• Last Ditch Consequences

    I. Dear Reader, Feeling ill so this newsletter is coming out a little late – but I wanted to highlight a key piece of “GM-friendly design”. I call it “last ditch consequences” which isn’t super clear but is easier to say than “the consequence that the GM can always dish out, even when it’s late…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Playing with Politics

    I. Dear Reader, Mostly when someone talks about “politics in games”, they’re about to say the worst thing you’ve ever heard in your life. But it’s good to be reminded that there can also be posts on that subject that are only mildly annoying. This is one of them. Why do people put politics in…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Hello Peril

    I. Dear Reader, It’s been two long posts in a row so I’ll keep it short this week. Over on Patreon, I posted 2000 words on a weird little gem of a game, Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo, an RPG from 1977. It’s an essay that goes to a couple of different places…

    Thomas Manuel

  • GM Advice: Theatricality versus Transparency

    I. Dear Reader I find that broadly there are at least two kinds of GM advice – and they have a very different philosophy underpinning them. The first kind of advice aims at all costs to maintain verisimilitude. It’s a solution that you can implement without breaking the players’ immersion in their characters. This can…

    Thomas Manuel

  • New Games From December 23 and January 24

    I. Dear Reader Another regularly scheduled roundup of games that have been released on itch.io that caught my eye over the last two months. Usual disclaimer that I haven’t really read or played these games; they just seem cool based on the pitch alone. Also, most of them now come to me by people using…

    Thomas Manuel

  • Narrative Combos!

    I. Dear Reader I’ve got a neat story and game mechanic for you. Everyone likes the idea of teamwork in games. It’s really satisfying to work together and pull off something cool. You know, “I line ’em up, you knock ’em down”. In sport or more tactical games, these often are explicit roles or moves…

    Thomas Manuel