Features
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Feature: 10 things you didn't know about the early history of D&D
From the RPG’s turbulent beginnings and the Satanic Panic to the fall of original publisher TSR.
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Recent releases and the return of powerful classics have made the meta less predictable than ever.
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Feature: Pot of Greed: The game-breaking card that changed Yu-Gi-Oh! history
Three little words.
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We slay a vampyre, encounter the Gnome Child and meet a Noob in RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg.
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Feature: These indie RPGs create compelling mysteries by asking players to tack evidence to the wall
This whole box is Pepe Silvia!
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Designer talks filling the gap between Red and 2077, staying relevant over 30 years, and his collaboration with CD Projekt Red.
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A horrifyingly good first impression.
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Feature: Digital without losing the physical, Teburu is a promising next step for hybrid board games
The app-powered board has a lot of potential - if it can find the right games.
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Feature: 3D printing is changing tabletop gaming
From custom miniatures for RPGs and wargames to fans resurrecting old favourites and creating brand new worlds.
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Prospero Hall’s dino-centric legacy game doesn’t make players dig deep to find fun.
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“I wanted a game that was faster and more dramatic.”
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The long-awaited follow-up to the TCG’s underwhelming 2004 block is largely a deserved success.
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Feature: The real-life romance, loss and legacy behind relationship sim board game Fog of Love
Jacob Jaskov’s heartfelt passion project for his partner became a groundbreaking moment for tabletop gaming - but it took a personal toll.
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Feature: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty avoids cyberpunk-shaped pitfalls and the ghost of its predecessor
The futuristic card set isn’t trouble-free but showcases Wizards' design team operating at its peak.
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Feature: Paranoia RPG stayed hilarious by changing satirical targets
This article is above your security clearance. Report for termination immediately.
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By imagining a future where colonisation never occurred, Coyote & Crow allows indigenous Americans to become the heroes of their own stories.
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Feature: The dark history of antisemitism in board games
Tabletop games have been used to express hate in ways both explicit and shockingly mundane for centuries.
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Feature: 4 scary movie easter eggs in The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 (Sponsored Content)
From flamethrowers to husky dogs.
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Five games by five designers that capture the real Global South, in their own words.
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Paizo employees have their recognition, but the hardest fights might still be on the horizon.
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The next GM-less storytelling game from Wanderhome and Wickedness creators.
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Feature: Ranking all 25 Pikachu on the Pokémon: TCG Pikachu V-Union card
A shocking result.
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The greatest game that never happened.
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Feature: Experimental lyric RPGs are pushing the poetic power of roleplaying forward
By destroying the boundary between players and characters, lyric games innovate new ways to play - or, sometimes, not play at all.
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Feature: Wonder Book looks the part of an imaginative kids game, but doesn’t play like one
Don’t judge a board game by its cover.
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Feature: Far Cry Beyond board game bears little resemblance to the video game series
A far cry from what we wanted.
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Feature: Azul: Queen’s Garden sprouts fresh ideas whilst sticking to its roots
Wake up and play the roses.
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“We took the mystery of Istanbul and dialled that up to 1000%.”
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“What is an RPG, but a seed of imagination designers give to players and game masters so they can grow gardens of their own?”
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Feature: 10 board games to look for at Essen Spiel 2021 - preview
The biggest board games at the biggest show.
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“I need to slow down, but it's not happening.”
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Feature: The Civilization board game pioneered epic strategy a decade before Sid Meier
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tech tree.
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Magpie Games talks supply chain logistics, shielding design from bloat and contributor pay.
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Feature: 10 board games to look for at Gen Con 2021 - preview
From sequels to beloved classics, to new releases from renowned creators.
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A personal history of a worker-placement pioneer, 20 years, two continents and multiple generations in the making.
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“If this is the only game I ever get to make, I should just do the thing I love the most.”
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Feature: Where to Start With… deckbuilding board games
Building up your confidence.
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Location, location, frustration.
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Once you’ve done your research.
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Feature: Roleplaying games were around hundreds of years before Dungeons & Dragons
The seminal tabletop RPG drew from generations of wargaming, storytelling and parlour games.
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“When including more diverse representation, disabled people continue to be excluded at alarming rates.”
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The character’s version of representation frustrates AAPI fans.
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“A really big thing is having an arena where you feel like you have some control over the stories that are told.”
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Big tabletop events are likely to return this year, but they might look very different.
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How publishers are adopting eco-friendly practices to help the planet.
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Feature: Weekend Play Report - Ex Novo, and the joy of mapmaking games
Routing to recreation.
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It stands heads, shoulders and horns above the disastrous Dark Souls.
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Exploring one of the titles in Jewish roleplaying anthology Doikayt.
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Feature: Cancelled Warframe-inspired RPG highlights the destructive toxicity of online fandom
“This is a demonstration of a vocal minority of angry trolls getting what they wanted.”
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Feature: Queer players find more than a game in Dungeons & Dragons - they find a safe space
“We are here to play whoever we want to.”
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Feature: Good Old Plays: The throwback RPGs giving modern roleplaying “a breath of fresh air”
OSR designers are reviving the genre’s roots with compact rules, player-led storytelling and creativity in abundance.
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Less Harry Potter than high school.
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Feature: Indie RPGs show roleplaying can - and should - be far more than Dungeons & Dragons
The tabletop games and designers taking players from fantasy stories to real-world change.
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Feature: D&D's answer to American Idol changed the RPG - and its winner's life - forever
You could say it was open to ‘Ebberyone’.
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“We like people to make difficult choices that are also fun choices.”
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Together, they hope to overcome national restrictions and find a deserving audience.
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Feature: d007: How the all-but-forgotten James Bond RPG changed roleplaying
Tomorrow Never Dice.
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A D&D film was promised to rival Star Wars, but its cinematic debut ended up a box-office bomb. What happened?
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Boldly Action/Bonus/Moving where no one has gone before.
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Lead designer Ryan Verniere talks team building and trusting vision to others.
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Feature: Board games are expensive, so we tried to make our own for a tenner
It went about as well as you’d expect.
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Feature: 10 Catan house rules that make the classic board game even more fun
Don’t settle for less.
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Board game café owners and retailers on the impact of lockdown and social distancing.