The Rascals are hibernating, but we prepared our now-traditional end of year articles for you. Join us as we look back at 2025, and ponder the year ahead. First up, it's Caelyn!

We are seven subscribers away from 2500! And you can become a subscriber for just $1, right now. Go on, you know you want to!

Two people have become paying subscribers to Rascal specifically to read this article. I love you, but I also have concerns.

@rascal.news's AI policy!

This piece is UK focused but there’s a similar dearth of third spaces in the US that don’t expect you buy something just for the pleasure of entering and socializing Libraries fill some of this need but can’t meet all of it

Contributor CJ Shearwood examines how the UK wargaming landscape has transformed in recent decades, and the clear connections to austerity politics.

Traveller's life path system becomes a potent character creation tool for any RPG when you add some good ol' fashioned blame into the mix.

if anyone ever wanted to read about my in game hangups that occurred after a really fun game of Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined staring "actually magic" Magic Mike, Black 24-yo Stoner Timmy Turner, and Sasha from the Bratz Dollz movie, look no further www.rascal.news/even-in-game...

Exciting to see Rascal covering Plotweaver news! www.rascal.news/brotherwise-...

GAMA's interim executive director, Zaria Davis, has sparked some optimism from the trade organization's DEI committee. Members told us they want to see her focus on internal stability and more diversity among staff.

Caelyn finds herself enamoured with the teaser for WARLOCK, the upcoming D&D video game recently announced at The Game Awards. Don't worry, she's disappointed in herself too.

Crack the Sun, the first major supplement for the Draw Steel RPG, is a production doozy. If you're curious about MCDM's project, which might span the next two years, @crapstacular.bsky.social delved into what we know.

We now have 2468 paying subscribers! That's just 32 away from our goal of 2500 by the end of 2025. You can get access to almost two years of amazing tabletop games journalism for just $1 right now! Be one of those 32 absolute heroes!

An official website for Plotweaver, Brotherwise Games' sans-Sanderson version of its Cosmere RPG, has launched and comes with a few new tidbits.

Amidst Revolt!'s fantastical politcal arena, which are evocative and entertaining, is a missed opportunity to dig deeper into what follows a tyrant's fall.

Tabletop designers such as @byodinsbeardrpg.com are making a habit out of post-convention transparency through post-mortem reports. Their hope is to inspire others and turn event tabling into a science.

Jason Carl departs White Wolf and parent company Paradox Interactive after just six months resurrecting the publisher of World of Darkness RPGs.

We found a tabletop game inside a bag of coffee beans, and it's recapturing a bit of breakfast table magic.

Caelyn came away from Dragonmeet with a pretty hefty bag of loot. Come and see what she picked up and why.

UPDATE: I (Caelyn) just checked the numbers and we're up to 2453. Thank you everyone, it's heartwarming to see so many nice comments about our work. At this rate, 2500 by the end of 2025 is going to have to become 2600 by 2026!

UPDATE: I (Caelyn) just checked the numbers and we're up to 2453. Thank you everyone, it's heartwarming to see so many nice comments about our work. At this rate, 2500 by the end of 2025 is going to have to become 2600 by 2026!

At this moment, we have 2430 paid subscribers. Can we get 2500 by the end of 2025? You can subscribe right now for only $1, and support independent tabletop games journalism.

Support independent journalism for just $1!

Sometimes games exist to break down barriers between rules and play. Apollo 47 by @timhutchings.bsky.social makes rules feel like a tennis net rather than a fence.

article with most JPW (jokes per word)

PODCAST: Chase and Caelyn talk Dragonmeet, more dexterity mechanics in RPGs, and the evil(s) at the heart of trading card games.

Soup drama, relationship drama: Road to Empress' success as a streaming game phenomenon tells us there's a lot of potential Hearts of Wulin lovers out there.

Lin chatters about Apollo 47 and the joy of playing while you play.

One of the best and most moving contributor essays we've published. So grateful Seraphina trusted her words to our website. Fight Truck still very much matters.

This is probably my favorite Rascal article of the entire year. Had to hold back a lot of emotion in the office this morning.

While all Rascal pieces are of the highest quality, this may be the best piece of writing on their site! Certainly the one that's made me feel the most emotions 🩷💙🤍

"What do we risk when we play?" Contributor @seraphimseraphina.bsky.social interrogates the path of her life through a joyfully violent larp that radically reframes safety and risk.

If you haven't already subscribed to Rascal News, you can do so right now for $1!!!!! Our base monthly subscription is going up by a dollar next month for anyone who isn't already subscribed, so get in now before we have to charge more to survive!!!

I read @monsterpotion.bsky.social's new version of Fight Truck, and cried about it. Then I wrote this. It's personal and vulnerable and bold and I'm very proud. I'd love to hear from anyone if this speaks to you, and I want to hear why other people seek out risky play .

Very happy to play a small part in getting this on the site. Seraphina wrote a really moving essay about the risk, safety, play, and what really matters. It's a really powerful piece, please do read. Made me think about how I play games and what makes me scared or nervous when I play them.

"What do we risk when we play?" Contributor @seraphimseraphina.bsky.social interrogates the path of her life through a joyfully violent larp that radically reframes safety and risk.

Grab a subscription for 1$, read all my articles, cancel your subscription! 😎

Dragonmeet might not have lived up to all the stories told about the UK's own RPG-focused convention. But Caelyn and Chase found it charming, if a little lost in identity crisis.

$1 is not a huge bump in price, but asking folks to pay any amount more right now feels kind of rotten. Hopefully, you think my team and I deserve to stick around a little longer, to continue rooting through the industry's garbage bins and being resident menaces.

Rascal sometimes feels like a last bastion of real tabletop industry news. If you want actual Board Game and TTRPG journalism, that isn't afraid to ask hard questions and do actual research, you need to check out Rascal!

A Friendly NPC has a quest for you :) It's been my favourite gaming news site since they launched, absolutely the best 50 bucks I spend a year.

A few recs: @404media.co for tech news @rascal.news and @aftermath.site for gaming culture @butwhytho.net for media criticism @theflytrapmedia.com for intersectional journalism @propublica.org for hard-hitting investigative journalism. Or your local NPR! Get invested in local politics in 2026!

Two Hellboy RPGs; two approaches to adapting Big Red. @newmadras.bsky.social dissects comic's greatest paranormal investigator in the first entry of License to Kill.

New subscriptions to Rascal News will be rising by $1 in 2026. If you've been waiting to support us, we're currently running a holiday sale where the first two months of our entry tier is only $1/month! Independent journalism on the cheap? Yippee-Ki-Yay, Anklebiters!

And probably my first labour story, one that's centered on the astounding efforts of the Kickstarter union (I come from a place where unions are perceived very, very differently, so I learned so much doing this piece) www.rascal.news/kickstarter-...

I relished the opportunity to write about a doom-metal infused video game that's also adapted from a stellar TTRPG www.rascal.news/mork-borg-he...

A report on the myriad problems faced by itch.io as a very modest storefront for games www.rascal.news/game-designe...

I've always wanted to write a piece on Jubensha, so here it is www.rascal.news/jubensha-is-...

Firstly, this piece on You Will Die in This Place, a game that seems so compelling because of how it's told through multiple perspectives www.rascal.news/you-will-die...

I've just hit my third month at @rascal.news and am grateful and humbled to be part of this amazing crew. I've learned a lot here as the resident greenhorn, and I would love to share some pieces I've written for the site.