A niche hobby popular with the fantasy and sci-fi set will be celebrated from Sept. 20 to 24, and those who are interested are invited to attend.

The Circle of Swords Gaming Guild will hold its 28th annual SIBCON fall convention on those dates in the Crystal Room at the Tesla Wellness Hotel and Resort on Route 8 just south of the Greater Butler Mart.

The convention, or “con,” will see fans of historical or role-playing tabletop games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and many others, playing at dozens of tables to be set up in the large venue.

Peter Bess, who is a board member with the Circle of Swords Gaming Guild, said in addition to games, gaming-related vendors, food, and especially camaraderie, will be available at SIBCON.

“It’s a lot of hours of gaming and hanging out with friends,” Bess said of SIBCON. “It’s a lot of fun. We have a great group of gamers in Butler.”

Bess explained that each table will have a gamemaster whose job it is to operate the activities of the villains in the game, while the players operate the heroes.

The players roll dice to move characters around a board as the action in the game play out.

The players’ job is to interact with the environment and characters in the game.

Bess, who will serve as a gamemaster at SIBCON, said each gamemaster has a prewritten story whose characters will be brought to life as the game plays out.

He said different players will look at scenarios in different ways. The gamemaster hears them, and runs the bad guys accordingly.

“The idea is to tell a story together,” he said.

He said the session length for the hobby’s most well-known game, Dungeons and Dragons, will be kept to four hours so everyone has a chance to play.

The game will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, which Bess said will be recognized at SIBCON.

He said many top actors are “D & D” aficionados, which he assumes helps them transform their minds into a character. He named Joe Manganiello, an actor who grew up in Pittsburgh, as a huge D & D player who plays with fellow actors in his Hollywood basement.

“It scratches the creative itch when you try to get into the mind of that character who isn’t you,” Bess said.

Historical games, many of which will include reenacting actual battles that happened in a variety of past wars, also will be available to play at SIBCON, Bess said.

“I played a board game last night with some friends called After the Empire,” Bess said. “It’s about building a fortress and defending it against forces coming to attack it.”

He said SIBCON — which is the guild’s fall convention — usually draws 150 to 200 people. While most are gamers in the Butler area, some will come from as far away as Columbus, Ohio, or West Virginia.

He said convention attendees are normally about 60% male and 40% female, and usually range in age from their 20s to their 60s.

“We do get some teenagers,” Bess said.

He explained the draw of the hobby and the type of personality usually drawn to it.

“A lot of people involved in tabletop role playing are people who are creative, people who are looking for an outlet for their creativity, Bess said.

He frequently writes games and serves as gamemaster at gatherings at his house.

“It’s people who love community,” Bess said. “They want to play in a world with others.”

He said during isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, tabletop gamers played with one another online, as opposed to many hobbies, which could not be pursued during the pandemic.

“People were very interested in getting together to play online,” Bess said. “They were really glad they could still do it (during the pandemic.)”

Bess said the guild’s main purpose is to plan SIBCON and the spring convention, known as COSCON.

Each convention raises funds for a nonprofit, and the benefactor of SIBCON will be Doctors Without Borders.

The group delivers emergency medical aid to people in crisis, with humanitarian projects in more than 70 countries. Bess and the rest of the guild are proud of their donations each year for the past three decades.

“In March, we surpassed $100,000 in donations, so we were excited about that,” he said.

This year’s SIBCON will be dedicated to Bob “The Diceman” Kindel, who made and sold dice at each con held by the guild. Kindel is preparing to retire this year, but will set up his booth at SIBCOM, possibly for one last time.

Bess hopes all who are interested in tabletop gaming, or who want to learn about it, will attend SIBCON next month.

“I want to share the passion,” he said.

More information on SIBCON is available at circleofswords.com.