Listen to the latest talkback episode in your podcast player of choice! As announced a couple weeks ago, I’m hosting a new podcast, Rascal Reading Club. The first season is all about GMing advice and to kick off, we read the _Warden’s Operations Manual_ by Tuesday Knight Games. It turned out to be an excellent start. We found ourselves discussing everything from game design to human psychology to writing to kitchen table politics. Here are some excerpts from the main episode: ### **Scenario Design** > “ _Warden's Operation Manual_ seems to have a very good and very specific vision for the default adventure of a _Mothership_ game. There's a great line in just this first spread… For ‘choose a starting scenario’, there's a line that says for your first session, “you should throw your players into a bad situation and then make it worse”. That's a good line. And isn't that line like a really good summary for the best first-party _Mothership_ adventures? > Start with economic horror. Start with people being exploited. Start with powerful factions exploiting people, and then add a fucked up alien thing, right? That is the formula for A Pound of Flesh almost exactly, right? It is not the formula for most of the third-party adventure stuff, which again, feels a bit more like video game level design. And that's not a criticism. Video game level designs are cool, but they are different.” ### **Advice On Running Games** > “It's important to say that there are some memorable and important pieces of advice in there, but it never feels thorough or particularly exhaustive. It feels a little rushed sometimes. I think there's no way out of that. There is always going to be a problem with advice, which is the problem between knowledge and wisdom… It's an incredibly pretentious thing to say, but one way to think about it is that like, I can know something, right? I can “know” that combat should not be the default problem solving mode and shouldn’t be the default obstacle I construct. But for me to internalize that… that's when knowledge becomes wisdom, right? And it's you can't just say it to me. Maybe that's a problem a book can't solve.” ### **Underdesigned Mechanics** > “And then comes the advice where I start to ask the question, if you need to give this advice, have you underdesigned your game, right? I use this language for a reason. It's technical. I'm using it because I think it's less judgmental and represents more accurately what I mean…You get this line that says, “Whenever players roll the dice, the chances are good that they will fail more often than they succeed. This means it's important for you not to think of rolling as a binary pass and fail system. > Now I am not thrilled with the idea that you design a game that looks exactly like a binary pass and fail system — d100 against a target number — and say it's vital that you don't think of it as a binary pass and fail system.” * * * Then, because it’s a book club, we ended the episode with a series of discussion questions directed at listeners: ### **Discussion Questions** 1. Do you have thoughts about the _Warden's Operations Manual_? Do you have a favorite part that I didn't mention? 2. Do you think that the _Mothership_ GM guide should have more advice about running pre-written adventures? If so, is there something you would cut from the existing manual to keep it to 60 pages? 3. Do you think there is a line where advice becomes so critical to the vision of play that it should be incorporated into the rules design at some point? What do you think about my statement that the core mechanic of the game is "underdesigned"? 4. Are there _Mothership_ adventure that plays with horror that feels "real" but isn't economic horror? More gendered or racialized horror, maybe? 5. If the rules of _Mothership_ point towards one question, is it "are you dead yet"? * * * Today, we released the accompanying talkback episode. This is the cool part of the whole project — otherwise it’s me sitting in a room talking to myself, that’s not new — where people wrote in with responses and I got to talk back. We see a range of responses: people agreeing, disagreeing, finding stuff I didn’t see, telling me about stuff I didn’t know. It’s pretty great. It led to some thoughts and ideas that tumbled out rough in the moment but I am excited to polish into a shine in the future. Here’s an excerpt of that: > **Coffee Elemental** : This is a tricky one. I come to this experience from a lot of PbtA game experience, some of which was really good and some of which was really bad. (This gets relevant in a moment, I promise.) I think that I agree that the rule about rolls is underdesigned, but I disagree on that being a bad thing - I actually think the rule may be underdesigned on purpose. The way the book sets things up (as my only frame, please keep in mind), I almost feel like they set the game up assuming that you would quickly build up a layer of house rules for partial successes, compromises, etc. rather than ever try to run the game entirely Rules-As-Written (hence: RAW). > I want to compare this to, say, _Dungeon World_. In theory, the rules in _Dungeon World_ have a really clear rubric for success, partial success, or failure, but because the game is vaguely _D &D_-adjacent folks I've had run it at my table seem to drown in punitive punishments for partial success. I have come to attribute that to a lack of good guidance on what fair tradeoffs are for a botched role, and I think _WOM_ does a much better job of that because it seems they were expecting you to develop some house-ruled arbitration on the subject. In fact, I'd go as far as saying the level of fuzziness in the roll resolution may do a better job of setting expectations for being more house rules-y in how you handle things - or at least, that's what it encouraged me to take away. > **Thomas:** This is a really cool subject… I do agree a hundred percent that _Mothership_ thinks of house rules as important and expects you to develop those. But it is sort of murky. For me, saying that one system encourages house ruling, whereas _Dungeon World_ maybe does not encourage it, but is prone to misinterpretation / misalignment of expectations…What is the difference between those two things? Misinterpreting _Dungeon World_ is the same as house ruling _Mothership_ , right? What I mean is that a house rule is not necessarily a good rule. A house rule can end up in say, punitive punishments for partial success, right? > When we talk about house rules, we talk about the ideal method as the GM going, _okay, that's a good question, how about we handle it like this?_ And the players go, _yeah, that works for me_. And maybe Dungeon World in its sort of rulesiness, when the players do something and the GM goes, _okay, I rule that this happens_ , it's not called a house rule, right? Maybe it skips past an explicit check-in with the players about how we want the game to go? Maybe that is the thing we're pointing at? If there is a distinction between interpreting a rules game and house ruling of a fuzzy game, then it's a question of how much buy-in the GM needs explicitly. That's my reading of it. > And truth be told that itself is like such a fuzzy concept because I'm sure a lot of people houseruling fuzzy games are not getting buy-in. And I'm sure a lot of people running very rules-y games are getting explicit buy-in on their interpretations of it. * * * If you're a member of _Rascal_ ’s Party Member tier, you can nominate a book and decide what we discuss next in the series. If you'd like to participate in the discussion, stay tuned for the next episode due to release around the 27th of February.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ Newcomer game designer Carina Büker has come up with an fresh take on investigative TTRPGs in her game _Monstrous Detectives_ (currently _crowdfunding on Kickstarter_ for Zine Month). You are _monsters who are running a private detective agency together. Can you solve your newest case and help your client?_ First, the game invites players to choose a tone somewhere between _Monsters Inc._ and _Hellboy_ , as they sketch out the type of monsters they want to play, the kind of city they want to set their game in, and the fundamental relationship between monsters and humans in their setting. After that, _Monstrous Detectives_ is just asking questions. Literally. Cover of Monstrous Detectives next to a spread with the "Our monster team" tables (illustrations: Daniela Schreiter) Using _Descended from the Queen_ 's framework of randomly drawn questions (by way of a standard deck of playing cards and related random tables) players answer, the first phase of the game focuses on character creation and worldbuilding. Here you may encounter questions like: > _Which monster from your team still owes you a favor? How come?_ > _Can you trust your client? How can you tell?_ > _Which of your monster characteristics do you expect to be particularly helpful during this case?_ * * * Once the monsters and their agency have taken shape, and the new case has been outlined, the second phase begins as the game moves into the action of the investigation. However, the mechanics don't change—players are still randomly drawing questions and making up their answers, creating the story as they go along. Here you may encounter questions like: > _A clue leads you to an abandoned building. What do you find there?_ > _Someone is lying to you. How can you tell, and how do you react?_ > _One of your monster characteristics creates a problem during the investigation. How do you deal with that?_ Mock-up spread showing the "Obstacles" table (illustration: Daniela Schreiter) While _Monstrous Detectives_ still gives players all the elements of a classic investigation story—clues, locations, minor characters, and obstacles—it doesn’t offer any kind of pre-set plot or solution. Sounds like the _Carved from Brindlewood_ framework, whose core mechanic of having players create their own solution to a mystery instead of figuring out a pre-determined solution was first introduced by Oli Jeffery in "Apocalypse by Moonlight" (in _Codex: Moonlight_ , 2018)? Yes, but _Monstrous Detectives_ takes this idea even further and basically expands the “Theorize” move from these types of games to the whole second phase of the game. And that's where the genius of its design lies: Players don't just make up the solution based on their individual combination of a set of pre-written suspects, locations, and clues—they make it _all_ up as they go along. As they take turns progressing the course of the investigation and building on each other’s answers, the narrative of the case naturally emerges as everyone contributes to it. Players also retain their narrative agency until the very end: There's no fickle dice roll to decide whether their theory is correct—it is correct because they’ve said it is. They may even choose to fail at solving the case because that’s the better story. Carina Büker’s deceptively simple design allows players to focus on telling their very own detective story together, while the random selection of the question draws still introduces plenty of twists and surprises to keep it feeling like a game. * * * _Monstrous Detectives_ is currently _crowdfunding on Kickstarter_ (funding is already secured, but there are still some stretch goals to be unlocked). It will be published as an A5-sized zine and a screenreader-ready PDF in both English (translation: Andrea Rick) and German, with illustrations by Daniela Schreiter aka Fuchskind. Its Berlin-based TTRPG publisher Plotbunny Games has previously put out original games _Viva la QueerBar_ (Indie Groundbreaker Award 2024), _Against the Monster_ , and _Catcrawl_ as well as the official German translations of _Dream Askew/Dream Apart_ , _Follow_ , and _Paranormal Inc._ Support "Monstrous Detectives" on Kickstarter! ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit to, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ > _Mecha stride upon the battlefields of history, carrying out their pilots’ will and changing the world. > > **You are one of them.**_ With cover art by JJ Ariosa! Originally written as part of the 2023 PocketQuest game jam over on DriveThruRPG, Tales from the Cockpit is a Lost & Found game about a giant robot, its many pilots, and the passage of time. Getting to a playable state over the course of the jam, Tales has since been refined, gotten more options to choose from, and picked a fight with layout demons: as a result, it is currently part of ZineTopia on BackerKit, trying to fund a full print run! After choosing some details about your Mecha, you'll pick your first Pilot - while you are the machine, this is the character who guides you into battle and the history books, changing you through your mutual experiences. You'll be prompted to provide some details about them, and then you'll pick an event that occurred during your time together. Some of them will be good, some of them will be bad, but all of them will ask you questions about what happened and how it affected you. Eventually, that first Pilot will stop piloting you - you get to detail the why and the how of it - and you remain behind, alone. The player will then Rest by picking an option for how much time passes between Pilots in-game, setting a real-world timer, and closing their eyes, putting them in the space of the world moving around them without being able to act on it. At first the lengths of time, in and out of game, will be relatively short. As the game progresses, however, the time between Pilots will increase and your options for Resting will also involve events. Some will be what happens to you the Mecha as time passes, and others will be about the world changing around you. Once the Rest is resolved, you pick another Pilot, and repeat the cycle. War, peace, revolution, etc. The game proceeds through three Acts, with two pilots each featuring in Acts I and II and the end of Act III being triggered by how long you have Rested so far. Once that threshold has been reached the next Pilot will be your last, and the last options you choose will determine your final resting place and the end of your Tale. Like many Lost & Found games, that doesn't necessarily have to be the end. After all, you've just told the story of your giant robot and left it behind, so perhaps a player character in another game might stumble upon it... The campaign's funding goal of $400 has already been reached, which means that all backers are going to be getting their game(s) and a print run will be sent off to convention booth and game/book store shelves! However, the degree of the campaign's success has outstripped the limits of the print run, as it can only be so big. So, since we're here funding giant robot games anyways the campaign has added a stretch goal: funding a print run for The Cog That Remains. > _You are the chief mechanic. It is your job to repair, maintain, and maybe even upgrade a Mecha in-between missions. In doing so, you keep the Mecha in the fight. In doing so, you keep the Pilot alive._ > **_At least, that’s the goal._** The third part in an increasingly unplanned trilogy of (mostly) solo mecha TTRPGs, and the younger sibling to Tales! The Cog That Remains is a Wretched & Alone game of a mecha mechanic and their (probably doomed) efforts to keep their machine intact and its pilot alive. A tumbling block tower represents your mecha and what shape it is in. A deck of cards will help to determine what's happening in the story and what you'll have to deal with, with each suit covering one aspect of the challenges you're facing: the mecha itself, its pilot, the military that are nominally your allies, and the enemy that are trying to shoot your machine down. With a lot of luck and a few tricks you might just see the end of the war, but the odds aren't good - if the tower comes down or something else breaks the wrong way your machine will be destroyed and the pilot slain, and you'll be left to pick up the pieces. With friends like these, who needs to get blasted by a beam rifle? With the PDF version of The Cog That Remains already an add-on, if the campaign reaches its new, one, and only stretch goal then every backer at every pledge level will receive a coupon for a print-on-demand softcover copy (which will put the total for a PDF+PoD bundle at the same cost as the PDF+Print option for Tales). A PDF+Print add-on for The Cog That Remains will also be added, for those who don't want an extra step. Two mecha games that offer a different perspective on the genre, with one already destined to appear on store shelves thanks to backer support, and in the bargain there are more games available as digital add-ons: stranded mecha pilots, madcap heists, cyberpunk dream hackers, and fleeing starships! Give it a look, and let's see what Tales we can tell. _The_ _Tales from the Cockpit Print Run_ _campaign will be live on BackerKit for the duration of ZineTopia, ending February 27, 2026 at 4:00 PM EST._ _If you're interested in more ZineTopia, more giant robots, and especially both I'd like to point you to some projects from other creators:__Screaming Metal: Vector Soul_ _, a solo+ game about toxic lesbians piloting living machines for exorbitant amounts of money so they can live lavish lifestyles before being torn to shreds by the poisonous arms of hyperspace, and_ _Myriad Inverse_ _, a Lancer campaign telling the story of how one loose end ruins everything for everyone._ ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ **_Wildest Shape_** gives D&D players everything they need to play a **Circle of the Fractured Path Druid** and take the form of their own variant selves from across the multiverse. In one timeline, you’re a Rogue. In another, you’ve mastered arcane spellcraft. In a more distant reality, you’re born of solid iron. As Druids level up, they unlock more alternate selves. CLICK HERE TO BACK THE CAMPAIGN ** _Wildest Shape_** contains... * **Rules for the** **Circle of the Fractured Path druid subclass** : a fun, powerful, and playable subclass for fifth-edition * A dozen **pregenerated variants** of your Druid drawn from the multiverse - forms you can take when the need is great * A guide for creating each D**ruid's unique** **Fractured Talisman** - a magic amulet which levels up and gains power as your Fractured Path druid does * New species/lineages including the Ashlar stone folk and the Chitinous shelled ones. * New spells and cantrips like _**What If?** _and ** _Glimpse_** * New magic items like the ** _Looking Glass_** and the ** _Paradox Coin_** * New creatures like the ** _Haphazzard_** and the ** _Evil Twin_** The PDF download is just $5, the zine is $20, and the hardcover version is $30 - with Early Bird discounts available. Wildest Shape is available in PDF, zine, and deluxe hardcover formats. Everything in **_Wildest Shape_** is written and illustrated by **Steve Conley**. Four of Steve's previous 5E titles including the ENNIE-nominated Intoximancy. ## **Leaving Kickstarter for Backerkit** Steve has been crowdfunding for more than a decade on Kickstarter and recently switched over to the A.I.-prohibiting Backerkit, a decision he explained in a Patreon update earlier this year. “I've found it increasingly difficult to cross-promote with other campaigns on Kickstarter since it seems like most of the TTRPG projects include A.I. slop.” “I don't make million-dollar projects. I'm off in my little corner of the TTRPG space crafting fun, indie zines. It sucks that the platform that helped make my fledgling gaming career possible is getting swamped with that stuff. It's really disheartening.” “I was super happy to jump over to Backerkit where A.I. is prohibited.” “After 12 successful projects on Kickstarter over 14 years, I’m not taking this step lightly. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about the switch.” With 215 backers on day 7, **_Wildest Shape_** is on track to be one of Steve’s most popular 5E projects. “So far, I’m relieved to find my audience has followed me and new gamers are finding me.” _**Wildest Shape**_ is live now on Backerkit and - like all 63 _Zinetopia_ campaigns - ends on Friday, Feb 27. CLICK HERE TO BACK THE CAMPAIGN Design for the vinyl sticker of the Fractured Flower from Wildest Shape. ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

✨ This is a part of a thirty-day play by day diary for the Discord-based megagame, Over/Under. To read from the beginning, please go to Day One. The entire diary is available for free with a Lurker membership. ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ Critical Kit Ltd have thrown their hat in the ring for February's ZineTopia, an initiative by BackerKit aimed at fans of curious little role-playing games. **DedBoi** is a solo role-playing game in which you investigate not only your own untimely demise, but also try to figure out who you were in life. Traverse hell, heaven and earth in search of answers to your questions. Sometimes, answers you don't want to hear. From the award-winning creator of _Be Like a Crow, Punk is Dead,_ and _All Night Breakfast at The Midnight Owl_ comes an introspective game about death, life and self-discovery. START INVESTIGATING A mock up of the finished zine. Unlike many role-playing games, you start the game with no knowledge of who you are, meaning character creation is an ongoing process. As you investigate your own death, you also learn things about your life and your abilities. Your story unfolds as you visit a dozen locations, look for clues, and piece together what you learn to build a theory of who you are and why you died. Dice and playing cards drive the events and encounters you have, but all other choices are yours. You might be dead, but you still have agency! The investigation phase is based on one of Tim's other games, _All Night Breakfast at the Midnight Owl_ __(but with very different prompts), which itself leans on a heavily hacked version of Hints & Hijinx by Pandion Games. The main skill mechanic is Breathless, which allows you to assign one from an array of dice to each of your skills. Oh, and there's another twist: you will create your character as you play. **Ability Recall** is a mechanic that enables you to set your skill scores. The first time you test any of your six skills, it will define your score for that skill going forward. But beware, you can't be good at everything. **Genre Bending.** The prompts in DeadBoi are designed to spark your creativity and guide you in your investigations. However, they have also been designed to be setting-agnostic, meaning you can play DedBoi in any world you wish. Fancy figuring out how you ended up in an ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat? You do you! Or how about New York City in the 1970s? Or even a generation ship heading for Alpha Centauri! You get it. The rules take about 15 to 20 mins to learn and, even better, you can understand them as you play. Jump right in as you read the zine! ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Read this article by grabbing a free Rascal membership. All it takes is an email, but consider becoming a paid subscriber, too! Subscribe here ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ > _“Think of the weirdest game you’ve ever played. This one is weirder. It shouldn’t be good, but it is.”_ > __Simon Pettersson__ Bläckfisk Publishing is proud to announce _Dragonfly Motel_ , a tabletop role-playing game about reckless travelers lost in a surreal trap of dreamlike slices of life. It is an English translation and revision of Dragonfly Motel, written by Thomas Munier. This imaginative French creation offers one of the more unconventional experiences in tabletop role-playing. The Kickstarter campaign aims to raise €4,000 to produce the physical zine—the more funding received, the stranger it becomes. # About the Game * You have the right to say illogical things. * Inconsistency is tolerated—several contradictory realities coexist. * When you say something, it's true. But not even death is irreversible. * Show, don't tell. For example, don't recount the past—travel there. * Don’t try to understand what is happening. Savor it. Let go. _Dragonfly Motel_ promotes an improv style of play where you build on each other’s ideas and play to explore what happens next. Each player controls a main character inspired by randomly drawn attribute notes. For example: * _Wound:_ Tears hard to conceal. * _Attachment:_ An old suitcase that contains everything I own. * _Beauty:_ The joy of the present moment. * _Motivation:_ Finding the courage to talk to my mother. * _Question:_ Who do these flowers belong to? * _Destiny:_ Pushing someone in a wheelchair. It’s a game about surrendering to surreal impulses. It plays on the logic of dreams and that familiar feeling of drifting through weirdness that almost makes sense. Then suddenly, absurd elements align and form something coherent and strangely satisfying. # # Pledges and Stretch Goals Backers can pledge at two levels: * **Digital-only:** Pay what you want (suggested €5). * **Physical zine:** €22, including the digital version. Stretch goals unlock enhancements of the physical zine—UV-coating, folding endpapers, and more. # About the Creators **Thomas Munier** is a French author of games set in the Millevaux forest and in dreams (__Inflorenza__, __Oriente__, and Highway of Tears, among others). He runs _Outsider_ , a blog about creative energy and handcrafted worlds. He also enjoys Prévert-style collages, dark music, cinema, logical vertigo, and kittens. **Bläckfisk Publishing** is a Swedish duo of brainstormers, dreamers, and workhorses. Previous releases include _Knight Forlorn_ (story game about a lone wanderer on a futile quest), _Heroes of Cerulea_ (pixelated dungeon crawl TTRPG), and _Blood Feud_ (Viking story game exploring toxic masculinity). * **Bläckfisk Publishing Website:** _blackfiskpublishing.com_ * **Bläckfisk Publishing Bluesky:** _bsky.app/profile/blackfiskpub.bsky.social_ * **Thomas Munier Website:** outsiderart.blog * **Thomas Munier Bluesky:** bsky.app/profile/thomas-munier.bsky.social ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Over/Under was a Discord-based megagame that began on October 14, 2025, organized by Sean McCoy and Sam Sorensen in support of the multi-creator crowdfunding campaign Mothership Month. The modules and games crowdfunded during this time were all connected to the official _Mothership_ __ module _A Pound of Flesh,_ and creators were able to use settings and details from the module in their own work. When users joined Over/Under they became a player-denizen of _Prospero's Dream_ – the giant 40km space station that is the canon setting of _A Pound of Flesh_. Players are assigned a random living block, given 100 credits, and told that every day 10 credits will be deducted for an oxygen tax. Denizens must find a way to earn money or perish in the choke. There are six factions on the Dream, each with separate (secret) goals for the game; the Golyanovo II Bratva (the mob, a secret and clandestine organization that taps you for entry), the Local 32819L (teamsters who aim for equality among all its members), the Solarian Church (polytheistic peacekeepers who worship truth and light), the Tempest Company (mercenaries, heavies, and spies), the Canyonheavy Collective (hackers and coders who use tokens as leverage, colloquially known as Cowboys), and the Stratemeyer Syndicate (evil megacorp hoping to take over the Dream). Denizens can apply for faction membership in order to earn an income or they can hustle in the Dream to make the O2 tax. Each faction has a hierarchical structure that consists of two or three bosses and various under-bosses. While it was conceived of as a boardwork-focused wargame, many the bosses acted more like Game Masters, helping lead their faction in big picture and large scale mechanical movements like factory production, product movement, troop assignations, and colluding with other bosses. Bosses also worked within the game to present members of their faction with things to do in the Dream, creating initiatives, roleplay scenarios, and dispensing resources. This was not in the mission brief, but seemed a natural effect of acting as authority figures on the Dream. Two days before the game began, Sorensen approached me and asked if I’d like to be a Boss. I accepted, and was assigned to be a leader of the Solarian Church. I chose to be the High Gardener Otso, and was joined by Caleb Zane Huett (_Triangle Agency_) as Metropolitan Sampsa, and Benjamin as Pontiff Kuutar. Our goals were simple, and, all things considered, rather benevolent. Hold onto the Farm. Convert over half of the denizens to the Solarian faith. Avoid the deaths of our cardinals. And then the game began. With over 600 players joining in just the first few days, Over/Under was a firehose of playfulness. I recognized immediately that it would be impossible to create an accurate record of the game or to fully describe the wonder, wild, weirdness that was immediately occurring. **I began to keep an above-the-table diary, and for the next four weeks,_Rascal_ will be publishing one entry a day. ** Because of the nature of Over/Under I know that I can't cover everything that happened. I know I'll repeat myself, and I hope you'll forgive me. Despite that, what I can do is give people an idea of the scope and scale as a boss-level player and a peek into the storylines that I played out, followed, and encouraged. Everyone who played O/U will have different stories, and the plural perspective of the game encouraged a constant reshaping of the canon. Otso got into shit regularly, and because I'm a storygame player at heart, you'll definitely get some play-by-plays of his escapades. ✨ Here's how it will work: __Day One__ is public. Every other day will ask you to become a Lurker – Rascal's free membership level – so the price of reading 30 days of tabletop diaries is an email. All the diary entries will be available here. A small disclosure: _After Over/Under ended I signed a contract with Tuesday Knight Games, Mothership's publisher, to write a piece of fiction for a future issue of their zine, MEGADAMAGE. This occured after O/U ended, and after I had begun working on this diary, which I've been keeping since October, and did not affect my coverage decision._ Thank you all for coming along with me on this journey. Long live the Dream. ## DAY ONE : UNRESTRAINED, UNMITIGATED, UNFETTERED **October 14, 2025:** The first day was a blur. Nearly 600 people joined in the first twenty-four hours, each one scrambling for footing as they tried to figure out... what the fuck was going on. Characters occurred naturally and immediately, encouraged by the fact that the bosses were all "in-character" and conversation was the most reliable roleplaying lever for everyone to pull. The rules, what few of them applied to the denizens, became secondary. For many people, their only limit was Discord itself. The medium became the greatest mechanic in the game. The other mechanic that denizens had access to was a credit system that was automated through the O/U bot, Zhenya. This meant that the first thing players did was establish economics and get more money. And, at the beginning at least, the most straightforward way to get money was by joining a faction. The Solarian Church is unique among factions in that you could be a member of the faithful and still be associated with another faction. The Church did not have automatic income for members, so while the gratis 100cr would last people 10 days in the Dream, many immediately sought employment elsewhere. (However, within hours mutual aid associations popped up to keep players away from the Choke. The O2 Kitchen and the De-Oxegenated Solidarity Network were immediately established to help collect funds and disseminate them to the squalid among the Dream.) Despite the lack of incentive, those who chose to “/convert” (type the command that triggered conversion via discord bot) began creating art in the Sanctuary — literal, physical art of the church’s nascent doctrine, (called the Solarian Amalgest) which was developed by players in real time. The three Solarian Church bosses: Kuutar, Ohto/Otso, and Sampsa. Illustrations by Amanda Franck The church bosses were allowed to elevate faithful to Cardinal status — voting members of the church who also receive a wage. As our ranks grew we decided to create a mini-game out of the mechanics of Cardinalship. We established a forum where would-be cardinals would campaign for votes – 9 votes made them eligible for elevation. Other factions saw this as a way to gain a foothold in the church. They mobilized their own members to convert, support a candidate, and gain cardinalship. We didn’t see this as a problem; it increased our faithful, and it was fairly obvious when someone was getting inflated votes. Speculation was social currency, and mysteriously rich mystic sanctuary was an excellent draw. This was a game, and people were _playing_. We did have to be careful; information is one of the greatest currencies in the Dream, and when we selected someone to be a cardinal they received access to gameplay documents that exposed our goals, weaknesses, and income. All information that could be used to destroy the Church, assassinate the bosses and cardinals, and take over our money making source, the Tree. The Tree, it needs to be said, is the only source of drugs in the Dream. For every five cardinals assigned to the Tree, we received one container of drugs. This container, should we get it to the (Local-controlled) docks through Bratva-controlled territory, would net the Church an eye-watering three million credits. So, despite the fears of infiltration, we selected eight cardinals. We assigned five cardinals to work the Tree, the other three to security. This required nothing of the players; they were resources for the Bosses to use to pull levers. And then, within the first few hours of playing the game I found myself answering questions from a reporter with the _Dreamcatcher_ — an in-world, independent publication — who had gotten word that the Syndicate was using our voting based system to infiltrate our upper ranks. After collaborating with my other two bosses, we settled on a pair of answers that can best be summarized as “the lion does not concern himself with the fucking corpos.” I then asked about ad space and because I am in the business of supporting local news, I paid for a full page ad and design services. It’s worth noting that the people yearn for journalism. There are multiple sources of news — and gossip — in the Dream. _The Dispatch_ came out a few hours before the _Dreamcatche_ r. _FINTECH_ reports on finances. There are private investigators and membership reports. The information economy is booming on the Dream. The Dispatch by Zebulon Flood; Graphic Design by Slowblink The Church naturally realizes the power of media. We tapped the _Dreamcatcher_ to run an ad. Obviously it was perfect. Ad by Felix Navarro We also quickly realized that as the only source of drugs, our passive income — 50kcr/day — was one of the highest in the Dream. As money was not one of our win conditions, we immediately set out to spend it as fast as possible and told the cardinals that their job was to create minigames for the denizens of the dream through which we could funnel money. Pontiff Kuutar developed a public arts fund. This resulted in incredible proposals including this one for an interstellar mind freak for Invictus Sol. This was when the three bosses really put our heads together. If we played our cards right, we would be able to put the church on the path to doing “good”: giving away money, funding the arts, and creating a space for culture and peace to flourish. We had an opportunity to change the game, moving it away from capital and violence and towards something more like community and care. Our goals were such that this wasn’t just a lofty ideal, but a realistic strategy. We wouldn’t be crusaders. We were going to be hippies. And everyone was going to know it. And… maybe… we were going to use that reputation as bumbling goofballs who are just happy to be here to our advantage. The Church didn’t come to roleplay, we came to win. #### All Over/Under Diary Entries DAY ONE : UNMITIGATED, UNRESTRAINED, UNFETTERED

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ Almost anywhere there is the recorded word, there is a dot. It might be an extra period, pen mark, tanween, or stray scratch on a wax tablet, but rest assured, it is there. You won’t find it if you go looking, but you just might catch it out of the corner of your eye, winking back at you. Be careful – this is a doorway, and if you get too lost in a book, too absorbed in a story, you might end up…somewhere else. Two realms, two sides of the same coin, hanging suspended in the unending void of the Lands Unwritten. Two sides of the same coin. Where will your adventure take you? The razor-sharp towers of the City of Wit reach skyward, a place of erudite wordplay and boisterous ripostes. However, not all is as it seems, and fowl play may be afoot in the Citadel of Cleverness. Pride goeth before a fall, and even the mightiest might actually be a chicken… Far beneath the ivory towers lies the Punderworld, where the difference between "literally" and "figuratively" can be life or death. A place where your wildest dreams can come true, or your deepest nightmares – here, a rose by any other name definitely will not smell as sweet, and being a man of your word means more than anything. It is a treacherous place, and any who lose their way are in for a world of pain and _pun_ ishment. This is the setting at the heart of **Punderworld**, the new tabletop *wordplaying* game by Linnie Schell**,** creator of _Tabletop Gone Mad_ and _Burning Down the Goat_ and published by Twice Rolled Tales. Wordplay Wizards and Dad Joke Aficionados, take note. Players take on the role of denizens of The City of Wit or The Punderworld, or else unsuspecting Travelers pulled into this world by a good book. Between Wit and Punderworld, heated conflict is brewing (and available in to-go cups for Pun Runs), between those who would wish the wild and magical language of these lands to propagate unrestrained, and those who would seek to control it. Using creativity, wit, and bespoke pun-based system mechanics, players come together to face some of the many things wrong in Wit - a journey that may take them into perilous places. **In this world, the pen is absolutely mightier than the sword.** Punderworld contains a substantial field guide of Witizens, Punderdwellers, and all the places they reside, with plenty of Story Starters for GMs to help launch their adventure. Meet the fearsome guardian of the Grand Library of Wit: The Bookworm. **Punderworld** is crowdfunding on Kickstarter for a limited two-week campaign. Funds raised will go towards the publication of Punderworld’s first print edition, additional art, story starters, and deluxe print additions to the core book. Twice Rolled Tales is also pleased to offer a retailer-only pledge level, available only to FLGS, which includes 5 copies + 1 demo copy of Punderworld at a discounted wholesale price. ****Sharpen your wits and venture forth: Punderworld awaits!**** Join the Campaign! ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Read this article by grabbing a free Rascal membership. All it takes is an email, but consider becoming a paid subscriber, too! Subscribe here ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ > (KP City, Kentara Prospect) Commway Communications announced their latest project, codename DICE, will be coming to Commway hubs and locations around the systems. The company is calling it the biggest shift in digital communications since the radio wave. > Commway's Chief Innovation Officer Lebanon Gibson says “it's going to be a whole new way to communicate, bringing in friends, neighbors, even new people from the furthest edges of your system. You'll have face-to-face conversations with people on other planets without even leaving your station. Get ready for distance to feel like an ancient relic." > Commway users may notice new equipment being installed in their local Commway Comms facility, hidden under tarps with big signs saying "something big is coming soon." > "Get ready to explore a whole new frontier," says Commway President Bradford Whalen. "We've never done or seen anything quite like DICE." ---- Vaporwave Wanderlust, is coming to BackerKit in April as part of Orbital Blues Month. It's the fourth module in a series that includes Electric Sheep Shuffle, Jumpgate Charade, and Station-bound Semitones, which are three of the first ever third-party modules for Orbital Blues. PDF and print copies of all four modules of the current OB modules will be available as add-ons for the campaign. To celebrate the announcement of the next module in the series, the other three are on sale. There are also print copies of Electric Sheep Shuffle, Station-Bound Semitones, and Jumpgate Charade available in the SoulMuppet store, for anyone who can't wait until April 1. **Sign up to be notified for****Vaporwave Wanderlust on BackerKit****.** ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ "I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read." — George R.R. Martin In this solo journaling game, you lovingly select books from your shelves and lay them out in front of you. Then, one at a time, you perform the ritual to enter those books, drawing cards from a sacred deck as you do. Each card brings with it a question, one that must be whispered aloud and answered in your heart and with your pen. Once done, the ritual continues, and in time another book will be entered. At the end of your journey, questions will be answered, and many more will be raised. As you visit each of these stories you love, how have you changed them? And perhaps more importantly, how have they changed you? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2018387307/i-have-lived-a-thousand-lives ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

A week after Upper Deck announced a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products to create a _Harry Potter_ collectible card game (CCG) on 7 January, game designer Marceline Leimen decided to rally against the collectibles company. On _Bluesky_, she implored the industry for help to push Upper Deck into retracting their announcement. She also pushed for change through the Block Collective, a grassroots, volunteer-run community of players, designers, and media professionals dedicated to challenging transphobia within the tabletop space. “We have a plan for continuing pressure through email campaigns, but we have been unsuccessful so far,” said Leimen, who’s also the founder of the Block Collective, in an email to _Rascal._ “Upper Deck continues to do wrong by their community, openly deleting and blocking discourse from appearing on their socials with no explanation or recourse.” By now, the transphobia of _Harry Potter_ creator, JK Rowling, has been well-documented. For one, there’s her _numerous fevered diatribes_ on social media. There’s her use of her _financial proceeds_ to fund anti-trans organizations. There’s also the cruel, provocative picture of her _smoking a cigar_ in celebration of the UK supreme court ruling, which has stated the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. This has seen the grassroot movement to boycott the _Harry Potter_ series intensifying, one of which is against the 2023 Harry Potter video game, __Hogwarts Legacy__. Similarly, the Block Collective is calling for a boycott effort against JK Rowling’s works, stating on _Bluesky_ that it’s advocating for an “immediate stop to all purchases from Upper Deck”. “We haven’t been able to make direct contact with them, but our actions have gotten them to reply to us on multiple social media,” said Leimen. “Despite this, their response so far has been completely unsatisfactory. They have only said that they have _Harry Potter_ games ‘in the works’, but make no promises to never do so, don’t acknowledge any wrong-doing so far [and] the outcry of their community, nor address their current plans to release multiple sets of _Harry Potter_ trading cards. Outside of their messages, they have not shown any remorse or shared any plans for moving forward.” ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ My name is Pidj, and I have been crowdfunding zines annually since ZineQuest 3 in 2021. My latest, _Veritable Tales of Folly in the Realm_ is crowdfunding now! It wells up out of a love for medieval illuminated manuscripts and a desire for a roleplaying game I could pull out after a dinner party or play casually with players dropping in and out. Plus it gave me a chance to work with the wonderful Tallulah Cunningham again (our last collaboration won an Australian Roleplaying Industry Award for its illustrations!) In _Veritable Tales_ you play various medieval roleplaying minigames then write in your 'illuminated manuscript'. Each minigame is one year in the history of your realm, and may detail events great or small. By making even a one-sentence note in a dedicated 'manuscript', the game can be paused or resumed - or even picked up and played by a completely new crowd of players! Minigames range from 10 minutes to 1 hour, and cover a breadth of topics and player counts. Most games are dice-less, all are GM-less and some use a deck of playing cards, pen and paper or tokens. Some only use the players! No preparation or pre-reading is required. And each minigame is set into a beautiful Flemish, illuminated frame and accompanied by little marginalia! Back Veritable Tales of Folly in the Realm now! View Kickstarter ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ Do you want to experience six system-agnostic adventures including a choose-your-own-adventure in one place? Then visit https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/546596/the-quintessential-curios-zine-1 and take a look at the Quintessential Curios zine#1. What do you get? 213 pages of completely human created material for any Gamemaster looking for timeless, system-agnostic adventures. • Explore the occult museum of a dead millionaire in "Drop-In Location #01: A Regional Museum". • Witness firsthand the horror of "To See Amongst the Stars" as the doomed crew of the SS Odysseus. • Investigate a momentous event spanning almost 2000 years, from Roman occupied Britannia in 66AD as the elite Legion X to the modern metropolis of London in 2026 as MI5 agents in "The Megaliths of London." • Delve into the temple of a would-be god, travel through time to uncover lost secrets, and stop a dark cult from reviving their master in "The Black Bell." • Explore a distorted timeline to find the Mechanomancer's Codex in "Battle For the Chronoscape" • and finally go solo in the time-travelling choose-your-own-adventure "Time Knight" where you desperately battle to survive in multiple timelines and will learn a shocking truth. Six adventures, one zine, dedicated to GMs who need exciting adventures to run on their players. ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ _It is an age of darkness, uncertainty, and chaos. Would-be kings, violent tyrants, and bloody barons bring war to isolated fiefs, leaving destruction and death in their wake. The only source of succor for the people is the knights. They are the gleaming beacons of hope and justice, piercing the gloom with steel and silk._ Thus begins your journey into the new RPG from Mottokrosh Machinations, creators of Hypertellurians and Wolden, launching this February as part of ZineMonth. The Knightcore zine is a complete game, together with a starting adventure, all made by humans. This author became fascinated with the knightcore—or castlecore—trend on social media, and it wouldn't leave his mind, until he wrote a full game and several adventures for it, commissioned original art, and organized a big knightcore photoshoot with his friends. Let's see if any of that pays off. __Work in progress - final designs and texts may be slightly different.__ If you like the idea of diving into a roleplaying game where what you wear is as important as how sharp your sword is, this might be for you. Simple but deep rules support and encourage a game loop around the knightcore aesthetic, and the chaos die keeps you on your toes. Visit the Knightcore Kickstarter page A earlier version of the ruleset is already available on the Mottokrosh Machinations website, including an adventure (different from the one in the zine). The text of the game will be release under Creative Commons, so you'll be able to hack it to your heart's content. ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ _Ann Arbor, MI_ - Horse Shark Games is proud to announce the release of Netcrawl RPG. The cyberpunk style game is heavily influenced by Neuromancer, Snow Crash, Tron, and The Matrix and has recently concluded the fulfillment of its very successful crowdfunding campaign. Besides the hardcover core rulebook, the game is supported with five adventures and a table-based, world-building/ideation book. The only AI-anything in these books are the monsters. The one hundred percent human-made books feature art from Johan Nohr (_Mörk Borg_ , _CY_Borg_), Andre Garin (_Banished Vault_), Daniel Vega (_Codex Noirmatic_), Doug Kovacs (_Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Hobonomicon_), and dozens more. #### What is Netcrawl RPG? Netcrawl is a TTRPG about adventuring inside a computer system. Everyone goes in, seconds pass in the meatspace as players spend hours conquering a cyber-dungeon - _together_. Netcrawl RPG is inspired by **Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG** by **Goodman Games**. It can be used as a standalone game or as a cyber-sidecar to your current game. Simpler d20 gameplay and cool game mechanics like Luck and spell result tables are just some of the beats Netcrawl has borrowed from DCC RPG. Reducing computer system hacking/raiding into a series of specialist character class skill rolls is a missed opportunity. Netcrawl RPG puts players inside the computer to face whatever digital defenses lie inside, protecting the party's objective. Netcrawl is centered around cyberspace and players adventuring in cyberspace. Players guide their avatars to sabotage digital systems, steal money, gain access to systems, acquire knowledge and/or information, etc. **The WorldNet - Netcrawl RPG Setting** The matrix, cyberspace, the WorldNet is mankind’s shared, consensual hallucination. A pinnacle achievement of machine-generated virtual reality (VR) environments is available to all. Avatars give their users superlative access and control to the myriad of simulations available within. The WorldNet might have been created now, or a hundred years ago, or even 10,000 years ago. The computational forces and AIs that run the WorldNet’s simulations may (or may not) be cognizant of when they were set to the task of providing billions of realities to its users. Most users seem perfectly content to experience their every desire or wallow in their woes. Are not the infinities of imagination enough for you? No, not for you. You and others like you keep asking, “Why?” Are you really ready to find out? **_Something is hidden in the virtual realms, and you shall hack it._** **Two Worlds** Implicit in a VR RPG like Netcrawl is the notion of reality. **_Netcrawl does not have an explicit “real world” setting._** It could be set within a myriad of sci-fi/modern RPGs, from space horror to post-apocalyptic to cyberpunk to spy adventures. Any game that includes computers is a perfect real-world setting for Netcrawl RPG. Alternatively, there may be little or no notion of reality in a Netcrawl campaign. The game does not try to solve it all, but gives you an open ruleset and lots of examples of how it can find a home at your table. Print books are available at https://horsesharkgames.com ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ FOLLOW FOR A RARE AND BEAUTIFUL GIFT WITH YOUR PLEDGE! Elegantly armored humans ride hover boards high above the azure blue bay, as they examine the tentacled flower embedded in the floating mechanical ring in the storm FOLLOW NOW! _…this Earth has spun through the cold reaches of space. All that its inhabitants have been, are, and will be has reached its unimaginable zenith—not just once, but eight full times. Eight prior worlds. Eight civilizations, each spanning countless millennia, that rose from the depths of evolution to ultimately master time and space, scatter to the stars, transcend to godhood, or seek some other inscrutable fate. As they rose and fell the prior worlds spoke to the stars, bent time, and mastered form and essence. There is no creature on this planet that hasn’t been touched by their reshaping; no inch of its surface that hasn’t been reengineered, time and again, 100 miles deep. Even the moon—the planets—the sun itself—have been subject to their craft._ _Our world. A world defined by their works—some the scale of nations; others that might nest within your palm. What were they for? Alas, in this dark age they are as magic. As incomprehensible as they are mysterious—and often as deadly. But where they remember some germ of their function, they offer unfathomable power. Those with sufficient courage, wit, and ambition to explore and master them call these works of the prior worlds the…_ The Numenera word mark overlays a set of waterfalls across a wide river, pierced by massive ancient multi sword like structure Rediscover the Ninth World as you've never before encountered it! The all-new edition of this storied game world delivers the mystery, astonishment, danger, and wonder that's defined over a decade of Numenera play—now faster, easier, and even better. Launch a new campaign or take your existing game to fascinating new places as you unlock the secrets of the Amber Archive! Want to be notified when the campaign launches? Sign up and we'll let you know —and include a special gift free when you back the campaign: this rare and beautiful hard-edge resin Numenera d20. Sharp edged, blue/purple d20 early pledge die reward * Numenera is a tabletop RPG world set in a far distant future, where the Earth has been reshaped many times over by the works of incomprehensibly advanced civilizations. * The people of the Ninth World live in a dark age amid the remnants of prior worlds, which still contain magic-like power. * Numenera is based in the Cypher roleplaying system, renowned for its flexibility, narrative focus, fast play, and ease of use. * The crowdfunding campaign launches soon; you can sign up to be notified via this page. ### THE NINTH WORLD BECKONS. WILL YOU FOLLOW? FOLLOW NOW! ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

__This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by__ __subscribing to Rascal__ __.__ In response to the Trump administration sending ICE agents to the Minneapolis area and the reckless murder of an innocent woman by an ICE agent, we created the No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle to raise funds for Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota. They also work to educate the community about immigration matters and advocates for public policies which respect the universal human rights of immigrants. ILCM provides services based on capacity and has a generally high demand for services. **The more we are able to fundraise, the more people they will be able to assist.** There are 1,439 games for just $10! The No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle has officially launched, with 1,439 games from 651 creators for a donation of $10 or more to support Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Support the bundle here This bundle offers 1,439 games and game supplements like TTRPGs, art packs, browser-based games, zines, and more worth a staggering $4,985. All for a donation of just $10 or more. The bundle is collecting donations until Friday, March 13 at 11:59 p.m. PT with a fundraising goal of $100,000 (and beyond!) Included games like Baba Is You, Thieves of the Tome, and Tangled Blessings can be previewed in advance of purchase on the bundle page and on the submission page among the other submissions. We also have a video preview of the bundle courtesy of Duncan Robson. * * * In addition to purchasing the No ICE in Minnesota charity bundle, **supporters are encouraged to look at additional resources.** * **Know Your Rights** ACLU has put together a webpage with scenarios surrounded ICE * **Red cards** Immigrant Legal Resource Center has red cards translated into 39 languages which you can print at home * **Want to do more?** Create a tiltify fundraiser for ACLU or directly donate to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Unidos Minnesota, or CAIR Minnesota. Here is a TTRPG focused raffle supporting Minnesota Freedom Fund or you can join the No ICE in California Team Fundraiser on Tiltify. **Spread the word.** If you’d like to help spread the word, please boost this bluesky post, thread, or share the charity bundle page directly. If you would like to create a news article, blogpost, YouTube, or short form video, and need additional information, please reach out to Jes via email. **Want to be notified of future charity bundles?** Sign up for ChariTTRPG charity bundles/auctions newsletter updates **Media contact:** Jes Wade jesthehuman@gmail.com ## Sign up for Rascal News Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

<p>What if there was a pinball cabinet themed after the works of celebrated horror manga artist Junji Ito? What if it existed at some point in the late ‘90s or early 2000s but has almost entirely disappeared? What if records of such a machine, with its half-remembered, black-and-white spiral graphics, were beginning to bubble up to the surface again?</p><p>Well, there’s not. And it hasn’t. Unless you’d like to pretend with a group of people larping as internet sleuths in <a href="https://alfredvalley.itch.io/junji-ito-pinball"><em><u>JUNJI ITO PINBALL</u></em></a>. This latest brainchild of Alfred Valley (<em>Thousand Empty Light</em>, <em>Lay on Hands</em>, <a href="https://www.rascal.news/dungeon-pulp-is-part-of-a-balanced-breakfast/"><em><u>Dungeon Pulp</u></em></a>) is hosted entirely in the comments of an itch.io entry. Where a game’s PDF files normally reside is instead a screenshot of a Reddit post, a JPGed-to-hell screenshot of the titular pinball machine, and text file instructions for participating. </p><p>Players are encouraged to adopt certain roles with prescribed behavior. Sleuths debate information and accounts presented about the supposed pinball machine and should present evidence (“real or doctored”, the instructions mention) to back up their criticism. Speculators fixate on the physicality of the machine itself — how it looks, acts, and plays in the real world. Spreaders concoct both myth and memes in an attempt to entice others from the outside to join the game. Whatever position a player takes, one common instruction is to seek out fellows with a similar agenda and combine efforts. The output emulates message board culture, complete with ingroup/outgroup behavior. There’s already infighting.</p><div class="gh-paid-content-notice"><h3>This post is for subscribers only</h3><p>Become a member to get access to all content</p><a class="gh-paid-content-cta" href="https://www.rascal.news/mass-hallucinate-a-haunted-arcade-machine-in-junji-ito-pinball/#/portal/signup">Subscribe now</a></div>

<p>“The War in heaven was won.” That’s the first line in <em>HELLPIERCERS</em>, a tactical fantasy feast from design collective Sandy Pug Games. In the prologue, the game declares that God is evil and the universe nothing but a “cosmological system of abuse”. In the face of this, “a united humanity, armed with the gnosis of their own selfdivinity, claimed heaven through violence and have banished mortality forever.” But after the liberation of heaven, the work was not done. Billions of souls languished in the other place. And so, a new campaign began with a simple promise: Hell. Will. Fall.</p><p>Mechanically, <em>HELLPIERCERS </em>chases a noble dream: analog <em>XCOM</em>. The inspiration from the tactical video game series is even present in the names of the three phases: STRATCOM, the building and upgrade phase; the strategy layer, TACCOM, tactical combat between units; and RECON, more open roleplaying that binds everything together. The loop is clear: sortie out from the city of Dis, engage in combat, gain resources, invest them in buildings and upgrades, repeat until the Demon Princes are defeated and the game is won.</p><p>As <em>HELLPIERCERS</em>’s prologue suggests, the game is a celebration of excess. It’s maximalist in look and feel, design and contents. The example character is of the class Chrysaor. They wear the Baraquiel armor. For weapons, they wield the Ten Thousand Year Reign Shattering Blade and the Sethian Externalized Annihilation Cannon. They’re also equipped with the Motes of Bountiful Forethought. The factions of Hell are called things like Syncrasis, Metricos, and Paracletus. It’s over the top, more than a bit silly, and infectiously joyful.</p><div class="gh-paid-content-notice"><h3>This post is for subscribers only</h3><p>Become a member to get access to all content</p><a class="gh-paid-content-cta" href="https://www.rascal.news/i-want-to-believe-in-hellpiercers-like-it-believes-in-me/#/portal/signup">Subscribe now</a></div>

<div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-purple"><div class="kg-callout-text"><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by </em></i><a href="https://www.rascal.news/your-newest-d-d-stationery-set-is-now-on-kickstarter/#/portal/"><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">subscribing to Rascal</em></i></a><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</em></i></div></div><p>Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, and Liminal Horror are the big names in the horror genre. They focus on the cosmic, the eldritch, those feelings of dread and unease from things unknown and places without end. When Suddenly! Games asked, "Yeah, but where is the campy horror?"</p><p>Without waiting they answered their own question and bring you-</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/heading.png" class="kg-image" alt="The Crypt Has Opened" loading="lazy" width="1360" height="640" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/heading.png 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/heading.png 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/heading.png 1360w" /></figure><p>Taking inspiration from classic sci-fi, mystery, and horror comics of the 50s and 60s, slapping on a bit of <em>The Stand</em>, and finishing it off with <em>Lockwood and Co., </em>When Suddenly! Games found a unique blend for their game wherein the players take on the role of magical practitioners fighting against cryptids and spirits in a world gone to hell after an event called "The Night of the Open Grave."</p><blockquote>"The world ended not with a bang, but with an exhalation of the Crypt Door."</blockquote><p>We're personally excited to see this genre of horror start to receive some representation within the grander label that is <em>Horror.</em> There is a certain, almost nostalgia, for the artwork and stories that can be told when you allow you and your friends to lean into the absurdity. You can almost smell the popcorn and pizza, and hear the raspy crackle of the Crypt Keeper's voice introducing the chilling tale of your gruesome escapades.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/Mockups_Pile.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1616" height="1368" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/Mockups_Pile.png 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/Mockups_Pile.png 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1600/2026/02/Mockups_Pile.png 1600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/Mockups_Pile.png 1616w" /><figcaption><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Final layout subject to change.</span></figcaption></figure><p>We're also certainly impressed with the level of care and attention the author and Illustrator, Jeffrey N Baker, has put into the game. Each illustration oozes with that retro style while feeling perfectly at home as a 90s throwback. </p><p>The new cover,<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/whensuddenly.games/post/3mdsmtp3gt22c" rel="noreferrer"> just announced this past week</a>, is packed with action. Every inch of it helps pull the viewer into the world the pages contains. The characters are blasting magic, sending rat-things flying. Zombies encroach steadily toward them. A Loveland Frogman wields a rusty blade. <em>Dracula</em>, leaps toward them wearing a classic red cape.</p><p>What more could you want?</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/Character-Pile.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1360" height="640" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/Character-Pile.png 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/Character-Pile.png 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/Character-Pile.png 1360w" /><figcaption><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Layout subject to change.</span></figcaption></figure><p>How about that the game has been in development for six years and shows it. Currently, When Suddenly! Games has the last set of beta rules still available for download on their <a href="https://www.whensuddenly.games" rel="noreferrer">website</a>. Going through it, you'll find that you already have everything you need to start playing.</p><p>So why <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whensuddenlygames/the-crypt-has-opened" rel="noreferrer">back</a> the project if you can get it all for free? According to past posts, this official release will contain all the lore information and more cryptids. Expanding the already 82 pages into a ready-to-go monster of a game. Plus that art is sick.</p><p>They've also pulled together a fantastic team.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/9143c438052f8c6050318a1951fc5f34_original.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1466" height="1566" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/9143c438052f8c6050318a1951fc5f34_original.png 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/9143c438052f8c6050318a1951fc5f34_original.png 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/9143c438052f8c6050318a1951fc5f34_original.png 1466w" /></figure><p>Those credits between all of them tells us that this project will be an incredible success. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/jack-pull-quote.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1360" height="640" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/jack-pull-quote.png 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/jack-pull-quote.png 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/jack-pull-quote.png 1360w" /></figure><p>Crowdfunding for <em>The Crypt Has Opened</em> has started February 3rd, 2026 and will only run through the month for Zimo. There are some great stretch goals that simply increase the quality of the product or give the creative team a bit of a pay bump.<br /><br />And for you Mothman lovers out there, check out the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whensuddenlygames/the-crypt-has-opened" rel="noreferrer">BIG</a> stretch goal on the page.</p><p><em>The Crypt Has Opened. </em>Campy horror fun, with magic and cryptids. Fight back against the horrors of the night. Reclaim the Dead Spaces of the world. Maybe even fall in love with Mothman. The choice is yours.</p><div class="kg-card kg-button-card kg-align-center"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whensuddenlygames/the-crypt-has-opened" class="kg-btn kg-btn-accent">Back Now</a></div><div class="kg-card kg-signup-card kg-width-wide " style="background-color:#F0F0F0;display:none"> <div class="kg-signup-card-content"> <div class="kg-signup-card-text "> <h2 class="kg-signup-card-heading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Sign up for Rascal News</span></h2> <p class="kg-signup-card-subheading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky.</span></p> <div class="kg-signup-card-fields"> <input class="kg-signup-card-input" id="email" type="email" required="true" placeholder="Your email" /> <button class="kg-signup-card-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF" type="submit"> <span class="kg-signup-card-button-default">Subscribe</span> <span class="kg-signup-card-button-loading"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="24" width="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24"> <circle cx="4" cy="12" r="3"></circle> <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="3"></circle> <circle cx="20" cy="12" r="3"></circle> </svg></span> </button> </div> <div class="kg-signup-card-success" style="color:#000000"> Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. </div> <div class="kg-signup-card-error" style="color:#000000"></div> <p class="kg-signup-card-disclaimer" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.</span></p> </div> </div> </div>

<div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-purple"><div class="kg-callout-text"><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by </em></i><a href="https://www.rascal.news/your-newest-d-d-stationery-set-is-now-on-kickstarter/#/portal/"><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">subscribing to Rascal</em></i></a><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</em></i></div></div><p>A year on from the <a href="https://alfredvalley.itch.io/valley-100" rel="noreferrer">VALLEY 100</a>, the mass scale gauntlet run entirely on Bluesky, <a href="https://alfredvalley.itch.io/" rel="noreferrer">Alfred Valley</a> returns with another experiment in large scale play-by-post. This time, itch.io is the platform of choice and 'play' is much less structured.</p><p>'Play' is in inverted commas because <a href="https://alfredvalley.itch.io/junji-ito-pinball" rel="noreferrer">JUNJI ITO PINBALL</a> takes as much inspiration from conceptual art as it does tabletop RPGs.</p><blockquote>Attention: you are now playing the game JUNJI ITO PINBALL. In this game you will play someone interacting with a message board about the existence or non-existence of a Junji Ito-themed pinball machine.</blockquote><p>Players are instructed to interact with the game by leaving comments or starting threads on the <a href="https://alfredvalley.itch.io/junji-ito-pinball" rel="noreferrer">itch.io page</a>, and to maintain the 'fiction' throughout. This means not referring to their actions or those of the other players as being part of a game.</p><p>Valley presents a single creepypasta style post to kick things off and players are invited to select one of three different roles: sleuth, speculator or spreader. Creating new media and rumours is encouraged.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/junji-ito-pinball-reddit-final.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="A Reddit post by user gozooze99 entitled: Did I imagine a Junji Ito pinball machine? &quot;Sorry for my english. In 2001, a friend of mine won a Sega contest. I think it was a promotion for a magazine or something, but it was the kind of prize he never thought he'd win. He was invited to Tokyo Joypolis and allowed to bring his friend (me) along. It was amazing. We played all the arcade machines and rode all the rides. It was all for free. A man in a suit showed us around. His name was &quot;Mr. Gray.&quot; He had a very earnest, serious look, a typical salaryman vibe, which was funny. Mr. Gray bought us anything we wanted. He also gave us lots of merchandise, food, and drinks. At one point, we had to sign some paperwork. To be honest, I can't remember what it said. Looking back, I probably should have given it to my parents, but I didn't mind. It was just us, our parents weren't there. After we finished the paperwork, Mr. Gray took us to a back room. The interior of the store was also completely gray, with an industrial feel (at least that's how I remember it). There were several screens, including one displaying security footage from inside Joypolis. We also had the opportunity to try out a cool VR headset, which they said was a prototype. Mr. Gray then told us that he had something special from Stern. We had no idea what Stern was, but later we looked it up and found out it was a pinball machine manufacturer. They mentioned something about a canceled project and a Playboy pinball machine. You can imagine how excited we were. But what he showed us was something completely different. The pinball machine's graphics were all black and white, and it had a somewhat eerie feel to it. I hadn't heard of Junji Ito back then. We were only 11 years old. But I still remember the feeling. There were creepy graphics, and I remember a face clearly visible with a spiral hole in it, like in Uzumaki. I couldn't play it. My friend did, but only for about five minutes. The sound of the machine... it was chilling. Eventually, someone came into the back room and Mr. Gray hurried us away from the machine. I was left to wait alone in Joypolis. Meanwhile, Mr. Gray took my friend somewhere to talk. Looking back on the memory (it was a long time ago now), I’m sure it was a Junji Ito themed pinball machine. Does anyone have information about it? EDIT: I lost contact with my friend years ago. I don't know what happened to him, but he refused to talk about the pinball at all. I think he was upset, but I'm not sure why. Yeah, it sounds weird, but...&quot;" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="2576" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/junji-ito-pinball-reddit-final.jpg 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/junji-ito-pinball-reddit-final.jpg 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1600/2026/02/junji-ito-pinball-reddit-final.jpg 1600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/junji-ito-pinball-reddit-final.jpg 2000w" /></figure><p>Anyone can participate in <a href="https://alfredvalley.itch.io/junji-ito-pinball" rel="noreferrer">JUNJI ITO PINBALL</a> and it runs throughout February 2026.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/deepfried_1770069908830.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="a very glitchy black and white photo of an unidentified pinball machine" loading="lazy" width="800" height="919" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/deepfried_1770069908830.jpg 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/deepfried_1770069908830.jpg 800w" /></figure><div class="kg-card kg-signup-card kg-width-wide " style="background-color:#F0F0F0;display:none"> <div class="kg-signup-card-content"> <div class="kg-signup-card-text "> <h2 class="kg-signup-card-heading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Sign up for Rascal News</span></h2> <p class="kg-signup-card-subheading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. We’re also a little cheeky.</span></p> <div class="kg-signup-card-fields"> <input class="kg-signup-card-input" id="email" type="email" required="true" placeholder="Your email" /> <button class="kg-signup-card-button kg-style-accent" style="color:#FFFFFF" type="submit"> <span class="kg-signup-card-button-default">Subscribe</span> <span class="kg-signup-card-button-loading"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="24" width="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24"> <circle cx="4" cy="12" r="3"></circle> <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="3"></circle> <circle cx="20" cy="12" r="3"></circle> </svg></span> </button> </div> <div class="kg-signup-card-success" style="color:#000000"> Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. </div> <div class="kg-signup-card-error" style="color:#000000"></div> <p class="kg-signup-card-disclaimer" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.</span></p> </div> </div> </div>

<div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-purple"><div class="kg-callout-text"><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">This is a community submitted press release. Our Announcements section is free to post to and free to submit too, please help us keep this valuable industry resource available by </em></i><a href="https://www.rascal.news/your-newest-d-d-stationery-set-is-now-on-kickstarter/#/portal/"><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">subscribing to Rascal</em></i></a><i><em class="italic" style="white-space:pre-wrap">.</em></i></div></div><p><em>Barbabianca </em>is a collaborative storytelling game about an old man and an angry mob. The designer debut of Cristian Sisto - with illustrations by Cecilia Ferri<em> (Brindlewood Bay, Lost Roads) </em>and Maria Guarneri <em>(Glitch, Crescendo Giocoso) - Barbabianca </em>will be released by NessunDove, an independent Italian publisher specialising in unconventional RPGs - including <em>The Magus </em>&amp;<em> The Oracle </em>by Ennie-nominated designer Momatoes, and <em>Crescendo Giocoso</em>: a collection of live action roleplaying games written by Oscar Biffi &amp; the Italian Chamber Orchestra.</p><p>Taking inspiration from Italian anti-fascist authors like Italo Calvino and Cesare Pavese, and Neorealist film directors Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, <em>Barbabianca</em> is a rich exploration about the essential need for community, and how hard times and easy answers can turn people against each other - topics that are as relevant now, as they were 100 years ago.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/barbabianca-crack-image.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1866" height="1232" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/barbabianca-crack-image.jpg 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/barbabianca-crack-image.jpg 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1600/2026/02/barbabianca-crack-image.jpg 1600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/barbabianca-crack-image.jpg 1866w" /></figure><p>In <em>Barbabianca</em>, players take the role of villagers living in a quiet town set in the Italian countryside, at the turn of the 20th century. Over the years, this town has hoarded, hidden, and held onto a bounty of secrets and suspicions, many of which revolve around Barbabianca: an elderly mute who becomes a sacrificial lamb for the sins of the whole community. Many years ago, the village was forever changed by a cataclysmic event that threatened to reveal the truth about exactly behind the old man and the true soul of the village.<br /><br />Playing <em>Barbabianca</em> requires zero preparation. Almost everything players need is found within the game box, which contains both the rules and game materials as a collection of laminated sheets that can be used and reused across multiple playthroughs.  <br /><br />The game begins with players choosing from a selection of roles; such as the mayor; innkeeper; and local school teacher. The group then creates their own village by drawing out key buildings onto a laminated map, with each building set to be the site of an encounter with the titular Barbabianca. As their respective roles, players will take turns sharing their memories of Barbabianca, acting out various scenes where they might come across the old man, witness him doing something, or see someone else interacting with him - but never hearing him speak.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4j9Ij0oxROA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen title="Barbabianca: English Game Trailer"></iframe></figure><p>Between tales, players will write down rumours about Barbabianca or another role on a sticky note, whether true or false, that can be shared or twisted by the rest of the group. Players are also tasked with writing down their characters’ most shameful secret, knowing they might be revealed along with Barbabianca’s own.</p><p>At the end of the game, each player decides whether to reveal their shameful secret or keep it hidden. Choosing to share a secret could save Barbabianca from mob justice, at the cost of forcing the village to confront the harsh truth about themselves. Refusing to confess has the players setting their secrets alight with a match or lighter, representing the burning of Barbabianca’s beard by the village mob, the erasure of the truth, and the refusal to do better.</p><p><em>Barbabianca </em>is unlike anything else - an entirely unique storytelling, map-making, roleplaying game created by a team of talented creatives who are keen to continue telling meaningful stories, whilst expanding beyond their passionate Italian-language fanbase.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/barbabianca-barbabianca-image.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1866" height="1687" srcset="https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/barbabianca-barbabianca-image.jpg 600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/barbabianca-barbabianca-image.jpg 1000w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/size/w1600/2026/02/barbabianca-barbabianca-image.jpg 1600w, https://www.rascal.news/content/images/2026/02/barbabianca-barbabianca-image.jpg 1866w" /></figure><p>A crowdfunding campaign for <a href="https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/2a33afd7-0d0e-45c3-bad5-f9790498432c/landing?ref=home-page"><em><u>Barbabianca</u></em></a> was launched on February 2nd as part of <strong>Zinetopia 2026</strong>, an event that highlights and celebrates smaller tabletop RPGs made by smaller creators. There will also be a seperate one-page game that's thematically tied to <em>Barbabianca</em>, called <em>Greetings From Anna</em>, available exclusively for backers to pick up during Zinetopia. Additionally, anyone who backs the campaign in the first 48 hours will receive a bonus enamel pin.</p><div class="kg-card kg-signup-card kg-width-wide " style="background-color:#F0F0F0;display:none"> <div class="kg-signup-card-content"> <div class="kg-signup-card-text "> <h2 class="kg-signup-card-heading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Sign up for Rascal News</span></h2> <p class="kg-signup-card-subheading" style="color:#000000"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">Rascal is a tabletop roleplaying game and culture outlet striving to sustainably publish voicey journalism that is compelling, deeply-reported, and fearlessly honest. 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