#153: (Just) Links for the Link God (Again)

I. Dear Reader,

Travels continue and this week is also just links, links, links! We’ll hopefully be back to more writing and such from next time.

Yours link,

Thomas

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II. Media of the Week

• Recently stumbled on this podcast with Jon Peterson about Alarums and Excursions, one of the first zines (APA) about roleplaying that has now racked up hundreds and hundreds of issues. The discussion starts at about 9:00 if you want to cut to the chase.

• RPG Youtuber Seth Skorkowsky talks to Dieku Games about their philosophy about video-making and gaming.

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• If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.

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III. Links of the Week

Articles

• Did you know that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman published a game in a paperback novel format? Just a regular book that could side by side with the Dragonlance novels. Maybe in some alternative timeline, we got a whole alternative publishing tradition where RPGs aren’t artbooks.

• On RPGs and UX: “Both hinge on a key way of being human: listening and giving back.”

• Late to this but the Hearthside substack responded to my GM-driven/Player-driven chart: “The first step to telling new stories is imagining that other kinds of stories are possible.”

• On reddit, someone wrote up a history of White Wolf. Not sure how accurate it is (this stuff is totally not my area) but I learned some stuff!

• Molten Sulfur dives into the game-ability of a 19th century Tanzanian revolt.

• On the Rathole, an interview with Eclipse, the designer of Sapphicworld: “I’ve tried my best to make Sapphicworld a big, explorable, kinky dating simulator, and I think that comes off even in a single playtest. It’s sword & sorcery & sex.”

Reviews

• On Gnomestew, a detailed review of Apocalypse Keys, one of the most interesting PbtA games out there right now.

• On Cannibal Halfling, two excellent reviews: Paul Czege’s The Ink That Bleeds and the Cowboy Bebop RPG which looks really innovative. In fact, the designers have actually converted the entire show into written actual play using these mechanics.

• On Age of Ravens, a review of forged in the dark dwarven base building, Mountainhome.

• It Came From The bookshelf talks about the seminal Microscope: “Its two most important rules are "don't contradict anything that's already been established" and "only the person whose turn it is gets to talk"”.

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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 your products to appear here, read the submission form.

• Border Ridings is a collaborative history-building game, played by drawing evolving town maps on scraps of paper. Rules printed on a massive fold out map! Coming to Kickstarter July 1st through to July 21st.

• Join a Wyld Coven in Witches of Midnight, a hopeful horror Forged in the Dark TTRPG & tarot deck! Choose from 22 magical playbooks & 9 immortal bloodlines including Medusae, Satyr & Lilitu. Unleash your inner witch!

• Rogue Signal, a FREE cinematic one-shot! - Crash land into an asteroid base and race to stop a mysterious hacker to save the Astralis Reach. Comes with 5 vibrant characters and an outstanding high-res map.

This newsletter is currently sponsored by the Bundle of Holding.

• A great deal on everything published for the Root RPG, the PbtA adaptation of the boardgame.

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Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. If you’d like to support this newsletter, share it with a friend or buy one of my games from my itch store. If you’d like to say something to me, you can reply to this email or click below!