In 2025, I wrote a post called “alternative game fantasy: a manifesto“. It was my best attempt at expressing dissatisfaction with the six cultures of play, specifically because I feel left out of the cultures described. Since then, I have written many more posts, played and reviewed many more games, and had a singularly enlightening … the lost manifesto: optimizer culture
During college, I used to attend weekly board game nights with some friends. Sentinels of the Multiverse was a repeat favorite: a cooperative, fixed-deck card game. The game is easy enough to play while drunk, but it also has enough depth that a room full of nerds can sink their teeth into tactical optimization. Sentinel … disassembling sentinel comics
We started preparing for our GURPS mini campaign about two months ago. Myself and several other intrepid explorers from the Paper Cult forums have been running a variety of our unplayed games in an effort to “Meet The RPG”. GURPS was chosen to be the latest subject of our ttrpg book club. I had played … looking for the fingerprints on GURPS
I need to be less of a tourist when it comes to Japanese roleplaying games. I exist downstream from decades of culture and art that exists in conversation with itself, and I thoroughly enjoy the byproduct — whether that’s anime influences or modern games. However, it becomes embarrassing to have such enthusiasm for this genre … final fantasy tactics could have been a ttrpg
As part of an organized effort on the Paper Cult forums, I have been playing a variety of games in short 3-session campaigns to “Meet The RPG“. It’s kindof like a book club, but for games. Our first game of 2026 was Beam Saber, a Forged in the Dark mecha game by Avalyn Ramsay. I’ve … beam saber campaign report
In late 2024, I was hanging out in Farmer Gadda’s discord server, talking about tabletop rpgs (as was custom at the time). He mentioned that he had published 28 blog posts that year, and would like to try writing one a week in 2025. As someone with a disastrous amount of hubris, I thought to … 2025: how it’s going
I was born in the USA, but my parents moved overseas when I was four. Outside of a very brief stint in an international school, the vast majority of my pre-university education was homeschool. When I was around 13, this meant attending an online school. We used an ancient pre-Skype conferencing software called GatherPlace to … 2009: how it started
I like superhero comics. As a trans woman, I feel a particular affinity with the X-Men’s mutant metaphor. I had a few random comic books as a kid but I began a serious collection during 2020; as the pandemic began, visiting the local comic shop was an excuse to leave the house once a week. … breathtaking comics: a holiday playtest
Have you ever thought to yourself: “I wish my fantasy campaign had a deckbuilding minigame like Triple Triad, Gwent, or Pazaak“? Would you like something more mechanically involved than doing an opposed luck check but not something that would completely derail the session? I have these thoughts. I have these demons — the minigame demons … crystal clash: a deckbuilding minigame
I hang out with a lot of OSR folks. It’s where I’ve found community, and it’s where I perceive the most discussion happening in the ttrpg space. The blogging culture is thriving and it feels like people are talking with each other rather than posting to an audience. Unfortunately, despite the excellent work Elmcat is … anti-blorb principles
