The cover and back page of a zine entitled "regime change super soldiers"

A collection of political games by Laurie O’Connel, this incomplete anthology comments on political violence, war and imperialism. O’Connel’s modern take on the somewhat restrictive form of the role-playing game asks what a game writer or player living through the death agony of the US empire can possibly say about topics which are not at all “fun”. The four games within, Regime Change Super Soldiers, Man vs Beast (or: This Game Does Not Condone Murder), Manufacturing CNNsent, and High Score, range in both number of participants and style, from one to many players and from tongue-in-cheek satire to direct participation. “You can tell from [O’Connel’s] art that he sees the world and does not blink.” Michael Elliot

Now live on Twelve Pins Press:

"Regime Change Super Soldiers" and Other Games.

An incomplete anthology of smaller RPGs which comment on political violence, war and imperialism. Proceeds are donated to fund the revolution.

Direct 🔗 in next post.

A boy looks puzzled at the ground while a man in a black turtle neck side-eyes the kid with the caption 'I don't feel that I need to explain my art to you Warren.'

Welcome to the Observancy Department!

Good question! If you...

...deeply distrust animals—Yellow
...often look at the sky—Blue
...enjoy sitting among plants—Green
...are short on time—Gray
...see human forms in the landscape—Brown

Highly suspicious sighting!!

Field Agent Handbooks spotted on the @ipr.bsky.social stand at Pax East!

Booth 12109 if you're there and would like to go hunting for more suspicious activity.

Pixel and Paper Desktop version usage, right side markdown filed edited in Sublime text, left side PDF preview

Pixel and Paper 0.0.1, markdown + CSS editor and PDF generator is live.

Run it
* in the browser, use app text editors
* locally, use any text editor (Obsidian, VSCode...)

Preview pixelppr.com
Code and documentation github.com/the-coded-ty...

#markdown #css #pdfgeneration #obsidian #vscode

Crowdfunding Carnival: Zine Month 2026 Welcome back to Crowdfunding Carnival! We’re more than halfway through February, and Zine Month is still going strong. As I covered a couple of weeks ago, Kickstarter’s Zine Quest and Backerkit’s Zinetopia are the key leaders of the month, with Kickstarter’s event currently a little more than double the size of Backerkit’s. Still, you’d be making a mistake if you didn’t check out both.

Crowdfunding Carnival: Zine Month 2026

Welcome back to Crowdfunding Carnival! We’re more than halfway through February, and Zine Month is still going strong. As I covered a couple of weeks ago, Kickstarter’s Zine Quest and Backerkit’s Zinetopia are the key leaders of the month, with Kickstarter’s…

A set of handmide dice photographed closely on a blank background. They are pink, blue and purple in colour.

The handmade Toe Beans dice for #Daggerheart are Kickstarter-exclusive. Once the campaign ends on March 4, they’re gone for good! Each 9-piece set is crafted and painted by artisanal dice maker, @rollgothica.bsky.social

Don’t miss them: www.kickstarter.com/projects/fis...

I prefer my e-Badges machine over the Badgematic as it's easier (for me at least) sliding it side to side vs spinning it round and the longer arm makes it easier to pull

...often aren't the ones releasing (though that's obviously changing for some), so they're basically acting as cover bands (to really push the analogy).

Hm. Will ponder on.

...some more successful than others but still playing to limited crowds (if at all). It's the structure/support to break out to a wider audience and possibly make a liveable wage that I thinks missing but that's a good point about performance vs. releases as often the ones performing...

Yeah, absolutely! we're the garage band tier. Years ago I worked in a music venue, every Thursday we'd have a local gig night with local bands. Some would bring in an audience, others very much did not; on those nights they just played to each other. But they were still part of the music industry...

Of course all this is based on the very optimistic assumption that people outside our usual gaming circles would actually enjoy TTRPGs if only they knew about them and perhaps it's not happened yet because they just don't...

...but there's a lot of people out there, right?

#tier5

...playing the same game. And it really doesn't matter that the Tier 5 group is so large; it's where you'll find the most heartfelt and interesting works.

But—I think—it'll only be by growing the support network around the scene will the industry grow as a whole and be able to support more creators

...more than a pastime and put in the effort but there'll be a certain amount of bias and defensiveness in that thought so worth taking it with a pinch of salt.

What I'm trying—possibly—to say is I don't think it matters that D&D is so huge; like the article points out, they're not...

...publish other creators' works grow big enough to actively seek out works I see it's unlikely to change but for them to grow the press/media and secondary industries would need to grow too.

I think handwaving the scene away as just a hobby does a disservice to everyone that treats it as...

...each of them, even if some artists have a smaller audience—or no audience at all—than others, but they're *there*, building their industry.

Or maybe being the building blocks of an industry. I'm not sure; I might be losing the thread of what I was trying to say.

Until publishers who also...

...majority of the current TTRPG scene may be in a huge Tier 5 but I don't see why it must stay that way (beyond: that's just the way it is), why it's not possible to grow the industry as a whole.

If you look at Bandcamp, there's so much music in so many different styles with an audience for...

...media that builds up interest and helps promote artists at all levels
3) Secondary industries can thrive by exploiting the output like bars, venues, radio, films, etc

It's also had a few more years to mature and it's easier to passively enjoy music than play elf games. However...

The vast...

...songs before disappearing or splitting up or joining another band to do it all again.

I guess the main differences in the music industry might be:

1) It has bigger players/publishers who actively seek out marketable talent rather than pushing their own in-house works
2) A strong press and...

I've wondered about this for a while now so it's good to see some numbers.

I've also wondered about how much the TTRPG space might mirror the local music scene (wherever 'local' is for you) with innumerable bands, most of whom will only ever play small venues and maybe release an EP of rough...

Board game laid out on a table with black& white wooden discs, colourful square cardboard tiles arranged around an illustrated circlular cardboard track

Keep chipping away at the to-play list — misunderstood the rules as written but enjoyed Nova Luna: nicely balanced with some light puzzling

Do wonder if rule books now expect you to watch a 'how to play' video so they can avoid a couple more rounds of editing (might be a me problem though)

Punderworld: A Tabletop Wordplaying Game A game of puns to inflict on your friends.

We’re so excited to be guest writers for our friends’ incredibly clever game Punderworld, now live on Kickstarter! Check them out - it’s sure to be a rewording experience.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/twi...

One week left to apply 🖤

How much should I playtest?
Where do I get art?
What do I charge for shipping?
WHAT IS A ZINE!?

Tuesday the 20th at 8p et join Tony from @plusoneexp.bsky.social @samsorensen.bsky.social & Yeet from @9thlevelgames.bsky.social as we answer any & all #ZiMoQuestions!
#TTRPG

Twitch.tv/TonyPlusOne

Possibly worth noting KS attempted to move ZQ back to Aug that year at the very last minute too despite a whole bunch of people being ready to go so there was a bit necessity to the whole thing too. Oh, and about a month earlier they'd announced they were planning on moving to the blockchain(!)

A slim metal magazine rack packed tightly with RPG zines hanging from the end of a set of a set bookshelves packed tightly with RPG books (alongside some fiction books and LPs)

Thought I'd solved my zine storage problem — I did not. But the theory's sound! Ho hum.

Turn Photos into Zine Art YouTube video by By Odin's Beard RPG

Want to make your own #TTRPG art for #ZineQuest or #ZineMonth but all you’ve got are photos? Have no fear, follow these ██ steps and you, too, can have some cool art without having to go anywhere near slop.

youtu.be/gFMYiNA2bMk?...

Many thanks to @chaoclypse.bsky.social for his previous tutorial!

Coming soon: Toe Beans Magical Cat Cafe: A Supplement for Daggerheart Welcome to Toe Beans, a magical cat cafe purrfect to drop in to your Daggerheart game, by Fistful of Crits.

Toe Beans is now live for sign up on Kickstarter! ☕🐾
Our 5e module returns in this magical cat café supplement for Daggerheart with cozy quests, enchanted drinks, magical items, real recipes, brand new art and an exclusive new story to play! #Daggerheart #TTRPG
Launching Feb 2nd!

shorturl.at/8pN1A

This is a great competition for your as-yet-unpublished prototype.