iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Of particular interest to creators in the EU, the comment period for the European Commission initiative "Artificial intelligence strategy for the cultural and creative sectors" is open until September 11th. (Thanks to Jason Matthews for the heads up on this.)

ec.europa.eu

European Commission - Have your say

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

My dark fantasy story "Protection Racket" will hit comic shop shelves in October in Cruel Kingdom V2 #2, from Oni, available for advance order at your local shop. Art by Craig Taillefer.

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Elizabeth Hargrave @elizhargrave.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

One major purpose of TTGDA is to help tabletop game designers negotiate better publishing contracts. We just released the rubric of what we look for -- and info on how different publishers scored on the rubric. Soon we will also release a model contract. More at www.ttgda.org/contract-bas...

Tabletop Game Designers Association (TTGDA) Releases Scoring Rubric and Tabletop
Market Contract Analysis to Promote Equitable Industry Standards

Bridgewater, NJ – The Tabletop Game Designers Association (TTGDA) today announced the
launch of their Contract Scoring Rubric and publication of its Tabletop Market Contract Analysis
– 2026, a comprehensive industry report designed to share information about contract practices
and advocate for fair treatment, intellectual property protection, and designer involvement in the
tabletop game publishing process.
The report, developed by the TTGDA contract & grievance committee—led by industry veterans
Geoff Engelstein, Elizabeth Hargrave, Matt Leacock, and James Lowder—seeks to address the
wide disparity in publishing agreements across the industry. With many first-time game
designers accepting terms that may be disadvantageous, the TTGDA has developed a rigorous,
objective scoring rubric to evaluate publisher contracts.
“Our intention is to shine a light on these industry practices and lead to more equitable
standards,” says TTGDA Vice President Sen-Foong Lim. To assist in this effort, the TTGDA will
be releasing model contracts that adhere to the criteria established in the scoring rubric.
The full report can be downloaded at www.ttgda.org/contract-basics.
Key Industry Findings
The analysis of contracts from over 50 publishers reveals several critical areas where many
standard publishing agreements fall short of fair practices:
● Advances: Only two-thirds of publishers offer a baseline advance above the
TTGDA-recommended minimum of $1,000, while 20% offer no advance at all.
● Designer Involvement in Expansions: 40% of publishers retain the right to create
expansions without consulting the original game’s designer.

Intellectual Property Rights: 75% of publishers retain the rights to a game’s name after
the publication agreement concludes and rights to the design revert to the creator.
● Financial Transparency: One-third of publishers deny designers the right to audit their
books, and 10% include non-standard deductions to revenue before royalties are
calculated.
Moving Toward Standards
The Tabletop Market Contract Analysis includes aggregate results, with summary scores for
each individual publisher available to TTGDA members. However TTGDA would like to highlight
the top five scoring publishers (alphabetically): 25th Century Games, Fireside Games, Lunar
Punk, Plaid Hat Games, and UP Games.
“These results are not a call to avoid specific publishers,” says TTGDA President Geoff
Engelstein. “Rather they are a tool for designers to negotiate terms that include fair payment,
intellectual property protection, and a meaningful role in the final product.”
The organization plans to release semi-annual updates to the Tabletop Market Contract
Analysis as more contracts are reviewed and publishers revise their standard agreements.
About the Tabletop Game Designers Association
The Tabletop Game Designers Association is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization dedicated to
supporting designers of all types of tabletop games, including board games, role playing games,
card games, miniature games, and others, whether mass market, specialty, or hobby. Learn
more about us at www.ttgda.org.

Contact:
Geoff Engelstein
President
Tabletop Game Designers Association
president@ttgda.org
www.ttgda.org

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Looks like I'll be giving a talk about TSR's fiction program and its impact on genre publishing and pop culture for the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison this August. Not a sentence I was thinking I would ever type, but here we are. It'll be part of a daylong TTRPG event. More details to come.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

From the law firm's statement. “For over 100 years, New York law has prohibited companies from using a person’s name for commercial purposes without their consent. The law does not provide an exception for technology companies or AI.”

wired.com

Grammarly Is Facing a Class Action Lawsuit Over Its AI ‘Expert Review’ Feature

The feature, which Grammarly shut down Wednesday, presented editing suggestions as if they came from established authors and academics—without their consent.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

From the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chris Quinn, who is apparently a cousin. This is a sharp piece of writing and a timely political statement I certainly endorse. Francis Lowder is my second great-grandfather, and the picture includes my grandfather and uncle. I have Francis's GAR medal.

cleveland.com

What we owe to those who came before us — and those who come next: Letter from the Editor

The editor reflects on the legacy of his resilient ancestor, Francis Lowder, and the current duty of journalists to speak truth in challenging times.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Highest recommendation for Raymond Biesinger's 2025 book, 9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off. It's a chatty, narrative-based primer for artists and writers on the various ways your work can be stolen and options for responding. The emphasis on creative community is especially welcome right now.

drawnandquarterly.com

9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off – Drawn & Quarterly

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New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

⚔️Ah, the long conversation between S&S fiction and gaming!🎲 Read James Lowder's fascinating history, illustrated by @morelockarts.bsky.social, in issue five of New Edge Sword & Sorcery: newedgeswordandsorcery.com/product-cate...

Wide black and white illustration by Morelock aka @morelockarts.bsky.social. It shows a sequence of events from left to write, stretched over many years, where authors write stories which children then read, then when they're older they bring their own interpretation of what they read into their games, then one of their players takes their interpretation of that into writing a book of their own, and then a whole new generation reads that book and so on...

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Betty Boop, Nancy Drew, The Maltese Falcon, Eliot's "Ash Wednesday," L'Age d'Or, Animal Crackers, Der blaue Engel, several Gershwin compositions, "The St. Louis Blues" as recorded by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong--all these and more entering the Public Domain in the US January 1, 2026.

web.law.duke.edu

Public Domain Day 2026 | Duke University School of Law

January 1, 2026 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1930 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1925! By Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle[1] CC BY 4.0 Please note that this site is only about US l...

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

My 16th annual Games to Gift segment ran this morning on the Public Radio show "Lake Effect" here in Milwaukee. Link to the segment archive, which includes my PDF notes. Over the years I've covered 200 to 300 tabletop games in the segments, with well over 50,000 words of associated text in my notes.

wuwm.com

Top games to gift in 2025

Gaming expert James Lowder shares his top picks for 2025 games, including two-player, family and role-playing games suitable for players of all ages and skill levels, with his favorite game taking the...

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Reposted by James Lowder

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association @sfwa.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Also-- Writers, unite! You do not need to be SFWA to be eligible for a lawsuit under the LibGen & PiLiMi Pirated Books Class - but you do need to act soon! Deadline: September 1, 2025. Read more about it here, and spread the word widely: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

Calling all writers, SFWA or not! You might be eligible to join a class action lawsuit. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

"Everybody who uses AI is going to get exponentially stupider, and the stupider they get, the more they’ll need to use AI to be able to do stuff that they were previously able to do with their minds."

gizmodo.com

It's Breathtaking How Fast AI Is Screwing Up the Education System

Thanks to a new breed of chatbots, American stupidity is escalating at an advanced pace.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Well, so far the only tabletop gaming professional I've seen defending the tariffs is someone whose most notable accomplishment in the industry is being the subject of a Rascal News article where their former employees and clients accused them of various predatory abuses. That scans.

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New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

WELCOME JAMES LOWDER! @jameslowder.bsky.social will have a brand new article in one of this year's issues. See other contributors, cool art, exclusives and more: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

Author photo of James Lowder at a gaming convention.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

If you're putting together your Gary Con schedule, I'll be presenting An Insider History of D&D Fiction on Saturday at 3. It's a free event. Tickets here: tabletop.events/conventions/...

tabletop.events

An Insider History of D&D Fiction

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Another US ruling confirming you have no claim to copyright protection for your work if you use generative AI. If you're publishing your work or licensing your IP to an outfit feeding their releases into AI, they are potentially undermining your legal protection through the output text or art.

news.artnet.com

A.I. Art Generated With Text Prompts Cannot Be Copyrighted, U.S. Rules

Art generated by A.I. from a text prompt cannot be copyrighted, according to new guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

GAMA Expo panelist update. Good stuff! Tuesday, 5–6 pm: Building a Long-Term Creative Career in Tabletop Panelists: Mike Elliott, Bruno Faidutti, Marissa Kelly Wednesday, noon–1 pm: Licensing and Transmedia Essentials for the Tabletop Market Panelists: Nicole Lindroos, Mike Pondsmith, Elisa Teague

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

TSR/Wizards of the Coast fiction authors, double-check your latest Hasbro royalty statements. Three books for which I should be paid are missing from my audiobook section, another anthology included in error. Royalties for one print/ebook also tallied incorrectly. Mistakes go back several reports.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Bundle of Holding featuring Shannon Appelcline's essential TTRPG history series Designers & Dragons, along with a terrific Gen Con history from Robin Laws and both Hobby Games: The 100 Best and Family Games: The 100 Best. If you missed the bundle the other times it's been offered, now's your chance.

bundleofholding.com

Designers, Dragons, and More Bundle

Adventurer! For a third time we've resurrected the January 2015 Designers, Dragons, and More Bundle, a fine collection of .PDF ebooks that chronicle the history and highlights of the tabletop roleplay...

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Nice NYT article about fantasy cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad. I had the opportunity to work with her at TSR as editorial support on The Forgotten Realms Atlas. Very happy to see her and her work getting this well-deserved attention.

nytimes.com

Overlooked No More: Karen Wynn Fonstad, Who Mapped Tolkien’s Middle-earth

She was a novice cartographer who landed a dream assignment: to create an atlas of the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Essential reading. Netflix is a case study in tech bros remaking an entire creative market to eliminate both quality as a goal and the possibility of longterm shared success for the people doing the work. Their hyper-predatory Trickle Up vision for the economy doesn't end with media, of course.

nplusonemag.com

Casual Viewing | Will Tavlin

A decade before Airbnb persuaded homeowners to transform their homes into hotels, Netflix convinced its users to turn theirs into mini Netflix warehouses. Customers who held onto their DVDs for longer...

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

In anticipation of Public Domain Day 2025, a good piece on what's entering the public domain and why—including, yes, Buck Rogers! (That pained groan you just heard is the reaction from all the post-1984 TSR alum to the mere utterance of the name.)

copyrightlately.com

Public Domain Day 2025 is Coming: Here's What to Know

A new crop of copyrighted works enters the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2025. Here's what it all means.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

The 2024 edition of my Games to Gift segment ran on Milwaukee Public Radio yesterday. (Fifteenth year, somehow.) Games covered include Adventure Party, Forgery, Life in Reterra, Wyrmspan, Hard Rock: 1977, Devil's Dandy Dogs, and more. The archive page includes my full PDF write-up.

wuwm.com

Top games to gift in 2024

Gaming expert James Lowder shares his top picks for 2024 games, including two-player, family and role-playing games suitable for players of all ages and skill levels, with his favorite game taking the...

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

If you're putting together your potential schedule for Gary Con, I'll be presenting "An Insider History of D&D Fiction" on Saturday afternoon. Details here:

tabletop.events

An Insider History of D&D Fiction

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Maurice Broaddus @mauricebroaddus.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

So this just went public …

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

@benriggs.bsky.social and I chat about DCC and Appendix N, and the interplay of fiction and TTRPG rules, on the latest episode of Reading D&D Aloud.

youtube.com

Appendix N in Dungeon Crawl Classics with James Lowder- Ep 32

YouTube video by Reading D&D Aloud

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Funny how these publishing "disruptors" operate from the same exploitive mindset as the most cliched vanity press. The moment anyone deprofessionalizes your work as a creator, no matter your motivation to create or your level of experience, it's time to find a better publishing partner.

thebookseller.com

New publisher Spines aims to 'disrupt' industry by using AI to publish 8,000 books in 2025 alone

A new publisher has claimed it aims to “disrupt” the books industry by publishing 8,000 books in 2025 alone using artificial intelligence.

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 21/11/2024

New Legislation Impacts Games Sales to the European Union www.rascal.news/new-legislat...

rascal.news

New Legislation Impacts Games Sales to the European Union

Companies Scramble for Compliance Ahead of December Deadline

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Dig your own economic grave with unreliable generative plagiarism bots built upon the stolen work of others! Sign up today! (In case anyone is missing the feel of Facebook over here.)

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Heidi MacDonald @ SPX @comixace.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Creators who allegedly got stiffed by Action Lab suffered a setback in court this month. Also they can't get the rights back to their work since the books are still "in print" from Comixology. www.comicsbeat.com/class-action...

comicsbeat.com

Class action suit against Action Lab Entertainment dismissed by judge

A Pennsylvania judge has dismissed a class action suit on behalf of nearly 60 creators against Action Lab, citing too many differing claims

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

If you're a creator (designer, editor, artist), will be at GAMA Expo in 2025, and might be interested in participating in a panel, drop me a note. As the chair of the GAMA professional development subcommittee, I'm helping the team put the creator track offerings together.

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James Lowder @jameslowder.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

I was a recent guest on the Ghost Show, talking about horror musicals and Shock Treatment, the underrated dystopian follow-up to Rocky Horror. It's more timely today as media and political commentary than when it was released in 1981, right down to the baseball caps. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AKz...

youtube.com

The Ghost Show: Horror Musicals

YouTube video by BAMF Podcast

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