Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop

The Bloggies 2026! The blogosphere's annual celebration is coming back.

I come to you like Paul Revere on the back of a liger. The Bloggies are coming!

Like, share, and subscribe.

www.explorersdesign.com/the-bloggies...

Critique Navidad: We Three Shall Meet Again Each holiday season, I review different modules, games or supplements as a thank you to the wider tabletop roleplaying game community. All of the work I review during Critique Navidad is either giv…

Critique Navidad, everyone! Today, we join a coven of witches all cursed to occupy one body! How do you escape? How do you communicate? What is it like control your body only some of the time? Find out in We Three Shall Meet Again! idlecartulary.com/2025/12/07/c...

Once again to celebrate this awesome game and encourage people to make things for it, I'll be putting the asset pack that Andy used in MM on sale for $3 from Dec 15th through the end of the month.

itch.io/s/172140/mid...

One more day to submit to this bundle:

I'm very excited for what might show up in this bundle and will definitely be buying a bundle for myself.

You can still submit your own mecha ttrpg too -- link in SprintingOwl's comments! Submissions due by Sunday

Likewise, I'd call CONROI a highlight!

I'm writing a series of essays for the spring, as I work on a new game.

It's hard to NOT talk about the new game before it's ready. But it has been even harder to NOT talk about the games I am reading for the essays and inspiration.

The innovation that happens in this space amazes me.

This is awesome! Can't wait to see what you bring to the series!

Fake it until you make it as they say. And I’ve been playing the role of a TTRPG game designer for about 12 years! Now the mask has become my very nature. I am going to play the Masquerade game with vampires, for real. After years of working as an independent game designer, like a good Anarch, I joined the Camarilla. I am now the Lead Game Designer at White Wolf, the legendary publisher that made me realize TTRPGs could be about a lot more than killing monsters. I can be one of them, and surprisingly be even more human! The first book I ever read in English was Vampire: The Dark Ages, and now I get to work as a game designer full time for the first time with the World of Darkness? I couldn’t be happier! To live and breathe the universe of Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Hunter, Changeling, Wraith, and all other games every day, and be able to collaborate in shaping its future is a dream come true. These games were formative in my TTRPG industry, in the Brazilian TTRPG community, and are incredibly relevant to this day. Especially these days I would say. And with me I am bringing my game design philosophy of “playing more with less” to help make the game more accessible while honoring the more than 30 years of World of Darkness! I just want everyone to enjoy the game as much as they can, with as little effort as they can afford. Oh, and I am still an Anarch at heart, don’t worry!

Me with a Bloodlines 2 tshirt setting in a throne under the Ankh banner!

A castle with the ankh banner hanging from a window

Me wearing a shadowy cloak

So this happened…

I am White Wolf’s new Lead Game Designer!

I will figure out how to post the whole text here, but there is a picture with the announcement and the alt text has the full thing!

#TTRPG #RPGLATAM #VtM #WoD #DnD #NotDnD #ShowYourWork

Critique Navidad: Fear and Panic Each holiday season, I review different modules, games or supplements as a thank you to the wider tabletop roleplaying game community. All of the work I review during Critique Navidad is either giv…

On the 5th day of Critique Navidad, my true love brought to me Fear and Panic, and elegant lightweight take on Call of Cthulhu, and a potential competitor to Liminal Horror! idlecartulary.com/2025/12/05/c...

In case you missed it…

I have gotten on these exactly once in my life and the satisfaction dissolves like cotton candy on the tongue. Not for nothing i have multiple games acting as Notes To Self to find fulfillment in the process and not the result

This could be you too!

shop.binarystar.games/products/voi...

a man is giving a piece of paper to another man who is sitting at a desk with a stack of books . ALT: a man is giving a piece of paper to another man who is sitting at a desk with a stack of books .

Did you have a great time at #PAXUnplugged this year? Check your inbox for the survey, it was sent out this week!

This is no ordinary ignorable survey. This actually helps their team decide what programming the community wants to see next year! So be sure to tell them what worked and what didn’t.

The Castle of Otranto is pretty enjoyable and considered the big precursor to the others.

If you're open to traditional "romance" + gothic -> The Monk by Matthew Lewis.

I'm very excited for what might show up in this bundle and will definitely be buying a bundle for myself.

You can still submit your own mecha ttrpg too -- link in SprintingOwl's comments! Submissions due by Sunday

Sprinting Owl Mecha Tabletop Experience. A clunky robot in a sleek spaceship cockpit. Over its head are arcing the words "wow! cool robot!"

Recruitment is open for a Sprinting Owl tabletop bundle!

The theme this time is mecha.

Submissions are due by Sunday.

Games about breaking the fourth wall/magic circle. I have a few examples but TSF will probably be one of the two that I draw from most.

This is genuinely such a good read.

Rascal has had some absolute bangers this year, but this is probably my favorite and hit me the hardest:

Hey get excited for our ARG about captchas and AI - made lovingly by humans

Critique Navidad: Moon Rings Each holiday season, I review different modules, games or supplements as a thank you to the wider tabletop roleplaying game community. All of the work I review during Critique Navidad is either giv…

Happy Critique Navidad, Moon Rings! Is this solo game about witches seeking the ending of a cursed moon a stellar journalling game, or something else entirely? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/12/04/c...

It would be such a wonderful birthday miracle if everyone gave me money today 🧡

😆 It's very D&D adjacent, an off-ramp really. Was definitely my off-ramp, before I veered out of trad and OSR

I'm thinking I may include it in an essay that I'm writing for the spring. The props and music are genuinely so *smart.*

I read @monsterpotion.bsky.social's new version of Fight Truck, and cried about it. Then I wrote this. It's personal and vulnerable and bold and I'm very proud. I'd love to hear from anyone if this speaks to you, and I want to hear why other people seek out risky play .

Very happy to play a small part in getting this on the site. Seraphina wrote a really moving essay about the risk, safety, play, and what really matters.

It's a really powerful piece, please do read. Made me think about how I play games and what makes me scared or nervous when I play them.

This is genuinely such a good read.

Rascal has had some absolute bangers this year, but this is probably my favorite and hit me the hardest:

All my itch stuff (that has a price, anyway), at 60% off! Full games Lost Among the Starlit Wreckage, Tales from the Cockpit, The Cog That Remains, and A Stern Chase Is A Long Chase! Micro RPG Calling Cards! Supplements QUILL.exe, Demon Abominating Gnoll, Magic Behind The Bar, and The Moon Queen!

Everything I have on itch is in a 60% off bundle for the better part of today! All the usual suspects, plus a few of the more *experimenting in a game jam* stuff, from a #ttrpg that fits on a business card to supplements for other games.

itch.io/s/169386/bla...

One day left in the sale!

Stumbled across this by complete chance today, and I love it. Very cool and just gorgeous art/layout