dear reader,

i take pen in hand to write this letter. i understand that many of you enjoy
a good bit of electronic entertainment from time to time. there are many fine
devices that suit that purposes.

however, i have also noted an odd appeal for hobbies of the older sort. people
engage in activities such as knitting or stamping. some of them even like to
dress in top hats again and carry walking staffs. there is an odd appeal for
the old fashioned. indeed, even your electronic media convey images of people
in movies about people playing old style dungeon crawls. miniatures are
popular again. 8-bit games have a disney movie. what is this appeal of the
old? for so long, people have suggested rpgs need to update to match the
times and become more electronic and more social media based. however, i will
argue that there is a mild sway back to the older styles of pen-and-paper
game forms. certainly kickstarters based on such games are doing well enough.

as further proof, there are more board games, card games, and other such pursuits
than ever before. we have more games in one year than a single person could
play in ten times that. so from this, i argue (without vehemence) that we are
entering a new dawn of old style talking and playing. as proof of this, i have
forsaken my usual method of data entry in favor of this old and slightly flawed
typewriter i keep in my attic.

as far as practical advice, i believe that someone could make a tidy sum by
combining the current trends of crafting, old-style gaming, and neovictorianism
most effectively by releasing a play by postal mail game that was set in
edwardian, austen, or lovecraftian times and was handled entirely by writing
in-period missives describing one's intent. for example,

"my dearest jane, when last we talked i had been knocked out unexpectably and
awoke to found myself tied up in a warehouse next to some wired bomb-like
contraption. i escaped through simple expediency of jumping out a window, for
which i suffered damage (i know not how much) and escaped to my lair. this took
me an estimated 20 minutes. i then applied my skill at reading arcane texts to
examine the book i had successfully purloined two letters ago. i believe it will
yield a clue as to where the next theft will be, at which time i will head this, only
this time armed with my shotgun and with my best friend annabelle riding with me.
p.s. do not be alarmed, annabelle is a spinster aunt who also teaches at the college."

and, of course, the gm must interpret such letters and send back a result. a game in
such a fashion would indeed take weeks to resolve even the first portion, but that, i
think, would be appealing to some of us who lack the time to game more intensely.
so mark my words, a period piece hand-written play by post with exorbitant rates and
fine gold ink letters will be the next big thing. all that remains is someone daring
enough to wish to debut such an entity.

until next month,
professor sandy