Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
All posts by Seamus Conneely
Death of the Author – Fighting for Agency
Every life is a story, but as it turns out you’re not in control of yours. Your victories, your failures, your friends, your foes, every aspect of your life is being written by someone else. You are written by someone else, and you don’t have one iota of agency when it comes to your own fate.
To hell with that. Let’s see if you can bring about the Death of the Author.
Soothwardens Quickstart Review – Linked and Luckless
“A Warden with a Link is starkly aware of where their partner is at all times. It is like knowing your hand is at the end of your arm; there when you need it. But it is also the ache in your heart, the lump in your throat, and the tingle in your back as a fight approaches.” When monsters from beyond reality are hunting for human souls, you don’t need Luck. All you need is a partner, Linked heart and soul to you by powerful magic, and a willingness to risk it all knowing they have your back and you have theirs. This is Soothwardens by Navaar Seik-Jackson!
Continue reading Soothwardens Quickstart Review – Linked and Luckless
PAX East 2026: A Tabletop Roundup
I returned, once again, to the halls of PAX East this weekend! When I wasn’t just wandering around, reading RPG books, or running sessions at Games on Demand (two sessions each of A Stern Chase Is A Long Chase and Fabula Ultima this time) I was sitting down to try games out. In case you’re attending PAX East 2026 Sunday Edition, I’ve provided the booth numbers you can find these games at to peruse them, but by and large I expect this will be something for folks to follow up on afterwards – so please peruse the many fine and elegantly crafted links to these fine and elegantly crafted games!
Nine Years of Cannibal Halflings
Well, we’re leaving our enneadic era behind and heading into our tenth year. If you take OD&D as the starting point of the ‘modern TTRPG’ (although I’d recommend taking a deeper dive), that means we’ve been doing this for… ~17% of the medium’s lifespan? Which also means CHG has been active for longer than some editions of D&D?
Oh gods.
Well, let’s see what we did, and then look ahead to the final solar rotation of a decade of CHG.
Solitaire Storytelling: Fetch My Blade
For years I have served my Master faithfully. A loyal companion, I accompanied my Master through the difficult times, and the good times. Now, I am called in a moment of dire need: a Stranger has challenged my Master to a duel, alluding to time before me. My Master rises to the challenge, calling me forth. This is my moment. I have trained for this. It is time to do my Master proud.
My Master gives me the command:
I will, of course, obey. After all, I am a Good Dog.
The Endie Awards 2025 – Seamus Edition
This post is brought to you thanks to Lady Tabletop, who prompted folks to write about their own gaming experiences of the year and give out their own fun awards. I like the idea a lot, and as it turns out I actually have a lot of games to mention and talk about and give accolades to. I still plan to write up my usual X Years of Cannibal Halflings on the 31st to look back on the year, but this seems like a fun idea that focuses more on the games than the writing about them. So, let’s see what I played, what I thought about them, and who won what!
A Glimpse Into The Vault: Expect Delays
There’s ice on the tracks, Tourists keep getting tangled up with regular Commuters, and two trains are Out of Service. That other subway line is going to have a much better reputation at this rate. Well, you can try some overnight repairs, see if you can funnel some riders into a tourist trap, and hope against hope the other line catches fire or something, but no matter what you can probably Expect Delays.
Last Kiss Backerkit Review
Ever feel like the world is out to get you? It is. Five radical teens with attitude should not be responsible for saving the world. You’re a bunch of god-damned teenagers. You might act like you have it all figured out, but you don’t. How could you when there is a literal evil force making your lives harder? So go ahead, seek out some normal high school goals like dominating on the sports field, kissing the mean girl, or becoming class president. While you play pretend, the darkness will seep in. The darkness colors the world so nothing is quite right. This is a world where disputes can be resolved via duels, where the next town over seems a world away, and where monsters live in secret. Normal doesn’t have a chance. What will you do before it all ends?
Perhaps there’s enough time for one Last Kiss…
Two-Hand Path Review: Getting a Grip on Luck and Magic
“After the locusts and pits and boiling seas. After the war in heaven and feasting on earth. After the seven years of blood and forty years of night.
There is magic. Magic and bone.
Where streets grow weeds and skyscrapers stand hollow. Where old gods wake and new gods form in the hearts of the wayward. Where cult and banner flourish. Where the dead, they walk. Where the stars disregard their course and Jupiter’s children are born under powerful new signs.
Mages. Mages like you.”
With rings on your fingers, tattoos on your knuckles, and scars on the back of your hand, you’ll delve into the cursed ruins of a post-fall city and walk the Two-Hand Path.
Continue reading Two-Hand Path Review: Getting a Grip on Luck and Magic
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