The busy halls of the UK Games Expo often highlight the changing tides of tabletop design, and this year welcomed a striking new face to the publisher lineup. Stop Drop & Roll, a studio whose name evokes a classic piece of childhood fire-safety advice, managed to build massive momentum over the convention weekend. Operating from a strategically positioned stand situated right by one of the main thoroughfares near the hall entrances, the publisher quickly became one of the talk-of-the-show success stories.
By Sunday afternoon, the booth’s shelves were bare save for a final couple of copies of their flagship release, Why We Fight. Created and developed by Laurie Blake and Rhi Saunders, with distinct visuals provided by artist Rob Ingle, the title is a solo-capable, narrative-driven eco-punk roleplaying game focused squarely on resisting fascism to establish a cooperative, solarpunk future. The game supports one to five players, functions entirely without a games master, and requires zero preparation to hit the table.
Speaking to Geek Native at the booth, representatives explained that the game’s rapid weekend success was driven heavily by rapid word-of-mouth recommendations among attendees. Players who had picked up copies early in the convention passed on glowing impressions to peers, drawing a steady stream of traffic back to the prominent entrance stand. Because the title has not yet entered traditional retail distribution networks, the physical books at the convention represented the primary way for hobbyists to get their hands on the game immediately.
Mechanically, Why We Fight blends the narrative focus of Powered by the Apocalypse systems with the cooperative tactical elements of Fate, all wrapped in a New School Revolution perspective. Players take control of a crew of passionate radicals belonging to the Community Alliance, striving to build a stateless, hierarchy-free community in the wake of a devastating civil war. This peaceful reconstruction is threatened by the Guiding Hand and its corporate-backed fascist militia, the White Fist.
While the solarpunk aesthetic promises a bright, rewilded future built on mutual aid, the underlying mechanical framework is a fast-paced survival system where the stakes remain remarkably high. In combat, characters are fragile; taking just two hits will knock a crew member completely out of action. This creates a high-lethality push-pull dynamic in which guerrilla tactics, environmental manipulation, and deep emotional bonds among the characters determine whether the resistance survives or falls.
Setup is designed to be exceptionally lean. Using three six-sided dice, two sheets of paper, and a single pencil, players can build their operational Mission Journal and construct a full crew of four freedom fighters in under ten minutes. Rather than front-loading character backstories, players uncover their characters’ motivations, pronouns, passions, and personal hardships dynamically during play through a mechanism called “Why I Fight” personality discoveries.
Though physical stock was nearly exhausted on the convention floor, the studio is transitioning its focus back to its digital storefront. Outside of the convention environment, Why We Fight remains available directly through the official Stop Drop & Roll website. The studio currently offers a free quickstart PDF and playtesting kit on their site and via Itch.io, which feature the core one-shot rules, six distinct scenarios, and three final missions, allowing tables to sample the system before purchasing the full text.
The designers maintain an active community Discord server where they directly interact with players, coordinate ongoing playtests, and gather feedback on current rules. With unannounced titles currently in development, the studio is actively encouraging convention attendees and digital players alike to join its community to track what this rising indie publisher plans to release next.
