Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Siddhartha Mitter

@siddharthamitter.bsky.social

David Velasco in @equatormag.bsky.social

www.equator.org/articles/how...

How Gaza Broke the Art World • EQUATOR

The former editor of Artforum, fired in the wake of 7 October, reckons with two years of division, fear and silence

www.equator.org

December 23, 2025 at 2:33 AM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Kaid Brenen Sacander

@arkhadtoa24601.bsky.social

Happy New Year!
I'm trying to stay focused on getting #SHELL-ttrpg ready for release, but both @rpdeshaies.farirpgs.com and @dubdubpub.itch.io started up game jams that I'm super excited to submit supplements for. See below:
Nightsong Season 1: itch.io/jam/nightson...
MG2e Jam: itch.io/jam/mg2e-jam

January 1, 2026 at 4:48 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Clayton

@explorersdesign.bsky.social

Listen, I get it.

You're about to see "The Bloggies" all over your feed and it's going to get real old real quick. That's why you can mute it on BlueSky and bookmark the official page.

I made it so you can still participate without losing your mind.
Submissions are officially open til Jan 31st.

The Bloggies 2026

A yearly celebration of blogging in tabletop roleplaying games.

www.explorersdesign.com

January 1, 2026 at 3:34 PM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

And the MONSTER GUTS 2e game jam is live! Check it out here: itch.io/jam/mg2e-jam

MONSTER GUTS 2e Jam

A game jam from 2026-01-01 to 2026-03-01 hosted by Wheels Within Wheels Publishing. To celebrate the release of MONSTER GUTS 2e , I am hosting a game jam! This jam is for you to make anything you want...

itch.io

January 2, 2026 at 1:28 AM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Avery Alder, Buried Without Ceremony

@lackingceremony.bsky.social

Did you know that I released a new game this year? Going For Broke is a fast-paced, party roleplaying game that tells sitcom stories about a collective house that's scrambling to pay rent. It's cheap, easy to teach, and takes less than an hour to play. Check it out!

buriedwithoutceremony.com/gfb

Going For Broke - Buried Without Ceremony

Going For Broke is a fast-paced sitcom roleplaying game about a collective house scrambling to get enough money together. Choose one of twelve house members, pick an episode, and dive right in.

buriedwithoutceremony.com

December 31, 2025 at 7:46 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Aaron Hammond

@aaronhammond88.bsky.social

Also the swing back to old tech is just plain practical; much of it works better than what we have now! Why put playlists on your phone and worry about space when you can get an iPod and load it up with 20,000 songs, and listen to them for free?

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 2d

I used to think that smartphones and streaming were a mistake because giving people the illusion of access to everything all of the time would break us irreparably, but this & returns to iPods, DVDs, records, etc prove that people just want to be people, not 24/7 consumers and marketing targets.

December 30, 2025 at 10:38 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Rob Donoghue

@rdonoghue.bsky.social

ANYWAY

You should watch the video. It’s good. It’s the sort of thing I wish we had more of. If you agree, maybe toss a few bucks into @aavoigt.bsky.social ’s hat - making this stuff is hard work, and I for one am very grateful that he did it.

Aaron Voigt @aavoigt.bsky.social · 3d

My End of Year video is on the "Golden Age of Indie RPGs," from roughly 2010 to 2025. I start with Apocalypse World's release, work through the Google+ Era, and follow design lineages and historical events that have impacted the hobby up through 2025.

The Golden Age of Indie RPGs: 2010-2025

YouTube video by A.A. Voigt

youtu.be

December 30, 2025 at 2:59 AM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

jess

@jessfrom.online

still figuring out if insurance will cover it, but in the meantime it'd mean the world if you'd consider:

1. picking up my latest game "The Vatican Stole the Menorah and We're Going to Steal Back": jumpgategames.itch.io/tvstmawgtsib
2. or a 20% bundle of all my other games: itch.io/s/176257/jum...

Jumpgate Games Winter Sale 2025 by Jess Levine | Jumpgate Games

A bundle by Jess Levine | Jumpgate Games, $25.00 for 4 games

itch.io

December 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Freyja Valentine, Girl IRL Cat URL

@freyjavalentine.bsky.social

*people who primarily play a game that once rewarded XP for every gold piece you looted* "I think incentive structures are bad and possibly demonic actually"

December 30, 2025 at 7:34 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Aaron Voigt

@aavoigt.bsky.social

My End of Year video is on the "Golden Age of Indie RPGs," from roughly 2010 to 2025. I start with Apocalypse World's release, work through the Google+ Era, and follow design lineages and historical events that have impacted the hobby up through 2025.

The Golden Age of Indie RPGs: 2010-2025

YouTube video by A.A. Voigt

youtu.be

December 29, 2025 at 5:07 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

michiums 🔜 katsucon, eccc 2026 💫

@michiums.bsky.social

this really was a absolutely abysmal rough year but I finished my thesis + got my masters after 8 years and scrapped by till the end .

we’ll see what I’ll make next year ! thanks for your support + kindness and hope you like more comics from me

#artvsartist #artvsartist2025

collage of a variety of art from michiums including their masters thesis which was a interactive installation and a variety of art and merch

December 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

MONSTER GUTS 2e is now finished! If you missed the crowdfund campaign, you can pick up your (digital) copy here! dubdubpub.itch.io/monster-guts...
#MG2e #MONSTERGUTS2e #ttrpg #indie-ttrpgs

MONSTER GUTS 2e by Wheels Within Wheels Publishing

Action-focused TTRPG inspired by monster hunting videogames

dubdubpub.itch.io

December 24, 2025 at 11:28 PM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

The final MG2e playtest has concluded. I'm now starting the final edit pass, which is the last step before the book is ready for digital release! I can't wait to get into y'all's hands. #MG2e #MonsterGuts2e #indiettrpg

December 21, 2025 at 8:36 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Chris Bratt

@chrisbratt.bsky.social

Thanks to everyone who's chipped in so far. This is so heartening to see!

As a reminder, if we cross $25,000, PMG is going to donate $5000 at the start of January.

A screenshot of the fundraiser we're running on our latest video with a combined total of $5332 donations having been received.

December 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

playtests are going well
Player just used the War Bugle to light someone on fire while also putting them to sleep. When asked how they did this, they just said "it's like stacking all the warm blankies"

Can't wait for y'all to play it. #MG2e #MONSTERGUTS2e #ttrpg

December 18, 2025 at 3:11 AM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Derek Yu

@mossmouth.bsky.social

Keep thinking about this term "pre-digested" that Kojima used to describe art that's instantly gratifying. And how it's better when people grow to love something instead.

I've gravitated, as player and designer, toward the latter, but that term "pre-digested" is new and feels very strong.

And he said, "If everyone likes it, it means it's mainstream. It means it's conventional. It means it's already pre-digested for people to like it. And I don't want that. I want people to end up liking things they didn't like when they first encountered it, because that's where you really end up loving something."

December 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

💥Alex.W💪🏾💥

@jokeb0i.bsky.social

anyway…. i’m gonna be thinking about Hbomberguy’s Letterboxed review of Tank Girl forever maybe, I can’t believe we both had the exact same tank girl experience at 17, fun, transgressive art for little grungy punk teens is the best (though I also realized how deeply I was attracted to women)

Watched 17 June 2010
Whenever Tank Girl somehow managed to poke itself into a conversation in high school, someone would always feel forced to mention the movie was bad. The person saying this had, invariably, never seen it.
They knew it was bad, though. Like an ancestral memory, they knew instinctively the film which came out when they were 2 had sucked. Maybe a parent had seen it, or an uncle. Or they'd been on thatguywiththeglasses.com and seen that man with those glasses shriek that it was bad, while pretending to fire a plastic gun at the screen.
I always thought 'that's weird. normally people have seen the movie before they say these things.'

One day when I was 17 and I was up late with insomnia yet again, I watched it.
My belief in the human spirit was
permanently altered, for better and worse.
Tank Girl is amazing! It was fun! It was exactly the sort of thing a teenager my age and mindset needed to see in that exact moment. It was, dare I say, completely perfect, for that night in 2010. The idea someone could make a movie like that in 1995, that those people walked among us, brought me no end of joy. You're not alone.
Your people are out there. We're going to be okay.

Except...that means you spend every day knowing people will lie to your face, and they don't even know it. They don't even watch the things they talk about. They just play word-games with half-remembered rotten tomatoes scores and metacritic summaries. They IMAGINE an opinion at you. And if people can be so obviously wrong about this, how can you trust them to have such certain opinions about economic systems, global conflicts, or medicine? A great maw opens in the Earth and threatens to swallow you whole. It was so easy before, to assume the people around you were generally right. Now you don't know. You don't even know if you can trust yourself any more. How many things did I really form an opinion about, by myself? You have to start from scratch, watch everything, read everything, think about everything.
That night, my life started.

Was I radicalized by a movie where a girl fucks a talking kangaroo? Oh, I'm sorry, was there a more convenient movie to be radicalized by? Bicycle Thieves? Well, they steal a Tank, in this one, and that's better, in my opinion.
Tank Girl remains a testament to the untrustworthiness of the human animal, but also to what we can achieve if we try. It is a total certainty that someone who has seen Tank Girl has blown up an oil pipeline, and I think that's a beautiful thing.

December 17, 2025 at 9:08 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Rebekah Valentine

@duckvalentine.bsky.social

the good news is that the media attention and support from an audience has helped Horses do well enough that Santa Ragione has been able to pay all its owed royalties and loans. so it's not in debt.

the bad news is it's still not enough to keep the studio together.
www.ign.com/articles/hor...

Horses Sells Over 18k Copies, Pays Back Loans and Royalties Despite Removal From Steam and Epic - IGN

Horses, the indie horror game that was banned from both Steam and the Epic Games Store ahead of its launch two weeks ago, has nonetheless managed to sell over 18,000 copies, says publisher Santa Ragio...

www.ign.com

December 17, 2025 at 9:09 PM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

I've been pretty quiet the last few months regarding MONSTER GUTS 2e, but I'm thrilled to announce that the game is almost finished. I'm expecting to release the PDFs sometime next week. #MG2e #MONSTERGUTS2e

www.backerkit.com/c/projects/w...

MONSTER GUTS Second Edition Project Update: Locking Orders Friday, 12/19

Hello Scavengers! My nose has been to the grindstone these past couple of months, but your wait is almost over. Everything has been put into layout, and there are now two th...

www.backerkit.com

December 17, 2025 at 4:47 AM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

popping on to say that the new D2 expansion had great gameplay, but oof the story was rough.

When are Zavala, Ikora, and the Drifter going to act like themselves? They've been acting out of character all year.

December 15, 2025 at 8:11 PM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

The REAL MAGFest Paul

@paulsrockinbluesky.bsky.social

here's a reminder that discord has adopted a new arbitration policy, which means you have under 30 days to opt out of it

Opt-out. You can decline this Agreement to Arbitrate-and no other provision of these terms-by emailing an opt-out notice to arbitration-opt-out@discord.com within 30 days of September 29, 2025 or when you first register your Discord account, whichever is later; otherwise, you shall be bound to arbitrate Disputes in accordance with the terms of these paragraphs. If you opt out of the Agreement to Arbitrate, Discord also will not be bound by it and there shall be no arbitration agreement existing between you and Discord, whether under these or prior arbitration provisions. If you opt out of the Agreement to Arbitrate, you may exercise your right to a trial by jury or judge, as permitted by applicable law, but any prior existing agreement to arbitrate Disputes will not apply to claims not yet filed. If you opt out of the Agreement to Arbitrate, you will not be opting out of any other provision of these terms and you agree to be bound by all other provisions of these terms, which shall remain in effect as allowable by law

October 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM

Reposted by Danielle Osterman

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

@theradr.bsky.social

Yeah ok I’ve seen and love this one too I admit. It’s not .. as useful.. but still.

(Need one with like Kiki smith etc in there too)

July 13, 2025 at 6:54 PM

Danielle Osterman

@dubdubpub.itch.io

I'm a long-time Destiny enjoyer, but I've had a few issues with the high-level narrative of this year's Episodic stories. I put my thoughts together here: youtu.be/H6RBb-6woy0
#Destiny2