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.

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 

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

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

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.

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 

Netcrawl by James Pozenel

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

This week, instead of news and articles, we’re just bringing you gifts! All of the downloads below are FREE.

Thank you for being a part of the Analog Union by subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We hope you have a wonderful holiday. However you spend your time this holiday season, may the spirit of kindness, togetherness, and fun be with you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

The weirdos of the Analog Union

P.S. Thanks to Atilla, our artist, for the great illustrations of some of the AU members in the superhero trading cards above. Those are going up on the site soon along with more members. Drop by Atilla’s Instagram to see more of his art: https://www.instagram.com/nagy_sz_attila/

Welcome to Horseshark games!

We have a new member of the Analog Union. Welcome to Horseshark, the publisher of Netcrawl by James A. Pozenel Jr.

The first free gift is from James, it’s the beta edition of Netcrawl for Dungeon Crawl Classics and DCC compatible settings.

Battle of the Bog Beasts 

from Get Haunted Industries

It’s the latest WHPA Saturday Pizza Matinee from Joey Royale and Get Haunted Industries, Battle of the Bog Beasts! And it’s yours free as a gift from Joey:

The Demesnes & Domination Addendum

from Arcane Sword Press

The Demesnes & Domination Addendum is a small expansion for to Demesnes & Domination that add two additional concepts, the Demesne Bonus and the Adventuring Bonus. Use these with Dungeons & Dragons or any OSR game.

Anarchy by James Carpio

from Solarian Games

Oi! It’s the year 1983, and the world is gone! It was nothing like that late-night movie said it would be. The radiation brought about something they call Dark Mana; it was worse than anything we could imagine. You think a bunch of yuppie fascists were bad when they were swilling imported beer, try imbuing them with dark magic, then all hell breaks loose, literally!

Your gift from Solarian this Christmas, Anarchy by James Carpio

S.L.O.P. issue zero and issue #1

from Super Savage Systems

S.L.O.P. Issue 1 is a compilation of one-ofs from the Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Patreon known as the Knights of the Slimetable. While these rules and additions are optional, there is a slew of cool and extra stuff to add to your games!! 

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

Hey Ho Let’s Go Home

MOLD MOLD MOLD

Tabletop Weekly’s holiday gift guide

Looking at Dragon magazine

Hey Ho, Let’s Go Home

Ahoy Pals! 

Hambone here with a few festiv-ish things to chat you up on this week. 

First and foremost, Crawl for the Cure: Ethermeet 2025 was on Saturday, December 13th, and thanks to your support, we raised $3,825 to be donated to the American Cancer Society, which is massive. On behalf of everybody involved, THANK YOU!

The 28 mm revolution!

Get Haunted Industries on Mold Mold Mold

I have always been intimidated by the world of miniatures. First, many game-specific models are ridiculously priced. Second, I never thought I had the patience, skill, or quality materials to make something I would be happy with. Third, the minis on the racks didn’t inspire me. 

Then I went to Under the Dice, and everything changed. Hive Scum, Smash Bash, Wittle Goblin, BlerzCraft, and so many other inspiring maniacs showed me the way. 

Underground DIY 28 mm revolution, baby. Kit bash whatever you have laying around and throw everything you fear about painting out the window. Do it cheap, challenge yourself, and expand your mind.. 

I implore you to check out Mold Mold Mold by Nick Borelli. Part art book, part how-to, Mold Mold Mold puts a new lens on miniature creation, painting, and presentation. Its creators like this Borelli that move “hobby” into “art”, and, holy cow, it’s inspiring! 

Uncap the crazy glue and get weird!

Released after TSR stopped publishing The Strategic Review in 1975, they split their efforts into two magazines from its ashes, Little wars to support their wargame releases and The Dragon to support their RPG releases. The most impressive thing to me about his magazine was the fact this dense publication was monthly and lasted for years and years, while Little Wars lasted around two years! Right out of the gate, it was already full of fun articles related to D&D and the emerging RPG scene. When i go back and read old articles from early issues, there are three things I look for:

1. From The Sorcerer’s Scroll column, specifically the ones penned by Gary Gygax: What I like about the this column is where you see the hot-and-cold personality of Gary Gygax come to life whether it be critical of other RPGs he saw as competitions or as illegitimate copies of HIS game (which we know isn’t the entire truth!), criticizing some D&D clubs about running the game wrong, and then the eventual development of AD&D to combat these factors, it’s interesting to see the ranting and then the recanting of those rants in different issues. Paired with books and podcasts that delve into the history and culture of TSR at the time, it’s a great resource for understanding a driving force behind RPGs

2. Sage Advice: If you are going to read anything in an old Dragon Magazine, make sure to read Sage Advice. Before forums, Reddit, and being able to email creators directly, this was the only means for players and referees to ask for rule clarifications. And boy, there are some funny questions but even more insane answers! 

   • My personal favorite? Sage advice from The Dragon #31: Question: “In AD&D, how much damage does a bow do?” Answer: “None. Bows do not do damage, arrows do. However, if you hit someone with a bow, I’d say it probably will do 1-4 points of damage and thereafter render the bow completely useless.”

   • That’s some “Um ACTUALLY” level of correcting a genuine question from a customer. You can read a complete collection of Sage Advice here

3. The Advertisements: There is some serious gold to be found in the early days of table top RPGs. You’ll see some very interesting products including games Gygax would be critical of in the same issue’s From the Sorcerer’s Scroll! You will also see advertisements for games that never came out including one that is nearly legendary, K Society’s Imperial Earth!

There are hundreds of issues, but a good look at the magazine is The Best of The Dragon vol.1. It covers a great span of the early days of D&D from 1975-1978 with articles that support early TSR RPGS beyond D&D like Metamorphosis Alpha and fun articles like “How Heavy is my Giant?” Fun fact: The impact of Dragon magazine led to fellow unionist Jayson to create Gygax Magazine for a period in the mid-2010s which continues the spirit of Dragon magazine, which is also worth checking out!

That’s it for now! Next Week: The Dungeoneer by Judges Guild!

• Bryan

Solarian Games

Holiday gift guide on Tabletop Weekly

So we do this podcast / livestream every week, have I told you about it? It’s called Tabletop Weekly. 

We just did our holiday gift guide for 2025, so I thought I’d share some of the fun stuff we found and talked about.

Tabletop Weekly livestreams every Sunday, usually at 9pm Eastern time. Lately we’ve been going on earlier since our guests have been in Europe. Next week we’ll be very early, at 1pm Eastern, to host Eric Rubin, who has just released the Russian language edition of Top Secret! You can see all the shows at https://TabletopWeekly.com

Here are some of the gifts we covered with our guest Kay Schaefer from Gamers Online:

Your editor this week has been Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games.

We’re well into Chanukah now, Chag Sameach! An early Merry Christmas as well, Joyous Kwanzaa, and happy holidays all around.

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

Top Secret^® Tradecraft Manual is going live on Kickstarter today!

Parallel Dimension Gaming

Joey Royale’s Pizza Party THIS WEEK!

Ham & Egg Holiday Sale!

The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure

Zines! Zines! Zines!

The Top Secret^® Tradecraft Manual going live on Kickstarter tonight!

The Kickstarter goes live tonight at 7pm Eastern US time. There are 12 “Administrator tier” spots available to early backers who would like to have one of the authors run a Top Secret game for them online. 

Thousands of gamers worldwide have made Top Secret® a success since its newest edition, New World Order, was released in 2018. Players take on the role of secret agents in the modern world, deploying to locales around the globe on covert missions.

At the heart of Top Secret are the skills that characters use to complete their missions, known in the language of spies as tradecraft.

The core rulebook for Top Secret describes the various tradecraft, or “specialized skills,” that agents can learn, devoting a paragraph or so to each skill. 

In the Tradecraft Manual, every skill has been expanded upon and enhanced with detailed descriptions, explanations of the mechanics and rolls required, new tables to help the GM determine difficulty levels, methods player characters might employ when using the skill, and narrative in-game examples of agents using the tradecraft while on a mission.

New tradecraft skills are introduced, including intelligence evaluation, psychological profiling, melee, thrown, and projectile weapons, a new kind of first aid for faster healing under the right conditions, skills in disarming weapons of mass destruction, and a “makeshift engineering” skill for those MacGyver moments in your game.

You also get new rules for Top Secret, such as faster and easier car chases, foot chases, perception checks, attacking from a moving vehicle, simplified hacking rules, and streamlined options for initiative and actions.

Scott Kongable, the author of the Tradecraft Manual, is the foremost GM for Top Secret®: New World Order, having run multiple campaigns bi-weekly for over six years. The updates to Top Secret in this book are the culmination of literally hundreds of sessions in both campaign play and convention play. 

Everything in the Tradecraft Manual is compatible with the existing corpus of published rules and missions for Top Secret. We hope you’ll get many, many hours of fun as you and your players use this book to take your spy game to the next level!

Joey Royale’s Pizza Party THIS WEEK!

Grab your napkins- it’s gonna be a mess!

Join me, your host, Joey Royale, for an hour of weird creativity, role-play games, and a bunch of other weird stuff  on Joey Royale’s pizza party, this Wednesday at 8 PM EST on the Sewer Rats YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/@sewerratsincrpgmegacorp?si=rCikEx35Peys3QfA

This week, we are freaking delighted to have fellow analog union member, and all around cool dude, Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games.  Also joining us will be the techno madman James Poezenel, creator of Netcrawl. Learn about new projects they are working on, upcoming conventions, strange films, action figures and whatever else we can stuff into this calzone.

Ahoy Pals! 

Hambone here with a few festiv-ish things to chat you up on this week. 

First and foremost is a cause near and dear to my heart. The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure. I have lost a lot of people I love to cancer. I am unfortunately not unique in this loss. It sucks and everytime I sit there wishing there was something I could do to change the outcome. So when my buddy Cory hit me up about the Crawl, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. Here is how you can too.

From Cory: 

Happy Holidays! December has come, and it’s time again for The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure: Ethermeet 2025! Please join us to spread Good for those who need assistance from the American Cancer Society! Once again, we will run the event on second Saturday of December, the 14th, from 7 AM until Sunday, 2 AM CST! We would love to have more West Coast viewers to cheer in the early morning Central with some Horror Cinema Classics and Director Randy Miller! We hope to see you there; now is the time for heroes!

The memorial play-a-thon is in memory of Jerry Stefek: gamer, father, friend and altruist. We tragically lost Jerry to aggressive lymphoma in 2018. ALL proceeds will be given to cancer research and patient assistance through Tiltify to the American Cancer Society! We are just shy of $32,000 as we close out our 6 years of Crawls! We’re still striving to make that goal of $5,000 for Ethermeet 2025 and we challenge our heroes to perform Mighty Deeds for Good.

Please tell your friends about this awesome RPG entertainment event and join us on December 13th on the Twitch channel DCC Mayhem. Your donations, taken through Tiltify, will not only help the American Cancer Society but will also influence our games during this online event! Tell us what chaos or boon you would like our players to encounter, and we’ll put it in the game – donor’s choice!

Any donation of $5 or more will be entered in a drawing for great prizes every hour featuring our awesome sponsors! We’re still working out the details, so we’re not yet updated on our Sponsorship, but please visit our sponsor site as it is updated with our latest awesome sponsors!

AND. of course, late-night horror feature nostalgia will commence with your Judge and host Luau Lou as the uncanny host Insanti Clawz serving up his brand of Mutant Crawl Classics at the Final Admission Theater and Half-Price Oyster Bar! Finally, we finish the celebration with our LATE LATE Night show as Director Randy Miller closes us out with Horror Cinema Classics! It is going to be AWESOME!

Please join us Saturday, December 13th between 7 AM CST and Sunday, 2 AM CST on the Twitch channel DCC Mayhem, and cheer on our troupe. Let’s SLEIGH our goal! Thanks for your support!

Visit the Crawl for the Cure: Ethermeet site for more details!

On a brighter less heart wrenchng note, some dear friends of mine (Casey, Jen, Edwin and Zack) who have been in the hobby since Gygax left Lake Geneva have launched a new publishing company Parallel Dimension Gaming. There first title has just recently launched on Kickstarter. Check it out. 

Save the season… or let it sparkle and spiral into pastel oblivion.

Once upon a frost-kissed winter, this place was called Yuletown—a snug retreat famous for handmade toys, caroling mice, and cider-sticky mittens. Now? It’s Bubbletown: a pastel-perfect utopia where lanterns glow pink, pastries are aggressively flawless, and every local hums in eerily synchronized harmony… like they’ve been focus-grouped by a fairy with a marketing degree.

They have been.

The Problem (It’s… a Big One) Blyssaline Bubblesong, a fae-touched enchantress has enchanted the entire town. Powered by corrupted glimmercoal and a disturbingly effective magical PR campaign, she has:

✨ rewritten the town’s traditions
✨ rewritten the town’s name
✨ and is creeping dangerously close to rewriting the townspeople themselves.

By day, Bubbletown beams.

By night, its people mine glimmercoal in a dreamlike daze—unknowingly fueling the spell that keeps them trapped in saccharine servitude.

But All Is Not Lost! A handful of holdouts remain “un-Bubblefied” with rebellious townsfolk, a few spirited sentient toys, and one crusty rat captain with trust issues and exactly three cheeses left in his ration pack. They can’t break the enchantment alone…

But your party just might.

Finally, if you wanted to catch up on some killer Ham & Egg Publishing titles we’re having a 25% off sale (except anthologies) on our site! 

Arcane Sword Press

Hey, guess what- if you enjoyed my article last week, then you’re in for a treat! This week I’ll be talking about BOSSFIGHT, Tabletop & Wargames Digest, and Portcullis!!

Boss Fight: Boss fight is when you have someone who is so aggressively talented as a visual creator but also as a game designer releases a zine that captures a vibe so hard that I didn’t even realize my mouth was agape while browsing. Every page has a completely different layout that maintains a playful use of positive/negative space to make everything readable but makes you more engaged with its navigation. That’s not to say it’s hard to follow, I’m saying the contrary considering its initial impression of its presentation. Each page is literally bleeding off the edges with articles, opinions, additional content for games, and more! While it is available for a very reasonable donation for a PDF, the print version is of a very high quality that compliments its visual presentation. Great stuff! Available in PDF (possibly print if you email them!) from Big Boy Game Time

Tabletop & Wargame Digest: This is a brand new zine that is already dense at 124 pages! Insane! Created by Slade who kindly said was inspired by my releases to make a zine, he went about to make something that feels like an old gaming magazine with convention info, articles, minigames, artwork, supplemental rules and more! This is a zine built by a community and edited and published by one person for that community. Each submission also includes the page layout made by the submitter, which makes every few pages feel like a small, unique release in its own right. It almost makes sit more of a compilation than a coherent magazine, which I like! Its presentation walks a line between an old issue of The Dragon and an old gaming APA. Another strong point is the variety found within it, from magic deck builds, historical wargaming scenario reports, sculpting tutorials, an AD&D class class, a full blown game with components (shout-out Hodag!), and more! A true tabletop gaming smorgasbord! Available in print and PDF

Portcullis: Beyond Under The Dice, this the other local gaming zine I strongly recommend. It is a mix of game reviews, MTG talk, terrain tutorials, interviews with artists and game designers, articles and rules that support games (Issue 2 has a great article on mercenaries for One Page Rules: Regiments (Or the GW-official game.) There is a lot of personality in this zine and is reflective of the creator Ian who you can tell puts a lot of love into making a gaming zine. Extremely cool stuff, grab a copy!! Available in print and PDF

That’s it for now! This has jumpstarted my focus on doing deep dives into tabletop publications, so the next few newsletter will be focusing on older publications. Some known, some lesser known! Until then!

• Bryan

Oh! Before I forget, I want to tell everyone about Corporate Breakfast! A game created by David Torrey with art by Sam Mameli! 

“Welcome to the Corporate Breakfast Corporation! We are happy to have you as the newest member of our breakfast cereal naming team, it’s a vacancy well overdue to be filled! Our naming techniques have gone stale so we are introducing a new method. We will give you a hand of random words and allow you to swap out some to come up with the best name and pitch! Once you present it to the board, they will decide on which name is the best one to move forward with. If they select yours, congratulations! It is a major honor that comes with huge bragging rights!”

Check it out here!

Your editor this week has been Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games.

If you’re in the northern hemisphere, it’s getting cold out there, so cuddle up with someone you love whether they’re of the two-legged or the furry four-legged variety. Or just get a hot cup of cocoa and your favorite movie, but treat yourself!

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

Top Secret^® Tradecraft Manual is launching December 9th!

Going Green.

Last Chance to join the circus!

Rats Rule!

Zines! Zines! Zines!

A little help for a friend.

The Top Secret^® Tradecraft Manual is on the way

You can get in early on the new Top Secret® Tradecraft Manual – coming to Kickstarter on December 9th!

Thousands of gamers worldwide have made Top Secret® a success since its newest edition, New World Order, was released in 2018. Players take on the role of secret agents in the modern world, deploying to locales around the globe on covert missions.

At the heart of Top Secret are the skills that characters use to complete their missions, known in the language of spies as tradecraft.

The core rulebook for Top Secret describes the various tradecraft, or “specialized skills,” that agents can learn, devoting a paragraph or so to each skill. 

In the Tradecraft Manual, every skill has been expanded upon and enhanced with detailed descriptions, explanations of the mechanics and rolls required, new tables to help the GM determine difficulty levels, methods player characters might employ when using the skill, and narrative in-game examples of agents using the tradecraft while on a mission.

New tradecraft skills are introduced, including intelligence evaluation, psychological profiling, melee, thrown, and projectile weapons, a new kind of first aid for faster healing under the right conditions, skills in disarming weapons of mass destruction, and a “makeshift engineering” skill for those MacGyver moments in your game.

You also get new rules for Top Secret, such as faster and easier car chases, foot chases, perception checks, attacking from a moving vehicle, simplified hacking rules, and streamlined options for initiative and actions.

Scott Kongable, the author of the Tradecraft Manual, is the foremost GM for Top Secret®: New World Order, having run multiple campaigns bi-weekly for over six years. The updates to Top Secret in this book are the culmination of literally hundreds of sessions in both campaign play and convention play. 

Everything in the Tradecraft Manual is compatible with the existing corpus of published rules and missions for Top Secret. We hope you’ll get many, many hours of fun as you and your players use this book to take your spy game to the next level!

The carnival is coming! Get ready to get weird!

Tiger Wizard and I are in the homestretch on our Mausritter Month project, Tails from the Night Market—an adventure where you and your fellow mice courageously scavenge the remnants of a Big People carnival. Freakish mutants and amazing wonders run amok under the “big top” and across the midway, creating a perfect playground for tiny heroes with big hearts.

Working with Tiger Wizard has been awesome. I’m used to being a one-mouse operation, but collaborating has made everything weirder in the best way. Over the last few meetings we’ve focused on making every location as playful and imaginative as possible. That’s one of the true joys of Mausritter: the mundane becomes fantastic.

Instead of a traditional big top, you’ll explore an overturned popcorn bucket. An oversized stuffed animal becomes a five-room dungeon filled with fermented fruit, writhing maggots, and bloodthirsty horseflies. The ordinary becomes extraordinary—and dangerously fun.

When you back this, you receive four pamphlets of adventure beats, locations, special items, and conditions for your characters to experience. All the art is done by Tiger and I by our own hands.

Stay Weird!

-Joey Royale

Zines, zines, and more zines! 

Boy, do I love a zine! And luckily the gaming community is full of them! The corner of the hobby space I tend to lurk around in is full of DIY creators who compile, edit, and do layout for their personal gaming zines just for their fellow hobbyists that is at a creative quality I find a step above anything officially released by larger publishers. The next few newsletters I will be giving my personal take on gaming zines and magazines from across the spectrum I personally enjoy. First Up- Independent and DIY tabletop hobby zines!

28 Mag: 28 Mag is a wild publication not only for its quality in layout, design, and content, but the fact that it is FREE! This magazine makes all other professional game magazines feel extremely dated. The community that has developed around this publication is known as the 28 Community, which is full of artists and creative folks who make their own games, miniatures, and treat the hobby as a place for artistic expression. On top of that, the sense of encouragement and inspiration that drips off of its digital pages blows any other miniature-focused publication out of the water. Each issue functions both as an art magazine while also being a gaming magazine. Incredible.

Glaive: A new, full color zine coming straight out of the Hothead Collective in NYC, edited by a gaming enthusiast who creates seriously professional quality publication. Glaive is filled with interviews and opinions on different gaming events, creators, color photo spreads, and related content. While 28 Mag is digital only (except when they release compilation hardcovers), this feels like a high end glossy magazine you can hold in your hand and leave out on your coffee table to impress guests. Glaive feels like a subculture magazine like style magazine, music magazine, or skateboarding magazine but for us subculture types who ended up into RPGs and Wargaming. A glossy and classy mag, available in print!

Under The Dice: If Glaive is inspired by high-end color-print subculture magazines, then Under The Dice is the equivalent of a black & white punk/hardcore music zine but focused (mostly) on games! The back issues are in black and white that has a similar aesthetic quality to a Maximum Rock n Roll or HeartattaCk you expect from a photocopied music zine. However, Steve has been putting this one out for years (over a decade now?) and each issue becomes more and more honed in and focused. It still maintains the soul of its roots, but with Steve’s commitment to quality that goes above and beyond, you know you’re going to find something you like in each issue. And personally, it is the first zine I ever submitted written work and artwork to so while I  may be biased, this was the zine that made me have an “a-ha” moment that bridged my DIY music background to the DIY gaming space.

That’s it for now! 

• Bryan

Oh! If you have a recommendation for a tabletop gaming zine, please send it my way!

Ever want to relive a great movie? A24’s The Green Knight was a dark film for sure, but filled with fantastical encounters reminiscent of a roleplaying game.  They put out a companion roleplaying game to give you the opportunity to confront the Green Knight yourself. But, how does the game perform?

Listen to the podcast and find out!

Analytic Dice reviews a new game every month. Follow us to get notified when each new episode drops. Also, check out the 29 previous episodes for your favorite game.

Kevin 

Analytic Dice co-host

Viva La Rats! 

Ahoy Pals!

Hambone here to chat you up about a group of pals who made something truly cool! 


Sewer Rats Indie TTRPG Anthology 2025 is a showcase of adventures written and illustrated by a group of creative pals in the spirit of friendship and fun to celebrate the hobby. Each is a fresh take on another creator’s system, through the eyes and imagination of one of their peers. 

About the Sewer Rats:

Sewer Rats started out as a group of kindred individuals who became pals because of tabletop roleplaying games. Banded together in the spirit of friendship and fun with one simple goal in mind.

We wanted to give back to the hobby that united us by celebrating other independent creators of alternative RPGs.

We believe roleplaying games unite people, ignite creativity, and inspire joy. It is our hope that through championing other creatives, we can help foster a community where connection, imagination, and play thrive.

This zine is the physical embodiment of our goals, the power of friendship, and the promise that Springsteen described in song. The one “we swore we’d always remember. No retreat, baby, no surrender.”

Viva la Rats!

Sewer Rats Indie TTRPG Anthology 2025 includes:

• The Hungry & The Hunted for 321RPG by Joey Royale(link opens in new tab/window)

• Türbo Ratz Attack! for Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland(link opens in new tab/window) by John “Hambone” McGuire(link opens in new tab/window)

• The Crack in the Wall for Don’t Tell Mom & Dad by Levi Combs(link opens in newwindow)

• HoverSkull Ryders Below for Whatever by Tiger Wizard(link opens in new tab/window)

• Fairhaven Gazette for Weird Heroes of Public Access(link opens in new tab/window) by Ben Mazzochetti and Ted Gilbert(link opens in new tab/window)

• Crash of the Ratstar for Whatever by Brian “Neon Lord” Shutter(link opens in new tab/window)

The Team:

Written by Levi Combs, Ted Gilbert, Ben Mazzochetti, John “Hambone” McGuire, Joey Royale, and Brian “Neon Lord” Shutter Art By Sally Cantirino and Tiger Wizard
Layout by Tiger Wizard
Cover Art by Tiger Wizard

Get it here!

A Little Help For A Friend

Rocky’s a good dude who has been dealt a bad hand. Cancer can kick rocks. Please give a little if you can; every little bit helps.

From Jen Glazar:

Help Support the Gardner Family in Rocky’s Fight Against Cancer

Hello friends, and thank you for taking a moment to read this.

Zach and I have had the pleasure of knowing Jayson “Rocky” Gardner for over a decade, and we are humbled to help bring his story forward as we ask for support on behalf of his family. We are starting this fundraiser for Rocky, his devoted wife Kendra, and their three beautiful children—not because he asked us to, but because he never would.

Rocky is a loving husband to an incredible woman who works full-time to support their young family, doing everything she can to keep things afloat. Four weeks ago, their world changed. After five years in remission, Rocky was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma in his lung. The cancer has spread to his windpipe and abdominal wall and is now threatening his liver. Without treatment, doctors estimate only one year.

But if you know Rocky, you know he is a fighter. Treatment has already begun, and he is giving this battle everything he has.

As you can imagine, this journey has forced Kendra to miss significant time from work as she drives Rocky to and from appointments, procedures, and treatments. PTO only stretches so far, and while insurance helps with some medical bills, the financial strain of missed wages and mounting expenses is becoming overwhelming. Things many of us take for granted—gas, groceries, housing, utilities—have suddenly become sources of worry for their family.

Our hope is to raise funds to help the Gardners replace lost income and cover essential needs during this difficult time. Your contribution, no matter the size, will directly support their daily living expenses and provide stability while Rocky continues his fight.

If you are unable to give financially, please know there are other meaningful ways to help. A meal train is being organized, and prayers, positive thoughts, and shared good vibes are deeply appreciated. Even simply sharing this fundraiser can make a tremendous difference.

Thank you for your compassion, generosity, and for standing with this dear family as they face the unthinkable.

Nominations are OPEN for the Golden Fez

awards!

This is the 2nd year for the Golden Fez awards, our annual tabletop RPG awards honoring game designer James Carpio. Held in conjunction with TotalCon, the awards will be given out at the convention on Saturday, February 21st.

Submit your own game, or nominate someone else’s game that you love. Awards are open to any tabletop role-playing game published in 2025, from the largest publishers to the smallest indie press. 

Last year, the Game of the Year award was won by Outgunned from Free League Publishing. Award categories include:

• The Holy Hand Grenade Award

  • Given for best new game mechanic.

• The Pick Up and Play Award

  • Easiest game to learn.
• Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
  • For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.

• The Velvet Smooth Award

  • For best design and production.
• The 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.

Your editor this week has been John “Hambone” McGuire  of Ham & Egg Publishing

Thanks as always for reading the Analog Union newsletter, and I hope you’re with someone you love this holiday season. And if you’re not with someone you love, I hope you love yourself. Do it. You’re worth it and you deserve it.

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!

-Hambone

Top Secret^® Tradecraft Manual coming soon!

Black Friday means Top Secret is 40% off!

Help Rocky fight cancer

Black Friday savings on Top Secret^®

Black Friday is the day when we celebrate our consumerist culture by coming down off our collective tryptophan haze and going shopping for deals, Deals, DEALS! I mean, it’s the day when we think of others and start purchasing gifts for friends and family at reasonable prices.

Far be it from me to deny this great tradition, so in observation of this day of commerce, we have knocked 40% off the price of the Top Secret box set on Amazon dot com.

You can get the whole shebang for just $29.99, and that’s with free shipping if you’re an Amazon Prime member, and speedy delivery to make sure it’s there in plenty of time for Christmas. Or sooner – tear off that shrink wrap and start playing spies with your favorite gamers right now!

The Top Secret^® Tradecraft Manual is on the way

Thousands of gamers worldwide have made Top Secret^® a success since its newest edition, New World Order, was released in 2018. Players take on the role of secret agents in the modern world, deploying to locales around the globe on covert missions.

At the heart of Top Secret are the skills that characters use to complete their missions, known in the language of spies as tradecraft.

The core rulebook for Top Secret describes the various tradecraft, or “specialized skills,” that agents can learn, devoting a paragraph or so to each skill. 

In the Tradecraft Manual, every skill has been expanded upon and enhanced with detailed descriptions, explanations of the mechanics and rolls required, new tables to help the GM determine difficulty levels, methods player characters might employ when using the skill, and narrative in-game examples of agents using the tradecraft while on a mission.

New tradecraft skills are introduced, including intelligence evaluation, psychological profiling, melee, thrown, and projectile weapons, a new kind of first aid for faster healing under the right conditions, skills in disarming weapons of mass destruction, and a “makeshift engineering” skill for those MacGyver moments in your game.

You also get new rules for Top Secret, such as faster and easier car chases, foot chases, perception checks, attacking from a moving vehicle, simplified hacking rules, and streamlined options for initiative and actions.

Scott Kongable, the author of the Tradecraft Manual, is the foremost GM for Top Secret^®: New World Order, having run multiple campaigns bi-weekly for over six years. The updates to Top Secret in this book are the culmination of literally hundreds of sessions in both campaign play and convention play. 

Everything in the Tradecraft Manual is compatible with the existing corpus of published rules and missions for Top Secret. We hope you’ll get many, many hours of fun as you and your players use this book to take your spy game to the next level!

I just flew in from PAX U and, boy, are my arms tired!

I saw some awesome pals, learned some new things, and threw some dough around:

Liminal Horror: Liminal Grimoire

It’s official- I’m collecting anything Liminal Horror these days. It just speaks to me, man, ya dig? This 6 brochure collection gets us into the back rooms, a one hour photo hut, a meat elevator, and several other evocative death traps. M. Allen Hall is a masterful adventure wizard who fits a lot inside of these small brochures. I’ve recently been exploring the brochure branch of gaming supplements. The space allotment is an interesting design confine that allows room for judge and player agency.

https://m-allen-hall.itch.io/liminal-grimoire

Press Play: Found Footage from World Champion Game Co.

This one is a d6 based game for 2 to 4 players where you explore the horrific truth behind found footage.

Adam Vass is on my Mt. Rushmore of indie game designers. He is a prolific creator and it’s all-killer-no-filler.

https://worldchampgameco.itch.io

Sickest Witch, Severed Games

Remember that Mt. Rushmore? Well, Justin Sirois is also up there, smiling, like the nicest guy in the world that he is. Justin pours his soul into his games. Sickest Witch does folk horror right and brings a new bad-ass witch vibe to the table. hack up some folks, harvest, their limbs, and gain power. Love it.

https://www.severedbooks.com/?m=1

Stay Weird!

-Joey Royale

A Little Help For A Friend

Ahoy! 

Hambone here, no Ham & Egg fun to report this week, but I did want to mention a buddy who is having a rough go of it. 

Rocky’s a good dude who has been dealt a bad hand. Cancer can kick rocks. Please give a little if you can; every little bit helps.

From Jen Glazar:

Help Support the Gardner Family in Rocky’s Fight Against Cancer

Hello friends, and thank you for taking a moment to read this.

Zach and I have had the pleasure of knowing Jayson “Rocky” Gardner for over a decade, and we are humbled to help bring his story forward as we ask for support on behalf of his family. We are starting this fundraiser for Rocky, his devoted wife Kendra, and their three beautiful children—not because he asked us to, but because he never would.

Rocky is a loving husband to an incredible woman who works full-time to support their young family, doing everything she can to keep things afloat. Four weeks ago, their world changed. After five years in remission, Rocky was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma in his lung. The cancer has spread to his windpipe and abdominal wall and is now threatening his liver. Without treatment, doctors estimate only one year.

But if you know Rocky, you know he is a fighter. Treatment has already begun, and he is giving this battle everything he has.

As you can imagine, this journey has forced Kendra to miss significant time from work as she drives Rocky to and from appointments, procedures, and treatments. PTO only stretches so far, and while insurance helps with some medical bills, the financial strain of missed wages and mounting expenses is becoming overwhelming. Things many of us take for granted—gas, groceries, housing, utilities—have suddenly become sources of worry for their family.

Our hope is to raise funds to help the Gardners replace lost income and cover essential needs during this difficult time. Your contribution, no matter the size, will directly support their daily living expenses and provide stability while Rocky continues his fight.

If you are unable to give financially, please know there are other meaningful ways to help. A meal train is being organized, and prayers, positive thoughts, and shared good vibes are deeply appreciated. Even simply sharing this fundraiser can make a tremendous difference.

Thank you for your compassion, generosity, and for standing with this dear family as they face the unthinkable.

Nominations are OPEN for the Golden Fez

awards!

This is the 2nd year for the Golden Fez awards, our annual tabletop RPG awards honoring game designer James Carpio. Held in conjunction with TotalCon, the awards will be given out at the convention on Saturday, February 21st.

Submit your own game, or nominate someone else’s game that you love. Awards are open to any tabletop role-playing game published in 2025, from the largest publishers to the smallest indie press. 

Last year, the Game of the Year award was won by Outgunned from Free League Publishing. Award categories include:

• The Holy Hand Grenade Award

  • Given for best new game mechanic.

• The Pick Up and Play Award

  • Easiest game to learn.
• Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
  • For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.

• The Velvet Smooth Award

  • For best design and production.
• The 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.

Your editor this week has been Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games

Thanks as always for reading the Analog Union newsletter, and I hope you’re with someone you love this holiday season. And if you’re not with someone you love, I hope you love yourself. Do it. You’re worth it and you deserve it.

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

CYFL 2: A long awaited sequel

Get Connected to Netcrawl!

ArcaneCon 2025 Recap

A Long Awaited Sequel

Ahoy! 

Hambone here, and I am pumped to announce that work is finally underway on issue #2 of Crowdfund Your F#@king Life! 

Crowdfund Your F#@king Life was my way of giving back to the TTRPG hobby by pulling back the curtain and sharing all the tips and tricks I learned over my first five years of crowdfunding.

Here is a synopsis:

Crowdfunding is a lot of work. It is also how many creators who dream about bringing their projects to life get to do so. It is pretty cool when you think about it. However, for many folks, getting started can be daunting. The good news? It doesn’t have to be. 

Crowdfund Your F#@king Life was written by a former traveling blender salesman with five years of crowdfunding experience. This zine reads like a one-sided conversation between old friends, meant to help you navigate launching your first campaign. It is filled with helpful information, heartfelt encouragement, and a sprinkling of profanity. 

So, if you are only in it for the money, keep walking.

If you are ready to do the work, have some fun, and bring your creative dream to life: 

Let’s F#@king Go!

Issue #1 is and will continue to be a FREE PDF meant to serve as a community resource. Future installments will come via the Ham & Egg Publishing Patreon. It’s FREE to join and get updates and previews of what we’ve got going on at H&P, and at the $3 tier, you will receive monthly content for issue #2 and beyond as the entries are written. You’ll also receive a free PDF upon completion, and a hefty discount code for the printed issue. 

You can learn more about Crowdfund Your F#@king Life issue #2 at the link below. I hope you come along on this journey. I’ve got so much more cool stuff to share. 

https://patreon.com/hamandeggpublishing?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_link

Get Connected to NETCRAWL!

I met James Poezenel (Horseshark.games) in person three GenCons ago, and we have been best buds ever since. His brain amazes me. He is a computer guy who makes amazing games, many of which take place- wait for it- inside of a computer! My technology skills are not great- I’m still using a AOL cd-rom just to download Mp3’s illegally. Is that even how it worked? The thing is, James makes the world he created so accessible that even a luddite like me can get into the groove and get excited about crawling the ‘net.

James has just released a standalone RPG entitled Netcrawl. From the Horse Shark’s mouth himself: 

I never wanted to write an RPG system. There are lots and lots of them. Turns out cyberpunk/Tron RPGs within RPGs type settings don’t exist? Cyberpunk was one of my favorite games as a 20 year old, but hacking never felt right. It breaks the table experience. People will watch a specialist class for a little while, but 30 minutes to an hour of hacking the mainframe leaves the rest of the party as bystanders.

More recently, I’ve come to realize that the world-wide conversation around AI, Deep Learning, LLM, and generative content is a part of this project. The human race often explores its problems through storytelling. TTRPGs are a place for us to directly wrestle with such topics. Netcrawl RPG is a game that can enable us to explore the stories about AI – or maybe just our fantasies about taming or destroying them.

Do your creativity a favor and check this game out. James has a writing style that is the perfect blend of exciting fiction and sandbox gaming that check all my boxes. Welcome to the future, palz!

Learn more here: https://horsesharkgames.com/netcrawl-system

Join the Get Haunted Discord here: https://discord.gg/PqSaCfXG

ArcaneCon 2025 Recap

Heyo everyone! Hope you’re having a wonderful week so far! This week I’ll be providing a recap of ArcaneCon 2025!

Wow, so first of all: the convention was a huge success, even more so than last year! Over the course of two days, we had 275-280 people pass through! That includes volunteers, vendors, people running games, etc. I’m going to break down a few things worth noting!

Space: We definitely pushed the space capacity to its limits for sure! First Churches is a fantastic venue, and while there is some room to grow there, there are also scheduling limitations for the additional spaces in the church. Having said that, i’m looking at a few options for next year

• Option 1) Not having a dedicated War gaming space: I know I know, many of you are already throwing your phone in protest but there is a major reason! The Dice Fest (a primary influence for ArcaneCon) will be happening a month ahead of ArcaneCon next year and is also a 30-40 minute drive away from Northampton. So many of the folks who travelled for wargaming at ArcaneCon will most likely prioritize UTDfest first. I also Dont want to step on the toes of Steve and the rest of the crew who organize it. This will then make the chapel space an open place where I can fit EIGHT open tables. This is Important because there was a lot of demand for Open tables, and I want to meet that demand (I was able to add three this year!). Having said that, I still want there to be wargaming and such, but I think it would be fun to include scheduled wargames in the main hall with everyone instead of sending them to the dungeon.

• Option 2) Find a Larger Space: there are limited options for downtown Northampton and I don’t really want to move the conventional way from a central location because of the convenience of being downtown for food, coffee, etc. to support local businesses. The benefit of larger spaces is allowing not only more space for games but also more space for vendors! 

Games: We had a great variety of games being run at this convention, and I’m hoping to continue this trend next year. The focus on OSR and other older games while encouraging new games or playtesting games has really made a fun selection and allowed people to try out something you can’t normally find at a convention. 

I tried something new with sign ups by pulling a couple seats from games to allow for in-person sign ups or schedule changes. In practice it worked out great, allowing us to fit in players and provide a live document for people to change their schedule as needed, allowing to pump people up from the waitlist. This also allowed me to personalize suggestions for people looking for games to play based on their preferences. 

On top of this, people could create sign ups for open table games they want to run and having a central location to allow that made it easy for people to check in over the course of the day to see what was available to play. Moving forward, I’ll iron out the in-person sign up windows while also providing possibly two rounds of sign ups. Special Thanks to the folks who ran pick up games, Liam who ran Troika for eleven people and special thanks to Jay who ran barrows & Borderlands WITHOUT a play cap!! Heroes of the hobby!

The Vendors: This year I was lucky enough to have a fantastic lineup of vendors and sponsors spreading the fun of the hobby to new people. It was a good mix of cool creators, indie geniuses, and fantastic artists! Special thanks to the sponsors Solarian Games, The Arcane Library, Phantom Mill, and Under The Dice, Tunic Coffee, and A2Z for the kind support to help me make this convention possible! The success of the vendors at ArcaneCon was only possible to the attendees who showed their support to them!

The Vibe: My goal with ArcaneCon is to create a positive and supportive environment for folks who love tabletop games. It’s really nice to see an inclusive community building around it that  encourages friendship and inspires each other to create their own games or adventures. 

The amount of people who have told me that this convention is their first is very flattering! On top of that, the amount of people who I met last year that returned this year is very high (which makes checking in easy because I recognize them!). What really throws me off is the amount of people who travelled to come here. 

People flew in from Oregon, Missouri, Oklahoma, Florida, in addition to folks driving or taking the train from NYC, Boston, Portland Maine, Vermont, New Haven, and more. The Discord I made for the event has really been popping off, and it’s great to see people continue to make those connections after the convention ends!

This recap is getting long so I’ll cut it short! Thanks to fellow union members Jayson, Joey, and Saltheart for running games and being vendors, showing support for my growing convention! Arcane Comrades Eon and Ben, Michael from The Arcane Library, Steve from Under The Dice, Jed & Andy from Phantom Mill, Yochai for telling the world about ArcaneCon, the Hive Scum Podcast, The heroes who hosted open tables for folks, The New England War Council for coming through and running games inside AND outside, All of volunteers for dealing with me, and everyone that came! Here is to next year!!!!

• Bryan

Action Shot of Saturday Morning taken by Carl during Pirate Borg *ARRRRR*

Nominations are OPEN for the Golden Fez

awards!

This is the 2nd year for the Golden Fez awards, our annual tabletop RPG awards honoring game designer James Carpio. Held in conjunction with TotalCon, the awards will be given out at the convention on Saturday, February 21st.

Submit your own game, or nominate someone else’s game that you love. Awards are open to any tabletop role-playing game published in 2025, from the largest publishers to the smallest indie press. 

Last year, the Game of the Year award was won by Outgunned from Free League Publishing. Award categories include:

• The Holy Hand Grenade Award

  • Given for best new game mechanic.

• The Pick Up and Play Award

  • Easiest game to learn.
• Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
  • For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.

• The Velvet Smooth Award

  • For best design and production.
• The 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.

Solarian Games

Free quickstart & a playable mission for Top Secret®

Have you ever wanted to play a secret agent straight out of a thriller like The Bourne Identity, Atomic Blonde, Jack Ryan, or Alias? You can give it a try for free with these downloads from Solarian. 

An easy to learn quickstart guide and pregenerated characters are free to download, as well as a mission to get you started. Sleeper Intercept puts your team of operatives in New York City in 2025, looking for a sleeper agent who is about to assassinate a high-value target. You know when and where, but you have no idea who the assassin or their target is, and the clock is ticking.

Your editor this week has been John “Hambone” McGuire of  Ham & Egg Publishing

If you find yourself with some free time this week, I cannot recommend Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein enough. The costumes and sets alone are worth every minute of  its run time. The rest is even better. 

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!

-Hambone

A Mischief of Rats – TERRORAT

Artist spotlight: 
Derek Stevens

Nominations are OPEN for the Golden Fez awards

Free quickstart + a playable mission for Top Secret®

Tabletop Weekly goes to Ireland for GaelCon

A Mischief of Rats

Ahoy! No Ham & Egg news to report this week, but I wanted to tell you about a project my pal Tiger Wizard hipped me to, which looks cool as hell. 

TERRORRAT is a new black and white trash n’ slash comic from the master of mayhem, Daniel Sawblade.

Peep the synopsis: Part mutant. Part machine. Part rat. All TERROR. 

What more do you need to know? 

Click the link below to get notified of the launch. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lethalcomics/terrorat

Artist spotlight: Derek Stevens

This week I want to highlight an artist that we will be working with on our forthcoming Top Secret® expansion, Agent 13. 

Derek Stevens is an incredible artist based in North Carolina. He has worked on many games for many companies, including Warhammer, Epic Games, GooeyCube, Gamer Girl Games, Lucas Arts, and Mark Reinn-Hegian, creator of Vampire: The Masquerade.

 Derek is available for commissions, you can find him on ArtStation at https://www.artstation.com/derekstevens9

Nominations are OPEN for the Golden Fez

awards!

This is the 2nd year for the Golden Fez awards, our annual tabletop RPG awards honoring game designer James Carpio. Held in conjunction with TotalCon, the awards will be given out at the convention on Saturday, February 21st.

Submit your own game, or nominate someone else’s game that you love. Awards are open to any tabletop role-playing game published in 2025, from the largest publishers to the smallest indie press. 

Last year, the Game of the Year award was won by Outgunned from Free League Publishing. Award categories include:

• The Holy Hand Grenade Award

  • Given for best new game mechanic.

• The Pick Up and Play Award

  • Easiest game to learn.
• Honey, I Shrunk the Dice Award
  • For micro-RPGs that will fit on one page or less.

• The Velvet Smooth Award

  • For best design and production.
• The 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.

Free quickstart & a playable mission for Top Secret®

Have you ever wanted to play a secret agent straight out of a thriller like The Bourne Identity, Atomic Blonde, Jack Ryan, or Alias? You can give it a try for free with these downloads from Solarian. 

An easy to learn quickstart guide and pregenerated characters are free to download, as well as a mission to get you started. Sleeper Intercept puts your team of operatives in New York City in 2025, looking for a sleeper agent who is about to assassinate a high-value target. You know when and where, but you have no idea who the assassin or their target is, and the clock si tic

Tabletop Weekly talks GaelCon

Tabletop Weekly livestreams every Sunday night at 8pm Eastern, and goes out as an audio podcast the next day each week. You can join us live and get in on the chat, or watch the video later on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@solariangames

This week our guest is Rory O’Driscoll, the RPG coordinator for GaelCon! Now in their 37th year, GaelCon is one of the biggest and oldest tabletop gaming conventions in Ireland. We talked with Rory about GaelCon, micro-RPGs, the new space opera game for Shadowdark called DarkSpace, Joey Royale’s latest Fairhaven adventure Captain Midnite and the Satellite Dead, and I made sure to show up with a Smithwick’s Irish Red Ale and a Freddo.

Your editor this week has been Jayson Elliot of Solarian Games

This week’s newsletter went out a few hours late, blame me, the con crud from last week suddenly got me. I’m better now, and happy to get the stories out to you with my trusty Commodore PET and my 14.4k modem.

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