Tumulus 05. "Step into the fairy ring." 🍄

The latest issue of Tumulus is shipping now, packed with game design inspiration and exercises. Fairies, soup, dark forests, fey contract law, somatic mechanisms, mushroom mechs, and magic elixirs!

Tumulus 05. “Step into the fairy ring.”

Issue 05. Step into the fairy ring.

Tumulus Issue 5 is shipping out to subscribers around the world this week! If you haven’t received yours yet, watch for a shipping notification in the next few days.¹

Tumulus is a quarterly collection of analog gaming inspiration, tools, design theory, and playable content from Skeleton Code Machine. Each issue has a theme such as “Keep the wolves at bay.” or “Kick open the door.” Design exercises are included for you to try what you’ve learned.

Tumulus is creative, thought-provoking, and worthy of a place on your shelf.

What’s inside this issue

Fey Contract Law by Binary Star

Issue 5’s theme is “Step into the fairy ring” and is focused on fairies, forests, mushrooms, mischief, magical elixirs, and tricky choices. While all the Tumulus themes have been fun, this one might have been my favorite one to put together so far.

Tumulus Issue 5 Table of Contents

In “Fey contract law” Binary Star (Apocalypse Frame, Celestial Bodies) has two players conduct an increasingly complex fairy contract negotiation. In “Somatic component mechanisms” we explore games that include hand motions and movements as core parts of play. Charlotte Laskowski provides art in the form of a “Pincushion raider.”

This issue is 56 pages of articles and inspiration that never expires or becomes outdated — something to keep on your shelf and revisit many times.

Pick your issues when ordering

The new simplified ordering system is working great! It makes it easier for you to know which issues you’ll receive and it makes it a lot easier for me to manage all the subscriptions at my end. Win win!

Please select your preferred issues when subscribing. Tumulus 05 is the current issue and will ship immediately. Tumulus 06 is the next one and won’t ship until March 2026.

If you start a new subscription, your first issue will ship out right away. Subsequent issues will be mailed to you once per quarter. No matter when you subscribe, you’ll always receive four issues.

Resubscribing? No problem! Just select the issues you want to ensure you don’t get a duplicate issue. Remember that subscriptions don’t auto-renew by design. You’ll need to resubscribe to receive four more issues.

As always, if you have any questions about your order or need to update your address, please send an email to games@exeunt.press.

Gift subscriptions: perfect for game lovers

You don’t need to be a game designer to love Tumulus. With articles, playable mechanisms, and exercises there is more than enough to be of interest to board gamers, TTRPG players, and game designers.

To send a gift subscription, simply fill out separate billing and shipping info!

Back issues are available

Not ready to subscribe just yet? A limited number of back issues are available at full list price. New issues are added after the next one has shipped.

Upcoming issues

Tumulus Issue 6. Cover not final. Subject to change.

Curious what’s coming up in future issues? Here are the themes for the next three issues after Issue 5:

• Issue 06. “Hammer a nail in the coffin.”

  • Vampires, ghosts, and the dangerous dead

  • Includes printed Blood Chapter TTRPG bookmark

• Issue 07. “Slay the dragon.”

  • Knights, dragons, wyverns, swords, and fire

  • Includes printed Dragon Pages TTRPG bookmark

• Issue 8 with “Insert coin to continue.”

  • Exploring how video games can influence tabletop games

  • Includes printed Massive Damage TTRPG bookmark

All of the above is subject to change of course, but that is unlikely. I also love the idea of including a TTRPG bookmark with each issue going forward, so we’ll try that for the next three issues. If you enjoy it, please let me know!

— E.P. 💀

P.S. Subscribe to Tumulus and get four quarterly, print-only issues packed with game design inspiration at 33% off list price. Limited back issues available. 🩻

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Skeleton Code Machine is a production of Exeunt Press. All previous posts are in the Archive on the web. Subscribe to TUMULUS to get more design inspiration. If you want to see what else is happening at Exeunt Press, check out the Exeunt Omnes newsletter.

Skeleton Code Machine and TUMULUS are written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. TUMULUS and Skeleton Code Machine are Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press.

For comments or questions: games@exeunt.press

1. Please note that international shipments can take 3 - 5 weeks for delivery.