Aaron Marks
@levelonewonk.bsky.social
The 'Level One Wonk' of Cannibal Halfling Gaming: https://cannibalhalflinggaming.com/ Writer, cyclist, energy analyst. Lead instigator of New Wonk Media (https://newwonkmedia.com/)
Down with the sickness Got sick this weekend, unusually and surprisingly. There's no post this week, but I'll be back at it in another day or two.
Down with the sickness
Got sick this weekend, unusually and surprisingly. There's no post this week, but I'll be back at it in another day or two.
newwonkmedia.com
Weekend Update: 8/15/2026 Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
Weekend Update: 8/15/2026
Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
In response to some conversations about high-volume crowdfundings, I spent some time pulling data from Kickstarter and Backerkit. If you set aside new editions, derivatives, and licensed games, the most successful original RPG crowdfunder by dollars is...Pumpkin Spice - A Magical Cozy RPG.
How do we pitch new games? I have been working on a setting for a future campaign for a few months now. It’s perhaps not that far outside of existing conceits, but it’s still different; enough so that I’ve been puzzling about what and how much information to give my players. Luckily I have a few…
How do we pitch new games?
I have been working on a setting for a future campaign for a few months now. It’s perhaps not that far outside of existing conceits, but it’s still different; enough so that I’ve been puzzling about what and how much information to give my players. Luckily I have a few touchstones; the idea that got me writing was a Dying Earth setting, but one that was kind of an unholy mashup of…
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
I don't disagree telling stories is amongst the functions of tabletop RPGs (though it's not the sole – or even *principal* – function of many), but I think a lot of analyses of story-in-RPGs trip over the GNS model's error of treating the activities of play as identical with the goals of play. (1/4)
One reason I compared 7PP to Invisible Sun is both campaigns really embraced the idea that they were selling to the committed. Invisible Sun went way harder on prestige tiers, which resulted in an average backer ticket price (adjusted for inflation) of about $500. 7PP's average is less than $200.
Dr. Emily Friedman@friede.bsky.social · 6d agoIf every current backer had backed at base physical tier for 7PP it’d still be a respectable $790K+ (~80% of current total) — which is not true of Avantris’s Neon Odyssey (50% if you go by book trilogy tier, 20% base book) or Deathbringer (72% if you calculate by box tier, but 37% if you go by book)
DriveThruRPG is now closer than ever to actually being the Steam of TTRPGs.
RPG: Paizo's Entire Catalog Is Coming To DriveThruRPG
Major news, as Paizo and DriveThruRPG announced today that the full catalog of Paizo products would be available on DriveThruRPG.
belloflostsouls.net
In my last crowdfunding roundup I noted that Invisible Sun, once a high watermark in grandiosity and ambition, cleared $900,000 in its Kickstarter when adjusted for inflation. I'm pleased to observe Seven Part Pact has surpassed this number, paving the way for a New Era of Maximalism in #TTRPGs.
jay Dragon is sleepy@jdragsky.bsky.social · last wk.you've got 2 more days to back seven-part pact, and any moment now we'll also be sharing the new merch we're adding to the campaign www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjg...
The data show that Somerville and Cambridge increased bike ridership while reducing crashes involving bikes. Boston reversed it's progress on this front in 2025.
Safer Streets Now: How Brookline Can Learn from its Neighbors to Achieve Vision Zero — Brookline Insights
Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston offer insights as Brookline strives to eliminate crashes resulting in deaths and serious injuries.
brooklineinsights.com
Parasociality is weird Parasocial relationships are a weird artifact of the streaming age, but parasocial becoming social is not a part of being an RPG blogger I have ever gotten used to.
Parasociality is weird
Parasocial relationships are a weird artifact of the streaming age, but parasocial becoming social is not a part of being an RPG blogger I have ever gotten used to.
newwonkmedia.com
Given how little its content differs from the original Basic Set, GURPS Basic Set Revised is a tremendous improvement in readability and usability. And having it in a single unified PDF is *chef kiss*. warehouse23.com/collections/... #gurps
GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition Revised Bundle
This pre-order bundle contains both the hardcover and PDF versions.Shipping for the book is expected to begin August 10.The PDF will be delivered immediately. GURPS lets you be anyone you want in any ...
warehouse23.com
Energy levels Every time I plan a new game, it’s an explosion of possibility where anything can happen. But when I’m sitting alone getting everything ready is the exact moment I’m most afraid that all we’ll have is a wet lump of clay.
Energy levels
Every time I plan a new game, it’s an explosion of possibility where anything can happen. But when I’m sitting alone getting everything ready is the exact moment I’m most afraid that all we’ll have is a wet lump of clay.
newwonkmedia.com
I've spent a lot of time, over the *decades,* trying (with mixed success) to be fair to D&D, curbing a lot of petty snark, all that sort of thing. But the last years, man, the corporate shit has checked me out of buying, and when I am nasty, I don't feel guilty about it afterwards anymore. (+)
Weekend Update: 8/1/2026 Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
Weekend Update: 8/1/2026
Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
I'm catching up on more of the GenCon announcements. ...I'm starting to think the Wendy's RPG was a warning, guys.
As someone who writes for a website literally called 'Cannibal Halfling': WotC, fuck all the way off from remaking Dark Sun unless you're going to do it correctly.
Sam's commentary combined with the recent Deathbringer discourse is making me think: What if getting to a certain level of wealth or celebrity just makes you completely incapable of *reading the goddamn room*?
sam “genial conversationalist” sorensen@samsorensen.bsky.social · 3w agojust what the scene needs! a heavy metal dark fantasy dungeon dragon clone! produced by a weirdly muscular middle-aged man with his own merch line and a disgraced corporate game designer! and get this, it's drenched in weirdly aggrieved edgy nostalgia! it's unlike anything we've seen before! yippee!
My World? Apocalypse. ...wait a minute.
Seamus Conneely of Cannibal Halfling Gaming@cannibalhalfling.bsky.social · 3w agoMy Wreckage? Starlit.
Pittsburgh at Night I wrote a little fiction as I did some prep for my online group's next game: Urban Shadows, set in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh at Night
I wrote a little fiction as I did some prep for my online group's next game: Urban Shadows, set in Pittsburgh.
newwonkmedia.com
It’s still all old games It’s a Tuesday night. The Steve Jackson Games forums have over 220 active users right now, and Mongoose Publishing’s forums have nearly 600. While sandwiched between a few anime-styled games, DriveThruRPG’s top sellers are heavily represented by vintage properties. Their…
It’s still all old games
It’s a Tuesday night. The Steve Jackson Games forums have over 220 active users right now, and Mongoose Publishing’s forums have nearly 600. While sandwiched between a few anime-styled games, DriveThruRPG’s top sellers are heavily represented by vintage properties. Their top 10 is split between four anime games (Fabula Ultima, two Twilight Sword books, and ‘The Legend of Heroes’) and six systems with original publication dates between 1977 and 1987 (Pendragon, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, Traveller, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
I have had to take up the next GMing slot in my group after a sudden absence, and it's gotten me a bit stuck. I was thinking a lot about running Stonetop, and that was my initial plan. However, I'd be running alongside another fantasy adventure game and I want to do something different.
3.5 years, 42 sessions, Cyberpunk RED: The Alleyway is finally over. The Alleyway, an edgerunner bar and the community around it, has been saved. Just not for all the Regulars that called it home.
The nerd shift (if it exists) Basically anyone can play a TTRPG. Basically anyone can share their opinion on Reddit. Combine those with Skinner Box upvoting, and you've got yourself some lowest-common denominator discourse.
The nerd shift (if it exists)
Basically anyone can play a TTRPG. Basically anyone can share their opinion on Reddit. Combine those with Skinner Box upvoting, and you've got yourself some lowest-common denominator discourse.
newwonkmedia.com
Weekend Update: 7/18/2026 Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
Weekend Update: 7/18/2026
Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
Twilight Sword: Filtering reactions to D&D through video games Most fantasy RPGs are a reaction to D&D in one way or another. This has likely been true for some time; while games like RuneQuest have had time to evolve and develop their own base principles, many of them, especially ones as old as…
Twilight Sword: Filtering reactions to D&D through video games
Most fantasy RPGs are a reaction to D&D in one way or another. This has likely been true for some time; while games like RuneQuest have had time to evolve and develop their own base principles, many of them, especially ones as old as RuneQuest, were very much about being either in alignment with or in opposition to what D&D did when they were first released.
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
I've been trying to reduce my crowdfunding spend, especially on games I'll likely never play. As such, I went on my group's Discord and said "hey, who wants to play a game of unhinged wizards for our entire gaming weekend in 2028?" ...and that's how I ended up backing Seven-Part Pact.
jay Dragon is sleepy@jdragsky.bsky.social · last mo.SEVEN-PART PACT, my fantastical ornate TTRPG about powerful wizards, asymmetrical board games, and the pressures of masculinity is now launching on kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjg...
Who Am I? We've started a new #ttrpg campaign in my main gaming group, and that means I'm writing a new long-term character for the first time in years.
Who Am I?
We've started a new #ttrpg campaign in my main gaming group, and that means I'm writing a new long-term character for the first time in years.
newwonkmedia.com
Weekend Update: 7/11/2026 Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
Weekend Update: 7/11/2026
Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
Reflections on domains, factions, and “high-level play” As is becoming perhaps more common, I feel compelled to react to an interesting piece from elsewhere in the RPG blogosphere. High Level Play and Scaffolding takes a Bluesky thread from Sam Sorensen and uses it as a jumping off point to…
Reflections on domains, factions, and “high-level play”
As is becoming perhaps more common, I feel compelled to react to an interesting piece from elsewhere in the RPG blogosphere. High Level Play and Scaffolding takes a Bluesky thread from Sam Sorensen and uses it as a jumping off point to discuss why there are noted trends of hesitancy among players to move into “high-level play” in an OSR sense, that is to say gameplay which shifts from focusing on dungeon crawling and party-level combat and treasure hunting to play where the characters become leaders of mercenary companies, warbands, or even nations.
cannibalhalflinggaming.com
