Every time I dig into my disc, into the depths of archival folders, and come across this photo, I can’t help but think how unexpected life can be. I don’t know who took this photo, and I don’t know when, but it had to be taken somewhere around the time Blaszak and I were visiting conventions, promoting Neuroshima RPG. It was 2005 or 2006. Two twenty-something-year-olds, completely broke, who tried to sell a few copies of their RPG rulebook. A few years have passed since then…

On the left, Marcin Blacha, the Story Director at CD Projekt Red, creator of Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

On the right, Ignacy Trzewiczek, nominated to Spiel des Jahres, designer of world-famous hits such as Robinson Crusoe or Detective.

When we were sitting on those stools back then, there was no damn way we could predict how our paths would unfold.

It’s been more than a decade since I’ve participated in a tournament. Though attending conventions is my job, I usually work at the Portal Games booth at those events and don’t have time to spend hours in competitions. Also, it probably doesn’t befit someone working in the industry to fight for main prizes with other competitors. At some point in my life, I stopped competing in wargaming. I didn’t join the fight for keys in Keyforge or road building in Catan. Tournaments are a thrill, a rush of adrenaline, but also a lot of frustration, when one of the competitors focuses too much on the prize and destroys the fun for everyone else, ignoring the rules of fair play. I haven’t experienced all of this in years.

Last weekend, after my decade-long break, I took part in a tournament. I was stressed out, of course! But I packed my Arkham Horror LCG cards and went to the small, local tournament organized in a board game pub in the city I live in.

My most expected book of the year arrived. It’s not a new novel from Brandon Sanderson. It’s not a new Stephen King novel. It’s not even the new novel about my beloved Troll Slayer. It’s Dice Men by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. It’s about the beginnings of the Games Workshop. 

You know, I am a sucker for everything that covers behind-the-scenes information. I loved these extras that back then were added to DVD discs. I loved documentaries about creating and developing games (like Indie Game: The Movie). I cannot express how I enjoyed  Designers & Dragons series by Shannon Appelcline. And now this – the origin story of the Games Workshop! OMG!

It was 2015, I think. Our fan base in the US was growing like crazy, it was almost 10 years after our Essen debut, and I felt stunning support from the geeks’ community. At some point in the office, we came up with the idea to make a photo contest for our fans. It was almost a decade ago, far before Tik Tok, Facebook groups, and all that jazz. Instagram was already a thing, but not too much in the board games niche. We had a ton of standard product photos but wanted some creativity. We asked fans for help.

The contest, as you can assume, was super successful, we received many photos, photos that I was posting on Portal Games’ social media channels for years. The creativity of Portal Games fans was impressive. The photo above is the one that won the contest. It’s been years, and I cannot express how much I love the simplicity of the idea behind it and the message it sends.

It’s exactly what Robinson Crusoe is all about. The unknown. The walk. The adventure.