LinCon is a game convention in Linköping, Sweden. After a pleasant visit last year, I returned this year for more. A two hour drive from Stockholm and spanning the four days of the Ascension school holiday, LinCon is a good destination for a family holiday. Linköping itself offers many sights and Sweden is at its best in May/June as spring turns into summer.
This year I had a good mix of attending the convention and enjoying time with the family. I hosted four events and had time for browsing the convention space and attending the award ceremony of the SAGA boardgame design competition. My kids joined me Saturday.
LinCon had 40 year anniversary last year. You feel that the smooth run convention benefits from many groups of volunteers who come back each year to spend time with friends and to play games. The convention crew is relaxed and knows what they are doing. The website and registration app doesn’t win any UX design awards but serves their purpose.
Death of Rapacus
Death of Rapacus is my dark comedy love letter to Ars Magica. The idea dates back to 2015. Also known as Last Wizard Standing, Death of Rapacus is set in a covenant of wizards somewhere in medieval Europe. One of them murdered Rapacus, their feared leader. However, it is not about discovering who killed Rapacus but who gets the blame.
I played the game at Grand Tribunal in 2016, a convention dedicated to Ars Magica. In 2023 I simplified the game and published a version with art by Claudia Cangini. It’s a fun game but hasn’t gotten much attention so I decided to host it at LinCon to give it some play time.
Four groups of five played Death of Rapacus at LinCon 2025 and all had a blast. It was fun to walk between the tables and listen in as they got to the fun parts. Stories obviously went wild. Players quickly leaned into the magic duels and had fun improvising moves to sway the audience for bonus dice.
I helped clarify rules but mostly enjoyed watching the groups come up with their own answers to the questions that emerged. Designed to be played from the text without a game master or facilitator, it is a hard design goal to pull off. I noted a couple of places where the text can be improved, but as the players demonstrated, it was nothing that couldn’t be solved at the table.
Players enjoyed the character illustrations very much. These help set the tone in a way that is hard to do with words. One player volunteered that she picked her character as the one with the cutest illustration to make the other players like her more. This was indeed a winning strategy!
Death of Rapacus is available as PDF or as print on demand.
The City
The City is a steampunk drama about what we do to fit in. Inspired by Ancient Athens, the idea lay dormant for years until I one day came up with the image of a people in a city being like interlocking cogwheels in a machine. I then revisited my notes and wrote out the first draft of the game in a week.
I designed The City with one game master and four players. Compared to my other designs, this is a more classic approach. With a game master and pre-defined characters, you can design a much more tight story. The role of the players is much more narrow: To portray at the table how their character feels, thinks, says and does.
In The City, each player makes a choice for their man character at some point during the story. Either to comply with what the city expects them to do. Or to break with tradition and follow their own path in life. As they do, they return either a white or a black stone to a shared bag. Players pull stones from the bag to flavour the events in the shared story arc. Does the ship return home safely? Does the goddess bestow her blessing on the city? Will the city go to war with neighbouring Antigonia?
At the end, two stones remain. These decide the fate of the city. Does it succumb to chaos and division? Does it grow stale in compliance? Or does the city grind on forever at the brink of disaster, but always managing to come up with solutions to each new crisis?
LinCon was the third time I ran the game. It was a great session with four excellent players. We had time to get into the hearts and minds of the characters. All characters saw hardship and setbacks but pulled through. Changed by the city but also slowly changing the city with them.
The City is available for free here.
Gotlandia
Gotlandia is a boardgame about sheep, pirates and overly embellished churches. Set in medieval Gotland 1100-1400, players steer their family through a golden age in a race to build the most magnificent churches before the black plague sweeps the island.
I brought three copies. Four players showed up so I ended running one table. As the players got into the game, I managed to sneak in another game of Gotlandia with my son where he wiped my strategy of early expansion clean off the table with his empire of sheep and horses.
The game has been in development since February 2024. I’m happy with the current design, it offers many roads to victory, replayability, and good mix of story and mechanics. The main challenge now is to teach the game. One thing is to explain the rules to new players at the table. Another is to create a rulebook that others can pick up and learn the game from.
Playing games is fun. Designing games is great fun. Publishing and selling games is less fun. Maybe I will park the development of Gotlandia here. Have it as a game to offer at conventions and play with friends. Bring it to Medeltidsveckan in Visby this August. See if I get inspired to take it further or just enjoy it as it is.
SAGA design awards
This year saw the first Swedish Annual Game design Award, a boardgame design competition. I chose to not participate but enjoyed following from the sideline. One room at LinCon was dedicated to playtesting the games that people clearly put a lot of love and creativity into. Saturday evening the winners of the competition were announced and I took the opportunity to swing by, applaud, and socialise. Even reconnected with a gaming friend from back when I lived in Copenhagen. Not many Danes at LinCon, but perhaps that can change?
Going to a convention first time without knowing anyone can be daunting. Like many other conventions, LinCon can be a lonely place if you don’t know anyone. While many communities enjoy visiting LinCon, my impression is that they don’t mix a lot. Doors are open and people are friendly. But when everyone else is here with their friends, you easily feel like the odd one out. This is one reason why I always offer to host a game when I attend a convention for the first time.
Events like SAGA help change that. LinCon needs more events where communities mix. Great potential here.
Odds are great that I will return next year. Maybe I have hooked my kids to join me again? Maybe to reconnect with new and old friends? For three days of fun and games in beautiful Linköping in May.