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Rascal News
@rascal.news
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Independent, Worker-Owned TTRPG Journalism | Subscribe to us at rascal.news
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Reposted by Rascal News
crapstacular.bsky.social
Here's a longer report for Rascal on DriveThruRPG's new shipping program for physical books, and how several folks in the tabletop industry see it as a bad deal for them altogether
rascal.news Rascal News @rascal.news · 17h
DriveThruRPG's new Partner Shipping Program has drawn criticism from several corners of the tabletop industry, with professionals calling it "a half solution" and an “outright a bad deal”.
DriveThruRPG’s offset print option proves unpopular among small creators
Many cite the steep revenue cut without fulfillment support as a key issue.
www.rascal.news
November 26, 2025 at 2:24 AM
rascal.news
Themed crowdfunding months provide creative ways to bring together associated tabletop creators and raise consistent money.

But as the trend spreads, the calendar is beginning to feel mighty crowded.
Every day cannot be a holiday
Much to month about.
www.rascal.news
November 25, 2025 at 5:44 PM
rascal.news
DriveThruRPG's new Partner Shipping Program has drawn criticism from several corners of the tabletop industry, with professionals calling it "a half solution" and an “outright a bad deal”.
DriveThruRPG’s offset print option proves unpopular among small creators
Many cite the steep revenue cut without fulfillment support as a key issue.
www.rascal.news
November 25, 2025 at 3:14 PM
rascal.news
MÖRK BORG: Heresy Supreme's alpha demo not only nails the aesthetics of its source material but also introduces a satisfying roguelike loop, says @crapstacular.bsky.social.
MÖRK BORG: Heresy Supreme’s alpha demo plays like a gnarly doom metal roguelike
Expect sludgy, punishing fights.
www.rascal.news
November 24, 2025 at 3:18 PM
rascal.news
"It's arguably most productive to view public action against an oppressive force specifically as a game — not as a trifle, but as a series of moves with an end state."

Contributor @therisingtithes.bsky.social connects RPG prep with the increasingly vital labor of public protest.
What does Session Zero of a protest look like?
Games as rehearsal for the streets.
www.rascal.news
November 21, 2025 at 3:36 PM
rascal.news
PODCAST: Chase and Thomas recommend a heap of games and grind a heap of axes on the latest epsisode of the Rascal Radio Hour.

One of the two has been *gasp* playing an elfgame!
Bring out your soapboxes
Allegedly playing elfgames.
www.rascal.news
November 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM
rascal.news
Eskil "ZomZraft" Sandblom, the 2025 Netrunner world champion, mixes humility with a wicked competitive streak. Also, he's only been competiting since last year.
Netrunner’s new world champion is a humble but deadly newcomer
From choom to champ.
www.rascal.news
November 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM
rascal.news
The US wasn't the only country to pin an entire moral panic on tabletop RPGs. We spoke with players in Brazil and Spain about their own bookbound boogeymen.
The Other Satanic Panics
How RPGs become scapegoats for murders across the world.
www.rascal.news
November 18, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Rascal News
newmadras.bsky.social
excerpts from the latest discourse newsletter from rascal
Powered by the Apocalypse: A lot of people don't like these games and I think I know why: the name sucks. It sounds cool but it doesn't mean anything. I understand that phrases like "Powered by GURPS" existed before but those make sense. You can't be powered by an apocalypse, I'm sorry, you just can't. Also, it's a four-letter acronym, that's just clunky. There are maybe two good four-letter acronyms: lmao and yolo. That's it. This original disaster also led to further branding abominations down the road. Forged in the Dark? Again, it sounds cool but I've heard people pronounce the acronym as "fit-dee" and I think we can all agree that's a criminal charge at least. These games should be called something that makes sense. I obviously have the perfect idea and have published it on the website but only for the subscribers who pay us a million dollars. All of them agreed it was Very Good and Smart. Fiction-first: Okay, who did this? Ignore the crossbow I'm holding in my hand, I just want to talk. I had to do one million push-ups and meditate under a waterfall before I figured out what this meant. It's not a literal phrase. It's more like a friend saying "girl, you've got to put yourself first" or an airline announcement that says "zone one passengers will board first". None of this is literally true. It's more a state of mind. When a game is described as fiction-first, it means that you need to prioritize a healthier relationship with your sense of self-worth but business class passengers are still more important than you. Storygame: The last time I talked about this, a portal through time opened and I became my own grandmother so we'll ignore this one for now. Player Skill: This is easy. Any time anyone ever says this, they mean "I'm very good at games". The only correct response is "I too am very good at games" and to tip your hat. If you don't have a hat, I'm sorry, you'll just have to hold your tongue. Please procure a hat as soon as you are able. Metagaming: There are two kinds of meaning to this word. The first, and simpler one, is "cheating". If you're fighting a monster named Donut Dan in a fantasy game and you look up Donut Dan's weaknesses in the book secretly, some people don't like that. But is it my fault that Donut Dan evokes complicated feelings in my heart? Is it wrong that my fingers linger on the page where its stat block is laid out? Is it cheating if I only look at it from afar? Only honest and open communication with your table can answer that. Which is actually the second, and more complicated, meaning of a metagaming. See what I did there? That's Player Skill.
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
rascal.news
In the first of what will likely be a series of blogs, @lincodega.com unpacks how @samsorensen.bsky.social's month-long realtime Mothership larp/megagame #over/under ended for their character, High Gardener Otso, and also, for themselves.
How to find an ending in Over/Under
After a month of emergent story, scheming, and bleed, it all ended with a gardener and a clown.
www.rascal.news
November 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Rascal News
morkborg.com
"Japanese characters tend to have more curves, which often gives them a softer impression. ... We wanted something with the aggression of a spiked flail."

And that's exactly what we got.
Read more in this interview with @montro.bsky.social about localizing MÖRK BORG to Japanese.
rascal.news Rascal News @rascal.news · 12d
An interview with @montro.bsky.social, who led the Japanese-language localization of MÖRK BORG by @nohr.se and Stockholm Kartell, talking about all the the ways you can push design to translate graphically and grammatically.
Localizing MÖRK BORG required a deft hand and a dedication to the details
An interview with Malstrom’s Montro on translation, new fonts, and how to create an aesthetic.
www.rascal.news
November 14, 2025 at 9:27 AM
rascal.news
Reshare: Content creation isn't an easy gig, especially when people keep asking you to review their indie game, according to The Dice Tower.

www.rascal.news/tom-vasel-wa...
Tom Vasel wants indie designers to stop guilt tripping him
Directives from an ivory dice tower.
www.rascal.news
November 14, 2025 at 9:17 AM
rascal.news
An interview with @montro.bsky.social, who led the Japanese-language localization of MÖRK BORG by @nohr.se and Stockholm Kartell, talking about all the the ways you can push design to translate graphically and grammatically.
Localizing MÖRK BORG required a deft hand and a dedication to the details
An interview with Malstrom’s Montro on translation, new fonts, and how to create an aesthetic.
www.rascal.news
November 13, 2025 at 7:32 PM
rascal.news
Reshare: "Something is wrong with the world, and everyone knows what it is.” The third edition of one of the most influential modern indie games threatens to be even more relevant.

www.rascal.news/apocalypse-w...
Apocalypse World: Burned Over is kinder and much angrier
The end of the world isn’t what it used to be. It might be better.
www.rascal.news
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
rascal.news
Reshare: Rascal shares an excerpt from Shannon Appelcline's new book about a D&D adventure that was recalled and buried in a landfill — for mysterious reasons.

www.rascal.news/palace-of-th...
Palace of the Silver Princess: How TSR Recalled and Buried A D&D Adventure
An excerpt from Designers & Dragons: Origins
www.rascal.news
November 13, 2025 at 2:01 PM
rascal.news
Workers with @kickstarterunited.org end their six-week strike victorious, enshrining 4-day work weeks and salary floors while also adding protections against gen AI replacing human labor.
Kickstarter United ends six-week strike with a resounding victory
Workers secure a 4-day work week, minimum salary floor, and protection against AI.
www.rascal.news
November 13, 2025 at 10:47 AM
rascal.news
Reshare: Thomas shares how despite never enjoying a Belonging outside Belonging game before, Harvest became his Game of the Year. It's a combination of its lush prose, rock-solid structure, and bloody folk horror.

www.rascal.news/i-was-sacrif...
I was sacrificed for the land and all I got was this essay
On Luke Jordan’s Harvest, a masterpiece of folk horror
www.rascal.news
November 13, 2025 at 9:17 AM
rascal.news
Reshare: "Plenty of solo RPGs currently sit, half-started and mostly forgotten, but I’ve only finished one: MIRU, by Hinokodo. And I owe its mental stickiness to some damn good graphic design. "

www.rascal.news/i-killed-god...
I killed God with the power of good graphic design
MIRU’s information layout saved it from disuse at my own hands.
www.rascal.news
November 12, 2025 at 5:49 PM
rascal.news
The Picts were always more than their blue-painted, bloodthirsty depictions. Carved in Stone, a new setting guide from @stoutstoat.co.uk and archaeologist Heather Christie, invites players to explore their incomplete but beautiful history.
Carved in Stone is both a history book and an eye-catching RPG
Publisher Brian Tyrrell and archeologist Heather Christie paint a pretty Pict-ure.
www.rascal.news
November 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
rascal.news
Reshare: Khee Hoon Chan talks to some of the people involved with shepherding the medium of jubensha to the US and beyond.

www.rascal.news/jubensha-is-...
Jubensha is going international
On capturing its cultural intricacies for a western audience.
www.rascal.news
November 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
rascal.news
Reshare: Beyond the Pale deals with a complex situation around land, people, and persecution that's handled with enough care to render it both simple enough to understand and complex enough to give pause. Like the parables that inspired it.

www.rascal.news/beyond-the-p...
Beyond the Pale is a fantastic moral adventure
Fantastic as in great and also as in magical.
www.rascal.news
November 12, 2025 at 9:17 AM
rascal.news
Reshare: "We have a lot of post-wargames and not very many anti-wargames."

www.rascal.news/games-arent-...
Games aren’t too violent — they don’t make us think about violence enough
Would an anti-wargame have less war or more?
www.rascal.news
November 11, 2025 at 5:45 PM
rascal.news
Big books you can't use at the table are out, slipcases are in.
Industry giant Games Workshop proves Caelyn was right
It’s not really news when it’s a universal constant.
www.rascal.news
November 11, 2025 at 5:02 PM
rascal.news
Good news for anyone with likes Warcradle Studios and Games Workshop alums. Bad news for anyone who wants virulent transphobes out of their hobby!
Warcradle Studios returns to Firestorm Armada — this time, with Robin Cruddace and Richard Morgan
The good, the bad, and the transphobic.
www.rascal.news
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
rascal.news
Reshare: Zephyr is a labor of love, bursting with full-spread illustrations by Federico Sohns. As per their estimate, Sohns would've spent potentially a thousand hours just on the art for the book.

www.rascal.news/zephyrs-swee...
Zephyr’s sweeping art brings an alien world to life
How Federico Sohns went from learning to paint to illustrating a whole book.
www.rascal.news
November 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM