Handiwork Games was founded in 2019 by Jon Hodgson, blithely unaware that the world would then immediately endure plague, war and Brexit. But apart from that things seem to be going ok.
Jon:
“Handiwork Games is something of an experiment, now in its fifth year. Can we make high quality games, where the people working on those games own a slice of the company, have job security and good working conditions, and where that company has a strong moral compass? Where customers are treated as people and, whenever possible, friends?“
Again, so far it’s going ok.
Unusually for a company of our size, our core UK team are all full-time employees with paid holiday, paid sick leave, pension contributions and all the benefits of being full employees. Everyone who works with us over the long term enjoys a share in the company.
Our aim is to release at least one significant title per year, alongside various supporting materials. At the time of writing in 2024, we’ve recovering from the theft of £24,000 of US stock, which has set us back somewhat. We have proved our resilience and reliability by replacing that stock for our Twin Seas backers, and building back stronger.
We’ve built firm foundations across a range of gaming lines. We began with 5th Edition and BEOWULF, but always planned to do more: we’ve really enjoyed working with Forged in the Dark with a|state, and headed out the fringes of indie games with The Silver Road and Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland. We’re returning to 5e with FiveEvil, and keeping it indie with Cold City and Hot War.
We find joy in all kinds of games, systems and ways of working.
We also produce a range of useful and beautiful accessories – map tiles, backdrop books for figure painters, tokens, special dice and more.
We’re based in Falkirk in Scotland, but consider ourselves very much citizens of a wider world, and work with friends and organisations worldwide. Our titles have enjoyed third party distribution, but in a changing world and an extremely busy marketplace, we’re finding greater benefit in supplying shops and customers directly. We vastly prefer working with passionate people who have a proactive interest in what we make and what it offers our shared customers, rather than folks buying boxes of anonymous widgets.
Who are we?
Jon Hodgson
Managing Director
Someone has to steer the ship and this responsibility falls to Jon. Co-designer on BEOWULF, illustrator on a|state, and author of The Silver Road and Maskwitches, Jon also does all the paperwork. Check out his work in The Hermit’s Sanctuary, the free, ENnie-nominated introduction to BEOWULF.
Jon is a prolific artist with a distinctive earthy style, and has worked on Dungeons and Dragons (3rd, 4th and 5th editions), Warhammer Historical, The One Ring Roleplaying Game (1st Edition), Dragon Warriors, Beyond the Wall, and many, many more.
A critically acclaimed art director, Jon was formerly Deputy CEO and Creative Director of Cubicle 7 (UK), where he worked for 9 years.
Scott Purdy
Lead Artist
Scott is our lead artist meaning he makes loads of art and directs others in the making of art. Scott painted most of the monsters in BEOWULF. You check out his brilliant monsters in the free samples of the Handimonsters Annual.
Scott is a prolific illustrator, and has worked extensively for Paizo Publishing, Monte Cook Games, Modiphius, DM Lair and many more.
Paul Bourne
Graphic Designer
Paul is our graphic designer and layout artist. Paul made our BEOWULF icons, the cover to a|state and all of our beautiful page templates. Anything we’ve made, Paul has made the logo, the page template and laid out, including The Hermit’s Sanctuary, and Nicely, Done.
Paul is the co-creator of a|state, Cold City and Hot War.
Jacob Rodgers
BEOWULF co-designer
Jacob is the co-designer of BEOWULF. Jacob is an expert at Fifth edition and very talented creator and writer. You can check out his work in The Elfshot and Handimonsters Annuals. Jacob also runs his personal project at Ashen Frontiers.
Jacob has quite the pedigree and is known for his writing and rules design work on The One Ring (Second Edition), Ruins of Symbaroum, and the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game,
Morgan Davie
a|state co-designer
Morgan is a brilliant indie designer from New Zealand who runs the a|state line, adapting it to Forged in the Dark. You can find a free sample of his work in Nicely, Done.
Morgan has also made many really fascinating games of his own, under his Taleturn banner.
Dr Malcolm Craig
Cold City Hot War designer
Malcolm has been lured back out of games industry estrangement with the promise of both fame and riches. A prominent figure of the early 2000s UK indie RPG scene and key member of The Collective Endeavour, Malcolm departed games design for a career in the study of history. He’s now returning with all the in-depth knowledge and experience he has gained.
Malcolm created a|state, Cold City and Hot War, and has kindly allowed us to make second editions of all three games.
Our contributors
We like to form long-lasting relationships with our freelance and independent contributors. We choose them carefully and hope to offer them stable repeat work whenever we can.
- Annie Norman
- Brian Nisbett
- Britt Martin
- Elaine Lithgow
- Gareth Ryder Hanrahan
- Gregor Hutton
- KC Shi
- Marco Rafala
- Tanya Floaker
Our Friendo-Partner Companies
- All Rolled Up
- Bad Squiddo Games
- Butler Printing
- Campaign Coins
- Cold War Miniatures
- Custom Patriot
- DrivethruRPG
- GMS Hobbygame Logistics
- Nightfall Games
- Onyx Path Publishing
- Warbases
Our Studio Clients – past and present
- Chaosium
- D101 Games
- DM Lair
- EN Publishing
- Flatland Games
- Modiphius
- Monte Cook Games
- Onyx Path Publishing
- Orbit Books
- Paizo Publishing
- Paul Mitchener
- Ralph Horsley
- Uhrwerk Verlag
- Wayne Reynolds