Dawnstar Gaming CIC

14/10/2026

MEET THE PLAYERS – PEGGY!

Every adventuring party needs a little mystery, a little magic… and apparently, a very convincing fake moustache!

As we continue our countdown to the live finale of Dawnstar Presents Culture 26: Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure!, it's time to meet another of the wonderful players bringing our story to life!

Today it's Peggy!

Peggy introduces us to her character, Tyanthir Lura, a world-famous bard currently travelling in disguise as the completely ordinary bard Rebulah Conundrum. And what better disguise for a famous performer than a fake moustache?

STORIES WITHIN STORIES!

Peggy also takes us back to our adventure at Kingsway Library in Widnes, where storytelling itself took centre stage.

In a session filled with mysteries and stories to unravel, our players had to work together, think creatively and find their own ways through the challenges before them.

It's another wonderful example of how Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure! has transformed familiar locations across Runcorn and Widnes into extraordinary fantasy settings!

THE FINAL CHAPTER IS ALMOST HERE!

After six incredible adventures across Halton, our players are coming together for one unforgettable live Dungeons & Dragons finale!

And as Peggy teases in her interview, we're in for a fun evening with plenty of surprises!

📅 Thursday 22 October 2026
🕕 6:00pm
📍 The Brindley Theatre, Runcorn

Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or completely new to D&D, come and discover what happens when imagination, community and local heritage come together!

Book your tickets:
https://www.quaytickets.com/thebrindley/en-GB/events/culture%2026%20-%20made%20in%20halton,%20forged%20in%20adventure/2026-10-22_18.00/studio%20new

A huge thank you to Peggy for sharing her experience!

And keep watching as we introduce more of the people behind the adventure!

13/10/2026

MEET THE PLAYERS – JODIE!

Behind every great Dungeons & Dragons character is a player helping to bring their story to life!

As we count down to the live finale of Dawnstar Presents Culture 26: Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure!, we're introducing some of the wonderful people who have helped make this journey possible.

First up, meet Jodie, the player behind Tilly!

In our first player interview, Jodie introduces us to her character and reflects on her experience taking part in our adventure at The Castle Pub in Halton.

Unlike a traditional action-packed D&D encounter, this session placed a particular emphasis on roleplaying, conversation and the decisions players make when faced with difficult situations. It's a wonderful example of how tabletop roleplaying can offer so much more than rolling dice and fighting monsters!

But the adventure doesn't end at the gaming table...

Jodie also talks about what makes this project so important: bringing people together, welcoming new players into the hobby and creating opportunities for the wider community to experience something different.

One of the most exciting aspects of Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure! has been taking our stories into real historic and cultural locations across Runcorn and Widnes, allowing the places themselves to become part of the adventure.

It's this combination of local heritage, shared imagination and community storytelling that has been at the heart of everything we've been creating.

AND NOW, THE FINALE AWAITS!

After six adventures across Halton, our players are preparing to bring their stories together for one unforgettable live performance!

📅 Thursday 22 October 2026
🕕 6:00pm
📍 The Brindley Theatre, Runcorn

And this time, the audience will have a part to play in shaping the adventure too!

Whether you're an experienced D&D player, completely new to tabletop roleplaying or simply curious to see what we've been creating, we'd love you to be part of the celebration.

Book your tickets:
https://www.quaytickets.com/thebrindley/en-GB/events/culture%2026%20-%20made%20in%20halton,%20forged%20in%20adventure/2026-10-22_18.00/studio%20new

A huge thank you to Jodie for sharing her experience, and to all the players who have helped make this project possible!

Keep watching as we introduce more of the people behind the adventure in the days leading up to our finale!

12/10/2026

Meet some of the players behind the adventure!

This week, we’ll be sharing player videos featuring Jodie, Peggy, Kay and Chris as we count down to the Culture 26 finale.

Join us for Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure — a live Dungeons & Dragons finale where the audience becomes part of the story.

📅 Thursday 22 October 2026
🕕 6:00 PM
📍 The Brindley Studio, Runcorn

Book via Quaytickets — https://www.quaytickets.com/thebrindley/en-GB/events/culture%2026%20-%20made%20in%20halton,%20forged%20in%20adventure/2026-10-22_18.00/studio%20new?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quaytickets.com%2F

Follow along this week and get to know some of the people bringing the adventure to the stage!

01/10/2026

The story ends live on stage this October… and the audience becomes part of it.
After months of adventures across Halton, Culture 26: Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure comes to its final chapter with a live Dungeons & Dragons finale at The Brindley Theatre , Runcorn.

Thursday 22 October 2026
6:00pm
The Brindley Studio, Runcorn
Across six story sessions, players have explored a shared world inspired by Halton’s communities, heritage and places. Now, for the finale, six returning players come together for one final live adventure — bringing all six stories and six Relic-Notes into one last gathering.
But this is more than just a performance.
The audience becomes part of the story.
This special live show blends storytelling, tabletop roleplay and audience participation, creating a unique event where the final outcome won’t belong to the players alone.
Whether you love Dungeons & Dragons, interactive theatre, fantasy storytelling, or just want to experience something different, this is your chance to be part of a one-of-a-kind live event.

Six stories. Six Relic-Notes. One final gathering.

Tickets available now via Quaytickets:
https://www.quaytickets.com/thebrindley/en-GB/events/culture%2026%20-%20made%20in%20halton,%20forged%20in%20adventure/2026-10-22_18.00/studio%20new

Part of Culture 26: Made in Halton, supported through the Culture 26 Aspire programme.

Thursday 22nd October 2026 | 6pm | Studio | £7.50, £5.50Prices include booking fee.Dawnstar Gaming CIC presents Made in Halton! Forged in Adventure! — The Culture 26 tabletop storytelling project, culminating in The Eightfold Silence live finale at The Brindley Studio.Built through a series of s...

01/10/2026

Always good to see more Dungeons & Dragons on the shelves locally — and thanks to Curiosity Bookshop for tagging us!

The new Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia explores the many worlds and settings that have shaped D&D over the years, from the Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft to Dragonlance, Spelljammer and Greyhawk.

That feels particularly appropriate for us at the moment. Throughout 2026, our Culture 26: Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure project has been using Dungeons & Dragons and collaborative storytelling to create an adventure inspired by Halton’s own places, communities, heritage and culture.

After six story sessions across the borough, it all comes together in our live finale at The Brindley Theatre on Thursday 22 October.

And if you want to explore some of D&D’s established worlds for yourself, Curiosity Bookshop currently has the new Encyclopedia at 20% off — £36 instead of the £45 RRP.

Support local. Tell local stories. Roll some dice.

New today - 20% OFF - Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia - Pack your Bag of Holding and get ready for an expansive, official tour through the myriad settings of the D&D multiverse. From the familiar fantasy lands of the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance to the broodingly gothic planes of Ravenloft and star-hopping voyages of Spelljammer, Dungeons & Dragons Encyclopedia will uncover every facet of the world’s most popular tabletop role-playing game. Every page is packed full of information on D&D’s myriad settings, including the monsters that roam the realms and menace adventurers, legendary locations full of eventful histories, the heroes and villains that protect and plague the different dimensions, and the iconic items that enable the machinations of players, NPCs and big-bads.
For the first time ever in an official title, Wizards of the Coast has brought together more than half a dozen of its legendary settings - stretching all the way back to Greyhawk - to showcase the elements that make them unique, and Dungeons & Dragons the most diverse, exciting and unpredictable game in the world.

RRP £45 our price £36

Dawnstar Gaming CIC Books Are My Bag

30/09/2026

Check out all the cool stuff going on at Hazlehurst Studios this October!

Goodbye September, Hello October!

From Halloween pottery workshops and cozy cross-stitch to artist updates and our big Christmas Market announcement, we’ve got an amazing month lined up across Halton.

Head over to the link in our bio to check out our full 'What’s On' page and see everything coming up this month!

Want to be the first to hear about new workshops, trader applications, and studio news? Join our newsletter community so you never miss an update!

21/09/2026

CULTURE 26: MADE IN HALTON, FORGED IN ADVENTURE — SESSION FIVE!

For our fifth Culture 26 story session, the adventure moved into Halton Libraries at Kingsway, where the Local History collection inspired one of our most investigation-focused chapters yet.

Within the adventure, the players entered the Crownway Archive — a repository of old accounts, records and conflicting versions of the past. Armed with Crownway Local History Research Packets, the group began comparing stories, following clues and looking for connections to the Relic-Notes uncovered throughout the project.

But the deeper they investigated, the less straightforward those histories became...

Accounts began to echo ideas from earlier sessions: sanctuary, transformation, connection and moments when people had been forced to make difficult choices. Were these records describing the same events? Earlier versions? Something repeating itself? Or was somebody leading the group towards the wrong conclusion?

And, once again, the influence of the Eightfold Silence was never far away.

As the investigation developed, the boundaries between archive and history began to collapse, with recorded events intruding physically into the Crownway Archive. At the centre of it all was Corbett Pryce, caught up in a dangerous attempt to force those histories together.

The resulting confrontation combined investigation, magical manifestations and combat — and, as always, the players found solutions we hadn't necessarily expected!

By the end, another manifestation had appeared and another piece of the Relic-Note mystery had been uncovered. These Notes are far more than magical objects waiting to be collected: each seems to emerge from something people do, understand or make true together.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, and to Kingsway Library for providing such a fitting setting for a story built around archives, records, memory and the way stories survive.

Five story sessions completed. Just one remains before everything comes together for our live finale at The Brindley Theatre on Thursday 22 October!

Photo Credit:

18/09/2026

This morning we had the opportunity to get together again to record Part Two of our discussion around tabletop roleplaying games and the many ways they can be used.

It was great to continue the conversation, compare notes, hear different perspectives and explore how each of us approaches TTRPGs from our own areas of experience. Conversations like this are especially valuable because there is no single way to use these games: different settings, different groups and different aims can all bring out very different strengths.

For Dawnstar Gaming CIC, that is a huge part of why we are so passionate about what we do. TTRPGs can be far more than simply a leisure activity. They can support creativity, confidence, communication, problem-solving, social connection and learning, and can be used positively across a wide range of community, educational and social settings.

Part Two is expected to be available in late November or early December, and we’ll share it once it is released.

In the meantime, if you missed our previous episode, you can listen to it here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2wNlemLrEv5cxxHteDS3g8?si=67c10f25536b466e

I have also included links below to the other participants’ Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn pages for anyone who would like to find out more about their work:

Laura Healy
- https://www.instagram.com/epictalesandcriticalfails/
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565449044244

Soren Henrich
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-s%C3%B6ren-henrich-6959311a2/

Michał Górzański
- https://italwaysrainsinnuln.wordpress.com/

L&T Chat Show · Episode

18/09/2026

It’s fantastic to see Made in Halton, Forged in Adventure featured by Cultivate Halton as part of their Culture 26 Aspire Grant spotlight.

Over the past few months, we’ve been taking Dungeons & Dragons beyond the gaming table and into some incredible locations across Halton, using collaborative storytelling to explore the places, history and communities around us in a completely different way.

Each group of players has added another chapter to one connected adventure, and all of those stories are now leading towards something much bigger.

On Thursday 22 October at 6pm, the six stories come together at The Brindley Theatre for our live finale — with our players returning, the story reaching its conclusion and the audience becoming part of what happens next.

We’re incredibly grateful to Cultivate Halton, Halton Borough Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for making this project possible, as well as every venue, partner, player and supporter who has helped us bring it to life.

We’re nearly at the finale. Now it’s time to bring everyone together.

17/09/2026

Our next Miniatures Hobby Evening is on Wednesday 30 September, with even more to get stuck into — and your first session is completely free.

Whether you already have a project on the go or just fancy trying the hobby, everyone is welcome. We’ll have new models available to build and paint, alongside a large range of paints, brushes, tools and other hobby resources for everyone to use.

Our Basing Bar has expanded too, with an even bigger selection of materials for experimenting with different environments, textures and finishes. Bring your own miniatures, work on one of ours, or simply have a go at something new.

If you’d rather get some models onto the battlefield, we’ll also be running led games of Warhammer 40,000: Combat Patrol. You don’t need to own an army or already know how to play — Dawnstar Combat Patrol armies are available to use, and we can guide you through the game.

Miniatures Hobby Evening
Wednesday 30 September 2026
6:00pm–9:00pm
Hazlehurst Studios
Your first session is completely FREE
£5 per participant after that
Parents/carers attending with a young person are free

Come along to paint, build, base, play, learn or simply spend an evening enjoying the hobby with other people.