Malcolm Craig

As Jon @handiworkgames.bsky.social says: you can now get the PDF of Cold City 2nd edition and/or pre-order the hardcopy (which - all things being well - should be out in January 2026).

"...nuclear war, peg bags." pretty much pops into my brain on a daily basis. Such brilliant delivery of wonderfully written comedy.

Yes, 100%. The latter is a truly appalling piece of trash, whereas the former in a remarkably sensitive, nuanced, and thoughtful text.

Yep, Jason makes explicit reference to the fact that the game is not about the Holocaust when he discusses the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on p.15.

That's a good thought - I'll pass that on.

Thanks for the heads up - I'll listen/pass that on.

It's actually quite sensitively handled and nuanced in its approach.

3) It's great to have postgraduate researchers expressing an interest in games as/and history, and looking sensitively at portrayals of the most challenging topics.

2) Their focus is on two main texts: Charnel Houses of Europe: Shoah (1997) for Wraith: The Oblivion and Jessica Hammer & Moyra Turkington's Rosenstrasse (2022). Both very different games (or supplements in the former's case) for very different eras of design.

1) Had a very good meeting yesterday with a Masters student whose thesis I'm supervising. They will be examining representations of Nazi anti-semitic persecution & the Holocaust in TTRPGs. It's a really interesting and timely piece of work that crosses over distinct periods of TTRPG design/play.

I mean, that's it, isn't it? FiveEvil takes 5e and turns it into something completely different. Designed by someone who knows the horror genre inside out.

Well, here's a treat!

(h/t to @craigoxbrow.bsky.social)

Au contraire, mon brave!

Direct-to-streaming political thriller/Mad Max/Mr Bates vs The Post Office mashup.

Guess.

Wrong. It's actually under the pile of boardgames behind me.

That really is the best name for it.

Behind me are the board games: Supremacy, Apocalypse, The Omega War, and other things with vaguely threatening titles.

Aftermath currently in the home office [my office at home, not the arm of the British government, just for clarity].

A very untidy desk (an academic, with an untidy desk? Say it is not so!), with the picture focused on a line of 1980s Cold War themed TTRPGs, including Freedom Fighters, Paranoia, The Price of Freedom, Twilight 2000 (1st, 2nd, and 4th editions), and Year of the Phoenix.

Hilarity in the office as I show colleagues my copy of The Price of Freedom, a key part of my [checks notes] research collection.

3 Postdoctoral Researchers (cultural game studies) / 3 tutkijatohtoria (kulttuurinen pelitutkimus)

Come work with us! We are hiring 3 postdoctoral researchers working in cultural game studies from the beginning of 2026 until the end of 2027. Read more and apply by 31.10.2025 (at 23.59.00 EET / UTC+2):

Yep, the entire 'unipolar moment'/'hyperpower' change that emerges after November 1989 is a fascinating inflection point.

So, so far I've really been focusing on 1st ed T2000, but for the book chapter that focuses on it I'll need to revisit 2nd ed, because that's very much of its era.

By coincidence, I proudly have a framed print of this on my wall!

I would agree - it's fundamentally a radical departure in many ways from the original. Funnily enough, I have an article coming out very soon in the Journal of American Studies that looks specifically at Twilight. It'll be open access, so I'll post a link when it's up.

Wonderful that the PDF of Cold City 2nd edition is now out with backers (and will be available to the general public in the near future).

This is a great feature & gets at one* of our key beliefs and reasons for doing the mag, simply…

GAMES ARE PART OF OUR CULTURE & SOCIAL HISTORY

It seems so simple & obvious but has to be said because apparently it isn’t. Games can tell us as much about ourselves, our fears, our desires, what is…

A banner week for @handiworkgames.bsky.social! First the physical copies of @fromthemorgue.bsky.social's brilliant FiveEvil going out, and now the completed pdf of Cold City 2nd Ed. heading to backers!

Issue 7 of the tabletop games magazine Wyrd Science

Lunchtime reading: issue 7 of @wyrdscience.bsky.social, which just arrived. Might be the best yet. Features on Rick Priestley, Undaunted and Cold War RPGs, an excellent column from @jameswallis.bsky.social and much more. If you like tabletop games and you haven’t subscribed, you’re missing out.

That's very kind - been very much looking forward to this seeing the light of day.

The cover of Wyrd Science magazine issue 7, with the magazine opened to show the first pages of my article titled 'Playing Games in the Bomb's Shadow'.

And here we are! The latest, greatest issue of @wyrdscience.bsky.social, incorporating an article on the Cold War and RPGs by...me!

@ljmuimpact.bsky.social
@ljmuhistory.bsky.social

@sacha72.bsky.social is - as always - far too kind.