By Sara Atencio-Gonzales, The Paper. – For the members of DARC, tabletop role-playing games are about more than rolling dice. They are about building community, sharing stories and creating opportunities for people to connect through a shared hobby.
Founded in 2024, DARC is a community organization dedicated to tabletop role-playing games and collaborative storytelling in Albuquerque. Members organize ongoing campaigns, one-shot adventures and beginner-friendly gaming sessions at public local venues, including International District Library, 4 Norsemen’s Mead and Flock of Moons Brewing Company.
Beyond in-person events, DARC also shares its stories online through Twitch and YouTube. Community members livestream and record tabletop role-playing campaigns, giving audiences a chance to watch local players create characters, tell stories and explore fantasy worlds together.
Now, the group is preparing for its newest venture, DARcon, a one-day tabletop gaming convention scheduled for June 27 at Rio Bravo Brewing Company (1912 Second St. NW).
Anthony Toretti, lead organizer of DARC and DARcon, says the organization was founded with a simple goal in mind. “We’re just a group of gamers, storytellers and weirdos who try to host all sorts of tabletop RPG events in a variety of different forms,” says Toretti.
Members of DARC regularly organize campaigns, one-shot games, introductory sessions for new players and public-access programming focused on tabletop role-playing games.
According to Toretti, the organization grew from a chance connection with another tabletop gaming enthusiast while he was organizing other community events. “We talked and tried starting to just partner up with different venues and host different events, and the rest is history,” says Toretti.
DARcon emerged from a series of smaller gaming events DARC had already been organizing. The group previously hosted themed events that combined tabletop gaming with local vendors. “We saw there was some great success from those events, and we decided to experiment with scaling up a little bit more to something a little bit more ambitious,” says Toretti.
The event will feature tabletop role-playing games, panels, workshops, vendors and live performances. Players can participate in games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer RPG and other systems while creators and publishers share insights into the gaming industry.
One featured guest is local publisher Magpie Games, which Toretti describes as “an RPG publisher that’s based locally here in Albuquerque.”
The event will also include workshops focused on game creation and design, along with live actual-play performances where audiences can watch tabletop role-playing games unfold on stage.
“Actual plays, for those unfamiliar, is the term that is just you watching other people play a tabletop game,” says Toretti.
Unlike larger conventions, DARcon is intentionally designed as a smaller and more accessible experience. While attendees can purchase wristbands for reserved game tables, panels and workshops, much of the event will remain open to the public. “You can just kind of walk around and hang out with us,” says Toretti.
That accessibility reflects DARC’s broader mission of introducing new people to tabletop gaming and storytelling. “We try and expose people who maybe wouldn’t normally be signing up for events, or normally wouldn’t be in our groups,” says Toretti.
For newcomers, the convention is intended to showcase the variety of experiences available within the hobby. Whether someone is trying role-playing games for the first time or exploring a new creative outlet, Toretti hopes attendees leave inspired.
“The idea is for the people to learn, and even if they’re in the hobby already, maybe they’ll discover a new facet of the hobby they haven’t experienced before,” says Toretti.
As DARC has grown, one development has stood out to Toretti. Toretti explains that the coalition was never intended to revolve around a single organizer. “The hope and the dream was that I would not be the primary organizer forever,” says Toretti.
Instead, he has been encouraged by community members stepping forward to create and lead their own events. “We were seeing more people in the community stepping up and really bringing that coalition part to life,” says Toretti.
Looking ahead, Toretti hopes DARcon can continue to grow if the first event proves successful. He can envision future conventions expanding into larger venues while DARC continues to increase the number of events and opportunities available to local gamers. “We’re seeing more faces, more stories being told on our channels,” says Toretti
DARcon will take place from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Rio Bravo Brewing Company, (1912 Second St. NW). General admission is free, while wristbands providing access to game tables, panels and workshops are available for $15. Tickets and additional event information can be found through DARC’s website (abqdarc.org).
If you go…
DARcon 2026
- June 27, 12 to 9 p.m.
- Rio Bravo Brewing (1912 Second St. NW)
- General Admission is free.
- Wristbands are $15 and available for purchase at abqdarc.org.