No One Wants to Read How The Dragonmeat™ Sausage Is Made

Hola! For many of you it will be payday this weekend, which will hopefully mean a rush of orders for either our new issue, the incredible value 4 issue bundle, one of our t-shirts or even the lot. Go on you deserve it, you could even take out a print subscription which both gets you money off and makes our future a little bit more likely. If you're based in the US and worried about import fees we have some fun-not-fun behind the scenes chat for you (spoiler, I think we're good) but I've siloed that off below so you can safely ignore it if you have no interest in buying the magazine. Which is certainly a choice but one I guess I must respect.

OK, let's talk wizards and shit. Social media may be wrecking our brains and destroying the very fabric of society but it does occasionally throw us a little treat and yesterday saw a few fun posts about games that didn't descend into (too much) name calling and/or threats to lives. We should try it more often!

Jay Dragon, designer of Wanderhome, Yazeeba's etc posted on Bluesky about how people don't engage enough with boardgames, especially those like Arcs, Root etc, that deal with interesting artistic/thematic/political ideas. Now to be clear Jay was directing this comment at RPG designers who she believes could learn more from taking boardgames seriously (something we've banged on about ourselves in the past) rather than tabletop game critics but what's social media for if not misunderstandings.

Anyway, several people such as ourselves, the wonderful Dan Thurot etc, took it as a chance to raise the flag for considered criticism that does try to treat this stuff as seriously as you can when you're pushing little wooden mice and foxes around a board. Which, like I say, wasn't the point but sort of became the focus of several other interesting conversations that spun off from this.

But then last night it got me thinking, just as many game designers have a bit of a defensive streak when it comes to whether what they do is art or a serious endeavour, the same's true for those of us who are, at least, trying to do more in the media space than unboxing videos. Games of all kinds are still treated as a bit childish by most, but then many of them are and that's no bad thing. John Cage's Organ² / ASLSP isn't diminished in any way by the existence of The Birdy Song, just as This Guilty Land isn't by Munchkin or Uno, and sometimes the sublime and the ridiculous can even co-exist in the same space.

I'm generally not a fan of my own writing (which, I know, I inflict enough of it on the world...) but when I thought about it the two, quite contrasting, pieces by myself I'm happiest to have published were both in our last issue, the interview with Dan Abnett is, for many reasons, the obvious one but then also my review of Necromolds.

In the former we went from Space Marines to William Blake, Coleridge and ideas about magic and imagination without (hopefully) it feeling forced, just as in our next issue I talk to Rick Priestley and we range from self effacing chat about toy soldiers to the influence of Alastair Crowley and WB Yeats on Warhammer. This for me is what I always wanted Wyrd Science to be, taking space wizards and gelatinous cubes and treating them and their creators seriously.

But then in the latter I just got to celebrate the childish thrill of creating monsters out of dayglo play-doh and making them go splat without needing to crowbar in some Deleuzian theory and I've come to realise that's just as important (and weirdly this is one of the few pieces of my own writing I've had multiple people mail me (positively) about, probably a lesson there).

Game criticism certainly isn't new but for many reasons it still feels like it's in infancy and it can be easy, well easier, to grasp onto things that for a writer feel like solid land; big themes, art, politics and the like often ignoring the actual game itself (p.s. Tim's book The Game Changers is out in paperback today and is brilliant, read it!). Games are truly a gesamtkunstwerk (oh shit there I go again) and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

People like Dan and Tim are great at it but the truth is writing engagingly about actual GAME stuff is hard but when done right it can be just as interesting or even revealing about the human condition (like I say go read The Game Changers). So, anyway that's one of the many things that kept me up late last night and something I plan to work on myself more in future (whilst, of course, still exploring the esoteric roots of snotling pump wagons, because why wouldn't you).

Right, that's more than enough for today as, like I said about 5000 words ago, we have some super fun international commerce news to wade through and then a lot of frankly much more pleasant stuff for you to enjoy this week. So I hope that made at least some sense and till next week, stay wyrd!

John x

This is Free Trader Wyrd Science, calling anyone.
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So, for those up for some hot intercontinental trade chat, I'm in the final final final, please god this time be final stage of locking everything down. Like many RPG publishers the main concern, and frankly much unneeded distraction, of late has been figuring out what the latest nonsense emanating from the White House means for shipping people in the US (over 50% of our readers, shame on you UK!) their magazines.

Just this week we've seen the likes of Games Omnivorous, Pit Trap, Blackfisk, By Odin's Beard and many more have paused shipments to the US and honestly it's understandable. There's precious little useful info out there and a lot of what is available is contradictory. Still, last Friday we received this note from our main distribution partner, who we consider one of the best in the business:

For tedious, yet obvious reasons we must append a major caveat here that who knows what the situation will be in a week or so, but at the time of sending this we are still shipping to the US. Whatever happens it's clearly going to be a mess, so apologies for any delays but my current plan is to send several test packages out at intervals over the next week or so before we send out the main bulk of US orders.

Annoying I know but I'd rather you don't get lumbered with any extra costs or we have to deal with a massive number of returns, as especially with US orders we'd end up losing money on every issue sold that way and it really would be goodnight Wyrd Science. I've always liked New Order's Blue Monday but there's limits.

I've been trying to get local US distribution (and indeed EU, Canadian and AUS/NZ) set up, which would make things a lot smoother and just as importantly cheaper for you all. We're just in a slightly tricky situation where we need to sell more in each country to be able to do it, but until we can cut costs I imagine sales will stay sticky. If you are in one of those regions and would like to buy the mag but have been put off by shipping prices and import duties it would be great to know so we have some data on that.

Anyway apologies, for all the tedious back end chat, I really would prefer to be talking nonsense about wizards and whatnot here but there you go. If it's any consolation you might be interested to know that I managed to use the delay whilst we've been looking into this to cram a couple of extra little features into the new issue, including a very fun interview I just did with Castle Rat's Riley Pinkerton. So there, it's not all bad.

Crowdfunding campaigns for things both diverse and interesting...

Another Adventure Double Feature!

Our favourite French duo Eric & Olivier, aka The Merry Mushmen, are back with 2 more incredibly desirable looking adventure books designed for Old School Essentials (other B/X derived OSR systems are available). First up we have Drought Dragon Desolation -written by Liam Pádraig Ó Cuilleanáin, illustrated by Bruno Prosaiko and with maps by Ripley Matthews- where a decade plus of tyrannical rule by the droughtwyrm Lady Drybones has reduced the once roiling Sea of Yarth to a literal sandbox.

Desolate it may be but empty it's not as the adventure is packed with factions to deal with, patrons to suck up to, locations to explore and encounters to, well, encounter, as you build up the resources needed to tackle the great wyrm herself. Rounding out this double bill we have quite possibly the greatest adventure title I've read for at least a year, They’re Making Hostage Sausage in the Dragonmeat™ Processing Plant!

Written by TMM's own Eric Nieudan and with art by Artyom Trakhanov and maps by Jérôme Huguenin, TMHSITDPP drops you into the middle of a labour dispute in the titular arcane abattoir. With an angry strike breaking militia laying siege to the processing plant, the players are up against the clock to figure out just what's going on and save the hostages whilst dealing with unruly automatons, meat addicted pigeons and whatever's in the sewer.

Whether it's their old school bric-a-brac compendium Knock! or books like A Folklore Bestiary and The Horrendous Hounds of Hedenburgh the Mushmen's sense of fun, mix of old school yet innovative capers and beautiful graphic design from Olivier never misses. Fully recommended.

Find Another Adventure Double Feature on Kickstarter
Campaign ends September 15

Previously featured on The Gazetteer & still running...

After The World Ends - You have just hours left to brave the world of wasteland warriors with this lush book from French publisher Pulse that looks at all the post-apocalyptic movies that followed in the dusty wake of films like Mad Max. On Kickstarter, campaign ends August 28

Dragon Reactor, war is hell, but at least you've got a sweet ride in this new mech pilot RPG from Dinoberry Press. On BackerKit, campaign ends August 29

Serving Up Disaster - Inspired by Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares this lovely looking RPG zine sees you try to evict the cockroaches and turn around a failing restaurant in time for the series finale. On Kickstarter, campaign ends August 31

Cörk Børd - what happens when you wrap Mork Borg up in a nice old wooly jumper? well, murder and misery of course. On Kickstarter, campaign runs until September 11

Being where we share all the other stuff, gaming and related or not, that's held our attention this week...

++ A few years ago I was lucky enough to pick up a physical copy of Casper Dudarec's lovely little war/strategy/boardgame zine Deepest Valley (along with the roughly 500 tiny little dice that came with it). It's long since been sold out but after an intensive 10 week burst teaching himself the game engine Godot, Casper's released a digital version that keeps all the original's hand drawn charm.

Having tried to teach myself Godot last year and giving up because I felt like I was having a stroke I'm full of admiration for this effort. But more importantly it means I can now play even more Deepest Valley. The only thing is as far as I can see its online multiplayer only so I really need more of you to check this out, consider dropping a few quid on it and we can grab a game together.

++ "The beacons are lit!"

Time to saddle up and finish them off folks.

++ A great report by Charlie Theel about his experience playing a 50 person mega game of Cole Wehrle's John Company at Gen Con this year.

++ The comic so packed with Thrill Power the forces that be actually had it removed from shelves. yes it's the precursor to 2000AD, Action, which Rebellion are finally making available in one bloody volume. JOY!

2000 AD Shop : ACTION - BEFORE THE BAN Volume 1 WEBSHOP EDITION

2000 AD is Britain’s cult sci-fi comic, and has been at the cutting edge of contemporary pop culture since 1977. It’s a multi-award winning cocktail of explosive sci-fi and fantasy, infused with a mean streak of irony and wry black humour.

2000 AD

++ A very good piece by Timothy Linward that essentially echoes I'd say around 75% of what Wyrd Science's approach to looking at and talking about games to be (the other 25% being bad pop culture puns ofc).

++ This conference has also generated some interesting chat about Warhammer's hegemony, both in gaming and academic circles, that might be worth reading if you're into that sort of thing.

Excellent thread on the hegemonic position of Warhammer in miniaturing academia (and the hobby overall).
— Mikko Meriläinen (@merilainen.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T08:02:44.876Z

++ You simply cannot write a piece called Wingspan and Post-Capitalist Forms of Competition and not expect me to repost it here. It's good.

++ Mark the 27th of September in your diaries as South East London is getting a new weird games/comics/art/occult store, with previously online only retailer IglooTree getting physical. More details to come about the grand opening but there's talks of games being run, fun being had, surprises being foisted upon people and lots more to be announced.

++ Are we really celebrating 43rd anniversaries now? I mean with various world ending events always lurking on the horizon these days why not, especially so if it means we get a brand new, fancy looking, limited edition hardback of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain?

++ Over at Endless Mode, Keith Law checks out how games, such as Root and Votes for Women, are being used in classrooms today.

++ Does the Space Invader hurt when I shoot it? These are not serious people.

++ The Diamond Distribution bankruptcy saga just gets murkier and murkier.

++ Look you know we like a bit of running down a hill after a cheese here at Wyrd Science, so let's just say we are very here for this...

++ If you have your bingo card of mainstream news RPGs cliches to hand then get ready to shout "house!" Still, for all that, it's a nice story about a local DnD group doing something fun.

++ The state of this lad.

++ I mean...

++ And finally, it's been a good few years now since Steve Davis, yes the snooker player, started psychedelic krautrock electronica band Utopia Strong alongside Kavus Torabi and Mike York, so really I should have got used to it by now. But then again one of my abiding childhood memories was, aged 7, being allowed to stay up late and watch 1985's legendary Black Ball final so just maybe it will always have the air of unreality.

Anyway, good news for those of us who have enjoyed there previous releases as they're back with a new EP, Doperider, named after and based on Paul Kirchner's psychedelic High Times comic strip about a motorcycle riding cosmic skeleton. Which, honestly, seems a nice way to end this week's Gazetteer.

Payday this weekend? Feel the need to spend like a sailor on shore leave? We got your back!

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