This is the Analog Union newsletter for March 3rd, 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 Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date.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, March 3rd
Tavers launches this week, gunslingers, and obscure gaming zines -
Tuesday, February 24th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for February 24th, 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 Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date.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 Hazy Shade of Winter 
February 24th, 2026
Tavers: The Meow Wolf RPG
Neon Bastardz
Hambone’s Fast Five
Last Chance To Danse
Food & Evil
ModCon is coming!
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Horse Shark Games | Stillfleet Studio | Super Savage Systems | Tiger Wizard
Tiger Wizard
HAMSTER SMASHES CITY TO RUBBLE! ALONG WITH EXPECTATIONS!
Howdy all, just wanted to let everyone know about this new TTRPG I’ve been working on. It’s called TAVERS: The Meow Wolf Roleplaying Game, and it’s all about collaborative storytelling for you and a few friends. In the many worlds of Meow Wolf, there is a beloved hamster named Nimsesku. Something strange has turned him into a city-smashing, massive snack-snappping Kaiju monster! The NimsesKaiju!! TAVERS Launches on Kickstarter March 4th. However, if you sign up to be notified in advance, you will receive this 80mm Kaiju Hamster mini FREE with a pledge to any physical tier.
SIGN UP TO HAVE HAMSTER Super Savage Systems
Neon Bastardz RPG Coming Soon
“Now this is hyperracing!”-Annikron Moonwalker
What happens when you turbo engineer Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland using the ultra-light/ultra-lethal Mork Borg? You get Neon Bastardz, a rules-lite system that fits perfectly in your Battle Binderz!
With 3 zines and a starting lineup of 6 Skumdog classes, Neon Bastardz comes with everything you need to give the future a wedgie.Neon Bastardz features a brand new Skumdogs Manual, Neon Lord’s Manual of Doom, and Fast Times on Sludge Mountain, a full-length adventure ready to run right out the gate.
So get ready to get radical in the End Times with Neon Bastardz: Same Mork Borg rules, with a new Neon Lords taste!
“When Neon Lords and Mork Borg combine, you know it’s gonna be one hell of a time!” -Lord Randy
Check it out! Ham & Egg Publishing
Hambone’s Fast Five
Ahoy! Hambone here reporting for duty. We’re currently in week four of Zine Month (it’s ZIMO if you’re nasty), and I am back with another creator spotlight. This week, I am stoked to introduce you to one of my favorite dudes in the hobby, J. Yamil. He is here to talk about Tales From The Tape Deck, a music-focused TTRPG. So without further ado, here’s Yamil.
1) Yamil, introduce yourself to our readers and let them know what you do in the TTRPG hobby.
I am J. Yamil. I am an editor/writer and professional DM. I have worked on the Phantasy Star RPG, 3rd-party content for Weird Frontiers/Dungeon Crawl Classics, and others.
2) You are currently crowdfunding Tales From The Tape Deck on Kickstarter. What’s the elevator pitch?
TTD is an RPG system that fits in a cassette tape deck. It is meant to be played in one or two-hour sessions. Music is a big component; each volume (adventure) comes with a curated playlist that is exactly one hour long. Your table of players can interact with the playlist by either pausing, rewinding, hitting fast-forward, or turning the volume up to eleven with in-game effects.
3) Tales is a music-focused RPG built around a series of post-apocalyptic adventures. What are some of your inspirations from that genre, and what is your theme song in the apocalypse?
John Carpenter’s soundtracks have been a huge inspiration for this project. The Thing, Escape from New York, and Halloween are direct influences. Motorhead is another big one. “We Are The Road Crew” is the unofficial anthem for the whole project. Ahmed and I have been hitting the road running, playtest sessions at conventions, bars, and basements all over the country.
4) Tales From The Tape Deck runs using a variation of the Mork Borg, Shadowdark, DCC, and OSR systems. How does that lend itself to gameplay in this world?
I think we blend the stripped-down, reckless nature of Mork Borg, the deadly urgency of Shadowdark, the over-the-top frog-god-worshipping attitude of DCC, and the “rulings, not rules” collaboration of the OSR. It all comes together like a battle vest, letting you become a motorcycle-riding George Carlin and give your players the Jack Nicholson head nod from Anger Management. With TTD in your pocket, you can have wild game sessions while blasting music at a moment’s notice.
5) Thanks for the chat, Yamil. Where can people find your stuff?
You can find me at joseyamil.com where I have a monthly newsletter.
As well as IG: @jyamilwrites and BlueSky: yamilyamilyamil.bsky.social.
Check it out Thanks for checking out my column. If you’ve enjoyed this, I have a weekly column on the Ham & Egg Publishing Patreon called Hambone Calling, which runs every Monday.
Each week, I’ll be chatting about what it’s like to be an indie publisher and a writer, as well as whatever else tickles my fancy in the moment.
Stillfleet Studio
It’s not too late to fight mutant-zombies during the Hundred Years’ War
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum.
Hey Analog Union, we are excited to share some big news: Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying—the epic new dark historical fantasy TTRPG using the Grit System—is going off to print! The game is still available at Kickstarter-only prices thanks to Late Pledges, but not for long. You can pick up the Danse Macabre Rulebook, Guide to the Abandoned World setting book, and Unsunken: Paris Below mega-dungeon. If y’all like Shadowdark or Between Two Fires, you’ll love Danse Macabre.
Do the Danse Get Haunted Industries & Horse Shark Games
Netcrawl and Weird Heroes of Public Access win the Golden Fez!
Holy cow! I’m truly honored to be a recipient of the Golden Fez for Weird Heroes of Public Access.
James Carpio was an extraordinary talent and a creative powerhouse. I had the privilege of joining him for a game of WHPA at a past ShireCon, and it was his and his partner Mary’s characters who saved Fairhaven that day by initiating the now-canon Butterscotch Ritual.
I’ll do all I can to carry forward a piece of the magical light James shared so generously with all of us who were lucky enough to know him as a friend.
Stay weird!
-Joey Royale
This past week in New England has been a huge blessing!
First, I was given the gift of seeing friends and meeting a ton of new ones, and then gaming with them during Total Con! I had a blast at every table.
Earlier in the week, I was a guest at Fitchburg State University’s Communications Media Department. After a brief presentation about Netcrawl and its influences, I was honored to game with the future of video game and RPG game design.
Last but certainly not least, Netcrawl: Arcologies was honored with a Golden Fez!
There is nothing like the acclaim of your peers. I never had the opportunity to meet James, but I am proud to carry on his legacy. I’m sure we would have been fast friends. Thank you to Solarian Games for giving back to the community by creating and sponsoring the awards in the name of their highly esteemed colleague.
–James Pozenel
Arcane Sword Press
Unwinding from TotalCon 40
Heyo! So I’m still unwinding from TotalCon 40, which was fantastic! I was able to hang out with some fellow Analog Union folks, including Jayson, James, Joey, and a passing hello to Kevin! A big highlight for me was dissecting and playing En garde! , an RPG from 1975 With Jayson and Ben! We have since made a dedicated effort to learn and teach this forgotten gem! Another highlight was hanging out with Jordan from Goosepoop Games! I was lucky enough to play some future games he is working on with fellow Arcane Collective members Ben and Eon! Speaking of Goosepoop games- Did you know he has a current game on BackerKit? Check this out!:
“Food and Evil is a food truck TTRPG where you play as a rag-tag group of demons running a food truck. Picture a bunch of Guy Fieris running around causing mischief. Inspired by Overcooked and Big Top Burger, this is the food frenzy story TTRPG you don’t wanna miss!
Features:
15+ Adventures
10-minute setup
Use in any game
Adventures are wild and crazy, with your standard “Diners, Demons, Endives,” cook-off, to “Danger Rings,” our Fast and Furious food truck racing adventure. Through our stretch goals, we have 5 guest writers implementing their own unique stories!
The Deluxe To-Go Box features a wheel stand, so your box looks like an actual food truck! Comes with a Take Out Menu full of additional food spells, locations, and creatures you can use in your other games. The included Deviled Deck also features an additional party TTRPG with pre-adventures for your journey through culinary school!
Food and Evil uses our Flip System, a 52-card deck with light deck-building. The system is low-complexity, and you only need to teach people the rules when the moment arises, meaning you simply hand out cards and player sheets and start playing immediately!
Food and Evil is setting agnostic, meaning you don’t have to stop playing your campaign. Implement sidequests in your adventures to give your players a break from the main storyline. Picture this: your adventuring party just finished slaying a dragon, and a food truck bursts through the dungeon asking you to help create a delicious meal.
The project is live on Backerkit until February 27th. Check it out and join in on the fun!”
Anyways, I’m catching up with my studying for the next installment of Magazine madness by looking at The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Flying Buffalo! Check it out next week!
-Bryan
Order 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 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.
See you next week!
-JHM
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Tuesday, February 17th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for February 17th, 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!
Joey Royale’s Pizza Party is Back! February 17th, 2026
The Return of the Pizza Party
Hambone’s Fast Five
Camps and Conventions
The Battle Standard
NETCRAWL On Tour
Magazine Madness Continues
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Horse Shark Games | Solarian Games
Get Haunted Industries
The Pizza Party Returns This Week!
Ciao Paisans! Boy, do I have something cooking up for you! Wednesday, February 18th, 8 pm EST, Joey Royale’s Pizza Party returns with a vengeance! We’re packing the pie with three exquisite toppings:
The elusive Zog brings us information on his new Kickstart RETURN to Crater Valley. His original BLACKOUT in Crater Valley adventure for DCC really inspired me when I was working on Weird Heroes of Public Access.
Then I got another OG banger coming up from the soupy seller: Wolfman Zila’s debut, Dick Wizards, is an amazing game. Sure, the name is hilarious and gets your attention, but I guarantee the inside is pure genius. No holds barred wizardry in one of my favorite cities- Providence!
And last, and definitely not least, our good friend Josh Yoder, the glow in the dark madman behind H2O-pocalypse, drops a new Shadowdark jam: DUNGEON DEATH
Neon Lord on my right, Dr. Metal on my left, with Alana on the ones and twos. Bring some napkins, it’s going to be a mess!
Check it out! Ham & Egg Publishing
Hambone’s Fast Five
Ahoy! Hambone here with the first of many creator spotlights in a column I like to call “Hambone’s Fast Five” (I don’t love it either, I’m gonna workshop it). The idea is to give folks a spot to promote their art by answering five quick questions.
While I do have my own books to promote (you can buy them here), it is also important to me to support the hobby by giving other amazing creators a chance to shine. So, without further ado, meet ZOG.
I am thrilled to have you as my first guest for this column, dude. Introduce yourself to our readers and let them know what you do in the hobby.
My name is ZOG, and I am an RPG writer from Canada, among other things. I grew up playing RPGs, starting in the early 90’s. I’d sort of moved on to other things for most of my late teens/early 20’s, but got back into playing them again in my late 20s after I discovered the OSR and, like many others, relied on them heavily to get through the hard times of COVID lockdowns. During that time, I decided to try and create something of my own and published BLACKOUT in Crater Valley via Kickstarter. From there, I spent a few years freelancing for Goodman Games on projects such as Caught in the Mouth of Chaos, Hellpits of Nightfang, The Dark Tower, The Caverns of Thracia, City State of the Invincible Overlord, and Castle Whiterock. I’m currently promoting the sequel to BLACKOUT, Return to Crater Valley: Secrets of the Mask, which is live on Kickstarter now!
You are currently crowdfunding Return to Crater Valley: Secrets of the Mask on Kickstarter. What’s the elevator pitch?
Return to Crater Valley: Secrets of the Mask is a 0-level funnel that will once again pit a group of hapless teenage misfits against cosmic horrors. This time around, the gang will face off with rollerblading thugs, brainwashed roleplaying gamers, homicidal aerobics freaks, rogue assembly line robots, a shuggoth, a shadowy millionaire AND a virtual reality science-fantasy nightmare maze full of digital horrors.
Return is influenced by 80s/90s nostalgia and VHS slashers. What are some of your inspirations from that era/those movies, and how do they tie into the game?
A big influence this time around is my own childhood interest in virtual reality, which, during the 90’s, was depicted as a technology that would inevitably be integrated into our lives in the very near future. Movies like The Lawnmower Man, Johnny Mnemonic, Demolition Man, and others, along with the explosion in digital animation, captured my imagination as a kid, and I wanted to lean into the concept of VR as it was imagined in the 1990’s. Video games were obviously a big part of my childhood, and spending time in arcades was a huge pastime, even though I often had no idea how to play and would usually die pretty quickly. I liked the idea of weaving in the power of video games over young people in the 90’s throughout the game as well. The presence of things like rollerblading and aerobics can likely be traced back to my love of very shitty movies like Last Prayer of the Rollerboys and Gymkata, and the importance of X-treme sports in the 90s.
As a system, Dungeon Crawl Classics is mostly known for Sword and Sorcery fantasy, which makes it an interesting choice for this adventure. Why DCC?
One of the principal draws to DCC for many people is the 0-level funnel, which I felt really lent itself to the slasher-horror genre. The second half of this adventure, which is the Virtual Reality maze, has a more traditional dungeon crawl feel to it, and players will take on the role of characters assuming the role of 1st-level fantasy archetypes such as Warrior, Wizard, Elf, Dwarf, Thief, Halfling, and Cleric, so it’s a bit of a game within a game.
5) Thanks for the chat, ZOG. Where can people find your stuff?
They can follow me on Instagram @hard_elf, but most importantly, they should check out Return to Crater Valley: Secrets of the Mask right now on Kickstarter!
Return to Crater Valley now! Thanks for checking out my column. If you’ve enjoyed this, I have a weekly column on the Ham & Egg Publishing Patreon called Hambone Calling, which runs every Monday.
Each week, I’ll be chatting about what it’s like to be an indie publisher and a writer, as well as whatever else tickles my fancy in the moment.
Solarian Games
What if every day could be a gaming convention?
Gaming conventions are just about my favorite thing in the ding dang world, y’all. Maybe it’s because I like structure, and I like being around good people, and I like fun. When I was a kid, my favorite thing was going to camp. I never went to a summer camp like you see in the teen coming-of-age movies or slasher films, but I went to a lot of other camps.
There was computer camp (that’s me in the front row, second from the left, with the ‘80s perm), and French camp (chanton tous la chanson << auberges de jeunesse >>! There was debate camp, Latin camp, and a regular old summer school that was basically a creative camp. As long as there were scheduled activities and nerds, I was happy. So yes, I love conventions.
This week is what we call our “home convention,” aka Total Con in Marlborough, MA. If you’re coming to Total Con, look for the Solarian room (Southborough), our dedicated space where we’ll be running games of Top Secret, Moar Blood, Witchlight, Troy City Mysteries, and others.
Also, be sure to show up in the central bar/restaurant area for the 2nd annual Golden Fez awards on Saturday night. We’re doing these tabletop gaming awards every year in memoriam of James Carpio, and the awards are our way of highlighting and rewarding the kind of tabletop RPGs he loved the most.
On the topic of celebrating the lives of gamers we have lost, as most people know, the gaming world lost Tim Kask this year. He’ll be celebrated at Total Con and many other cons all year long. In a smaller way, some friends and I decided to start a new 1st edition AD&D game in his honor. We don’t live in the same towns, so we picked a location that would be roughly equidistant for all of us and decided to go with The Battle Standard in East Windsor, CT.
I’ve been to The Battle Standard once before, to play Kevin Borrup’s Smurfs RPG, and it was pretty good. But I wasn’t prepared for just how good it had gotten since then.
One thing I often think at the end of a particularly good gaming convention, and I’ve heard other people say as well, is “wouldn’t it be cool if there were a gaming convention you could just go to any time you wanted to?” Well, that exact thing might not be possible. I mean, you’re not going to get hundreds or thousands of gamers to just stay in the same place all year round (unless someone finally builds that commune in the desert I’ve been imagining). But this place is pretty much the next best thing. I just wanted to share a few photos from our visit this weekend to show how they do it.
First off, there are events going on all the time. They’ve got the “structured activity” thing down pat.
But what really makes it feel like a gaming con that you can visit on demand is the space itself. When you walk in, the first thing you see is… a tavern. Yes, you meet in a tavern. All it needs is a mysterious hooded figure in the corner, beckoning you come hither. Actually, scratch that. I think I just described a sentient fedora who says m’lady to strangers. But the tavern. It’s great. Booths to sit in, open gaming tables, beer, and food. The menu includes options like potions of invisibility and healing, “Beholder Bites,” “Khorne Nachos,” and “Salami, Lady of Scrolls.”
Then, you get the store itself. All the gaming staples you need, so if you show up for your session missing a battlemat, some dice, minis, or anything else, they have you covered. For the game I was DM’ing, I accidentally forgot to print a few of the character sheets. No problem. They had a printer and printed my sheets out for me.
As you go further into the space, you get to the terrain tables, and they are epic (Yes, that’s Han Solo in carbonite in the corner, complete with blinkenlights).
Everything is set up for a variety of miniature games, including fantasy, sci-fi, and even historical miniatures. There were some Star Wars games going on while we were there, and from the shouting and laughter, the games were going very well.
And finally, to the dedicated gaming rooms in the back. We reserved one for the afternoon and had a great time playing through White Plume Mountain. The room was adorned with swords and armor, and we all played on a massive wooden table, with high-backed, cushioned thrones for everyone.
Do you have a game store in your area that feels like it could be a miniature gaming convention any day of the week? What’s your favorite FLGS (friendly local gaming store)? Shout them out by emailing hello@analogunion.com so we can showcase some of the best in upcoming newsletters.
-Jayson
Horse Shark Games
Horse Shark Out East
Catch Horse Shark Games at Total Con & Fitchburg State University.
Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness continues with Dungeon Magazine!
Folks, I have a confession to make – I did not like Dungeon Magazine. Go on, Booooo me because all I’m hearing is Boooo-urns. Let me elaborate on my issues with this magazine:
Layout: The formatting is awful. This started to be produced in the three-column format TSR moved on to that I really don’t like. On top of that, it’s impossible to find specific information in any of the adventures because it’s just dense walls of text, making the magazine pretty difficult to manage at the table mid-session
Over-written: each page is just walls of text with too much information. This magazine came out during prime Boxed text, so you better believe some of those overwritten narrative boxed texts take up almost a full column (or one third of a page). Most adventures I attempted to read or comprehend read more like someone attempting to write a fantasy novel with too much world building.
Lack of quality: Most adventures I flipped through were generic and dull. None of them has anything cool or novel that stands out from the one before or after it. Of the first year’s worth of issues, only one adventure seemed fun (more on that).
So those are the main issues that made it hard for me to drag through the PDFs. But, there is some stuff I would like to mention!
Reader-Submitted: So the cool thing with this magazine is that many of the adventures are sent in by DMs and aspiring game writers. This is really cool – just imagine having an adventure published by TSR when you’re a teenager! Because that happened (issue 1, The Dark Tower of Calibar), but that also explains some of the quality on display. But still, a fantastic opportunity to be published alongside other game writers!
The Artwork: Here’s some insider info I learned at a convention: allegedly, a few of the TSR staff artists did work for Dungeon magazine as freelancers at night. Which means your submitted adventure will have the polish of an official D&D artist, with maps and spot art.
Concept: The idea of a bi-monthly publication that is just a few D&D modules delivered to your door is a really cool idea. I absolutely love it, but it is also difficult to maintain a high quality. As a publisher, anything more notable would likely be published as a standalone module for more money. So I like the idea, but I also get the feeling that these adventures just weren’t quality enough for their own release.
Luckily, other people with more patience and time than myself have read every adventure and ranked them. In the first year, only one adventure in issue 12 stands out, being At The Spottled Parlor. This adventure focuses on the players gambling in a random tavern, with the adventure being the stakes and exchanges that happen between rounds. It’s clever and interesting, plus it gives notes on how to run the game as a standalone tavern game in other campaigns.m This is cool and a breath of fresh air from the more dull and generic adventures I found.
Having said all that, Dungeon Magazine lasted for decades and did produce its fair share of good adventures. One later one I also looked at from the 3.5 era was issue 112: Maure Castle, written by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, a follow-up to the historic and legendary WG5 Modernkaine’s Fantastic Adventure. So there are some diamonds in the rough! If you’re interested in checking out the hits without needing to dig, this list on Nerdovore is a good resource to start.
In summary: Dungeon Magazine was hard to read and couldn’t hold my attention due to the quality of content. I would say Dungeon magazine is probably more directly useful for DMs than any of the other ones I’ve looked at so far, but only if the adventures in an issue spark imagination for the DM. Which it didn’t for me.
Next Week: I’m taking a break to catch up on reading. I will also be at TotalCon 40 from Thursday to Sunday, so I will be too busy to read and review. Hopefully, I’ll find some used issues of future magazines from one of the vendors. I’m hopeful because I was able to get ten issues of early Dragon magazine for the cover cost of $3 each! So fingers crossed!
Bryan
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 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.
See you next week!
-JHM
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Tuesday, February 10th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for February 10th, 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!
Party Backstory Generators, Tiger Wizard, and Smurfs, oh my! February 10th, 2026
Party Backstory Generator
Meet Tiger Wizard!
The Smurfs & Mech Combat
Magazine Madness Results!
Fun With Fanzines!
ModCon 2026
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Saltheart RPG | Severed Books | Solarian Games | Tiger Wizard
Severed Books
Party Backstory Generator 2nd Edition and Shadow Delvers Minis Launching Tuesday Feb 10th
The Party Backstory Generator is a collaborative storytelling supplement that’s a helluva a lot of fun for you and your players. – LUKE GYGAX
For the first time, the Party Backstory Generator will be printed in a deluxe edition. If you back in the first 48 hours for a physical item, you get a free Small Party wood mini. Sign up here for the Feb 10th launch alert
Learn More Tiger Wizard
I want to send you a Valentine.
Oh boy! Hi there, AU! I’m Tiger Wizard. I’m over on Patreon making cool maps, and I want to send you one! It’s like chocolates and flowers, but for gamer nerds.
Here’s an example of what these maps look like.
Use this button to get a FREE month of my top tier on Patreon! That top tier of “Slugs” gets something physically mailed to them every month!
I want to feel loved You’ll need to make sure that your mailing address is added to your Patreon account and visible to me; otherwise, all that clicking will be for nothing!
Also, I’ll be streaming live on Thursday, the 12th, at 1 pm EST from the Exalted Funeral YouTube Channel, chatting about the new game I’ve designed for Meow Wolf.
Come check it out here Cheers
-Tiger Wizard
Saltheart RPG
The Smurfs and Mech Combat
Talk about a misleading headline! For those of you who have been patiently waiting, The Smurfs Roleplaying Game is somewhere between China and the US… The $138,565 Kickstarter will begin fulfillment in April. Maestro Media won’t stop smurfing until everyone gets their pledge. If you are lost and smurfing to yourself, how did I miss this Kickstarter?
The official The Smurfs Roleplaying Game (yep, I wrote it) will be hitting retail later this year! You can still pre-order here:
Smurfin’ Pre-Order Now about those Mechs… My podcast partner Gabe and I had the opportunity to play the Lancer RPG by Massif Press, and I have to say that if you like mech combat that is tactical and you like roleplaying games, Lancer might be your speed… not that you couldn’t have Smurfs in Mechs, nobody is judging you.
Check out this latest episode of Analytic Dice podcast and join in on the conversation.
Smurf you later!
Kevin
Listen Here Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness – The results Are In!
The pool has closed, and the results are in! I must say, I am surprised by what people are interested in seeing! Having a ranked voting structure allows for some major and minor shifts of the results to create a nice curve to see what people are interested in.
Each vote was weighted based on preferences, with most interested being worth 3 points, next being 2, third place being 1, and least interested being worth -1.
With that said, the results are *drum roll*
1st Place – Dungeon Magazine: I’m not entirely surprised by this! I think this is a magazine that people would be interested in since it’s a companion to The Dragon but was more focused to have modules in it. My bias going into this magazine is that the adventures are meh (with a few outliers), and some industry inside information about TSR’s management of the publication. So I am curious to see how it holds up! Dragon lasted for a long time so I will primarily zoom in on the first year of the publication.
Second place was a three-way tie! So I adjusted the results to factor in the total before applying the “least interested” category to figure out the order from there, which leads us to…
2nd Place – Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Now this one was a surprise! Following the polls, this did not have any first choice votes initially, but it made up for it with some last minute votes! All I know about this publication is that Steve Jackson said it was the best gaming publication in Space Gamer, so I guess we will see! This is also one of the harder magazines to come by, so I will only be able to work with a limited pool of issues.
For third place I will have the two remaining tied votes…
3rd Place – Imagine and Adventure Gaming! Two magazines that both seem to function as alternatives to The Dragon during their prime, with Adventure Gaming lasting from 1981-1983 and Imagine being from 1983-1985. I’m mostly curious to see the difference in presentation and content due to the shift in publication quality from the early 80s to mid-80s as well as the graphical difference between US and UK publications (so far the UK has blown US magazines away with this.)
So what about the remaining publications? Well, I still want to look at those and plan to do so, but I’m really shocked by some of the following rankings!
4th Place – Adventurer Magazine: The other UK magazine on the list that ran for a short amount of time, but looks to give White Dwarf a run for its money!
5th Place – Ares Magazine: The SPI publication that lasted twelve issues before being turned into an editorial in Dragon, then dissolving into nothing. Ares is notable for including a game (including chits) in each issue!
6th Place – Challenge Magazine: I feel like GDW’s work outside of Traveller is overlooked, even by me, so I understand why this one is ranked so low. But i;m excited to give it a shot because the other GDW games are classics in their own right, and it’s high time I dive into them out of my love for Traveller and fascination with Twilight: 2000 (I’m a big fan of the Free League edition)
In the last two rankings, I have some strong opinions about how poorly they did, and I feel like they are misunderstood underdogs of the poll!
7th Place – The General: This one was extremely polarizing. The General was a couple of people’s first choice but was unfortunately many people’s least interested one. Which is a shame because The General covers a totally different side of the hobby that folks overlook or assume to be a small population: Boxed war games, primarily the chit-and-hex variety. I do want to point out that this magazine is the longest running of all of them, lasting from 1964 to 1998!
The General has shown me the impact of Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader as being its own gaming community, much like how there are Warhammer folks. On top of that, Avalon Hill continued to publish supporting content for games that were out of print in this magazine! For example, the Dune board game from the 1970s had an expansion published in an issue from 1997 that featured a cover that consisted of a screenshot from Verhoeven’s incredible Starship Troopers film, which Avalon Hill also made a board game of decades prior. So this one I will be very interested in checking out for the two other people who are also interested!
8th Place – The Duelist: Woooooow, this one did so poorly, its score ended up in the negatives (-3 points!) Now I understand that most people reading this might be more RPG-focused, but TCGs are in the venn diagram of tabletop hobby interests. The Duellist has some incredible 90s vibes going on, and is a window into the early days of Magic the Gathering before it became the behemoth that it is now. It focuses on TCG news, deck lists (a big part of modern magic players), and some great graphics; it’s something to behold. I feel like this is a publication that would appear more to pre-modern and Old School format MTG players than the general modern player, but it’s still a piece of gaming history that I think is worth highlighting.
Wow, what a spread! So now that you all know the reading order, please feel free to join me in exploring the publications! I will provide a link to the internet archive for the following week’s magazine issues so you can check them out before I post my opinion. That said, next week I will start with Dungeon Magazine. For those who want to read along, here is a link to an archive of issues! Happy Reading, and until next time!
Bryan
Ham & Egg Publishing
Fun with Fanzines
Ahoy!
Not much to report these days in Hamlandia. Geo and I are both heads down finishing Children of UMA: Death By Dino for 321RPG.
With that said, after almost six years of creating books and zines, I had an epiphany the other day. Why not make one just for fun?
So Levi Combs and I are putting together a series of zines dedicated to some of our all-time favorite character actors. The best part is that we are doing it with a bunch of our friends. It always makes things so much more fun when you are rockin’ with pals.
Keep your peepers peeled because we will be announcing the first one soon.
-Hambone Solarian Games
ModCon is coming 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 • Apocalypse World • Masks Dresden Files • Night’s Black Agents • Twilight 2000 • Kids on Bikes • Troy City Mysteries • Tales from the Loop • Outgunned • Top Secret • Fiasco • Triangle Agency Weird Wars • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • Weird Heroes of Public Access
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 now at ModCon.games 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.
See you next week!
-JHM
-
Tuesday, February 3rd
This is the Analog Union newsletter for February 3rd, 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!
February made me shiver with every newsletter I delivered. Six more weeks of winter. February 3rd, 2026
Netcrawl
Zimo 2026
Magazine Madness – Reader choice poll!
Golden Fez award nominations still open
ModCon, the modern-era TTRPG convention
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Horse Shark Games | Solarian Games
Horse Shark Games
What is Netcrawl RPG?
Netcrawl is a TTRPG about adventuring inside a computer system. Everyone goes in, seconds pass in the meatspace as players spend hours conquering a cyber-dungeon –together.
Netcrawl RPG is inspired by Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by Goodman Games. It can be used as a standalone game or as a cyber-sidecar to your current game. Simpler d20 gameplay and cool game mechanics like Luck and spell result tables are just some of the beats Netcrawl has borrowed from DCC RPG.
Reducing computer system hacking/raiding into a series of specialist character class skill rolls is a missed opportunity. Netcrawl RPG puts players inside the computer to face whatever digital defenses lie inside, protecting the party’s objective.
Netcrawl is centered around cyberspace and players adventuring in cyberspace. Players guide their avatars to sabotage digital systems, steal money, gain access to systems, acquire knowledge and/or information, etc.
The matrix, cyberspace, the WorldNet is mankind’s shared, consensual hallucination. A pinnacle achievement of machine-generated virtual reality (VR) environments is available to all. Avatars give their users superlative access and control to the myriad of simulations available within.
The WorldNet might have been created now, or a hundred years ago, or even 10,000 years ago. The computational forces and AIs that run the WorldNet’s simulations may (or may not) be cognizant of when they were set to the task of providing billions of realities to its users.
Most users seem perfectly content to experience their every desire or wallow in their woes. Are not the infinities of imagination enough for you? No, not for you. You and others like you keep asking, “Why?” Are you really ready to find out?
Something is hidden in the virtual realms, and you shall hack it.
Two Worlds
Implicit in a VR RPG like Netcrawl is the notion of reality. Netcrawl does not have an explicit “real world” setting. Netcrawl could be set within a myriad of sci-fi/modern RPGs, from space horror to post-apocalyptic to cyberpunk to spy adventures. Any game that includes computers is a perfect real-world setting for Netcrawl RPG. Alternatively, there may be little or no notion of reality in a Netcrawl campaign.
Ham & Egg Publishing
ZIMO L.A.M.F.
Ahoy!
Hambone here, and this week I wanted to bend your ear about some of the projects I’m most looking forward to during Zine Month (A.K.A. ZIMO).
For those unfamiliar, in February of 2019, Kickstarter launched Zine Quest, a month-long event meant to encourage independent creators to create and fund RPG zines on its service. In February of 2022, ZIMO was founded as a fully independent offshoot of Kickstarter’s Zine Quest with a community-based focus on crowdfunding indie TTRPGs.
This decentralization was seen as a move toward greater equity and accessibility for all. So now, if there is a service that accepts payments (BackerKit, Gamefound, itch.io, just to name a few), you can find folks trying to fund their zines.
So this week, I wanted to take a moment to shout out some creators I am a huge fan of and the projects they are currently crowdfunding.
Leading off this week’s column is Zog. Zog first hit my radar with their instant classic, BLACKOUT in Crater Valley, a VHS-era Slasher RPG for DCC RPG. I had an absolute blast playing the adventure, and, in my opinion, it is still a high-water mark for DCC products.
So when Zog hit me up about the follow-up, Return to Crater Valley: Secrets of the Mask, I was all in. Here is the synopsis.
Return to Crater Valley is the long-awaited sequel to BLACKOUT in Crater Valley, a VHS era slasher RPG powered by the Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game system. Inspired by VHS era slasher films, 80’s and 90’s nostalgia, DIY music subculture, and Cthulhu Mythos horror utilizing the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG system, but easily adaptable to the Old School RPG system of your choice.This adventure takes place a decade after the original, on Halloween night in 199X. A young boy has gone missing from a mysterious video arcade tournament, and the players must navigate marauding rollerblade gangs, lycra-clad aerobics cultists, possessed urban vermin, and a virtual reality nightmare world to find Troy before it’s too late!
Return to Crater Valley: Secrets of the Mask is a 0-level funnel where players control a group of teenage misfits that will be whittled down as the events of the adventure become more deadly. The final survivors will have to pass the final test: plugging themselves into a virtual reality fantasy world where anything can happen, but it’s no simple game: the violence is real!
This adventure has been designed to feel consistent with horror and sci-fi films from the 1980’s and 90’s, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Return of the Living Dead, Sleep Away Camp, Pumpkinhead, Lawnmower Man, Flatliners, and classic VHS era adventures like The Goonies and Back to the Future. Character creation also plays heavily on tropes common in these and other teen drama films of the era, such as “Jock”, “Cheerleader”, “Goth”, “Young Republican”, and “Juvenile Delinquent”. Players will roll archetypes like these from a unique d50 table of possible occupations and throw their teenage misfits against the dangers that await them.
Return to Crater Valley launches February 13th, 2026. Back the prelaunch today and don’t miss out!
Next up, I’ve got Dungeon Death:16-Bit rules for Shadowdark by Josh Yoder. The concept is incredibe. You play a group of ragtag ’90s teens trapped inside a deadly fantasy video game, fighting to survive, and searching for a way home!
This Shadowdark 3rd-party zine is inspired by Jumanji, Tron, isekai anime/manga, and LitRPGs, with art by the legendary Tiger Wizard.
Here is the synopsis:
There’s something different in the air tonight. While browsing Surf Coast Video, you discovered a game no one has ever heard of: Dungeon Death. Curious, you popped the cartridge into your Mega Extreme Power System 32X.At first, nothing happened… Then, in a flash, an intense neon light burst from the screen, blinding you. When your vision returns, you find yourself in a pitch-dark room, and you are likely to be eaten!
Art by Tiger Wizard
Dungeon Death features new classes, ancestries, and backgrounds, as well as a new mode called GAME OVER. Can you use your 3 lives wisely?
Best of all, the book is DONE. They just need to raise money to print it. Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness: Reader Choice Poll!!
So I’ve been having fun reading some old gaming magazines during the rise of the tabletop hobby into the mainstream. The only publications I have focused on so far are ones I was already familiar with. I’m sort of stuck trying to determine where to go next, so that is where you, dear reader, enter the fray! I have compiled a list of some notable gaming magazines that i’m considering diving into but I need help deciding! What makes this list different from the prior ones is that I have extremely limited familiarity with and are essentially blind-spots to me within the history of the hobby. Thai also means I have NO IDEA what i’m getting myself into with any of these! The list of potential magazines are:
Ares Magazine: RPG and Wargaming magazine published by SPI
Adventurer: A mid-late 80s full color UK publication from Mersey Leisure Publishing that seems to put White Dwarf to shame!
The General: A Chit-and-hex wargaming magazine published by Avalon Hill
Imagine: TSR UK’s answer to The Dragon!
Sorcerer’s Apprentice: A general RPG magazine by Flying Buffalo, featuring Grimtooth!
Duellist: Magic The Gathering and other TCG magazine published by Wizards of the Coast
Dungeon: A dungeon master-focused magazine by TSR
Challenge: Game Design’s Workshop continuation from The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society but expanded to GDW’s other games such as Dark Conspiracy and Twilight: 2000
Adventure Gaming: An early gaming magazine by Manzakk Publishing that was edited by the legendary Tim Kask (RIP!)
So to see the direction that readers would like me to focus on, I made a poll to determine my NEXT overview. In the survey you can choose 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most interested magazines along with a least interested choice. From there I will determine the order of the next round of Magazine Madness! Please fill out the survey here!
Bryan
Solarian Games
ModCon is coming 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 • Apocalypse World • Masks Dresden Files • Night’s Black Agents • Twilight 2000 • Kids on Bikes • Troy City Mysteries • Tales from the Loop • Outgunned • Top Secret • Fiasco • Triangle Agency Weird Wars • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • Weird Heroes of Public Access
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 now at ModCon.games Judging begins this week for the 2nd annual Golden Fez awards
The 2nd annual Golden Fez awards for excellence in tabletop gaming will be presented at TotalCon this year on February 21st.
Judging begins this weekend, so there’s still time to get any last-minute nominations in, whether it’s your own game or someone else’s that you happen to love.
The categories are:
The Holy Hand Grenade Award
- Given for best new game mechanic.
The Pick Up and Play Award
- Easiest game to learn.
Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
- For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.
The Velvet Smooth Award
- For best design and production.
- The Everlasting Fun Factory Award
- This award is given to a game that was published prior to the current judging year. It is for the enduring classics as well as the hidden gems from the past.
The Hack the Planet Award
- Presented to the most unexpected idea. Originality in any form, whether it’s rules, setting, design, or anything else.
The Bucket of Blood Award
- Best combat rules
- The Golden Fez Game of the Year
- Game of the Year is given to the one game published this year that we feel best embodies all of the things about gaming that James loved
Submit your nomination at the link below.
Nominate your favorite game for a Golden Fez 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.
See you next week!
-JHM
-
Tuesday, January 27th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for January 27th, 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!
Kitbashing & Con Crud & Black Boxes, oh my! January 27th, 2026
Delirium Division
Joey Royale’s Kitbash
Zero Punk RPG
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Saltheart RPG
Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness !
This week: The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society!
I’ve been collecting these for awhile, but they are hard to come by at a reasonable price!
So if you know me, I’m very into Traveller. There are plenty of things that Game Designers’ Workshop did that I think is fantastic from a game design and publishing perspective with their classic edition of Traveller. One of my favorite releases GDW did was the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society, or JTAS.
JTAS was a quarterly publication that supported the original Traveller RPG from 1977 by adding new rules, setting lore, spaceships, and adventures. The classic Traveller Boxset was pretty bare bones so JTAS was primarily adding more content for that. However, each issue just offers something completely different and clever. But mostly, JTAS was an in-game setting publication. As in, much of the articles was written to be immersive within the Third Imperium setting and you-the reader are a member of the Travellers Aid Society, an organization that’s somewhere between a Union and AAA in the far future for travellers. Each issue offers consistent articles such as
From the Management: an Editor’s column about GDW and Traveller news
The Cover Article: This is the big pull for each issue and is always different. Sometimes it’s an adventure module, a rules expansion (like the one posted above about Asteroid Mining), aliens, unique atmospheres, new careers for characters, etc.
Featured Article: Additional rule supplements for traveller
Traveller News Service: a series of in-game news headlines that advances the Third Imperium’s calendar with significant events that could affect some locations. This essentially implies an immersive way to have a living setting.
Casual Encounters: This is a feature that provides a specific Patron for players to interact with and work for along with their agenda and background.
Amber Zone: These are adventures to specific locations that are considered “risky” but will always provide high adventure and the promise of payouts.
The Bestiary: A new alien creature for players to encounter
The Ship’s Locker: New items, vehicles, and weapons that could be found on a ship’s storage bay.
Look at those pants!
Many of the articles featured in JTAS would be expanded upon to create the classic Traveller supplement books later on. One thing I just really need to get across is how cool this was. You publish a solid game, and then you have a subscription magazine to support that game. Nothing else is in there! It is all content created by Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman, and the other folks at GDW. No D&D articles, or Runescape, or anything else for other games. Just Traveller. Yes, there were some ads in it but not as much as you would expect and often they were to support traveller licensed products from other publishers. This is a tightly focused support magazine with fantastic writing and artwork that was eventually used for standalone official products within the line.
Just missing issues 1-9!
JTAS was published from 1979-1985 for a run of 24 issues. I have a sizable collection of them, and they are all fantastic. No duds here! It is impossible to not find game inspiration flipping through the pages. While JTAS is a Traveller magazine, it’s worth noting that most of it is usable for any sci-fi RPG. While yes some weapons have stats as do NPCs, the adventures provided are mechanically neutral and would be a great way to supplement an on-going campaign. If you’d like to check some out for yourself, you can get each issue for the cover price of $2 on DrivethruRPG. You may also order a cd-rom of all of the issues in pdf form (along with everything else published by GDW) from Far Future Enterprise (essentially current day GDW run by Marc Miller) or you can buy a lot on ebay for cheapish.
Next Week- Surprise!
Bryan
If you’d like to talk about games and meet new friends who love indie RPGs, OSR content, and more- join the Arcane Sword discord!
Ham & Egg Publishing
New Delirium Division single dropping on Valentine’s Day!
Ahoy!
While many of you might know us as TTRPG writers, my creative partner Geo Collazo and I are also lifelong musicians.
When we started Ham & Egg Publishing in 2020 and began writing our first release, Rocket To Russia, in earnest, we also banded together with some of our friends to record a pandemic-era album that has never fully seen the light of day. We called this project, Delirium Division.
Delirium Division is not so much a band but a revolving door of friends and musicians who want to make music for the love of it.
There was a lot of work and heart poured into this project, with Geo Collazo providing most of the instrumentation and all the production. Writing duties fell to Geo and the rest of the group, which included Ryan Levasseur (Vocals, Guitar), Frank Iero (Guitar), Evan Nestor (Vocals), Michael Ragosta (Vocals), Shaun Simon (Guitar, Keyboard), and John McGuire (Bass).
In the almost 6 years since we started the project, like Marvel’s Defenders, we’ve never all been in the same room. Because, like many albums recorded during the pandemic, we recorded it from our homes.
Our fourth single, BLEAK is dropping on Valentine’s Day. You can pre-save it here.
Get Haunted Industries
Cheap Freaks!!! Kitbash your way to happiness!!!
Joey Royale, Get Haunted Industries
After checking out the war room at Arcane Con and digesting the creative battlefields of Under the Dice Fest, I proudly sold my soul to kitbashing.
I previously steered away from miniatures due to intimidation and absurd price points. The mad geniuses at these two cons, however, showed me a new perspective that changed everything- break the rules, use what you have, and get crafty. BOOM! Now my fingers are glued together, I got baking soda in my mustache, and I’m happy as a clam making little monsters out of pinecones, clay, and whatever else I find lying around when I walk my dogs.
Listen, if I can do it, you can do it. Watch a couple videos on the slap shop method. Glue a tooth on the neck of a green army guy. Slowly build up a collection of speed paint and washes, about four bucks each. Have a snack. Bada bing, bada boom. Next thing you know, you’ll have your own little menagerie, and I guarantee you will have a special story for each creature.
So, I dare you to give it a shot. Starting on February 1 in the Get Haunted Discord, join us for CHEAP FREAKS – a project where everybody sticks to a $10 budget and creates their own miniature. On February 1, post a picture of your raw materials. On February 28, post the magic creation you have sculpted as your pals cheer you on. That’s it! Let’s get weird!
GHI DISCORD:
Saltheart RPG
What’s in the Box?
The folks who joined me at PAGE to play Zero Punk, know what that question means. As we get deep into writing the Book of Z, playtesting is critical, and the Black Box scenario has had a lot of mileage.
Life of a Zero Punk in the Megapolis sits on a razor’s edge. A walled city bursting at the seams, an apocalyptic wasteland beyond. Zero Punks were born without permission of the Corps. Born with their genetically coded bio-clocks inactive, an unsanctioned life. Parents of unsanctioned births pay dearly for a biohack to activate the dormant clock shortly after birth, some say it costs a decade of life! A Zero Punk’s bio-clock is activated at 0.
Contributions by parents and friends keep them alive until they are old enough to earn their own Life. A Zero Punk quickly learns that on the streets and in the slums life is literally hard won. But, more than just time counters, bio-clocks ensure near immortality, distributing genetic fixes and countering the latest viral or genetic attack, a new threat emerging seemingly every day.
Thanks to Kris McClanahan for the awesome sheet!
Based on the BURN 2d6 rules (a bit enhanced), the game will center on a crew of Zero Punks, eeking it out on the edges. The Black Box adventure sets them on the path of a great mystery that could implicate CorpSec in nefarious deeds….
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/burn2d6/the-book-of-z
More to come.
Kevin “Saltheart”
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.
See you next week!
-JHM
-
Tuesday, January 20th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for January 20th, 2026. Keep in mind that if you’re reading this in the distant future, some timely information may be out of date. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week!
The Fellowship of Friends January 20th, 2026
PAGE 3 Recap
Magazine Madness Returns!
A new member joins the AU!
In this newsletter
Arcane Sword Press | Ham & Egg Publishing | Solarian Games | Stillfleet Studio
Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness returns!
This week: early White Dwarf Magazine!
I’ve been collecting these for awhile, but they are hard to come by at a reasonable price!
Of all of the official magazines published that I’ve been flipping through from the early 1980s and prior, White Dwarf is truly in a league of its own. It is also the only one still in print! But that’s because it is currently a publication that focuses solely on supporting Games Workshop content. But that wasn’t always the case!
Long before Warhammer’s release, White Dwarf was a goldmine of content for RPGs. Not only that, the art and layout feels extremely professional with each page I’ve flipped through being a real treat with unique layouts on different pages. The sheer amount of work that went into this is astounding! AND it was bi-monthly! Right out of the gate, White Dwarf already had some interesting articles and cool reviews in its first issue along with great original art! Its wild thinking that issue 1 came out in the summer of 1977 (the summer of Star Wars AND Traveller!) and it already looks better than its contemporaries. To be fair, the minds (Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson) behind White Dwarf already were publishing their own independent zine of Owl & Weasel for a couple of years before jumping into White Dwarf so they already had some experience.
The title and Russ Nicholson art is enough to get me fired up
Beyond the basic content one would expect in a gaming magazine from the late 1970s, there’s a few things I would like to point out about White Dwarf:
The Fiend Factory: Its contribution to the Fiend Folio, or rather its series of articles called the Fiend Factory featuring unique AD&D monsters! The Fiend Folio is my favorite monster book for any RPG, in part to the wild monsters in it and the illustrations provided. Turns out, the Fiend Folio only has a portion of the monsters featured. What a treat for me to see new Russ Nicholson art applied to new, unique monsters!
Traveller Articles: For me, the real treasures beyond the artwork and fiend factory, it is the Traveller articles. All of them are excellent (so far from what i’ve read) and well above the quality of the ones found in The Dragon.
The Art & Comics: White Dwarf also has some of that lovely UK-comic book energy found in 2000AD with comic strips like Thud The Barbarian and Travellers by Mark Harrison; a Traveller RPG comic by a known 2000AD artist! They’re no Wormy, but it is all pretty fantastic, or at least fun to look at!
The Vibe: Games Workshop has always had its own energy that it brings to gaming, something that rides the line between being both professional while also having counter-cultural grit. The alternative energy White dwarf displays feels reflective of the punk energy in the UK at the time, but channelled into a gaming mag. If the guys in The Young Ones played D&D, this would be their go-to magazine.
White Dwarf found a niche supporting content for AD&D, Traveller, and Runescape until Games Workshop pivoted to primarily supporting their own products by issue 100, beginning a new era for the magazine with the release of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.
Proto-Warhammer?
If you’re curious to explore the wonderful world of White Dwarf, look no further than the Internet Archive, an essential Website that makes this series of articles possible!
So what’s next? Well there are a lot of magazines I’d like to get to such as Imagine, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Adventurers, and more. Unfortunately, I have no familiarity with nor do I own any copies so I’ll have to hunt them down. In the meantime, I will cover one of my favorite Gaming publications next week: The Journal for the Traveller’s Aid Society! Until next time!
Bryan
Ham & Egg Publishing
The Fellowship of Friends
The cast of the Friends reboot. No apartments, the best we can do is Shark.
PAGE 3 was a solid hang.
I was attending as a publisher and vendor, and the thing that got me most excited for time away from home was seeing my pals.
While I may have achieved a lot in this hobby, the thing that means the most to me is the friends I have made because of it.
Dark Guide Jay, Tiger Wizard, Jay Solarian, and I try our best to beat Halo.
There were arcade hangs, after-hours games, the best-rated cheesesteak in Philly, and I even met an Owlbear.
I’m his Labubu.
The best game of the weekend was Tiger Wizard’s new game called ———-* I anticipate it being a game changer when it finally hits tables.
*Name redacted until it is formally announced.
Tiger Wizard, Jay Solarian, Dark Guide Jay, and Sally Cantirino are having a blast.
My heart and spirit tanks are full, Dear Reader. So if I can make one recommendation for this week, call your friends and set aside some time to play games. It’s good for what ails ya.
-JHM
P.S. These pictures were taken with the Camp Snap* I mentioned last week. Below is the moment when I killed off one of my favorite creators, J. Yamil, in a 1E Dungeons and Dragons game. Pure joy.
*Still not sponsored. Ha.
Solarian Games
A free game from Top Secret
Scott Robinson, co-creator of Bunnies & Burrows, and Merle Rasmussen,
creator of Top Secret
Philadelphia Area Game Expo was incredible this year. We had a great hang with all our friends, met some excellent new friends, and played Top Secret with a lot of people.
One of the highlights was meeting Scott Robinson, co-creator of Bunnies & Burrows, the role-playing game published in 1976, just two years after Dungeons & Dragons. He was so gracious and nice. We’ll be having him as a guest on Tabletop Weekly soon. Merle Rasmussen, creator of the original Top Secret and my co-author on the latest edition of Top Secret, brought him by the booth.
To celebrate the fun we all had, I’d like to point you to a way to play Top Secret for free. We have a quickstart guide with all you need to get started, some pre-generated characters, and a mission to play through. Click the links below to download each of them for free!
Free Mission: Sleeper Intercept 
Free Quick Start Rules 
Free Pre-Gen Characters Stillfleet Studio
Welcome Stillfleet to the AU!
The Analog Union is stoked to welcome Stillfleet Studio and Wythe Marschall to the team.
Wythe Marschallhe/him, founder, Stillfleet Studio) is a writer, game designer, and anthropologist. He created the sci-fi TTRPG Stillfleet, the underlying Grit System, and the Stillfleet Studio to blend Leftist politics and games. He is the co-developer of Blister Critters by Anthony Grasso, the lead editor of and a writer for Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying by Christopher Pickett, and the cohost of the game-design podcast Why We Roll (with Pickett). Wythe’s latest books are the new version of the early modern fantasy game PICARO! (published by Plus One Exp) and Danse Macabre‘s dungeon setting, Unsunken: Paris Below.
About Stillfleet Studio:
The Stillfleet Studio creates high-quality, innovative, replayable story-driven games from a Leftist perspective. With a focus on roleplaying and player agency, and expertise in biological sci-fi (biopunk), historical settings, and body horror, Stillfleet Studio’s games are perfect for those seeking mind-expanding adventures in unforgettable settings. We publish revolutionary tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) built on the flexible, player-empowering Grit System, which enables truly unique narrative experiences.Our TTRPGs include Stillfleet by Wythe Marschall (far-future cosmic fantasy at its most curious—as heard on the hit podcast Fun City), Blister Critters by Anthony Grasso (cartoon eco-horror at its zaniest), Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying by Christopher Pickett (medieval horror at its most beautifully brutal), and The Sometimes Kingdom RPG by Ethan Gould (portal fantasy at its most magical).Learn More About Stillfleet 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.
See you next week!
-JHM
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Tuesday, January 13th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for January 13th, 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!
Analog Union IRL January 13th, 2026
PAGE 3
Analytic Dice – D&D 2024
I’m In Love With That Song
In this newsletter
Solarian Games | Ham & Egg Publishing | Saltheart RPG
Solarian Games
Come hang with the AU boys IRL at PAGE3!
Ahoy!
Hambone here, tagging in for my pals at Solarian Games to chat you up about PAGE 3, which several of the illustrious members of the Analog Union will be attending.
PAGE (The Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo, if you’re nasty) is the best and biggest TTRPG convention on the East Coast, boasting over 100 special guests, vendors, and more games being played over 30,000 square feet than you can shake a stick at!
There will also be a ton of games, panels, special events, and more.Here’s who’ll be there from the squad with some of the nicest mugshots you’ve ever seen.
Get Tickets Ham & Egg Publishing
“I’m in love with that song.”
I have nothing to promote this week, but yesterday I stumbled upon a hidden playlist in Apple Music called “Favorite Songs.” I did not make this playlist.
That said, dang if our AI Overlords don’t know me inside and out because it sure did have A LOT of bangers on it.
So here is a track from said playlist, from one of my all-time favorites, The Damned. As a bonus, here is one from one of my other all-time faves, The Replacements. It’s where the header quote came from. I was at this Paul Westerberg show in ’96. It ruled.
A couple of takeaways, the first being, if you have the chance to see The Damned, DO IT. They still sound like a punk band from London, and Dave Vanian has aged into a fine Dracula.
Secondly, be gentle with yourself this week. Do the things that made you feel alive as a kid (unless it’s drugs. You are an adult, man!), drink lots of water, and stay off the internet. Unless it is this newsletter, please don’t stop reading.
Finally, if you see me at PAGE, say hi!
-JHM
P.S. If you want to check out my books, look no further. Saltheart RPG
Analytic Dice covers D&D 2024 for the New Year
Hmmm… perhaps you have heard of this game… Dungeons & Dragons and its many editions continue to dominate the tabletop roleplaying game landscape. Honestly, good for them and all of us. The name recognition is what gets folks into the hobby, where they can then find all the cool stuff that the Analog Union members make. Stranger Things was the latest pop media to heavily feature D&D. Analytic Dice is a podcast that covers a different RPG each month, from Tunnels & Trolls and Modiphius’s Conan to A24’s The Green Knight and Space 1999; we cover a lot of ground. So, for 2026, we start by finally covering the game that created the hobby.
Cheers and see you at PAGE this weekend.
Kevin
Listen Here Arcane Sword Press
A week of Remembrance
Heyo. So I won’t have the next installment of Magazine Madness due to dealing with the passing of my friend Ryan I mentioned last week. I apologize for not having my next post ready for y’all, but I chose to take a week off to remember him. I know you all understand! Anyway, I hope you all have a great week, and I’ll have something ready to go for our next newsletter.
Bryan
If you know anyone who has been deeply affected by cancer, please consider donating to Caring for a Cure
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.
See you next week!
-JHM
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Tuesday, January 6th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for January 6th, 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!
So this is the New Year December 30th 2025
A Tribute to Tim Kask
Magazine Madness Continues
2026 Intentions
In this newsletter
Solarian Games | Arcane Sword Press| Ham & Egg Publishing
Solarian Games
A Tribute to Tim Kask
On December 30th, we got the sad news that Tim Kask passed. It feels like a punch to the gut. Tim was a friend and a cantankerous mentor, funny, opinionated, brilliant, headstrong, wise, insightful, one hell of a writer and an editor, and the most honest person I’ve ever known.
Gamers know Tim first and foremost because he was the first employee Gary Gygax ever hired at TSR. In addition to his contributions to Dungeons & Dragons, he was the editor of The Strategic Review, and the creator and editor of The Dragon magazine. It was his insightful insistence that The Dragon be an independent voice within TSR that made it the success it was. It would have been easy to have a house organ like Avalon HIll’s The General, but Tim knew that readers needed a place to have honest and open discussions about the RPG hobby as a whole, and a place where ideas and even criticism about D&D could live in a real marketplace of ideas. The Dragon, and later just “Dragon” magazine, was the highlight of my month for years as a kid. It’s absolutely the reason that I love gaming as much as I do, and it’s even the reason I got into magazine publishing myself when I started making music zines as a teenager. Tim started the tradition of putting comics in the back of each issue, and I made sure that even though I was making music publications, there would be comics in the back of ours as well.
So it was only natural that when I had the idea to create Gygax magazine, as an homage to The Dragon, that the person I needed as a mentor was Tim Kask. I’m sure it helped that Luke & Ernie Gygax were involved, and Frank Mentzer gave Tim the “Jayson’s an okay dude” thumbs up, but the fact is that Tim was incredibly generous and kind to agree to come on board as “Contributing Editor” and mentor all of us through the process of making something worthy of the legacy he had begun. Tim didn’t just know about being an editor, he knew game design like nobody’s business. He was ready, willing, and generous with his advice to younger game designers, and happily donated his time and experience to gamers in his hometown through the public library and on his own. His own game design was outstanding as well, I still play ships with the Master Mariner game he published in Gygax magazine.
It’s also because of Tim that I was able to bring back my favorite RPG of all time, Top Secret. I had no idea how to find Merle Rasmussen, or even where to begin. He seemed to be completely off the gaming map, certainly no one at the conventions knew. When I mentioned it to Tim, he found Merle, called him up, and put us in touch. Without Tim, I never would have reconnected with Merle and we wouldn’t be making Top Secret today.
I’ve read accounts of what Tim was like back in the early days of TSR, that some people called him “the enforcer.” It makes me laugh fondly, I can absolutely see that. Tim never suffered fools gladly, and he always spoke his mind. But that was one of the things that made Tim so endearing to me. He had so much integrity. You never got anything fake from Tim. If he gave you praise or a compliment, you could take that right to the very depths of your heart, because you knew he meant it. He was deeply funny, and had so much love for the people that were special to him.
I’m so very sad that I’ll never get another chance to talk to Tim. But I’m so utterly grateful for the joy and the friendship he brought into my life. God bless you Tim, and goodbye.
Arcane Sword Press
Magazine Madness Continues!
Magazine madness continues! This week- The Space Gamer by Metagaming Concepts and Steve Jackson Games!
Okay, so with this whole series of gaming magazines, both professional and independent there have been a few stand outs already. But for the old publications from the first decade of commercial RPGs, the two general gaming publications that really stand out to me in terms of quality of content are The Space Gamer (this week) and White Dwarf (Next Week). Why? Because the articles, reviews, and scenarios are far more interesting to me and insightful than the prior classic magazines i’ve looked at. While a lot of these magazines were mouthpieces for their own releases, there is something more to The Space Gamer beyond Steve Jackson promoting Melee/Fantasy Trip and microgames. A lot of this magazine was advice articles, game theory, and house rules for a variety of different RPGs at the time. There was an ongoing article by Steve Jackson and Nick Schuessler called Game Design: Theory and Practice Published in fifteen parts across issues 27-41 that’s a very cool look behind the screen of game writers around 1980-1981. The magazine also has articles on becoming a sci-fi writer, publishing your works, and other very cool information to help people get their material out there. That’s really awesome in my opinion. Plus, they did surveys, promoted conventions, and were very upfront about open submissions for readers to get their ideas out there. You can tell this was made by some passionate hobbyists and creators. In addition, each article also featured fantastic original art. I truly am baffled by the quality of this publication!
The Space Gamer also has a lot of great reviews from the time, along with expanded rules from popular RPGs while also highlighting less known games. Not only that, but they support content for popular war games, original fiction stories from known authors, and the emerging home computer market. A number of magazines I looked at featured ads for landmark computer games (Akalabeth and Ultima!) and articles on computer programming advice for tabletop games. Finally, there would be the occasional dedicated issue such as The Traveller Issue, The D&D Issue, The Star Trek Issue, The Miniature Issue, etc. One notable issue has a review article by Steve Jackson where he reviews contemporary gaming magazines, which I will be referring to as work throughout this series because so far I am in agreement with him!
I only had a chance to look at Space Gamer from 1981 and earlier (Purchased a lot of issues, as you can see) so I don’t have an idea or opinion on the later issues or the final phases of the publication when it merged with The Fantasy Gamer. But I will say I’m very excited to dig deeper into these old issues I have at home this winter! If you’re interested in checking out this wonderful publication but don’t feel like having a stack of stinky old magazines, the Internet Archive has you covered.
Next week, (Pre-Warhammer) White Dwarf!
Bryan
On a Personal Note: I would like to acknowledge that this past week has seen a number of notable deaths, but the most difficult for me is that I personally lost one of my best friends to cancer. Ryan Duffy is the primary reason why I learned about DIY culture and independent music scenes, while appreciating the weird hometown we grew up in and the weirdos we befriended along the way. I’ve known him for 28 years and I’ll never forget our time together. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today. If you’d like to show some support to his family and friends during this time, Please consider donating to Mass General Brigham Cancer Center organization, Caring For A Cure. He will be missed- Rest In Peace/Punk/Power.
Ham & Egg Publishing
“Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer.”
Yup, that’s me in the driver’s seat of a DeLorean, fat and happy in the summer of 2025. It wasn’t what I’d call a great year, but it had its bright spots. Since we are in a New Year (Year of the Horse!), I thought, instead of bemoaning what was and making arbitrary resolutions, I would set some actionable intentions.
First up, I am trying to stay off social media; the general negativity and ephemerality of it all are a massive bummer. So, with that in mind, I have been leaning more toward capturing moments with a point-and-shoot camera. It has been a pretty cool experience. I have been firing off shots here and there, and the tactile experience of it in my hand has helped with my addiction to my phone.
I have been using a Camp Snap for a while, and they are pretty cool. I don’t get a kick back or anything like that if you click this link, but here is where to find one.As for my other intentions, they are a little more personal. With that said, I hope you all find what you are looking for in 2026.
May this year be better than the last.
-JHM
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.
See you next week!
-JHM
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Tuesday, December 30th
This is the Analog Union newsletter for December 30th, 2025. 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!
Welcome Horse Shark to the Analog Union! December 30th 2025
Welcome Horse Shark
Don’t forget to play games!
The Judges Guild Journal
In this newsletter
Horse Shark Games | Get Haunted Industries | Arcane Sword Press
Horse Shark Games
New Year, New Face
Horse Shark Games is proud to join the Analog Union! I am James A. Pozenel, Jr. and the creator of Netcrawl RPG, a game where players step into the roles of powerful computer-simulated avatars to battle ICE and AI. I’ve been writing TTRPG content since 2015 mainly for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. Horse Shark Games started in 2019 and titles include The House of the Red Doors, Enchiridion of the Computarchs, and the Scions of the Computarchs series. In addition to his original work, I freelance for Goodman Games, Psychoda Press, Bloat Games, and several other publishers, contributing to Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Mutant Crawl Classics RPG, and numerous supplements and adventures.
I’d love to connect with you on my Patreon or the Netcrawl discord. I’m of course a big fan of cyberpunk so expect some of that in the coming weeks. I quite excited to be in the Analog Union crew. There’s a strong current of “modern” setting TTRPGs represented. I’m definitely excited to see what we get up to in 2026!
That’s enough about me. I am excited to share early ideas and other musings with you all in the coming months.
Visit Horse Shark Games Get Haunted Industries
Don’t forget to play games!
“To play a game is to meet it on its own terms, not to stand outside it and describe it.”
— Ian Bogost, author & game designer
This weekend, I had the absolute pleasure of actually playing in a game. I honestly can’t remember the last time I sat on the other side of the judge’s screen. It’s been at least a year since I was a brave adventurer instead of the adjudicator and occasional dealer of death.
That experience made me stop and reflect on balance: the balance of being a TTRPG enthusiast, creator, collector, player, and judge. The session was only two hours long, but it was a meaningful learning experience. Sure, the judge happened to be a published adventure writer and all-around creative powerhouse, but that’s beside the point. What really hit me was this: if I want to keep learning and growing as a game writer, I need to keep being a game player.
TTRPGs aren’t about me (the writer), they’re about us. They’re about community and collaborative storytelling. If I just hide behind a keyboard pumping out zines, I lose the most important ingredient of all—the player’s perspective. When I think about my favorite gaming sessions, the common threads are always the same: autonomy, meaningful choice, and creative expression.
As writers, we build worlds where we can see exactly what we want to see. But does it translate at the table? Do players care about the set dressing and NPCs we obsess over? Are the clues we plant strong enough to spark curiosity and engagement?
All work and no play makes Joey an ineffective creator. So my New Year’s resolution is officially locked in: play more games and keep the balance alive.
Games I Hope to Play in 2026
- Vampire: The Masquerade
- Top Secret: New World Order
- Every single weird indie TTRPG that comes out of YOUR brains. Let me know (lordbludd@gmail.com) what you are working on and maybe get a boost on Joey Royale’s Pizza Party!
Check out some of my recent pickups:
Goons and Ghosts by JP Coovert
Unwinnable Newsletter by Stu Horvath
So let’s get to the table, tell some tales, and GET WEIRD!
Arcane Sword Press
I hope you’re interested in reading more about old tabletop magazines! Because I honestly don’t know when I’m gonna stop! This Week, Judges Guild magazines!
For those who don’t know, Judges Guild was a third party publisher of adventure supplements in the early tabletop RPG days, starting up in 1976. They have produced some stonecold classics for AD&D which is what they are best known for. What I like about Judges Guild is how utterly bizarre some of their products are. Some of their releases are truly out of left field and are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Some stand out adventures for me are Inferno, Caverns of Thracia, Dark Tower, and Citadel of Fire. They also made some great resources for GMs and players such as books of maps and locations that can be used in your fantasy campaign plus the first game reference screen before TSR made one for D&D. Which honestly, is one of my favorite RPG products. Judges Guild also took on Dave Arneson and published the earliest look we have into the development of the Blackmoor campaign (which inspired D&D) and he wrote for some of their publications!
However, most of their other products really fail to capture the lightning in a bottle with some of those major works of 1970s D&D. Judges Guild also kept printing on newspaper pulp with artwork that literally was traced off of movie posters. Their attempt to diversify into other games like Traveller (which some products are notable!), Chivalry & Sorcery, Tunnels & Trolls, Runequest, etc. didn’t help them stay afloat once TSR stopped licensing out to them and the market pivoted to higher-end print products with better layout, causing them to effectively closed by 1984. However! I absolutely love the high contrast and colorful art they made even if it is copied (heck, OD&D did the same thing!) and has a certain charm that you don’t see in “professional” products. I guess a way to view Judges guild’s output is like a scrappy newsprint zine trying to be a professional product and punching above its weight while being blind to the increase in professionalism in the industry. One could say they were uncompromising, but that ended up being bad for business.
With that out of the way, I will be looking at the three Judges Guild publications. They are The Judges Guild Journal, The Dungeoneer, Pegasus Magazine. All three of them are a little different than the other, mostly due to the increased production quality if only marginally. If anything, they all seem like a rebrand but with minimal changes. While I haven’t looked at every issue, each one of these had very limited runs of a few years max so it is very feasible to get your hands on them and read the whole run if you really wanted to.
The Judges Guild Journal: 25 issues, 1976-1981. This magazine primarily has new dungeons or adventures for players. The deal is that Judges Guild is for the game masters (er, Judges), not the players, so this publication is GM-focused. Oftentimes these dungeons are tersely keyed, as one, one sentence descriptions just saying the treasure and monster. Little to no context, but that was the way they did it in the 70s! The DM is supposed to make it make sense! Some dungeons are much more wordy in other issues, and some even are typed up like a double spaced school paper! Some very funny inconsistencies! But there are some gems! In this issue, Richard Forester talks about playing the iconic Giants modules G1-2-3. The way it’s written is pretty fun, it’s less of a review and more of an adventure report about their exploits. This was a primary way for GMs to learn about other modules coming out or to see how the adventures played out at other tables. The main issue is that all of the type is blocks of typewriter typeface, and sometimes it’s poorly pasted onto the print masters, making some pages look crooked. The Journal also had minimal ads in it in the early days, so you’d find curious spot art to fill in the large gaps.
The Dungeoneer: 1977-1980, 19 issues. Next, Judges guild attempted to make a publication both for players and referees and is more typical of something like Dragon Magazine, but not quite there yet. Actually, this one started as a fanzine at a college that Judges guild then took on as a supplemental release with Journal. In addition to a few dungeons here and there. The Dungeoneer also includes a few periodicals on alternative spells and treasure, plus articles on advice and reviews. Nothing mindblowing but an interesting look into how people looked at the hobby at the dawn of AD&D. At least the typeface and layout is better!
Pegasus Magazine: 1981-1983, 12 issues, with a 13th never formally published. The Final publication Judges guild invested in it before vanishing by the mid 80s. It was the evolution of The Dungeoneer and was the best effort from Judges guild to make a magazine like The Dragon. However, there isn’t anything new here beyond some of the usual Judges Guild charm with regards to adventure ideas and magic item periodicals. What I DO like is the reviews they have, which cover games and products that you don’t typically find or lesser known gaming companies that seem to be forgotten at this point.
Judges Guild has its own charm, and is shockingly easy to find. There is countless deadstock of the less popular Judges Guild products for purchase on online vendors and even the used stuff comes in extremely affordable lots. It’s all printed in newsprint, so the books are prone to quick wear and tear if you’re not careful! It’s not worth supporting the current Judges Guild due to the problematic current owner, but luckily the Internet Archive can provide a look into the curious corner Judges Guild occupied at the birth and transitional times of the hobby from underground adult-aged gamers to mainstream kid-friendly products.
That’s it for now! Next Week- The Space Gamer by Metagaming Concepts & Steve Jackson Games (and a bunch more!)
Bryan
Looking for a last minute Christmas Present for a nerd in your life (or for yourself)? Fanatical has a Classic Traveller PDF deal where you can get the entire line of the original run of Classic Traveller for $16! Whoa! You can check it out here
Your editor this week has been Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games.
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.
See you next week!
-Jayson
