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Rascal News •

Former World of Game Design Employees Claim Tabletop Company Exploits Workers and Clients

“He's either incompetent, or he is intentionally deceiving people. And I think it's a little of both.”

In late August, game designer Ian Yusem posted a thread on Twitter alleging that World of Game Design was “unlawfully selling” his books, owed him thousands of dollars in unpaid consignment sales, and had failed to return his leftover inventory. Rascal reached out for more information, and within hours Yusem had responded to provide more context. Hours later, another message landed in our inbo...
Rascal News •

Red hats, red blood: roleplaying the January 6 insurrection in a Brooklyn warehouse

In the center of a repurposed Brooklyn warehouse loomed a scale model of the U.S. Capitol, as imposing a symbol of empire as the real building a couple hundred miles to the south. Surrounding it stood a line of blue-uniformed miniatures — police, meant to protect the election certification going on inside. Just beyond them, an ocean of red and white, miniatures of men and women holding flags that proclaimed that the time for revolution had come; the time to make America great again was here at l...
Rascal News •

Hurricane Helene’s Impact on Tabletop

In the last two weeks, a pair of catastrophic storms have made landfall in the southeastern United States. Helene and Milton, Category 4 and 5 hurricanes respectively, have caused immense amounts of damage across Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas; both from their direct impact and the subsequent infrastructure destruction of these climate change-induced catastrophes. While Rascal is a publication about games, it is also a publication about people who love them—their lives,...
Polygon •

The alien board game people are spending months translating

For many people, reading the rules to complicated board games can already feel like reading an alien language. City of Six Moons takes that one step further. A game about the development of an alien civilization, the rulebook itself (which was “discovered by” Amabel Holland) is written entirely in symbols and icons. You, the player, will need to decipher the rules before you can even get to play — though, in Holland’s eyes, the translation is part of the game itself. City of Six Moons was in...
Rascal News •

The path to becoming better

Outside a bar at Gen Con, between screeching bursts of a nearby train, I follow the winding trail of conversation with the mononymous Rah Rah, and Feral Moonbeam, their partner both in art and life. Adorned in flower crowns and flowing garments, the duo look like a renaissance painting of a fairy tale set to a Fleetwood Mac album. These ethereal beings are the creative minds behind The Heart Is A Dungeon, a production house that makes actual plays and audio dramas “focused on loss, healing, mour...
Rascal News •

Titan Takedown taught me to love professional wrestling

Titan Takedown, the most recent season of Dimension 20, brought together an inevitable pairing — professional wrestling and actual play.

“There is an obvious dotted line between people at the apex of performance arts that lend themselves to larger-than-life performance,” said Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan in a press roundtable with Rascal. Much like Dimension 20's previous crossover season Dungeons & Drag Queens featured well-known drag queens, this limited-run season featured real life wres...
Rascal News •

Canadian tabletop will not be bullied by Trump regime

“How does it feel to be a Canadian right now?” I asked game designer Seb Pines on the floor of the Toronto-based Breakout Con. It was a question I found myself asking over and over again, each time with a touch of American shame.

“It's a little stressful, not gonna lie.”

Pines co-founded Good Luck Press with American designer and editor Will Jobst, making the international element of their company inherent to its success. “Impending things like tariffs mean that having a lot of business in the...
Polygon •

Board game dev says Facebook rejected ads for game about the Supreme Court

Facebook is banning ads for a game based on the history of the United States… again. Ads for the Kickstarter campaign of Fort Circle Games’ First Monday in October — a board game by Talia Rosen about the history of the United States Supreme Court — have been rejected by Facebook, according to an article by BoardGameWire. Fort Circle had allocated roughly $25,000 on Meta advertising, estimating that amount would convert to $100,000 in Kickstarter contributions from Facebook ads alone. As of this...
Rascal News •

826NYC's secret superpower is tabletop gaming

Hidden away on Park Slope’s 5th Avenue is a storefront that seems innocuous at first glance, save for the bold signage that reads “826NYC’s Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. & Youth Writing Center”. Through the glass display, the shop’s interior looks just like any other kitschy themed stationary boutique in the New York City borough. But looks are deceptive: this building secretly houses a nonprofit afterschool literacy program — specifically, a course where students learn creative writing by playi...
Polygon •

Tabletop creators leave X for Bluesky in droves

In the wake of the US Election, tabletop creators and fans are leaving the Elon Musk-owned X for alternatives like Bluesky. While alternatives like Thread and Mastodon have also seen growth during this social media exodus, Bluesky’s unique combination of content curation tools, moderation protocols, and general ease of use have provided an opportunity for tabletop creators to rebuild communities that align with their ethics and goals. The micro-blogging site X, formerly known as Twitter, was...
Polygon •

As public perception of AI sours, crowdfunding platforms scramble

As the use of generative artificial intelligence in tabletop proliferates, there appears to be a rapidly growing divide between consumers and creators regarding its ethical implementation. Simultaneously, there are key differences between how the three major crowdfunding platforms — specifically BackerKit, Gamefound, and Kickstarter — treat the technology. A recent project, a card game called Draconis 8, presents a curious example of how the hot-button issue is being handled.  Wise Wizard Gam...
Polygon •

Trump’s promised tariffs on China could damage board game and TTRPG publishers

In the wake of the U.S. election, president-elect Donald Trump’s promised tariffs have sent a wave of panic through the tabletop industry. The proposed tariffs were a fixture on Trump’s campaign trail. These taxes on goods imported from other countries could include a universal increase of up to 20% on all foreign goods, with targeted increases of 60-100% on goods imported from China — a significant manufacturing location for tabletop game books, miniatures, and other goods, like dice. Though th...
Rascal News •

Rascal receives solicitation from suspicious email after Tabletop union declares potential strike

On October 28, Tabletop Worker’s United, which represents employees at five of the largest board game cafes in New York City, announced their intention to strike if an agreement is not met soon. In the days following this announcement, a Rascal reporter was solicited by someone called Mark Smith, asking for a $500 donation to a hardship fund—however, a spokesperson for the union stated that there is no Union member named Mark Smith and the associated email, patriotsmith1969@gmail.com, is not on...
Rascal News •

Rolling a Nat 20 will not save the American Project

Fifteen days before the US presidential election, Epic Immersives hosted the second installment of the Adventurers for Harris fundraiser one-shots. The first, held in September, raised over $65,000 for the Harris campaign. In partnership with the tabletop media studio Good Time Society, actual players such as Aabriya Iyengar, Becca Scott, and Anjali Bhimani; alongside film actors  Sean Astin, Matthew Lillard, and Bex Taylor-Klaus raised funds for the Harris-Walz campaign by inviting viewers to v...
Rascal News •

If a tree falls in the wood, does it matter if it makes a sound?

Driving through the New England countryside as the first leaves turn red, the soundtrack of an angry, suburban adolescence plays through my car’s half-broken stereo. Voices in the Wood, an actual play of the solo TTRPG Void 1680 AM, sounds just like any other radio show. Host Lil Harry plays a mix of indie, punk, hip-hop, and folk from 28 different artists. Between songs, callers talk to Harry about their problems, their fears, their loneliness. He offers advice if he can, or a distraction if he...
Rascal News •

The immersive horror of grief

Dark Dice, a horror-fantasy D&D actual play podcast, has long been the gold standard of high-production, narrative-focused actual play. When I sat down for an interview with Travis Vengroff about Dark Dice’s guiding philosophy and their recent projects (which include the campaign setting Unnatural Horrors and a full orchestral soundtrack), there was a sense of incongruence between the show and its producer. The thoughtful, kind-eyed, soft-spoken man sitting on the other side of the screen is not...
Rascal News •

Never Stop Blowing Up asks what it means to be a man

In the balcony of a crowded nightclub, Wendell Morris and Liv Skyler feel the muscles of their new bodies. Magically transported into the world of Never Stop Blowing Up, they have transformed from awkward teenage video store clerks into paragons of masculine power—Wendell a street racer and Liv a drug kingpin—with physiques that command the fear and respect of those around them. Standing by the door is their bodyguard, Doug Meat, confused. When the two turn their attention to him, feeling his mu...
Rascal News •

Playing games during an attempted assassination

“Where were you when Trump almost got assassinated?” is likely a question that will be asked for the rest of my life. And my answer will always be: at the Twenty Sided Store’s launch party for Elliot Davis’ Rom Com Drama Bomb. In twenty years, I’ll probably be recounting this story over drinks in an underground queer social club, so I might as well get it down while it’s still fresh in my mind.

Lately, I’ve been trying to find any reason to celebrate. In the face of our current climate, both po...
Rascal News •

But I don’t have any money: Actual Play and Porn

The cyclical comparison has returned: actual play is to tabletop as porn is to sex. The basis of the metaphor usually starts and ends on one primary philosophical pillar: actual play and porn are both unrealistic performances of an intimate experience. In some ways, this is true. The two mediums certainly share a lot in terms of form, performance, and audience desire for ever-elusive “authenticity.” A number of cross-pollinations have occurred between them from the early (and, for many reasons,...
Rascal News •

Can anyone make a living in tabletop and actual play?

As tabletop gaming and actual play continues its evolution from niche folk art into a rapidly expanding financial sector, the distinctions between the professional tabletop industry and its related, amorphous hobbyist community become more difficult to parse. “We are perpetually talking in circles around ideas of professionalization and what the [TTRPG] industry is,” said Dr. Emily Friedman on a call with Rascal. “And we don't, generally speaking, have a lot of data to back that up.”

To better...
Rascal News •

itch.io is the collective organizing platform we have, but is it the one we need?

In October of 2023, amidst a new wave of asymmetric conflict between the Israeli government and the people of Palestine, Esther Wallace began organizing the Games for Gaza fundraiser on digital games marketplace itch.io. What occurred over the following months revealed fundamental problems in itch.io as a platform and the ecosystem of charity organizing itself.

itch.io, founded in 2013, has doubled as the hosting platform in recent years for a growing movement of philanthropic fundraising: game...
Rascal News •

The Crooked Roots and Tangled Blessings of Cassi Mothwin

“So it started when I was an emo goth in middle school,” said award winning game designer, writer, illustrator, reviewer, and actual play performer Cassi Mothwin. “Actually, I'm still an emo goth. I'm just not in middle school anymore.”

A vein of quiet, unsettling horror can be traced through Mothwin’s work from Tangled Blessings—a dark academia twist on the magical boarding school genre—through her most recent game, Carved By The Garden, a solo journaling game documenting a character’s final d...
Rascal News •

Even for Dimension 20, Ticketmaster’s Dynamic Pricing model is shrouded in secrecy

When Live Nation is the only game in town, what is an anti-capitalist to do?

Update: After publication of this article, Dropout released a statement regarding this situation on April 14th. According to Dropout's statement, which was released on Twitter, Instagram, and their Discord server, "Dynamic Pricing/Platinum Tickets, had not been something explained to [Dropout], nor something presented as something we had the ability to opt out of."

In the statement, Dropout has taken two actions to ad...
Rascal News •

COVID has changed TTRPGs, have we changed with it?

“The lockdown forced many of us to play TTRPGs online whether we wanted to or not,” said scholar Stefan Huddleston when I DM’d him on Twitter about the impact of COVID-19 on TTRPGs. “That alone changed the face of the hobby.”

Among any number of apocalyptic events, this month marks the four year anniversary of the initial quarantine period of the (ongoing) COVID pandemic. While the impacts of the disease continue to be vast and horrific, those months were a boon for mainstreaming fringe activit...
Rascal News •

GUDIYA: The horrors of being Bluebeard's latest plaything

In Rascal’s first foray into indie actual play criticism, I feel compelled to start with Nameless Domain’s GUDIYA. The Best of the Best at the 2023 New Jersey Webfest, GUDIYA is a work I’ve referenced in nearly every conversation I’ve had about the future of AP. While I have spoken at length to the cast and crew of GUDIYA about their intentions behind the two-hour long psychedelic horror (one shot… feature…special? The language of this medium is still developing and solidifying), I still find ne...
Rascal News •

D&D's short-lived LatAm Ambassador Program

In late February, Wizards of the Coast announced they would stop production of all Portuguese language products—effectively cutting off legal distribution of Dungeons & Dragons (and Magic: The Gathering) to Brazil, one of the largest tabletop markets. However, this is only the most recent development in a nearly three year long descent for Dungeons & Dragons’ presence as a trusted brand in South America.

Last year Argentinian tabletop journalist Federico Müller (who writes for the Latin America...
Rascal News •

The secret nerdy lives of your favorite trans power couple

Sitting down to speak with Montana State Representative, Zooey Zephyr and renowned journalist Erin Reed, I had never been more nervous for an interview. These two women are pillars of the queer community, a trans politician/journalist power couple who have shaped what modern trans activism looks on the ground and online. And I’m here to talk to them about, of all things, Dungeons & Dragons.

If you’ve been following the onslaught of anti-trans legislation happening in the United States over the...
Autostraddle •

"Carol & The End of the World" Teaches Us How to Survive the Apocalypse

This essay contains mild spoilers for Carol & The End of the World
Carol & The End of the World is an apocalyptic workplace dramedy that asks a single existential question: “Was it worth it?”
The Netflix Animated Limited Series takes place in an alternate reality, where the world is ending not due to the threat of climate crisis or global fascism, but because the planet Keppler 9C is set to crash into the Earth seven months from the first episode. Through the entire series, the cosmic horror han...
Autostraddle •

Queer Dungeons and Dragons: Exploring Gender In TTRPGs

Feature image and all other queer Dungeons and Dragons art from the 10th edition of the Player’s Handbook.

When you hear the words Dungeons and Dragons, who immediately comes to mind?
D&D, for those who have never played before, is a tabletop roleplaying game. To give the simplest description of how the game operates: Players assume the identity of a fictional character and make improvised choices based on their character’s background and disposition. The success or failure of their choices is...
Polygon •

Hollywood is going to come for D&D actual plays sooner or later — will they survive?

There are some significant barriers to entry in many forms of actual play that any major studio production seeking to enter the mainstream would have to overcome: the improvisational narrative, the audience time commitment, and the community dynamic. Still, as Hollywood seeks new ways to engage media-saturated audiences, its inevitable embrace of actual play will transform a version of the primarily low-budget, creative-driven medium. It’s too soon to tell whether that transformation will hel...
Polygon •

Dimension 20’s Mentopolis is a dark, dystopian take on Inside Out

Mentopolis, the latest season of actual play from Dimension 20, is a heady (pun intended), trope-fueled noir. The show’s 19th season invites us to explore an entire city housed within the mind of one man, Dr. Elias Hodge, a lonely pharmaceutical researcher who realizes the work he’s been doing is unethical. Having long had doubts about the morality of his research, Hodge follows his conscience and impulsively steals an important file. The fallout from this act of rebellion causes a violent chain...
Polygon •

Dimension 20’s Dungeons and Drag Queens is a cultural reset for queer nerds

Dungeons and Drag Queens is a gift to nerds and the LGBTQ+ community — one that brings both groups closer together. The latest season of Dimension 20 — its 18th — is anything but a gimmicky celebrity Dungeons & Dragons stream. In true Dimension 20 fashion, everyone at the table commits to the story they’re telling together (even if they don’t quite know the rules yet). What results is a perfect showcase of the Dropout ethos, the art of drag, and the magic of playing your first tabletop role-p...
Autostraddle •

Four Femmes on the Celebrations and Expectations of Being A Trans Woman In Comedy

In my roughly two years doing stand-up, I’ve discovered being trans femme impacts the way I get to exist both on and off stage as a comedian. Everything about my comedy is influenced (and often limited) by transness. My stage persona, the type of material I get to perform, and where I get to tell it. I’ve had to adjust to audiences’ expectations of what it means to be a trans woman, rather than my own sense of who I am outside the gender binary.
The more I performed, the blurrier that line betwe...
Autostraddle •

Comedians On How Their Transness Has Influenced Their Careers

For most of my life, comedy has been a coping mechanism, not a career path. Even before I questioned my gender, I’d been told I was too sensitive for stand-up, that it wasn’t for people like me — until I stumbled into an open mic in 2021 and saw a queer comedian perform for the first time. When I got the courage to do standup that July, I’d only been out as trans for a year. I had no sense of who I was, let alone what kind of comedian I wanted to be.
In March of 2022, a clip I posted went viral....
Tripsitter •

An ADHD Conspiracy: Why Your Vyvanse May Not Be Working - Tripsitter

The stimulant shortage started in August. Now people are claiming their ADHD medication  —  most frequently Vyvanse  —  is no longer working. We investigated and found something interesting…Months ago, people   —  including one author of this article  —  started noticing their ADHD medication was no longer working. Noticing others on platforms like TikTok, Twitter, and Reddit, we decided to dig deeper. 


*Note: Since last compiling the statistics on this page, we have been blown away by the re...

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Rascal News

Preparing for Public Health Disasters With Tabletop Games

In April 2025, professor John Bultena of the University of California Merced hosted a large-scale tabletop exercise, in collaboration with public health student Niove Aragon. Advertised as a “public health wargame,” UC Merced students took on the roles of stakeholder organizations across the university and simulated a campus-wide effort to combat an outbreak of foodborne illness. Drawing inspiration from The Expanse RPG and People Make Games’ documentary on government wargames, Bultena and Arago...
Rascal News

Play, Politics, and Protest in Argentina's Tabletop Industry

The early February sun is scorching on Buenos Aires’ Avenida 9 de Julio. It’s hot, and the crowd of protestors is heated too. Weeks before, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and his allies labeled those who “defend gender ideology” as pedophiles, threatening to shut down Hospital Bonaparte, a mental health facility that provides hormone replacement treatment for many trans people in Buenos Aires. In response, an emergency assembly of LGBTQ+ groups held in one of Buenos Aires’ biggest parks call...
Rascal News

What We Can Learn From D&D’s Sexist History

In 2020, I found out that Gary Gygax was a biological determinist. He believed that women didn’t have the right brain function to enjoy playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). I also found out that Johnathan Tweet, lead designer of D&D 3.5, thought that LARPing appealed more to women than D&D ever could because it was more about “personalities, relationships, clothing, and make-up.” His 2020 response to the backlash also left a lot to be desired.

As a woman who had been DMing a campaign with all-wome...
Rascal News

Good Bones: Haunted Houses in Recent Indie Roleplaying Games

Historically, if you were lucky, you beefed it in the comfort of your own living room (or cabin or tent or cave). But especially in the context of European and American media, haunted houses have evolved into an iconic trope—down to their creaky hinges and mysteriously-fluttering curtains—which indie RPGs are happy to play with. It makes sense; a dungeon is simply a haunted house pre-horrific backstory—but recent designers have gone beyond the traditional staples of haunted house legends and add...
Rascal News

We need to talk about the wave of new games from Italy

In the last four years, games from Italy have racked up more than 20 nominations at the Ennie Awards across all categories. For Product of the Year, arguably the most prestigious category, there was Brancalonia in 2021, Fabula Ultima, Household and Broken Tales in 2023, and Outgunned and Not the End in 2024. That’s 6 games in 4 years spread out across 5 different publishers. Historically, RPGs have flowed one way: from the USA to everywhere else. What’s changed?

Since 1966, the Lucca Comics and...
Rascal News

Scrying on Iran's Tabletop Scene

My story is a common one. I was a gamer captivated by Matt Mercer’s performance in my favorite game. Soon after, I fell into the rabbit hole of Critical Role and Dungeons & Dragons. Where my story differs is more geographic: I live in Iran.

Living under an oppressive government, heavy internet censorship, and limited access to books and products from outside the country didn’t mesh well with a new D&D enthusiast wanting to get into the hobby. I remember vividly the protests of the Bloody Novemb...

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