Literally read this while listening to a podcast discussion about Middle Earth Enterprises consolidating IP rights. The state of Lord of the Rings fandom has gotten *weird*, but can't wait for the excuse to reconnect with the original texts.

Tonight and over the weekend I'll be helping out at @protocon-bc.bsky.social, a new convention focused on playtesting. Amidst so much cynicism and calamity in the game industry, I'm looking forward to touching grass with some with indie creators.

Let's make it official: SHELVED BY GENRE's next unit, spanning ALL of 2026, will be a delve into the depths of modern genre with J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION. If you don't have those, you can grab them through our Bookshop: bookshop.org/lists/shelve...

My last board game Kickstarter for some time (excluding one that I'll likely never see). Love the core system of Keystone, especially the solo journal, now with stickers!

Hades 2's siren song continues to capture hearts and minds. Daniel Newman joins us to discuss how it uplifts the rogue-lite genre but there remains discord in the pantheon of podcast hosts...

Game Awards: We're inviting less press and opening up seats to the public so that we (probably) can have a more engaged, excited audience for the camera and make more money What the Game Awards thinks the public can afford:

Today's the day! At 4.30 pm PST, join us at twitch.tv/plaiddog for the start of a full weekend of TTRPGs and charity fundraising for Andrea's Adventurers! feat. @wisdomcheck.ca @rejectedmuse.bsky.social @GMofReven Let's Roll a Nat 20 to Beat Cancer!

Thinking about volunteering for TCTC? We're looking for RPG Game-Masters, Game Stewards, and more - contribute your skills and get a free weekend pass to TCTC!

WHAT'S UP MASS EFFECT FANS IT'S YA BOI THE EXPANSION IS COMING HAPPY FUCKING N7 DAYYYYYYYY

Wrapped Final Fantasy 2 (Pixel Remaster) and it really is a huge step up from the first game in representing what the series would become - a strong sense of place, character and narrative. It's also an Elder Scrolls game?

Diggergun knows what's up!

Publishers this big don't want people and their fickleness to play their games, they want games made by AI, mindlessly consumed BY AI, just the abstract idea of games to speculate on.

shoutouts to toby fox for just doing this when a platform tells him he HAS to add achievements to his games

🎶 Oh the sun will come out, tomorrow...🎶 And so will the games! Please prove I am not the only board game-playing, musicals-loving geek and say hi tomorrow at protoconbc.ca!!

Diggergun knows what's up!

The GAMES FROM VANCOUVER 🍁 Steam sale goes live Nov 21-30 with over 50 discounted games! We've partnered with @bbigames.bsky.social to present a digital showcase of talent from Greater Vancouver. Mark your calendar to snag a great deal and discover hits you might not have known were made here!

Fate of the Fellowship has a rich sense of dynamism from it's many points of variance (characters, quests, darkness cards) that give a strong sense of simulation. But every character feels so restrictive/specialised to the point of any strategy feeling completely prescriptive.

lol

Breezed through this faster than any book in a while but that's about the best I can say about it. Incredibly clunky in how it delivers video game analogies and its themes alike. A book about people who make video games their entire reality FOR people who make video games their entire reality.

We all know about Gandalf's white phase but few know about his goth phase

Our latest episode has landed. This week we’re joined by @dnlnwmn.bsky.social to talk about his work with New Mill Industries and experiences at the Tokyo Game Market. Then we descend into a discussion of Hades 2 and put our thoughts to rest.

Fate of the Fellowship has a rich sense of dynamism from it's many points of variance (characters, quests, darkness cards) that give a strong sense of simulation. But every character feels so restrictive/specialised to the point of any strategy feeling completely prescriptive.

Crowdfunding is built on a parasocial desire to help companies make something exist that wouldn't otherwise, but with so many implicit and explicit motivations to goose the numbers, that entire house feels built on manipulation.

Job interview today which means another day of making excuses to treat myself.

Friend brought Fate of the Fellowship but didn't feel like teaching so we've turned to the tower of Rod Ney

The best treat of all just arrived! @wyrdscience.bsky.social

Great Scott!

My daughter loves making games reutilizing components and I've been trying to offer gentle suggestions for how to improve them. Her current idea is for chests that might have treasure or might explode, indicated by very conspicuous components, bless her. So I'm breaking out my design toolbox to help

What. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Feels like I've been waiting for this since the stone age.

The wild hat-in-hand 'we are but kindred spirits' tone while asking for $2.5 million dollars aside, this is a great demonstration of how broken the crowdfunding model has become, smothered with artificial transparency.

Job interview today which means another day of making excuses to treat myself.

Made the mistake of making eye contact with this goblin creature right before going live on the podcast and in that moment created an extra 20 minutes of work editing out it hassling me for the entirely of the show.

Does Allplay have any Kickstarters fulfilling? I just got a shipping notification but have no recollection of any outstanding backings.

My friend Lee Moyer, the artist behind the @smallgodseries.bsky.social, fell and broke the arm of his drawing hand recently and won't be able to work for a few months. He's selling prints (and originals) of his artwork—check out his Author Arcana series here: www.leemoyer.com/projects/aut...

Made the mistake of making eye contact with this goblin creature right before going live on the podcast and in that moment created an extra 20 minutes of work editing out it hassling me for the entirely of the show.

Wrapped several games in the last few days, what should I scratch off the backlog next? You have till I finish editing this podcast!

Continuing to explore co-op options with the kid and she wanted to try Animal Crossing but trying to decipher the arcane rules of Island/account/resident differentiation is doing my head in, especially when most details are pre-virtual cards

Everyone in TTRPGs talking about the Eros Engine but I prefer the Poor Pussy engine.

My daughter loves making games reutilizing components and I've been trying to offer gentle suggestions for how to improve them. Her current idea is for chests that might have treasure or might explode, indicated by very conspicuous components, bless her. So I'm breaking out my design toolbox to help

Discussing Hades 2 on the podcast has broken the spell and let me uninstall it. I can't deny it's impeccably made but progress feels so incredibly slow and arbitrary and I can't shake the feeling that the dialogue is all 'cozy' is this fuzzy, inconsequential way that completely washes over me.

Board games are art. ETERNAL DECKS combines the ancient with the modern through design. It's a stunner; it's also a heck of a game. See for yourself. www.moregamesplease.com/art-in-board...

This upcoming episode of the podcast goes to some *weird* places

You'll find both of us at this weekend's inaugural ProtoCon BC, exploring a fresh batch of tabletop games. If you'd like make time to chat, feel free to reach out.

Kid is home sick from school, so my research for tomorrow's job interview is currently scored by incessant honking of her playing Untitled Goose Game nearby.

(PLEASE REPOST!) Reviewers, journalists, content creators, YouTubers, podcasters, bloggers, and TTRPG people of all kinds : WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! This month we're sending out the press preview version of GALLOWS CORNER - A PEASANTS' REVOLT RPG, and we want to add you to our media distro list!