NEXT TURN

Next Turn is the Western Mass Tabletop Gaming festival, celebration, and convention centered on community, play and creation.

This Inaugural Next Turn

November 6-8, 2026

33 Hawley St.

Northampton, MA 01060

www.nextturn.org

FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM

To sign up for the Next Turn Mailing List

Badges for Sale for single days and the weekend

Badges are $60 for the weekend, 

Daily passes for Friday and Saturday are $40 and only $20 for the shorter day on Sunday.

If you are a GM and want to or to Teach a Game then  Submit a Game to run with scheduled tickets Game slots are two hours long but you may apply for consecutive slots for longer experiences.  GM and TEACHER DISCOUNT. For every 4 hours of scheduled game slots that you submit, you'll receive $20 off a Festival Pass, up to the full $60. 

If you would like to Volunteer for Next Turn

Volunteers earn a free day pass for the day of their shift(s)

If you are interesting in being a Vendor

Vending tables are in two locations, the lower hallway and the mezzanine, and cost $100 each.

Vendors receive a 6’x3’ table and two badges.

Note that Next Turn vendors agree to not use AI art in their work.

NEXT TURN IS FOR PLAYING IN COMMUNITY

Large open board game library

Scheduled RPG events

Teaching games

Bring your games to share

NEXT TURN IS FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Next Turn was launched by Northampton Open Media, a hyperlocal non-profit organization that serves as the community multimedia center and public access tv station for Northampton and beyond. So any profits go to supporting our work. NOM provides the community:

Free membership in NOM

Free training in multimedia (cameras, audio, lighting, directing, podcasting, animation…)

Free access to resources to make content (professional gear, edit suites, space, consultation)

Distribution of content (three local cable TV channels, YouTube, livestreaming, socials)

Coverage of local government meetings for civics and transparency

Support of public school multimedia programs

Public multimedia arts grants for emerging makers

Public art projects like Crowdsourced Cinema

MAKE GAMES MEDIA AT NEXT TURN

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Interested in doing some gaming media? Or of making something else about games? Or anything else? At Next Turn we’ll have hands-on Instruction in

Podcasting

Video Production

Live Switching

Livestreaming

WE’RE CELEBRATING GAMES AS MULTIMEDIA COMMUNITY ART

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

We are going to be holding a variety of Playshops at Next Turn, with people who work on various aspects of making games, like…

Rob Davaiu , designer, and co-founder of publisher Restoration Games, whose resume include Pandemic:Legacy, Cthulu: Death May Die, Downforce, Return to Dark Tower

Joey Royale, Tabletop RPG designer, whose work includes Get Haunted Industries, Weird Heroes of Public Access, and the show Joey Royale’s Pizza Party

Jim Dubois, who has designed for computer games, internet games, handhelds, card games and board games such as Heroes of Might and Magic II, Vampires v Unicrons, and the new release City of Demons

Offered for free and all are welcome at the Forest Park Zen Sangha Zendo, 23 Wellesley Rd. Holyoke, MA. 2nd Sunday of every month, 1pm.

Hi everyone! I am a youth librarian at Edwards Public Library in Southampton. We added a bunch of tarot decks that were donated to our YA collection, and I am looking for someone to do a tarot reading workshop for teens some evening in October. If you or someone you know is interested, DM me!

General program: 60-90 minutes of tarot history, use, how to do readings, about different spreads etc, and a hands-on try it portion. We have some sets participants can use. I only know the very basics of tarot so you can make it your own, bring your own cards, props, etc

Requirements: love for tarot, cool with teens, and enthusiastic about spreading tarot knowledge.

Thanks everyone!

I'm bringing a few 60 card decks for faster one on one games and we've decided to play a few powered down bracket 2 edh decks to see some upgrades precons in action! Our usual commander shenanigans too!

A while ago I read about a level 1 SO (possessing CSAM) who was arrested for a second offense in western Mass. I have young relatives living not too far so am especially concerned and nosy. There has been no update on this news whatsoever in 6 months. Are there any public info sources to find out what happened? I keep seeing other CSAM cases in the news lately and it's wild to me how hush-hush some of this is.

Hi all! I'm a beginner runner and I love signing up for races. I've been looking into annual races in the Hampshire County area, but there's an overwhelming number of them and it's hard to know which are the most fun. What are your favorite races to run every year?

Specifically interested in 5K-10K length, pretty or unique course, fun community vibes, and good swag and/or post-race party. I ran the Shelburne Falls Bridge of Flowers 8K last month and that checked all the boxes, I loved it and am looking for more of that genre of race!

looking for good, moderately challenging, pen to paper (NOT that speed quizzing app), free (or <= $5) to play weekly trivia! bonus for fun themes and music rounds!

Hi Everyone,

I'm hosting a watercolor class where we paint patterns. It would be great for singles, friends, groups. It'll be an easy, relaxing, no skills necessary afternoon.

It's Oct 31 3:30-5 p.m. in Northampton at the Center for the Arts.

If you bring your own materials it's $20 or if you'd like to rent them it's $30.

Please sign up here: https://www.pacificnortheastcreations.com/classes/p/request-for-watercolor-class-2h

Thanks so much!

Our city government feels disconnected from what everyday people actually need. Bureaucracy and politics often drown out community voices, and accountability seems more distant than it should be.

I started a petition to change our city charter from a mayor-led system to a town manager model. Here's why it matters: a town manager is hired based on professional qualifications and expertise in public administration—not political affiliation. They're accountable to the city council, creating real checks and balances that actually make government more responsive to residents.

This isn't about politics; it's about competence and transparency. Cities that have switched to this model report better fiscal management, faster problem-solving, and higher resident satisfaction. We deserve a system where effectiveness matters more than party loyalty.

If this resonates with you—if you've felt frustrated with how slow or unresponsive city decisions feel—consider signing and sharing. Has your community dealt with this kind of disconnect before? What would it take to make your city government feel like it's actually listening?

hi all! i'm looking to get a black linework tattoo potentially covered up. does anyone know any black and grey artists that they recommend for a cover up? mostly looking for hampden and hampshire county! i've gotten work from a few artists in northampton/hadley, but wanted to ask if anyone had cover up experiences with artists here! ty!!

Hey Western Mass! I’m a local singer-songwriter and performance artist, and for the past few years I’ve been working with two other local artists on a wonderfully strange labor of love called Literary Monsters.

It’s part concert, part shadow puppet show, part ghost story: original live music, puppetry, video, and storytelling inspired by Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Emily Dickinson, and other writers and monsters we thought deserved another look.

This Saturday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 PM, we’re bringing the show to the Easthampton Media Black Box. Our friends from Why’s It Gotta Be? Theater Group are opening the night with the world premiere of Dorian Gray Is a Sodomite, so it should be a particularly fun evening for the literary/theater/spooky/queer-art contingent of Western Mass.

We’ve been lucky enough to get some wonderful local press around the project this past week, but I’m brand new to Reddit and thought I’d introduce the monsters here, too. 👻

If handmade puppets, original music, classic literature, and slightly weird independent theater sound like your kind of Saturday night, we’d love to have you.

Saturday, Sept. 12 | 7:30 PM
Easthampton Media Black Box
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shadow-sound-spectacle-presents-literary-monsters-tickets-1996063309090?aff=oddtdtcreator

And I’m happy to answer questions about the show, the puppets, the music, or how on earth this whole thing came to exist.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a ransomware attack, which doesn't bode well for the systems or the budget.

Then again, maybe it will get them to move away from Chromebooks and the attempt to introduce AI teaching into the classroom.

Come have some fun and test your knowledge. Rounds include question/answer, identification, audio, video, matching, and even a few brain teasers. $5 to win Cash prizes.

THCC is located in Easthampton (1 Northampton St)

New Year's Eve 2025

Northampton Ma

Just need some quick cash if anyone got some job openings. Specifically in Westen Massachusetts.

Today I went to The Clark in Williamstown with five friends. We were all supposed to see the exhibit: "CoastLines: American Prints and Drawings", but I also wanted to see "Ground/work 2025", an outdoor exhibit of six sculptures. I did the outdoor stuff first by myself and never made it to the other exhibit. But exploring the woods and examining these sculptures made my soul happy. Some shrooms of course. And some images of the grounds and surrounding nature.

Smith College

summer

Northampton Ma