I. Dear Reader,
Just the links and media again but there’s some good ones. Enjoy your week, folks!
Truncatedly,
Thomas
II. Media of the Week
- Around the Hearth has a new podcast exploring the history of post-apocalyptic games, Roll for Mutation. I’m excited for this because I think the trend towards the post-apocalyptic is a high-level sociocultural thing. It’s real and we’re feeling it! The first episode is about Gamma World but will be getting into Twilight 2000, Apocalypse World, etc in future episodes.
- Eric Vulgaris has this 40 minute retrospective on his 150 session West Marches style campaign into the Arden Vul megadungeon. I love this kind of voyeuristic insight into games that I’ll never run or play. It’s full of spoilers but if, like me, you’re never actually going to play this module, it’s great.
- 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
- Sidney Icarus writes about how games handle interaction between PCs and NPCs. They analyze four methods based on what the game frames as the pre-conditions and stakes for persuading someone or getting your way.
- For Endless Mode, Cameron Kunzelman reviews Elliot Davis’ solo game about time travel played in a day planner: “Project ECCO is just as much a system of getting you to think like an agent as it is a game that puts you inside of an agency position. It’s not Control, it’s a game that makes you create your own version of something like Control.”
- Elmcat has a great post about how to run Mythic Bastionland that both lays out their advice from starting with a blank page to running the first session. And it also acts as a portal to a bunch of other advice and useful info about the game.
- Federico Sohns (Nibiru, Zephyr) writes a comprehensive guide to commissioning and licensing art for a tabletop RPG. It’s a guide that starts from the very basics with examples and templates for prospective creators. Worth bookmarking.
- Lady Tabletop writes a charming post titled “6 Bluey Episodes Every Game Designer Should Watch“.
- This is a thread from Bluesky from a Chinese RPG fan group that’s about how D&D is as big as Call of Cthulhu in China.
- I somehow missed sharing the Ramanan Sivaranjan Excellence in Gaming awards which went to BREAK!!, Gackling Moon, and the Mothership boxed set. Ram always has interesting picks.
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.
- What if Warhammer got drunk in Gdańsk? Blunderbuss RPG is dirty, deadly, and divine. 100+ professions, brutal adventures, and rules so simple, anyone GMs.
This newsletter is sponsored by the wonderful Bundle of Holding. Check out the latest bundles below:
- Two bundles for Hostile, a scifi horror game based on the Cepheus Engine / Traveller. One with rules and sourcebooks and one with a bunch of supplements.
Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. If you’d like to support this newsletter, share it with a friend. If you’d like to know more about my work, check out the coolest RPG website in the world Rascal News or listen to me talking to other people on the Yes Indie’d Podcast.
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