Hey folks, Jonah and I try not to use the lab to spew our own cynical, penny-pinching schemes too often, but this is both pretty relevant to the lab and has a really big impact on our work, so I thought I’d share it anyway. You can preorder our book through Barnes and Noble here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-game-masters-handbook-of-collaborative-campaign-design-jonah-fishel/1147035456 Barnes and Noble is running a preorder discount on a bunch of books, including our own! Preorders make a huge, HUGE difference in the success of a book in physical retailers—they’ll decide how many books they want to buy/stock when it actually releases, so if you’re at all interested in our next book, please consider checking it out. If the book preorders well, they’ll place a larger order, which (1) helps us sustain our authorial careers, (2) makes our publishers more likely to approve future projects for them, and (3) helps us work on future cool projects for here! With that said, we always advocate for shopping with your friendly neighborhood bookstore, so if you prefer, hold off until they’ll carry it! There are other folks who’ll carry it as well, the easiest to access for most people being Amazon. We’re extremely proud of this book, and in many ways we think it’s an overall stronger work than the previous one (and we certainly had a lot more experience when we wrote it). You also don’t need to have read the proactive one if you want to read this one, although the two books can work well with one another. If you’re interested in any level of narrative in your game, consider checking it out! Thanks everyone, we’ll see you in the lab.

Happy GenCon 2025 to all who observe! Those of you who are attending, those of you have in the past, tell us about it! 1. What are the must-see/must-do events and experiences? 2. What are you doing this year that you're most looking forward to? 3. What is your best tip for con-goers to get the most out of the experience? If you're here in Indy, let's hang out - let us know you're in town and we will put something together!

Hey everyone, last week Tristan and I held a last-minute Q&A. Check out the full recording here. One thing we spoke about at length is getting the players on board for a proactive-style game (starts around the 6 minute mark), which is a common question here. If you've had that question before, you might find that part interesting 👀

Hey everyone! Sorry we had to cancel last time, but everything is fine and we've rescheduled the new book Q&A to Wednesday! For those who haven't heard, our second book, the Game Master's Handbook of Collaborative Campaign Design, is officially complete and up for preorder! To celebrate, we're hosting a live Q&A here in the lab where we'll answer some questions and chat! If you can't make it to the event itself, or just want to ask a question ahead of time so you don't forget (or give us more time to think of some witty answer) then ask a question in a reply to this post! We'll get through everything in the video, which will be recorded and posted in the classroom tab. Ask about anything you like! The new book, the old book, proactive play, emergent games, anything is fair game! Super excited to chat with you all!

Hey everyone, unfortunately due to a medical emergency, we'll need to push back our live Q&A tonight. Don't worry, it's nothing too dire, but we will need to push tonight's event to a later date. We're excited to talk with you all soon, and we'll figure out new details later!