Tabletop Scotland 2026: Running the Numbers
Third time is the charm, as I’ve heard it said. It’s time to Run the Numbers blog post for Tabletop Scotland 2026!
For those of you who don’t know me / us, I’m George Francis Bickers and this is Three Sails Studios. I’m the Studio Lead and the creator and designer of our first two games, Mappa Mundi - An Exploration + Ecology RPG and Gallows Corner - A Peasants’ Revolt RPG, and we’re a small indie TTRPG design studio and publisher based in Manchester in the UK. Alongside me are Jeremy Blum (designer, developer, and writer), Joel Kilpatrick (illustrator), and Lou Fryer (editorial and operations).
Following in the footsteps of the amazing Colin LeSueur of By Odin’s Beard RPG, I have started writing and sharing blogs that break down our expenses and takings at conventions, starting with Dragonmeet 2025 and followed by UK Games Expo 2026.
I’m carrying on now with an analysis of our time at Tabletop Scotland 2026. Let’s dive in!
Logistics
Tabletop Scotland takes place over the first weekend (Friday to Sunday) in September at the Royal Highland Centre. This was the convention’s third appearance at the current venue and our second time exhibiting. We had our first stand there last year. I have numbers for last year (more on those below), but they weren’t very detailed. Regardless, we have some points of comparison I can make.
The Royal Highland Centre is on the outskirts of Edinburgh, right next to the airport runway. Being based in Manchester, and with only myself and my partner Heather attending, that meant some travel. Heather left a few days before I did, taking Buddy the Three Sails beagle to her parents in the North East of England, while I followed a few days later (after the launch of City of Espers) by train. After one night in the north east, we then both travelled to Edinburgh Gateway by train and then got a quick five minute taxi journey to the venue.
The Royal Highland Centre really isn’t easy to get to if you’re relying on public transport. If you’re exhibiting or attending and you’re not driving yourself, make sure to set aside a decent amount of money for trains, trams, and taxis, and expect to pay a premium as they’re technically accessing the airport, which seems to come with a premium.
Our stock arrived at the venue courtesy of GMS, who brought 36 copies of Mappa Mundi, 32 copies of the Gallows Corner box set, 22 copies of the Gallows Corner book, and ten of each ‘Tales of Old England’ zines with them for us. We also took two preview copies of City of Espers with us. GMS also brought two of our wooden crates and one of our 4 meter banners with them, to help us make the stand look presentable. Heather and I brought all our table cloths and table runners with us in two suitcases, along with our display copies of Mappa Mundi and Gallows Corner, plus two City of Espers roller banners.
Costs
Stand Costs (4 × 2 m; expanded to 4 × 4m at no extra cost): £429.60 including VAT. We are VAT registered, so we can claim 20% of our stand cost back, bringing our total stand cost to £358.00. You might be wondering why we ended up with extra space on the stand. We booked and paid for a 4×2m stand, but the exhibitors who were supposed to be behind us cancelled just a few days before the convention. The TTS organisers very kindly offered us the space, which meant we became an end cap stand, rather than a corner stand. Our total cost included four 6ft tables and two chairs.
Travel: £197.87. This included four train journeys (three of them for two people), two taxis to and from the venue and Edinburgh Gateway station, and one car journey.
Accommodation: £170.00. Last year, we stayed in a room in a family home out in South Queensferry for a very similar price to this. However, we had to get taxis to and from the venue every day and were limited to just the one room. This year, I booked a full house within walking distance (20 to 30 minutes) of the venue with four bedrooms and offered them out to other attendees on an even split. This was a much nicer solution and something we’ll definitely do again next year.
Meals: £94.23. Heather and I brought the bulk of our food with us, which saved us relying on takeaways, but this does include some drinks hangouts at a bar after the Friday and Saturday trading days. Without those, we’d be looking at a cost of just £37.00 (which includes a celebratory vegan burger each at Edinburgh station on the way home).
Staff costs: £0. Attending conventions is something I do for free, and my partner Heather came with me and asked for nothing except expenses because she’s amazing. I will be paying her next year, as we will for all convention staff appearances, but this year, our costs were nothing.
TOTAL EXPENSES (after VAT rebates): £820.10
The Stand
Those of you who read my UK Games Expo 2026: Running the Numbers blog will know that Lou Fryer, who has come on as a part of Three Sails Studios, redesigned our convention presence for that convention and beyond. While we weren’t able to take everything with us, we did bring all the key elements that Lou designed. This included two apple crates (very handy for displaying stock and giving us some extra height), tablecloths, and table runners. We supplemented this with our Mappa Mundi + Gallows Corner banner (soon to be redesigned) and two City of Espers roller banners.
Despite the extra size being sprung on us at short notice, Heather did an excellent job of staging the stand and we looked full without looking crowded. A great job from both Heather and Lou!
Sales
Always the most popular part of the blog, and part of our commitment to radical transparency. Here are all the details I have for our sales across the three days of the convention.
We were selling Mappa Mundi, Gallows Corner box sets and books, Mappa Mundi art prints (a convention exclusive, after the initial Kickstarter campaign), and showing off City of Espers and directing people to the live Backerkit campaign (psst….you can go and check it out, too!).
Prices:
Mappa Mundi - £60
Gallows Corner Box Set - £80
Gallows Corner Book - £50
Gallows Box + Mappa Mundi Bundle - £125
Gallows Book + Mappa Mundi Bundle - £100
We sold 32 copies of Mappa Mundi (and gave one copy away for the charity raffle), not including bundle sales. We sold 11 Gallows Corner box sets, not including bundle sales. We sold 3 Gallows Corner books, not including bundle sales (and gave one away for the charity raffle). We sold four ‘Box bundles’ and one ‘Book bundle’, meaning that we sold out of all the Mappa Mundi stock we brought with us! We also sold eight prints, and gave some more away with Mappa Mundi sales and just as ‘nice things to do.’
As usual, we also made a couple of discounts here and there to help people out.
TOTAL SALES: £3,640
TOTAL EXPENSES: £820.10
PROFIT: £2,819.90
As with Dragonmeet and UK Games Expo, we were able to turn a profit that we’re very happy with. For next year, when we’ll be paying additional staff costs, we’ll still be making a good margin, and hopefully one that will improve with next year’s Three Sails releases (City of Espers will be available, as will the first Mappa Mundi expansion, ‘Islands and Oceans’).
Analysis
As I said above, I do have figures for last year’s Tabletop Scotland, but I only have total sales and total expenses. I can’t break down the take day by day, like I can this year and with UK Games Expo. So, forgive me for some generalising in the analysis, but I’ll do my best!
At Tabletop Scotland last year, we only had Mappa Mundi with us. We took 48 copies with us and sold 47 of them over the three days, taking a total of £2,902 (which includes some prints, too).
This year, we took £3,640, made up of 32 copies of Mappa Mundi, 11 Gallows Corner box sets, and 4 Gallows Corner books, plus some prints.
The day-by-day figures for this year are as follows:
Friday: £560.00
Saturday: £1,900.00
Sunday: £1,180.00
As expected, Saturday was our busiest day, followed by Sunday and Friday. These were all in line with our previous appearance in 2025.
While I can’t do year on year comparisons, there is one solid comparison I can make, and that is the feel of exhibiting at Tabletop Scotland.
Both this year and last, the ‘when’ of sales across the weekend is odd and largely unpredictable. In 2025, I’d have even described it as a little distressing. Both this year and last, Tabletop Scotland feels like a ‘feast and famine’ experience. Our sales came in quick bursts on every day, followed by stretches that sometimes lasted two or more hours without any sales.
While I was much more prepared for this experience this year, the feeling is still very odd and can, at times, feel demoralising. I know I’m not the only one who experienced these odd patterns, but for those preparing to exhibit at the convention next year, just keep this oddness in mind.
What I can say is that we saw a 22.5% increase in sales this year, which is in line with the 21.2% increase we saw at UK Games Expo a few months ago. This is a healthy increase and one I’d happily see repeat at Dragonmeet later on this year!
Summary
Overall, and for the second year running, Tabletop Scotland was a great convention for us and one definitely worth attending. We turned a profit, increased our sales year-on-year, got good attention on City of Espers, reconnected with old fans and customers and met plenty of new ones, and got to hang out with a lot of our friends from across the TTRPG industry in the UK (though not as many as we’d have liked)!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this breakdown of our experiences. Three Sails Studios operates on the premise of radical transparency. I try to be as open with you all as possible and to share whatever knowledge I / we have acquired. In fact, there will be some more news on this topic soon, after a lot of encouragement from people at the convention. Your experiences will vary, of course, but everyone’s experience is valid and helpful.
As always, I’d love to hear how Tabletop Scotland 2026 was for you, whether you were exhibiting or attending. If you want to share them, you can find us on Bluesky, Instagram, or join us on Discord.
You can also learn more about Mappa Mundi here (or buy it here), Gallows Corner here (or buy it here), and back City of Espers here.
Until next time, be excellent to each other. A better world is possible!
In solidarity,
George
Studio Lead, Three Sails Studios
