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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · 9h

Long live Nobilis, the Werewolf: the Apocalypse with the raised-claw-mark cover, first ed Unknown Armies, the Italian edition of 1001 Nights, and of course Yazeba's for being BOOK TTRPGs where the book itself will change your life.

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 10h

"A thing that I'm really thinking about is the holistic quality of the game. This is a game that, even if you don't ever actually get a group together to play it, it enriches your life and it provides you with meaning and you can sit down with it and engage with it."

Interview: Jay Dragon on Bookplay

An interview with Jay Dragon about how ttrpgs play with books

www.backwardstabletop.com

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 10h

"A thing that I'm really thinking about is the holistic quality of the game. This is a game that, even if you don't ever actually get a group together to play it, it enriches your life and it provides you with meaning and you can sit down with it and engage with it."

Interview: Jay Dragon on Bookplay

An interview with Jay Dragon about how ttrpgs play with books

www.backwardstabletop.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Grace Gittel Lewis @incaseofgrace.bsky.social · 15h

LOOK AT MY CHILDREN I SPENT SO MUCH TIME REDESIGNING THIS WEBBED SITE

Also need to note-- there's an RSS feed you can follow to stay up to date! apra.incaseofgrace.com/apra.xml

Don't like RSS but don't want to miss an article? Follow my newsletter! incaseofgrace.beehiiv.com

#icog

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 18h

SPINE wouldn't be what it is without Holly's art. Some pieces even have puzzles hidden within them.

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 8d

SPINE has several contributors who have helped make it special. The book features beautiful block prints by Holly Freiberg.

Featuring hand-carved prints by Holly Freiberg. Image: A linocut print of a bleed heart and an inkwell.

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 23h

A twisted sitter!

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Clayton @explorersdesign.bsky.social · 1d

Alright, the first in-depth article of my awards debrief is live. "How do the Ennies work?" A top-down look at my judging experience from A to Z.

Please share, leave comments, and ask questions. And don't forget to read part 1 if you haven't already.

www.explorersdesign.com/ennies-2/

How do the Ennies work?

An insider's look into the 2025 Ennie Awards. Part two. What is the award process like behind closed doors, and how do the judges select nominees?

www.explorersdesign.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Adam STATION @adamstation.bsky.social · 1d

heya reviewers, interviewers, actual players ... hit me up if you want to cover An Infinity of Ships!

72stations.com/products/an-...

An Infinity of Ships

An Infinity of Ships is an expansive toolkit for creating truly unique spaceships for your sci-fi tabletop roleplaying games. Featuring dozens of ships illustrated by Rob Turpin (aka thisnorthernboy) ...

72stations.com

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

Happy birthday!!

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

Part of my writing process for SPINE was to write exploratory essays and conduct interviews on ideas that informed the project.

The first interview in this series is with @jdragsky.bsky.social on playing with books, what ttrpgs can learn from fiction, and being a “slut for physical books”!

Jay Dragon on Bookplay

An interview with Jay Dragon about how ttrpgs play with books

www.backwardstabletop.com

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

There are multiple clocks at the back for you!

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

Part of my writing process for SPINE was to write exploratory essays and conduct interviews on ideas that informed the project.

The first interview in this series is with @jdragsky.bsky.social on playing with books, what ttrpgs can learn from fiction, and being a “slut for physical books”!

Jay Dragon on Bookplay

An interview with Jay Dragon about how ttrpgs play with books

www.backwardstabletop.com

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, randomizer or resolution tool is a good one! Page flips akin to dice and playing cards.

But I think when it's used as an oracle, some of that may get into anchor territory?

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! I really appreciate it, and I'm excited for you to get your hands on a copy!

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

SPINE’s clock started as the Hangman game, whose gallows are a clock for the grisly word game. But it has an unsavory past.

Instead of gallows, an empty portrait is your clock. You slowly appear in the book as you're absorbed by it. And every tick of the clock is a chance to depict your character.

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 8d

Some prompts instruct you to advance your clock at the back of the book. This clock is your portrait, and the further you are absorbed into the book, the closer your portrait approaches completion.

As you're absorbed in the book, advance your clock. Image: A clock that resembles a portrait. Inside, you draw your face as you are absorbed by the book.

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 1d

From my interview with The Lone Toad: "We underestimate how playful the act of reading is, tabletop RPGs or no. When we read detective fiction, we’re playing. We try to solve the mystery before the detective does. We scrutinize the text for clues. We do something similar with RPG books."

Croaker RPGs @croaker-rpgs.bsky.social · 3d

Get lost in a book with SPINE, a solo RPG artifact game where the book is the game! It’s a pretty cool concept and an idea this frog loved from @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social!

Check it out!
croakerrpgs.substack.com/p/spine-a-so...
#solorpgs

SPINE - A solo RPG about getting lost in a book

or Siderius Plug’s Immortality in Ninety-nine Endnotes:

croakerrpgs.substack.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Geek Native @geeknative.bsky.social · 3d

In the new solo RPG SPINE, reading a book could cost you your life. Learn more about this unique 'game-as-a-book' from Backwards Tabletop. www.geeknative.com/2...

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

PVincent (Table Cat Games) @tablecatgames.com · 1d

This November I'm launching a small campaign to fund Heart of Glass: A mini campaign featuring a compelling mystery for Street Wolves with a system agnostic option. Plus there's audio logs to play during the adventure!

Follow on Backerkit!

www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

Get Ready for Heart of Glass: A Street Wolves Mystery

From Table Cat Games - Get Ready for Heart of Glass: A Street Wolves Mystery

www.backerkit.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Sam Leigh @goblinmixtape.bsky.social · 1d

If Absurdia hits its stretch goal, I'll be one of the guest writers!

If you like surreal horror and absurdist fiction, this isn't one to miss. I've been following this project for a couple years now!

Quinn Majeski 👁️ Absurdia crowdfunding now! @quinnmajeski.bsky.social · 1d

Absurdia Update: meet the guest writers!

I’m beyond excited to announce Elliot Davis, Irving Benitez, Kendrick Smith, and Samantha Leigh as our stretch goal guest writers!

At $25k, this wickedly talented cabal will put together a kaleidoscope of ready to play one shot scenarios for Absurdia 👁️

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 2d

This week in the bathtub it’s Manic in the Monastery! Is this module all highs or all lows? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/06/b... #osr

Bathtub Review: Manic at the Monastery

Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique a wide range of modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module de…

idlecartulary.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Night of the Living Comus @riseupcomus.bsky.social · 2d

Spells are living demons. Everybody knows that. But you know how vampires have to count grains of rice that you drop? Spells have to read. That's why you trap them in books. The writing on parchment is a labyrinth the spells are walking, trapped, until you're ready for them.

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 2d

SPINE was inspired by Nabokov’s Pale Fire, which pushes the reader to play with words and from which I’ve borrowed endnotes as a mechanic.

When you play, I hope that SPINE insists upon your playing with words and hunting for secrets, although the game’s unspoken rules may signal you not to.

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 8d

SPINE is a ttrpg about losing yourself in a book. It insists upon playing with words and hunting down secret messages, although unspoken rules recommend against it.

In its endnotes and playful insistence on language, it is also loosely inspired by one of my favorite books: Nabokov’s Pale Fire.

Play with words. Hunt for secrets. Image: A copy of Pale Fire over a spread from SPINE. The spread includes a cipher from the text.

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 2d

SPINE is a solo ttrpg about language & interpretation, and @naladraws.com played an essential role in one chapter, creating the facsimile of a burned poetry manuscript.

This section is inspired by the playful reading experience of Sappho’s fragments & The Waste Land: Facsimile and Transcript

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 8d

SPINE’s incredible prop design was done by none other than Nala J. Wu of @naladraws.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

RP @rpdeshaies.farirpgs.com · 2d

Send me DMs if you want to playtest it

RP @rpdeshaies.farirpgs.com · 2d

I've got over 50 playtesters for Voidlight and started receiving amazing feedback this weekend.

Also started getting requests for making third party content for the game, so of course I started working on a logo

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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 2d

SPINE is a solo ttrpg about language & interpretation, and @naladraws.com played an essential role in one chapter, creating the facsimile of a burned poetry manuscript.

This section is inspired by the playful reading experience of Sappho’s fragments & The Waste Land: Facsimile and Transcript

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 8d

SPINE’s incredible prop design was done by none other than Nala J. Wu of @naladraws.com

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Reposted by Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 2d

I am so delighted by this. And I love to see the wear and tear on that booklet.

May Sam escape with their spine intact.

Sam Leigh @goblinmixtape.bsky.social · 2d

The power went out at the apartment so I'm finishing my playthrough of Spine by @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social by candlelight

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