PODCAST: Mike Didymus-True from @boardgamewire.bsky.social joined the crew to discuss Spiel Essen, troubled crowdfunding campaigns, and the Timberwolves' licensed partnership with Catan.

I grind a well-honed battleax. Thomas calls me out for being a dumbass. Mike discovers what it's like to podcast with real professionals*. [*citation needed]

Please run, not walk, and check out this article. Siren's Oath is something a bit special.

Starfinder: Afterlight's developers care deeply about translating the futuristic RPG's three-action economy into a video game. But Epictellers' influence apparently flowed back to the tabletop through the recent second edition.

Absolutely wild that this article is how we found out about this and not via official sources or on the Discord for FC members

Last year I did this interview with the intention of it being part of a longer reported piece in LARP and politics, but that fell through as things got...really intense after November. Thanks still a fascinating exploration into what games can explore against a backdrop of history

Least among the many interesting facets of this story is how the town regularly falls victim to scams like Springfield in the monorail episode of The Simpsons.

Deluxe board game editions should never have been construed as a reliable, repeatable business model. Steamforged never met a dead horse it couldn't whip.

Loxam discussed how recent high-profile financial issues at big-names in crowdfunding had affected backer confidence, and that the largest players in the space had "set expectations that can be difficult for mid-sized publishers to meet":

Was a tad held up with personal stuff over the week, but wanted to share this interview I did with @liz-shrikestudio.bsky.social for her horror TTRPG, for @rascal.news - one of the most fascinating projects I've read these days

The realities of crowdfunding are complicated, but Equinox's situation should beggar our collective tolerance for stretching that reality.

If companies must tell €2 million fibs, under guidance by platforms, to make crowdfunding work. Well, then crowdfunding doesn't work.

License to Kill is a new column from @newmadras.bsky.social diving into the whys and wherefores of licensed tabletop RPGs. In the first entry, he sets some ground rules and discusses Godzilla.

Magic: The Gathering shares similarities with Weiß Schwarz than it does with Fortnite when it comes to reusing assets from IPs as game pieces (not to mention the strict licensing agreements that come with it).

Hey board game folks, I need to contact some board game influencer types for a listicle i'm doing about family board games (for The Guardian). i'll probably contact the usual suspects but if you know of someone from an underrepresented group, pls give a shout! would love more diverse voices!

Is there a good grants database or blog post for games-friendly grants?

go out and vote today and make sure you vote for Mamdani on the WFP line!!! Send a message to the DNC about what values people want from their elected officials!!!

The people in charge of the platforms that small creators must rely on to survive have very different beliefs on how they should be run.

“Interactive concourse activations” is one of those phrases that further convinces me of marketing's value negative effect on human culture.

i hope this is how you find out about dick cheney

Big Bad Con announcement.

I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day. certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.

The world’s biggest board game fair, Spiel Essen, secured a record-breaking 220,000 attendance this year after expanding into a seventh massive hall – while the decision to scrap 4-day passes secured a hefty boost to visitor numbers on its often quieter final day: boardgamewire.com/index.php/20...

If you're a bookseller or tabletop designer with thoughts about DriveThruRPG's Partner Shipping Program -- specifically its cut from sales -- I want to hear from you for a followup article! Email: [email protected] Signal: ChaseTC.24 Or DM me here.

Turning rural Southerners against SNAP and food assistance might be one of the most evil accomplishments of the modern Conservative party. Half of my family has used it in their lifetime, but shame stops them from admitting it. They're poor, but not *those* poor. Better to starve with dignity.

"There’s a lot of me in this project. Even if I’m often hiding behind the voices of Charlotte and Samantha." @liz-shrikestudio.bsky.social tells Rascal about the process of creating her pseudo-autobiographical horror RPG about finding meaning before death, but also accepting the unknowable.

Me, swinging my chair around: "So, you posted opinions on what's considered 'indie'."

DTRPG's growing convenience factor is a worrying trend. Pro-seller changes in the short-term often shake out into anti-consumer consolidation in the long. Also, another shift in the tabletop market that we can trace back to protections against tariff volatility!

I am not On Here much these days, meaning I don't post anything beyond Rascal work nor actively scroll. There's a part of my brain that tells me its a professional dereliction. There's another that enjoys not being constantly anxious and vigilant for new information.

Tariffs killed Magpie Games' trio of unconventional, card-based games, showing early hints of a long and cruel effect on the tabletop RPG side of the industry.

Book exemption isn't saving tabletop RPGs from a tariff-borne collapse of creative possibility. Experimental form factors, even just a box of cards, will be tossed in favor of whatever costs studios the least at the CBP checkpoint.

I reached out to The White House and asked about its use of AI-generated Halo imagery. White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai just responded to me, and it's insane. I've removed the paywall. Please share and subscribe if you can. www.patreon.com/posts/exclus...

Always grateful to do something for Zack and Funland. For this one I looked at this weird little game called Ratshaker, which seemed promising at first as a spooky little treat, but ultimately disappoints... as a horror game

Project Sigil's slow death will continue until its servers shut down in 2026, after which the only ironic reminders of its ignominious existence will be the "add on preorder" digital dice and gilded character sheets on D&DBeyond.

“I stuck with my newsletter in order to stay in journalism. I didn’t have any other marketable skills. I had to keep writing to make sure I could keep writing.” For the @talkingpointsmemo.com 25th anniversary, I was asked to write about going independent and the future of journalism. Read here:

A system that demands artists misrepresent the reality of creating things is just fundamentally broken, and we're poorer for allowing those assumptions to become baseline. Bring your dog and pony show, or you can't even get on stage.

We @theflytrapmedia.com often end up promoting our annual subscriptions quite often, but did you know that you can get a monthly subscription right now for only $5.66/month? Get 15% off your monthly sub for the next year right now: the-flytrap.ghost.io/friends-birt...

The origin story of social deduction games is pretty wild, you guys… it’s like half Soviet organizational-development psychology (its own wild field of game design) and quarter Soviet “games were frowned upon” and quarter frustration about undergrads not saying anything in class

We finally found the Joe Rogan of the left, and he wants you to set your homepage to @rascal.news.

Talking to @lumpley.bsky.social and @megueyb.bsky.social is always a delight. Their work is inspirational and also so much damn fun. Burned Over is worth getting excited about.

If you only see all the space marines, you might not realise that GW has been really good on increasing diversity in its miniatures, which is why this reveal is such a disappointment.

Where are all the bloodthirsty, pelt-adorned women, James Workshop?

It’s fascinating how the British were organised enough to lead the industrial revolution and conquer the globe when they can’t even agree what side of the footpath you’re meant to walk on.

Almost a year ago, @caelyn.bsky.social pontificated about starter sets on Rascal for the first time. Now she's at it again!

Deeply appreciate M87 Games taking the time to talk me through the practical, political, and deeply personal decisions behind creating fonts for a Ukrainian edition of @morkborg.com www.wargamer.com/mork-borg/uk...

It turns out D&D has its own ET video game landfill story!

I'm not sure it's common knowledge but there are literally thousands and thousands of people employed in India working 9-5 to train LLMs to be "smart" and "safe". Tech bros laud it as a technological achievement but it's the same old story - just another way of hiding the real labor of people.