Hi everyone! I hope you’re doing as well as you can in the clusterfuck that is our world right now.

Right now, I’m running, both solo and with my gaming group, the latest Conan rpg published by Monolith and I’m not going to lie, I like it a lot. I’m already hacking it to run a Pulp horror game (inspired by R.E Howard horror tales). Mixing Hyborian adventures with 1920s adventure where investigators deal with the legacy of the Hyborian age. It’s not for everyone but if I need to run a pulpy game loose and fast, I’ll be using this for the time being (there’s a free starter kit for the game if you’re interested). I’m supposed to be pimping my own games, but it’s my newsletter so I do what I want.

Re-reading (or discovering) R.E Howard Conan and horror novels to inspire my current campaigns. Also managed to grabbed Matt Finch’s Nomicon: probably the ultimate resource for names in your fantasy campaign (be it people’s or places’ names). Also a lot of random table books to see what’s really useful at my table to help me design tools for my games. Designing those tables is a real pain in the a$$ but they’re are such a useful tool that it’s worth every minute I spend on them. Raging Swan Press books are quite impressive (alas, limited to D&D-like fantasy but understandable as that’s where the money is).

Still working on my Mythos-inspired Sci-Fi setting, so a heavy dose of Mythos litterature is being digested (lately, Brian Stableford’s Legacy of Erich Zann & Other Tales). I’m also very late to the party and started to listen to the Magnus Archives while painting minis and enjoying it a lot. I wrote four horror rpgs so far (Extinction, Rats in the Walls, Cursed! and Assassins Demons & Dying Gods), and I’m looking to write some more, there’s something in that genre I want to keep exploring.

Garry Snow does a lot to help indie publishers & designers via his channel, the Dieku Podcast. He interviewed me not once, but twice, despite my awful French accent. He’s having a kickstarter at the moment and it looks great: Bug Busters (Ghostbusters meets Starship Troopers). Want to talk about projects you like? The comment section is waiting for you :)

Our next Kickstarter (mid/late November) will be Unlikely Gentlemen, our take on the Steampunk genre:

This is the year 1895. Five years ago, the city of Atlantis rose again from the depths of the ocean. At the same time, several portals appeared on Earth and allowed safe passage to Venus and Mars.

Within the next year Atlantis opened diplomatic relations with every nation on Earth. Railways were built to allow travel to Mars and Venus through the Atlantean portals.

Think of it as a Saturday Morning Cartoon take on the genre. It’s pretty light, both in mechanics and in tone (though there is a bit of lurking darkness here and there).

The game uses a 2d6 + Trait, roll-over mechanic. Though most of my designs are on the minimalist side I want the game to be a good reference for the Steampunk genre, no matter what game you end up using. Plenty of tables and tools to help Referees design Steampunk adventures.

Most of these tools will help the solo player as well as it seems it’s a genre that lacks tools on that front. So even if you don’t use the mechanics you’ll still find plenty of material in the book.

Have no fear, these are still coming but I need more time to do them right. Episode III will be released directly, without going through a kickstarter phase. Deathriders needs more work. And I still want to finish Dark Leningrad. Did I mention I have way too many projects?

Take care of yourself and your loved ones, I’ll see you soon!