07/27/2026
Seven Years of the Guild
Seven years.
On July 17th, 2019, I formed the Guild because I had a problem: too many people wanted to play games.
I was running something like six games at once, people kept asking where they could find a group or learn to play, and I hated turning people away. There wasn't really a catch-all answer for someone asking, "I've always wanted to try tabletop games. Where do I go?"
So I made one.
What started as a Looking for Group group became something much bigger.
This weekend, we celebrated our seventh birthday (and our first big birthday held at Groundswell) with seven games for seven years: Paranoia, Candela Obscura, Monty Python, Riverbank, D&D 5e, The Witcher, and Dungeons & Kittens.
Somewhere along the way, the Guild stopped being just a place to find a game.
It became a community.
And sometimes it's worth remembering what community actually looks like.
It's carrying totes in and trash out. Making sure someone gets safely to their car, or giving them a ride when theirs breaks down.
It's turning a kid's drawing into a 3D print they can actually hold.
It's a 17-year-old and his mom discovering their first campaign together. Two sisters sharing a long-form campaign when one rarely gets to play. Married couples spending months adventuring side by side as wildly different characters.
It's choosing to spend your birthday, Valentine's Day, or a holiday with your campaign table because that's where you want to be.
It's friendships that leave the table and become conventions, birthdays, celebrations, and people simply showing up for each other.
It's someone saying they wouldn't leave the house nearly as much without the Guild. Or someone finally getting medically cleared to be around people again, signing up for a game from the parking lot, and showing up two hours later.
It's looking forward to someone's flan—or that beloved dish that appears at every potluck.
It's learning someone has an allergy and making sure they have something safe to eat, right down to ingredients and gloves. It's picking up special gluten-free donuts so someone can eat their ***first-ever donut.***
It's GM School bringing brand-new and experienced GMs together because there's always something we can learn from each other.
Community is people.
So thank you.
Thank you to every GM who has ever sat behind one of our screens. GMs are the foundation of this hobby, and without people willing to create adventures for others, none of this happens.
Thank you to our officers and volunteers for everything behind the curtain: scheduling, forms, setup, cleanup, hauling totes, answering questions, and a hundred tiny things most people never see.
Thank you to everyone who has moved a table, printed a sheet, helped a new player, taken out trash, brought food, offered a ride, taught a game, welcomed someone new, or noticed when someone needed a hand.
And thank you to everyone who cooked for our birthday potluck! Everything I remembered to eat was wonderful. 😂 One year somebody needs to sit me down with a plate and feed me everything like the Grinch at the Whobilation.
To those who have been here for years: thank you for staying.
To those returning after time away: welcome home.
And to everyone who joined this year, this month, or walked through our doors for the first time this weekend: welcome to the Guild. We're very glad you're here.
Seven years after I started a group because I didn't want to tell people there wasn't room at the table, we're still finding ways to add more chairs.
Thank you for seven years of adventures, friendships, food, laughter, and community: and for making the Guild the Guild.
Here's to Year Eight. ❤️🎲
Besides, next year we finally get to make a d8 anniversary shirt.
-Sylvana
