In this newsletter | Why Kick-Ass Cover Art Matters | The Analog Union has a Subreddit | Pick Up at GenCon 2026 | How to do stuff on the cheap and easy | Dungeon Cats at the Ennies Emporium |
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Night Noon Games Why Kick-Ass Cover Art Matters | “Don’t judge a book by its cover” wouldn’t be such a well-known idiom if it weren’t for people’s tendency to judge books by their covers. This is usually seen in a negative light, but as a creator, you can use this quirk of human nature to your advantage! How? By having some really kick-ass cover art!
The system I spend most of my time writing for is Shadowdark RPG. The game itself is great, but when I’m at The Arcane Library booth at a con, we get loads of people who stop to learn about it for the first time for no other reason than the unique and evocative art |  | There are plenty of other RPGs on the showroom floor, or on the shelves of a friendly local game store, or on Kickstarter, but cool art will get peoples’ attention. The art makes them want to pick up the book, and once they pick up the book, they find out that there’s a cool game behind those rad covers!
Cover art can also communicate what your product is about. Take these examples from fellow Union members Bryan Larkin (Arcane Sword Press) and John “Hambone” McGuire (Ham & Eggs Publishing): |  | Without saying anything about it on the cover, Bryan lets every fan of Traveller know that this is a supplement for them by borrowing the game’s simple yet recognizable visual language. Hambone takes things one step further with his art by not only including a comic book-style send-up of the 1989 trade paperback cover of The Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past, but also by incorporating the cover of the original Weird Heroes of Public Access zine into the crumbling wall.
My latest project for Shadowdark is a second-level adventure inspired by Hungarian folklore called Avenge the White Mare (live on Kickstarter through July 27th!). I wanted the cover art to be evocative of the system by using black & white art, but I also wanted it to stand out from other Shadowdark products by using a bold, linocut relief print technique courtesy of my buddy Nick Holland: |  |
(Why are there two versions? Because the copper version is a hand-printed special edition option!)
I also wanted the art to be cool enough to put on a t-shirt. You can be the final judge of that, but I think I’ve been successful there with both the zine’s cover art and the linocut carving of the adventure’s big bad, the three-headed Sárkány: |  | But what happens when you can’t afford art? You’ve still got options! |  | The covers for Lair of the Frog God by Chaoclypse and Into the Odd Remastered by Chris McDowall exclusively use FREE public-domain art that was photobashed to create. Chaoclypse even made an excellent instructional YouTube video about it. (More public domain art resources on New School Revolution!) As for one of my older RPGs, MechTek, I just took a tablet and made something that is at least charming. I know that you can do either of these things, too!
Finally, and perhaps above all else, do not succumb to the siren song of using generative artificial intelligence for your project. This whole article is about why people judge your book by its cover, and ethics aside, if people see AI art on the outside, they’re going to think there is AI everything on the inside!
One final idiom for you: “You only get one chance to make a first impression,” so make sure your cover art makes that great first impression on people!
Until our next adventure, stay inspired and keep those dice rolling!
Michael Putlack Night Noon Games
PS. All subscribers to the Analog Union newsletter who back the physical tier of my Kickstarter campaign will get a free Analog Union sticker, so go check it out now! |  | | | Analog Union The Analog Union Has a Subreddit! | It’s been almost a year of the Analog Union, and we’ve been having a great time making this newsletter. We’re grateful to you for subscribing, and even more so that you’re all actually reading it each week and checking out our posts. The next logical step is to actually make this a real two-way community where we can all talk to each other.
We’ve created a subreddit for the Analog Union where you can hang out and talk about gaming with us. It gives us a chance to hear what you want in the newsletter and from the creators in the Analog Union, and to learn more about what you like and what you’re doing.
If you’re already into Reddit, you don’t need any explanation, but if you’re not, here’s a simple overview. Reddit is a lot like a forum, and each group or topic is called a subreddit. Every subreddit has its own rules and its own way of doing things. We’re making ours a welcoming, inclusive space to talk about anything in the tabletop gaming realm.
When you go to https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogUnion you will see a fairly new community, and it relies on you to jump in and make it a fun place to be. We’ll post every time there’s a new newsletter so you can comment on it. You’ll see Analog Union members posting about what we’ve got going on, as well as just talking about gaming topics in general.
Reddit has “user flairs” that you can attach to yourself, and they’re specific to each subreddit. So for ours, you can wear flair that says you’re a gamer, an artist, a designer, a writer, or any other role, or create your own custom flair.
If you’ve got something you want to promote about yourself, or you’re looking for collaborators, or even gamers to play with, that’s allowed, so long as it doesn’t get spammy. Read the rules when you join; they’re pretty simple. Be cool, stay on topic (games!), and don’t start fights.
We’re excited to make a place to hang out with everyone, and can’t wait to see you there. You’ll be able to spot Analog Union members by our flair, so please say hi! (And invite a friend!) | | | | | Horseshark Games Pick Up at Gen Con 2026! | By James A. Pozenel, Jr.
Gen Con is right around the corner, and there’s a new shipping option at horsesharkgames.com for this month only! When you order from the HSK Online Store, you’ll have an option to pick up your order directly from Horse Shark Games at Gen Con. Save on shipping. Order direct. Get your books signed if you want.
Pick-ups will probably only occur on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday (July 30th, 31st & August 1st) and mainly during the hours of 9 am – 6 pm. Don’t worry, Netcrawl RPG will be at two booths during Gen Con. Both Indie Press Revolution (booth #449) and Goodman Games (booth #109) will have copies of the core books on hand. |
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| | Get Haunted Industries How To Do Stuff On the Cheap and Easy | By Joey Royale
Ciao Paisans! How ya been? Good for you. Ok, look- I am here to remind you again, you don’t need to be a rich computer scientist to make cool stuff. This week, I started making a series of videos for the Staplecult YouTube page to show how I make my zines, including sourcing and manipulating images.
I went to Goodwill the other day and picked up an old handyman book for $1.50. I am in the process of making a zine solely from the images in this book, a free version of Affinity, and my twisted mind. These videos will cover the creation of the zine, and then I am going to get into why (sometimes) I give myself strict constraints when creating something new. | | |
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| | Tiger WizardDungeon Cats at the Ennies Emporium |
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ShireCon North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th |
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ShireCon is celebrating its 8th year! Two days of role-playing and board games in the Berkshires! Come for a day and a half of OSR and modern gaming. Visit our vendors selling old and new games and enjoy the local fare in North Canaan, CT |
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Under The Dice Fest Enfield, CT – October 2nd, 3rd & 4th |
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Under The Dice Fest returns this October 2nd- 4th!
UTDFest is focused on independent tabletop gaming, with a focus on miniatures and wargames! The New England Mordheim Open returns, along with roleplaying games, game tournaments, workshops, live music, and more! You don’t want to miss it! |
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ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th |
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ArcaneCon is returning October 16th & 17th, 2026. Join us in a celebration of indie, old school, and old school-inspired RPGs, miniature games, board games, and more! ArcaneCon is Western Massachusetts’s premiere tabletop hobby convention! Game submissions are open now!!! See more information at Tabletop Events. |
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Keep on emailing us at hello@analogunion.com to let us know what you’d like to see more of/less of and to share ideas. If you enjoy the Analog Union newsletter, please tell your friends to sign up at AnalogUnion.com. Until next time! —JHM |
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