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
BOARD ELECTION RESULTS
After a (short) month of voting, we have a newly constituted CAR-PGa board, consisting of Allen White, David Millians, Faith Elisabeth Lilley, Mike Tresca, and Ryan Jones. Many thanks to those who ran, those who voted, and those who helped all of this go smoothly.
Mike Tresca will chair the board for the coming year. He and I both hope to pass the baton to others in 2025, though we will both continue to support and expand the organization’s programs and projects.
Thank you again,
David
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
Hello All,
Our guest this month was Maryanne Cullinan. Maryanne is a passionate educator and researcher who has dedicated her career to exploring the power of tabletop role-playing games in education. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Utah, where her dissertation focused on the use of TTRPGs in special education summer school. Cullinan is also the co-founder of TabletopEdu, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of TTRPGs in education. You can view our discussion here.
This year is different: we have more board members than there are board positions, seven candidates for five spots. This is good! Turnover, including turnover of the Chair, is a sign of our organization’s health. Just over five years ago we had under 20 members, and now we number over 60. As we grow, I’m confident the CAR-PGA can get back on its feet.
Voting is now closed for board members. As we do every year, we use January to ask for board nominations, and then February to vote on them. The board has been notified, and I’m pleased to announce that I’ve stepped forward one last time as Chair. I look forward to closing the year out strong and handing over the reins to a new chair next year.
As I’ve said before, our mission is more important than ever. We need diverse gamers and diverse games. In the current political climate, it’s critical that we show leadership by holding true to our commitment to welcome gamers from all walks of life. That’s the CAR-PGA we’ve tried to mold since I’ve been committee chair, and I hope it will continue.
I look forward to working with our newly elected board and the beginning of a new era for the CAR-PGA!
Sincerely,
Mike Tresca
FATE OF THE RPG COMMUNITY CENTER, RPG RESEARCH, RPG MUSEUM, RPG MOBILE FLEET, AND MORE
By Hawke Robinson
Greetings,
Research is what we are about.
Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we do not, but always we learn, document, grow, adapt, share our experiences with others, and move forward based on what we learn.
The RPG Community Center is shutting down February 2025.
RPG Research plans to resume online-only operations in May 2025.
RPG Research will resume other services over the following month, depending in large part on how rebuilding of our global volunteer-base and donor-base goes.
RPG Museum contents are in safe, secure, temperature-controlled storage, we hope to resume cataloguing, inventory, storage improvements, scanning, etc. in Summary 2025 if all goes well. We are still receiving Museum Artifact physical donations, but please send donations to our Monroe Street Office going forward: 1312 N Monroe St, STE 114, Spokane, WA 99201.
RPG Mobile fleet services we hope will resume in Summer 2025, but that depends entirely on donations each month to get/keep them rolling.
Extensive details here:
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, Steph (2025 Feb 3) Tabletop RPGs about friendship and teamwork. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/02/03/tabletop-rpgs-about-friendship-and-teamwork. Curated mini-reviews.
Campbell, Steph (2025 Feb 6) Review of Spellbinders Book 1: The Not-So-Chosen One. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/02/06/review-of-spellbinders-book-1-the-not-so-chosen-one. A tale of adventure in the real world and the game world.
Campbell, Steph (2025 Feb 10) Review of TTRPG Cards Made Easy by DanDMadeEasy. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/02/10/review-of-ttrpg-cards-made-easy-by-dandmadeeasy. Support games and create new ones.
Campbell, Steph (2025 Feb 13) TTRPGkids on Ludology Podcast, Episode 20: Using TTRPGs to teach STEM. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/02/13/ttrpgkids-on-ludology-podcast-episode-20-using-ttrpgs-to-teach-stem. Link to useful discussion of STEM.
Campbell, Steph (2025 Feb 20) Review of Mice of Legend, a TTRPG adventure into a big world of small heroes. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/02/20/review-of-mice-of-legend-a-ttrpg-adventure-into-a-big-world-of-small-heroes. Become a mouse and save the day.
Campbell, Steph (2025 Feb 27) TTRPGkids will be at SXSW EDU 2025! What to check out + resources for TTRPGxEDU. https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2025/02/27/ttrpgkids-will-be-at-sxsw-edu-2025-what-to-check-out-resources-for-ttrpgxedu. Supporting and connecting new participants.
Codega, Linda (2025 Feb 14) Why You Should F**k With Horny Tabletop Roleplaying Games. https://www.them.us/story/erotic-tabletop-roleplaying-games-introduction-monsterhearts-pass-the-sugar-please-erotic-ttrpgs. Art, exploration, and society.
David, Kevin (2025 Feb 28) Gaming Build at the Authors Workshop Track. https://www.jordancon.org/2025/02/28/gaming-build-at-the-authors-workshop-track. Supporting creators at JordanCon in late April in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dieppa-Tamajon, Jordan (2025 Feb 18) Golden Dice Diversity Microgrants. https://www.rascal.news/golden-dice-diversity-microgrants. Two $1000 grants available for femme-presenting and BIPOC tabletop game designers.
Evans, Kate (2025 Feb 6) Pushing Back on Tariffs. https://www.rascal.news/pushing-back-on-tariffs. Planning for the effects of tariffs and more for Monte Cook Games.
Friedman, Em (2025 Feb 18) ‘A New Age Begins’ for Critical Role. Let’s hope it’s one for actual play and TTRPGs, too. https://www.polygon.com/critical-role/524508/actual-play-review-end-ttrpgs. The nature and growth of actual play shows.
Friedner, Anneli (2025 Feb 13) The Emotional Core. https://nordiclarp.org/2025/02/13/the-emotional-core. Designing, planning, and playing the feelings in games.
The Gigantic Spider (2025 Feb 7) January 2025 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective. https://ttrpg-spider.blogspot.com/2025/02/january-2025-ttrpg-crowdfunding.html. Fundraising markets’ behavior, January 2024 and 2025.
Girdwood, Andrew (2025 Feb 8) Publisher Fulfilled: DriveThruRPG experiments with retail versions of TTRPGs. https://www.geeknative.com/171065/publisher-fulfilled-drivethrurpg-experiments-with-retail-versions-of-ttrpgs. Print game from publishers as opposed to POD.
Girdwood, Andrew (2025 Feb 13) Zero Waste: Atlas Games to recycle a collect and recycle sprue program. https://www.geeknative.com/171184/zero-waste-atlas-games-to-recycle-a-collect-and-recycle-sprue-program. Slowing flow of plastics into the environment.
Girdwood, Andrew (2025 Feb 15) Snowbright Studio announces the 2025 Nonbinary Tabletop Award winners. https://www.geeknative.com/171221/snowbright-studio-announces-the-2025-nonbinary-tabletop-award-winners. CONVICT-ION by W.H. Arthur, Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast by Jay Dragon & M Veselak, and Nectar by Kay Marlow Allen.
Goff, Addison (2025 Feb 6) Ready: Introducing the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club. https://www.rascal.news/ready-introducing-the-a-n-i-m-ttrpg-book-club. Creating a community for new game experiences.
Hall, Charlie (2025 Feb 5) Kickstarter’s post-pandemic tabletop slump slowed in 2024. https://www.polygon.com/analysis/516342/kickstarter-tabletop-performance-2024. Year-end data shows renewed growth.
Hall, Charlie (2025 Feb 6) Gamefound finished 2024 with 6 of the top 10 tabletop campaigns. https://www.polygon.com/analysis/520142/gamefound-top-10-biggest-board-game-crowdfund-campaigns. Rapid growth in a field dominated by Kickstarter.
Hall, Charlie (2025 Feb 7) BackerKit says it tripled crowdfunding revenues in 2024. https://www.polygon.com/gaming/520740/backerkit-tabletop-results-2024-top-10-campaigns. Announcement but not releasing income data.
Hoffer, Christian (2025 Feb 10) Wizards of the Coast Is Hiring a D&D Worldbuilder. https://www.enworld.org/threads/wizards-of-the-coast-is-hiring-a-d-d-worldbuilder.711451. Expanding official settings again.
Hoffer, Christian (2025 Feb 13) Dungeons & Dragons Live-Action TV Show in the Works at Netflix. https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeons-dragons-live-action-tv-show-in-the-works-at-netflix.711612. Shawn Levy and Drew Crevello are developing The Forgotten Realms. Additional background from Adama Whitehead.
Hoffer, Christian (2025 Feb 26) WizKids Announces Potato Head Beholder Miniature. https://www.enworld.org/threads/wizkids-announces-potato-head-beholder-miniature.712024. Interchangeable mouths, eyes, and accessories – hilarious.
Hoffer, Christian (2025 Feb 27) Sigil, Wizards of the Coast’s VTT, Officially Launches. https://www.enworld.org/threads/sigil-wizards-of-the-coasts-vtt-officially-launches.712058. Currently available to D&D Beyond subscribers with Windows OS.
Hoffer, Christian (2025 Feb 28) Ernie Gygax Has Passed Away. https://www.enworld.org/threads/ernie-gygax-has-passed-away.712080. Part of the family and one of the first playtesters of D&D.
Hutton, Christopher (2025 Feb 5) Round Two of the ‘Battle of the Orcs’. https://crit-news.beehiiv.com/p/feb-5-round-two-of-the-battle-of-the-orcs. Culture wars and clarity.
jesthehuman (2025 Feb 19) RPGs for Accessible Gaming Charity Bundle Launches. https://www.rascal.news/rpgs-for-accessible-gaming-charity-bundle-launches-2. Fundraising to create braille polyhedral dice.
Kilbride, IV, Abadonne (2025 Feb 5) Actual Play, Actual Stories of Joy and Resistance. https://www.rascal.news/actual-play-actual-stories-of-joy-and-resistance. Activism, art, and play.
Maliszewski, James (2025 Feb 15) Grognards & Gatekeepers. https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2025/02/grognards-gatekeepers.html. The publisher perils of inviting new players.
Manuel, Thomas (2025 Feb 5) A podcast journey through the global RPG scene. https://www.rascal.news/a-podcast-journey-through-the-global-rpg-scene. An introduction to RPG play communities around the world.
Manuel, Thomas (2025 Feb 17) Avery Alder wins award and goes for broke with new pocket-sized RPG. https://www.rascal.news/avery-alder-wins-award-and-goes-for-broke-with-new-pocket-sized-rpg. Innovative designer is back for more.
Manuel, Thomas (2025 Feb 25) How RPGs Became A Haven For Women in South Korea. https://www.rascal.news/how-rpgs-became-a-haven-for-women-in-south-korea. Facing down misogyny and building community.
Marks, Aaron (2025 Jan 29) Diegesis, Mimesis, and You. https://cannibalhalflinggaming.com/2025/01/29/diegesis-mimesis-and-you. Play, game experience, and mechanics.
Morrissey, Russ (2025 Feb 3) 5E Designer Mike Mearls Talks About The OGL Crisis. https://www.enworld.org/threads/5e-designer-mike-mearls-talks-about-the-ogl-crisis.711121. Ben Riggs interviews former WotC designer.
Morrissey, Russ (2025 Feb 3) Mike Mearls: “D&D Is Uncool Again”. https://www.enworld.org/threads/mike-mearls-d-d-is-uncool-again.711123. Are D&D and the hobby diverging?
Nephew, John (2025 Feb 3) Tariffs and Tabletop Games. https://atlas-games.com/news/post?s=2025-02-03-tariffs-and-tabletop-games. Planning for the effects of tariffs and more for Atlas Games. John also appeared on CBS News Minnesota.
Notestine, Clayton (2025 Feb 25) Designing Game Communities. https://www.explorersdesign.com/gaming-community. Hard work in social spaces.
Pulsipher, Lewis (2025 Feb 6) A Pretty High Price. https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-a-pretty-high-price.711055. Rising production costs and standards.
Ramirez, Geoffrey (2025 Feb 19) Doctoral Candidate Seeking Narrators for “Character Creation: The Tabletop Role-Players Oral History Project”. https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20059506/doctoral-candidate-seeking-narrators-character-creation-tabletop-role. Studying race, sex, and gender in tabletop gaming culture.
Robinson, Hawke (2025 Feb 14) Role-Playing Game Research – Shutting Down RPG Community Center – RPG Research & RPG Museum Continue. https://rpgresearch.com/blog/blog-news-category/shutting-down-rpg-community-center. Reorganizing to maintain the overall viability of the RPG Research project.
Strocks, Mars (2025 Feb 20) The complicated labor behind voicing diverse D&D characters. https://www.rascal.news/the-complicated-labor-behind-voicing-diverse-d-d-characters. Variety and the perils of caricatures, stereotypes, and absolute rules.
Tabletop Arts Fund (2025) Tabletop Arts Fund TTRPG Grant. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWMikMAz-2R9W5oXrEhqPnPm6A9Dke5mfthD8IXdFjIasnqQ/viewform. Application form open until March 15, 2025.
Tresca, Mike (2025 Feb 10) Game Cancelled, Now What? https://www.enworld.org/threads/rpg-evolution-game-cancelled-now-what.709723. The social and emotional costs of game group schedules and how to ameliorate them.
Zeoli, Rowan (2025 Feb 4) Red hats, red blood: roleplaying the January 6 insurrection in a Brooklyn warehouse. https://www.rascal.news/red-hats-red-blood-roleplaying-the-january-6-insurrection-in-a-brooklyn-warehouse. LARPing contemporary issues and politics. Interview with the creators, also by Rowan Zeoli. And the story made it to NPR.
Zeoli, Rowan (2025 Feb 11) Possum Creek Games wanders to a new home with Steve Jackson Games. https://www.rascal.news/possum-creek-games-wanders-to-a-new-home-with-steve-jackson-games. Two RPG publishers of different eras forma partnership.
Zeoli, Rowan & Thomas Manuel (2025 Feb 28) How Black Designers Write in Both Past Continuous & Future Perfect. https://www.rascal.news/how-black-designers-write-in-both-past-continuous-future-perfect. Discussion and conversations with creators Quinn Murphy and Chris Spivey.
Zeoli, Rowan & Thomas Manuel (2025 Feb 28) Twitch Streamers Court Community, Self-Actualization Amidst Burnout. https://www.rascal.news/twitch-streamers-court-community-self-actualization-amidst-burnout-2. Lifting up people and their stories is hard work, even more challenging for the Black community.
© Copyright 2025 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.