• Triangulation

    I. Dear Reader, The latest Quinns Quest dropped this week reviewing multi-award-winning game, Triangle Agency. The review generated a lot of discussion — though most of it is beyond closed doors, in discords that can’t be linked to and so on. A lot of that discussion was spurred by tension around it being a “bad…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Expressionist Play

    I. Dear Reader, This week, there was a lot of buzz in indie RPG circles around jay dragon’s Expressionist Games Manifesto. You can see this as the culmination of jay dragon’s interest in RPG theory and experimental game design into this exploration about a specific type of game or approach to roleplay that she wants…

    Thomas Manuel

  • September Mini-Letter

    I. Dear Reader, Since this issue is already late, it’s another truncated edition. We’ll be back to more regular programming next week. Enjoy the links! In short form, once more, Thomas II. Media of the Week III. Links of the Week From the archive: IV. Small Ads All links in the newsletter are completely based…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Apocalypses, Megadungeons

    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 III. Links of the Week 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…

    Thomas Manuel

  • When Games Solve Their Own Problems

    I. Dear Reader, I’m running Defy the Gods, a queer sword and sorcery PbtA game, by Chrys Sellers. I liked the look of the quickstart and I needed a specific kind of game. Back in May, I wrote about how I ended my Apocalypse World: Burned Over game by skipping past the part where the…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Itch Games From June and July 2025

    I. Dear Reader As the issues with itch still rage, here’s another edition of my regular round-up of new games on the site. If this is the first time you’re seeing one of these: many of these games came through this form but others I just stumbled across. I haven’t played or read them but…

    Thomas Manuel

  • 5 Lessons from 5 Years

    I. Dear Reader It’s officially been 5 years of writing the Indie RPG Newsletter. I started in August 2020 (which maybe makes this a pandemic project) with no real goal except to write about games. And I don’t think I’ve ever so clearly achieved — and exceeded — a goal like this. On one level,…

    Thomas Manuel

  • August Mini-Letter

    I. Dear Reader, Just the links this weeks as I get this one out a little late (again). Next week, it’ll be the 5th anniversary of the newsletter and that’s something, right? I’m thinking about how to mark the occasion here but in the analog world, I’ll be eating cheesecake. Hope you’re having an okay…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Censoring Itch

    I. Dear Reader, There was a big attack on itch and steam this week as payment processors essentially forced the platforms to delist NSFW games or lose the ability to collect money. It’s a bad policy in a number of different ways, including but not limited to the fact that it disproportionately affects queer creators.…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Streaming Bastionland

    I. Dear Reader, I got back from vacation and quickly became overwhelmed, which wasn’t helped by me catching a convention cold. The weekend had too many things happening all at once and hence, the newsletter is coming to you on a Monday. Two of those weekend things was a session zero for a new campaign…

    Thomas Manuel