July Roundtable: Designing Our Queer Gaming Commune

July Roundtable: Designing Our Queer Gaming Commune

With summer’s arrival, temperatures are rising for those of us in the northern hemisphere and no, don’t think too hard about why it’s so hot or what that strange haze in the air is. Instead, let’s think about summer! What better way to get away from it all than to dream up your very own queer commune, filled with all your gaming faves? That’s exactly what the Sidequest squad is doing for this month’s roundtable! (more…)

December Roundtable: The Games of 2022

December Roundtable: The Games of 2022

Games really do just keep on coming out, which is why we’re devoting this month’s roundtable to the year’s games. Not the best games. Not the worst games. Just the year’s games, which include the games that we played, the games we didn’t play, and more. The end of the year is a great time for reflection, which, for me at least, means a lot of looking back at all the things I didn’t do. (more…)

More Than Just Fishing: A Roundtable About Sidequests

More Than Just Fishing: A Roundtable About Sidequests

I’ve written pretty thoroughly about how I am a particular type of gamer. I prefer games that are story and relationship focused, and that don’t require a lot of level grinding or random quests. This includes my tabletop play style—apologies to my DM/wife who is sitting on a bunch of Kingmaker sidequests that our party has ignored! Because of my pickiness, I don’t play a lot of games, but lately I’ve been feeling like this framework of “pickiness” is unfair. Am I a gamer aberration? What makes me different from all of you? Why the heck do y’all enjoy repetitive level grinding?! (more…)

August Roundtable: Back to School

August Roundtable: Back to School

Welcome to August, Sidequest readers! We’re winding down the summer by thinking about school and being a student, because some of us (Melissa) would go to school forever if that was a practical life choice. We’ve talked about edutainment before here in this roundtable series, so this month, we’ll be talking more specifically about school, studying, and so on. Sharpen your pencils and open your notebooks, if those are things students still do and not artifacts of an analog age!

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Chip Chat #3: Becoming the Elden Lord (of Snacks)

Chip Chat #3: Becoming the Elden Lord (of Snacks)

Welcome to Chip Chat, a column where I eat as many novelty chip* flavors as humanly possible, then justify it by reviewing the chips and pairing them with a game I think they’re particularly suited for, like a garbage sommelier who specializes in junk food instead of wine. This is, I insist, not a thinly veiled excuse to buy novelty chip flavors—but if it was, that sure would be convenient, now wouldn’t it.

*That’s crisps, for the British readers among us.

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