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 Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date.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!
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Author: admin
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Tuesday, May 26th
Staple Cult, Arcane Sword, MDW, and more. -
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 Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date.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
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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
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Tuesday, May 7th Special Edition
This is the Analog Union newsletter for May 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!
Special Edition – Vampires! Vampire Farts (The Game), Non-Drac Vampire Flicks and a poll! May 7th, 2026 – Special Edtion
Hambone’s Fast Five
3 Must See Vampire Movies
Dracula Vs. Dracula
In this newsletter
Hambone! | Severed Books
Hambone!
Hambone’s Fast Five: Featuring Justin Sirois
Ahoy!Hambone here, with a special edition of my Fast Five featuring a dude who is quite possibly the most prolific creator of indie-RPGs today, Justin Sirois of Severed Books. His latest effort is a raucous and rowdy party game called Vampire Farts. It’s a hell of a good time and will subvert your expectations of what a game about farting vampires can be. Without further ado, here’s Justin.
1) Justin, introduce yourself to our readers and let them know what you do in the TTRPG hobby.
Hey! I’m Justin, and I founded Severed Books. I write, draw, and design most of the games Severed publishes, including the new Sickest Witch RPG. It’s a dream job, really, but it took me about 30 years to develop Severed into a full-time gig. I’ve project-managed a few games that have received Ennies, and my Small Party series of wood minis was nominated for an Ennie last year.
We’ve published work by Stockholm Kartell (the forthcoming Mörk Borg action figure), Aaron Draplin (Draplin Design Company), the team behind The Spine of Night (Philip Gelatt and Morgan King), The Dead Milkmen with Andrew Ervin, Head Lopper’s Andrew MacLean, artist Mark Riddick, and meta horror legend Brian Evenson.
2) You are currently crowdfunding Vampire Farts on BackerKit. What’s the elevator pitch?
So yeah… Vampire Farts! It’s a fast-paced press-your-luck / strategy game where you play as vampires who are trying to ingest the most diverse meal possible. The vampire at the end of each round who successfully drinks the most well-rounded meal of victims farts the juiciest blood shart they can and will at a point. It’s been a blast. I playtested it at Gary Con with many creators and publishers, got feedback, and have fine-tuned it. I also got really lucky, and Patrick McHale of Over the Garden Wall played it and gave us a great blurb.
3) This year’s Pocketopia focus is on easy-to-learn tabletop games. What makes Vampire Farts easy to pick up and play?
Oh yes. You can learn it in a minute or so here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=TfVl_V9tZHQ 4) In all of cinema, comics, literature, and television, which vampire is the most likely to keep their diet tight and rip the juiciest Vampire Fart?
Damn, that’s hard. I’m a classic Stoker’s Dracula fan, but I did love the Dracula (2020) BBC/Netflix horror miniseries. That version of Dracula ripped. I’ll admit, though, Let the Right One In is my favorite vampire movie.
5) Thanks for the chat, Justin. Where can people find your stuff?
Pop on over to www.SeveredBooks.com — we’ve got everything there. There’s also www.SickestWitch.com
Back It Today 3 Must-See Vampire Movies That Don’t Feature Dracula!
Looking for a well-rounded crash course in vampire flicks that don’t involve a terror from Transylvania? Sink your fangs into these classics.
This one has it all. An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula? Check. A lawsuit that saw almost every copy in existence destroyed? Check. Essential viewing for any fan of the genre? That is a Texas-sized 10-4, good buddy. If you ever get the chance to see it performed with a live orchestra, DO IT!
Bill Paxton at his very best. This is the closest a vampire film will ever come to the visceral feeling of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Except in this one, the slaughterhouse delivers.
Ooof. This one is going to stay with you for a while. Even darker than a movie called Near Dark. Not for the family or the faint of heart.
Poll – Who Was The Best Cinematic Dracula?
Click the image to cast your vote and check Monday’s newsletter for the results!
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
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Tuesday, May 5th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for May 5th, 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!
Abattoir Hymnal, Smurfs, Neon Bastardz, New Music, GM Hacks, and more! May 5th, 2026
Abattoir Hymnal
The Smurfs!
Neon Bastardz!
Hambone’s Fast Five
GM Hacks
ModCon
In this newsletter
Ham & Egg Publishing | Saltheart RPG | Solarian Games
Super Savage Systems | Tiger Wizard
Tiger Wizard
Abattoir Hymnal Launching May 5th on Backerkit!
Abattoir Hymnal is an adventure for Old School Essentials Month set in the bloody Butchered Realm. Adventurers will plunge into the gory realm, most likely without their skin, in search of answers and to defeat the grotesque Skin Taker, Ahrakmadt.
If you love Hellraiser, Silent Hill, etc., you’ll probably enjoy this disgusting adventure!
Back Today! Hambone!
Hambone’s Fast Five: Featuring Tiger Wizard!
Ahoy!
Hambone here, reporting for duty, back with another creator spotlight. This week, I am stoked to introduce you to one of my favorite artists and creative minds in the hobby, Tiger Wizard. He is here to talk about Abattoir Hymnal, his contribution to OSE Month on BackerKit. So without further ado, here’s Tiger Wizard.1) Tiger Wizard, introduce yourself to our readers and let them know what you do in the TTRPG hobby.
Hey Hammy, thanks for inviting me over for the fast five! I work as an illustrator, mapmaker, game designer, and editor in the indie TTRPG space. I love old sword-and-sorcery books, cats, and fried-chicken tacos!
2) You, alongside writer Doug Stroud, are currently crowdfunding Abattoir Hymnal (launching May 5th) on BackerKit. What’s the elevator pitch?
Okay, first. I hit the emergency stop button of the elevator. The lights go out, and an eerie blue light pierces the slim crack in the doors. Two pink, skinless hands reach through and open the doors, not on the 3rd floor, but into the dark under-realm of butchery.
At this point, the skinless creature will sit down and let everyone on the elevator know that Abattoir Hymnal is a bloody adventure for 3rd-level characters that sees such gruesome sights as the Gore crawler (an intestine spider) and the Offal-spire (a singing tower of flesh), while seeking the creator of the skin-paged hymnal. If you love Hellraiser, Silent Hill, etc., you’ll probably enjoy this disgusting adventure!
3) This year’s OSE Month’s focus is on adapting the demonic for Old School Essentials. What was the design process like for you when approaching subject matter like this for such a streamlined system?
Pretty similar to the way I approach most projects. I start with a vibe or key element, and then work from there. The system rarely matters to me. At least, it doesn’t matter initially. As long as the core vibe fits within the system or setting, I don’t worry too much about the stats and stuff until the concepts are filled out. Then adjust for rules and such later. Having worked with and on OSE creators at Exalted Funeral has given me an intimate familiarity with them.
The bonus with Abattoir Hymnal was having a partner to bounce ideas off of and collaborate with. Donn is such a great writer to work with, and we are constantly running ideas like a loom, weaving them back and forth into a gross skin rug.
4) Having experienced the idea of demonic entities throughout books, cinema, games, and even TTRPGs, are there any themes here that will feel familiar or homages to the classics?
Oh, absolutely. The vibes we’re riffing off are heavily inspired by The Thing, Hellraiser, and Silent Hill. For the book’s overall look, we’re using a simple pink-and-blue color palette that I think will pump up the classic 80’s horror vibes.5) Thanks for the chat, Tiger Wizard. Where can people find your stuff?
Thank you, Hambone! Abattoir Hymnal is live on BackerKit, and feel welcome to follow along with my mapmaking and goofy antics over on patreon.com/tigerwizard
Cheers.
Back Today! Saltheart RPG
Working with established IP takes time: The story of The Smurfs
Three years ago, I wondered what was next after successfully Kickstarting BURN 2d6. I looked around the IP landscape and realized a wondrous thing, that the everyman of my childhood, the Smurfs, did not have a role-playing game. The Smurfs had adventures involving ghosts, dragons, spies, sickness, witches, wizards, robots, and aliens. What a great IP!
BURN 2d6 had made $3,724 on Kickstarter. For a nobody who was pitching a new tabletop roleplaying game system, I thought it was a pretty good haul. It paid for the art, but not my time. So, back to the Smurfs…
I reached out to Peyo (the company) in Belgium and began a conversation about obtaining the rights. I submitted a pitch deck with my business plan, and before you know it, Peyo agreed. They had a North American partner, Maestro Media, and asked that we talk and consider working together. I met with Javon Frazier, Maestro Media’s CEO, and we agreed that a collaboration would be a great idea.
The truth is, I am a part-time game designer, and this offer from Maestro Media alleviated many of my concerns about managing a large IP all by myself. So, we signed agreements and got started. I already had a draft copy of the game ready to go.
A Kickstarter followed as I continued to develop the game. A team of folks supported the work, folks like Jon Gilmour-Long and Jason Azevedo. The Kickstarter made $138,565, which was a heck of a lot more than BURN 2d6 made. Content development continued until everything was locked in and my writing task was complete.
By the time my pen was truly down, it was eighteen months before I had the game in my hands. Not only do I now have a cool product in my hands, but my first truly paid gig is also complete.
The Smurfs Roleplaying Game is really a better version of BURN 2d6, and I am grateful to Maestro Media and Peyo for letting me take on this beloved world of little blue imps three apples high. As the blogger Barking Alien wrote, Smurf’s a better game than it had to be. Check out the blog here: https://barkingalien.blogspot.com/2025/11/
More to come on a new project soon!
Kevin
Super Savage Systems
Neon Bastardz – Only 3 Days remain!
In the oozing wastelands of Bastard Urth, brave skumdogs enter a world of danger, mutants, slime, and Khaos! With every roll, your mission gets weirder. With every room, the danger gets grosser. Battle disgusting creeps! Grab radical loot! Survive brutal missions! And become the most legendary dirtbag the cassette-apocalypse has ever seen!
But beware… the Kickstarter ends soon!
Back Neon Bastardz now, before time runs out!
Neon Bastardz: Rad Adventures in the Forgotten Future! Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Vibez. Mörk Borg Rulez. Meaning this puppy is fast, brutal, and if you’re not careful, will steal your lunch money! POGs Included!
Already backed? You can still help big time by sharing the Kickstarter with one weird friend, one Mörk Borg maniac, one zine goblin, or one tabletop mutant who needs more neon slime in their life. Let’s make these last 3 days loud!
Back Today! 
Ham & Egg Publishing
Of A Harmonious Nature – Die Before You Buy!
Ahoy!
First up, I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who has already supported my Dark Double Feature on BackerKit! THANK YOU!!! We’ve got 17 days left and can still use your support. With that said, I had a fun idea. Why not let you, dear reader, DIE BEFORE YOU BUY!!!This campaign looks pretty cool, right? That said, looking cool is NEVER enough. I want to show you why the Dark Double Feature rules, and I want to do it LIVE.Now, you might be thinking, “But I don’t usually get to play a game before I back it.” It’s a wild idea, I know, but stay with me here.When I got into sales, I cut my teeth selling a high-end blender at big-box stores and on the State Fair circuit. I loved it because there was always a tangible connection between the crowd and me.Such a thing doesn’t really exist anymore, right? Instead, what do we get? Ephemera and social media static.It’s confusing, especially when you are considering plunking down your hard-earned money on a new game.Luckily, I have a solution.Come play Of A Harmonious Nature with me. No strings attached, no obligation to back this campaign.Just pick a date and let me run you through a killer folk horror adventure, designed for the system that it’s perfect for: Shadowdark RPG.All I can promise you is a good time and maybe, just maybe, you’ll survive your stay in Skogstrand.At the end, I’ll even mail you a commemorative pin from the session.
You’ve got nothing to lose, right? So let’s roll some dice. Click here to book your session.
Back It Now! Solarian Games
GM hacks from the hardware store!
A while back, Jolly Blackburn (Knights of the Dinner Table) shared a photo of his “Box of Doom,” essentially a cash box he turned into a GM screen/tackle box by creating a miniature screen to put inside and keeping dice in the coin drawers.
That inspired me to think about my own GM tools. Anyone who’s been in one of my games at a convention will know that I have a lot of moving pieces, and by the end of the game session, I’m pretty disorganized. So I went looking for something that would solve the problem for me, a la Jolly’s Box of Doom.
Harbor Freight, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a discount hardware store (tool store, really) that’s got something of a cult following. Recently, they began selling miniature tool boxes that went viral for their low cost and bright colors. I picked one up to try out as a GM “tackle box.” It was pretty good, but the biggest drawback was that it had no handle, which made it hard to carry at a convention.
Happily, not long afterward, Home Depot got in on the trend by doing an exclusive product with Husky, their own take on the mini toolbox. This time, the build quality was a bit better, with drawers that moved more easily, but the important feature they included was an handle. Best of all, it’s about the same price – $19.99.
It’s got three drawers and a top compartment. That’s enough room for a ton of dice, some 25 mm miniatures, index cards, pencils, wooden cubes (more on those in a moment), and some Sharpies. It’s also a great place to put all the cool stickers I get from other game creators.
Now, on to the other cheap GM tool I’ve found – wooden cubes!
I usually run Top Secret at conventions, since we publish the game. Top Secret is not a minis game, it’s got some tactical rules in it for convenience, but it really isn’t built to be a minis skirmish game or anything. That being said, it’s good to know where your characters are sometimes in relation to others.
In the picture above, I’m running The Bank Job, which is part of our mission module, Forged With Fire. The players have to rescue a hostage from a bank where terrorists have taken over the building.
At our local Dollar Tree, they sell bags of little wooden cubes, about 40 for a dollar ($1.25 actually, ugh inflation). As it happens, you can write on them with a pencil, pen, or Sharpie. I grabbed them because I was in a hurry on the way to Rising Phoenix Con. As it turns out, they were the best $1.25 I’ve ever spent on gaming.
Each player got a cube with the initial of their character on it. The terrorists (Italian anarchists from “Punto Zero”) got a little anarchy symbol, and other things like hostages, cops, and even cameras and drones all get their own cubes.
They’re cheap, they’re plentiful, and endlessly flexible since you can just write something on the cube when it shows up in the game, even if you hadn’t planned on it beforehand. I was even able to hide information by writing on the bottom of the cubes, such as identifying which hostage was the secret agent they were trying to find.
I hope these tools are inspirational to you, and maybe you’ll even try them out for yourself. If you have any cool GM hacks of your own, or if you try these, please drop me a line at jayson@solariangames.com and share your experiences!
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
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
-
Tuesday, April 28th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for April 28th, 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!
Goodman Games Sale, Magazine Madness, Grit System Game Jam, and more! April 14th, 2026
Goodman Games Sale!
Magazine Madness!
Grit System Game Jam!
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Horse Shark Games | Stillfleet Studio
Horse Shark Games
It’s Almost Over! The Great Goodman Games Sale!
Goodman Games is having a huge sale on DriveThruRPG! Get 25% off of selected titles now until the end of April.
All of Horse Shark Games, including Netcrawl RPG, are on sale, too!
This is also the last few days to pick up physical books from Horse Shark Games. Everything is 25% off, too. Just click visit us at https://horsesharkgames.com/store or hit the button to visit the online store.
Act fast – The sale ends April 30th, 2026!
Ends Soon! Stillfleet Studio
Coming Soon: The First-Ever Grit System Game Jam
Stillfleet Studio is proud to announce that we are hosting our first-ever game jam across all of the Grit System games. The jam features simple, commercial-friendly third-party licenses for all games, an SRD, guest judges, and prizes for the judges’ top picks. (Judges and prizes to be announced soon.)
This is a fun, informal celebration of our having passed the 6+ game mark using the Grit System, which powers Stillfleet, Blister Critters, and Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying. If you like intuitive and easy-to-learn dice resolution, epic narrative powers, and highly hackable rules modules, check out the Grit System and consider submitting something to the jam. We’ll post more about designing adventure-friendly, story-forward TTRPGs using the system in future updates.
The jam runs all summer. More details soon. Have fun making games!
Join The Jam! Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness continues with Challenge Magazine from Game Designers’ Workshop!
As I power through the list of magazines I established at the beginning of the year, there are a few I am personally looking forward to checking out. Challenge was one of them, simply due to the fact that it is the continuation of one of my favorites – The Journal of the Traveller Aid Society (JTAS), a quarterly publication that would add new concepts to the core three Traveller books. However, Challenge is a departure from this, which makes sense since GDW was expanding its RPG offerings past Traveller. This also makes Challenge function like JTAS for their other games, focusing only on emerging rules for their other products that will get a formal release later.
And this is cool! Issue 25 is technically the first issue of Challenge, but it continues where JTAS left off at issue 24. In fact, issues 25-28 still have half of the magazine under the JTAS branding, with the same structure found, but reserved in the second half of each issue. They even include an official JTAS cover in the original digest-sized layout, but printing in the middle of the now US Letter-sized layout. This also means the whole magazine is laid out to this larger, more typical US magazine form factor, but I can’t help but think this makes the Traveller content different. Maybe it’s how it’s presented, or maybe the material isn’t as strong as other JTAS content. But this might also be because
1) GDW was preparing for Megatraveller, where they handed the reins to a 3rd party publisher so they could focus on other games like Twilight:2000 and their board game division
2) GDW was splitting creative work into Twilight: 2000, Traveller: 2300, and eventually Space 1889, so whatever was here seemed to be more of the remaining material written or planned before the change to Challenge
3) I have a bias and expect hard-hitting Traveller content to be presented to me in Digest format only.
It’s honestly probably all of the above, but I’m just not as compelled by what is here. This also marks a moment in Traveller where GDW has a third-party work on Traveller so the main team of in-house designers can focus on Twilight:2000 and Traveller: 2300 while having Digest Group Publishing focus on the Traveller rebrand into Megatraveller.
The final covers of JTAS in order from #25 to #29
This split magazine format was gone by issue 29; oddly enough, the issue that celebrates the 10th anniversary of Traveller. From this point forward, we are getting a big dose of Twilight: 2000 and Traveller: 2300. If you’re not familiar, these games are inspired by something called “The Game“, a geo-political house game developed by the GDW staff, where it inspired the setting of both games.
This means Twilight: 2000; a game where the final nuclear war between NATO and the USSR happened and the players are abandoned soldiers in a wild-west style game but in ruined Poland. Traveller: 2300 takes place three hundred years later (After the “Twilight War”), where Humanity develops the means to interstellar travel. Both are interesting concepts and have their fans. The games also use GDW’s new house mechanics, a product of the mid-1980s Simulation crunch that plagued the hobby – a far departure from the slick 2D6 mechanics of Traveller.
Challenge maintained being an RPG-focused magazine, highlighting their other RPGS like Megatraveller, then later Traveller: The New Era, Space 1889, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, and Dark Conspiracy, but also eventually opened up to other publishers like Battletech, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, d6 Star Wars RPG (West End games), and Cyberpunk 2020. And with these game changes and how the market was going, each adventure and supplement became more and more word,y as was the trend of the time. This leads to the adventures being more difficult to run at the table, with mechanics or important notes being buried within paragraphs of fluff – a trend that still seems to plague some publishers to this day.
The spirit of the 1990s is alive in the final issue
By issue 77, Challenge magazine ended its run, lasting into the mid 1990s, adapting along the way to include the latest and coolest games, along with its own. Game Designer Workshop closed on Leap Day, February 29th,1996. This magazine was a bit harder to track down, due to limited issues scanned online and not being able to purchase PDFs easily. I still have some issues coming in the mail as I write this, but I’m looking forward to kicking back on the porch and reading some editorials from one of my favorite publishers.
Next time– The General by Avalon Hill!
Bryan
A Quick ArcaneCon update! Just a reminder: game submissions are OPEN! Each approved game you submit will grant you $10 off your entry fee, for up to $30 off online registration (not including fees!) when they go live on May 31st. There is already a fantastic selection of games, which you can check out here! Games must be submitted by May 30th to receive the discount, so make sure to get your games in!
Ham & Egg Publishing
Of A Harmonious Nature – Free PDF Preview!
Ahoy! First up, I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who has already supported my Dark Double Feature on BackerKit! THANK YOU!!!
We’re fully funded and have 24 days left. If you haven’t yet, I’d love it if you checked it out.
Here is a little more about the project:
Ham & Egg Publishing joins forces with prolific TTRPG writer Levi Combs to bring you a dark double feature designed for use with Shadowdark RPG. Two adventures. Two flavors of horror. One unforgettable campaign.If Of a Harmonious Nature was written to be the best parts of an A24 film in the Hammer Horror style, then Nothing Left to Lose is SAW in H.H. Holmes’ Murder Castle. This is horror with range: slow dread and frenzied ritual on one side, desperate survival in absolute darkness on the other.Back it now! Some folks also requested a PDF preview of the project, and I was happy to oblige. Click the button below to check out a FREE 9-page PDF preview. It is definitely a work in progress, but it will give you a sense of what is in store for the full book.
Free PDF Preview! Finally, this weekend I will be at Ecclesicon in Palmyra, New Jersey, Saturday, May 2nd, running Of A Harmonious Nature and hanging out. There are currently spots left in my game if you want to jump in. Click the button for more information.
Get Tickets! Ecclesicon Palmyra, NJ – May 1st and 2nd
Ecclesicon is a two-day gaming convention founded by Wes Allen of DM Tales and hosted by the Central Baptist Church of Riverton-Palmyra
The convention is a fundraiser, splitting proceeds between Central Baptist Church’s roof-replacement loan and Booksmiles, a literacy advocacy non-profit based in South Jersey.With plenty of games, some seminars, cool vendors, a charity auction, and a free pizza bash sponsored by the Philly Area Gaming Expo Saturday evening, Ecclesicon’s got something for everyone!Come on out to roll some dice and do some good!.
Get Tickets! 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
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
-
Tuesday, April 21st
This is the Analog Union newsletter for April 21st, 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!
A Dark Double Feature, Goodman Games Sale, Pizza Party, OSE Month, and more! April 14th, 2026
A Dark Double Feature!
Goodman Games Sale!
Deathblow!
OSE Month!
In this newsletter
Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Horse Shark Games | Tiger Wizard
Ham & Egg Publishing
A Dark Double Feature is LIVE on BackerKit
Ahoy! Today is the day when my Dark Double Feature launches on BackerKit!
Ham & Egg Publishing joins forces with prolific TTRPG writer Levi Combs to bring you a dark double feature designed for use with Shadowdark RPG. Two adventures. Two flavors of horror. One unforgettable campaign.If Of a Harmonious Nature was written to be the best parts of an A24 film in the Hammer Horror style, then Nothing Left to Lose is SAW in H.H. Holmes’ Murder Castle. This is horror with range: slow dread and frenzied ritual on one side, desperate survival in absolute darkness on the other.
Back the project at a physical tier within the first 48 hours and receive a FREE glow-in-the-dark mini of Prastr-Vem, the big bad from a harmonious nature.
Back it now! 
Look at this mofo glow!
Watch Us Live!
To celebrate the launch of our BackerKit for the Dark DoubleFeature, I put together a killer crew for a one-night-only live play. Join Joey Royale, Brian”Neon Lord” Shutter, R.Alex Murray, and a couple of other very special guests as we run through Of A Harmonious Nature.
LIVE on the Sewer RatsYouTubee. 8 pm EST, Tuesday, April 21st.Watch it live!!!! Horse Shark Games
The Great Goodman Games Sale!
Goodman Games is having a huge sale on DriveThruRPG! Get 25% off of selected titles now until the end of April.
But. That’s. Not. All!
Goodman Games invited its legion of third-party publishers to the party! So you can pick up the Mutant Crawl Classics RPG rulebook and toss in a copy of Enchiridion of the Computarchs, both at a 25% discount.
The sale is on selected titles, but Horse Shark Games is offering all its PDFs at a 25% discount. So, all of Netcrawl RPG is on sale as well.
What’s that: you want to buy some physical books? Well, Horse Shark Games has also placed all its products on sale until April 30th, 2026. Just click visit us at https://horsesharkgames.com/store or hit the button to visit the online store.
Act fast – The promotion ends April 30th, 2026!
Shop Now! Get Haunted Industries
You Like-a Da Pizza? I Got Da Pizza!
Look at you! You look great. Why don’t you stop by Joey Royale’s Pizza Party on Wednesday, April 22nd, at 8 pm EST on the Sewer Rats Inc. YouTube channel? For the uninitiated, some pals and I talk about RPGs, comics, toys, movies, and chicken cutlets.
Our April edition is one for the ages. We got Chuck from Dark Future, one of the premier brick-and-mortar (and online) game stores that goes out of its way to support true indie gaming. Our old pal Ian McGarty is stopping by for his insane new game “Bad Mother Cluckers: Pollo Lucha Edicion”– yup, chicken fights! Last and certainly not least, I am honored to have Henry Richardson of Richardson Games, creator of Deathblow, one of the major inspirations that got me into writing zines. Deathblow is a real gem and deserves way more attention. From Henry’s site:
In Deathblow, you roleplay Gang Warriors in a concrete wasteland known as Reaper City. Marauding gangs stalk the night, cruising streets & highways in search of their next target. While in dark lairs lie the city’s hidden rulers – The Innersanctum – a court of powerful Houses & lords, each with an army of contract killers & gang warriors at their command.
Check out this video for crying out loud!
My partner in crime, The Neon Lord, will be on the couch, and Alana on the ones and twos.Grab your napkins- It’s going to be a mess!
Tune In! Tiger Wizard
Ripping the flesh for OSE Month
Demons are coming to Old-School Essentials in May. That’s right, in the way only Backerkit knows how, there will be a full month of collaborative crowdfunding projects focusing on all things demonic.
I’ll be joining forces with the incredibly talented Donn Stroud to bring our horrific vision of the demon on the rise, Arakmadt, the Skin Collector, to life. Bloody, flayed, painful life.
Oh, yuck! Look at that guy. All shriveled up from wearin’ a buncha skins! He’s a gross wizard who wants to be a Demon.
Arakmadt must collect the flayed skins of willing supplicants to add to his songbook. Only then will he ascend to true Demonhood. It’s a skin-ripping, flesh-tearing, blood-drenched demonic “good time.”
Adventurers will descend into the Butchered Realm, decide who to rescue and who to ally with, and find a way back to their normal lives.
This’ll be a hardback book-style book.
If you love Hellraiser, Silent Hill, etc., you’ll probably enjoy this disgusting adventure!
Abattoir Hymnal is an adventure for OSE Month 2026!
OSE Month launches on Backerkit on May 6th.
Click below to sign up! We’ll make sure your name is added to the list of supplicants, and the servants of Arakmadt the SKINTAKER will come to collect your skin!
I hope you’ll join Donn and me on this meaty quest.
Cheers
-Tiger Wizard
Please take my skin and use it to feed the butcher realm! Geek Flea Kearny, NJ – April 18th
Ecclesicon Palmyra, NJ – May 1st and 2nd
Ecclesicon is a two-day gaming convention founded by Wes Allen of DM Tales and hosted by the Central Baptist Church of Riverton-Palmyra
The convention is a fundraiser, splitting proceeds between Central Baptist Church’s roof-replacement loan and Booksmiles, a literacy advocacy non-profit based in South Jersey.With plenty of games, some seminars, cool vendors, a charity auction, and a free pizza bash sponsored by the Philly Area Gaming Expo Saturday evening, Ecclesicon’s got something for everyone!Come on out to roll some dice and do some good!.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
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
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Tuesday, April 14th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for April 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!
Secret Country, Printing Zines for Cheap, Hot- Foil Macabre Previews! April 14th, 2026
Get Cheap with Joey Royale!
Secret Country!
All-Things Macabre!
In this newsletter
Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Stillfleet Studio
Joey Royale, Get Haunted Industries
I’m Cheap and So Can You
Ciao Paesans! Let’s talk business.
So you’re sitting in the park feeding firecrackers to squirrels like one does, and BAM—an idea from Olympus smacks you in the head. Now what?
Want to see my eyes glaze over like a donut? Corner me at a party and start telling me about the great idea you’re totally going to start one day.
Baloney.
Just do it. Get it out there.
“How do I get it out there?” you ask. Here are some quick tips:
Graphic Design
I’m cheap. I downloaded Affinity Publisher through Canva for free and watched a few YouTube videos about moving things around and changing colors. I only stopped using Microsoft Publisher because it’s going out to pasture next year.Printing Zines
I’m cheap. I send a PDF to Mixam, and then my zines magically manifest on my doorstep a week or two later. I keep the orders small, so I don’t stretch myself too thin. That leftover money goes straight into the next print run.Printing Stickers
I’m cheap. Sticky Brand is fast, and they run a sale every five minutes. Stay away from Sticker Mule unless you like jackasses.Set Up an Online Store
I’m cheap. I use DriveThruRPG for PDFs and Etsy for physical stuff. Both are free to set up, but they take a cut of sales. There are tons of platforms, and everyone has opinions about them. My advice: pick one that feels right, stick with it, and treat your customers well.Mailing
Did I mention I’m cheap?Stay away from ULine:
https://refuseuline.comGet a label printer. Seriously. It will save you hours of stress. I grabbed a BT620 Bluetooth thermal label printer for about $80. I print labels downstairs while watching Unsolved Mysteries upstairs.
For the WHPA BackerKit, I printed hundreds of labels and never hit a snag.
For A5 zines, grab a stack of 6×9 envelopes. I like the stiff white ones that prevent bending. Thin envelopes can get mangled. Bubble mailers are good too. I buy whatever’s cheapest in bulk.
That extra touch:
I slide my zines into 6×9 self-sealing clear plastic bags for extra protection.Media Mail
$4.47 for a package under a pound, and it usually lands in 2–8 days. Bada bing, bada boom.LLCs and Taxes
Once you have some steady ground under you, think about forming an LLC so your zine business is separate from your personal accounts. I got my Connecticut LLC license online for about $100.
Etsy and other platforms make it easy to report profits for tax purposes. I write off everything mentioned above—but I’m not an accountant, so take that advice however you want.
I’m no expert, but I’ve learned from my pals and my mistakes. Reach out if you need advice on any of this stuff: lordbludd@gmail.com
Ok, speech over—go have a sfogliatelle and relax. If you want to go deeper, check out my homeboy Hambone McGuire’s masterpiece: Crowdfund Your F#@king Life. Oh yeah, and PWYW! Throw the guy a couple of bucks if you can, though.
Ham & Egg Publishing
This Week in Hambone
Ahoy! It’s your old buddy Hambone here with a few cool things I’d love to hip ya to.
Firstly, while most know me as a podcaster and writer, I am also a lifelong musician. It’s been one of the great joys of my life, and I’ve been lucky to be able to play just about everywhere with everyone I’d wanted to over the last three decades. But for the last ten or so years, I have been holding it down as the bassist of an Outlaw Country band called Secret Country.
Now, I know that when people hear the term “country,” many negative connotations come to mind. But we don’t play any of that crybaby modern country bullshit. Secret Country is a bunch of punk rock kids who play Outlaw Country in the tradition of Waylon and Willie, albeit faster.
You can check out our latest single, Hoppin’ The Hudson at the link below. Our next full-length album, Word To The Wise, will be out in May from Killing Horse Records.Yee Haw! What I’m Reading
This week I also burned through a couple of books, one of which, Here Lies A Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley, stood out as my favorite. It’s a paranormal thriller about a murdered bad girl back from the grave and bent on revenge, set amongst a cast of characters who feel lived-in and real. I had a blast reading it. Check it out at your local library or snag a copy at your friendly local bookstore!
Coming to BackerKit on 4/21
Finally, we’re just one week away from the launch of my next crowdfunding campaign for use with ShadowDark RPG. Check it out.
Darkness isn’t creeping in; it’s already here.Of A Harmonious Nature launches on BackerKit April 21st as part of a brutal Dark Double Feature with Nothing Left To Lose.
Two nightmares. One system you already love.
If Shadowdark thrives on tension, risk, and the fear of what’s waiting in the next room, this is where it gets worse because this isn’t just horror. This is SAW inside a murder maze built to break your players!
Early birds. Minis. Twisted choices you don’t walk away from.
Follow the Project Now! Stillfleet Studio
Bringing Danse Macabre to Un-Life
Hey y’all, here is a quick peek behind the scenes of the production of a run of books using offset printing—in this case, the five books that make up Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio (a medieval zombie apocalypse TTRPG).
Above, you can see the physical proofs of the Danse Macabre books. These are actually digital samples, not offset prints. Offset printing looks great and makes individual books cheaper, at scale, but it’s an expensive process: you can’t do it more than once per product, basically.
To figure out how to tweak your margins/bleed, CMYK colors, matte or glossy lamination (cover finishes), and any extras such as foils or spot UV layers, you go back and forth with the printer using quicker, cheaper digital prints.
Digital prints are cool, but they never look exactly the same as the offset versions. The main issue we’ve found is that black ink comes out splotchy in a digital print, whereas it looks rich and smooth in the offset run. Below is an example of this from the physical proof of the Reliquary, which won’t have splotchy patches on the final version:
Another tricky issue is foil. The softback version of the Danse Macabre Rulebook has silver foil, and the hardback has bronze foil (see below). Turns out, it’s really hard to take accurate pictures of shiny things! You can’t rely on pictures or video to proof foil.
Also, foil is hot-stamped onto books. (I’m picturing a James Bond-villain machine for dripping out boiling-hot metal…) It can be tough for printers to nail the placement of foil over very fine lines and text. Hence, we have to look at the proofs in-person, up-close, and send detailed notes. (This also helps us double check the text for typos.)
You can compare these nigh-final covers to our crowdfunding images, which were made earlier on in the process, before we knew what foil would look best over which layers of art.
The takeaway for me—after having led the development of three games that were offset-printed—is the offset printing can be a good fit for indie TTRPG creators, but you have to make it worth your while.
In addition ordering a certain minimum number of copies, you really have to pay careful attention to physical samples and take more time when you need it for proofing, making extra room in your schedule to check finicky extras such as foil.
If you enjoyed this quick look at the evolution of a few books by a small team of indie artists (all humans, no bots), let us know! We’re happy to share more.
Late Pledges—Ending Soon Geek Flea Kearny, NJ – April 18th
Saturday, April 18, in Kearny, New Jersey, Geek Flea returns! Browse over 50 tables of toys and collectibles, books, knick-knacks, video games, crafts, art, snacks, and more! Get ready for spring with the coolest geeks in North Jersey. Entry is FREE for all, 10 am to 3 pm.
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We organize Geek Flea for one main reason: to hang out and have a good time with our local North Jersey geek scene. We’re glad to be back once again, so thank you for your patronage!
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
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 Wythe Marschall of Stillfleet Studio.
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!
—WM
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Tuesday, April 7th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for April 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!
Magazine Madness, Neon Bastardz, Women’s Hockey! April 7th, 2026
Neon Bastardz is LIVE!
Women’s Hockey!
Magazine Madness
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Super Savage Systems
Super Savage Systems
Neon Bastardz is live on Kickstarter!
WELCOME TO THE CASSETTE-APOCALYPSE
Neon Bastardz is a fast, brutal, no-prep tabletop RPG built for pure, unfiltered action.
Get ready for:
Explosions
Mutations
Reckless decisions
And consequences that hit like a Monster Truck
This is what happens when the world ends…
and keeps going.Give the future a wedgie; it’s time to get radical in the end times!
WHAT YOU DO
Play as a skumdog surviving the neon wastelands and mega-cities
Smash through creeps, corpo skum, khaotic weirdness, and ninjas
Snag bizarre gear and fantastical relics
Mutate. Adapt. Get Rad.
Try to stay alive long enough to matter
Are you a bad enough dude to become a Neon Lord?
Want to see for yourself? Download the Sick-Start Rulez and try not to get SLIMED!
Operators Are Standing By! Ham & Egg Publishing
Two cool things and some promo!
Ahoy!
Hambone here to chat you up about the coolest things I have seen this week.
First up, I celebrated the 30th anniversary of my 17th birthday this past Wednesday and popped by my local multiplex to check out They Will Kill You.This movie is so gloriously grindhouse that it defied all my expectations. They weren’t kidding when they said they couldn’t show anything but a staredown in the ads.
If you are not opposed to over-the-top blood and guts, They Will Kill You is a must-see in theaters. Solid story, superb casting, killer action sequences, and mostly practical effects.
I cannot recommend They Will Kill You enough.
Photo by me using my CampSnap Pro
Secondly, at the start of the 2025 PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) season, my wife, Sally, was invited by a friend to check out a New York Sirens game. She immediately fell in love with the sport. She’s since gone to almost every home game at the Prudential Center–A.K.A. The Rock–in Newark, New Jersey.
Yes, they are the New York Sirens and play in New Jersey. Don’t get me started on that.
For a sport founded in 2023 with an inaugural season in 2024, the women on these teams have worked diligently to prove why they deserve a spot at the table*. They have fought for every inch, showing the world why women’s sports are so important.Having been to many games myself, I can attest to the talent, grit, and heart these athletes bring to every time their skates touch the ice. Inspiring not only their local fans, but folks around the world when the US Women’s Hockey team brought home the gold in the 2026 Olympics.
So on Saturday night, Sally and I went to “the world’s most famous arena”, Madison Square Garden, to watch the Sirens take on the Seattle Torrent. Holy cow, what a game. The Sirens won in overtime 2-1 after a shootout that had every one of the 18,006 fans in attendance on their feet.
It was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen. Wee F’n Woo.
*Flavor Flav would be the first one to tell you that women’s sports are underfunded, undersupported, and unappreciated. Now has never been a better time to get in on the ground floor of something great. Support women’s hockey.
Finally, if you want to do something nice to commemorate the 30th anniversary of my 17th birthday, click the link to get notified of the launch of my Dark Double Feature. Of A Harmonious Nature and Nothing Left To Lose: designed for use with ShadowdarkRPG, will be launching on BackerKit on April 21st. Get Notifed Of Launch! Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness Returns! – Adventurer Magazine by Mersey Leisure Publishing
Sorry for the delay, I had to put more effort into this one! Primarily because Adventurer magazine lasted eleven issues between 1986 and 1987, so I wanted to see how it compared with its two most notable peers- Dragon magazine and White Dwarf Magazine, which I will get to later in this article. With my focus on earlier published magazines and issues, I had to get a general glimpse into the hobby magazine style of the mid 1980s to help understand the publishing zeitgeist. I first heard about Adventurer magazine from fellow cohort/comrade Ben (Empty Castle Press) a few years ago after he stumbled upon it. So I figured I should also cover it while doing this series. Let’s dive in!
With that out of the way, I’m gonna just say – Adventurer Magazine punches well above its weight. It is the perfect mix of content and style, capturing a level of enthusiasm for the hobby while also being as visually engaging as possible. This magazine was so effective at advertising its games that I literally went on eBay and ordered some (Flashing Blades, among others)! This magazine got me so fired up that I couldn’t stop looking around each uniquely laid out page with original ornamental artwork and headers for its featured articles. On top of that, their aesthetics just get better each issue! This magazine was really something. Unfortunately, it burned so brightly, only for it to burn out quickly. I’m under the impression that this magazine was meant to fill in the hole that Imagine Magazine left after TSR shut it down, but wow, Adventurer eats Imagine’s lunch.
Adventurer – The Superior Fantasy & Science Fiction Games Magazine honestly lives up to its title. After looking at issues of Dragon and White Dwarf from the same 1986-1987 period, Adventurer crushes them. It’s the aesthetics of White Dwarf, but with the density of content of Dragon BUT with a maximalist approach to layout that White Dwarf specialized in, where there were no empty spaces at all. But what really makes it stand out? Mersey wasn’t promoting their own game. In turn, there is more shared game content and advertisements for other games that are able to float to the top and get your attention. This also means you get some great original content to support generic game systems or articles to help inspire players and GMs alike. You also get the occasional short story here and there. But! You also get Zine reviews, which are far more positive and endorse the small publishers than Imagine did. Which- this is also something I’ve noticed with the UK published gaming magazines; They talk about fanzines which I don’t see in the US-based mags. This, in effect, makes the UK gaming scene feel more palpable and enthusiastic about the hobby, especially with more professional magazines promoting it. What are the main featured articles and editorials for Adventurer?
Town Crier: Rumors, Gossip, and News in the hobby/industry
Live by the Sword: Letters to the Editor
Figures Front: a feature on miniatures, essentially ‘eavy Metal from White Dwarf.
Shop Window: Short reviews of game releases
Fanzines Forever..?: Zine reviews
Classified: personal ads for hobby meet-ups, trades, miniature painting, etc.
Voyages Beyond: Media reviews
“What is Play By Mail?” An overview and insight into play-by-mail, along with some reviews of ongoing Play-by-mail games.
Comics such as Return to Arkham, a Horror comic, “Whip-lash”, which is another gothic horror comic of sorts, “Once Bitten”, a fantasy comic, and “Bomber”, the Wormy analogue for Adventurer.
Center spread Poster of the cover!
There is also the occasional setting guide to the publication’s own fantasy city, “Scatophagium”, a fantasy city somewhere between Lankhmar and Altdorf of Warhammer Fantasy, based on the comic Once Bitten. What a name! British Fantasy is truly its own vibe.
I’d also like to outline the different RPGs that get featured or supported with content and scenarios in Adventurer, starting with what I found in Dragon and White Dwarf from 1986-1987:
Dragon Magazine: AD&D, Top Secret!, Marvel Superheroes, Star Frontiers, Gamma World (All TSR), Traveller, Champions, Space Opera (?!), Villains & Vigilantes. We have some cool stuff here, but obviously, TSR will use its own magazine to publish its own game content for promotional purposes. Some of the non-TSR games were relegated to the Ares section of the magazine, only to fall away and be hidden between ads in later issues.
White Dwarf’s offerings: Warhammer Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Blood Bowl, AD&D, Bushido, Runequest, Traveller, Pendragon, Call of Cthulhu, Judge Dredd RPG. Again, some cool stuff, including Games Workshop game support as expected. But it’s all cool! And on top of that, you get support for Chaosium games, including a Pendragon article by the one and only Greg Stafford. Plus a Bushido scenario, a Fantasy Games Unlimited RPG that was popular for a moment after Shogun aired in 198,0 but seemed to have legs well into the mid 1980s in the United Kingdom.
Now let’s take a look at what games Adventurer features: STORMBRINGER!, Middle Earth Roleplaying (MERP!), Runequest II, Basic D&D, AD&D, Bushido, generic SCI-fi scenarios advertised for Traveller/Space Opera/Star Frontiers/STAR TREK!, Villains & Vigilantes, Chivalry & Sorcery! Wow, what an assortment! MERP, Stormbringer, C&S, and Star Trek all get equal coverage as the D&D juggernaut here. As with Imagine at the time, some scenarios were written to be generic, but with stats and conversions at the end for use with different game systems. So if there was a fantasy scenario, it would have Runequest, MERP, and D&D. But you will also get dedicated game scenarios like a Stormbringer adventure in the first issue. Awesome.
After eleven issues, the magazine stopped. Mersey Leisure Publishing didn’t release anything else besides this magazine from what I can find, which is a shame. Maybe it’s because it was a magazine that wasn’t also a part of a more profitable gaming publisher like Dragon or White Dwarf, but that’s also why I like it- It felt fan-made without an agenda. Do yourself a favor and take a dive into this lost treasure from the hobby scene. This is easily in my top 3 gaming magazines of all time.
Next Time – Challenge Magazine by Game Design Workshop!
Bryan
Geek Flea Kearny, NJ – April 18th
Saturday, April 18, in Kearny, New Jersey, Geek Flea returns! Browse over 50 tables of toys and collectibles, books, knick-knacks, video games, crafts, art, snacks, and more! Get ready for spring with the coolest geeks in North Jersey. Entry is FREE for all, 10 am to 3 pm.
———
We organize Geek Flea for one main reason: to hang out and have a good time with our local North Jersey geek scene. We’re glad to be back once again, so thank you for your patronage!
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
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 John “Hambone” McGuire 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, or just ideas you’ve got.
If you like the Analog Union newsletter, please tell your friends to sign up at AnalogUnion.com.
Until Next Time!
– JHM
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Tuesday, March 31st
This is the Analog Union newsletter for March 31st, 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!
Tavers, Shadowdark, Neon Bastardz, Free Stuff! March 24th, 2026
Taver’s Last Days on Kickstarter
Nothing Left To Lose
The POG Initiative, AKA The Initiative Sack
Stillfleet is now on Alchemy VTT!
Free Patreon for April
In this newsletter
Tiger Wizard | Ham & Egg Publishing | Super Savage Systems | Stillfleet Studio | Solarian
Tiger Wizard
Taver’s Last Days on Kickstarter
TAVERS: The Meow Wolf Roleplaying Game, an immersive, collaborative, exploration-based storytelling TTRPG set in a universe of multiple worlds, is wrapping up its Kickstarter run on Friday, April 3rd.
Here’s a synopsis:
Tavers: The Meow Wolf Roleplaying Game invites you to wander through shimmering storyscapes and impossible landlines, places where mystery hums around every corner, and immortal cybernetic hamsters, underground rat punks, shadowy agents of the Charter, and community radio are just the beginning. Taste the delights of Fishy Delishy, dance the night away on stage wth a pan-dimensional skeletal terpsichorean, surf the info-waves of the Techstream on cyber-boards, and so much more.
Tavers: Gameplay Primer – FREE Preview PDF
Players take on the role of TAVERS, beings connected to SOURCE, the raw creative energy flowing through everything. By harnessing that energy, they are able to do some really cool stuff—far more than just opening portals. They dare to manifest impossible ideas that defy logic, shift perception, and reshape reality itself.
Check out the How-To-Play video:
TAVERS: The Meow Wolf Roleplaying Game is fully funded with most of its stretch goals unlocked. Click the button below to join us in the TAVE.
Learn More Ham & Egg Publishing
Nothing Left To Lose
Cover art by Charles Ferguson Avery
Ahoy! It’s your ole buddy Hambone here!
I am stoked to announce that Nothing Left To Lose, a dungeon crawl zine designed for use with Shadowdark, is coming to BackerKit on April 21st.
Here is a teaser synopsis:Set free by your captor after a failed rescue mission, you are reunited with your friends, your gear, and a way out. The only problem is, it isn’t the same way you came in. The only thing standing between you and freedom is the dark…and whatever is lurking in its shadows.
Nothing Left To Lose is a dungeon crawl for 4-6 characters, levels 3-5, designed for use with Shadowdark RPG. A three-level dungeon that will take every bit of your wits and grit to survive. Time is of the essence, and it is not on your side. Because if the torchlight fades to black, you’ll learn that freedom really is just another word for Nothing Left To Lose.
Nothing Left To Lose will be offered alongside Of A Harmonious Nature as a Dark Double Feature during our BackerKit campaign.
The campaign is set to bring players two great flavors of horror for one incredible system and is not to be missed. Because if Of a Harmonious Nature was written to be the best parts of an A24 film, in the Hammer Horror style, then Nothing Left To Lose is SAW in H.H. Holmes “Murder Castle.”Learn More Super Savage Systems
The POG Initiative, AKA The Initiative Sack
With the advent of Neon Bastardz, I felt like it was high time the POG was put back in the spotlight. I always loved POGs. We would go to MJ Designs on Saturdays and just dig through their massive tubs of POGs (.35 cents a pop!). Glow POGs, holographic POGs, skulls, daggers, monsters, and anything else you can toss on a circle of cardboard were represented. It was a magical time. Sad to see them go the way of the Beanie Baby. I managed to fill that POG-shaped hole in my heart with this new game called Magic: The Gathering, and the rest was history. From time to time throughout the years, I’ve gotten a nostalgic itch to revisit the wonderful POG world, but never pulled the plug. That is, until the creation of Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland.
With the world ending in the late 80’s/ early 90’s and the Gnarly Age’s craze for everything of that era, it was a no-brainer to add POGs into the neon mix, and on a dusty hot day in Afghanistan, the POG Initiative Sack and Stack was born.
Fast forward to now, I’m happy to say the RAW way to play Neon Bastardz is the Initiative Sack, and the regular Mork Borg rolling initiative is the optional rule. With that being said, I’m going to try to run Neon Lords classic from now on using the POG method!
Also, if you see me at a con, get ready to throw down on some POGs! Anyone who beats me to a round will get a FREE secret zine!!
Neon Bastardz goes live on April 7th, 2026!! Click the link below and sign up to be notified when we go live!
Operators Are Standing By! Stillfleet Studio
Stillfleet is now on Alchemy VTT!
Confession time: we—the team that makes all of the narrative-focused, epic and adventuresome, player-empowering Grit System games at the Stillfleet Studio—don’t typically use virtual tabletops (VTTs), being old-school theater-of-the-mind types.
But of course we know what VTTs are and what they offer to players who enjoy tactical combat, and we want to support players however they want to play indie TTRPGs!
So we are thrilled to announce our flagship sci-fi game, Stillfleet, is now available on Alchemy VTT. Alchemy is a slick VTT that allows for a lot of customization, streaming video, beautiful backgrounds and maps, and easy access to rules—now including the Grit System.
You can pick up the Alchemy version of the Stillfleet Core Rulebook in the Alchemy Marketplace or test drive Stillfleet in the VTT environment, free.
Try the Base System Check out the Marketplace Solarian Games
Free Patreon for April
Our Patreon is where we build and expand everything around Top Secret RPG. Each month, we release roughly 50 pages of new material, including missions, organizations, gear, and full setting support designed for modern action and espionage play. While it’s built with Top Secret in mind, the content is system-agnostic enough to drop into games like Outgunned, d20 Modern, Delta Green, SpyCraft, or even GI Joe with minimal adjustment.
For April, everything is open. You can jump in for free and download the entire past year of content. It’s a good chance to see what we’ve been building and decide if it fits your table.
This month’s releases…
Albania: Agents find themselves in an environment where geography, corruption, and transnational crime intersect. From the busy port of Durrës to the isolated routes of the Albanian Alps, agents will navigate unreliable partners, active smuggling corridors, and a mix of state and criminal actors who often blur together. The document provides a full country profile, key locations, border infiltration options, and a detailed breakdown of counter agencies, criminal organizations, and legal adversaries.
Legion: This decentralized hacktivist collective targets powerful institutions through data breaches, infrastructure disruption, and strategic leaks, often exposing real corruption while creating unpredictable fallout. For agents, Legion represents both an opportunity and a liability, capable of revealing critical intelligence or destabilizing operations without warning. The document outlines Legion’s structure, capabilities, operational methods, and cultural mindset, along with ICON’s cautious assessment of the group as a wildcard actor.
US Combat Commands: This document breaks down the United State’s Unified Combatant Commands into clear, usable intelligence for modern espionage play. Each command is presented with its history, mission, and operational scope in plain language, making it easy to understand how these massive military structures actually function in practice.
Alternate Skills: We’re in the process of modernizing Agent 13 for the Lucky 13 system. As part of that, we had to refine the skill list to fit pulp action heroes. This document contains the rules for a new list of skills that will allow you to play non-spy heroes in Top Secret. This is great for those of you who want to run a John Wick or 6 Underground type campaign. Best of all, you can have two characters, each using different skill lists, and still play them in the same campaign.
Get Some Free Stuff! 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 Peter B. Bryant of
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Until Next Time!
– Peter
