• Deep Thoughts

    I. Spotlight Lots of good stuff this week and I can’t pick so just check it all out and pick your own. As always, have a good week, folks. Hope it’s a good one. II. Media of the Week III. Links of the Week IV. What am I playing? Things are bad everywhere but I…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Difficulty and Challenge

    I. Spotlight A Knight at the Opera writes about how to talk about difficulty in RPGs. This is a great topic and Dwiz has a neat binary of challenging decisions versus challenging actions. “Chess is a game that only ever features decision-challenges. There is never a risk that you fail to execute a move you’ve…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Awards & Philosophy

    I. Spotlight The Awards 2026 is looking for judges. If you’re ready to read a bunch of games, regardless of your previous experience level, you should consider applying. It’s a hell of a way to be exposed to the weird and experimental side of the hobby. It’s a lot of reading but if you’ve got…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Breathlessness and Incoherence

    I. Spotlight This isn’t about RPGs but there’s been interesting conversations happening across the videogame sphere around Pokopia, the new Pokemon game. Grayson Morley talks about the tone of breathlessness that so often suffuses the reviews of games: “I’m sorry, but Pokopia isn’t a meditation on a post-human world and the ravages of climate change.…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Gears

    I. Spotlight WS Healed, co-designer of Most Trusted Advisors, writes a long essay about games and interpretation that takes a very academic route but still ends somewhere extremely practical: “Don’t try to make your text a meddling busybody in the process of the game’s negotiation, whether to micromanage or to roll over and show its…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Apocalypse Power

    I. Spotlight On Notes From The Labyrinth, a delightful review of the erotic and violent work in progress PbtA game Praise the Hawkmoth King: “Praise the Hawkmoth King is fun, it’s just also a warning about how easy it is to become complicit. How easy it is, once you’ve been given modicum of power, to…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Blogs & Mysteries

    I. Spotlight The Bloggies begin and end in a whirlwind. The winners for the main categories have been announced. Here are my favorites among them: I also enjoyed this critique of the Bloggies categories that asks: where is the poetry? Given that these change each year, it’s very possible that next year’s event incorporates something…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Bundles on Bundles

    I. Spotlight The No ICE in Minnesota bundle is live. It’s already raised a ton of money for a immigrant legal assistance organization. But if you haven’t picked it up, it contains thousands of games, including Exquisite Biome (a worldbuilding game), Demon Driven To The Maw (a nice Cairn adventure), Desert Moon of Karth (a…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Answering & Not Answering

    I. Spotlight Apologies for spotlighting myself but: over at Rascal News, I’ve launched a new podcast called the Rascal Reading Club. It’s a book club podcast in two parts. The first section is where I read a book (the first episode about the Wardens’ Operations Manual for Mothership) and the second part is where I…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Reaction Rolls & Reviews

    I. Spotlight Carouse Carouse is a group newsletter that started last year and I’m not sure I’ve ever linked to it before. It’s great! The latest issue has an end of year awards style post, curated links, and a wacky review of Reincarnated As The Unloveable Villainess?!, a solo game by artist and designer Wym…

    Thomas Manuel