vol.5: a lot to deal with
Greetings, adventurers!
If you thought that Tabletop Micdrop was apolitical you were wrong. Being apolitical is being political. It is doing nothing. It is an acceptance of the status quo. Do something. Boost Black voices. Educate yourself. Support Black artists. Donate. Stand up for Black lives. Listen.
If you are protesting, voicing your anger and hurt, rising up against and fighting racism and fascism....keep safe. We hear you, we see you, and we are with you. Black lives matter.
It’s also June! Happy Pride! While I think it’s okay (and needed!) to celebrate and spread joy and love this month, I want to recognize that Pride started with Black trans women fighting back against police brutality. Pride started in the same way that the Black Lives Matter protests started. Every person has a right to feel safe, and until every person does, our work isn’t done. The fight goes on.
Finally, my apologies for no May newsletter. April and May have been really difficult for me, personally, and I recognize that even saying that is so privileged. Things are rough out there and in here and I have been so overwhelmed with work, life, and the effects of the pandemic that I had no energy or time to put into TTMD. I’m sorry it happened, but I’m excited to share with you this newsletter.
There’s a lot going on right now, and it’s A Lot to deal with and process. So as my friend (and TTMD co-editor) Therin puts it, “And remember, be good to each other. It’s rough out there.”
How a Show About Monsters Handles RPG Romance, by Emily Buza
A look at how the actual play web series LA By Night expertly incorporates a love story into their supernatural campaign.
Pay Attention: Black Voices in the RPG Community, by Tess Cocchio
A list of black folks active in the TTRPG community.
May Debuts will be up this weekend and we’ll be tweeting a link to the list then. Not following us on Twitter? Click here!
Want to know what’s coming in June? Here’s a preview:
Tabletop Buffoonery (Launched June 3)
Tabletop Buffoonery is an actual-play podcast featuring three best friends, most of whom have never played before. Because of the relative lack of experience with the game and the improvisational nature of role-playing games, we play a super ‘rules light’ version of the game, where we learn more about the characters and what they’re capable of as the game continues--think of it as the “Skyrim approach” to D&D. Robin (they/them) is our friendly, if exhausted, DM and editor; Josh Kurth (he/him) plays Ronnie Chambers, an orc full of love with mysterious psychic powers; and John (he/him) Werning plays Sully Bottoms, an inexplicably lucky and suspicious grifter shaped roughly like a raccoon--do NOT call him cute and NEVER ask about his eyepatch.
Tabletop Buffoonery follows the story of Sully Bottoms and Ronnie Chambers journeying through a mysterious desert, trying to understand the many oddities of the land they find themselves in.
Subscribe: RSS
More Info: Website | Twitter
As you are probably already aware of RPG Casts, we make it easy, and purposefully so, to find podcasts that find folks of marginalized genders (women, nonbinary, and trans folks), BIMPoC (black, indigenous, mixed, and people of colour), members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and disabled/ neurodivergent people.
Instead of sharing reviews this month, I simply want to point you toward a couple shows that are made by and with Black creatives.
Twelve Sided Stories
An Actual Play of a variety of systems
Twelve-Sided Stories is a group of hard-working gamers, who are also hard-working actors, sound designers, and composers, dedicated to bringing you actual play RPG podcasts produced at the highest possible level. We will be playing several systems to bring you various types of stories, including Call of Cthulhu, an array of games powered by Apocalypse, Gumshoe, Vampire the Masquerade, Hack the Planet, and many more!
Subscribe: Apple | Google | Spotify
More Info: Website | Twitter
Diceology
A TTRPG Discussion & Interview Podcast
Think Story Corp for gamers. I'll talk with the folks that play the games, facilitate the games, the folks behind the scenes that make cons go and certainly the game creators. We'll cover the rest of the gamers story, like where games fit in their lives, what's life after games look like? What was early gaming like? I'll also cover what's happening in TTRPGs that week. what I'm playing or prepping at the table (or online)
Subscribe: Apple | Google | RadioPublic | Spotify | RSS
More Info: Website | Twitter
Class Modifier Module for 5th Edition, by Gabe James
This module is made with the preference of rather than getting statistic changes from races it comes from classes instead in 5th Edition. This is to make the class choice both narrative and statistical rather emphasize that bonus through race so that a human ranger can be just as good as an elven ranger. This does NOT exist to change emphasis that certain cultures have a preference over classes but instead to diversify it a bit. Currently this only takes into note the base classes, but in the future I may update to include Artificer, Psion, and Bloodhunter (and potentially UA classes).
Follow on Twitter | Support on Patreon | Get his games on Itch.io
Kickstarter Funding Ending Soon: Little Box RPGs (ENDS in 3 Days, June 8)
Littlebox RPGs are no-prep, one-shot, storytelling games in neat little boxes. They are made for out of the box play, and are perfect to pull out on any occasion. Littlebox games are easy to learn and quick to play. Each RPG is a heartfelt, collaborative experience, designed to deliver impactful play in just a few hours. There is no game master, and players tell the story together. It’s different every time! Each game comes in a reinforced tarot sized tuckbox (7 x 12 cm), that you can easily throw in your bag and take anywhere. And with dry erasable markers, you can play again and again!
Follow on Twitter | Support the Kickstarter
Kickstarter Funding Continues: Alice is Missing (LAST DAY June 29)
Alice is Missing, a silent role-playing game about the disappearance of Alice Briarwood, a high school junior in the small town of Silent Falls. Alice Is Missing is a unique kind of roleplaying game in which players only communicate using their phones, sending text messages to each other as they unearth clues about what happened to Alice. The game is played live and without verbal communication. Players inhabit their character for the entirety of the 90-minute play session, and instead of speaking, send text messages back and forth to the other characters in a group chat, as well as individually, as though they aren’t in the same place together.
Haunting beautiful, deeply personal, and highly innovative Alice is Missing puts a strong focus on the emotional engagement between players, immersing them in a tense, dramatic mystery that unfolds organically through the text messages they send to one another. Right at home with games like Life Is Strange, Gone Home, Oxenfree, and Firewatch, it’s designed to feel as much like an event-style experience as it does a role-playing game.
Follow on Twitter | Support the Kickstarter
Kickstarter Funding Continues: Kitties Love RPG (LAST DAY June 16)
Welcome to the “Kitties Love RPG - Hard Enamel Pins” Kickstarter Campaign! I am Catherine, the artist behind Walnut and Clam! This new set of pins is inspired by one of my favorite genre of video games - Role Playing Games. If you live in a video game fantasy world, which RPG class would you pick? Can’t pick? Don’t worry, let the kitties help you!
Follow on Instagram | Support the Kickstarter
Kickstarter Funding Continues: Pride Vol 1 (LAST DAY July 2)
Pride Vol 1. hopes to give you another way to express a part of who you are at every gaming table you sit at. Bold, as true to the flags as I could design them, opaque layered polyhedral sets. Humans aren't binary. Our sexuality and gender aren't binary. There's a multitude of ways that we choose to express love and even that can change throughout our lifetime.
Love is the most beautiful and pure thing in the world and nobody has the right to tell anyone how, or who, to love. These designs are the beginning of what I hope will become a complete celebration of humans and the way they choose to express love.
Follow on Twitter | Support the Kickstarter
Ready to Roll: RPGs and Accessibility
In early April, I sat down and spoke, via email, with Caroline Crampton of Hot Pod, a newsletter that “provides analysis, insight, and commentary on the growing podcast industry - and whatever it will be in the years to come.” We talked about accessibility, discoverability, and the inherent nature of RPG podcasting. Not everything we talked about made it to the article, which you can read here, but it’s a well-written and thoughtful piece that I found myself quite happy with.
More Info: Subscribe to Hot Pod
Austin Walker, Robin the Bun, Michael Bowman, Fandible, Roll Like A Girl, Dice For Brains, The Hydian Way, Christine Scherer, The Redacted Files, Landon, Darcy Kennedy, Michelle Shepardson, Adrian Brooks, John Harper, Waffles a.k.a. Mahaffay, Minna Reilly, Ryan Boelter, Rane Wallin, Diana Paparozzi, Rob Abrazado, Jason Lillis, Anne Baird, Splinters of a Broken Sun, Alice Kyra, Max, Tavern Tales, Kelly Froese, DC, The Broadswords.
All Patreon dollars from June have been donated. Money has been distributed between Black TTRPG community members (via ko-fi), the Justice for Regis fund (for Regis Korchinski Paquet), and to Black Table Arts. Want to help? Donate now to a Black Lives Matter fund of your choice.
This month’s featured resource are three Black sensitivity consultants:
Cole Burkhardt
More Info: Website | Twitter
Misha Bushyager
More Info: Website | Twitter
Helen Gould
More Info: Website | Twitter
A reminder that Tabletop Micdrop also has an excellent resource list for creators and audiences.