The Dark Orb

27/10/2025

Finally, we get to play by Limithron (Published by Free League Publishing)

Be warned! We have some terrible accents, and it all got very silly. Plus Phil managed to totally mis-read the die roll a couple of times in Alchemy, but we made it work in the end.

Huge thanks to the cast, including our fabulous GM, Chris, and players Stuart and Jason.

Enjoy!!! Let us know your thoughts in the comments and tune in next week for the conclusion!

Pirate Borg actual play of The Gold Bug, an adventure by Limithron on Patreon. Episode 1 opens with a dying pirate’s riddle, a strange gold bug trinket, and ...

05/10/2025

That’s a wrap!

Thank you everyone for an amazing Orbtoberfest. We had a great time, bones were rattled, games were played, pizza was eaten, raffle prizes were won and our channel is funded for another year!

A huge shout out to everyone for coming to Orbtoberfest III - Tales From The Dark Orb - from the bottom of my heart I really appreciate your friendship and support.

Next year’s date has already been chosen, 17th October 2026, and we are very excited to be returning to Ye Olde Salutation Inn yet again.

Thank you so much.

- Phil and the team at The Dark Orb

26/09/2025

Loved catching up with Tomas from Free League about the RPG currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

Check out the interview below! This looks like a lot of fun.

The Invincible RPG Kickstarter is live — and it’s already making waves. In this chat, I talk with Tomas Härenstam (Free League) about whether the Year Zero E...

22/09/2025

Huge thanks to Monte Cook Games for their continued support and all the brilliant products they put out.

We had great fun talking about the revisions to the Cypher Set in Cypher 2.0

Only a couple of days left in the campaign but it will go to late pledge. Check out our conversation (interview is a bit of a stretch) below!

Cypher System 2.0 is here! In this interview with Kate Evans from Monte Cook Games, we explore the biggest changes in the new edition, why it’s been split in...

20/09/2025

Our limited edition Orbtoberfest Dark Orb Dice have arrived!!!! Did you order them with your Orbtoberfest III - It Came From The Dark Orb ticket?

15/09/2025

Only a handful of tickets left for our third annual tabletop roleplaying convention, Orbtoberfest III - It Came From The Dark Orb right here in Nottingham, UK on October 4th.

We have released a few more event tickets and game seats for Orbtoberfest, with one or more seats available at the table for the following games:

Morning:
Transformers RPG,
Death In Space,
Hard City,

Afternoon:
Changeling The Dreaming,
Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks,
Dungeon Crawl Classics,
Punk is Dead

It's going to be amazing, and it's only £15 (+fees) all-in.

You also get a strip of raffle tickets (more available on the day), where you could win

Signed copies:
The One Ring RPG (Limited collectors edition) (Free League Publishing)
Dragonbane Core RPG Book (Free League)
X-Crawl Classics (Limited Collectors Edition) ) Games
Runecairn Wardensaga (By Odin's Beard RPG)

Plus also:
A ticket to the incredible Vampire Larp "As Night Falls: The Auction" (Thank you Mythic Echoes)
Cypher System Starter Set (Monte Cook Games) - more Cypher System prizes to be added...
Mutant Crawl Classics (Goodman Games)
Shiver Blockbuster (Parable Games
Tales from the Loop Starter Set (Free League)
Hell Night (Gavriel Quiroga)
Exclusive The Dark Orb: Orbtoberfest III dice set

and more...

We only have 30-35 attendees, our convention is small and mighty but our raffles are legendary - you've a very good chance of winning something superb - so it's one prize per person but some INCREDIBLE things to be had!

Huge thanks to Free League Publishing and Monte Cook Games, this year's main raffle sponsors, for their kind donations which help to keep the lights on at The Dark Orb. As always, if we have any proceeds left over from Orbtoberfest after costs of the channel, prizes and event then they'll be donated to the mental health charity MIND (although to date TDO has run to negative profit.. That's not what the event is for anyway!)

Also a huge shout out to UKTR Apparel for again breaking the mold with their STUNNING t-shirt design for this year - picture in the comments.

Orbtoberfest III (2025) - Tabletop Roleplaying Mini-Convention – Ye Olde Salutation Inn, Sat 4 Oct 2025 - Celebrate five years of The Dark Orb, with the third, annual, Orbtoberfest. Nottingham's annual Micro-Convention celebrating all things indie in tabletop roleplaying.

11/09/2025

This might be my favourite baseball cap ever. nailed this piece of merch from design through to production quality. Pics cannot do it justice.

09/09/2025

We continue to add actual plays to our catalog of fun, but we can’t do it without the help of our amazing cast.

If you’re a fan of our shows, support us on Patreon or join our Discord and perhaps you too can feature on a future The Dark Orb actual play.

Until then, I hope your die rolls are better than mine!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL10hR7hi2334YIucy3DgPAQMyNl2yQIQk

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

06/09/2025

We had a wonderful time with Nordic Skalds demigod Andreas Lundström talking about the second part of the Windheim setting for Free League Publishing’s (currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nordicskalds/windheim-falling) and then playing the game!

Thank you Andreas. We love you!

Dragonbane actual play meets epic new setting Windheim in this special episode! We sit down with Andreas Lundström, co-owner of Nordic Skalds, Sweden Rolls m...

30/08/2025

Strictly limited tickets are now on sale for our Saturday session of Orbtoberfest. A full day of indie tabletop roleplaying in the heart of Nottingham over at The Old Sal.

Games on the Saturday include:
Aegean, Changeling The Dreaming, Cogs Cakes and Swordsticks, Death in Space, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Hard City, Monster of the Week, Punk is Dead, Rivers of London, Shiver, Transformers, Vaesen

Games are selling out! Get in quick!

Celebrate five years of The Dark Orb, with the third, annual, Orbtoberfest. Nottingham's annual Micro-Convention celebrating al...

28/08/2025

We had great fun recording this Cypher System Starter Set actual play, but fair warning we definitely went off-script. Proof that you don't need to run a game as-written in order for everyone to have an AMAZING time.

We love Monte Cook Games' Cypher System, and there's a new crowdfunding campaign running for their latest rendition of the rules. Keep your eyes peeled for our special episode on that soon.

In the meantime. Subscribe to our YouTube and check out our Actual Play, Part 2 comes very, very soon!

Step into the dark fantasy world of the Cypher System Starter Set with our playthrough of The Creeping Ooze. In this actual play, the crew at The Dark Orb di...

27/08/2025

Orbtoberfest is on the way!

Check out these games for the Saturday... More to come on the Sunday!

Morning games: 10 - 2pm
Aegean - Stoo
Death in Space - Jason
Hard City - Shane
Monster of the Week - Erin
Transformers - Matt
Vaesen - Gareth

LUNCH 2pm - 2:45

OUR AMAZING RAFFLE 2:45pm - 3pm

Afternoon games 3pm-7pm
Changeling - Dave
Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks - Stu
DCC - Steve
Punk is Dead - Musoholic
Rivers of London - Bruce
Shiver - Rob

General admission tickets happen this Saturday at 10AM over at The Dark Orb

Orbtoberfest III - It Came From The Dark Orb

www.orbtoberfest.com