#inbox - reading letters

[theresattrpgforthat]

How to Find Cool Games: Newsletters

Plenty of game designers and other folks in the ttrpg space are using newsletters to keep people updated on their work. Newsletters are a great way to talk about what’s fascinating to you, give people snapshots of the things you’re working on, and offer links to freebies or extras for folks who are interested in your work. They also remind folks that you’re out there, making cool things.

I follow a number of different newsletters, and they offer different formats depending on their focus and the platform they use. But here’s what you can generally expect from a newsletter:

Updates on a designer’s work. Designers and small publishers will release updates on what they’re working on, including snapshots of works in progress, updates on crowdfunding initiatives, and pieces of art they may have recently finished or received.

Musings on aspects of design and play. Some game designers and prominent bloggers may release newsletters simply to talk about pieces of games that they’re excited about or ruminating on; how specific mechanics elicited special moments at the table, emotions or themes they’re hoping to invoke in their game projects, or perhaps talking about elements of a game book that make it interesting or enjoyable to read.

Reviews. This might be after playing a game or simply reading it, but interacting with other people’s games isn’t just a fun activity, it often also sparks thoughts about what the author values or doesn’t value in play. These reviews might include a brief overview of a game’s rules, highlight special moments in play, or cover more practical issues, such as the safety tools on offer, or the way the game layout affects their reading experience.

-Talking about the gaming hobby in general. This might include various perspectives in the hobby, like how colonialism affects steampunk games, or common experiences people of colour might have in a gaming space. It might also include safety practices and why the author finds certain practises helpful or unhelpful. There might also be ruminations on the business of game design, such as how to learn layout, how to network with artists, and advice on how to deal with the crowdfunding process.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about some various newsletters that I’m subscribed to, and what I’ve gotten from them!

The Indie RPG Newsletter. @indierpgnewsletter

The Indie RPG Newsletter is the current project under the pen of Thomas Manuel, who’s also the host of the Yes Indie’d Podcast, as well as a writer for Rascal News (which we’ll get back to later). Thomas uses this as a place to talk about what’s getting him excited in the indie scene, as well as provide links to other people talking about cool game things; every newsletter has a section called Links of the Week . This section points you to some fun conversations happening in various ttrpg spaces. I think The Indie RPG Newsletter is a great jumping off point if you want to see what else is going on in a number of different spheres, and Thomas also has some really lovely insights into various mechanics that he’s interacting with as he tries out a slew of games at his table.

Rascal News.

The newsletter for Rascal News isn’t really a standalone thing - it’s an arm of the website of the same name, an independent team of journalists focused on news related to the world of TTRPGs.You need to create a free membership with the website in order to get these newsletters, but it’s a nice little window into not just the hottest news off of the press - various newsletters also carry links to their Announcements section, which is for the most part free to read, and contains a lot of updates about new and exciting ttrpg projects - including crowdfunding campaigns, podcast announcements, awards ceremonies, and special sales or bundles on offer. Currently the Rascal Team consists of Rowan Zeoli, Chase Carter, Caelyn Ellis - and, as previously mentioned, Thomas Manuel!

More Seats at the Table

More Seats a the Table is an email newsletter dedicated to highlighting games made by game designers of marginalized genders. It includes not just roleplaying games, but occasionally board-games as well, and each issue contains links to current crowdfunding initiatives, as well as advertisements that have been submitted to the newsletter through their submission form. This newsletter is straightforward and to-the-point, showing you a few games with quick blurbs - no more, no less. If you want news about games without a lot of fluff, you might be interested in More Seats at the Table.

Indie Press Revolution. @indiepressrevolution

Indie Press Revolution calls themselves a “network of quality creator-publishers”, and works to make people’s games available both through their online website and at various conventions. They also partner with retailers in acting as a distributor, bringing indie ttrpgs closer to your hometown! However, IPR also has its’ own newsletter, the IPR Revolutionary, which includes featured products, news related to various tabletop events, pricing updates, pdf updates, new stores added to the network, and links to oodles and oodles of crowdfunding projects. If you want to know what you can get in on right now, this monthly list of projects is a great collection.

5. Individual Designers: a short list.

If you’re a big OSR fan, you might find something in the Questing Beast newsletter, which is fairly regular and includes links to sales, reviews, and ads for games from various sponsors.

The Jar of Eyes Game Gazette has some really really good advice for game designers in their archive. I haven’t seen a lot of recent updates, but if the author starts sending out letters again, I think my eyes will be glued to the page.

Watt, the designer of Cloud Empress, has a regular Cloud Empress Newsletter that’s mostly focused around Watt’s work - but in the tradition of various popular OSR games, the exciting thing about these kinds of games is that there’s consistently new stuff. Watt includes little freebies in each newsletter, from roll tables, to small expansions, and little pieces of art. On top of that, Watt is quite happy to showcase work by other designers, especially projects that they have small parts in, as well as highlighting things that are currently giving them inspiration, such as movies, video games - and tabletop roleplaying games.

Asked Questions by Hendrik ten Napel, dives into specific games and game experiences that are making the author reflect on how the games direct his play. Some of his recent letters include an examination of Under Hollow Hills, how to create dramatic triangles between characters, and a loving review of Old Morris Cave, written by Tim Hutchings.

Dinoberry Press, a collaboration between Nevyn Holmes and Julie-Anne Muńoz, has a newsletter that gives you updates on what the designers are up to, how their games are coming along, and highlights projects that they’re excited about. Yes, it’s a form of marketing, but marketing is how you get info about new games! I followed them specifically because I am interested in their latest game, Little Wolves. You can sign up for their newsletter at the bottom of their website.

You’ve probably heard of Dave Thaumvore if you’re looking at ttrpg content on Youtube, and his attached newsletter has various subscription tiers - but I just subscribe to the free one. He does publish some content related to D&D, but he also sits down for interviews with designers; you’re likely to find high-end games from bigger companies being featured here. The most recent newsletter features a review with the designer of the upcoming game Flux Fantasy.

Christian Sorrell’s Missives of the Meatcastle is a little infrequent, but his updates are professional, thoughtful, and full of goodies. He includes little freebies for subscribers, alongside updates about his own work - both his passion projects and the projects of others that he writes for. His most recent update, titled "In Defense of Fiction", was a really insightful look into the ways prose can make a game more readable, and therefore more enjoyable to anyone reading a game book.

Cloven Pine Games has a newsletter that is fairly infrequent, but occasionally sends out updates on things that they have a hand in making, as well as news about game-adjacent events that they are involved in - such as awards shows, or game conventions. Their latest issue takes about Root and The Between, which are two projects that they had a hand in designing.

CJ Tucker has a newsletter for @crackerjackalopegames, which includes a regular roundup of “Things I Liked This Month”, as well as various musings about the connections they’re making across games and various media. Some of their newsletters that stand out to me include a review of NASA’s TTRPG adventure, using Breath of the Wild as inspiration for world building, and the concept of a house as a character (which led to the design of their game, ABODE.)

Tim Hutchings Makes Games is a newsletter by the author of Thousand Year Old Vampire, a solo game about a vampire who has lived so long that they can’t hold on to all of their memories. His newsletters consist of updates on things he’s working on, and events that he’s participating in. I think these kinds of newsletters can be great for other designers to follow, because it’s kind of a sneak peek into all of the various ways you can get involved in the scene, as well as provide snapshots of the kinds of considerations you might need to make as you try to promote your game. You can sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the website.

Also...

A number of ttrpg creators also have free Patreon tiers which come with newsletters, including Possum Creek Games, Goblincow (@goblincow), and Penflower Ink. Not all of these posts will be public, but the ones that are will get sent to your email. (And of course, if you pay into their Patreons, you get all the posts.)

Honorable Mentions

9th Level Games

The Twenty Sided Newsletter, a partner newsletter for My First Dungeon.

Monte Cooke Games

[foursaints]

need ur opinion on barty & pandora’s relationship bc i always saw them as really close but almost only behind closed doors or only with their friends?? barty has his whole shtick of being someone who “doesn’t care” and seems entirely indifferent to almost everyone (besides evan, reg, dorcas) and so when people see little ms sunshine pandora rosier walking next to him they’re always surprised?? well surely it must be because she’s evan’s twin right?? wrong!! barty always somehow gets roped into pandora’s mini quests!! he walks around the school with wet pants for the whole day because pandora insisted she needed help finding specific kinds of rocks in the lake that morning!! barty’s not a particularly sentimental guy, but you’re crazy if you think he ever threw out any of the random things pandora’s given him over the years… (truthfully he wanted to throw away the purple sparkly button she had found and given to him when they were 12, but he felt such an awful sense of guilt that he dug back through the trash, found it and has kept a shoebox underneath his bed of what she’s given him ever since.) i think pandora also never gave him the whole “if you hurt my brother i’ll kill you” talk because she just knew they were made for eachother in some weird way, but barty definitely gives anyone pandora’s dating that talk (maybe accompanied by a silent, but dead eyed regulus/evan/dorcas?) barty & pandora both fall asleep on the other one and she keeps his favorite snacks in her bag because he gets “hangry” she claims. he knows how she takes her tea and if he doesn’t have time in the morning there’s his favorite coffee ready to drink!! in a weird way i think barty almost values her everlasting kindness/naivety?something he feels he lost too young? almost mirror each other in the sense that they both value their individuality so deeply, but have also been isolated a lot throughout their lives and have had very few people to truly trust, yet turned out so so so differently? barty being more closed off, pandora being more open, etc. etc. they both share a protectiveness over all their friends, but their rage is entirely different, barty’s more loud and pandora’s more quiet. someone says something bad about pandora and barty’s beating them up, but if someone says something bad about barty pandora is absolutely dosing their morning juice with a potion that’ll make their skin turn purple for a month. idk!!! i feel like you could probably explain this better xx i have to thank you for the rosekiller, bcj, lily evans brainrot!!!

this is honestly such a perfect ask i dont want to tarnish it in any way... thank you for your words anon you're a preeminent understander and ill be thinking about them forever now

[crustyfloor]

The ONLY problem with getting new Till content is that everytime we do the Till hivemind changes their profile pictures to the exact same image even if we get multiple pictures of him. Forget trying to identify someone by their PFP you will have to check the names every time. I remember you and Para had chose the same picture like 3 times in a row and it was like "well I'm going to take a guess and say the person talking about wanting to lick Till until he looks like a raisin is Crusty actually."

Ps. your header is so epic

(And you'd be correct)

Every new moon when Till gets a post the community of Till fans gather to confuse the rest of the fandom into a game of who's who and I cackle at the chaos

ps. Thank you I actually resonate with it a LOT 👽

[wayfinderships]

Greetings!

Actually, no, that just sounds awkward... Here, let me try again. Erm... Hello? Nah, still weird... Um... Hi? Shit, why is this so difficult..? Alright then, maybe salutations aren't that important after all.

Can't help but get all nervous whenever I write to you. Or talk to you. Or think about you. But a good kind of nervous. So I guess I'll just go out and say it, then.

You've been on my mind a lot. Even whenever I'm investigating a case, my mind drifts back to you. When I see a stray cat in town, I think about how radiant your smile is. Whenever Kaito makes a stupid joke, I think about how much your laugh makes me happy.

I know things haven't been easy lately for either of us, but I care about so much... my dear. Shit, now my face feels all warm... Let's go on a date soon, I've been missing that cute face of yours. Does a cat café work? I'm down for an arcade too, they've got cat plushies... Eh, whatever, I'm sure we'll work something out.

Hang in there, alright? You're doing good, I promise. I don't have the words to describe what you mean to me.

Tabo ⚖️

—💚 (insert happy pikachu gif here)

Oh.

👉👈 I'd love to go on a date...my love heck, just saying it is making my face feel all warm. Doesn't matter where we go to as long as I can enjoy your comforting presence by my side 💙 Though I could never say no to seeing cute cats- the real thing or in plush form.

I'll hang in there and you gotta promise to do the same. I know your work can be dangerous sometimes but try your best to stay safe, ok? I. Uh. I love you a lot-

[mysicklove]

I’m sorry but I’m not a woman’s so that’s mean I don’t want to read x female reader cuz I don’t have a pussy

incel anon this one wasnt funny :/ can u say something more misogynistic so i can laugh at you? litterally have one job 🙄🙄🙄

[cripplerage]

I know everyone on this site is like "I DO NOT want to finish this email" and I totally get it but I'm on the other end refreshing my inbox like "WHY IS NOBODY RESPONDING TO MY EMAILS"

[taralen]

"Interesting way to conquer through a message, hahaha. If that's the case, then let me tell you that I'll give you all my love with a rose or a song, maybe take you to a place, hey! Could we together be like spam mail fluttering around the world without any direction? Would you like to take my hand to find out? (I'm getting too romantic, hahaha, sorry again.)"

LOVE LETTER #2

Initial public response LOL:

[jack-o-phantom]

thank you for all of your art. we do not directly follow fnaf (jumpscare horror wreaks havoc on our metaphorical brainworms) but your art and the stuff you reblog is really nice and a nice way to enjoy a driveby indulgence in the content.

oh!! Thank you!!

[fcthots]

Also 🪅 anon you’ve fed me wtf

[sol-tani]

i love yr windbreaker texts brah 🔥🔥🤞

thank you so much 🙉🫵🏽‼️‼️

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏

[popponn]

people who spill their feelings in the reblogs, people who put praises in the tags and comments even though you guys don't have to, people who give feedbacks i love you

[birlwrites]

Do you think Regulus and Barty's friendship has the potential to become a queerplatonic relationship? Whether in ttdl or in any other au you have?

oh ABSOLUTELY. they're pretty much always eventually queerplatonic life partners in my mind (except in stga 😔 rip barty, you were so cool in that one scene when you got murdered). i'll be leaning into that most *heavily* with you know it's your blood that i bleed (of all my current projects), but i'm thinking about ways to get it into ttdl as well - especially because i go feral for barty and sirius parallels and i think it would be absolutely hilarious (and fun on a narrative level) for barty to really find his place with house black, via regulus

[allylikethecat]

Ally!!! it was so nice to have a tuesday update !!! i’m definitely missing them as much as you :)

the one shot was so beautifully written and fictional!george’s love for his matty was so wonderful (if not heart wrenching) to read. I saw you respond to a few asks about it the other day & that you were telling people not to get too excited about what you had written - but i just want you to know that once again you have undersold yourself and your portrayal of fictional matty & george, and that this one shot was so lovely!!!!

,💌💌💌

Ah! Hello Dear 💌 Anon! I hope you are doing well!

Thank you so much for reading! I'm so glad you enjoyed a little Tuesday update- I have been missing them as well and hope to make them more of a thing again soon (maybe...)

I had such a clear image of this scene in my head, and I then got very in my head about it not translating to the page the way I wanted it too (isn't anxiety the best!) but I'm so happy that I was able to finish it and post it, and am completely over joyed to hear that people out there enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading and for your kind words - I know I keep saying it, but it really does mean a lot that there are nice people out there who are enjoying my work.

I hope you have a fantastic rest of your night and I hope you continue to enjoy what I post! Thank you again for this ask and for reading!

❤️Ally

[mocha-tapioca]

So his name is Hayen from What it Means to be You... he deserves therapy with the rest of the cast tbh

The ml winter was raised to make money by his adoptive parents so basically the only way he knows how to make people happy is to Make Money And Buy Things. And he wasn't taught any etiquette and is from a discriminated ethnic minority in the country so he thinks he's garbage and then decides to pay the country's entire debt after becoming really rich and marrying their princess to earn a title (then the prince demolishes the royal family.and is like oh rip no title for you sir winter...

And then the princess is smart intelligent kind and just wants to be loved.... winter entrusted her to his parents but the parents basically stole everything he gave her and abused her for years while winter was extremely oblivious and far too trusting of his parents (he's very very hard to change and does successfully in the course of 140 chapters)

ITS A HORRIBLE CASE OF THE ML HAVING THE WORST POSSIBLE SELF ESTEEM AND A KIND SMART PRINCESS WHO JUST WANTS LOVE

He definitely starts out with the "she's a princess and has never had any financial problems, so I can never understand her since I was just a kid who was abandoned on the streets by my mother so obviously I will never understand her and she never would enjoy being with me since I am so different to everyone else and just garbage to her holy presence." And any concern she has in the beginning is just ignored and left to her parents in law

It's def a very heavy story (if you're up to it pls pls pls read) and also slowburn and very realistic of how people change very slowly and undoing things they've "known" for a long time, bad communication going for years eventually gets somewhere, whether for the better or the worse

Anyways Hayen is winter's like right hand man and he does everything one day he escapes to violets house and cries while drinking about how winter has neglected the company due to bad mental health (like bad. Bad mental health) and he is the one who does both of their work and he's overworked and he just wants a break

Though I was very happy to hear that winter fixed Hayen's problems... hayen's parents are gambling addicts and demand money from hayen every month and hayen doesn't want to pay them the insane amounts of money they are demanding .. so winter puts them in jail iirc

Anywho. It's a frustrating manhwa. Although the novel does a lot more justice to understanding winter (not that he's excused, but that he is also a victim by the parents)

Anyways. :) I'm very normal

im intrigued but also i feel like they all need group therapy

[bumblewarden]

Novhen and OC Codex 10. a description of your OC by someone who hates them 🥧

cw: fantasy racism

A decrypted letter found among Bann Esmerelle's possessions after her death. My dear friend and cousin,

I empathize with your plight entirely. The Queen was all too quick to forget that vulgar rat's crimes the moment it favored her to do so, but I will always remember what he did.

He killed my sweet Jonaley in cold blood. He killed Arl Urien and his only child. He was with the Wardens when they delivered our kin and countrymen and good King Cailan to the darkspawn at Ostagar. Then, as if he needed to prove his disloyalty further, he killed Arl Howe. If we had any sense, we would have hanged this murderer the moment he stepped foot into the Landsmeet Chamber. Instead, he was allowed to command the floor.

You should have seen the way that viper twisted the truth and drew upstanding members of the nobility to his side as if they did not understand his crimes. They Grey Wardens wanted to feel important again, and they acquiesced him every step of the way.

The idea should not be dismissed that he may have a blood mage in his employ swaying the minds of his betters. I cannot otherwise imagine what possessed Her Highness to name this depraved elf our hero in her father's place even after he sanctioned his execution before her own eyes and all present at the Landsmeet. This elf's tongue corrupts the minds of all around him. It deserves to be torn out.

If he were, against all odds, telling the truth when he accused Loghain of permitting slavers in Denerim's alienage, it is a great shame he was not able to arrive there sooner, preferably without the backing of his Order.

The Grey Wardens have too long been a haven for thieves and murderers like him. We were foolish to ever let them back into Ferelden, and with the Blight over, there is no reason to allow them to stay and desecrate Amaranthine. Whatever support you need, I am at your disposal.

Yours, Bann Lorena

[Ask Game]