do not worry. If you put the effort in, you will find you grow the game, grow your community, and grow yourself.
The effort is not without downsides. Sometimes people won’t turn up. You might get a small turnout for an event. Do not stop, enjoy the games you do play, enjoy the games you enable other people to play, and have fun.
For a long time, I was playing with just one regular opponent. But being in the local store, with the models on display, well… Gamers are curious about the new shiny game they don’t have. They will ask you what you’re playing, show them, offer them a demo, and you now have another regular opponent.
Keep in mind that the worst case, you get an evening playing this game, which that in and of itself is a win-win.
6. Behind the Curtain
How on earth do you run demos, run events… trial and error. We all do things differently, we all have our own strengths and weaknesses. I think this section is a good place to offer my opinions. Agree or disagree with them is fine, and you will find other people's thoughts on the official Discord channel in the events spaces there.
Running a Demo
Now that Starter Sets are available for all factions, at the time of writing, the easiest choice is to use the models in these sets. You will find new players like the thought of being able to buy what they’ve just played with. However, this “easy” way may not work for you; here are a few of my key things to think about when running a demo:
If you know the person beforehand, use models that you know they will like - do they play Humans in other games, do they love Goblin shenanigans? Tailor the initial experience into something they will be engaged with.
Use models that you are familiar with rules-wise. I think this will make you feel more comfortable explaining the rules, giving the players in the demo some advice, and being able to answer their questions.
Make it fun! The game naturally gives you those narrative moments, but for me, a demo is not a serious thing.
Don’t play a full game, depending on the setup. If you are running a demo for several people, I would always set up the models and moonstones in a certain layout, so you can straight away start showing arcane and melee, and you only need to run them through one turn. If there is time, let them play. Or run them through a full game if there is time, or you specifically know ahead of the demo that it’s for a full game.
Have fun yourself. Enjoy it. Nothing worse than a person that is showing you a game not being happy about it (unless its day three of a convention when the person is tired, give them a break then).
Running an Event
My biggest tip is to call them ‘Events’ and not ‘Tournaments’. Every time I have a new player come to one of my events from other systems, they always comment on how the event didn’t feel like their usual tournaments and just has the feel of playing a few games of Moonstone where you have a TO telling you who you are playing.
Start out small. I like my events to be 12-16 people. That is an easy number of nerds to control.
But if you are used to running events, make them bigger! You are your own person, with free will of your own.
Know your venue, understand the space you will be using, speak to the owner to understand how they handle ticket sales, food, car parking, public transport.
Enjoy it yourself, you will be stressed and tired, but after it is all over, you will want to orgainse another one.
The folk that play this game are amazing, friendly, helpful, and will make your events fun and people will want to come back.
Running Campaigns / Store Events
In one of the campaigns I ran, people claimed territories as they won games.
You don’t have to stick with running tournament style events. I run a Christmas event each year, in which I’ll write some silly scenarios for it, people put on silly jumpers and we have a great time. An event like that can be a celebration of your local community. But importantly, it can be a way of getting people who have no interest in “tournaments” or not able to take that step to play in an “official” event, come and play. Opening up the game to more people and helping grow your community at the same time.
Make Stuff Up
The game sparks my creative side like no other. I find writing custom content for the game a real joy. I was lucky when Tom enjoyed my Grimblesnacht scenario he tweaked it slightly, and it became the official scenario you can download from the website.
But do not feel you have to obey the rules set out by GKG. Your models are yours. Play with them however you like. Use them in your DnD games - a sneaky way of exposing new people to these amazing miniatures, and it might just lead to a demo opportunity and hook a new player.
I write and run my own campaigns for Moonstone to run at my store. Campaigns are the most draining for me, and I usually have to have a break from Moonstone afterwards, although not for long. So if you are going to run a campaign, then you will need a lot of time to organise people and organise the running of it. But again, after months of a campaign coming to an end, players will want to do it again. I recommend one a year.
7. A Game That Never Stood Still
From the outside, to people coming from other game systems, Moonstone can appear to be in decline. They see a relaxed release schedule, lack of regular errata as a game that isn’t being supported by GKG. How wrong and foolish those people are.
Coming from other systems that run monthly releases, new editions, new models, and new rules overwhelms me and actually puts me off. I admit that is a consequence of playing too many games and not needing new stuff weekly when I’ve not even played with the stuff I already have.
There is also a lot of effort that goes into a model / book release. As well as a need for a shiny website, amazing artwork, packaging, professional level of customer service etc. People have a tendency to forget that not everyone is the size of a certain grimdark company, or that actual game companies are not huge. Even well-known ones like Warlord and Mantic are not that big when you look into their structures.
It is hard to set people’s expectations when they first see Moonstone. They see all the above I’ve mentioned and then ask for a roadmap or what the release schedule is like, and for some they don’t even get to play the game as they won’t buy into it. Sadly.
Suzie regularly shares photos of painted minis the community shares on the GKG socials. Abra Cadaverous was one of those and it’s a nice feeling seeing your mini on the main account!
But from concept to art, sculpting, casting, and playtesting, can take years for a single model. So for me, I love how GKG does this. I mean I still don’t have all my stuff painted and built before something shiny appears, but at least in my head I give myself the illusion that this time I will be fully painted… honest… nah!
I mention the release methodology above, but I also want to mention the errata process. For those of us lucky enough to be involved with playtesting, we see the agonising that GKG do over even the slightest touch. It’s amazing to see.
The fact that now there are a lot of models, that with every new release the playtesting scope increases exponentially, as all models must remain playable in the game. So yes, when an erratum is issued, it is done with a heavy but pragmatic heart. You are in essence changing a model that someone may only have just bought, or they love and don’t want to see them change. But again the GKG approach is perfect, with that balance only where and when it is needed. Not everyone will agree with change, and neither should they, but Moonstone does this better than most.
Not only does the game not stand still, but neither do we as gamers. I myself now get even more pleasure introducing people to the game, running events, running my custom campaigns, than I do sitting down and playing a game; I blame this for me losing all the time.
So to end this section, the game will change; you will change as you spend your time with Moonstone. What those changes are, and whether they are good or bad, will be your own journey to navigate, but it will be interesting times all the same.
8. Greatest Hits
Finally getting the words to stop splurging from my brain and into this article - Suzie told me to keep it brief. So I thought I would offer a few of my memorable highlights from the last 10 years; maybe they will help you remember yours too.
Favorite Game
This is a bit of an odd one, as it was to do with a custom game I wrote for a group of us who meet for a Christmas gaming day. This one involved downhill skiing using the game Gaslands movement rules and widgets. We had foam snowballs to throw at each other, and the game lasted about four hours, but it stands out: every time Shabbaroon activated, he teleported himself down the slope, running out a clear winner. He broke the scenario and won easily, but none of us cared, as we were all laughing too much.
Favorite Opponent
I was torn about what to put here. Do I stick with the cliche that all my opponents are fabulous and great, which I could write and be very sincere about it! I will say again that this Moonstone community is the best I am a part of.
But thinking about this, I want to turn it on its head, and I want to say that I hope I am always a good opponent to play against.
Biggest Surprise
Pete was a character I made up and I’m thrilled he’s now available for everyone to play.
This has to be when Tom told me that Portly Pete was being introduced into the game. After helping Tom out at a weekend event in Bristol and running the demo table, we retired to the pub, where we had a fun quick one-shot of an RPG session based on Moonstone. A few beers were had, and I made my character a goblin in round armour called Portly Pete, whose main thing was being able to go inside his armour and roll away. Apparently this character stuck with Tom, and I was very surprised when he told me he had developed Portly Pete to appear in the game.
Proudest Achievement
I think this just has to be helping run demos for GKG when invited. I love running them at UK Games Expo.
9. Things the Rulebook Never Taught Me
As I have mentioned previously, I need to play a game for the rules to become more understandable. However, the rules are a good framework for other things that they cannot explicitly teach you.
Eric was a noble sacrifice in my game against Mick.
Playing your opponent is sometimes the best way. If you know them and you know how they play, this game suddenly becomes a psychological battle that the rules cannot tell you how to play. A fun example of this was playing Mick and him saying he hated Eric the Squire, so I let Sen’Ara lure Eric all the way across the board. He then “wasted” several activations trying to finish the boy off, as I picked up the moonstones I needed to win. (Hey! Killing Eric is never wasted time-Mick.)
But after 10 years in this game and a few more on top of that in the board gaming space, I’ve learned the rules are there for the game, but it’s best to enjoy the simple act of playing a game, with a good opponent and sharing a good story afterwards. The result of the game, for me, is secondary to generating that shared experience. I like to win and play to win, but sometimes chaos and just doing something because it’s fun to do will last in your memories a lot longer, and this game, like no other, effortlessly allows narrative events to happen even when you don’t plan for it.
Who here hasn’t been on the receiving end of an opponent with one melee card getting the perfect counter to the card you’ve spent minutes arguing with yourself what to play?!
10. One More Turn
Ten years is a long time for a tabletop game to exist. Covid helped extend this initial expected lifetime, and the continued growth in the player base is a healthy sign that we will see more years to come.
I cannot wait to see what the creative minds of GKG bring to the playtesters and then finally to the players to enjoy. New models that bring new ways of playing bring older models back into the mix.
Like all of us, we have our lists of things we want, which faction we want to see get more love, what creatures we want to see, which fairy-tale characters are ripe for plundering, so much potential for adding to the glorious narrative Suzie is weaving and backed up by Tom, Joe, Mick and the behind the scenes team, I would say the Moonstones are shining bright for us all.
Thank you for taking the time to read, and I leave you with this:
Enjoy your time with Moonstone; it will bring you so much joy, but it hopefully opens your mind to other games, board, card and table-top. Take your gaming experiences and share the joy of this shared hobby with others. Attend events, find a local gaming group, take that leap into organising fun, no matter what you put into this, you will get so much back. Lets hope a few of you reading this will be asked to write a blog post in ten years' time.
All the best.
Mark x
