Games in November 2025
Jubensha, West Marches and a Vampire LARP
Hello and welcome to the first edition of Games in Melbourne. This city has a really fantastic roleplaying game community and in the four years I've been here I've met some great people through the shared hobby. The goal of this newsletter is to provide a single place to check to find out about roleplaying game events in Melbourne.
Finding out what's on is becoming more challenging. Ten years ago you could hop on Facebook and all the events would be right there, but a lot of people don't use Facebook anymore (I certainly try to use it as little as possible) - and nothing has really come along and replaced it. Some groups advertise through meet-up, some on Instagram, some still on Facebook and many advertise through discord servers that you need to join. I like to think that I'm pretty plugged into what's going on but the amount of stuff going on seems bottomless.
RPGs
APIRL (Actually Playing In Real Life)
This is a group that I (Tom) help run! We organise one shot games in different venues around Melbourne monthly and use our discord to help people connect for finding their own games. Mostly we are hosting out of Elder Gods and Dragons in Carlton these days. We play all sorts of games other than 5E (as you can find that in plenty of other places). Some of the games we've played previously include Iron Valley ( a co op game where you play as Stardew Valley farmers), Good Society (where you play as characters in a regency drama ala Pride and Prejudice), Dialect (where you create a new language over a gaming session) and loads of dungeon crawly OSR games.
Date: One a month per venue, the next is Halloween themed on the 1st of November
Costs: Depends on the venue, $15 for Elder Gods and Dragons
Venue: Varies
Link: Join discord for more info or to chat - https://discord.gg/mkDXSUCuqK
Melbourne East RPG Community
Community Role-playing Games Group based in Melbourne's Easter Suburbs. ALL Tabletop RPG systems welcome. Come to play. Or come to run a game. All welcome. Sign up via Aftergame.
Date: Every Friday Night
Costs: None
Venue: Ringwood RSL
Link: https://aftergame.app/groups/melbourne-east-rpg-community--1335
The Good* Guild
You don’t need to be an expert wizard or a seasoned rogue to join us. Whether you’re brand new to roleplaying games or you’ve got dice older than the bartender’s apron, you’ll find a friendly, vibrant group ready to welcome you in and help you craft characters, chaos, and memories.
We mostly play Dungeons & Dragons, but every so often we’ll stray into other realms: Daggerheart, Neo City, Cozy Critters, and whatever other magical tomes our GMs dust off.
Important quest requirement: you must join the Discord and book a spot, lest you arrive and face the dreadful boss known only as Disappointment. So! Ready your dice. Ready your imagination. Ready your Monday night. Because at The Good* Guild, every session is a story waiting to be told.
Date: Every Monday evening, 6:30 to 9:30.
Costs: It costs $10 to take a seat at the table, and each week our valiant DMs and GMs are rewarded $50 for conjuring wondrous one-shots for you to explore.
Venue: The Station Hotel, Footscray
Link: https://discord.gg/FktwfKG3vD
One-Shot Wonders
One-Shot Wonders (OSW) is a northside Melbourne RPG group hosting casual one-shot sessions for those who love roleplaying but are too busy to commit to an on-going campaign.
Date: Every Thursday 7-10pm (games can run to 11pm if needed)
Costs: None at present - membership is free and our regular Thursday night fixture has no overhead costs. If a host ever wants to run a paid game (ie. pay the GM or the venue) they can include this information, ticket link etc in the game details.
Venue: Croxton Park Hotel, 607-619 High St, Thornbury, VIC 3071
Link: https://one-shot.games/ - this is a public page (no login required) with a live feed of our weekly event schedule - up to 5 events ahead - with details of who's going, what game(s) are planned and details of each game (system, rating, number of seats, etc).
Elder Gods and Dragons - formerly Pause Menu
The Pause Menu has relocated over to Carlton and opened up a series of well decorated, themed RPG rooms for use. You can book a room for yourself and they always have a load of different gaming events, miniature painting or board games going on, which can be great if you want to play a game and don't know anyone.
Upcoming is the Halloween Mega Weekend.
- Saturday 1st of Nov: "Victorian Horror" Call of Cthulhu $15 per player. Runs 2- 5:30pm.
- Sunday 2nd of November: Vampire the Masquerade 7:00pm - 10:00pm $60 per player
- Thursdays 2-5pm: under 30's TTRPG For $20 a session and playing 1 to 2 shots from DnD, Call of Cthulhu, Good Society and more
Also one of the owners is starting up a Westmarches campaign soon which I know is a lot of people's gaming white whale.
Date: By appointment only, but lots of events running.
Venue: Elder Gods and Dragons, Carlton
Costs: Varies
Link: https://www.egnd.com.au/ and discord.
Adventurers League (Melbourne DDAL)
The Adventurer's League put on lots of games all around Melboure running 5e with characters that stay with you between different sessions.
Of particular interest is that this month they're running the epic scenario Drums of the Deep. Epic scenarios are multi table games played at once where what's happening at one table influence the other tables - they're really impressive feats of coordination.
Date: Basically all the time
Venue: Varies
Costs: Varies, but generally low
Link: Find out more on their discord https://discord.gg/X4NDUxCy8f, or read all about them on their website: https://melbourneddal.com.au/.
Collective Adventurers Guild
We bring people together to imagine boldly, play freely and connect deeply through the shared magic of storytelling and tabletop roleplay.
Date: Every Friday 3:30PM - 10:30PM
Venue: 47A French Street, Lalor Neighbourhood House
Costs: None
Link: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580172189622
LARPs
Huge thanks to Will for putting this list of events together for me as I have no connection to the LARP community at all (something I'd like to change soon).
Midnight in Melbourne
It's a Vampire the Masquerade LARP that aims to be a good "cosplay and cocktails" experience. You don't need to know much about the setting, all you need to do is dress up like a vampire and lean into the melodrama.
They're hosting their next event on the 16th of November at the Sub Club. The event page is now live with tickets live. It’s been designed to be very accessible for new players, and is an excuse to dress up like a vampire and get involved in messy politics.
More details below: https://discord.gg/HSJzrrHXc3
Caligo Mundi
Caligo Mundi are a LARP club that play long-form games. Games usually take place at the North Fitzroy Library, and there's a big focus on accessibility, so events are affordable and costuming is highly encouraged, but optional (theatre blacks are fine).
More details below:
https://discord.com/invite/DmCQXHS5D
Drachenfest Australia
One of the new kids on the block. Drachenfest is a Festival LARP in October, set in a medieval fantasy setting where you can explore, fight, celebrate and enjoy the spectacle as you take part in a living world. Player spend three days battling on behalf of the dragon that they decide aligns most closely with their goals and values. More details below:
https://www.drachenfest.com.au/
Swordcraft
Instead of battling with words and schemes, battle it out with foam blades. This is a battle LARP, which runs every Friday night. They also run week-long festival events called Quest. More details below:
https://www.swordcraft.com.au/
Enclave
Another battle LARP, which also takes place on Fridays. They're new, having only started a few months ago, and are a smaller game which can be less stressful than the big Swordcraft battles.
More details here: https://discord.gg/CGNEvkVKyY
Wizards and Warlords
Another battle LARP, but this one is indoors and not on a Friday! They're out in Ringwood and run weekly as well. More details below:
https://www.houseofwar.com.au/event-details/wizards-warlords
The Lost Settlers
A new LARP that will take place over a weekend next year. You play as an adventurer from one of three distinct cultures that is setting up a new colony on an unexplored continents. It combines conflict, survival, exploration, and immersion in a historical context.
Conventions and Markets
None that I know of! If you know about anything coming up in December send me an email over at gamesinmelbourne@gmail.com
Other things
Jubensha
You might have seen this great video from People Makes Games about Jubensha - a type of scripted who done it game that's extremely popular in China. One of the really interesting things highlighted in the video is the way that people play it - specifically that they do so at special jubensha gaming cafe's with total randoms.
When that video released there was a big rush to find games in English and venues to play them at - but none existed at the time. Now https://www.scriptedmurder.com/home exists - who are hosting games both for open bookings and for private groups.
Play Based Learning
This one is technically not in November but hey it's close enough.
From one of the hosts: This is a meetup for people using games/play to teach or engage with people! The first one was super exciting, so we're planning to run another! We had a range of people at the last one, including primary/secondary/tertiary education, council, gov, museums, etc! It was very exciting, so if using play to teach is interesting to you, come along!
Date: Oct 30th 5:30-7pm
Venue: Unimelb's Teaching and Learning Lab Studio, with an optional dinner at the Clyde Hotel afterwards RSVP if you wanna come along!
Costs: None
Link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/play-based-learning-melbourne-meetup-tickets-1776612719469