Open Hearth Gaming Community

The Other Satanic Panics How RPGs become scapegoats for murders across the world.

The US wasn't the only country to pin an entire moral panic on tabletop RPGs. We spoke with players in Brazil and Spain about their own bookbound boogeymen.

Around the Hearth | Roll for Mutation: Post-Apocalyptic TTRPG History: Ep. 3 Paranoia Note: we had some audio issues with this recording (apologies)! In our third episode of Roll for Mutation, a look at the history of Post-Apocalyptic TTRPGs, we bow in abject obeisance Friend Comput...

Roll for Mutation: Post-Apocalyptic TTRPG History: Ep. 3 Paranoia
We bow in abject obeisance Friend Computer and the incomparably perfect TTRPG Paranoia from West End Games and then Mongoose. We talk about what it is, gaming history, our experiences playing & general thoughts about the game.
#ttrpg

Also reminder that the Salvation Army uses your donations to bring ICE pizza:

bsky.app/profile/unra...

After 5 days, I've finally managed to answer everything in my AMA. This felt like less an Ask Me Anything and more an Ask Me Everything. Great to see so many people engaged.

leagueofcomicgeeks.com/profile/brem...

N. K. Jemisin: SFWA's 42nd Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award recipient.

✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨

Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...

100% this. Like, there are other choices-- let me know if you're using AI so I can make an informed decision to not buy your game. I'd go and play just older games, no sweat. If it was a franchise or series I dug, I'd be sad for a second and then drop it and move on.

Ark Nova
51st State
Lords of Waterdeep
Marvel Legendary
Yokohama
Wurfel Bohnanza
Rococo
Quacks Of Quedlinburg
Brass
Agricola

steam is apparently allowing "this game had AI in it that it didn't disclose" as a valid return statement, so if you or anyone you know actually paid $70 for slop, get that money back

35) Jessica Amanda Salmonson deserves more kudos.

As a writer, Salmonson's work is definitely a continuation of the WEIRD TALES tradition, including historical adventure fiction, S&S, horror, weird fiction, & poetry. Sadly, her peak of influence has passed, & not enough people read her now.

Stock of Spotify over last month showing sharp decline, from near $700 in value to $615.

Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!

Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.

We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.

Fuck ChatGPT, Save Wikipedia

donald boat ... @laserboat999 I think the most egregious part is that he thinks listening to george guidall or whichever hoary yakubian beast penguin hired to read the translation while he plays diablo with cheetodusty fingers is 1:1 equivalent with hearing a rhapsode sing-chant the poem from memory, that a sped up audiobook boneconducted into his skull will recreate the exact condition of Classical Antiquity and achieve whatever he thinks is "authentic." To the extent that he has any historical sense (he probably doesn't) it is without a doubt autopopulated by sub-Ridley-Scott tier period slop, D-graded wikipedia summaries, pop history podcasts, Grok, of course. I do think that it is a near biblical punishment to inflict on the richest man in human history with a near boundless capacity to build whatever he wants a near total lack of imagination, the inability to navigate his ignorance of any field, literally any field outside of insectile mechanical reproduction. You will see him bleat about the "West," about "Beauty." I would like to see him, or any other of these robber-baron-hopefuls to just try and build one nice-looking building, a library, a train station, maybe just one fucking cabinet and have it not look like the ugliest piece of shit on the planet. He really is the Final Boor, zero taste, trapped in the most brutal contradiction of dull-garish backwards-forwards looking (And may Allah forgive me for uttering this word) "cyberpunk" futurism. He's too far gone for me to pity him in any real way. I hope he gets to live in the world he wants, his grand fantasy, which, like his cars, is probably just a big refrigerator with an iPad in it Traducir post 8:28 p.m. • 10 nov. 2025 • 379,7 mil Visualizaciones

Joyce Carol Oates has inspired legions

via @maiamindel.bsky.social

The cover letter to my first submission: August 12, 1971 1381 East 72nd Street Brooklyn NY 11234 Edward L. Ferman The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fistion 347 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 Dear Mr. Ferman, I am submitting for possible publication the enclosed story, "Gem of the Gods". Too long has Sword and sorcery been dead. I hope this may help revive it. A stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed in case of rejection. Sincerely yours, Scott Edelman

On August 12, 1971, 16-year-old me mailed the first story I ever wrote off on its first submission to my dream market, F&SF. My tale was quickly rejected. On July 17th, 2025, I finally sold a story to that magazine. Here's why I felt I had to withdraw that story. www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/20...

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi back in 2017.

Just. wow.

There Are No Weird Blogs Anymore Cause It’s More Fruitful to Drive Them Out of Business I learned many surprising lessons from my 20 months as editor-in-chief of...

What a thrill to be part of @talkingpointsmemo.com's series about the past 25 years of digital media! I wrote about why private equity goons destroyed Deadspin and why it matters.

For Arc Raiders to ride the wave of human sociability all the way to the bank, while also being so contemptuous of the thing that makes us social animals in its own workflow demonstrates a lack of artistic integrity that I find impossible to ignore.

Our review: https://bit.ly/49bVn01

Around the Hearth | A Different Kind of Hex Ep. 5 - Playing to Fail Content Advisory: character death, ritual sacrificeIan & José are joined by Wyllora to explore what it means to fail in an RPG, and why we might want to do it on purpose. How do we define

A Different Kind of Hex Ep. 5- Playing to Fail

Content Warning: character death, ritual sacrifice

Wyllora joins Ian & José to explore what it means to fail in RPGs & why we might want to do it on purpose. How do we define "success"? What are ways we can step outside that limit w/ agency?
#ttrpg

Open Hearth Video Roundup - November 7, 2025 — Open Hearth Gaming Collected videos from recent Open Hearth Gaming Community games. This roundup includes sessions of great games like R'leyhwatch , Rapscallion , Toffet Station , and more. Check the full post for de...

Open Hearth Video Roundup - November 7, 2025

Collected videos from recent community games and our Shared Hearth Event. Includes sessions of great games like R'leyhwatch, Rapscallion, Toffet Station & more. Check the full post for link to audio versions & details on how to join in the fun!
#ttrpg

Community Radio Logo from Thoughtcrime Games.

Your town has deep secrets, terrifying monsters, unspeakable evils, a clandestine city council...and a public radio station!

Tell the tales of your own strange town in Community Radio. #ttrpg

Itch: thoughtcrimegames.it...
IPR: www.indiepressrevolu...
TBS: tabletopbookshelf.co...

Friendly reminder: If your flight gets canceled or massively delayed in the coming weeks and you booked directly with the airline, you are entitled to a refund, not just a voucher. But you have to decline any rebooked flight, credit, miles, or voucher they offer.

Paramount Has Blacklist for Stars Deemed “Overtly Antisemitic” — World of Reel It sure looks like the likes of Javier Bardem, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Mark Ruffalo won’t be making movies for Paramount in the foreseeable future.

Under new head of Paramount David Ellison, the studio has drawn up a list of actors who opposed the Gaza genocide and will not allow them to appear in its films and TV shows.

Does this sound familiar?

Also, "Ellison is reportedly aiming to take over Warner Bros. next."

Opinion | Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?

Catholic anti-feminist Leah Libresco in this article is Leah Sargeant of Cloven Pine Games. She co-wrote several indie RPGs like "Back Again From the Broken Land" and "The Great Soul Train Robbery." You might want to think twice before buying those #TTRPG s.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...

Uninstall Grammarly NOW. They've partnered with an AI company and actively scrape your writing to train its models.

Word. Aldi's has a deal to feed 10 for $40. The Target deal is 4 for $20. Not only is Aldi's better financially, it's not run by simpering ring-kissers.

corporate.aldi.us/newsroom/new...

(RPG PDF Spotlight) Streets of New Babel Streets of New Babel Solo RPG by Keith DEdinburgh Welcome to New Babel Streets of New Babel is a solo tabletop game of cunning, intrigue and danger set in a jazz-age urban fantasy metropolis. …

(RPG PDF Spotlight) Streets of New Babel, Solo RPG by Keith DEdinburgh

Welcome to New Babel

Streets of New Babel is a solo tabletop game of cunning, intrigue and danger set in a jazz-age urban fantasy metropolis.

Start your journey to infamy today…

angusabranson.com/2025/11/01/r...

are phaser vaporized victims safe to breathe

It's cool how we keep proving over and over and over again that there's a significant market for narrative-heavy, character-driven, single-player experiences in video games and publishers just categorically refuse to believe us

Around the Hearth | Talking Space Opera Lets talk widescreen, big idea sci-fi. Games of space fleets, interstellar empires, sometimes aliens-- big ideas and lasers. Games like Star Trek Adventures, Traveller, Fading Suns, Space Wyrm vs M...

Talking Space Opera
New episode in our ttrpg podcast feed!

In another community talk, we cover widescreen games of space fleets, interstellar empires, sometimes aliens-- big ideas and lasers. Games like Fading Suns, Space Wyrm vs Moonicorn, Dune, Scum & Villainy, Ashen Stars & more.
#ttrpg

The email we got back from them was wild. So much damning stuff (some of which is directly quoted in the article) stated with full conviction like it's no big deal.

We finished "The Legend of ShenLi" today and it was a really fun show - it has the epic xianxia action sequences and melodrama that you expect from this type of CDrama, but what made it stand out is the thread of comedy throughout - I like a show that knows when it's silly and leans in.