Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rascal News @rascal.news · 14h

Reshare: Rascal News sat down with Peter Adkison to learn what it was like to be in the room where history happened.

www.rascal.news/the-man-who-...

The Man Who Bought And Sold D&D

Peter Adkison on the ups and downs of running Wizards of the Coast in the ‘90s.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 18h

Reshare: "This “Dungeon Card Learning Pack” is what allowed me as an eleven year-old to learn what the fuck a roleplaying game actually was, and how to play D&D."

www.rascal.news/i-review-eve...

I review every TSR D&D Starter Set from the ‘90s

There were seven of them! Seven!

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 22h

Reshare: Even as TSR and D&D’s early periods receive the gold-standard treatment, there’s much more to the hobby than one game and one company. But are those histories actually important? What is at stake if we forget them?

www.rascal.news/we-cant-let-...

We can’t let the market decide what we remember and forget

Emily Friedman and Evan Torner on why gaming histories matter.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 1d

itch.io is more like Wikipedia than Steam

www.rascal.news/itch-io-isnt...

Itch.io isn’t like other platforms

It’s like a 3.5 star Chinese restaurant.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 1d

One hundred games is a heck of a lot of games to play, or even to own, but it's a staggering number to write, even if they're only a single page long. Chase chats to Grant Howitt, designer of Honey Heist and many other one page games, about the game jam he's running to celebrate the milestone.

One hundred one-page RPGs later, Grant Howitt isn’t ready to quit

Don’t you dare call it a legacy.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 1d

Reshare: This new set of RPG histories from Shannon Appelcline and Evil Hat seems like it'll be a treasure trove of facts and fun stories for fans of the first few decades of D&D.

www.rascal.news/shannon-appe...

Shannon Appelcline returns with a product-by-product history of the first decades of D&D

Designers & Dragons: Origins promises to be another essential reference.

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Thomas M, Full-time Rascal @newmadras.bsky.social · 2d

It was a real pleasure to chat with @shannonappelcline.bsky.social about his upcoming new set of books.

"Appelcline: I was delighted to write about the original edition of Palace of the Silver Princess. This is one of the most legendary products ever published by TSR because the first edition of it was destroyed. They printed it, they gave out copies to the people at TSR, they got some out to distributors, and then — this is all hearsay, but that's part of what made it exciting, trying to figure out what happened — management, apparently, got a look at it and said, oh, this is terrible, we can't send it out. They went around, they collected the copies from everyone at TSR, they tried to get whatever copies that they'd sent out back. And then they had one person in charge of bringing them out to the landfill and watch as they were bulldozed under, so that no one else got copies of them."

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 1d

“Management knows that the four-day, 32-hour work week that we’ve had for the past three and a half years is the right move,” said Dannel Jurado, Kickstarter United member.

www.rascal.news/kickstarter-...

Kickstarter United strikes in New York City for fairer contract

The workers were joined on day one by elected officials and various union leaders.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 1d

“Management knows that the four-day, 32-hour work week that we’ve had for the past three and a half years is the right move,” said Dannel Jurado, Kickstarter United member.

www.rascal.news/kickstarter-...

Kickstarter United strikes in New York City for fairer contract

The workers were joined on day one by elected officials and various union leaders.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 2d

A mammoth sequel to the Designers & Dragons set of RPG histories, this new book from Shannon Appelcline and Evil Hat seems like it'll be a treasure trove of facts for fans of the first few decades of D&D.

Shannon Appelcline returns with a product-by-product history of the first decades of D&D

Designers & Dragons: Origins promises to be another essential reference.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 3d

Day one of @kickstarterunited.org's ongoing strike saw elected officials and union leaders show up in the streets of NYC to support workers.

Kickstarter United strikes in New York City for fairer contract

The workers were joined on day one by elected officials and various union leaders.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 3d

Hot on the heels of GAMA's expansive plans, John Stacy announces his departure at the end of 2025. The trade organization has yet to name an interim executive director.

GAMA’s John Stacy is stepping down as executive director

Sudden end to 7-year tenure follows the trade org’s big plans.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 4d

What do technofeudalism, Chinese restaurants, and struggling game platform itch.io have in common? @newmadras.bsky.social has some thoughts, especially about the "platform" part.

Itch.io isn’t like other platforms

It’s like a 3.5 star Chinese restaurant.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 4d

PODCAST: Tighten that half-Windsor and double-check the spreadsheets: it's serious business on the latest episode of the Rascal Radio Hour.

Nah, just kidding. It's degenerate stuff like information design, oracles, and Thomas' One Piece fandom.

Trickle-down Gamenomics

Draft dodgers in the console wars.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 4d

What do technofeudalism, Chinese restaurants, and struggling game platform itch.io have in common? @newmadras.bsky.social has some thoughts, especially about the "platform" part.

Itch.io isn’t like other platforms

It’s like a 3.5 star Chinese restaurant.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 8d

GAMA wants to better represent tabletop's global reality, but its announced ten-year plan might not touch international designers and professionals for another 3-5 years.

The name has barely changed; will the trade organization follow suit?

GAMA has been rebranded as, er… GAMA

What’s in a name?

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 8d

GAMA's new (and first ever) COO is part of a larger restructure that the trade organization hopes will position it as a leading voice for a more global tabletop industry.

We asked executive director John Stacy for specifics.

GAMA appoints the trade organization’s first COO amid larger restructure

How this affects the changing face and capabilities of GAMA.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 9d

Wizards of the Coast Studios Inc. is a bland name for a new digital outfit that could prove crucial for the publisher's many video game projects.

Wizards of the Coast expands video game capacity with new Montréal-based studio

No announced games as Hasbro positions second Canadian outfit to play support.

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Chase Taylor-Carter @chasecarter.bsky.social · 10d

Worth pointing out that Kickstarter United is NOT currently calling for a public boycott of Kickstarter's platform.

The work strike encompasses 59 "community support specialists, trust and safety analysts, marketing professionals, software engineers, and other tech workers" under the old contract.

Rascal News @rascal.news · 10d

Unionized workers with @kickstarterunited.org are poised to strike if the crowdfunding platform's management doesn't approve their new contract.

The union has demanded a four-day workweek, minimum living wage salaries, and protections against generative AI encroachment.

Kickstarter United workers will strike beginning October 2

Demands include enshrining the four-day, 32-hour work week in their contract.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 10d

Kickstarter United didn't explain beyond a general work strike for community support, marketing, and software engineers.

Importantly, @kickstarterunited.org's webpage is NOT calling for a boycott at this moment:
kickstarterunited.org

Kickstarter United

kickstarterunited.org

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 10d

Unionized workers with @kickstarterunited.org are poised to strike if the crowdfunding platform's management doesn't approve their new contract.

The union has demanded a four-day workweek, minimum living wage salaries, and protections against generative AI encroachment.

Kickstarter United workers will strike beginning October 2

Demands include enshrining the four-day, 32-hour work week in their contract.

www.rascal.news

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Reposted by Rascal News

Thomas M, Full-time Rascal @newmadras.bsky.social · 12d

In a couple days, it'll be one year of joining Rascal. I'm grateful that I get to do this job. Which is part of why I work so hard at it. Because it's a tough job when I do it well because I'm trying to tell the stories of real people and I don't want to mess that up.

Thanks for reading, folks.

Rascal News @rascal.news · 12d

Shadowrun is a unique phenomenon in the world of games. It's not the biggest game, but almost everyone’s heard of it — though what they’ve heard might not be complimentary. What's the story there? Why does it have the reputation it does?

Why do people love to hate Shadowrun?

A long-form exploration of corporations, cyberpunk, and elves.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 12d

Shadowrun is a unique phenomenon in the world of games. It's not the biggest game, but almost everyone’s heard of it — though what they’ve heard might not be complimentary. What's the story there? Why does it have the reputation it does?

Why do people love to hate Shadowrun?

A long-form exploration of corporations, cyberpunk, and elves.

www.rascal.news

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 15d

Thomas sits down with Laura Lang to talk about Forgotten Roots of the Sewer Sanctuary, the value of redundancy in information design, and role of playtesting.

Laura Lang brings user-experience design to craft an adventure for new players

More like "use your experience", am I right?

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 17d

Designers are waiting weeks, and in some cases months, for payouts from itch as sympathy for the indie game platform's mounting problems wears thin.

Game designers are experiencing persistent payout issues from itch.io

The indie platform’s payout delays are a symptom of a bigger issue.

www.rascal.news

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