This is the Analog Union newsletter for July 14th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
|
Author: admin
-
Tuesday, July 14th
Why cool cover art matters, How to make Zines on the cheap, the AU on Reddit, and more! -
Tuesday, July 7th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for July 7th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Dark Guide Tony’s Trash Can, Dungeon Books, Ennies Emporium, Revisting Eamon, and more. 
June 30th, 2026
Welcome Mystic Punks
Revisiting Eamon
Dungeon Books
The Ennies Emporium
The Sometimes Kingdom
In this newsletter
Dungeon Books | Ennies Emporium | Mystic Punks | Solarian Games
Mystic Punks
Oof. Who Let This Guy In?
Yo! Dark Guide Tony here. Half of the Mystic Punks RPG crew, along with Dark Guide Jay, who told me he’s in his flying Moog octopus, creating killer synth beats while hovering above planet X’lickgang.
I’m super stoked to be here as an Analog Union contributor, where I plan to bring you my trash influences by the pound (until Hambone puts me back in trash timeout). They’re cheaper in bulk. Trust me.
If ya like what ya read from me, be sure to check out all things Mystic Punks!
Dark Guide Tony’s Trash Can
Peanut Butter Wolf said it best with their vinyl weighing a ton.
That’s me, for real, only it’s trash. What kind of trash, you ask? Whattaya got?
Movies, comix, paperbacks, TV shows, anything is fair game. And it’s always a source of research and inspiration for RPG stuff.
But for this week, let’s keep it focused on movies.
We all know that physical media is dying a sorta slow death, but on the upside, people still want their objects, be it for collectibility, reproduction quality, or “ownership”. And thankfully, for movies, we have many labels and distros (Vinegar Syndrome, Visual Vengeance from Diabolik, Bleeding Skull, J4HI, to name a few) that keep the trash dream alive.
My latest trash rabbit hole: Martial arts revenge à la arena death match.
The trash: Angelfist (apologies for no DVD pic, my bro leftshoe is currently borrowing it) and Dragon Fire, both from 1993.
Both of these flix center on the protag’s family member being murdered post-kumite. So, it’s pretty clear what the bereaved siblings will do: Look for answers in a seedy urban underbelly, show off their sweet fighting skills, kick multiple hineys in aforementioned kumite, find love, and, duh, exact ice-cold vengeance.
These two movies are great examples of how, even a few years later, they are still riding Van Damme’s Kickboxer wave. Although production values and, just barely, acting are the most obvious differences between Kickboxer and my picks, the latter have real earnestness and heart. That’s not to take away from Van Damme’s splits, but a key distinction between real cinema (lol) and trash is usually with a DIY attitude in execution.
For example, Angelfist’s Catya Sassoon (Vidal Sassoon’s daughter!) spars against Roland Dantes in a sweaty stick fight, which may, but probably not, highlight Sassoon’s agile flips. My money’s on the stunt double, but regardless, Sassoon gives it her all, wielding the dual death sticks, proving to Dantes her vengeance quest will not be denied.
Likewise, Dragon Fire’s concrete arena was probably shot in the corner of an abandoned Pep Boys. But hey, add a makeshift despotic throne and a flaming oil drum, and I’m convinced I’m looking at 2050 Los Angeles.
I strive to bring that same energy to Mystic Punks and RPGS, whether writing or running games. The more trash I have in my repertoire, the more tools I have at my disposal for hooks, plots, and fun.
And just like watching trash movies with yer buds, isn’t that what we love about RPGS? The community, and laughter, shared through storytelling, peppered with the occasional flaming flying roundhouse kick shot in slo-mo.
Dark Guide Tony
Solarian Games
Revisiting Eamon – text adventuring in 2026
In 1979, Donald Brown, a young computer programmer in Iowa, was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons by Sherry & Bill Fesselmeyer, founders of the Des Moines chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Bill wasn’t a programmer, but had an idea for a computer-based version of Dungeons & Dragons, and Donald took on the challenge. In doing so, he created The Wonderful World of Eamon (later shortening it to “Eamon”) and did something that had never been done before.
Text adventure games weren’t completely new. A group of gamers at MIT had written a game called Zork that ran on mainframes, and there was one text adventure that home computer users could buy called Adventureland. But they weren’t like D&D. You could play the game once, and it was over. What Donald Brown did was revolutionary. He made a game engine. In Eamon, you could create a character, just like D&D, and bring your character from one game adventure to another. As soon as he wrote Eamon, he wrote the Eamon Dungeon Designer that let anyone write their own adventures with no computer programming knowledge at all.
Donald gave Eamon away for free through the Apple II club that met at the Computer Emporium in Des Moines, and it spread quickly through gamers copying floppy disks in person and sharing them over the phone lines with the newly invented idea of a bulletin board system, or BBS. While other game designers were selling their software, Donald put his out for free and turned it into a community. As gamers wrote their own Eamon adventures, they gave them away for free as well, in the punk spirit of the early computer scene.
I was in grade school at the time, and had just discovered Dungeons & Dragons for myself. My friends and I played every weekend, but it wasn’t enough for me. I spent my spare time drawing maps of imaginary worlds and rolling up characters I would never play. One summer at computer camp (I know, you’re already feeling jealous of what a cool kid I was) a friend gave me Eamon and the Dungeon Designer, and from then on, I could play something like D&D any time I wanted to!
Compared to actually playing a tabletop role-playing game in person, with the infinite canvas of paper and pen, Eamon was small and restrictive. A floppy disk from the era holds just 140KB, about a tenth the size of a small picture on the web today. There wasn’t enough room for all the rules of D&D, or even all the stats. The adventures themselves were simple dungeon crawls because they had to be. But it was enough.
And you know, I think it was better that way. There’s a reason people still want to play TTRPGs with other humans in physical spaces today, even though technology has progressed so far that you can have an experience nearly as rich and infinite as a TTRPG all on your own, in your room, with an AI-generated game master, or a gorgeously rendered video game like Baldur’s Gate 3. But no. We’re humans, and we need other humans. A simple game like Eamon scratches the adventuring itch without ever feeling like it threatens to replace the face to face activity of a TTRPG.
This week, I decided to go back to Eamon and revisit the game that meant so much to me as a kid. And what I found was more than I could have hoped for. It turns out Eamon is very much still alive today, with new versions, new adventures, and a community that keeps it going. But more about that in a minute.
Anyone who watches our weekly podcast, Tabletop Weekly, has seen my little collection of vintage computers, including a stack of Apple II computers. I do have an Apple //e that is my “daily driver,” but it’s still in the storage stacks, and I wanted to jump right into playing Eamon. So I fired up an emulator on my Macbook called Virtual II, created Tim the Enchanter, and started playing. It was as good as I remembered.
Naturally, the next thing I wanted to do was make a new dungeon for the game. The Eamon Dungeon Designer will walk you through each step, creating rooms, monsters, treasure, and effects. But as I mentioned, these are small programs on small disks, running on machines with about the same power as a TV remote has today. You have to design your dungeon beforehand on paper so that you can just enter the details into Dungeon Designer. I thought I’d go old school and see if I could re-create the classic AD&D module The Village of Hommlet.
To keep things simple, I didn’t try to enter the entire module. I skipped the village and went straight to the ruined moat house. Even simpler, I just put in the dungeon level. But it worked! It was a lot of typing and some creative re-imagining for the stripped-down Eamon ruleset, but after an afternoon of blissful retrocomputing, I had the Hommlet dungeon ready for my digital text avatar, Tim the Enchanter, to make his way through.
I have to say, I had more fun with this than I can remember having with any video game. I don’t know who it was that said “your imagination is the most powerful graphics engine,” but that’s exactly what happened for me. I’ve caught the text adventure bug.
The best news is, text adventures are alive and well today. I’ll keep it focused right now on Eamon. The Eamon Adventurer’s Guild is online and active, as well as the Eamon Wiki where you can find everything from a history of the game to a multitude of ways to play on any device from a vintage computer to a modern laptop or even a phone. If you have ever found yourself doomscrolling and wishing you could spend your time having more fun and less regret, I highly recommend diving into a proper oldschool text adventure. There are literally hundreds of adventures written by community members from 1980 right up through 2026. They run the gamut from fantasy to modern to sci-fi, and they also make great inspiration for adventures you can adapt for your own “real” tabletop games.
Give Eamon a try, and please, write to me and let me know if you do, and what you think of text adventuring!
Eamon Wiki Friends of the Union
Dungeon Books: Jersey City, NJ
Hi! We’re Panat and Carrie, and we run Dungeon Books, a sci-fi, fantasy, and RPG bookstore in Jersey City, NJ. We met playing Old School Dungeons & Dragons in 2024 and, a few months into our campaign, were inspired by Appendix N in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide to open a specialty bookstore: a space where DMs and players can roll dice at the table and pick up a SFF book that inspires their next adventure.
What really excites us is introducing new players, young and old, to the world of RPGs. Part of our mission is making sure the hobby doesn’t start and end with D&D; there’s a whole universe of systems, settings, and indie RPGs out there, and we want Dungeon Books to be a doorway into all of it. Beyond the bookstore, we’ve been fortunate to work with local organizations such as the Jersey City Free Public Library and the Liberty Science Center to introduce the hobby to a wider audience and show how fun and accessible RPGs can be.
We’re a bit of a nostalgia spot, too. Our walls feature art from classic fantasy illustrators like David B. Mattingly and Frank Frazetta, and we keep a rotating stock of Heavy Metal and vintage paperbacks like Larry Niven, Michael Moorcock, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. We also make a point of working with local artists; all of our brand merch is designed and produced right here in Jersey City.For the latest, follow us on Instagram @dungeonbooks and check out our website www.dungeonbooks.com.
Check out Dungeon Books Analog Union
The Ennies Emporium on BackerKit
Ahoy!
Over the next 10 days, the members of the Analog Union who’d been nominated for Ennies in 2025 will be featured in BackerKit’s Ennies Emporium.
From BackerKit: “The ENNIE Awards (the “ENNIES”) are an annual, fan-driven celebration of excellence in tabletop roleplaying games. Dedicated to recognizing outstanding achievement, the ENNIES honor the designers, writers, artists, and publishers whose creativity and passion shape the hobby. As a true people’s choice award, the final winners are determined by online votes from the global gaming community.This year, in collaboration with BackerKit, nominees from 2025 are coming together to further celebrate all the amazing games and products that were part of the ENNIES last year by launching ready-to-ship projects featuring their nominated game/product.”
Check out Dungeon Cats by Tiger Wizard!
Dungeon Cats is a rules-light tabletop role-playing game for 3-6 players. You will pretend to be cats, and explore dungeons, fighting vile creatures to gain treasure! Dungeon Cats can be played in under an hour and is a casual introduction to TTRPG’s.
Also, check out Small Party by Justin Sirois!
Sickest Witch, nominated for Best Game and Best Rules + Party with the Ennie Nominated Original Series. Small Party, an art-forward series of figures featuring our favorite creators.
Stillfleet Studio
The Sometimes Kingdom RPG: a limited actual-play series!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a universe of folkloristic magic and high-octane, Fast and the Furious-style adventure? Where a living witch’s cabin with giant chicken feet is literally on the run from the cops? And only a highly trained team of Gig Adventurers with an eldritch vintage muscle car will stand up for the rights of hedge magic-users?
We’ve all asked these questions, I know. This July, our team is going to answer them in the form of a two-part actual play of The Sometimes Kingdom RPG starring three amazing actors.
Tune in Sunday, July 12, at 6 PM EDT and the next week, July 19, at 6 PM EDT (after the World Cup final) as special guests Nihara Nichelle, Apollo Pierce, and Rachel Kordell join yours truly (Wythe Marschall) as Adventurers on a quest GMed by Sometimes creator Ethan Gouldini.
Watch on Twitch Watch on YouTube 
ShireCon
North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th
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
Get Tickets Under The Dice Fest
Enfield, CT – October 2nd, 3rd & 4th
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!
Learn More ArcaneCon
Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, June 30th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for June 30th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Heartbreak In Stereo, Tabletop Weekly, Roleplaying Rediscovered, and more! June 30th, 2026
Heartbreak In Stereo at 25
Tabletop Weekly
SJG’s Killer
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Solarian Games
Ham & Egg Publishing
Heartbreak Is Forever: Heartbreak In Stereo’s 25th Anniversary
As much as my spirit may feel like that of a hopeful teenager, and my fashion sense is that of a child who dresses himself, I am 47 years old.
The reminders don’t often come in the form of cracking knees and back pain, as they do from folks making posts on Instagram that say, “Such and such album is 20 years old today.” Last week, it showed up as a message from an old friend about my 30th High School Reunion.
Safe to say, I’ve been around for a bit.
When I look in the mirror today, especially in sunlight, I no longer see “Hambone the Black”, as much as “Hambone the easing towards more Salt than Pepper” with fully white sideburns. But 25 years ago, on a Feria Starry Night, four of my best friends and I drove to Nada Studios in Newberg, New York, and recorded an album called Heartbreak In Stereo.
Frank Iero, Tim Hagevik, Neil Sabatino, Shaun Simon, and I had a band called Pencey Prep. We had big dreams and an unshakeable work ethic. In the year leading up to the album’s recording, we might have actually practiced more than almost any other local band. At gigs, we were tight to the point of a near-psychic connection.
Heartbreak was the culmination of that. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s everything a bunch of late-era kids from New Jersey had in our souls. We left it all on the tape. The album may have sounded a lot different if there had been anybody there from the label to tell us no, but as it was, Pencey Prep had always been an afterthought in their eyes.
Still, 25 years later, the album is a crystal-clear window into a very specific place and time in our lives, now remastered for your listening pleasure.
While there were many albums that challenged me, helped me shape my tastes, and, in so many ways, made me feel less alone, Heartbreak In Stereo is the album that changed my life.
A quarter century ago, dear reader, I bet on a long shot. I bet on myself, I bet on my band, and I bet on our shared dream. Sure, it didn’t quite turn out as planned, but it’s the reason I am here today. The amazing friends I’ve made, my grand adventures, and the brilliant woman who chose me as her favorite Pokémon are all because 25 years ago, Pencey Prep shone very brightly, very briefly.I’d still take that bet.
Listen Now On Spotify Listen Now On Apple Music Solarian Games
Tabletop Weekly
Tabletop Weekly recently hit our 100th episode, so I thought this would be a good time to encourage you to join us every Sunday. It’s the partners of Solarian, Jayson (me!) and Peter, talking about what’s happened in tabletop gaming each week.
We go live at 9 pm Eastern every Sunday, and the chat is always open.
The show gets released afterward as an audio podcast, and the videos can all be found on the YouTube page – just go to TabletopWeekly.com to subscribe.
This week, we talked about:
HBG Con – the mini con run by House of Books and Games in northern Connecticut, where I’ll be running a 1970s TV police drama as an RPG
UK Games Expo 2026 saw tabletop creators push back against AI, as vendors put up “human made” signs, industry professionals spoke out against generative AI on panel discussions, and creators criticized UKGE leadership for lacking clear anti-AI policies.
Wizards of the Coast is hiring for an AI engineer role, despite pledging not to use generative AI, and is reportedly preparing to put AI in customer-facing features on D&D Beyond.
A new homebrew tool for D&D lets you use tarot cards to weave together character traits and personality quirks during character creation and even guide you with ideas during your game.
The Wire meets The Shire in a new RPG called The Merryshire Detective Club, where you can play hobbits who are amateur sleuths in a “cozy crime” mystery game.
We love interacting with the audience during the show, and even have an afterparty on Discord for our Patreon backers. Tabletop Weekly is a great way to check in on what’s happening in gaming every week, so let us be your podcast companions!
Tabletop Weekly Podcast Arcane Sword Press
RPG Rediscovery! Returns with KILLER by Steve Jackson Games
I’m writing this as I wait for my return flight from BETWEEN TWO CONS. I’m in Portland while camping out at Dark Future/Black Water. Place rules! And luckily, they have a used copy of Killer!
$20 and it’s yours!
Okay, so back to the game- Killer. This game is kind of cheating because it’s not so much of a traditional RPG; it’s a LARP! Yes, that’s right, I am talking about LARPing. It’s a game where you pretend to be an assassin in your everyday life. The basic premise is that you are a secret assassin and you are assigned a friend to “assassinate,” but you are ALSO being “hunted”. This is a meta game, as in it is actively played while you live your life. So, any moment you see a friend, they might pull a squirt gun on you and complete their objective!
I actually ran this game years ago, back in 2009, using a website instead of the book. I knew about it as a college campus game, but I organized it around my friends in our hometown. I also had a reward for the last assassin standing to give players a motive. The main element of this game is the amount of paranoia that grows as you keep playing the game. There are designated “save zones” and specific weapons that count to help give some control to the game. But yeah, let’s dive into the “weapons”!
The game encourages creative ways to “kill” your target. I’ve already mentioned squirt guns, but other examples are:
- Dart gun
- A Banana held like a gin
- A Rubber snake left in a bag
- Water balloons
- A pillow dropped from a window to be an anvil
- Hot sauce or salt in a drink as a poison
- Booby traps, like a strip of paper with “bomb” written on it, slipped between the pages of a book
- A flashlight as a “laser” for a sci-fi flare
- Etc. etc
The book also includes scenarios for different goals, including free-for-all, team assassins, etc. My personal favorite scenario is The Agents from 2080, where some players are future assassins trying to alter history.
The book provides a lot of guidance for organizing a game of Killer, along with safety tools and fun roleplaying elements like contracts and death certificates. I was thinking of running a version of this game at the upcoming Under The Dice Fest (badges on sale now!), but I’m not sure I’ll be able to rope in enough folks. We will see!
Even if you don’t plan on organizing a game or Killer, the book is a lot of fun to flip through. There’s a great sense of humor running through it that really captures the charm Steve Jackson Games was known for in the early 1980s. It’s a great read, and honestly, a really novel concept. I don’t know if SJG were the real creators of the game, but they certainly wrote the complete guide for running it! Check it out!
Hardest advert ever. Next up on RPG Rediscovery- Universe: The Role-playing Game of the Future by SPI Until then!
Bryan
Nominations are open for the 3rd annual Golden Fez Awards
The Golden Fez Awards are held every year at TotalCon gaming convention in Marlborough, MA. The 3rd annual awards are open to any tabletop RPG published in 2026. You can nominate your own game, or submit one that you just happen to be a fan of.
The Golden Fez is a tribute to Solarian co-founder James Carpio, who passed away in 2024. James loved all sorts of tabletop games, and we’ve crafted the categories to represent the qualities that he loved most in games.
Categories include:
The Holy Hand Grenade Award
Given for best new game mechanic.
The Pick Up and Play Award
Easiest game to learn.
Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.
The Velvet Smooth Award
For best design and production.
The Hack the Planet Award
Presented to the most unexpected idea. Originality in any form, whether it’s rules, setting, design, or anything else.
The Bucket of Blood Award
Best combat rules
The Golden Fez Game of the Year
Game of the Year is given to the one game published this year that we feel best embodies all of the things about gaming that James loved.
Nominations will be open from Tuesday, June 23rd, through Monday, November 20th, 2026. You can suggest one or more categories for your nomination, or let the judges decide.
Go to GoldenFez.com to nominate your favorite TTRPG or submit your own!
Submit Your Nomination ShireCon
North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th
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
Get Tickets Under The Dice Fest
Enfield, CT – October 2nd, 3rd & 4th
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!
Learn More ArcaneCon
Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, June 23rd
This is the Analog Union newsletter for June 23rd, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
The Golden Fez, Secret Country, Wythe on Game Design, and more! June 23rd, 2026
The 3rd Annual Golden Fez
Secret Country Rides Again
Wythe On Game Design
In this newsletter
Ham & Egg Publishing | Solarian Games | Stillfleet Studio
Solarian Games
Nominations are open for the 3rd annual Golden Fez Awards
The Golden Fez Awards are held every year at TotalCon gaming convention in Marlborough, MA. The 3rd annual awards are open to any tabletop RPG published in 2026. You can nominate your own game, or submit one that you just happen to be a fan of.
The Golden Fez is a tribute to Solarian co-founder James Carpio, who passed away in 2024. James loved all sorts of tabletop games, and we’ve crafted the categories to represent the qualities that he loved most in games.
Categories include:
The Holy Hand Grenade Award
Given for best new game mechanic.
The Pick Up and Play Award
Easiest game to learn.
Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.
The Velvet Smooth Award
For best design and production.
The Hack the Planet Award
Presented to the most unexpected idea. Originality in any form, whether it’s rules, setting, design, or anything else.
The Bucket of Blood Award
Best combat rules
The Golden Fez Game of the Year
Game of the Year is given to the one game published this year that we feel best embodies all of the things about gaming that James loved.
Nominations will be open from Tuesday, June 23rd, through Monday, November 20th, 2026. You can suggest one or more categories for your nomination, or let the judges decide.
Go to GoldenFez.com to nominate your favorite TTRPG or submit your own!
Submit Your Nomination Ham & Egg Publishing
Secret Country Rides Again!
Today is a big day for your ol’ buddy HB! First up, it’s release day for Secret Country’s 4th full-length album, Word To The Wise, from Killing Horse Records. I am really proud of this record. After a two-year recording process–still 12 shy of Chinese Democracy, take that G’n’R!–Word To The Wise feels like a natural progression of a sound that has one foot firmly planted in country and one foot in rock n’ roll. It is available today on all streaming platforms, so please check it out if you will.
We are Secret Country, and we play Outlaw Rock n’ Roll!Listen Now 
Secondly, and to me, the most important thing, today I am seven years sober!
My life has changed in the most profound ways since I prioritized myself, my mental health, and my well-being. Hell, part of the reason why I am in the hobby at all is that I finally made the choice to live, and to do so without alcohol.
I’m not one to preach and I also won’t deny I had a hell of a time until I didn’t. But that long weekend I took over two decades definitely went on way too long. For me, I knew I needed to get off the ride about two years before I finally was ready to speak the words. It wasn’t easy, dear reader. Because I know sometimes in life it might feel like we’re stuck, trapped even, but we never really are. There is help if you need it, and no shame in asking for it. I am glad I did.
Be excellent to yourself and each other.
-Hammy Stillfleet Studio
Looking Under The Hood: Designing Games Together
Even though our tiny company focuses on making TTRPGs using a common system, we are firm believers in experimentation. Every time you sit down to write a game—to create a new shared experience at the table—you can approach the tasks involved a little differently, from a new perspective, leading to new results.
With even a small team, differences in styles (of writing, art, mechanical design, emotional goals, etc.) become obvious. Part of the fun of collaboration becomes comparing notes and forging consensus to create final products.
Recently, the Stillfleet Studio held a little symposium to compare some of our own intra-Grit System Game Jam experimentations. We offered sneak-peeks of several summer 2026 zines, games, and game aids. And we talked a lot about cats (ugly, strangely named, magical, existentially cursed).
In addition, we believe in constantly learning from others. The real reason to host a podcast about TTRPG design is, in some ways, to learn from our guests.
This summer, we kicked off a short series about the development and launch of a new Forged-in-the-Dark-ish game by our friends in NYC called Road Warriors in which players are struggling stand-up comics. It’s not a game about telling jokes: it’s a game about being the butt of the joke, and it’s both brutal (your “hit points” are self esteem!) and funny to play in an easy, no-need-to-try way.
Check out our chat with one of the creators (we talk about the Grit System and the Agon System) and our actual play of the game (comedy set at a funeral). You can hear how the game is still evolving in small ways as it heads toward publication.
We’re excited to have a final interview with the whole team and get into the weeds of FitD mechanics (clocks, risk management) and/versus the ancient art of open-mic joke delivery.
What was that must-join Game Jam you mentioned? ShireCon
North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th
ShireCon is cleebrating it’s 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
Get Tickets Under The Dice Fest
Enfield, CT – October 2nd, 3rd & 4th
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!
Learn More ArcaneCon
Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, June 16th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for June 16th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Pozenel’s Book Nook, Roleplaying Rediscovered, Hambone writes a novella, and more! June 16th, 2026
Pozenel’s Book Nook
A New Member Joins The AU
Meet Alisha Garfinkel-Gross
The World’s Worst Detective
Roleplaying Rediscovery
Under The Dice Fest ’26
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Horse Shark Games | Night Noon Games
James A. Pozenel, Jr., Horse Shark Games
Book Nook
A review of André Norton’s Witch World & Web of the Witch World
By James A. Pozenel, Jr.
Among the many things the OSR movement brought us, it renewed the spotlight on Gary Gygax’s Appendix N. For the uninitiated, Appendix N is a list of books and authors that the creator of D&D cited as influential to the game’s development. Since joining the DCC RPG cult back in 2015, I’ve taken the time to read many of the authors and books in the list. But I repeatedly bounced off one member of the list – André Norton.
Born Alice Mary Norton in 1912, she became a force of nature in the sci-fi fantasy genre, churning out a prodigious number of titles (see Wikipedia’s bibliography here). And therein is part of the problem. Gary Gygax only name-drops André Norton in his Appendix N list with no specific titles.
I’d read that Witch World was a notable series in her corpus of work, but I usually encountered a random book from the series, which has four distinct cycles and several volumes of collected short stories for a total of 33 different books! Those first books of the Estcarp Cycle seemed to elude me on my bookstore visits. Sometime in 2024 or 2025, I finally found a treasure trove and picked up the first 5 books of the series. Then they sat on the TBR pile until the past couple of months.
I’ve finished the first two books in the series, Witch World (1963) & Web of the Witch World (1964), and I can confidently report that they are worth the read for pulp aficionados. Are the plots deep and complex? No. Is the prose particularly noteworthy? Also no. They are, however, easy to read, and Norton moves the story along at a pretty fair pace. I am not going to spoiler too much, but the premise is a modern day soldier and spy needs to get away from all the enemies he’s made and so, per the oft-used trope of books written during this time period and genre (early to mid 20th century pulp), he manages to transport himself to another world with strange customs and of course fantasy sword and sorcery vibes. The perfect getaway!
These well tread tropes of planar travel and a fantasy setting are not why Witch World merits your attention. As the first book, Witch World, winds its way to its climax, we learn the bad guys (called the Kolder) are also from another planet/plane(?) and have a portal into Witch World, and they don’t use magic but technology (sorry, for the straight-up spoiler). Now we have some sci-fi in our fantasy! Wild stuff! At this point, it starts dawning on me why Gary Gygax has included Ms. Norton in his Appendix N.
Web of the Witch World continues the worldbuilding, and we become a little more acquainted with Witch World’s previous pre-historical society. A society that had “magical” powers and fell apart somehow. The survivors from this legendary society become like gods to these fantasy folk. A whole group of isolationists are semi-mutated and passed off as unusually misshapen humans as far as Witch World is concerned. So there is now fertile ground for some post-apocalyptic storytelling in Witch World! Amazing stuff to throw out there in the first ~450 pages of a series that continued being developed into the 21st century.
These layers are all pretty cool from the standpoint of writing and worldbuilding for our games. However, one of the strongest qualities André Norton brings to these books and to their place in our time is characters with real human depth. The protagonist and his eventual partner worry about each other in their private thoughts. For example, he wonders if his adventuring partner still loves him. Another character wrestles with a desire to be free from patriarchal society and just gets on with being a hero despite the odds and danger.
The other three books of Witch World’s Estcarp Cycle might sit on the TBR pile for a bit longer, but I don’t think they will stay there for long.
Night Noon Games
Welcome Night Noon Games to the AU!
The Analog Union is stoked to welcome Michael Putlack of Night Noon Games to the AU! Michael has been self-publishing RPGs under the Night Noon Games banner since 2021 and has been working full-time in the RPG industry since 2024! His main focus is creating for Shadowdark RPG, including freelance writing and editing for the likes of Roll for Combat, JP Coovert, and Bob World Builder, as well as handling operations, logistics, and strategy for The Arcane Library.
He also enjoys writing for his own systems and other off-beat stuff! Michael’s accomplishments include a $20,000 kickstarter campaign for his acclaimed Creating & Adapting Monsters for Shadowdark RPG zine, as well as getting cease and desists from both Darrington Press (probably warranted) and Space Camp (most definitely unwarranted).
Michael is absolutely thrilled to join the radical group of people here at Analog Union, and you can check out his latest projects below!
Avenge the White Mare with this new Shadowdark zine!
The first issue of the Attack the Light zine series, this adventure, based on Hungarian folktales, pits adventurers against the Sárkány dragon holed away in his Copper Castle. RPG newcomer Nick Holland is providing all of the hand-carved, abstract figurative relief print art within the zine. This unique style fits in with existing Shadowdark works while still standing on its own. (Be on the lookout for a special edition zine that includes a hand-printed cover by the artist himself!)
Attack the Light 1: Avenge the White Mare launches on Kickstarter on June 14th as part of Kickstarter’s Sidequest initiative, which teams 20 RPG creators together to run simultaneous campaigns for their zines. It’s going to be a hoot!
As an Analog Union subscriber, you can get special access to the Attack the Light preview issue right here! Plus, be on the lookout for a special reward available exclusively to Analog Union subscribers!
Sign Up To Be Notified On Launch 
Baywatch meets Lovecraft in Nyarlathotep’s Liegemen & the Sea Weed!
It’s 1994, and the lifeguards are keeping watch over the beaches of Southern California. Not only do you need to keep beach-goers safe from dangerous riptides, heavy surf, and errant jet skis, but also from Lovecraftian horrors from the depths!
A new strain of the devil’s lettuce has hit the streets. This “sea weed” packs an extra kick, and it’s up to the lifeguards to find out who has been bringing it into town before its true effects are revealed under the full moon!
Nyarlathotep’s Liegemen and the Sea Weed is designed for use with R’lyehwatch. HOWEVER, due to the game’s generous third-party license and system reference document, everything you need to play the game is contained within Nyarlathotep’s Liegemen!
The zine is currently on itchfunding through the end of June and is expected to ship out in early August! If you order today, you’ll immediately receive the current, fully-playable PDF version of the zine.
Pre-Order The Zine Now! Friends Of The Union
Alisha Garfinkel-Gross, Visual Artist
Meet Alisha Garfinkel-Gross!
Alisha lives in Jersey City, NJ, with her husband and her four cats. When she isn’t personally creating, she works in the advertising and PR industry, leading creative production. Her passions include playing Scrabble, eating Italian food, seeing live music, collecting 80s toys, and watching horror movies.Here she is in her own words.
Photography found me in high school, and I followed that call all the way to the San Francisco Art Institute. But after college, like most people, I was pulled into the fast-moving world of career life. Slowly, almost without noticing, I stopped creating for myself. I sought out healing work at The Bridge to Recovery, and emerging from that experience, the spark returned! In October 2025, I shared my work publicly for the first time in thirteen years.
As a neurodivergent artist embarking on my own mental health journey, what I create comes from a quiet place inside—a place where seeing becomes feeling. We may stand before the same view or carry the same emotions, yet how we experience them is uniquely our own. My work is my translation of those moments: how they move me, how they speak to me, how they live within me.
Check Out Alisha’s Freedom Series Ham & Egg Publishing
The World’s Worst Detective – A Novella
Ahoy!
It’s your ol’ buddy Hambone here with a pretty fun update.
Some of you may have heard, or recall me talking about the book I always wanted to write.
It started back in 2015, or whenever the first year Geo and I went to GenCon was, we went to a bunch of writers symposiums and planned on writing books when we got home. Geo wrote the exceptional A Girl Named Doom. I got discouraged and distracted. But I had this idea. A down-on-his-luck detective and the kid who hired him for a milk run that turns into a supernatural snafu. A semi-hard-boiled Cervantes-esque riff on pulp detective novels called The World’s Worst Detective.The main character’s name is Terry Toombs, the last name being a nod to Roddy Piper, who died as I took my first swing at the book. The first is because Stan Lee drilled the idea of alliteration into my brain at a formative age. The story takes place in the late 90s, and I have it mostly plotted out in my brain. At the very least, I know the finish, which, according to RL Stien, is where you start.
The prologue and Chapter 1 are up now, with a new chapter coming every week. It is FREE to read; all you have to do is sign up for the FREE tier on Ham & Egg’s Patreon. It’s a raw look into my writing process, straight from my Google doc to my Patreon. I am pretty proud of it, and I hope you give it a shot. You can check it out at the link below.Click Here To Read! Arcane Sword Press
Roleplaying Rediscovery
Roleplaying Rediscovery: “It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show” by Stellar GamesHello, and welcome to the first installment of my new editorial, Roleplaying Rediscovery, where I find a random, out-of-print RPG, learn it, and tell you all about my takeaway from it! I’ll have a few sections to help give this some structure.
A General Overview
A mechanic that stood out to me
If I would play it, run it, or skip it
Let’s get started with “It Came From the Late, Late, Late Show!”
This is a game I bought on a whim after I saw it listed on eBay. I knew nothing about it when I purchased it (along with two expansions in a lot), and I never heard of Stellar Games. I was drawn to the fun drippy ooze font associated with kitschy horror magazines, comics, and movies. But also that title AND the illustration of two zombies watching TV and eating popcorn in a simple but charming black & white illustration by Bradley K. McDevitt, who also did interior art.
What’s it about? The game is framed around two things: players make up an actor, and the GM is a Film director who tells the story, BUT the actors then play a role in the film being directed. So the idea is you are playing in a pulp horror film where insane stuff happens, and your character (the actor) plays out their role to fit the vibe. So it’s a horror game, BUT the players can break the fourth wall and their film character to interact with the director as the actor, asking questions or spending their FAME to change what the director determined for their character. Thai is actually a very fun mechanic, and I really don’t think I’m doing it justice until I describe the FAME stat or how the game works mechanically.
FAME is essentially like and XP pool where the higher your fame, the more famous you are so you can burn it to influence the director if you don’t like one of their calls or to even have all of the players pool their fame to spend it to suddenly cut to a new scene if something is going awry, as if the film reel was cut then spliced into a new part of the film. The only way you gain XP is by playing into the film’s tropes and being really overt with it- the dumber and more typical you lean into the film and your actor’s role, the more fame you earn. So it rewards you for being risk-taking, but you don’t want to accidentally kill off your character! What an Idea! The only other game I can think of that leans into this dual character dynamic is the Monty Python RPG, but that’s still its own flavor of a similar concept.
However, I really wish the rest of the game’s mechanics lived up to this premise. It’s a d100 game where you roll under your stat or skill to succeed. It feels directly inspired by Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying system. And much like that and other d100 systems, there are a lot of skills, TOO MANY skills! 14 “combat” talents and 68 “other” talents. They range from Cheerleading to Spaceships. This is a reflection of the actor’s skillset, which can be used in clever ways, I guess? But also- how does an actor have talent in spaceships? It’s up to the actor to make it work, then make it make sense while acting in a movie. Some skills make sense, for example: Screaming! Now, that’s a skill for a horror actor! There is also parachuting if you want your actor to do their own stunts. But Animal Husbandry? What about “Mental Map”? Or Nuclear Physics??? Don’t worry, they added Occult Knowledge just in case you end up running a Call of Cthulhu campaign between films (but that’s not the game, see below!). The combat talents are the same type of hyper-specific skills (rifle, sword, spear, throwing, etc.), but Artillery or “Strategic Weapons” gets lost on me. Remember- this is meant to be reflective of the actor’s personal talents, which they would demonstrate in whatever movie the director is directing. I WILL say the combat talent of Power Tools definitely fits the vibe.
You determine your skills by rolling a d10 twenty times and applying the result to any of those 82 talents. Twenty!!! So you can have a 3 in Geology and a 9 in Computers, but a 2 in Bow, etc., so wacky! I guess the idea is to make your ideal character actor- But it would make more sense if you played your actor outside of the film for roleplaying AS a B-movie actor; but that’s not this game’s focus! So these skills are lost on me. It’d make more sense to have each player make up a skill they could bring to their character’s actor’s skillset to make them more “hireable,” or have a metagame outside the film that explored this aspect, instead of picking twenty of the 82 presented.
This game IS cool though- the premise rules, the use of FAME as both XP and as a narrative currency is really fun. The mechanics are meh, but I’m also really not into d100-based systems, but it makes sense. This game feels built for a fun one-shot, but you could also easily build a campaign around different movies and deal with different genres by different directors.
So would I play it? Absolutely! I think you need the right group, though! If you play with strangers at a con and one of the players is too annoying or is trying to be funny, I can see it killing the game. This is easily why Monty Python requires players to play as straight as possible while absurd stuff happens to them. I would absolutely run this as well. It seems like character creation isn’t intensive at all (roll 4d10s for each stat and 1d10 for twenty different talents), and then you choose your props from the prop department before the film starts shooting. The expansion rules add other genres like sci-fi and martial arts films as a premise, which I can see being fun for the right group. If you like Roger Corman films or straight-to-video shock schlock, I definitely recommend tracking down a copy. Unfortunately, there is no official way to find this in PDF, and it’s been long out of print, so eBay is your best bet.
Next time on Roleplaying Rediscovery: KILLER by Steve Jackson Games!
Until then!
Bryan
Under The Dice Fest 2026
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!
ShireCon
North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th
ShireCon is cleebrating it’s 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
Get Tickets Under The Dice Fest
Enfield, CT – October 2nd, 3rd & 4th
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!
Learn More ArcaneCon
Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, June 9th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for June 9th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Flames of Orion, Hambone’s Fast 5, A new member joins the union, Magazine Madness Recap, and more. June 9th, 2026
Flames Of Orion
Hambone’s Fast Five
A New Member Joins The Au
A Reflection 
Why We Roll x Munako
Mod Con Convention Recap
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing
Mythmere Games | Solarian Games | Stillfleet Studio
Joey Royale, Get Haunted Industries
Reach for the stars with Flames of Orion
I was never a skirmish game guy. First, I didn’t have much exposure to the scene. Second, I was intimidated by the incredible level of detail hobbyists poured into their miniatures—not to mention what I assumed was a price tag far beyond my budget.
Then I attended Under the Dice Fest and met the Hive Scum crew. Everything changed.
Now my basement workbench is stacked with Speedpaints and Rust-Oleum cans. I’m chopping up bits and kitbashing monstrosities like it’s my full-time job. Writing this article was nearly impossible because most of my fingers are currently fused together with super glue. The hobby is downright addictive, opening the door to an entirely new world of creativity and visual storytelling.
But enough about me.
This is about Flames of Orion, a game created by Stephen Hupfer—a genuinely great guy and a constant source of inspiration. Steve, along with Gage and Terry, make up the excellent Hive Scum podcast while putting out the Under the Dice zine and the annual Under the Dice convention (https://underthedice.com/utdfest/).
Flames of Orion grabbed me immediately because I felt comfortable with the rules after about ten minutes of reading. I’ve explored a few other skirmish games, but the crunch can get overwhelming. Before long, I’m staring at a wall of special rules and considering a nap. Flames of Orion is refreshingly approachable. It’s practically pick-up-and-play, which is perfect for a knucklehead like me.
In Flames of Orion, players command a squad of four mechs battling up to three opposing squads on a compact 2′ x 2′ battlefield filled with terrain. The rulebook strikes a wonderful balance between lore, rules, optional systems, missions, and artwork.
And speaking of the artwork—Holy Cow! Every illustration oozes with personality and action. I really appreciate each piece of art containing a caption with the artist’s name. Very classy touch.
The center of the book features full-color spreads showcasing beautifully painted, kitbashed mechs that practically beg you to start building your own. There are also photos of real-life space hunks enjoying the game, which is obviously an essential component of any great tabletop experience.
As the man himself, Steve says, “EXPLOSIVE & DESTRUCTIVE fun!!”
Learn to play and pick up the good stuff through these links:
Everything: https://underthedice.com/
PDF: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/518798/flames-of-orion
Getting Deep with Our Homeboys at the Weekly Scroll:
Mythmere Games
Welcome Mythmere Games to the AU!
The Analog Union is stoked to welcome Matt and Suzy from Mythmere Games to the team. Matt Finch is the ENNIE-award-winning author of Swords & Wizardry (a retro-clone of Original D&D), and co-author of OSRIC, the retro-clone of first edition AD&D. He is also the author of the system-neutral resources Tome of Adventure Design, Tome of World Building, and the Nomicon, together with a number of adventure modules and other resources, including the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming. Matt is a co-owner of Mythmere Games.
John “Hambone” McGuire, Ham & Egg Publishing
Hambone’s Fast Five with Neil Sabatino
Ahoy!
Hambone here, reporting for duty, back with another creator spotlight. This week, I am stoked to introduce you to an old friend and road dog of mine, Neil Sabatino. Neil is a visual artist, a founding member and songwriter of the New Jersey-based Emo band Pencey Prep, and, since 2001, the creative mind behind his own group, Fairmont. Neil’s own body of work as both an artist and a musician is prolific, and yet he still finds time to run Mint 400 Records, a label that has released over 730 records since its inception in the early 2000s.He is currently overseeing the release of the 25th Anniversary re-release of Pencey Prep’s Heartbreak In Stereo. Without further ado, here’s Neil Sabatino.
1) Neil, introduce yourself to our readers and let them know what you do in the music industry.
Currently, I’m running Mint 400 Records, the label I started in 2007 to be the home for Fairmont’s albums. I would say, specifically, I’m handling art and music production on some projects, distribution, light PR, light tour and show bookings, show promotions, release and radio schedules, along with curating the label and compilations. It’s sort of all-encompassing and does what some much bigger labels do for their artists, but more in line with the DIY punk ethos. Mostly just kind of working in a trial-by-fire capacity to do whatever needs doing for our current roster.
2) This year marks the 25th anniversary of Heartbreak In Stereo, which Mint 400 and B Calm Press are releasing on June 26th. What was it like for you revisiting an album you recorded in your 20s as an adult with a prolific body of work in the rearview and more on the horizon?
This record was really interesting to work on, especially because we added some live tracks that were recorded as we had just started working on the record, so you could hear the progression of a band kind of going through the process of fine-tuning songs. I think the entire band was becoming much better musicians from August 2000 through June 2001, when we finally recorded the album. The funny thing about Pencey Prep, for me at least, is I don’t feel embarrassed about the album when I listen back; it was the start for me of becoming a much better musician, and that came from just practicing non-stop, like 4-7 hour practices multiple times a week. I wouldn’t have arranged the songs this way or wrote the same kind of parts if this record was made later in my career, I think the special thing was we were all in a room all trying to make our mark at the same time and what could have easily ended up too many cooks in the kitchen just kind of came together to make this almost magical one time thing for all of us. I haven’t listened to the album as thoroughly as I did recently to do this touch-up and remaster. I was just so proud of our younger selves for putting this cohesive, great tribute to the close of our adolescent years into song. I definitely was a difficult person in those days. I think at that time we were all having major life issues, trying to figure out who we were and what we wanted to do, so it’s kind of a minor miracle that the record got done and we got to play a handful of shows as the 5 of us. I always think of the Pencey Prep work ethic when I’m working with new people, and how when it’s the right fit and the right people, stuff isn’t a struggle, the songs just come, and they sound right. Luckily, I feel like I have a little of that magic happening in my current project, at least at band practice and on the records.
3) You were a founding member of Pencey Prep who co-wrote and performed on Heartbreak In Stereo. What do you think continues to endear this album to fans a quarter-century later?
All I know is I was really sad at the time, graduated from college, couldn’t get a real job, had no girlfriend, fighting with my parents. Everyone in the band had similar stories and this overwhelming feeling of aimlessness. I had left my previous successful band to try to start my own thing, and it failed. Then I get a call from Frank about joining. Really, I had what felt like nothing else going for me. I put 100% of everything into Pencey Prep, and I know the other guys did too. When you have five guys believing in something so much and pouring their hearts and souls into it, how can it not be great? It endures because it’s three distinct viewpoints of heartbreak, a mishmash of lyrics all about one universal thing: being miserable because you don’t have what you want. Without going into specifics of our personal lives, we had some heavy weights on our shoulders, and it felt like we were each other’s only support group. Mix that with the eclectic, diverse group of music we listened to nonstop, and it was bound to be good. We took the best parts of, like, 10 genres, forced them into 10 songs, and made them work together. We wrote a nod to the Cure like “Yesterday” and “19” and then an all-out metal song in “Trying To Escape The Inevitable” and did them as well as we did “Lloyd Dobbler”, an alt country ballad. This was the first truly collaborative band, I think we had all been in, and the exchange of ideas was constant. It’s so New Jersey, as they always say, must be something in the water here.
4) Looking towards the future, what upcoming Mint 400 releases are you most excited about?
I love this label because it’s less like a label and more like an artist collective and whether it’s bands that have been on my label for a decade or more like Young Legs, The Make Three, Yawn Mower or brand new signings like Afloat, Gardenia, Johnny Nameless, Novablood, everyone is doing their own cool thing that lies under that vague umbrella term of “indie”. Can’t pick just one band; it’s like asking me to pick between my children. I love them all equally. I’m just excited that we’re able to release so much cool stuff to the masses. I’m excited for you, dear reader, to discover an overlooked label that has so many gems you’d think we’re a jewelry store.
5) Thanks for the chat, Neil. Where can people find your stuff online?
Mint 400 Records is online at http://www.mint400records.com, and we’re on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube, and more, usually with the same handle of mint400records. I’m still occasionally dropping Fairmont albums made with my longtime collaborator Christian Kisala, but our new project, Please Be Careful (https://www.instagram.com/pleasebecarefulband), has an album out now, and we’re playing shows in the tri-state area. If that isn’t enough, also doing the art thing http://www.instagram.com/nsabatinoart and working hard on album covers and a bunch of books with my Pencey Prep bandmate Shaun Simon. Our first book, Open Caskets, is available for pre-order in digital format on Amazon as we speak! (https://tinyurl.com/5dzd28rt)
Pre-Save Heartbreak In Stereo 25 Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness Finale and New Beginnings!
Between December 2025 and the beginning of June 2026, I covered a total of 18 (I think?) Tabletop Gaming publications. And there were some true gems of the hobby worth seeking out, while others are aggressively OK. So, for this final installment, I will be ranking my publications from least to most favorite. I will not include the indie zines in this rating because I think they are, honestly, in a league of their own, and some of them, quite frankly, blow these old publications out of the water. Oh, and I won’t be doing this alone! That’s right, I will also be including Steve Jackson via The Space Gamer issue 29 from 1980, who also published a similar article called “Science Fiction and Fantasy Game Survey”! So when possible, I will give my ranking and include some of Steve Jackson’s contemporary opinion, indicated with SJ! Let’s get started:
14) Judges Guild Journal, The Dungeoneer, etc: Nothing special, I’m sure there is something cool hidden in some issues, but it isn’t worth digging.
SJ: “Both are rather sloppily done; the Judges Guild bills them as “good fanzines*” If they are fanzines, they’re better than average. If they are considered professional, they’re at the bottom of the heap, especially when the price is taken into account.”
13) Dungeon (TSR): #1-12 – Sorry folks, I don’t really like this magazine! I’m sure later issues are cool, but this magazine is mostly uninteresting and overly written adventures. But I like the idea of this magazine
12) The Duelist (Wizards of the Coast): This was a very cool dive into the past and into the fantasy vibes of my childhood in the mid-90s. This stuff here is for old School and Vintage format players, and is a cool bit of history, but nothing else really stands out
11) Imagine (TSR UK): It’s kinda cool? But also nothing special. They couldn’t compare to their UK counterparts, who blew them out of the water, content-wise. And this may have been TSR management’s fault?
10) Challenge Magazine (GDW): Its cool if you like other RPGs by Game Designer’s Workshop, but i lost interest once they stopped doing the JTAS segments. There is cool stuff in here if you like Twilight: 2000 and 2300AD, or even later- Shadowrun and Call of Cthulhu!
9) Ares (SPI): Conceptually cool, and definitely tried to be unique by offering pack-in complete chit-and-hex games. But those games seem to be mid-tier to bad. Great quality layout though!
SJ “This is a very attractive magazine, but it has some real problems. The kindest assumption would be that, after only two issues, “shaking down” to go through. It’s an interesting magazine, but it’s not yet the magazine SPI has been advertising.” and “The moral here may be: It is easy to say you’ll put out a magazine that appeals equally to gamers and fantasy/SF readers. It’s harder to do it.”
8) The General (Avalon Hill): A landmark magazine for those into wargaming, very cool interiors, and endless game options if you play Avalon Hill’s offerings.
SJ – “It offers detailed analyses of actual games, variants and scenarios, historical discussions, and contests-but only on the AH games. And so much of the AH line is historical that the SF/fantasy material (for Starship Troopers, Dune, Magic Realm, Wizard’s Quest) can get buried.”
7) Adventure Gaming (Manzakk Publishing): A well-curated mix of content of above-average material that would both appeal to fans of The Dragon and The General. It’s a shame it had a short run!
6) Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Flying Buffalo): This magazine is cool and extremely useful if you played Tunnel’s & trolls! In fact, this magazine made me go out and buy an old box set copy. For a house organ magazine, it succeeded! Well done!
SJ – “This is definitely the prettiest magazine in the field. SA appears only four times a year, and its two-person staff is dedicated and talented * so we often see page layouts and art¬ work fax beyond the norm for a gaming magazine.”
5) The Dragon (TSR): A landmark, great publication overall that is always a delight to flip through. I always pick up used copies when I see them at conventions, just to enjoy the advertisements and occasional articles while I run my vendor booth. There are some very fun articles in these old issues. However, no issue is rock-solid, and the articles often feel like empty padding. Regardless, I still recommend it as a fun, casual read for old-school RPG fans.
SJ “ THE DRAGON is a paradox. The largest magazine of its type (both in page count and in circulation), it often seems to have a rather low average quality of material. There are two reasons for this. The first: TD really does run more than its share of amateur and/or terribly boring stuff. The second reason? The average DRAGON is nearly twice the size of most other SF/fantasy game magazines,..and is one of the few to come out monthly. If not every article is a hand-polished jewel, one can understand! The net amount of high-quality material in TD is nothing to be ashamed of.”
4) The Space Gamer (Metagaming Concepts / Steve Jackson Games): This one surprised me! It’s full of charm and is a very good tabletop magazine that feels like it was written with enthusiasm for the hobby! Truly, I enjoyed every issue I slipped through, and even went back to some of them!
SJ “A caveat, for those who hadn’t noticed: this article was written by the publisher of TSG, who is not entirely disinterested …TSG attempts to be the ‘news 1 * magazine of the field. Originally devoted mainly to science fiction gaming, it now covers SF and fantasy equally, and is expanding its coverage of computer gaming. TSG will run a short (400-word) ‘capsule review’ of any new game or gaming product it receives. There is also an annual survey of games and publishers.”
It’s very funny that he “reviewed” his own magazine within his own magazine!
3) The Journal For the Traveller’s Aid Society (GDW): This magazine hits it out of the park. Yes, it is extremely focused on JUST Traveller, but everything in each quarterly issue is cool, inspiring, and/or exciting. While I obviously have a bias, I also blame this magazine for getting me even more into Traveller. I wish more games had dedicated magazines that provided this level of consistent, high-quality content.
SJ “ As such, its format and contents reflect a variety of Traveller role-playing activities- The Beastiary (animal encounters for Traveller), Ship’s Locker (artifacts and devices for Traveller ) and Refs Notes (currently concerned with Robots), In addition, the JOURNAL has coverage of new SF games and products (Just Detected) and variants of SF games (primarily GDW games), What we have here, then, is almost entirely a house organ … but it is a GOOD one. The JOURNAL is well-written and graphically excellent.”
2) Adventurer Magazine (Mersey Leisure Publishing): This is one of the best magazines I’ve ever looked at. Graphically compelling, the content is top-tier and covers both popular and less popular games. It’s very obviously a passion project; they burned too brightly, too fast. This is truly a “hidden gem” of the tabletop RPG world. Ya’ll need to check it out.
1) White Dwarf Magazine (Games Workshop) issues 1-100: The origins of White Dwarf are extremely cool and interesting, but wow, these dedicated hobbyists in the UK really knew how to rise above and beyond the rest. Of all of the magazines listed, this one is still going. While that’s primarily due to their success with Warhammer and related IPs, the foundational work of White Dwarf as an RPG magazine deserves more appreciation. The best D&D content I read was found here, not in Dragon. There’s something in the UK that the gaming hobby unlocked: visually and content-wise, Games Workshop dominates as the best gaming magazine I’ve read. No wonder Adventurer Magazine tried (and almost succeeded!) at emulating it.
SJ “Great Britain has many more gamers per square mile than does the United States, and WHITE DWARF is probably the most important fantasy/SF game magazine in that country; it is certainly the only one with any important circulation in the U.S.The same general sort of material you find in any fantasy game magazine — usually well done, and with a distinctly British slant. Lots of material for D&D (and a great preoccupation with new monsters and nasty traps). A certain amount of T&T and Traveller. Short reviews and news items, almost all about U.S. companies. It seems that the United Kingdom is very long on gamers, but somewhat short on game companies!”
So what’s next for my Analog Union editorials? Well, it looks like I’ll be doing RPG Anthropology! I appreciate everyone who voted on what I should cover next. I’m very happy to mix up the articles and move away from dusty magazines! I’m actually pretty excited about this! I will be using it to talk about games I frankly haven’t really given a chance, or that I’m curious about and haven’t heard or read people talk about. RPG Anthropology will be bi-weekly, BUT I will fill in the odd week in between with Hobby artists whose work I enjoy and think should be better known! So look forward to that as well!
Next Week- RPG Anthropology Begins with “It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show” by Stellar Games!
Until next time!
Bryan
By the way, I am looking for Playtesters for my next Traveller’s Aid Society release, “Travelling Solo: Solo Role-Playing for Traveller” If you’d like to sign up for it, please fill out this form! Thanks! 
Stillfleet Studio
Why We Roll × Munkao on Kala Mandala
Hey, y’all, this is Wythe from Stillfleet. I want to highlight a recent Why We Roll interview with OSR artist and game designer Munkao. In addition to introducing a new game that looks rad and smartly draws on a non-European vein of fantasy, Kala Mandala, Munkao offers some useful thoughts on philosophies of game design.
Among other things we talk about the difference between traditional TTRPG design—based on categorizing things, putting them in boxes or lists (of classes, of species, etc.)—and mandala-inspired design—based on overlapping identities, jumps between local centers of intrigue, and shifts in attention from rules to art to world bits in a more fluid, and frankly more realistic, stream-of-consciousness style.
At the level of the game-world, mandalas are concentric rings of tradition, language, and power, pushing back against clear us/them, good-guy/bad-guy narratives. I found it interesting that, at the level of game design, the whole project of Kala Mandala is also a series of mandalas—overlapping zines that build out sketches of a game-world without leaning on definitive “lore.”
This perspective on game design is extremely timely, especially for zine-lovers. I know many of us tend to dream big, but it may be smart not only from a production perspective but a pure game-design one to start with one “center” for a game (one adventure, one setting) and hop over to another, feeling our way toward the whole as we go, as opposed to proceeding from a long-ass definitive list of to-dos. Something to chew on.
Watch the interview and consider subscribing to Why We Roll if you like digging into contemporary TTRPG design!
Speaking of indie TTRPG design that brings together adventure-game stats and story-game elements, here’s a PSA: the first-ever Grit System Game Jam is running all summer. Don’t miss it!
Join the Jam Solarian Games
Convention Recap: Mod Con I
Well, we did the thing! ModCon I happened on Saturday, May 30th, on the Smith College campus in beautiful Northampton, MA. This was the first time either Solarian partner, Jayson or Peter, had run a convention, even a small one-day like this, so we had one self-imposed directive: keep it simple, stupid.
For our first time out, we kept it to just one thing: playing games. Special guests, vendors, and other con frippery will all happen as Mod Con goes on, but this year was all about playing games and putting moderns in the spotlight. And it worked!
Attendance was respectable, if modest, for a first outing, with 74 people in total on the day. (68 badges pre-sold, 8 no-shows, 14 walk-ins.) The best part was how great the people were. I was happy to see a diverse crowd, all having a great time despite the weather.
Oh man, the weather. When we picked May 30th as the date over a year ago, everyone generally agreed that the one thing that should be good would be the weather. Ha! When we all showed up at 7 am to begin setup, it was overcast, breezy, and 39 degrees Fahrenheit. The morning got worse as the wind picked up and the rain began to fall, and our spirits dropped as the clouds darkened. To top it off, the heat in the conference center was off for the season.
Sorry to everyone who had their first morning games downstairs in The Situation Room and The Crucible! We moved some tables upstairs for the first few hours and put space heaters where we could. Eventually, the clouds parted, the sun warmed up the town, and we were able to get back to using the whole center. To the credit of all the gamers, they kept a stiff upper lip and kept on playing through it all.
ModCon is the “moderns” gaming convention, and the games we had were an excellent representation of all the different ways a game can be a Modern. Our definition, for convenience’s sake, is any game set in the 20th or 21st century. We saw everything from spies to pulp heroes to WWII miniatures to kids on bikes, weird horror, cyberpunk, and Saturday morning cartoons.
If you want to check out the full list of games, here’s a PDF of the ModCon I program guide. One of the great things about the venue for ModCon is a cool little boardroom that we call The Continental, where GMs can run large games and even control the lighting. Joey Royale kicked everything off with a nine(!) player game of Weird Heroes of Public Access. 
I took the second slot of the day to run “The Bank Job,” a Top Secret mission that can be found within the Forged With Fire module from Solarian. With a player group consisting entirely of professional educators, I assumed they’d be subtle, thoughtful, and cunning. They did a Leroy Jenkins straight into the bank and ended up setting off an action thriller with the highest body count I’ve ever seen in the times I’ve run this game. 
The last game of the day at The Continental was The Zone, a spooky tale about a doomed expedition, played in low light with glow sticks. 
Great fun was had by everyone, and the GMs all came prepared with incredible adventures and some cool setups. Shout out to Bryan Larkin from Arcane Sword for assembling a complete complement of vintage Soviet gear for his Twilight 2000 game, and to Kevin Borrup and Ben Levesque, who did incredibly cool miniatures in The Safehouse.
For the organizers, Jayson, Peter, and Steve, it was a loooong 18-hour day, but so worth it. Plans are already underway for ModCon II next year, and we’ll be adding vendors, special events, and featured guests. Thank you to everyone who came out for making such a killer day of modern gaming, can’t wait to see you at the next one!
-Jayson
ShireCon North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th
ShireCon is cleebrating it’s 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
Get Tickets ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, June 2nd
This is the Analog Union newsletter for June 2nd, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
StapleCult, Vintage RPG, Friends of the Union, and more. June 2nd, 2026
StapleCult: First Look
Magazine Madness Finale
The Vintage RPG Podcast
Evangeline Gallagher In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Stillfleet Studio
Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness: Series Finale!
Magazine Madness Finishes! The Duelist by Wizards of the Coast
Okay, folks, here is the final article of Magazine Madness. I’m sad to say I won’t put much effort into this one, because most people who voted said they were least interested in The Duelist. Even calling it an article is a stretch if I’m being honest. Why so short? Well, let me explain!
I’ve been busy with my other projects (see last week’s newsletter), to really focus on reading a number of magazines.
I’ve been busy with life in general! Between work, obligations, and ramping up to ArcaneCon opening to registration, it’s been hard to make time to read multiple magazines
No one cares if I review The Duelist because most of you said you weren’t interested in it in a survey.
So why cover it at all? Well, it’s a snapshot of the tabletop hobby space in the mid-1990s, during the emergence of tradable card games. The Duelist came out in 1993, the same year as Magic: The Gathering’s release, where it served as a promotional publication to support the new game. Initially, it was a one-off publication with issue 0, then quarterly for the rest of the year, then bi-monthly for issues 4-21, and monthly thereafter. With that said, I feel like I’m only really qualified to give a quick briefing of the impression I got from The Duelists:
The Vibes: Wow, this magazine really drips the aesthetic that Magic had in its early days. It’s busy, with interesting color choices and a mix of art and photos of gems in its layout. In a way, it’s a mix of Planescape and a muted Global Village Coffeehouse tackiness with a dash of that 1990s “crystal witch” style, if you know what I mean. So in a way, early White Wolf book covers, but more colorful and without the edge. But this also makes it hard to read. If you have a very textured or illustrated background that is brown and tan, with lilac-colored italicized font at 8-point size, I’m going to have a hard time reading it.
The Content: The narrow focus on an early and emerging hobby it’s really compelling to see through the lens of a 1990s magazine publication. It’s both comparable to The Strategic Review with D&D but far more professional and much more padded. By “padded,” I mean overly written sections describing cards. But that IS cool for someone like me who prefers the Old School and Vintage formats of MTG. So you see the emergence of the meta story of Magic: The Gathering, deck type design formats emerging, strategies, and interviews. It is cool to see interviews with Richard Garfield and others involved in the game’s development.
The Art: Since magic was a very visual game, this magazine does not shy away from using its artwork to fill its pages. The magazine also includes a centerfold poster of the cover art, which is always fun! But the busy layout and overeager use of graphics, while keeping much of the card art card-sized, make it hard to appreciate the artwork sometimes.
The Density: Like I said, they reeeeally stretch it out. Issue 5 is 152 pages!!!! Too big! A lot of it is full-page ads for video games and card lists. Even Issue 2 is 82 pages!!!! Too much!!!!
If any of the above sounds interesting to you, it’s strongly recommended that you check it out. It’s a look into the time and place of an emerging powerhouse hobby that also captures that mid-90s fantasy feeling I haven’t really felt since I was a kid. There isn’t anything here for people who aren’t into Magic: The Gathering or other tradable card games, but for those who enjoy pre-modern Magic- it’s a real gem!
So what’s next: I’m leaving the survey open since only three people filled it out. I want to know what people are actually interested in! If I don’t get any more interest from the survey, I’ll probably drop the bi-weekly series and pivot to something else, since these articles do take a good amount of time to work on. So if you haven’t filled out the survey yet, please do so! I will have the results next week.
In other news: badges are on sale for ArcaneCon and game sign-ups are live! If you are interested in going, make sure to snag your game tickets!
Until next time!
Bryan
StapleCult
First Look
First Look. More info coming soon.
Join Our Mailing List Ham & Egg Publishing
The Vintage RPG Podcast Takes A Vacation
The original piece of Vintage RPG promo art from 2018 by Sally Cantirino
Ahoy!
It’s your ol’ buddy Hambone here, and after almost 8 years of broadcasting every Monday from somewhere in the swamps of Jersey, The Vintage RPG podcast is going on hiatus.
Now I know what you are thinking, “A hiatus? Nobody ever comes back from a hiatus.” Well, dear reader, I can assure you that is not the case. We are planning to return to regular weekly episodes in late September/early October, or sooner, schedule permitting.The reality is that Mr. Vintage RPG himself, Stu Horvath, and I are all bogged down with projects. He’s elbow deep in writing the history of Goodman Games, which is keeping him from reading other things we would cover. On my end, I have several projects I need to tend to so they can be released this year.
The good news is that we have over 300 episodes you can listen to here and here. That should keep you going in the meantime.
Above all else, we’re incredibly grateful for our listeners. You really are the reason we keep doing this, and why we return in the fall.
Until then, stay safe out there, and may the dice always roll in your favor.-JHM
Friends of the Union
Evangeline Gallagher My name is Evangeline Gallagher, and I am a full-time freelance illustrator from Baltimore City, Maryland, where I have lived for the past decade. I’m a fan of horror, solo journaling games, and games with rules you can fit on a single piece of paper. Outside of the game-vers,e my main bag is drawing book covers and tour posters, I go to the movies at least once a week, and I volunteer with lizards and turtles at the National Aquarium.
I love the collaborative nature of working on games – I have experienced the most fun combination of creative freedom and back-and-forth idea generation with the folks in this space. It is the most enthusiastic, punk rock community you could be lucky enough to find as an artist.
Something I don’t get to say often enough is that I credit independent TTRPGs with kickstarting my illustration career – One Night Strahd with Jake Kurzer and Adam Seats is the first really big (and it is a BIG book) book project I was commissioned for, and it was an illustration boot camp that made me about 1000 times better at drawing. Additional big ups to my clients at The Lost Bay, World Champ Game Co, Spicy Tuna RPG, Elliot Davis, STATIONS… (if I’m forgetting anyone, it’s just because my brain is constantly leaking information at an alarming rate, and I loved working with you).
I just re-released my tarot deck, which you can find on my website https://www.
evangelinegallagher.com/ , and I have a few exciting projects coming up that I can’t speak about quite yet. I am always looking for more! I love drawing pictures, and I hope I get to do it forever.
Stillfleet Studio
Curious about Stillfleet’s Grit System?
Recently, I hopped on a call with Ryan of The Weekly Scroll to chat about creating a TTRPG system from scratch. We talked in depth about the “why” behind a new system and the pros and cons of fundamental design choices such as task resolution and power design.
We also touched on developing mechanics with friends across multiple games, publishing commercial-friendly licenses, and sorting out a game jam so folks can hack it apart further. It’s a good introduction to the Grit System and—I hope—a useful addition to present conversations around the post-OSR future of TTRPG design.
Reminder, the inaugural Grit System Game Jam is running all summer long! We’d love to see our Analog friends jump in and build something epic (or goofy!) with us.
Join the Jam ShireCon North Canaan, CT – September 25th & 26th
ShireCon is cleebrating it’s 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
Get Tickets ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, May 26th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for May 26th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Staple Cult, Arcane Sword, MDW, and more. May 26th, 2026
StapleCult
Arcane Sword Updates
MDW, Mando & More
Grit System Game Jam
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Stillfleet Studio
Get Haunted Industries
StapleCult: Crowdfunding From The Underground
StapleCult Wants to Give Indie RPG Zinesters Their Own Space Again
by Joey Royale
Remember when crowdfunding was an exciting and inspiring way to discover cool games and give independent creators a boost?
Before giant campaigns, marketing teams, and publishers with built-in audiences started swallowing all the oxygen in the room, smaller creators could actually get noticed. StapleCult is a new crowdfunding platform that wants to carve out space for those creators again.
Built by zinesters for zinesters, StapleCult is focused entirely on independent TTRPG zines and DIY publishing. The platform keeps things simple on purpose: straightforward crowdfunding, manageable campaign goals, and direct support from people who’ve already been through the process themselves.
Creators keep control of their projects while gaining access to coaching on printing, fulfillment, and technical setup. No bloated campaigns. No endless stretch goals. No trying to compete with companies that already have massive audiences and marketing budgets.
StapleCult is meant to help small publishers actually finish projects, get them printed, and get them into readers’ hands.
The platform also aims to support the broader indie community by uplifting LGBTQ+ creators and marginalized voices while rejecting hateful or discriminatory content.
For people making strange, small-footprint games, photocopied zines, oddball settings, or deeply personal projects that might get lost elsewhere, StapleCult hopes to become a place where that work can still thrive.
Coming soon. Stay stapled!
Sign Up For More Details Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness Does NOT Return This Week!
Sorry! I didn’t get a chance to get around to really dive into The Duelist magazine yet due to being preoccupied with projects and such! Such is life! However, I WILL use this space for something I haven’t done in awhile – self promotion!
Next month, I am flying to Portland, Oregon, with Eon to attend Between Two Cons! I’m personally very excited about it because 1) I’ve only been a vendor at conventions within driving distance, and 2) I’m doing a seminar at it!
Yes, for some wild reason, I will be standing in front of a crowd of people putting aside their valuable time to watch me talk. Talk about what? Talking Traveller of course! I’ll be trying to convert some old-school b/x D&D folks to the finer side of role-playing in the far future!
This talk is also an extension of sorts for three (ugh) related projects I’m working on:
1) Travelling Solo: Solitaire Role-playing in Traveller will be the Traveller version of my Old School revival Solo Role-Playing Guide, but it’s a little more in depth due to the potential scope of a galactic solo gaming. Currently plodding along with layout for the first public playtest but it should be good to go “soon.” This will eventually be released under the Traveller Aid Society license later this year.
2) “Racer”: Myself and the legendary HODAG are working on a sci-fi racer supplement for Traveller (and similar games). Currently in the conceptual and playtesting mechanics phase, so far, but it’s really cool! I love the idea of having a campaign where you role-play being a high-speed racer in a sci-fi racing circuit, where you have to survive each race to pay off debts or finish a contract.
3) SPACER: The final form of my madness, I am currently writing a basic retro clone sci-fi RPG inspired by the original version of Traveller that came out in 1977, that will be FREE, and released under the Creative Commons Sharealike license. Yes, it’s a heartbreaker RPG but my aim is to get some OSR folks into far future gaming!
A future photo of myself during my seminar at Between Two Cons
Speaking of conventions, I finally drew a poster for this year’s ArcaneCon! Check it out! 
And finally, I need YOUR help! I ran out of magazines to review! If you’ve been following my posts (once weekly, now bi-weekly), then you know if you’ve been doing this for months and months now. But I don’t know what to do next! That’s where YOU come in. Please fill out the survey of what you’d like to see me focus on next for the Analog Union. I have four ideas:
More Magazine Madness: There are many more magazines out there for me to look at, and I’m absolutely willing to keep going if you want!
RPG Anthropology: This is an idea I had where I look at an old RPG that’s out of print and/or hasn’t been republished due to the original publisher being out of business. This came about after seeing all of the ads for games I never heard of while perusing magazines for Magazine Madness. I’d probably focus on a few games in different genres or strange outliers.
A Game Oddity: This idea stems from the weird pop-culture tabletop gaming tie-ins nobody asked for, such as the 2001 and 2010 Star Frontiers modules or the Austin Powers collectible card game.
Lost Lore: This is a more focused version of RPG Anthropology, where I dive into the forgotten games made by pioneers and legends in the RPG hobby. This includes looking at games like Gary Gygax’s Cyborg Commando or Dave Arneson’s Adventures in Fantasy.
Take the survey: The Survey will ask you to choose which ideas you are Most interested, Somewhat Interested, and Least interested in to help me make a tiered ranking. Anyways, please fill out the survey to help me focus on something!
Until next time!
Bryan
Ham & Egg Publishing
MDW Outlaw Party: Secret Country, The Mando & Hambone’s Burger Supreme!
Instead of rocking my socks off last weekend, my feet were cold and wet thanks to whoever fell asleep at the Cobra Weather Dominator this week–looking at you, Croc Master!
That said, there was still indoor fun to be had over the holiday weekend.
At the movies: I hit up my local theater and checked out The Mandalorian & Grogu. It was a blast. My spoiler-free review is that it isn’t so much a movie as it is three episodes in a trench coat, but it is a hell of a good time. If you like killer action, weird little dudes, puppets, and people in weird alien costumes, Mando’s got you covered.It was also the first time that, to my knowledge, the stunt and body doubles got equal billing as the star. I think it is cool and should happen a lot more often for the folks who spend most of their time actually behind the mask.
At the jukebox: My outlaw country band, Secret Country, released a new single, Velvet Dreams. The single is a slight departure from our typical oeuvre, which runs the gamut of drinking, fucking, and staying in hotels for fun, but still fires on all cylinders. But don’t just take my word for it. Legendary NJ Rock Critic Jim Testa describes it as “A song about mileage: years on the odometer, ideals worn down but not entirely gone. When they sing, “we didn’t want something better, we didn’t want something new,” it lands less like regret and more like a shrug you earn after decades of doing it the right way.Listen Here At the grill: So after you’ve seen a quality flick and done some dancing, you’re probably hungry, right? Well, your ol’ buddy HB has got you covered. Here is my perfect smash burger recipe*.
Ingredients: American Cheese, 80/20 Ground Beef, Potato Bun, White Onion. POGS Seasoning.
Preparations: Take a 1/2-cup measuring spoon and use it to scoop out the ground beef. Flatten it, then roll it into a ball, and set it aside on parchment paper. DO NOT SMASH YET. Make your POGS seasoning (1 tbsp black pepper, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1/4 cup salt). Mix in a food processor for proper distribution) and use a mandolin to slice the onions finely. Pre-heat the grill to medium.
Directions: Once the grill is warmed up, season the burgers, then place them at equal distances with a healthy amount of onion on top. Let it sit for two minutes to get a char on the bottom of the ball before smashing it down with a spatula. Let it cook for another minute or two, browning the edges before flipping.Once flipped, add a slice of cheese, then place the top bun, with the bottom upside down, on top of it. This will allow the buns to steam, enhancing their flavor.
For service: Place the bottom bun on a plate, then place the rest of the burger on top, adding any condiments you wish, and ENJOY!*This recipe is intended for a flat top. For a standard grill, pre-smash the burger patties, and sauté the onions in butter and a splash of oil in a pan. Burgers will only need to be flipped once. Add onions before serving.
-JHM
Stillfleet Studio
Curious about Stillfleet’s Grit System?
Recently, I hopped on a call with Ryan of The Weekly Scroll to chat about creating a TTRPG system from scratch. We talked in depth about the “why” behind a new system and the pros and cons of fundamental design choices such as task resolution and power design.
We also touched on developing mechanics with friends across multiple games, publishing commercial-friendly licenses, and sorting out a game jam so folks can hack it apart further. It’s a good introduction to the Grit System and—I hope—a useful addition to present conversations around the post-OSR future of TTRPG design.
Reminder, the inaugural Grit System Game Jam is running all summer long! We’d love to see our Analog friends jump in and build something epic (or goofy!) with us.
Join the Jam ModCon 2026 Northampton, MA – May 30th
Game submissions are open now, and badges are on sale for the first-ever ModCon.
It’s happening May 30th at the beautiful Smith College Conference Center in Northampton, MA. ModCon is a one-day convention dedicated to the modern-era genre of TTRPGs.
That includes games like…321 RPG • Call of Cthulhu • World of Darkness • Cyberpunk • Shadowrun • Marvel Super Heroes
• Mutants & Masterminds • Delta Green • Savage Worlds • Burn 2d6 • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • WHPA and more!
It’s going to be a great day of gaming, dedicated to all kinds of settings in the 20th and 21st centuries, in worlds both like our own and very, very different. Sign up below, and we’ll see you there!
Sign Up ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, May 19th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for May 19th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Mod Con, Monster Dog, Max Moon, and more. May 19th, 2026
Mad About Mod Con
Wythe on The Weekly Scroll
Meet Max Moon
Monster Dog
In this newsletter
Ham & Egg Publishing | Solarian Games | Stillfleet Studio
Solarian Games
Mad About Mod Con 2026
Mod Con is a one-day roleplaying convention focused on modern-era TTRPGs taking place on Saturday, May 30th, at the Smith College Conference Center in beautiful Northampton, Massachusetts.
ModCon is also more than just a convention about games. It’s also a networking opportunity with many of the local gaming personalities. Game designers and publishers will be on site, along with other convention organizers, getting to know attendees in between events.
Here is more on that: the conventions organizer, Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games.Hambone: Jayson, thanks for joining me. On Saturday, May 30th, the inaugural ModCon takes place. What is the elevator pitch for Mod Con?
Jayson: ModCon is a game convention for the “Moderns” tabletop game genre. It’s our first year, so we’re keeping it simple with a one-day event. Game conventions usually see the fantasy and sci-fi genres dominate, and I wanted to give Moderns a chance to shine.We define “Moderns” as any game set in the 20th or 21st centuries. I’ve noticed that focusing on Moderns also gives a lot more attention to indie publishers.
H: You are best known for resurrecting a classic with Top Secret and updating it to appeal to modern audiences. What was that process like for you?J: Top Secret was my favorite game growing up, and I always wished there were a new version, since the third edition, Top Secret SI, went out of print in the 1990s. Before resurrecting Top Secret, I was the creator of Gygax Magazine. With Luke & Ernie Gygax as my partners, I met a lot of great people from the original TSR, and that led me to find Merle Rasmussen, the original author of Top Secret.
Merle was enthusiastic about writing a new Top Secret, but we had to stipulate during the process that he wasn’t allowed to look at his old work while we made the new game. I had previously registered the Top Secret trademark as a tabletop game, but trademark and copyright are two different things. We had to make sure we didn’t use any copyrighted material from the old game, as it was made for TSR as a “work for hire,” so Merle didn’t hold the copyright to the actual content. That was a blessing in disguise, because it allowed us to create an entirely new game without the baggage of the past. It turns out TTRPG design has advanced quite a bit since 1980!
We enlisted the help of Allen Hammack, the original editor for Top Secret at TSR, and my business partner, James Carpio, who wrote the “Lucky 13” game engine that drives Top Secret.
The design process lasted over two years as we went through various iterations and a ton of playtesting. We finally debuted it at GaryCon before doing our Kickstarter, and thankfully, it was a hit!
H: Why do you think it is so important to take chances on new games?
J: As a player, or as a publisher? I guess the same answer applies to both. The tabletop game industry, or hobby, whichever you call it, is virtually unmatched in terms of how many players are also game designers. The only scene I can think of that’s got as close to a 1:1 ratio of audience-to-creator would be the punk scene in the 1970s and early ‘80s. As a result, you’ve got new ideas and experiences happening all the time. The joy of discovery is as much fun as the joy of playing the games themselves. If you’re not taking chances on new games, you’re missing out on at least 50% of the fun of being in the scene.
H: What new game are you looking most forward to?J: Can I be self-serving here? It’s our next Solarian game. Peter Bryant, the other partner in Solarian, has written an awesome skirmish game that I named Moar Blood. It takes place in a dystopian future of unspecified time and place, in a hypercapitalist arena spectacle reminiscent of the 1987 movie The Running Man.
H: What can attendees look forward to at ModCon?
J: We’ve got a ton of games on the schedule, including Blade Runner, Kids on Brooms, DC Heroes, Fiasco!, Twilight 2000, Weird Heroes of Public Access, Delta Green, and of course, Top Secret. There’s even some miniatures gaming in the room we’re calling “The Safehouse.”The location is beautiful. Smith College Conference Center overlooks the Mill River, and we’ve even got a nice outdoor deck for people to relax and hang out on when they’re not gaming. I’ve checked out all the games and every one of them looks like a blast. I really hope I get a chance to hang out with everyone who shows up. Northampton is a wonderfully inclusive and creative community, and the gamers at ModCon will be a fun bunch!
Get Tickets 
Friends Of The Union
Max Moon
Greetings to all of you who eschew the normal, the recognizable, the known. I am Max Moon, co-founder of Flaming Hand and progenitor of Max Moon Games. I started Max Moon Games in 2020, crowdfunding Twelve Years, a solo / GMless fantasy game.
That year, I realized I could marry so many of my passions and experiences into one big polyamorous lump: occultism, printmaking, bookbinding, running a record label, touring as a weirdo musician, and teaching art. It all sort of swirled together, the right combo of organizational skills and creative work. I discovered I absolutely love it all. And it centered on what I feel like this rotting world needs most, play.
As I worked on Max Moon Games, I met Janaka Stucky, whom I had been familiar with as an occult poet, but discovered he was also getting into indie TTRPG publishing. We started collaborating more and eventually co-founded Flaming Hand, where we have been able to pool our collective resources to focus on an artist-centric approach to game publishing (and other things). For us, art is just as important as the game mechanics. This means we work diligently to raise the money we need to pay artists well and create the most beautiful damn objects we can!
My guiding philosophy when creating work is to listen to what it wants to be. I liken this to divination, in that it is much more about being open to discovery than it is about mastery or making an idea come out the way it is in my mind. For me, vision is less about executing a replica of my precious idea and more about seeing outside of myself. Whether this approach brings me into dialogue with ancient demons or just cultural milieu, I guess that’s out of my hands.
As ridiculous as it may be, I take nothing more seriously than play, and nothing more playfully than spirit.
The next project we are summoning comes straight out of hell. The Black Spire Pact is a two-player competitive choose-your-own-adventure style set of gamebooks, built on the back of Old School Essentials, aka B/X. We are very excited to be crowdfunding this on Backerkit until Jun 5th, 2026!
Check Out Black Spire Pact Ham & Egg Publishing
One All The Way With Monster Dog
From left to right- Shawn Orr, Chris Pingor, Chuck Friendly, Pete Ugly
Punk rock has come a long way since CBGB’s heyday. A smoky room full of kids with liberty spikes and mowhawks taking it very seriously. Trying to recreate the vibe of the first wave while being on the downswing of the third. Fun as hell, but fleeting, like all good times should be.
Today, the scene looks a little more suburban. You still check out your favorite band even on a school night, but you sure as hell feel it in the morning. Sometimes, being an older punk comes with faded tattoos, kids, and a mortgage. However, sometimes, if you are really lucky, it comes in the form of four dudes wearing Hot Dog costumes.
From their first show as a duo featuring Chuck Friendly (vocals) and Pete Ugly (guitar) in the parking lot of the legendary Rutt’s Hutt in 2023 to Montclair, New Jersey’s Porchfest, where I checked them out this weekend, Monster Dog has brought the fun and frankfurter fury to audiences all over the Garden State.
With a sound I would describe as a melodic hardcore version of Cheap Trick, Monster Dog’s songs have something for everyone. From tributes to the finest Hot Dog establishments the tri-state area has to offer (“Rippers, “JJs,” and “Chris’”) to songs like “Tammy Goes To Dicky Dees,” and “Meet Me At Hot Grill,” Monster Dog crafts heartfelt songs about the people who both love and serve hot dogs to their customers.
Monster Dog’s current line-up, now a four-piece including Shawn Orr (bass) and Chris Pingor (drums), has made the “All The Way” version of the band a rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut. This intensity was on full display at Porchfest, where they unleashed a blistering set for an all-ages crowd that filled the yard and poured out into the street. People had a blast, including a lifelong friend of mine, Christine, who said she “Hasn’t felt like this since seeing bands at the Pipeline”––a legendary and long-defunct punk club in Newark–– when she was in high school.
Monster Dog is a band that has nothing to prove. They are four dudes from New Jersey who love hot dogs and making music with their friends. There is no posturing, filler, or artificial flavors here, dear reader. Just four 100% all-beef franks who are having fun keeping the true spirit of punk rock alive better than most bands I could count on one hand.
You can check out their music on Apple Music, Bandcamp, and Spotify.Monster Dog’s perfect Hot Dog orders:
Pete Ugly (Guitar)
1) Hank’s Franks: Onions.
2) Hot Dog Johnny’s in Buttzville: “One with, and a buttermilk”.
3) Rutt’s: Royal Club with rice pudding for dessert, water to drink.
Chuck Friendly (Vocals)
1) JJ’s: The Hookup and a Yoo-hoo.
2) Rutt’s: Tuna sandwich with Rutt’s relish on it.
3) Davey’s: Route 80 because they have beer
Stillfleet Studio
Curious about Stillfleet’s Grit System?
Recently, I hopped on a call with Ryan of The Weekly Scroll to chat about creating a TTRPG system from scratch. We talked in depth about the “why” behind a new system and the pros and cons of fundamental design choices such as task resolution and power design.
We also touched on developing mechanics with friends across multiple games, publishing commercial-friendly licenses, and sorting out a game jam so folks can hack it apart further. It’s a good introduction to the Grit System and—I hope—a useful addition to present conversations around the post-OSR future of TTRPG design.
Reminder, the inaugural Grit System Game Jam is running all summer long! We’d love to see our Analog friends jump in and build something epic (or goofy!) with us.
Join the Jam GameFace Con, Baltimore, MD – May 23rd & 24
Baltimore’s Annual Tabletop Game Convention at Peabody Heights Brewery
12 pm – 8 pm both days.
Meet creators, shop, and play tabletop RPGs and board games
Get Tickets NeonCon 3-D, Virtual Convention – May 23rd & 24
NeonCon 3-D! May 22nd-23rd over on the Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland discord!!!
Come play Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland and all its offshoot games, as well as other indie RPGs and old out-of-print games!!!
Make sure to bring your 3D glasses! Each night we will show an old 3D movie!
Sign Up ModCon 2026 Northampton, MA – May 30th
Game submissions are open now, and badges are on sale for the first-ever ModCon.
It’s happening May 30th at the beautiful Smith College Conference Center in Northampton, MA. ModCon is a one-day convention dedicated to the modern-era genre of TTRPGs.
That includes games like…321 RPG • Call of Cthulhu • World of Darkness • Cyberpunk • Shadowrun • Marvel Super Heroes
• Mutants & Masterminds • Delta Green • Savage Worlds • Burn 2d6 • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • WHPA and more!
It’s going to be a great day of gaming, dedicated to all kinds of settings in the 20th and 21st centuries, in worlds both like our own and very, very different. Sign up below, and we’ll see you there!
Sign Up ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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 will go live on March 1st! See more information at Tabletop Events.
Get Tickets Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
-
Tuesday, May 12th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for May 12th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
Magazine Madness, Friends of the Union, Grit System Game Jam, and more! May 12th, 2026
Magazine Madness
Meet Meldar!
Grit System Game Jam
In this newsletter
Arcade Sword Press | Hambone! | Meldar16 | Stillfleet Studio
Hambone!
A quick one from the editor.
From the start, the Analog Union Newsletter had a clear vision and dedicated purpose: to uplift creators and turn our readers on to cool things in the TTRPG hobbysphere.
So today, I am proud to announce a new bi-weekly column, Friends of the Union. Every other week, we are excited to introduce you, dear reader, to some amazing creators from diverse backgrounds. We figure the best way to spotlight them is to offer a platform to give you the 411 in their own words. And who knows, you might just find your new favorite creator.
-JHMArcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness continues with The General from Avalon Hill!
This is a hard one to write and to fairly give a review, for a few reasons:
The Quantity: The General was a biweekly magazine published from 1964 to 1998! 34 years! And the problem with me even attempting to give it a justified look at it’s legacy its already a logistical problem due to the scope and my lack of familiarity with the publication
The Content: Avalon Hill was (is still; see below) a wargaming company. They were known for their chit-and-hex wargames, packaged in a nice, neat box that sat on a bookshelf. And within this framework, they covered everything from real-world military campaigns and specific battles to contemporary conflicts, and later dabbled in science fiction and fantasy games, both original concepts and licensed IPs.
A lack of experience: My experience is RPGs with limited tabletop wargaming experience, and no chit-and-hex experience at all. In fact, I have zero experience with the limited RPG releases Avalon Hill did release during the 1980s. So, can I even give The General any fair opinion since I’m truly an outside observer? Well, let’s find out!
With all of my reviews for hobby magazines of yesteryear, I at least have some sort of method to attack it, usually the “first year” (Dungeon Magazine) or Classic Era (Dragon Magazine) or even on one side of a publisher’s shift (Pre-40k White Dwarf), to attempt to narrow down a focus. I honestly don’t even know how to do that after 34 years as a staple of wargaming publishing. So I’m going to jump in at the mid-point from an issue I own- the DUNE issue from March-April 1980.
I got this issue because I was extremely pulled into the legendary Dune board game by Avalon Hill, released in 1979, which I have yet to get six players together to commit to playing a game based on a book. This game is extremely compelling and ahead of its time for 1979. This issue of The general refers to it as a “role-playing game” within its wargaming framework. Which it’s not, or not by even 1979 standards, but I get what they mean in a way, since Dune allows you to negotiate and roleplay as the major factions to get the upper hand in the asymmetrical gameplay of the board game.
Regardless, I think this issue encapsulates this era of The General. The magazine not only served as a promotional arm for their games (which nearly all the magazines I cover did), but also continued to release scenarios and support their back catalog in later issues. So, for example, in this particular issue, there are full-color overviews and insights into each playable faction, each with a page dedicated to it, along with reproductions of the game’s graphic elements (which are fantastic) to help pull new players in. Avalon Hill does a fantastic job at explaining what their games are through The General to help pull in new players.
Remember when I said they provide support for their back catalog? Well, Dune had variations and new factions added to it over the years in The General, with the final example of this being in the 1997 Starship Troopers film game issue, released in the final year of the magazine! 17 years later, they were still alternative rules being officially released for a game from 1979, with tokens and cards with the same graphic design and everything. Crazy!
Another notable game released by Avalon Hill was Squad Leader in 1977. Squad Leader is a landmark game that seemed to change the chit-and-hex scene and inspire endless imitators and derivatives. Squad leader has a dedicated player base to this day, and that is thanks to Avalon Hill releasing new scenarios in seemingly every other issue until its closure.
To my fellow dungeoncrawlers, Avalon Hill had a significant impact on D&D due to its publishing of Outdoor Survival in 1972, the wilderness exploration and survival game that served as the main board used as a world map in the development of Blackmoor and later OD&D. We have hexcrawling because of Avalon Hill. And in true Avalon Hill fashion, they released expanded rules in later issues of The General, including the landmark Dune issue!
Even without mentioning the sheer content and support Avalon Hill put into its magazine, the graphic design is fantastic. Truly from another time, but it’s all extremely attractive. Full color maps and illustration, sometimes being in a high-contrast photorealistic style (as seen on the cover of games like Squad Leader) are peppered throughout each issue. But while this style didn’t entirely change as they reached their twilight years in the 1990s, the retro charm of much of their spot art aged far better than the digital gradients and layers found in contemporary hobby magazines of the era.
Later issues contained strategies for PC games as the RTS genre was taking off.
In 1998, Avalon Hill was sold to Hasbro, who immediately laid off the entire staff. After a few years in limbo, the brand was acquired by Wizards of the Coast, during which some games were released under the Avalon Hill imprint. Most recently, Avalon Hill has now shifted back to Hasbro Gaming and is now applied to the current editions of Talisman, HeroQuest, Fury of Dracula, and other classics. So it’s good to see that the name is still in use, but now being applied to games that weren’t even released by them originally, and not even wargames.
Wargaming board games are alive and well if you know where to look, with that whole scene seeming to push the boundaries of what a wargaming board game can be. It’s unfortunate not to see the name Avalon Hill included with this side of the hobby, but instead to see it applied as a branding to miscellaneous board game IPs Hasbro has gobbled up over the decades. Squad Leader is alive and well with fans still supporting it, even if Hasbro won’t. And I’m sure that’s because of The General.
Next time: The Duelist Magazine by Wizards of the Coast
Bryan
Friends Of The Union
Meldar16 Games
Hi, my name is Melanie Green, and I’m the artist, writer, printer, and owner of Meldar16 Games. I’ve been illustrating comics and zines for at least 20 years, got into D&D about a decade ago, and have been publishing my own TTRPGs for the past 6 years.
Meldar16 went from my Instagram handle to a game company with the Atera Redux campaign world. After the 10th painting and first 70 pages of notes for a home game, I was urged to release it on drivethru, and then had print copies in my hands. Glorious, wonderful print copies.
Coming from a punk & DIY background, I wanted to be able to print my own zines going forward. I only had one of those workhorse Brother toner printers, so a series of black and white zines came next: 4 zines to flesh out the Atera Redux campaign world, and my first couple of original games with their own rules.
Disaster struck, but afterward Meldar16 kicked into high gear. The Brother printer literally exploded and caught fire. It was worked to death. Afterward, I started buying the color 4 Printers of the Apocalypse, the Bookbinders of Doom, and the Paper Guillotine of the Proletariat. This both let me fully print my own catalog and sparked new ideas since I could execute so much more.
So these days, I partner up with my husband, Sean, and we focus on our original games and on creating more adventures. We tend to keep our games like our home games with friends. Lighthearted, light on rules, and hopefully light on the wallet. I can also fully stretch my illustration muscles without the restrictions on format and color.
The Meldar16 bibliography has 2 Atera Redux campaign books for D&D, 5 zines to expand that world, and 6 original games that run the gamut from murder mystery to sci-fi to a game about lighting farts on fire. The next release is a dungeon based on a misinterpreted song lyric that’s been sitting in my head my whole life: “Knights in White Satin.”Learn More About Meldar16 Stillfleet Studio
Grit System Game Jam – Now With Guest Judges & Prizes!
If you’re curious about the system that powers Stillfleet, Blister Critters, Danse Macabre, and other new TTRPGs, check out the jam and consider joining!
Three pillars of the Grit System
Scores are dice – Roll 1 die, hit a 6 or better, keep it simple!
Burn grit to boost – Players control the action with a limited pool of energy for boosting rolls and using rad powers
Narrative powers – Building on Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark, powers can immediately change the story at the table (they’re “hard move”)
The result is a “medium-crunch,” extensible system that works across genres and levels of complexity. And we want you to hack it! One-page game? Cozy demake? Alt-rules take on your homebrew/in-progress next game? Just a list of cool powers? That all sounds grand—send it our way.
Get Gritty This Summer GameFace Con, Baltimore, MD – May 23rd & 24
Baltimore’s Annual Tabletop Game Convention at Peabody Heights Brewery
12 pm – 8 pm both days.
Meet creators, shop, and play tabletop RPGs and board games
Get Tickets NeonCon 3-D, Virtual Convention – May 23rd & 24
NeonCon 3-D! May 22nd-23rd over on the Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland discord!!!
Come play Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland and all its offshoot games, as well as other indie RPGs and old out-of-print games!!!
Make sure to bring your 3D glasses! Each night we will show an old 3D movie!
Sign Up ModCon 2026 Northampton, MA – May 30th
Game submissions are open now, and badges are on sale for the first-ever ModCon.
It’s happening May 30th at the beautiful Smith College Conference Center in Northampton, MA. ModCon is a one-day convention dedicated to the modern-era genre of TTRPGs.
That includes games like…321 RPG • Call of Cthulhu • World of Darkness • Cyberpunk • Shadowrun • Marvel Super Heroes
• Mutants & Masterminds • Delta Green • Savage Worlds • Burn 2d6 • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • WHPA and more!
It’s going to be a great day of gaming, dedicated to all kinds of settings in the 20th and 21st centuries, in worlds both like our own and very, very different. Sign up below, and we’ll see you there!
Sign Up ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th
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 will go live on March 1st! See more information at Tabletop Events.
Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing.
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
