An international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games
David Millians, Editor
Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA
millians.david@paideiaschool.org
ARTICLES
No articles or commentaries this month.
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NEW MATERIAL
This is a compilation of articles and other resources that have come to the editor’s attention over the last month. Everyone is welcome to send bibliographic information about anything you discover that fits the mission of CAR-PGa and this newsletter.
Campbell, Stephanie (2026 May 5) Interview: Ginny Di on learning D&D and teaching others. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2026/05/05/interview-ginny-di-on-learning-dd-and-teaching-others. Introducing D&D to new players of all ages.
Campbell, Stephanie (2026 May 12) Review: Make Yourself a Hero. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2026/05/12/review-make-yourself-a-hero. Thoughtful guide to character development and great for kids.
Carter, Chase (2026 May 25) Little Wolves takes top honors at the 2026 Indie Groundbreakers Awards. https://www.rascal.news/little-wolves-takes-top-honors-at-the-2026-indie-groundbreakers-awards. Honoring some of the excellence of the year.
Carter, Chase (2026 May 29) MTG Arena’s nascent union faces “optional” meetings, letters to homes, and management closing ranks. https://www.rascal.news/mtg-arenas-nascent-union-faces-optional-meetings-letters-to-homes-and-management-closing-ranks. Resistance takes many forms.
Chabant, Ludovic (2026 May 24) Page Inflation in TTRPG Rulebooks. https://ludovic.chabant.com/blog/2026/05/24/page-inflation-in-ttrpg-rulebooks. Data and analysis.
Chan, Khee Hoon (2026 May 28) For some publishers, the cost of missing Gen Con outweighs mounting risks. https://www.rascal.news/for-some-publishers-the-cost-of-missing-gen-con-outweighs-mounting-risks. Business, political, and international travel issues.
Codega, Lin (2026 May 4) Cortex Prime’s new stewardship opens up the system. https://www.rascal.news/cortex-primes-new-stewardship-opens-up-the-system. Corporations, licensing, new possibilities, and play.
Codega, Lin (2026 May 22) Digital elbow grease saves largest actual play database. https://www.rascal.news/digital-elbow-grease-saves-largest-actual-play-database. Preserving online storytelling in the face of a shifting Internet.
Donald, Asa (2026 May 12) Chess Supports Roleplay. https://www.backwardstabletop.com/essay-1-chess-supports-roleplay. Abstraction and storytelling.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 4) The dice that built a galaxy: How roleplaying games wrote the Star Wars bible. https://www.geeknative.com/233916/the-dice-that-built-a-galaxy-how-roleplaying-games-wrote-the-star-wars-bible. A succession of Star Wars RPGs informed canon for one of the world’s best-known IPs.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 6) dScryb and Andrew Zhu launch semantic search for TTRPG audio. https://www.geeknative.com/234104/dscryb-and-andrew-zhu-launch-semantic-search-for-ttrpg-audio. New technologies to access materials for play.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 2) The Restorative Revolution: How cosy roleplaying games conquered the mainstream. https://www.geeknative.com/233800/the-restorative-revolution-how-cosy-roleplaying-games-conquered-the-mainstream. Fantasy of Safety.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 9) The grim reality of Zweihänder: Daniel D. Fox moves toward litigation over Kickstarter delays. https://www.geeknative.com/234418/the-grim-reality-of-zweihander-daniel-d-fox-moves-toward-litigation-over-kickstarter-delays. Unclear responsibilities.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 14) The Crowdfunding Purge: Why Kickstarter is squeezing adult roleplaying games. https://www.geeknative.com/234949/the-crowdfunding-purge-why-kickstarter-is-squeezing-adult-roleplaying-games. Societal pressure and legislation impinge the sale of some works. More from Christopher Hutton. And now reversing the policy change
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 14) The D&D 6 Ownership Crisis: Why you might access, but never own, the next edition. https://www.geeknative.com/234958/the-dd-6-ownership-crisis-why-you-might-access-but-never-own-the-next-edition. Changing products from buy to rent.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 16) Tabletop aggregator RPGnews.com targeted by automated SEO spam injections. https://www.geeknative.com/235202/tabletop-aggregator-rpgnews-com-targeted-by-automated-seo-spam-injections. Feed pollution and privacy concerns.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 18) Dungeons & Dragons partners with Comic Relief for spectacular Kynren prize quest. https://www.geeknative.com/235396/dungeons-dragons-partners-with-comic-relief-for-spectacular-kynren-prize-quest. Combines LARP, amusement park, philanthropy, and a six-person game session.
Girdwood, Andrew (2026 May 27) Why UK Games Expo’s most underground RPGs only need to convince one person. https://www.geeknative.com/236469/why-uk-games-expos-most-underground-rpgs-only-need-to-convince-one-person. The challenges facing small publishers who eschew crowdfunding.
Hoffer, Christian (2026 May 4) Wizards of the Coast declines to voluntarily recognize Magic Arena union by May 1st deadline. https://www.enworld.org/threads/wizards-of-the-coast-declines-to-voluntarily-recognize-magic-arena-union-by-may-1st-deadline.718995. Next, an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
King, Carnelian (2026 May 4) Community Building as a Coping Mechanism. https://www.nordiclarp.org/2026/05/04/community-building-as-a-coping-mechanism. Activism and sanctuary.
Manuel, Thomas & Chase Carter (2026 May 8) First Dungeon Crawler Carl, now D&D Beyond: the time of the Drop has come. https://www.rascal.news/first-dungeon-crawler-carl-now-d-d-beyond-the-time-of-the-drop-has-come. Subscription access rather than ownership. More from Christopher Hoffer here and here.
MacDougall, Nico (2026 May 14) April 2026 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective. https://ttrpg-spider.blogspot.com/2026/05/april-2026-ttrpg-crowdfunding.html.Assessing fluctuations.
Morrissey, Russ (2026 May 12) Ken Whitman creates bizarre AI-powered biographies of TTRPG designers. https://www.enworld.org/threads/ken-whitman-creates-bizarre-ai-powered-biographies-of-ttrpg-designers.719089. Many questions. More from Lin Codega of Rascal and Andrew Girdwood of Geek Native.
Murphy, Caro (2026 May 6) Play at Scale. https://www.nordiclarp.org/2026/05/06/play-at-scale. Making high-quality play available to everyone.
Russell, Mollie (2026 May 7) D&D community raises thousands of dollars for Minneapolis group whose RPG gear was stolen. https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/dragons-dungeons-drinks-theft. Gaming tavern works to replace game materials with GoFundMe.
Scipio202 (2026 May 18) Kickstarter Whales – Guest Post. https://patchworkpaladin.com/2026/05/18/kickstarter-whales-guest-post. Analysis of pledge tiers in the largest Kickstarter RPG campaigns.
Taylor, Samuel (2026 May 11) The Bonkers Loop. https://blog.3x5arcana.com/p/the-bonkers-loop. Adapting the core game cycle for young kids.
Watson, Adam (2026 May 20) KyEdRPG Spotlight: Teaching Science Through TTRPGs with Cara Rupp. https://watsonedtech.blogspot.com/2026/05/kyedrpg-spotlight-teaching-science.html. Games for science learning and more.
Xaosseed (2026 May 6) How deep the bench of legacy D&D players?. https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2026/05/how-deep-bench-of-legacy-d-players.html. Tens of millions of people have played.
© Copyright 2026 by the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGa), ISSN 1071 7129. The CAR-PGa Newsletter is a monthly publication. For more information contact David Millians, Editor, Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA, phone (404) 808-1070, fax (404) 377-3491, email millians.david@paideiaschool.org. Back issues are available. Contributions of material from the membership are urged, and the byline is responsible for content. Deadline is the last weekday of the month, email preferred. Permission is granted to copy anything in the Newsletter, provided we get a credit line in the publication copying it, and it doesn’t have someone else’s copyright on it. Information, including details on joining CAR-PGa, can be obtained on the Internet at car-pga.org.