Game Chef , an open contest for game design based on the concept of competitive cooking shows, opened on Friday and goes until June 21st. This year’s theme is “A Different Audience” and the ingredients are “Abandon, Dragonfly, Stillness, and Dream.” Anyone can submit a game to Game Chef as long as it incorporates the…
Bowed, Bent, and Broken: Responses to THAT Episode of Game of Thrones
Content warning: Discussion of sexual assault. The Internet has been buzzing since last May 17th’s Game of Thrones episode, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”. What follows contains spoilers from both the book and show, as well as discussion of sexual assault.
Game Design with Propalinal People’s Kristin Firth
As a newbie game designer, I follow others new to the industry with a lot of interest, particularly those with experience in helping other’s games through playtesting, editing, or general fearlessness in play. So when I saw Kristin Firth, designer of Propalinal People, post about this thing called Game Chef, I asked her to give us a…
Heavy Metal: How to Make Chainmaille
Last year my partner and I decided to make barbarian costumes. We figured we could use them for Halloween as well as a themed dinner coming up, and it was a fine excuse to teach ourselves how to make armor out of foam and for me to learn how to make chainmaille. It’s a lot…
Dogears: All About the Monsters
Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer FSG Originals February 4, 2014 Wow. I often go out looking for strange, great science fiction and just cannot find quite the right story to quench my thirst. Luckily, my friend handed this to me when she was done reading it. It also comes recommended by Stephen King, which is usually enough…
April Games Roundtable: All On the Table
Welcome, welcome to April’s Roundtable. Sit your bones down and prepare to enjoy a long conversation all about those games played atop the table. There’s a lot of good advice in this month’s talk, as well as some game mod suggestions, and game recommendations.
My First Improv Workshop
I’m one of those extroverted introverts. It’s not an oxymoron; it means that I can and do enjoy interacting with people in an energetic way in certain situations. I am comfortable and confident running a role-playing game for strangers at a con. Yet this past Saturday I was terrified to stand in front of my…
Compulsive Reading: Some Notes On How We Read Mental Health
Megan Purdy asks the questions in this round table discussion responding to several comics tackling mental illness, and its resultant behaviours. Sara Lautman’s comic Some Notes on Compulsive Hair Pulling is beautiful and affecting. The comic is about Lautman’s struggle with trichotillomania: how she got her diagnosis; how she deals with it; how she relates,…
What We’re Playing in March
Spring is beginning to arrive in the Northern Hemisphere and while the warmth is much appreciated, it’s not keeping us away from the games! What are you all playing this first month of sunshine?
Life Geek: Bookshelfies Edition
Do you know exactly where all your books are located? When you go over to someone’s house for the first time, do you zero in on their book collection in order to determine if you are kindred spirits? Is loaning a book to someone a silent act of genuine trust for you? If you answered…
Mosquitoland, Bone Gap & The Mermaid’s Sister: Cool Books of March!
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland Catherynne Valente (w), Ana Juan (a) Feiwel & Friends March 3, 2015 The Fairyland series continues! Thankfully. I thought it was over after The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two. Valente’s writing inspires envy in me. Her description of food and colors is vivid…and mouthwatering….
Drink Your Comics: Comic Character Concotions
For this month’s Drink Your Comics, we decided to take our cue from Dark Horse. The company recently teamed with Rouge Ales to create a Hellboy inspired boozy beverage. The result: Right Hand of Doom Red Ale. Thus, I prompted our staff and contributors to create and/or share their own alcoholic concoction based on one of…