What I’m Reading, Making, and Planning for 2026
(and What I’m Excited About in TTRPG Gaming)
Inspired by the practice of year-end introspective reflection, all the great round-up posts that come out of that season, as well as Yochai Gal’s recent post about the year ahead for him and Cairn, I’m diving in to join the party.
First, I’ll share some of my favourite OSR and RPG blog posts I read this year, along with a few notes on why I liked them and how they’ve charged my thinking and inspired me.
Then I’ll share a little about my plans for the year ahead and everything I want to accomplish with Magnum Galaxy Games and in gaming more broadly.
Let’s go!
Inspiring Reads in 2025
Editing, Voice, and Being Human
I know Sam Sorensen’s Ten Tangible Tips For Editing Your RPG Manuscript came out in 2024, but I really enjoyed it, and I know many creators read this newsletter, so I think it’s especially relevant to those of us interested in honing our prose. Especially in the age of AI, when being human in our writing feels so much more valuable and precious, learning craft and taking joy in its refinement is a real delight.
This article also led me down a rabbit hole of RPG-specific editing advice. That path stopped at Idle Cartulary’s Eight Intangible Tips for Editing Your TTRPG Manuscript
and ended up uncovering this delightful entry from Ray Vallese: https://rayvallese.com/writing-with-style/
Slow Conversations and Good Ideas
The Cauldron, in general, is a strong recommendation and a resource more people should follow. It features low-fuss, focused TTRPG conversations, separated from the algorithm-driven incentives of most social media platforms.
In particular, I’ve been enjoying the discussions Martin Eden has fostered through the weekly RPG Blog Club. The conversation that grew out of Party like it’s 999, about carousing in RPGs, made me want to design some kind of carousing table for Hardlight Station and Mothership. Something to add a bit more granularity to rest saves and character improvement.
Monthly Must-Reads
Another blanket recommendation is Nova’s Idle Cartulery and in specific Critique Navidad is always a treat. Great reviews, personally positioned and frequently packed with useful and interesting ideas. The Idle Digest is a monthly must read for me along with Clayton Notestine’s Explorer’s Design Newsletter (which I could write a whole other post about, especially extolling Clayton’s generosity of resources and the time he puts into crafting his articles). For one more quick shout-out, Prismatic Wasteland is another on the must read list with frequently fun, interesting, and engaging ideas that keep pushing our hobby forward into exciting new places.
What’s in the Calendar for MGG in 2026?
Every year I have big plans and bigger dreams for what I want to accomplish. I don’t always hit everything, but I usually manage to land some of it. Here’s what’s on the horizon for me and Magnum Galaxy Games in 2026.
Launch the crowdfund for Dying Hard on Hardlight Station: NS-1365 Anthology Edition
I’ve talked about this one plenty, but we’re getting very close to the early March launch date. Expect more on this soon, including my very first Kickstarter video for a project and an updated Anthology Preview with an additional free adventure. Hint: it’s something subscribers here may have seen before, now evolved into its final form.
Play More Games
My main Mothership group is wrapping up our Hardlight campaign in a couple of sessions, and I’m excited to play some different systems for a bit before starting my next big Mothership campaign.
Palette cleansers on the docket include a short Mork Borg campaign. I’ve never played a Borg. If I’m running it, I might do a genre mashup between the standard Mork Borg setting and the medieval alternate universe of The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron. I’m currently on book four and really enjoying the grounded fantasy world he’s created, somewhere between Between Two Fires (an all-time favourite) and Game of Thrones. And, unlike Game of Thrones, the five-book series is already complete.
Does anyone else here read these? I’d absolutely recommend them. I can easily imagine the fun of gutter-scum adventurers getting caught up in a world of wild politics, brutal warfare, and cataclysmic conflicts with mysterious, powerful and malevolent forces.
Mothership Crashlander Hexcrawl
I’m planning to begin work on a long-gestating, planetside hexcrawl for Mothership. This project pulls inspiration from a trip to Iceland a few years back, the wild forests and crags of my home province, the opening of Alien: Covenant, and the exceptional Scavengers Reign and Raised by Wolves. Plus elements of the survival story Alive and a dozen other touchstones.
The goal is a survival-focused, base-building module where players take on the role of a crashed crew trying to endure the hostile environment of an alien world.
Mechanically and structurally, I’m inspired by the landmark, hidden, secret framework, UVG, and by an article I read years ago about how maps and world-building function in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Standing on a high peak, you can see prominent features that naturally draw exploration. At the same time, the wreckage of the crew’s ship remains a central hub for scavenging vital resources, often at a dangerous cost. As you approach these landmarks, small details, hidden dangers, and (occasionally) fortuitous surprises emerge.
I’m really excited to finally have the time to dig into this one.
Magnum Galaxy Website and Store
I’ve been meaning to set up my own website and webstore for at least a year, but I’ve found the task daunting, mostly because it sits outside my usual skill set. That said, if I can muddle my way through reasonably competent international fulfillment, I can probably set up a website.
My US-based fulfillment partners at Flying Cloud are already lined up and ready to go. I just need to connect the store. It can’t be that hard. Right?
Having my own site would also give me a place to host some of the web tools I’d love to develop for my games going forward.
Other secret projects I can’t even talk about yet?
There’s a whole slush pile of ideas kicking around, from collaborations with other creators, to a near-future Panic Engine Mothership hack, to adapting some of my older adventures to Mothership. It’s shaping up to be a full year. Who knows what I’ll actually get to, but I love the possibilities.
Slipping into the New Year
Before I wrap up, I’d love to hear from you. What are you excited to work on or play in 2026? What blogs, tools, or newsletters should I be reading that I might have missed?
That’s all I’ve got for now. Hope you enjoyed my little look both back and forward. And above all, wishing you an excellent start to 2026!
Sincerely,
Dave