Author: Amy Goodenough

This week, Dungeons & Dragons — as a game and as a company — comes under strong criticism for its treatment of minority groups. A former staff member talks about corporate attitudes towards minority groups that led to them leaving the company. The DM’s Guild comes under fire for its treatment of a game with…

The past weeks have been angry ones in gaming, as they have been angry everywhere. In this update we see some of the bigger publishers in the industry respond to their complicity in racism, police brutality, & sexual harassment: Wizards promises sensitivity readers; Paizo apologises for a police-themed Adventure Path; Onyx Path suspends its Operations…

To tell you the truth, we are angry. The last week has seen ongoing protest, police brutality, voter suppression, white supremacist warmongering, and a cynical rollback of the rights of transgender people. Perhaps none of this is news. But it is a moment, and in the midst of this moment, it is difficult to write…

As the world erupts in anti-racist protests following appalling police brutality in the US, the RPG industry is taking stock. Ours is an industry dominated by white creators, full of games characterised by racist & colonialist tropes, frequently hostile to people of colour. We have, for a long time, been due a reckoning. This week,…

This week we see the impact of Gen Con’s cancellation, hear about how games helped people cope in a crisis in the second millennium BCE, and get a whole lot of RPG history. Don’t Support Us Every week we ask for your support in keeping this website running, and we have been so grateful for…

This week is a somewhat sombre one. Last year’s #AbuseIsNotAGame has echoes in a new Twitterstorm this week, targeting one of Dungeons & Dragons’ designers. Meanwhile, not unexpectedly, Gen Con has been cancelled in the face of the pandemic — the first time the con has been cancelled in over 50 years. Dungeons & Dragons…

The “regular” news this week is sparse — a few delays, a few snippets of RPG history, a vague promise that something will be announced sometime in the computer games industry. We revisit two of the countless legal battles from TSR’s history, we take a look at the Itch.io RPG community and we get some…

We took a week off to clear our heads, but oh, things kept rolling in games. It’s a bumper double issue today! There’s rough, but not exactly surprising news from Kickstarter, as the company announces massive layoffs in the face of decreasing pledges. Arguments flared up around the presence of “evil races” in RPGs —…

We’re all still stuck inside, waiting for the doctors, nurses, politicians and Tom Hanks to save us. But this week, things look, well, maybe a little brighter. At least, this week’s news feels a bit more like the good old days. Of course, gaming online is still the subject of the day: in particular, a…

This is a painfully quiet news week, and if there is any notable theme, it is that our gaming lives have gone digital. Of course, we knew that, but, boy, is it clear in this issue: digital gaming platforms, virtual tabletops, PDF releases, digital stores… And so little else. Do you remember going out? Do…