Christopher Hutton

Interviewer: are video games art?
Me: no, you find them fully formed in nature. at no point has human hand taken shape in their design or creation; they are quite literally the opposite of artifice in all aspects
Interviewer: yet their telos is to exist
Me: it is a beautiful thing

Thanks to everyone I got to chat with at GenCon! Lots of cool folks, interesting stories and future potential projects. I’m currently dead inside and ready to sleep for a week.

If we did not meet, I’m always open to chat. Shoot me a DM or email and let’s see if we can find time!

I knew MOMS would be scarier than DADS.

What would be MOMS, then?

MY GENCON WRAPUP! I pulled together all of the big TTRPG news, the Ennie awards and the big Crit Role announcement into one big roundup for you www.ttrpginsider.news/p/news-round...

And with that, I’m all done! Taking Tuesday off then back with a lot of cool new stories coming your way.

100%. Also seen it go the other way as well. Very different skills, I believe.

Wasn’t sold out when I got my copy today, so they seem to be doing well.

Love Rascal. Any others who come to mind? I know Shut Up Sit Down as well.

(These are estimates from financial types, so take with salt. But the numerical difference fits the “vibes” I see on the conference floor.)

A contrasting revenue stream that lives rent free in my head:

Board games make an estimated $14.37 billion in 2024, according to Fortune Business Insights.

TTRPGs made an estimated $1.92 billion in 2024 according to Global Growth Insights.

Trading card games: 7.43 billion in 2024.

This from the Wall Street Journal (plus Trump’s plan to fire the job stat person) just stings so much more after learning about layoffs.

Most of the folks I saw with press passes were either reviewers, video creators or panelists.

It seems like it is mostly driven by influencers and reviewers. Which is good to an extent, but it is a different kind of information when it comes to how the industry works and changes. It doesn’t say a ton about how things change or controversies or whatnot.

A question that was sparked by my wandering the floor of GenCon; who are the journalists covering board games? There are so many publishers and plenty of reviews but I don’t know any journalists (beyond @boardgamewire.bsky.social ) who do actual on-the-ground reporting.

All have to start somewhere.

I would be so curious to see a chess grandmaster try this. It would either be brilliant or infuriating.

Tables stacked with RPG books and games for Green Ronin Publishing on the convention floor at Gen Con.

Sign: “It’s our 25th anniversary. 25% off almost everything!”

Good morning, #GenCon! It’s the last day, so come by booth 101 for all of the 25th anniversary deals on M&M, AGE system and more at the Green Ronin Publishing booth (and follow @greenroninpub.bsky.social on here). 💚

TTRPG Insider An inside look at the scene shakers, content makers and upstarts in the tabletop gaming industry

GenCon Day 4! Wrapping up interviews and photos. Will have a wrap up for the whole event by the end of today at ttrpginsider.news. So stay tuned!

I think it will be 5.5e personally will be the system now that Age of Umbra season 2 is confirmed, but who knows.

Critical Role Sets Brennan Lee Mulligan as Game Master for Next Core Campaign as He Signs New Three-Year Deal With Dropout (EXCLUSIVE) Dropout's "Dimension 20" star Brennan Lee Mulligan joins Critical Role as the game master for next season, Campaign 4.

Brennan Lee Mulligan is DMing campaign 4 of Critical Role as Mercer takes a breather. No confirmation on the system yet, but this is a major change for the popular actual play show. variety.com/2025/digital...

Magpie Games Unveils Temeraire TTRPG, Teases Masks The Next Generation Update at GenCon - The Fandomentals Avatar the Last Airbender TTRPG publisher Magpie Games made a big splash with the unveiling of a new RPG that allows players to bring dragons to a Napoleonic

Big Gen Con for @magpiegames.bsky.social as they announce a new edition of Masks, a new Temeraire TTRPG, and more! @newsnerd.bsky.social has all the details:

Day 3 of GenCon has been a whirlwind of interviews and shopping so far. Very eager to share these interviews in the coming days.

So proud of this!

A new book of adventure and a “trauma deck” await Witcher Fans. The company also hopes to release the dino-themed Fossilized Violence in 2026 as the first entry in the newly renamed “Talsorian Presents!” series of new game properties.

I should not do math at this hour.

a man with a beard is surrounded by mathematical equations on his face . ALT: a man with a beard is surrounded by mathematical equations on his face .

Recalculating a little, then.

I think I was only counting Golds when I said that, but if we include Silvers then 100%.

Pre-order The MCDM RPG on BackerKit This project was funded with $4.5m in December 2023 by a community of 30,000 generous Backers who believe.

So DRAW STEEL is out today, and I wanna thank a bunch of people who made it happen. I gotta start with the folks on my team every day who showed up with incredible passion and dedication @thewillyboo.bsky.social and @djordi.bsky.social. They are HEROES.

drawsteel.com

Gold for Best Game goes to Triangle Agency, Haunted Table

Gold for Best Rules goes to Triangle Agency, Haunted Table