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2 weeks ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
The Death Game genre has gone through a resurgence in the last few years. While television shows like Squid Game and Alice in Borderland are the most famous examples of the genre’s resurgence, credit must be given to the Danganronpa videogame franchise, as it kept the genre’s flag flying even during the fallow years. With its massive cast of colorful characters with varied personalities and complex personalities, Danganronpa has always seemed ripe for a TTRPG adaptation.
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3 weeks ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
In recent years, the TTRPG community has come together to raise funds for charities and organizations that help fight for the dignity and rights of transgender people in America. The latest of these bundles, dubbed TTRPGs for Trans Rights – Ohio, focuses on raising money for charitable organizations in Ohio due to the state’s legislators introducing a terrifying number of bills aimed at demonizing and stripping rights from the state’s transgender residents.
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1 month ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
I spent last weekend at Western Canada’s biggest board game and TTRPG convention, Terminal City Tabletop Con. One of the best bits of Terminal City is its demo and prototype areas, where game designers bring their newest titles for people to test out. During the weekend, I played many new games across a wide variety of genres. While they were all fun, there were four games I absolutely loved.
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1 month ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
Caves and horror are a match made in heaven. Cave systems are at once dark, dank, and dangerous while also being oddly hypnotic, preying on the human desire to follow every path to its very end, just in case something fantastic waits just out of sight. Yearning is a horror-themed TTRPG that uses its cave setting to its full effect, creating an unsettling game that must be played to be believed. The game starts (as most do) with character creation.
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1 month ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
Jonathon Greenall is a writer, TTRPG designer, artist, and content creator based in Vancouver, Canada. Their writing has appeared on websites like Polygon, The Gamer, CBR, Nintendo Life, Gayley Dreadful, We Got This Covered, Retro Dodo, and many others. Their main focus areas are TTRPGs, movies, anime, TV, games, comics, and long-form deep-dives into LGBGTQ+ topics.
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2 months ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
“You start in a tavern,” is the most stereotypical TTRPG campaign opening. However, despite being one of the most commonly seen TTRPG locations, the tavern rarely gets a moment in the spotlight, merely acting as a liminal space where people from various backgrounds can bump into each other before embarking on the main adventure. Bar Stool Stories by GNAW Guild changes this by spotlighting the humble tavern and its patrons, turning it into an environment rich with story potential.
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2 months ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
One of the most fascinating things about TTRPGs as a medium is how they can turn any situation into a game and allow players to look at the world differently via this gameplay. Brainless Creations’ Work Sucks is a fantastic example of this, as it turns a job interview into a 2-player TTRPG that leaves players asking big questions about power dynamics. In Work Sucks, one player is the perspective job candidate, and the other plays the interviewer.
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2 months ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
One of the most beautiful things about TTRPGs as a medium is how they proudly wear their influences on their sleeve. Indie TTRPG designers are no exception, proudly drawing inspiration from many other artists and mediums, from universally known pop culture to overlooked niche artists. Calder’s Circus (I Think Best In Wire) is a fantastic example of this, turning Alexander Calder’s legendary Cirque Calder into an excellent TTRPG about the Circus and the nature of crafting.
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2 months ago | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
The “job gone bad,” is a classic noir and crime movie trope, and for good reason. It is always thrilling to see the usually competent lead characters come within inches of their goal only to have it snatched away at the last moment. Plus, in the Hays Code era, it was a way for directors to tell stories about criminals while sidestepping the code’s demands that criminals could never come out on top.
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Jan 22, 2025 | 
libraryofwords.com | Jonathon Greenall |Gayley Dreadful |Retro Dodo
Jonathon Greenall is a writer, TTRPG designer, artist, and content creator based in Vancouver, Canada. Their writing has appeared on websites like Polygon, The Gamer, CBR, Nintendo Life, Gayley Dreadful, We Got This Covered, Retro Dodo, and many others. Their main focus areas are TTRPGs, movies, anime, TV, games, comics, and long-form deep-dives into LGBGTQ+ topics.
