Let Me Tell You About My OC(s): Tabletop RPGs as Disempowerment Fantasies

Let Me Tell You About My OC(s): Tabletop RPGs as Disempowerment Fantasies

Late last year, I suddenly felt like I needed a break. Not a little one, either—I felt overwhelmed with responsibility for everything from taking care of my pets and family to texting friends to ask when everybody was available for our next D&D session.

All this happened alongside discussions in therapy about my intense need to be strong and capable and weather the world without asking for help. It’s a story I’d told myself and everybody else since I was a kid—that I was responsible for my own wellbeing and if I felt like I needed assistance, I was wrong and should just become stronger. You can imagine that, after 33 years, this story’s gotten a little old. (more…)

Postgame.13 – She’s Crunchy

Postgame.13 – She’s Crunchy

Welcome back to Postgame, Sidequest’s “monthly” podcast, where the editors lay down hot takes on cold games. It’s been a minute, but Postgame is ready to play catchup and we’re hoping to be able to upload about an episode a week until we’re, well, caught up. This month, Naseem, Zora, and Melissa talk about the tabletop games they’ve been playing recently (or… had been in August of 2021).

(more…)

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Ancestry Guide

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Ancestry Guide

After two books that were more concerned with lore than rules (Lost Omens: Legends and Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide) players are granted another crunch-heavy book in Lost Omens: Ancestry Guide. The book is similar in both theme and content to Lost Omens: Character Guide, but does not have a section for factions like the Lost Omens: Character Guide, and instead focuses entirely on ancestries, as its name suggests. As a reminder, one of the biggest changes Pathfinder made in the second edition was to replace “race” with the less-charged “ancestry” to define player characters, so the options covered in this book define that aspect of your character. (more…)

GYGO: Cuts and Con Cancellations

GYGO: Cuts and Con Cancellations

What is time? Apparently, it is something I don’t have enough of, which means I have not been gaming nearly as much as I would like to be these days. But the gaming industry continues on without me. Here’s what’s been happening in the past week. (more…)

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Ancestry Guide

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide

I must confess that the one area of Pathfinder in which my knowledge is severely lacking is the Pathfinder Society, both in the in-universe organization and in the eponymous Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign. When I was most actively playing the game, I did so in home games and lived in a small city in a rural state, so there weren’t a lot of options for organized play. To this day, I’ve only played in two sessions of Pathfinder Society play, and they were at back to back days of a convention in 2014. It is, however, something I look forward to engaging in in the near future, so Pathfinder Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide is very useful in giving me the background I need to start playing in those games. (more…)