iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 06/09/2026

Had a blast with @unmech.bsky.social and @jamsandwich.bsky.social on the last day of tabletop Scotland. Highlights were running the quiz, seeing loads of cool RPGs and getting this photo of the final Brainwaves line up + @werenotwizards.com.

Jamie, Oliver, iain and Richard from left to right looking to camera and smiling

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 05/09/2026

Huge thanks to everyone who came to the pub quiz at @tabletopscot.bsky.social. @jamsandwich.bsky.social and I had a blast running it. Best one yet.

A piece of paper with mysterious bugs drawn on it.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 30/08/2026

The @tabletopscot.bsky.social pub quiz is all snug and safe in its travel box. Will now be under 24 hour surveillance to assure no cheating. It's going to be our best yet. Hope to see you there!

A box filled with Manilla Envelopes, trophies, pens, and boards for the Tabletop Scotland Pub Quiz

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 23/08/2026

This is all @ceethefoxrun.bsky.social's fault. Learning Cat and the Tower that Sam wrote about beautifully on the site recently.

A hexagonal tower two floors high sits in a wooden table. Various sized cats can be seen on the tower on the first floor. Other components for the game lie about the place.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 13/06/2026

A little Fatherfog from Tuesday Knight Games today. Ran a little red Riding Hood inspired one shot. Went down well with my players and there is a lot to like even if the GM advice is a little threadbare in this edition.

Character sheets for fatherfog lie around the table with dice and cups of tea. The book lies cracked open near the camera

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 07/06/2026

Reading Gols Teeth from @rossignol.bsky.social. Pirate based Blades hack. I groaned at this

A book on ereader. Under how to play section there are key concepts spelt quay as in boat.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 02/05/2026

April was a lighter month. Also played a couple of sessions of Pendragon on the RPG side and ran an Into The Odd.

A stats pic from bgstats. I played 11 games but only 5 different ones. Earthborne Rangers, The Gang and Magical Athlete with 3 plays each and Arcs and Courtisans with 1.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 01/05/2026

Hey @lothianbuses.bsky.social want to explain why your 140 is over 20 minutes late to Dryden Road. Not going to be here till 4 according to your tracker. Your bus times posted at same stop say it should be here at 1540.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 20/04/2026

Got Glatisant to the table over the weekend. Enjoyed my first game but want to play the Knight next so I can see both sides. From @graftbound.bsky.social

A grid of 25 cards some face up with a couple of tokens to show the Knight and Hunting Beast.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 02/04/2026

Big month for games. More than 1 a day! Anything you would like to know about?

A sum up of the games I've played this month including images of the top 9. Number 1 is Magical Athlete

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 22/03/2026

Played some Magical Athlete, Ankh, and Thiefdom yesterday with @jamsandwich.bsky.social and @unmech.bsky.social. All 3 great fun, was very impressed how smooth Ankh is.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 17/03/2026

The "But Why Vikings?" crew of me, @ava.foxfort.net and @timclare.bsky.social were together for the first time since the podcast started at Airecon this last weekend. It was a blast. Look at us!

From left to right Tim Clare, Ava Foxfort, and I sit behind a red clothed table. We are smiling to camera and Ava has their arms around Tim and I

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 25/02/2026

Very excited for this month's @senetmagazine.bsky.social because I'm in it!

Cover of Senet magazine. A witch peers over a fence at a little girl. Black on yellow

Shelf of shame article by me about Into The Odd.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 01/02/2026

I finished reading this recently. It's a fascinating insight into how gamification can capture us, and the benefits and drawbacks of the larger systems we are all.subject to. Written by @add-hawk.bsky.social and published by @penguinpress.bsky.social

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 31/01/2026

My top 9 in January. Ask me anything. Review of Flip 7 out today. Newsletter out tomorrow as well. Sign up to my Patreon for free to get access. www.patreon.com/thegiantbrai...

A grid of 9 games I played in January. From top left to bottom right in order of plays. Flip 7, Moon colony bloodbath, compile main 2, the gang, crumbs, ethnos, kabuto sumo, sanctuary, sky team

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 31/01/2026

Sometimes simple games get to our tables more often and Flip 7 is one of those for me. Nothing wrong with giving games like this a properp critical shake. giantbrain.co.uk/2026/01/31/f...

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 28/01/2026

Running some Break!! tonight for review for TTGM.

Break!! in play with character sheets, dice, pencils and the town of Homble as a starting point.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 04/01/2026

Lovely afternoon of games with @simonmarr.bsky.social. Moon Colony Bloodbath, Compile, Skyteam.

Two player moon colony Bloodbath. Two boards with tokens on opposite sides of the table with lots of cards in between.

Compile. Three lanes of cards with numbers on battle over horizontal protocols in the middle of the table.

Skyteam in play. The control board in the middle. You can see several dice behind my player screen.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 08/12/2025

Turns out @ryandancey.com thinks AI will make excellent art eventually, according to this post on linkedin

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 06/12/2025

Little Christmas shopping today and fancied a bit for myself.

An ancient robot games tote bag under a cyberpunk card deck and ark Nova board game

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 30/11/2025

First time I've ever been sent a book for review. Finding it a compelling read so far about how scoring systems and value capture affect our daily lives and society at large.

The cover of The Score by C.Thi Nguyen. It is a blue cover with clouds and the authors name and title in circles in a row in the middle along with a summary of the book name.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 29/11/2025

Kaiju controlling RPG anyone on the @uktin.bsky.social stand.

The cover of velvet RPG shows Kaiju breathing fire across a city.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 29/11/2025

Cool idea. It's a GM screen and tile bag so you build the place as you explore and the descriptions are on the GM screen. #dragonmeet

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 29/11/2025

I'll be starting my train ride to #dragonmeet soon. Do come and say hi if you see me around. I'll be touring the whole hall looking for the weird and wonderful over the course of the day. Here is what I will look like

I look into the camera lens wearing a blue jumper with a cream curtain behind me. I am wearing glasses.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 28/11/2025

Strong nostalgia vibes with Vampire: The Eternal Struggle.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 08/11/2025

Oh nice. I'd missed that somehow. Played a full game today as the uprising. Very impressed. Didn't win but had a good time with it.

Old.kings crown. I'm playing as the uprising in red.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 26/10/2025

Had a fun afternoon running Into the Odd from @bastionland.bsky.social for a new group of players. Two close friends and my wife. They had a blast and so did I. It's a really fun game that is "just enough" in its mechanisms.

4 people look to camera with rpg ephemera strewn across the table.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 17/10/2025

I just spent a wonderful couple of hours at the Netrunner Worlds in Edinburgh. The community is very much alive, vibrant, and as welcoming as ever. Looking forward to heading back tomorrow for some more interviews.

Looking down on a hall full of people playing Netrunner.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 20/09/2025

New game from Studio H and Hachette Boardgames UK. Abstract essentialy but with a MOBA feel to it in terms of characters. I'll have a review out shortly. Production off the charts.

A hexagonal board has 10 large cardboard standees. Cards are on either side of the board showing the powers of the characters on the board.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 07/09/2025

Home after @tabletopscot.bsky.social Thanks to everyone who played games with me, chatted to us, came to the quiz, and generally made the weekend awesome. Especially this lot

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 06/09/2025

Ok folks. Leaders is legit good. The production is bonkers for this price point. Check it out at @tabletopscot.bsky.social #tts2025. @hachettebguk.bsky.social

Leaders in play. A hexagonal board is occupied by various standees.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 05/09/2025

Kingdom Crossing from @hachettebguk.bsky.social and @sorrywearefrench.bsky.social is a super charming worker placement/movement game that didn't blow me away but was fun to play.