Join the Chicago Tabletop Gaming Association for Chicago Shieldwall, bringing together community action and tabletop gaming to support two vital organizations: the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Increase The Peace (ITP).

This event represents CTGA's commitment to using tabletop gaming as a force for community building and social good. Whether you're here to learn vital community defense skills, enjoy an afternoon of gaming, or both, you're contributing to organizations doing essential work in Chicago.

Event Schedule:

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM: Community Training (Donate-What-You-Can)

Increase The Peace will lead an essential community training on ICE resistance, including Know-Your-Rights information and Whistle Protocol training. This training is open to all - please attend the training even if you're unable to donate - but for those that are able to give, we suggest a $10 donation or on a donate-what-you-can basis. All donations for the training will directly support ICIRR and ITP.

1:30 PM - 4:00 PM: TTRPG Gaming Tables ($25 per seat)

Following the training, join one of six tabletop gaming sessions run by volunteer GMs from our community. Each table seats 5 players for approximately 2.5 hours of gaming (but can extend longer if the parties agree!). Our GMs are bringing a diverse mix of games, some exploring themes of resistance, justice, and community power, others offering moments of joy and escapism. Both approaches honor the work of building resilient communities. All proceeds from gaming tables benefit ICIRR and Increase The Peace. All GMs will be using some form of safety tool (lines/veils, X card, etc.) to ensure the comfort and safety of all participants.

Table 1 - Velvet Generation w/ Rich Ranallo

Description - Velvet Generation is the new reboot of 2002's original tabletop roleplaying game of rock and revolution, Starchildren: Velvet Generation. Players step into the role of an underground band, trying to survive under the Ministry of Music’s bootheel long enough to strike back and topple the regime from below.

Table 2 - Magical Kitties Save The Day! w/ Cath Dizon

Description - Everyone knows that there more to the humble kitty than meets the eye. Some have magic that help them get up to mischief! And when one day, mysterious vans with ugly men show up to scare the humans in your neighborhood, maybe that same magic can also help everyone feel safe again.

Table 3 - Eat The Reich w/ Morgan Parsons

Description - Play as a group of vampires on a spectacularly action packed blood streak through Nazi-occupied Paris as they pursue one goal: drink all of Hitler's blood.

Table 4 - Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast w/ Erica Emmert

Description - Come to Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast, a magical home that always has room for just one more guest. Whether waging the Great Pancake War, trying to survive a rainy day with a bored wild child, or somberly reminiscing on the meaning of growing up, something is always happening at the B&B. Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast is a role-playing game where people rotate playing different characters from a colorful crew to make small stories like episodes of a cartoon.

Table 5 - D&D 5E "Divinity Spilled" w/ Liz Fritz

Description - Tasked to gather the blood of a dead god, the party must work together to survive a divinely fraught dungeon crawl, filled with magic surges, illusions, enemies, and more, to make it home with the blood in hand.

Table 6 - Mythic Bastionland w/ Madeline Prelee

Description - An OSR-style game where you play as a band of Arthurian Knights investigating strange Myths. Character generation is fast, random, and intended to drive strong narrative with fun combat. Ideal for running a one-shot 2.5hr game!

The Chicago Tabletop Gaming Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building community, creating educational resources, and fostering the TTRPG community in Chicago. Our mission is to unite Chicagoland through exceptional and inclusive tabletop gaming. We’re working to establish Chicago as the TTRPG capital of the multiverse.

While Donations to the Chicago Tabletop Gaming Association are tax-deductible - all proceeds from this event will go to benefit the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Increase The Peace.