Preparing for Our First Convention

Last year, we went to JoMoCon as guests.

We walked the floor, looked around, met people, attended panels, and enjoyed being part of the local tabletop and pop culture community for a weekend. One of our favorite parts was a discussion on worldbuilding from the perspective of a GM. It was exactly the kind of conversation we love: creative, practical, and built around making the table feel more alive.

At the time, Storytellers Haven was still very new. We were learning what we wanted this business to become, what kinds of miniatures we wanted to make, and where we might fit into the larger tabletop RPG community.

This year, we get to come back in a very different way.

This year, we will be at JoMoCon as vendors.

And honestly, we are excited.

We are also very aware of how much work it takes to get ready.

For this final stretch of preparation, we have been printing every day. Elementals, goblins, kobolds, pets, skulls, slimes, and more have been coming off the printers as we build toward the inventory we want to bring with us. Some pieces are being printed for painted stock. Others are being printed so we can offer unpainted options for GMs and hobbyists who want to paint their own.

Our goal is to bring 10 painted sets of each main elemental family: Fire, Ice, Earth, Metal, and Arcane. That sounds simple when written in one sentence, but each family is made up of multiple miniatures. Each one has to be printed, cleaned, cured, inspected, primed, painted, sealed, packed, labeled, and organized.

That is before we even get to the display planning, pricing, booth setup, storage boxes, checkout system, signage, and all the other small decisions that come with taking an online miniature shop into a physical convention space for the first time.

It has been a lot.

But it has also been the good kind of work.

The kind where every finished miniature makes the table feel a little more real. The kind where every printed batch brings the booth one step closer. The kind where you look at a growing group of painted elementals and realize that this thing you have been building at home is getting closer to sitting in front of people in person.

That part feels different.

Online, people see photos. At a convention, they get to pick the miniatures up. They get to see the scale, the color, the texture, and the finish for themselves. They get to imagine where those creatures might fit into their own games.

That is one of the things we are most excited about.

Storytellers Haven has been narrowing its focus around building a GM’s toolbox: reliable tabletop RPG monster miniatures that are readable, durable, and ready for actual play. JoMoCon gives us our first real chance to put that idea in front of people face-to-face.

We are not just bringing products.

We are bringing encounter pieces. Fire elementals that can fill a battlefield with danger. Ice elementals that feel ancient and sharp. Earth elementals that look like they belong in the deep places of the world. Metal elementals with weight and presence. Arcane elementals with a more premium, magical finish. Goblins and kobolds ready to cause problems in early adventures. Skulls, pets, slimes, and other small pieces that help fill out the strange corners of a campaign.

Every one of those choices takes time.

Printing takes time. Painting takes time. Planning takes time. Even deciding what not to bring takes time.

But that is part of the process. A convention table has limited space, and every inch has to matter. We want our booth to feel like a GM can walk up and immediately find something useful, whether they need a centerpiece monster, a full elemental family, a handful of small enemies, or just one weird little creature that sparks an idea.

That is the same feeling we had last year as guests.

We left JoMoCon feeling encouraged. We enjoyed the people. We enjoyed the conversations. We enjoyed seeing a local event create space for creativity, games, stories, and community.

Now we get to bring something of our own back into that space.

There is still plenty of work left before the convention. More printing. More painting. More packing. More organizing. Probably more last-minute problem solving than we would like.

But with JoMoCon only two weeks away, it is starting to feel real.

From guests last year to vendors this year, JoMoCon already feels like part of our story.

We are excited, nervous in the best way, and very ready to take this next step for Storytellers Haven.

We cannot wait to share the table with you.