I’ve been laid up with a cold for a bit — the kind that clogs your head and nose and makes creativity move at half-speed. So I read. A lot. PDFs that I’ve had piled up like driftwood: weird Cold War monsters, cybernetic samurai, and a few surprise discoveries. Between that, a new game of Cairn, band gigs, and some Mad Dice milestones, it’s been a week of quiet, snotty momentum.

I was excited to finally get my hands on the new Cold City 2E PDF. I ran a couple of the new editions playtests and played the first edition years ago, and I still dig the weird-historical setup: post-war Berlin, 1950, carved into Allied sectors and haunted by the monsters left over from Nazi occult experiments. Players are agents from the U.S., U.K., France, and the Soviet Union who form an uneasy alliance to hunt down those horrors—while secretly serving their own agendas.

The second edition keeps that Cold War paranoia but expands the lore and adds smoother mechanics. I’m tempted to stream a short Actual Play series—something that leans into the occulted super-soldier program…ala MCUesque.

This one’s a curiosity. Ware Blades is an old, old school cyber-fantasy game.. The Kickstarter is for an English reprint. I just got the PlayKit/QuickStart PDF. You can see an older system, complete with charmingly retro math like “divide and round down.” The setting gives me Tenra Bansho Zero vibes, the mechanics, ancient as they are, taunt me to get them to the table…I might have a fever, though!

This one made me… cranky. Ghost in the Shell is one of my all-time favorite cyberpunk settings—philosophical, hard-punching, and human in all the right ways. But this Quickstart, which uses a Forged in the Dark framework, didn’t quite click for me on first read. I disagree with its approach, and that’s subjective—for sure. I’ll run through it again for good measure, when my fever brain isn’t active, but for now: mixed feelings. (Also, I don’t like okra, so take that as you will.)

I also learned this week that Ars Magica has been released under a Creative Commons license. 👀That’s a big deal. Ars has always been one of the most influential magic systems in RPG design—scholarly, ritualistic, troupe-based. Seeing it opened up could spark a renaissance in “mage as philosopher-engineer” design. I’m already scheming about how it could fuel a near-future version of Ars Magica, something like “The Order of Hermes in 2089 or 3089…🤷🏾‍♂️

This week, I’m finally playing Cairn—from Yochai Gal. It’s about exploring a strange, mythic wildernesses. Fast to make characters especially using the excellent online tools over at Kettlewright.com—you can roll and save characters, manage inventory, and generate gear with a click. Very slick!!

Off the table, I’ve been hitting golf balls at the driving range. I’m new to it, but I’m making contact maybe three-quarters of the time now, which feels like progress.

On the music front, I played two shows in my rock band ensemble—think “School of Rock” for adults. I often sub in as guitarist for the kids’ band (my son’s the drummer), but this time we flipped it: adult band, no drummer, so my son played with us. Full circle moment, and honestly one of my favorite gigs ever.

Mad Dice has crossed 1,000 rolls and 100 sessions! The platform’s running smoothly, and I’m sketching new feature updates to support Cold City and Coriolis 2E. Next up: session logging improvements and a few UI quality-of-life tweaks.

I’ve been editing the first episode of Muses of Play—the new podcast series I’m co-hosting with Sarah Doom. The show dives into creativity, inspiration, and the messy joy of making games and art. We’ve booked our first guests, and I can’t wait to start rolling episodes out. Expect conversations that mix game design, art practice, and the everyday rituals of creative work.

What’s on your Read, Play, Work card?

Thanks for reading, playing, and supporting the strange stuff.