• 2026 SF Pen Show Recap

    It’s that time of year again – the 2026 San Francisco Pen Show (SFPS)!

    The SF Pen Show 2026 show sticker, depicting a red cable car with a large fountain pen on top, and above that a depiction of the Golden Gate Bridge. In front of the cable car is a white dog, with a coat that says "ODIN".

    This is always a fun time of year for me, because I get to be around such kind and creative people. There is an infectious vibe that re-kindles a small creative spark and makes me want to do more writing. While packing, I also struggle thinking about what I should take in my RPG kit, because there’s always so many games I want to play and share with others. I was actually going to try and teach a class at this years SFPS as an intro to solo RPG’s, but when you hem and haw, doubt yourself and generally keep putting off the class signup sheets… maybe I’ll try again next year.

    This year at SFPS I had two main focal points. Beyond that, everything else was a bonus.

    • Taking my son to his first pen show
    • Seeing a lot of the folks that I only see once a year

    I attended the show Friday through Sunday, though only for a few hours on Sunday morning. In fact, it’s the first year I’ve ever attended the show on Sunday. I didn’t get many pictures of the show in general (something I’m still not very good at remembering to do) so lets just do a quick recap and I’ll post a few pictures between.

    They did some new things this year, one of which was using a smaller ballroom outside the main show floor as a vendor space (rather than for classes). It was nice, creating a “Little Stationery Fest” feel, since the vendors there were primarily stationery focused. However, they also had several vendors that always draw a lot of foot traffic – Toyooka Craft, Glass Studio AUN, and Yamamoto Paper for example – bringing its own problems.

    Friday was crazy busy. There was an overwhelming rush of dedicated stationery and pen people Friday morning. There were stories of the entry line forming at 5:30 AM (3.5hrs before opening!). I arrived an hour early and I believe those stories, because my spot in line was outside at a sidewalk corner, watching the line start to wrap around the hotel. There was such a rush that some vendors sold out of all (or mostly all) of their stock!

    A table from the SF Pen Show, covered in a variety of pens, holders and nibs. Some are wood, some made of antler, some urushi laquered, and some with makie artwork.

    I spent most of my Friday checking the show floor and shopping, since there was no way I’d get a walk-in appointment with a nibmeister. There were several purchases of stickers, washi, and pen cases/sleeves, along with conversations with vendors I hadn’t seen since the last show. Despite the crowds, it was a great vibe! Everyone was super excited, and given the state of the world, folks were still out to enjoy the company of fellow ‘penthusiasts’ and participate in a little Capitalism. I had to leave in the early afternoon, but it was a great first day.

    I was back early Saturday morning, this time with my son in tow. The lines were more tame, I was able to get a walk-in appointment with Kirk Speer of Pen Realm (finally getting some needlepoint grinds), and of course there were a few more purchases. Being my sons first show, he did great. The crowds didn’t bother him much, and he enjoyed seeing all the “stuff” that was on display. He had a lot of fun getting a pen sleeve from JillryByTheSea, some stickers from Pineberry, collecting some charms for the Shaker Keychain event, and completing the kids scavenger hunt.

    The prizes for the scavenger hunt looked to be donations, including a bunch of entry-level fountain pens, some inks and other assorted bits-and-bobs. He ended up choosing a Ferris Wheel Press Carousel fountain pen. I keep encouraging him to write a journal and draw, now that he has a couple fountain pens, maybe he’ll want to keep doing it too. He’s even made some of his own “RPG Games”; though they are more along the lines of robust character sheets, with drawn characters and weapons, made up stats and other bits he thought looked nice.

    Several paperstock cards sit on a white table sheet, a few pens and pencils scattered around. Two of the paper cards have "zentangling" artwork, a series of geometric shapes, circles, and arches making patterns. Another two cards have make-believe plants and organic sketches, looking similar to flowers, mushrooms and leaves.
    Zentangling is such a calm, creative outlet. My son went a little overboard on shading, but he still did great!

    Saturday was also class day. In the morning we took a Zentanging class with Analisa Bevan. I took the same class last year, but was excited to do so again with my son. He’s very creative and I want to keep encouraging that. I was proud of what he was able to do for his first try, and he was so excited that when he went home later in the day he created another Zentangling card.

    In the late afternoon I took Taizo Yamamoto’s paper seminar. It was an insightful look at modern paper making, the decline of writing paper and paper factories, and his own revival of a discontinued Japanese washi paper known as Ken Kaku Den. I really enjoyed the inside look at the work that goes into making the writing paper we use today, how volatile things are, and how all the paper choice we have may be gone before we know it.

    This was also the first year I’ve been able to attend the Pen Show After Dark, which is probably one of the greatest parts of the show. It’s effectively a bunch of pen and stationery people hanging out, chatting, decompressing from the day, and having a good time. I tested some pens, played billiards, sang along with karaoke and even pulled out my solo RPG kit to work on copying down a few rules into a pocketmod.

    A set of 3 fountain pens. Sparkly, shiny, with various shades of purples and blacks. The body of each pen is faceted abalone. The clips made of worked metal.

    Sunday was relaxed in comparison to Friday and Saturday. Given I had already done my shopping and nib grinds, I wasn’t in a rush to get in early, and I was mostly there to chat with some of the vendors and pen-friends before taking off. It was a great morning, and I got to catch up with folks as well as wander leisurely around the show. The crowds were less and even after general admission entered, you could tell it was a slower day.

    So, what was in my show haul?!

    A Rickshaw Bags pen roll, a re-release of the Nock Co Brasstown. A canvas bag in grey, with an orange and black canvas roll coming out of it. The roll has several slots for pens to fit into, where the orange canvas rolls back into the grey case to protect them.
    A 3 inch hook-and-loop patch, depicting a cute, green frog warrior. Its wearing what looks like a traditional Japanese Kimono and Hakama. It wields a spear, wears a sword, and is riding the back of a brown toad.
    A flat, acrylic keychain ornament, known as a Shaker Keychain, in the shape of a scroll of paper with a pen and ink bottle, lays on a blanket. The charm is two pieces of acrylic that slide apart. Inside the ornament are over a dozen small acrylic charms, depicting various stationery vendor logos and artworks. The charms "shake" inside the ornament.
    It was fun to collect Shaker Charm pieces, less fun to remove all the protective film from those tiny charms…
    An orderly collection of stationery items lay on a blanket, showcasing a small assortment of goods collected from the SF Pen Show. A notebook, sticker sheets, die cut stickers, a pocket notebook, pen sleeve, pen case, fountain pen, fountain pen ink bottles, washi tape roll, and a small square box of paper labelled "Paper Tasting Memo Box" from Yamamoto paper.

    Well, the full list would be too big for me to include here, but here’s a look at some of the things I picked up, in no particular order (not all of the items listed below are in the above images).

    • A5 notebooks from Itoya, because it’s my favorite size and they were a great price
    • A5 notebooks from Musubi, because they’re great quality and have a variety of papers that are fun to use
    • Several Rickshaw items, including pen sleeves, the new Brasstown release, a postcard and stickers (and a couple of gifts for friends)
    • Washi and stickers from several vendors, including Pineberry, Stationery Universe, My Documented Life, Fog Cats, Reytorra and more (there were so many more that I liked, but I put limits on how many stickers I could come home with)
    • A pre-owned Sailor Pro Gear Starburst Galaxy that I had Kirk grind to a needlepoint; it wasn’t something I was looking for, but it looked nice and was more affordable than the Sailor King of Pens that was catching my eye right next to it…
    • A second needlepoint grind on a Kaweco Lilliput I brought with me; I’m hoping to use the needlepoint nibs with my current Solo RPG travel kit, which benefit from smaller writing to save space on the limited paper you can bring and smaller notebooks. I’ll do a future post on this!
    • A whole collection of Shaker Keychain charms from nearly every participating vendor (and then some – curse you Pineberry and your hidden charm menu!)
    • An insect themed pen pouch from Jillry By the Sea, that reminded me of Beetle Knight by Brooklet Games; it was actually a hard choice between this one and a lovely mouse and mushroom print which simultaneously reminded me of Mousehole Press (Jack Harrison of Artefact, Orbital and Koriko fame) and Mausritter.
    • Several Yamamoto papers, that I hope to use in some book binding projects
    • A few new inks, including the SFPS Show Special ink, and Kobe Hummingbird Green from the Vaness shop
    • Quite a few postcards from various vendors, which have some fantastic art (mostly cat themed!); this is another thing I’d love to get back into, mailing postcards to family and friends
    • The Enigma + SakuraDragon collab bag (image below), which came in handy given how many things I picked up throughout Friday and Saturday.
    • An awesome frog warrior patch from DRDGear, that I feel like could be an NPC in any anthropomorphic critter game or setting
    A cat lays on a bed, sprawled out next to a canvas bag that depicts two cats making a mess of stationery items (pens, ink, notebooks, etc).

    My cat decided to “help” when I was unpacking my show goodies at home. Though I’m pretty sure it was mostly her way of saying, “How dare you leave me for that long.”

    Overall, a fantastic show, and I’m looking forward to next year already. Even if I don’t teach a class, I’m hoping through the rest of the year I’ll make the time to put some work into a project that’s been in my mind for several years, but we’ll see how that pans out.

    A small cardboard box with several bubble wrapped items inside, the only hints are a single pipette and blue tape that says "Endless".

    I also found this small box waiting for me when I got home… Perhaps more on that in a future post! Until then, I hope you have some fantastic analog writing instruments and stationery products that bring you joy whenever you embark on a Pen & Paper Quest!

  • Free RPG Day 2026

    This past weekend was one of the few events that I look forward to all year. On Saturday, June 27th, Free RPG Day took place at Local Gaming Stores (LGS’s) across the world (except for some locales who had delays in shipments, sorry ya’ll!).

    Free RPG Day (FRPGD) is a great reason to visit local game shops and support small businesses (as most LGS’s are). Game publishers of all sizes partner with the organization behind FRPGD to send ruleset quick starts, adventures, game samples, and all sorts of goodies to stores. The goal? Get more people into their LGS, foster a community of like-minded individuals who love tabletop gaming, and get some more games out there for people to try!

    This was exactly the kick I needed to visit an LGS that I haven’t been to in quite some time, since it’s now a 40+ minute drive away. I’m glad I made it out, because I had a great time browsing the large offering of board games, TTRPG’s, dice, comics, miniatures and more. I got to read through some of the, new-to-me, Dungeons & Kittens RPG core rulebook, check out physical copies of Dead Letter Society, Librarians Apprentice, Eleventh Beast, and more. Honestly, they had a much larger selection of solo-focused RPG’s than I would have thought!

    On a store shelf sits a zine, the cover red with a black streak down one side. It depicts a redskull sitting atop a journal and envelope. The title reads, "Dead Letter Society"
    On a store shelf sits a zine, its cover part green part tan, it reads, "The Bonsai Diary, grow your own tree with just pen and ink". An image of a bonsai tree growing in a fanciful glass or stoneware pot, with a cat watching a butterfly.
    A light blue zine cover depicting 3 open windows, each with a different landscape (part of the buildings in a city, open hills with a moon and planet in view at night, and a forest with various vegetation and insects). The title is "Alone On A Journey, a collection of solo adventuring games"
    A reddish-brown, leather looking booklet cover reads, "The Librarians Apprentice, A solo journaling game in an infinite library".
    On a store shelf sits a zine, black with white text reading, "What Lies Beneath. A solo dungeon-crawler of dice, decisions, and death." A simple image of stark white against the black background depicts stairs leading up to a doorway, with a set of white eyes staring down the stairs.
    On a store shelf sits two solo-focused TTRPG zines. Adventure, a blue cover with bright pink header font, and simple graphics depicting a town with its center on a floating island. Also, Eleventh Beast, a solo monster hunting game, the cover is red, depicting an overhead view of the map of a city.

    As is tradition for any in person event, I arrived a little early, and joined the group waiting out front in anticipation. It was nice just listening to some of the conversation going on, with different GM’s discussing their groups antics and various adventures they’ve run through for their parties. Just being around people who share the same hobby can help you feel engaged and more “into” whatever it is – this is the same experience as a pen show for stationery nerds. I took the time waiting to spin up a Cairn 2e character, a cutpurse named Silas, whom I now need to find a suitable engagement for.

    The store had their FRPGD goods well organized, and the process was simple. There were some goodies available for anyone who came in, but if you made a purchase in the shop, you could also take with you 3 of the new FRPGD booklets and 1 of the more “premium” items. This includes items such as a Dispel d20, some FRPGD pencils that doubled as a d6 roller, a sampler pack for the Story Engine Lore Masters Deck (a card system to help you generate all sorts of ideas) and some unpainted miniatures. They also threw in some options from their shop, including some full dice sets amongst other items, which was a nice touch considering the highly sought after items go pretty quickly.

    I picked up copies of Miru I and Miru II, which I haven’t seen physical copies of and the last time I had looked for them they were sold out everywhere (quite some time ago now). Miru is a solo-focused hexcrawl adventure, in a solarpunk world, where your protagonists goal is to hunt down and kill the God responsible for their brothers death. There’s actually 3 chapters to Miru now, and I’ll have to see about getting the 3rd once I get a chance to run through 1 and 2. Check out the digital versions of all three on Hinokodo’s Itch.IO page.

    Two bookletes, one sitting atop the other. The top one is green, with darker green lines making an image of 2 sets of eyes on a face, white text reads "MIIRU" (Miru 2). The bottom one is red, with what looks like part of a skull in darker red, also with 2 sets of eyesockets. The white text on its cover reads MIRU (Miru 1). Both are solo focused analog games.

    I picked up a few small additions, including this awesome expansion to Adorablins, which I wrote about previously. I didn’t even know there were expansions to this little mint tin game, but I really enjoy the packaging to it. It’s a great use of the interior flaps of the simple cardboard container to house random tables, and the very inside flaps fold out to a miniature map and locations! Little did I know, this expansion was already part of my tin can version of the game. But it’s OK, I was happy to get this as a reminder to go back and play this game again with my kids (who, like me, are easily distracted when there’s “new shiny things” all the time).

    On a table sits a small cardboard box reading, "Adorablins Adventure Pack, On the Farm". An adorable goblin character stands in front of a cow and a barn, holding brocolli and a hoe.
    The interior of a small cardboard wrapping from the Adorablins Adventure Pack, the flaps come fully open and the interior contains multiple lists from 2-12 for random choices of "Who you'll meet", and "What went through the portal"
    The fully-open interior of the Adorablins On the Farm adventure pack, with the most-interior flaps displaying a map of the Adorablins town, and the bottom flap having a "Where did the portal open" random chance table with options 2-12.

    I was early in the line to get inside and when I got to the register to make my purchase, I took a moment to look over my selection options for the “premium” item choice. After giving the options a look-over, I decided on what looked like one of two remaining Dispel d20’s. Right as I was asking to for it, another gentleman at the register said the same thing (it was a classic jinx moment). Turns out, it was actually the last one, and a tricky box placement that made it look like two. So how did we resolve this conflict? Why, a friendly game of ro-sham-bo of course! We stood in front of one another, eyes locked, the rest of the store watching and counted down, “Ro-Sham-Bo“… as my paper covered his rock, I thanked him for a friendly game and got to take home the last Dispel die. The whole interaction was very friendly and good spirited, which was pleasant to see considering some people can get very touchy about limited items.

    A small black box sits propped open, holding a single twenty-sided die. The interior lid reads "Dispel". The die sits on a small foam block, its overall colour ranging from ping to purple, with a shining glimmer of blue/green inside. The numbers are painted in pink.

    After that exhilaration, I flipped through several of the FRPGD booklets and chose to take the Pirate Borg Terror in Tortuga quickstart + adventure, the last Root quickstart that I didn’t have from prior years, and the Dungeons & Kittens quickstart + adventure that I thought would be another great game to try with my kids.

    Of course, this post is a few days past FRPGD. Since then, I took a jaunt down to another game shop near my office to check out if they had any leftover goodies they were still looking to get rid of. They did, and I picked up a copy of the CBR+PNK pamphlet Kaguya, as well as a copy of the new Level 1 Anthology, a selection of Indie RPG’s with a central theme (this years being Stand Up!).

    An a5 sized printed zine sits on a tabletop. The cover reads "Pirate Borg Terror in Tortuga", a Mork Borg compatible quick start and adventure. It depicts a large zombified sea captain, with its large hat, wielding a flail overhead and a heart grasped in its offhand. In front of it, a person with long, red hair swings an axe into its body.
    On a tabletop sits a folded pamphlet, mostly red and black, reading CBR+PNK x Onigami, Kaguya Protocol. An adventure crossover for the CBR+PNK, inspired by a new RPG system, Onigami. The cover of the pamphlet depicts 3 ninja-inspired characters, outfit with swords, high-tech bodies, and cybernetic equipment.
    On a tabletop sits a booklet, the title reads "Dungeons & Kittens Free RPG Day Special, An Afternoon Outing". The cover depicts 3 cats, one sitting and writing in a book, two travelling up a hill to meet the third. In the background is a sea of sprawling green farmland, and a tall castle atop a hill.
    On a table sits a booklet titled, "Root the Roleplaying Game, Bertrams Cove Quickstart". The cover depicts a cartoony image of a forest and part of a lake, overlayed on top is a circle of anthropomorphic animals (mouse, owl, ferret, squirrel) in various adventuring garb.

    Overall, I had a great time getting out to a game shop, having a pleasant discussion with one of the staff members about the event, a few RPG systems, and some of the dice selection they had, and getting to play rock paper scissors without one of my kids forcing me to lose.

    On a tabletop sits a collection of bookletes (Miru, CBR+PNK Kaguya Protocol, Pirate Borg, Root, Dungeons and Kittens), a D20 die sitting in a small black box, and a short tube next to a set of 7 polyhedral dice. The booklets are spread to show most of their covers, with the dice above and below them.

    Have you been out to any local game shops lately? Perhaps attending a Free RPG Day event? If not, find something close by and maybe you’ll find a system or inspiration for your next Pen & Paper Quest!

  • Adorablins Storytelling Game

    A few weeks back I went to a local discount book store and found a small “mint tin” style game. These are generally small, rules lite games that fit into any variety of small tins, commonly associated to mint tins (in this case think Altoids, but twice as tall).

    The top of a small game tin for the game Adorablins. The imagery on the lid shows whimsical art of a small goblin smiling, wearing a cowboy hat, and riding a hamster. A pair of dice with small goblin faces. A mushroom with a monocle and a moustache. It indicates the game is meant for 2-5 players, runs for 30-90 minuets, and is meant for ages 8+. "Adorablins. The adorable pocket-size storytelling game!"

    Adorablins is the game that I had found. I went into it knowing nothing about the game, but the whimsical art style is what caught my eye. After reading the back of the tin, and at only a $7 price tag, I decided to pick it up. It seemed like just the kind of game I could play with my kids – rules light, relatively quick, and built around telling a story, not crunching numbers.

    In Adorablins, play as a super cute goblin-like creature going on endless adventures! This easy-to-learn storytelling game has everything you need to play right in your pocket!

    My first thought was that this would be exactly the sort of simple, guided system that I could get my kids to play. Last week, I had the chance to do just that! After dinner I pulled out Adorablins, spent around 4 minutes looking through the rule booklet and Narrator cards, and dove straight in.

    A tabletop with a variety of cards from the Adorablins game, fanned out, two piles of small chits, a folded paper map, a small rulebook, and a set of four six-sided dice. There are Character cards, each with an image of an adorable goblin with a specific job - Baker, Tinker, Defender, Farmer, etc. Companion cards depicting goblin companions, such as Speedy the racing snail, Wormy the worm, and more. Adventure cards, which detail some pre-made adventures for the Adorablins. A set of Narrator cards, including a spotlight card and an X card. Chits depict a frazzled goblin and a variety of snacks. Action Dice cards indicate how to roll the dice and add them together to determine a result.

    The tin includes 48 cards across 7 types (Characters, Companions, Adventures, Action Cards, Narrator Cards, a Spotlight and Safety Card), a small rule booklet, a folded paper map, two types of chits – snacks and conditions – and four adorable little ~10mm six-sided dice which have tiny goblin heads on the 1 and 6 faces.

    As with most games, you choose one person to be the Narrator, often known as the DM, GM, Judge, Admin, Game Controller – the list goes on. That player will facilitate the gameplay and ensure the story moves along. They read the small rule booklet (~20 pages, 1.5″ x 3″) and once ready, read the Narrator cards out loud.

    A set of Narrator cards, with gameplay instructions, a Spotlight card, and a Safety card, with a large red X, from the X-card safety tools.

    Narrator cards have the overall rules and include getting players setup, laying the foundation of the story, and setting the initial scene through a series of questions that everyone can chime in on and answer. There is a Spotlight card, used to give each player a turn in the storytelling, ensuring there’s not a single player who “hogs the limelight.” Then there’s a Safety Card, which has a large red-X on it, often referred to as an X-card. This is an RPG game tool created John Stavropoulos, meant to give players a way to “tap out” of specific topics or events that may come up in a game – no questions asked.

    A closeup of the Adorablin character cards. Each card depicts a whimsical goblin with a specific job - Tinker, Baker, Defender, Farmer, and more. Each chard has a series of stats, including Smarts, Senses, Speed and Strength.

    Character cards depict adorable goblins, each with a specific job and 4 stats – Smarts, Senses, Speed and Strength. On the reverse side of each card is an Ability and Item. For example, the Baker has “Food Magic” which allows them to conjure tasty treats of any flavour, and a “Recipe Book” which has recipes “for any situation.”

    A spread of Companion cards, each depicting a cartoon-ish entity, that acts as a companion to a goblin. Companions such as Speedy the Super-Fast Racing Snail, Buzzy the Busy Little Bee friend, and Wispy the Elemental Spirit friend.

    Companion cards are simply an image of a variety of companion entities – from Speedy the Super-Fast Racing Snail to Shroomy the Clever Fungus Friend. Companions are used to turn a struggle (failed roll) into a success. Afterwards, they have to be turned over to rest, but it’s OK, they just need a yummy snack to wake them up again!

    A zoomed in picture of a set of four, 8mm, 6-sided dice sitting on a tabletop. The dice are a light green colour, the inlaid numbers are a darker shade of green. On the 1's face is a depiction of a small goblin face, mouth agape as if it "failed" at something. On the 6's face is the depiction of a small goblin face, smiling and happy, as if successful in something.
    Goblin math rocks, with actual goblins.

    These dice aren’t quite 10mm in size, but they’re super cute. The 1’s all have a goblin face that has a look of shock on it, as if they just struggled with an important task, while the 6’s all have a smiling, happy goblin who clearly did well.

    I wasn’t sure if my kids would want to play, or what kind of story they would try to come up with, but luckily they were excited to play a game with me even if they didn’t know what it was about. In fact, we ended up playing for nearly an hour and a half! Well past their bedtime when we wrapped up (which I was reminded of with how cranky my youngest became).

    My oldest has a fascination with warriors and fighting bad guys, he chose The Defender, whom he named RJ. I read my youngest several of the character options and he chose The Baker, which he aptly named “The Cooker”.

    To summarize the overall story we ended up narrating together, we started with The Cooker baking chips for RJ The Defender, because he was just out training and worked up quite an appetite. All of a sudden an Inventor burst into the Inn, shouting that a portal had opened near the beehives and his prized painting robot had just wandered into it. Someone had to help get it back!

    An image showing part of a tabletop, with a game of Adorablins in session. Three cards sit in a row, the Baker character, Worm companion, and an Action Dice card. Two dice, showing 6's, sit on the action dice card, above the row of cards are 2 "snack" chits. The edge of a paper map is visible in the corner of the image. A set of googly eyes sits near the edge of the table.

    The Cooker and RJ The Defender were immediately onboard, went to the beehives and walked into the portal (which they described as a “wiggly feeling”). The portal sent them to an alien world with large rock formations all around. My youngest rolled a Senses check and right out the gate had double-6’s! Things were looking up as they found the tracks of the robot and started following them.

    After a short exploration through the rocks, they ran into an alien frog! RJ protected The Cooker while he brought out an over-sized spatula and whacked the frog on the head, leaving it dazed, confused, and no longer interested in the two goblins.

    They continued on, until they came across an alien village inhabited by rock people (shoutout to Rocky from Hail Mary, which inspired these rock aliens). One more Senses roll later and The Cooker was laying on the charm, chatting with the village leader until they had a lead on the robot. It was heading towards a plateau overlooking “The Valley of Fire” – a valley full of active volcanoes!

    They headed towards the plateau and saw the painter robot! It was sitting there, frustrated, as it tried to paint the volcanoes, but kept having to start over as lava flows would move and change the scene. Suddenly, a large, 4-winged, bird-like alien flew out of the valley and started to dive for the painting robot!

    RJ rolled a Speed check to run forward and hold up his shield to protect the robot, barely able to push back the alien bird. While RJ continued to defend the robot, The Cooker brought out Wormy, his baking companion, to succeed in a skill check and work on some Food Magic. He conjured up a big, yummy, tasty… buttery bucket of popcorn. This attracted the bird, and gave them a chance to escape, robot in tow.

    At this point I realized it was pretty late, so we sped up the tail end of our adventure by having another Speed check to make sure the goblins could get back to the portal and safely deliver the painter robot back to its inventor. My kids had fun making up a silly story, and being brave little goblins. My youngest even spent the time before bed telling my wife bits and pieces of the story.

    Overall, this was a great game. It has just enough rules to get you going, includes rolling some dice, and keeps everyone involved by having them contribute to the story. Most importantly, I got to spend some time with my kids, and we all used our imaginations to share in a fun experience.

    You could probably take pieces from Adorablins and pair it with bits from other goblin-inspired games, such as Goblin Mail or Goblin Quest, and create your own light-hearted solo RPG system.

    Goes to show that you never know what kind of gems you might uncover for your next Pen & Paper Quest!

  • San Francisco Stationery Fest 2026

    Last weekend, the last weekend of March, was the inaugural San Francisco Stationery Fest (hereto referred to as “SF SF”). I wasn’t able to attend the full weekend, I was busy Sunday, but in lieu of this I was able to make it to the pre-event festivities on Thursday evening!

    I really enjoy the SF Pen Show, which is traditionally held in August, but has a very definitive focus on being a “Pen” show. Most vendors are pen makers, vintage pen collectors, and shops with pens, papers, inks and related items. While there was definitely some overlap from the pen crowd, there was a clear difference in the general stationery and journaling crowd that showed up to SF SF. It felt odd at first walking in and not seeing Daryl standing at the Musubi booth, being one of the first friendly faces to greet the crowds. Instead, there were so many vendors with a wide variety of stickers, stamps, washi tapes, journals, notebooks, ephemera – the whole kit and caboodle of stationery goodness!

    Sitting on a grey blanket is a collected pile of stationery and ephemera. Notebooks, notecards, laser-cut greeting cards, a couple fountain pens, a blue PLOTTER notebook cover, a bottle of ink, a roll of washi tape, and a bunch of stickers.
    The Stationery Fest haul.

    I was mostly planning to peruse the various vendors, maybe chat with some folks, take some classes and buy a few things. While successful on most of those items, I clearly failed on the “few things” part. I’ll touch on some of these items below, but there’s just too much to mention for me to cover it all!

    Thursday evening was an absolute blast. A much needed reprieve from work, I spent multiple hours chatting with some lovely folks about pens, paper and notecards. Both PLOTTER and Travelers had pre-show pop-up shops, along with various tables where folks were displaying their well loved stationery items (collections of PLOTTER notebooks and gorgeous Travelers notebook spreads), along with spaces to simply sit and chat.

    Two items sit on a grey blanket. A small dice spinner, comprised of a rotating exterior dial and stationary inner ring to imitate the results of random dice rolling. A plastic card case, the lid open, sitting on top are several cards in yellow, red and blue. Each card has small, handwritten text, taking notes on a solo rpg game.
    An extremely portable solo kit; just dice and carsds for notes!

    The lines to get to the shop tables took a while. I was in line for ~45 minutes at the Travelers shop. It was a good time to play a bit of ‘theater of the mind’, and use some of the new-ish notecards I started jotting down some character and game details on. I recently started a game using the Loner system, and generated extra details through the Game Masters Apprentice card decks – a fantastic resource by Larcenous Designs. I ended up chatting with someone in line as well, and showing him some of my solo RPG kit I had with me.

    A small, blue notebook cover, with a bumpy texture sits on a wooden tabletop. The PLOTTER Kurozan Mini5. An elastic band sticks out of the top and rests on the wood table, with a narrow pen holder sticking out of the right side of the cover.
    I never thought I would own a PLOTTER…
    The PLOTTER Mini5 notebook cover sits open on a wooden table. The interior shows a zipper case on the left, and a brown cardstock divider covering some papers behind it on the right.
    The PLOTTER Mini5 notebook cover sits open, revealing two PLOTTER project planners inside. Dark orange, on the left, mid-grey, on the right. These heavy-weight paper organizers encapsulate additional paper inside, to organize projects separately. Some small text print can be seen on the front and back of the planner pages.
    Looking forward to see how I can implement these Project Planners.

    The PLOTTER pop-up is where I collected this beauty. The PLOTTER Mini5 blue Kurozan leather binder. This was a limited supply they were able to bring, normally exclusive to the PLOTTER TOKYO store. I’m going to see where I can work this into my daily carry, as the size of the Mini5 is extremely pocketable. But it’s not just the beautiful cover, I picked up several accessories as well, including the dividers, project planners, 1mm grid paper packs, zipper pouch, elastic closure band, and a pen holder (which I still need to find a pen small enough to fit – I almost picked up a Kaweco Liliput Fire Blue fountain pen, but my senses got the better of me).

    I really enjoy the project managers from PLOTTER. It’s a simple concept, just some folded paper that encapsulates a handful of other papers, but the organizational factor is what I think I really enjoy. It will be perfect to capture notes on different RPG’s and keep them together. Or you know, work projects… but that doesn’t sound as enjoyable. Looking forward to figuring out how exactly I will end up using it.

    Friday was an early start, and the first day of the actual show. I was a bit late, arriving only ~10 minutes before the show opened for all access pass holders, and as normal the line was out the doors and starting to wind around the building. Unlike last years SF Pen Show, however, I did not schedule any classes at the start of the show! This meant I actually got a chance to wander around the show floor for a while. My first stop was PLOTTER, to pickup a couple of those accessories they didn’t have at their pop-up shop on Thursday evening.

    On top of a bag labelled "Pixel" sits a small, red, fuzzy bag. A multi-coloured pin is attached, and spilling from its opened pouch is a red cardboard square with googly-eyes and a big smile, a pack of small stickers, and a square mint tin.
    Pixel, the new Rickshaw companion!
    A pair of white 4x6 notecards, covered in light-grey printed alternating dots and crosses sit atop a wooden table.
    These Rickshaw notecards are pretty heavyweight, and come in a variety of styles too!

    My second stop was by Richsaw Bagworks; Mark is a great guy, and always fun to chat with. While they had a small selection of their normal pen cozies, the main focus was on a new release – the Pixel Pouch. It is a small pouch that perfectly fits a Simply Mints tin inside, comes with a pin, stickers and a googly-eyed card. They were also selling some of Marks new notecards, which were of particular interest to me! I have been experimenting with a variety of notecards to find some good ones, and I am always keen on adding a new item to the mix. I also got to chat for a short bit with Cheryl Ball, who ran the bookbinding classes at last years Pen Show, and was running some again at SF SF. I highly recommend them if you’re able to!

    A variety of stationery items - pouch, notebooks, tape, glue, stickers, etc - sit on a table in a classroom style setting. A teacher stands in front, addressing all the people sitting at the tables, ready to learn about Creative Journaling.
    Tom did a great job running this creative journaling class, and I had a blast!
    A page of an open journal, where a variety of Halloween themed pictures have been cut from a magazine and glued inside. A vampire-like pumpkin, bread stick snakes, a cookie coffin, and brownie ghosts. A variety of words have been cut out to form a small prompt, "You are a top-secret...". The options below it are Witch, Vampire, Monster, Snake, Pumpkin, Ghost, and Gnome.
    Had a blast doing some creative journaling with Tom Forsythe!

    I took 2 classes on Friday, the first was a fantastic Creative Journaling class with Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studios. I haven’t been great at journaling. I have a 5 year journal that I’m on my 3rd year of, and there are some pretty big gaps last year where it just fell out of habit for me to write in. Previously, I have also done some “BuJo” journaling, creating my own fancy spreads and trackers, but it was a big time commitment to create those and it quickly became something that I failed to continue with. Toms class emphasized just doing it. No format or forethought really necessary. Just start journaling!

    In one exercise he had everyone pick up a random magazine from the stacks he supplied, to start cutting out images to form a theme. I was handed a Halloween magazine, and after a few minutes of looking I just started cutting out things that caught my eye, and formed the start of what could be an interesting short story / RPG generator – “You are a top-secret…”. With possibilities like ghost, witch, and pumpkin, it sounds like the start of a comedic spy thriller set in Halloween themed world. I’m hoping to spend a bit more time with that later, and see what kind of fun stories I can create from it.

    We also had a 5 minute “just write” time. Where we had to put pen on paper for a full five minutes. Doesn’t matter what you were writing, you just had to write. It sounds daunting at first, “wait, we have to write non-stop for 5 minutes, no pausing to think!?” But after starting, it actually went by very quickly. It was a great class, and I wish I could have gone to the other 3 classes that Tom was hosting as well. Perhaps next time!

    A notebook sits open, a variety of pens have been tested on its pages.
    Great time tesing Frixion pens, as well as the pens shared around the table I was at.

    My second class on Friday was the Inky Decisions class, with Lisa Vaness. It was the first time she was running this one, and I have to say that overall it was great. There were a couple stumbles getting through it, but she presented a lot of interesting information on the different types of inks available – fountain pen, rollerball, ballpoint, and gel primarily. There was a short bit of history, and if anyone had questions they were free to ask. Pilot had also sent some small collection of pens that everyone got to play with. Most were from their Frixion lineup, but for me that was OK. This was only the second time I had ever used a Frixion product, and I didn’t even know they had erasable highlighters!

    Lisa had arranged the tables and chairs so that everyone sat in small groups, to share the test pens. This was also a great opportunity for everyone to share their own pens and chat with neighbors. I had brought a 0.28mm Uni Style Fit, and was able to share that around so everyone could see just how small gel pen tips could be. Someone else had shared some of their favorite fountain pens and inks with me as well. It was really nice, and this would make a perfect Saturday, “get off the show floor” type of class, to give you a short reprieve from the crowds.

    Sitting in an outdoor courtyard, surrounded on 3 sides by buildings, a disembodied hand holds up a small paper pad, with artistic scrawlings at an urban sketching class. In the background a large group of people sit, similarly focused on their own practice.
    Urban Sketching was a blast!
    More than a dozen small paper pads sit on the cement, each displaying the artists attempt at urban sketching. Most focus on practicing an outdoor propane heater, some add artistic embelishments in the background, one is a detailed sketch of one face of a hotel building, with wooden eaves.
    Such a great variety in urban sketching!

    Saturday I did schedule a class first thing, because I knew I would have already gone through (most of) the show floor on Friday. So my day started with Eileen Goldenberg’s Urban Sketching class and it was great! Eileen has been doing urban sketching for a long time, and was very encouraging to get people started as well. You don’t have to be an outstanding artist – in fact, I don’t think I’m very artistic at all, but I am pretty happy with what I produced from this class.

    Seeing everyone just sitting and focused on drawing/painting was a great mood booster. If I can, I am going to try to integrate something like this into my solo play; quick sketches to enhance the visual aspect of gameplay. It’s always hard to take something you see in your mind, and turn it into some form of art, but as they say “practice makes perfect”.

    A white postcard with rounded corners sits on a wooden table. The postcard is watercolour paper and has several pink and purple flowers on the left, with leaves in a few shades of green. A large bumble bee has been painted in floating near the flowers. On the right, the text "Bee Yourself!" has been painted as well.
    Just bee yourself.

    Saturday was an extra artsy day for me, as my last class at SF SF was the Abstract Floral Art and Lettering class with Carola. I’ve taken Carola’s classes before, and they’re exactly what someone needs if they’re looking for some artistic inspiration and chill vibes. It was awesome to learn that Tombow had actually sponsored it by sending out some full 6-pack dual-brush kits for everyone as well!

    She led the class through watercolour painting with brush markers, accented with a fineliner, and finished off with any sort of positive affirmation, quote, or message. All done on a watercolour postcard, so you could even stamp and mail it! Even if you can’t make it to one of her classes, she also streams over on Twitch.TV – a great stream to leave on and listen to while you’re working.

    Bao by Andrea, great artist
    My Documented Life, stickers and stamps.
    Sara Burgess Studios creates some lovely cards!
    Retro Steno, cards and stickers.
    Amarillo Stationery had some interesting items.
    Kaweco DIY Sport presses
    A pair of laser-cut greeting cards sit on top of a wooden table. On the left, the outline of a pine tree is cut from the card, with a green paper insert behind it making the cutout stand out. On the right, a set of poppy flowers with small stems are cut out, with a deep orange sheet behind. Both cards are still in their cellophane wrappers.
    Beautiful cards from Sara Burgess Studio!
    A trio of sticker packs sit on a wooden table. One has a variety of aquarium and aquatic creature stickers. Another has various stationery items, such as pens, markers, and journals. The last one is a series of gentlemanly dogs, with various bits of clothing, drinks and pipes. Each dog sticker has a different statement around it, such as "My thoughts are so profound".
    Some of the few stickers I came home with, out of a huge selection.
    A small, grey, cartoonish cat stands with its front legs in the air to make a pen stand. Instead of a pen, the cat is holding up a roll of washi tape, themed with various fantasy swords.
    I couldn’t resist either of these things.
    A grainy image of a Kaweco DIY Sport fountain pen, taken in a dark room. The fountain pen glows in the dark, emitting a bright green glow. The etched name "Kaweco DIY Sport" visible in the pen cap.
    The Kaweco DIY Sport is a fun pen, but not truly DIY.

    Overall, there were a lot of talented folks at SF SF. The Saturday crowds were pretty insane, which is one of those “good but bad” things. They had local and visiting artists as vendors, and there was an absolute plethora of stickers, stamps and washi tape. Here is a quick rundown of some of the other items I ended up with:

    • I picked up aquarium and stationery themed stickers, as well as a super cute, tiny cat stamp, from My Documented Life.
    • Some lovely laser-cut cards from SaraBurgessStudio, inspired by nature and the outdoors.
    • From Oblation Papers & Press, I picked up a sword-themed washi, a set of great looking dog stamps printed by the Portland Stamp Co, and the SF SF Show Ink (for fountain pens) that I didn’t even know was a thing till I saw it!
    • Vaness Pen Shop brought some Pilot Kakuno’s and I bought a pair, because I want to give one to my son (and if you have two kids, you’ll understand why you can’t just buy one).
    • Ahnitol had adorable cat and crab themed pen stands, and a pretty crazy line to get to them too! It took me more than 20 minutes waiting for the crowd to have a chance at the table on Saturday.
    • Maido had a booth where I participated in the Kaweco “DIY” event (gimmicky, but interesting to see the implementation of the presses to ensure almost anyone could complete it) and picked up a Platinum Prefounte as I’ve never tried one before (and they had it in blue).

    It was very uplifting being around stationery people (-ERY, not -ARY). These couple days let me be quite a bit more creative than my normal schedule allows, and slow down from the normal pace of life for a little while. Looking forward to seeing if hosting two separate events in the year (Stationery Fest and Pen Show) will have any reduction in crowds one way or the other.

    P.S.: Shoutout to the folks running SF SF, who also run the SF Pen Show – no easy feat! On the web, the interactive map with linked tables was extremely handy to identify specific vendors or map out your route (for anyone who does so). Also, the easy-to-read schedule for classes and seminars was awesome to not only find all the registration links in one place, but also to ensure you don’t book classes that overlap.

    Don’t forget to say hi to Ace and Odin if you’re ever at the SF shows!