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Daily Illuminator Archive for March 2025
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March 1, 2025:
If you're going to go back in time, maybe you want to do something more interesting than traveling to the first Daily Illuminator entry. Maybe you're searching for adventure! . . .
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March 2, 2025:
What if tuning into a specific radio station caused it to stay stuck on that radio station, unable to change the channel? No, it's not a Black Mirror episode; this really happened (as I recently found out and had to giddily post here) to drivers of certain Mazda cars back in 2022, who tuned into one channel: public radio station KUOW, in Seattle . . .
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March 3, 2025:
With all the foofaraw of the past couple of weeks, an important and sad bit of news got by me. On February 21, only weeks after his studio was destroyed by wildfire, Rodger B . . .
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March 4, 2025:
After 50 years, give or take, in the Austin area, I'm packing a whole lot of boxes and moving to the Peach State. There are several reasons . . .
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March 5, 2025:
Maybe the players are doing something you didn't expect. Or perhaps you're strapped for time but still want to have fun with your gaming group . . .
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March 6, 2025:
Game Masters are some of the hardest working people in the hobby, so it's only right that they should be lauded for their efforts. International GM Day takes place every March 4, but we know it takes more than a day to draw up maps, plan encounters, and work on your delivery for wacky NPCs and villainous monologues . . .
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March 7, 2025:
With exclamation points and everything!
Lede graf: My friend Jim Zub is crowdfunding a collection of his Skullkickers stories. If you like silly violence ( Munchkin fans, I'm looking at you!), the adventures of Shorty and Baldy are right up your alley . . .
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March 8, 2025:
If there is one thing I love almost as much as talking about game design, it's listening to other people discuss game design concepts. I recently discovered the YouTube channel Distraction Makers, hosted by two veterans of the gaming industry, Forrest Imel and Gavin Valentine . . .
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March 9, 2025:
The nominations for the Origins Awards have been announced! Congratulations to all the nominees . . .
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March 10, 2025:
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 . . .
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March 11, 2025:
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 . . .
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March 12, 2025:
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 . . .
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March 13, 2025:
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) . . .
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March 14, 2025:
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! . . .
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March 15, 2025:
When you're sifting through your TCG collection, do you ever find a card that you don't recognize? An artifact from a totally unfamiliar game, maybe one that doesn't exist in this reality?
. . . . .
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March 16, 2025:
We're in the final stretch of the Fighting Fantasy Kickstarter, the start of our journey to deliver the beloved British gamebook series to the brave adventurers of the United States. In case you missed the news, we've announced a new pledge level: the beautiful Slipcase Set . . .
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March 17, 2025:
We seem to have lost track of artist David L. Martin (Dave to his friends, and I count myself his friend . . . he and a bottle of wine were key to the genesis of the Illuminati game, for instance, which is one reason I asked him to do the cover) . . .
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March 18, 2025:
I have reports on two campaigns and it's all good news. First: the CARnage 2 campaign for Car Wars STLs, which has been out there for rather too long, has finally fulfilled . . .
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March 19, 2025:
The newest expansion in the Munchkin universe is absolutely ear-resistable! Munchkin Warm Fuzzies brings a host of cuddly creatures to the classic card game.
Included are 56 all-new cards with art by Katie Cook. Before kicking down the door, put on your Rabbit Ears and Angora Sweater, then equip your Bunchucks to prepare for battle . . .
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March 20, 2025:
My side hobby when I'm not writing games is painting miniatures. I have a tremendous number of Kruleboyz Orruks and Gloomspite Gitz (or, as I like to call them, Orcs & Goblins), but for the past year my obsession has firmly been in Legions Imperialis: Games Workshop's current iteration on the old Epic rules, set in the Horus Heresy . . .
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March 21, 2025:
During the GAMA show, I was interviewed for the Armchair Dragoons podcast. Good interview! . . .
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March 22, 2025:
Everyone who has tried to schedule an RPG session knows this aspect of the game is often the biggest challenge hopeful heroes face. What we don't always think about are the odds of success in this part of the game . . .
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March 23, 2025:
Kevin Mitcham is looking for playtesters! That's the tl;dr of it; here's his actual message.
Come test my Tribes server!
Tribes is a game with simple mechanics but really cool emergent properties that come from the players' interactions . . .
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March 24, 2025:
YouTube video channel Castle Archon is taking a tour of the GURPS Conan adventures. To start it off, the channel provided an overview entitled "Why You Should be Playing: GURPS CONAN Solo Adventures" (if you want a spoiler as to what Castle Archon thinks) . . .
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March 25, 2025:
I finally read Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco last month while visiting my dad in Colombia. It's an amazing book (and it's no wonder both of my parents have been trying to get me into Eco for decades now) . . .
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March 26, 2025:
RPG settings that pit characters against an oppressive regime – a Galactic Empire, extraterrestrial invaders, a government bent on hunting down rogue psis or mutants – have been around for decades. Recently I have (For Reasons) been looking into real-life popular resistance movements that fought back against authoritarian regimes in the 20th century . . .
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March 27, 2025:
I'm back in Austin. The pre-op procedures went well and my "real" cataract surgery is still on schedule . . .
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March 28, 2025:
I'm a big fan of the NYT Connections puzzles, and the themed puzzles in Slay the Spire's "Neowsletter" have been tugging at me for a while to create one for SJ Games . . .
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March 29, 2025:
If you're a fan of daily puzzle games, I can recommend Raddle, from puzzle-maker Sandy Weisz. The core premise builds off those word ladders you've probably seen in the past:
CAT
HAT
HAG
HOG
DOG
(That's obviously a very simple example.) . . .
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March 30, 2025:
In the last few weeks, two great gaming channels on YouTube ran battle reports replaying one of the most epic battle scenes in cinema history. The siege of Helm's Deep from "The Two Towers" film is something that many minis gamers imagine doing, but rarely do we get to experience anything like this battle . . .
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March 31, 2025:
I'm something of a portable video-game geek. So I was pleased to remember – yet dismayed to be reminded of the passage of time – the recent 20th anniversary of the PlayStation Portable, released in North America on March 24, 2005 . . .
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