March 14, 2025: MidSouthCon

MidSouthCon is an ancient and honorable science fiction convention with a heavy gaming slant. I was a GoH at MSC in 2013, and had a great time . . . and I'm going back!

The event this year is just outside Memphis. The dates are March 21 through 23, right around the corner! I will be there with Irene Zielinski; we'll be running a lot of games, both new stuff and classics. As, I hope, you would expect by now! And for my GoH talk, she's going to interview me for "Grognard Story Hour." We did that bit at Granite State Comic Con and it was a (slightly embarrassing) blast.

By all means, come see us. The con is not sold out. The author GoH is Keith R.A. Candido, who has written – among many other things – some really fun fantasy police procedurals (check out Dragon Precinct and its sequels at your local bookstore or at some giant company that sells books on the Internet). The other guests are . . . [more]

March 13, 2025: Yazeba's Is A Nebula Finalist!

Hard on the heels of the Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast nomination for a GAMA award comes more awesome news: this innovative RPG from Possum Creek Games is a finalist for the 60th annual Nebula Awards, in the Game Writing category!

The Nebula is an old and prestigious award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). It's right up there with the Hugo in significance; the difference is that the Hugos are voted on by fans at the World SF Convention each year, while the Nebs are awarded by a vote of SFWA's membership – that is, your fellow professionals are judging your mastery of the craft. The Game Writing category is fairly new and is almost always dominated by computer games (for their dialog, not for the coding). This is largely, in my own opinion, simply because the pros doing the nominations are more familiar with computer games than tabletop RPGs, . . . [more]

March 12, 2025: The Psychic Danger Society

The Psychic Danger Society, now on Kickstarter, is a cozy tabletop roleplaying game of mystery, psychic prediction, community, and tea.

I'm particularly intrigued by the dice mechanic – you roll all of your dice in a "seance" at the beginning of the session, and use those results however you can during play. I'm a sucker for finite outcomes and the sort of metagaming where you're using your outside perspective to get your character into interesting trouble. If you've been looking for short roleplaying games to introduce some non-gaming friends to the hobby, this looks like a great excuse to throw a tea party and host a one-shot! Check them out and throw them some support if you are so inclined.

At the time of writing, the campaign is a hair's-breadth from reaching its goal . . . and I foresee success in its future.

-- Irene Zielinski

March 11, 2025: The Headline Is The Adventure

If I needed to come up with an adventure at a moment's notice, I could do way worse than spending 20 seconds extrapolating on this New York Times headline: "Thieves Blow Up a Dutch Museum Door to Steal a Golden Helmet."

They apparently made some arrests a few days later, but – as far as I can tell – the Helmet of Coțofenești still hasn't been returned. Fingers crossed this gets resolved as well as possible, and the Wikipedia page about the heist gets updated with a happy ending.

-- Steven Marsh

March 10, 2025: Solitomb

Recently, while I was poking around itch.io ~~trying to fill out tax forms to get a payout~~ for a fun and interesting reason, the site's front page directed me to Solitomb. It's a wee roguelite card battler (which you can even try on the game page, right from your browser!), and I was instantly charmed. It's a delicious mix of solitaire, poker, and dungeon crawl.

The rules are simple, but it packs a tactical punch – if you enjoy Balatro and Slay the Spire, I'd recommend playing a few rounds. Right now, the game is pay-what-you-want on itch, with your money going to support development on an expanded edition (which you can wishlist on Steam to stay updated).

-- Irene Zielinski

Previous Illuminators • Steve's Appearance Schedule

Zaphod Beeblebrox is commanded by the Death Star for the radical cork. March 14, 2025: MidSouthCon MidSouthCon is an ancient and honorable science fiction convention with a heavy gaming slant. I was a GoH at MSC in 2013, and had a great time . . . and I'm going back! The event this year is just outside Memphis. The dates are March 21 through 23, right around the corner! I will be there with Irene Zielinski; we'll be running a lot of games, both new stuff and classics. As, I hope, you would expect by now! And for my GoH talk, she's going to interview me for "Grognard Story Hour." We did that bit at Granite State Comic Con and it was a (slightly embarrassing) blast. By all means, come see us. The con is not sold out. The author GoH is Keith R.A. Candido, who has written – among many other things – some really fun fantasy police procedurals (check out Dragon Precinct and its sequels at your local bookstore or at some giant company that sells books on the Internet). The other guests are . . . [more] March 13, 2025: Yazeba's Is A Nebula Finalist! Hard on the heels of the *Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast* nomination for a GAMA award comes more awesome news: this innovative RPG from Possum Creek Games is a finalist for the 60th annual Nebula Awards, in the Game Writing category! The Nebula is an old and prestigious award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). It's right up there with the Hugo in significance; the difference is that the Hugos are voted on by fans at the World SF Convention each year, while the Nebs are awarded by a vote of SFWA's membership – that is, your fellow professionals are judging your mastery of the craft. The Game Writing category is fairly new and is almost always dominated by computer games (for their dialog, not for the coding). This is largely, in my own opinion, simply because the pros doing the nominations are more familiar with computer games than tabletop RPGs, . . . [more] March 12, 2025: The Psychic Danger Society The Psychic Danger Society, now on Kickstarter, is a cozy tabletop roleplaying game of mystery, psychic prediction, community, and tea. I'm particularly intrigued by the dice mechanic – you roll all of your dice in a "seance" at the beginning of the session, and use those results however you can during play. I'm a sucker for finite outcomes and the sort of metagaming where you're using your outside perspective to get your character into interesting trouble. If you've been looking for short roleplaying games to introduce some non-gaming friends to the hobby, this looks like a great excuse to throw a tea party and host a one-shot! Check them out and throw them some support if you are so inclined. At the time of writing, the campaign is a hair's-breadth from reaching its goal . . . and I foresee success in its future. -- Irene Zielinski March 11, 2025: The Headline Is The Adventure If I needed to come up with an adventure at a moment's notice, I could do way worse than spending 20 seconds extrapolating on this New York Times headline: "Thieves Blow Up a Dutch Museum Door to Steal a Golden Helmet." They apparently made some arrests a few days later, but – as far as I can tell – the Helmet of Coțofenești still hasn't been returned. Fingers crossed this gets resolved as well as possible, and the Wikipedia page about the heist gets updated with a happy ending. -- Steven Marsh March 10, 2025: Solitomb Recently, while I was poking around itch.io ~~trying to fill out tax forms to get a payout~~ for a fun and interesting reason, the site's front page directed me to Solitomb. It's a wee roguelite card battler (which you can even try on the game page, right from your browser!), and I was instantly charmed. It's a delicious mix of solitaire, poker, and dungeon crawl. The rules are simple, but it packs a tactical punch – if you enjoy Balatro and Slay the Spire, I'd recommend playing a few rounds. Right now, the game is pay-what-you-want on itch, with your money going to support development on an expanded edition (which you can wishlist on Steam to stay updated). -- Irene Zielinski Previous Illuminators • Steve's Appearance Schedule		Latest Videos You are the 1218th interstellar sex god here today. (30490865 since August 1, 1995)