Time To Be Annoying

I. Dear Reader,

It’s February and that means it’s time for the Rascal News pledge drive! There’s three more newsletters in February and in each one of them, I’m going to be talking about what the site is, what it means for something like it to exist, and why I think its worth supporting. If you’re already supporting it, hopefully this tells you something you don’t know. If you don’t, maybe this could convince you!

First of all, the big news. We’re making a Best of Rascal zine. It’s a beautiful A5 book with some of our best writing that you can keep on your shelf. It’s got this stunning art from Will Kirkby from Eat the Reich as the cover. If you hate subscriptions, here’s a way around that. Check it out!

But beyond that, here’s three reasons why you should consider subscribing:

• There’s nothing else exactly like Rascal News. When Rowan Zeoli spent two months investigating a shady game distributor, that was only possible because Rascal could fund her. This investigation came directly out of the community – Ian Yusem of Hull Breach complained about being jerked around on social media. It’s directly helped other people avoid the same situation. It literally wouldn’t have happened anywhere else.
• Readers influence the publication directly. Some time ago, Chase wrote an opinion piece that I (and lots of other people) found annoying. Because of timezones and how Rascal works, I hadn’t even seen the piece before it was published. But I’m not Chase’s boss, neither is he mine. When readers pushed back on the piece, it allowed me (and Rowan) to just talk to him. And to his credit, he listened and understood and acted. And that’s basically it. That’s the model for how things should work: a genuine conversation.
• It’s fun! This piece of mine about the Brazilian fans who still play the 1994 Street Fighter RPG is such a pleasant ride. This hobby is full of stories like this. Stories about people doing a thing they really love and it’s just extremely enjoyable to read about them.

All you need is a subscription at the 5$ tier to get access to 95% of the site’s output. If you can pay at the higher tiers, that just helps us stay afloat for longer. (If you’re from the Global South, we have a coupon to make the cost more accessible. Obviously, I’m personally glad I could make that happen.)

Thanks for reading,

Thomas

PS. I will be annoying about this for two more weeks. And then I’ll probably start sharing less and less paywalled Rascal stories because I get it, if you’re not subscribed, then those aren’t usable links.

PS2: WordPress tells me this post will be sent 6999 subscribers. So. Uh. Hello!

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II. Media of the Week

• Really enjoyed this video from No Pun Intended about the claim that “people are most excited for a boardgame just before they open the box”. This is something I’ve repeated as well and it turns out, it’s based on a pretty sketchy study!

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• If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.

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III. Links of the Week

Rascals

• Rowan Zeoli has a phenomenal double-whammy on a wargame inspired by the events of Jan 6th. The first is about the surreal experience of playing it and the second is about the naivete of the creators.
• Chase writes a review about the unique solo game, Letters to Sandra which builds a whole experience around friendship.
• I interviewed Moritz Botts, the creator of World of RPGs, a podcast that is a journey through the international ttrpg scene. Every episode is on a different country and features people from all parts of the scene.

Articles

• Polygon did a three-part series on crowdfunding – one on Kickstarter’s slump slowing down, one of Backerkit’s phenomenal growth, one on Gamefound’s big ticket boardgame campaigns.
• Giant Brain reviews Battle Royale game, Deathmatch Island: “Deathmatch Island is a game that treats its audience with respect.”
• Mint has a great list of games that treat combat as a tactical puzzle.

From the archive:

• Indie Game Reading Club wrote a long review of the fantasy PbtA game, Fellowship: “The most distinctive aspect of play is that Fellowship mandates the players do most of the creative lifting throughout the game.” (Issue 82, first shared in March 2022)

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IV. Small Ads

All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.

• No Mercy For Monsters is a Wretched & Alone game of familial oaths, dark obsessions, and the toxic bond shared between mortal rivals. Crowdfunding 2/3/25.
• The Traveling Joust D&D Zine features real middle ages art, and offers Medieval Tournament Rules, Love Poetry Magic, the Love Poet Bard, a ready-to-run adventure and much more! Join the Joust!
• Grimwild is a FREE game of cinematic fantasy adventure, taking the thematic tropes of D&D and mixing it with the gameplay of games like Blades in the Dark, Fate, and Burning Wheel. The Wild Frontier of Venture – Lassos & Six Shooters on a weird, rugged world. In Venture, you can’t run from your problems – but they can’t run from you, either.

This newsletter is sponsored by the the wonderful Bundle of Holding.

• Two bundles for the classic superhero game, Champions 4e: the core bundle and full of supplements.
• Also, if you want the non-superhero games using the same system, there’s the Hero 4e bundle.

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Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. If you’d like to support this newsletter, share it with a friend or buy one of my games from my itch store. If you’d like to say something to me, you can reply to this email or click below!