DicingWithLife is a volunteer-led Community Interest Company, with the local community at its heart. Our vision is to bring people together using tabletop games - sharing skills for gaming, introducing each other to the games we love, and exploring new games.
Here's what we hope to do:
1. We have partnered with Hope4Having to open a venue which can be used as a Games Cafe (Hope Cafe, Romford Market Place). We already have a small library of games which are available every day during opening hours, and we want to grow this games library so that it has something for everyone! Your backing can help us create a fantastic, accessible, local resource for the community.
2. We will run skills-sharing workshops based around taking part in and sharing the love of tabletop gaming. These include:
- miniature painting
- terrain building
- games mastering
- storytelling
- social media and marketing
Your backing will help us get the resources we need to make these workshops happen.
What we'll deliver:
- Access to a large and regularly updated games library free of charge, and available throughout all venue opening hours
- Weekly organised games sessions and demonstrations including board games, war-games, skirmish games and RPG's.
- Free monthly skills-sharing workshops focusing on miniature painting, with beginner and advanced levels.
- Free monthly skills-sharing workshops focusing on terrain building, with boards created used by the group.
- Free monthly skills-sharing workshops focusing on game design, storytelling and playtesting.
- An awesome library of skills and equipment gained from workshops, also featured in a public exhibition
- FIRST 70 BACKERS - a zombie or hero of your choice painted by you or ourselves, from our community Zombicide set
- BACKERS OVER £10 - a dedication to you in one of our small games in the games library
- BACKERS OVER £20 - a dedication to you in one of our medium games in the games library
- BACKERS OVER £30 - a dedication to you in one of our large games in the games library
Why it's a great idea:
We have been running a community games group in Romford for the last three years, and we have seen the massive difference games can make to the lives of local people.
When you play a tabletop game, it's not just about winning - it's about growing your confidence, meeting other local people who enjoy the same hobbies that you do, discovering new things, and making lots of new friends! It's having somewhere to spend time, get some support if you need it, and know you'll always be made to feel welcome.
DicingWithLife, in conjunction with Hope4Havering at Hope Cafe, Romford Market Place, will offer all of these things, safely socially-distanced. Somewhere to meet local people, somewhere to take the kids to have some fun away from screens, or just somewhere for a fun day out, whoever you are! We already run sessions at Hope Cafe (come and say hello!) but we want to do even more to support local people, whatever their circumstances, to discover a love of gaming and their local community.
Steps to get it done:
- Listen to the community - which games should we buy? What terrain tables should we make? You get the idea...
- Acquire resources and games, from local suppliers where possible.
- Spread the word (even more than we already do!) - online and the old fashioned posters and leaflets way
- Workshop planning - adjusting ability levels based on feedback to meet demand
- Project delivery - sessions, workshops and events
- Artwork exhibition - showcasing everyone's hard work to the wider community
- Review and reflection - what have we done well, what could we do better?
- Access further funding, to make tabletop gaming in Havering even more awesome!
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT US
We offer a free outreach service for people who feel anxious or vulnerable, where we will meet people in advance of games sessions 1-2-1 so that there is a chance to discuss what to expect, and see a friendly face when you feel ready to come along and meet the rest of the group.
We also offer games sessions specifically for kids, in the school holidays. These sessions are led by our young games masters, and if your own kids discover a love of games and would like to become confident games masters too, we would like to offer workshops to teach them how to do just that!
We are volunteer run, and volunteer led, and we love hearing new ideas for projects based around tabletop gaming - so if you have any ideas of your own, please send us a message or call into one of our sessions and let us know. We also accept board game donations, equipment donations, and donations of time to help us run things - it all goes towards making a great group even better!