The Future of the Newsletter

I. Dear Reader,

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about what this newsletter is about. We’re coming up on the 5th year anniversary, that’s part of it. But also, come the weekend, I’m often struggling to figure out what goes here now. Curation is the heart of the show, of course. But what about this section at the top? What is this space for?

When I started writing about games 5 years ago, this was my space to do it. I had nowhere else! That’s changed now. Writing about games is my job. In some sense, that is the newsletter’s destiny achieved. I started writing every week because I thought it would help me get good. It seems to have worked. I also didn’t know a lot about games and wanted to learn. That’s changed too. I know some things now. Not everything, but enough!

So. I could stop doing the newsletter… but I’m not going to. To put it simply, we have a good thing going for us here and I can’t bring myself to throw it away.

I could reduce it to just the curation. According to my 2024 survey, 85% of readers come here to find interesting things to read or watch. But confusingly, most responses marked this section where I write stuff as their favourite part. How do we square this? My best interpretation: you come here for the links but can’t help being charmed by my rambling at the top. If that’s true, well, shucks, thanks, that’s very sweet!

(Also, thanks to everyone who did the survey! It helps!)

So where does this leave us? It means that this space stays but I need a clear direction for it. Ideally, this direction would: involve me learning and growing (staying true to the trick that got me this far), offer some structure (so I’m not scratching my head every Saturday), be nice to read (one does one’s best).

I have two ideas:

• A new RPG history project: Last year, I tried to play 10 games from the first 10 years of the hobby. I didn’t succeed but I enjoyed what I could do. It led to some great posts like my piece on Dallas but it also turned me into someone who is now enjoys learning about the hobby’s history. This wasn’t always true! My dream version of this project would be an art history of RPGs. Not a history of art in the sense of illustration. But rather looking at RPG design over the course of the last 50 years and laying out the movements and philosophies that begin, grow, die, transform. Writing about it in the way someone would write about books or paintings.
• Reworking the back catalogue: I’ve learned a lot in the last 5 years and there’s a lot of stuff I’ve written that I could handle better now. Instead of trying to find new things to write about, what if I went back and picked the posts that could be expanded, improved, revised? You know, a second edition. We love those, right? Some of my old posts are duds, let’s ignore those. Some are good, could be better. Some are almost good, could be taken over the finish line. This would also have the added effect of resurfacing stuff that a lot of new readers have never seen before.

The first one is very ambitious but very exciting. Given how tired I am already (for all the reasons, all of them), this might be biting off more than I could chew. The second is less flashy but feels like a nice way of celebrating a 5 year anniversary. Maybe it’s a bit of both. Maybe I just need to work less and sleep more and that’s the real issue. Maybe, maybe.

Let me know what you think!

Yours ponderingly,

Thomas

---

II. Media of the Week

• On Yes Indie’d, I have a delightful conversation with Viditya Voleti about the fantasy genre, why he calls his game “post-fantasy”, and so much more. We say some smart things, we make some jokes. It’s a good conversation.

• Amabel Holland has a lovely essay about game design and how it can be used to explore themes and narratives. It also has a very funny criticism of the anti-intellectualism of boardgame review outlets like the Dice Tower.

• AA Voigt writes about Nighthawks, the painting, and the game from titanomachy that talks about layout and loneliness.

---

• You too can support the newsletter on patreon!
• 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.

---

III. Links of the Week

Design & Theory

• Loved this post from J Walton about teaching game design: “However, one thing that I think I’ve been missing the last couple years — due to my focus on trying to emphasize the METHOD behind game design work — is the MAGIC.”
• In his newsletter, Hendrik ten Napel writes about games that ask you to play to win and then subvert that by dangling the narrative possibilities of sub-optimal play.
• Brian Bloodaxe has a nice post about how the desire to support fiction through mechanics is sometimes misinterpreted to mean that all fiction needs mechanics.
• On Playful Void, Nova writes about an interesting essay about how “Every game scaffolds roleplaying in different ways, and none of them scaffold correctly for everyone.”
• Chris Chinn of Deeper in the Game coins a nice phrase: “combat as theater“.
• The Knutepunkt 2025 book is out, free to download as usual. I’m excited by a couple of the articles including one about the history of bleed before the term was coined.
• John Irwin has a nice post identifying the four different types of rolls: saves, tests, montages, and checks. It’s an intriguing exercise. Very Levi Kornelsen-esque.

Advice

• Sarah Doom has some neat examples of creating NPCs using tarot to inspire you on her newsletter.
• Aaron King has a great post on tumblr about the process of designing a custom game for his table: “The home game is not the perfect game. It’s not my desert island game. It’s something I am primed to run with minimal friction for new players, where we start playing fast and get a lot done in 60-120 minutes.”
• The Among Cats and Books blog has a great post about prepping sandbox cities or towns as places of adventure.

Others

• Shannon Applecline writes a solid recap of the last two years of the monumental OGL fallout.

---

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.

• Grab your rosary and your revolver and join the Sisterhood ✝️ Take your vows and become a nun on mission to fight demons and save the world in this multiplayer TTRPG. Live now on Backerkit!
• Zhenya’s Wonder Tales is 6 games retelling dark, Slavic-inspired fairy stories. Play a prince, a werewolf, a monster hunter, and more to make difficult choices that drive towards uncertain endings.
• Coffee, Cults, and Empires – AP – the “players” are characters, playing ttrpgs set in their own magic-filled past, hosted by an intern in the corporate lab that created their world.
• Fight against fate on a doomed journey home in Ithaca in the Cards, and plan and cook meals for your loved ones in What Should We Have Tomorrow?, a duo of games crowdfunding on Kickstarter now.

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

• Never Going Home, the occult WW1 RPG, returns as a bundle.
• The Salt Mine series of urban fantasy novels from Joseph Browning and Suzi Yee of Expeditious Retreat Press

---

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!