• The Only Bad Sessions

    I. Dear Reader, I think there is only one kind of session that I would call “a bad session”. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I don’t have great sessions! But this is usually because the table just isn’t feeling it today. Sometimes, I or my fellow players just don’t have the energy. And everyone is…

    Thomas Manuel

  • A Sociology of Tabletop Roleplaying Games

    I. Dear Reader, Every once in a while, one must embrace hubris. Let’s start with play. Play is an important part of life – mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physiologically, grammatically. It has uses. As a child, it helps with learning and growth. As an adult, it helps with not being sad all the time. But people…

    Thomas Manuel

  • New Games from April and May 2024 + 200th Issue!

    I. Dear Reader, It’s been another great couple months for new games. If this is the first post like this that you’re seeing: every two months I highlight around ten games that were newly released on itch.io. I hear about most of these games through this form. And as a bonus, a game I contributed…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Feeling Like An Insider (In The Game)

    I. Dear Reader, Back home now, happy-tired, typing out this quick post because the computer clock warns me it is very close to go-time for this week’s newsletter. The latest review on Quinns Quest is on Vaesen and highlights one of the key problems in modern RPG design. And since I’ve been talking to people…

    Thomas Manuel

  • May Mini-letter

    I. Dear Reader, Scheduling this from the past because I’ll be mid-conferencing when this comes out. Enjoy the links and I’ll see you next week! Yours refusing-to-just-miss-a-week, Thomas PS. I realized that since I don’t plan to actually release Olympus, the hack of Dallas, I can just use art from the videogames, Hades 1 and…

    Thomas Manuel

  • City of Last Chances

    I. Dear Reader I just finished the City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky recently and it’s really good. This is the first book by Tchaikovsky that I’ve read and I’m just going to assume that it’s his best one because otherwise what the hell have I been doing till now? Totally recommended if you…

    Thomas Manuel

  • How Rules & Settings Drive Play Differently

    I. Dear Reader, Games have engines. Like a car, something creates the kinetic energy that keeps the game moving. The GM switches on the car and then steers it, but ideally they aren’t just powering the whole thing, legs secretly pumping under the car, Flintstones-style.  Sometimes the engine is the rules. Sometimes it’s the setting.…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Just the links

    I. Dear Reader, Just the links this week! Yours quickly, 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 on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Teaching Games

    I. Dear Reader I’ve done two episodes in my teaching games series – Apocalypse Keys and Girl by Moonlight. Even as the audio quality isn’t where I want it to be (had to essentially replace my computer to solve that), I think they’re pretty good resources. And I’m still working towards getting them on Youtube…

    Thomas Manuel

  • So You Want To Be a Game Master

    I. Dear Reader, I was reading Justin Alexander’s book So You Want To Be a Game Master this week and something very obvious sneaked up on me. When someone says a book is for “new GMs”, they’re going to have to imagine some kind of person when they say that. When you say “new GMs”,…

    Thomas Manuel