Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
@newmadras.bsky.social
3.1K followers 540 following 1.3K posts
He/him. Journalist at Rascal News. Interested in the art, history, and science of games. Makes the Indie RPG Newsletter and the Yes Indied Podcast. [email protected]
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newmadras.bsky.social
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Indie RPG Newsletter: ttrpg.in
Yes Indie'd Podcast: creators.spotify.com/pod/show/yes...
Rascal News: www.rascal.news/author/thoma...
Itch store: newmadras.itch.io

Email in bio!
New Madras Design Lab
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
genesisoflegend.bsky.social
We are looking for panels for Metatopia Online 2025 which will be taking place on December 6 and possibly December 7, 2025. If you can't attend Metatopia in person this year for any reason, please join us at this online event and spread the word! forms.gle/aTqCs7bBJpfC...
METATOPIA ONLINE 2025 Panel Proposal Form
METATOPIA is Double Exposure, Inc.'s Game Design Festival, an event for people who are passionate about the design, publishing, selling, or playing games of all types. This year, the Double Exposure...
forms.gle
newmadras.bsky.social
In Ghost, straight out of the box you can decide to either email or post something to the blog. Nothing extra needed.
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
tabletopartsfund.org
Hey there! Couldn't help but notice that you haven't applied for the 2026 TTAF AP Grants yet. It's cool. I get it -- you've been busy. But why not take some time today to give your show a shot at being screened 'round the world?

apply.tabletoparts.fund/actualplay2026
Promotional graphic for the Tabletop Arts Fund 2026 Actual Play Grants. At the top center is the Tabletop Arts Fund logo, featuring a stylized book with a red d6 and yellow d10 on its pages, crossed by a pen and paintbrush inside a circle. 

The Text reads:
2026 Actual Play Grants

“Open to any podcast or video actual play with at least three episodes released in 2025. Grants provide entry fees to all festivals in the 2026 Audio Fiction World Cup. Preference for all awards given to first-time festival participants and creators from marginalized backgrounds.”

At the bottom, bold text states:
Submissions close October 31, 2025

Link: https://apply.tabletoparts.fund/actualplay2026
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
elainelithgow.bsky.social
Last week I challenged myself to film daily vlogs about making TTRPGs for a living.

They're now live on youtube. Featuring chill vibes, broken ankles, and a creaking bucketload of my infamous vocal fry.
Is This Something? Daily TTRPG Dev Vlogs - YouTube
A series of daily vlogs where I talk about what it's like to make TTRPGs for a living.
youtube.com
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
newmadras.bsky.social
Thank you! I can't DM you but please do DM me.
newmadras.bsky.social
Thank you! Could you DM me your email? I think your DMs here aren't open.
newmadras.bsky.social
I wish I was, that sounds really interesting! This is about the broader culture outside the games themselves.
newmadras.bsky.social
Thank you! I'll check this out!
newmadras.bsky.social
I really want that for you, me, and everyone else!
newmadras.bsky.social
Okay, this worked really well last time! I need someone from Brazil who knows about the RPG scene (specifically Vampire/White Wolf) in the early 2000s. Anybody here who could answer a couple quick questions?
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
shannonappelcline.bsky.social
I was thrilled to talk with @newmadras.bsky.social a few days ago about Designers & Dragons: Origins for Rascal News.

Rascal News is paywalled, but well worth it if you're interested in keeping up on the news & trends of the industry. (I'm a subscriber!)
rascal.news
A mammoth sequel to the Designers & Dragons set of RPG histories, this new book from Shannon Appelcline and Evil Hat seems like it'll be a treasure trove of facts for fans of the first few decades of D&D.
Shannon Appelcline returns with a product-by-product history of the first decades of D&D
Designers & Dragons: Origins promises to be another essential reference.
www.rascal.news
newmadras.bsky.social
They sound like anti-social deduction games
newmadras.bsky.social
It was a real pleasure to chat with @shannonappelcline.bsky.social about his upcoming new set of books.
"Appelcline: I was delighted to write about the original edition of Palace of the Silver Princess. This is one of the most legendary products ever published by TSR because the first edition of it was destroyed. They printed it, they gave out copies to the people at TSR, they got some out to distributors, and then — this is all hearsay, but that's part of what made it exciting, trying to figure out what happened — management, apparently, got a look at it and said, oh, this is terrible, we can't send it out. They went around, they collected the copies from everyone at TSR, they tried to get whatever copies that they'd sent out back. And then they had one person in charge of bringing them out to the landfill and watch as they were bulldozed under, so that no one else got copies of them."
newmadras.bsky.social
Except One Piece, the last of the ancients
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
kickstarterunited.org
If you're a creator looking to launch soon (which we encourage you to do!) and want to show some support for our union on your projects, we've prepared some assets you can use for your project stories and assets kickstarterunited.org/union-assets/
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
scenefour.bsky.social
A given RPG system is “for” whatever makes me feel a huge wave of relief when the players say they’re gonna do it
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
armadajosh.bsky.social
Good morning! I have had a couple of people tell me Ex Ten shouldn't use 2d10 because it breaks the PBTA probability curve. They could not be more wrong and I am going explain why, because it's the end of my campaign and I need something to keep me sane, ok?

Strap in.
⤵️
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a wall with papers on it .
Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing gesticulating in front of a wall with paper and red thread on it
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal
crapstacular.bsky.social
I've really been enjoying whatever @newmadras.bsky.social puts out on Rascal, but esp this piece that describes the state of itch.io extremely eloquently. itch has issues, but its platform - and the service it provides - is extremely unique in today's age of technofeudalism
rascal.news
What do technofeudalism, Chinese restaurants, and struggling game platform itch.io have in common? @newmadras.bsky.social has some thoughts, especially about the "platform" part.
Itch.io isn’t like other platforms
It’s like a 3.5 star Chinese restaurant.
www.rascal.news
Reposted by Thomas M, Full-time Rascal