The Naming of Spirits Redux PDF

We’re hard at work (amongst other things) making a new edition of Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland. The Redux Edition will contain all human art throughout.

You can once again download the free preview of The Naming of Spirits at DrivethruRPG, or read it right here:

Open Book

“The Naming of Spirits” is a preview of some of the tools found in Maskwitches. In this instance all about naming Spirits for your games.

Please be aware that:

The Spirits found in Maskwitches are meant to be terrifying 10,000 year-old spirits from a largely alien world, of which the human beings of The Land are extremely frightened. But forewarned is forearmed:

• there is a reference to child mortality early in the text.

• there are some anatomical words in there, which can make some frightening combinations.

Cold City Hot War Report Four is out now!

In this fourth free PDF, Cold City/ Hot War author Malcolm discusses the “Bren Gun Effect” and the Strath Report.

About Cold City and Hot War

Originally published in their first editions in 2007 and 2008, we’re honoured and delighted to announce our plan to publish new editions of both Cold City and Hot War in 2024. 

These won’t just be new editions of these cult UK indie games: designer Malcolm Craig, now a senior lecturer in history at Liverpool John Moores University, will be working with Handiwork Games as an integral part of his research work into the history of nuclear war in roleplaying games. 

Continue reading “Cold City Hot War Report Four is out now!”

Episode Two of Games in History, History in Games

In this second episode of Games in History, History in Games series, Malcolm Craig and Jon Hodgson discuss (at least initially for a few moments) the idea of how change in historical research is received, and what that has meant for their own games.

About the series After two successful talks on the topic, at both UK Games Expo, and Liverpool John Moores University, Dr Malcolm Craig and not-Dr Jon Hodgson bring their rambling style of anecdote and deep passion for historical subjects in gaming to YouTube for your delight and wonderment. Dr Malcolm Craig is a senior lecturer in history at Liverpool John Moores University. Jon Hodgson is a games designer, artist and writer, as well as the owner of Handiwork Games. Together they fight crime er talk about history in games and games in history!

Scots Portent Tables

It’s Burns Night tonight! In celebration of the Bard’s contribution to literature and song we present you our free Scots portent tables

Scots shares a root with the more commonly spoken English but recognised as its own language. It’s often mistaken for a dialect or accent, but this is not the case. 

UNESCO recognises Scots as a vulnerable language, and in gratitude for the home Handiwork Games has found in Scotland we’re happy to raise awareness of this much-misunderstood branch of language. 

Continue reading “Scots Portent Tables”

Unboxing Ghouls! Plus Back Drops Book 2

Jon unboxes his backer rewards from Bad Squiddo Games Ghouls Kickstarter. There’s some chat about how we’re heading back to Kickstarter on January 30th to raise funds for two new backdrops books, plus A3 versions of the original two books!

Backdrops 2 cliffs notes:
At launch there will be 2 new A4 books:
• Fantasy Ruins and Tunnels
• Scifi Ruins and Interiors

Plus
A3 versions of the books from the first campaign:
• Backdrops Book One (fantasy)
• Sci-fi Backdrops

You can sign up for that campaign here:

Maskwitches First Edition Sale

Back in December 2022, in light of the shifting landscape around AI image generation, we made the decision to stop using it

We didn’t feel the way that technology was headed reflected the spirit of artistic inquiry and plain old weirdness that attracted us to it in the first place. You can read the statement we made back in December 2022 about dropping so-called “AI” image generation here

We have continued to sell the remaining stock of books made with that imagery, but considered those books to be “legacy titles” – still available for those who wanted them, but with no plan to reprint them in their current form. We are now reaching the last few copies of those print runs. 

We want to accelerate that process and to clear the decks for the new books coming in 2024. All of our Silver Road titles that historically used AI imagery are now 50% off until the 15th of January. On the 15th of January those editions will go away forever. 

If you already have these titles in your DrivethruRPG.com library they will remain accessible to you, while being removed from sale. You’ll also get the new versions in PDF free of charge, so that you can enjoy any future updates to those PDF files.

What does this mean for the future of The Silver Road Games?

We’ve already replaced The Silver Road core rules with a handmade art version. You can get that here. The Silver Road continues! 

We’re working on a new edition of Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland with some really unique imagery involving models, photography and digital painting.  We’ll be sharing more of that in the coming months. We will run a week long crowdfunding campaign to gather interest in a print run of the new book. We will also remake The Meat Spoiler adventure, and release the upcoming To The Ice Caves without any AI imagery. 

Maskwitches 2, which sees the focus shift to the Neolithic era and the end of the Maskwitches as they battle the construction of Stone Henge (!!!) remains in early production, alongside an as yet unannounced prequel game. More information on that soon!

In Spoons In Knives will be retired for now, and we have no current plans to do a new edition. That is not to say it will never return, but for now our focus is elsewhere. 


The topic of AI generated imagery is a complex one, and much of the online discussion is extremely simplified, and difficult to engage with. In short, as a team, we believe what was initially a curious and exploratory phenomenon has become something else entirely. Several forks in the road, which would have allowed a much more ethical development of image generators were passed by in favour of easy profits, to the detriment of artists everywhere. 

While remain committed to open-minded exploration of media, and despite some early art-driven explorations, we have have no further interest in working with this technology, as we made clear in 2022. Again, you can read our full statement on the topic from 2022 here

Get ’em while you can. They go away on Monday 15th January, when that chapter of the Silver Road story comes to an end.