:Draft:Chris Kutalik
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{{AFC comment|1=We are not interested that he has had many interviews. What he has said is unimportant. None of these reflect any notability. What we need to know is what is said about him in independent reliable sources. You have neither asserted nor verified any notability.
This needs a total rewrite based solely on what is said about him.
I am unable to see the prior, deleted version, bt the concerns in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chris Kutalik do not seem to me to be addressed. 🇵🇸🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦🇵🇸 08:01, 18 April 2025 (UTC)}}
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{{Short description|US labor journalist, democratic socialist leader, and RPG game author/designer}}
{{Draft topics|biography|media}}
{{AfC topic|blp}}
Chris Kutalik is a California-based, labor journalist, democratic socialist organizer. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/magazine/israel-october-7-democrats.html How the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Drove a Wedge Into the Democratic Party]". The New York Times. February 7, 2024. "According to Chris Kutalik, a communications director for D.S.A., it has added at least 2,400 new dues-paying members since October for a total of about 78,000 members." , and role-playing game author/designer[https://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/26001/chris-kutalik Chris Kutalik biography on RPG Geek] Kutalik has appeared as a commentator on ABC News[https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3710270&page=1 "Union questions auto execs' pay packages]". ABC News. October 7, 2009 [https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/socialist-poised-mayor-major-us-city-movement-blip/story?id=78450947 "A socialist is poised to become mayor of a major US city. Is it a movement or a blip?"]. ABC News. June 24, 2021
, Democracy Now!, and numerous gaming related podcasts, blogs, and interviews.[https://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com/2015/09/master-of-hill-cantons-interview-with.html Master of the Hill Cantons: An Interview with Chris Kutalik]. Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque blog. [https://dungeonsandpossums.com/2019/02/interview-chris-kutalik-talks-hill/ Chris Kutalik interview]. Dungeons and Possums blog. February 7, 2019 [https://worldbuildingandwoolgathering.blogspot.com/2022/03/two-outings-to-hill-cantons-some.html Two Outings to the Hill Cantons: Some thoughts on Marlinko and the Ursine Dunes].
Game Design and Publishing
In the realm of tabletop RPGs, Kutalik is recognized for his contributions to the Old School Renaissance design movement. "[https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2018/kutalik-hydra-art/ Kutalik, Hydra, and Art]. Wizard, Fighter, Thief blog. October 9, 2018". . He is notable for the creation of a tabletop rpg game mechanic, [https://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2014/11/pointcrawl-series-index.html the "pointcrawl"], as well at the author of four books that have sold in the top 0.28% of sales of major online publishing outlet DriveThruRPG [https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/140450/slumbering-ursine-dunes Mithral sales medallion, Slumbering Ursine Dunes]. DriveThruRPG. [https://www.enworld.org/threads/dtrpg-medals-sales.685721/ DTRPG Medals/Sales] EN World. January 31, 2022 . Justin Alexander, author of the book "So You Want to Be a Game Master" that devotes a chapter to pointcrawls, credits Kutalik writing "the pointcrawl was first formalized by Chris Kutalik on his Hill Cantons blog in 2014." [https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/48666/roleplaying-games/pointcrawls "Pointcrawls"]. The Alexandrian blog. November 12, 2022.
Kutalik launched in 2008 the [https://hillcantons.blogspot.com/ Hill Cantons] blog and campaign setting, which has inspired several published works.[https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/14668173.Chris_Kutalik Author Page Goodreads] Notable books that he authored from 2014-2018 include Slumbering Ursine Dunes, Fever-Dreaming Marlinko, Misty Isles of the Eld, and What Ho, Frog Demons. His work has been reviewed in independent, large-audience gaming media outlets such as EN World [https://www.enworld.org/threads/explore-the-dream-like-fantasy-of-the-slumbering-ursine-dunes.663832/ Explore The Dream-Like Fantasy Of The Slumbering Ursine Dunes] , RPGNet [https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/16/16399.phtml Review of Slumbering Ursine Dunes]. [https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17478.phtml Slumbering Ursine Dunes review]. , and BoardGameGeek [https://boardgamegeek.com/rpgdesigner/26001/chris-kutalik Chris Kutalik]. Boardgame Geek as well as by many gaming related blogs.
Writing in an EN World review in the context of OSR design concepts, Christopher Helton said of Kutalik's first book, Slumbering Ursine Dunes, that, "rather than being reflective of a desire to make things that are startlingly different from what is done by publishers like Wizards of the Coast...I think that the strangeness of fantasy settings like that in the Slumbering Ursine Dunes trilogy is more reflective of the games that these designers run."
He is also a co-owner of the Hydra Cooperative, a small press publisher specializing in indie RPG content.
Political Activism
He served as the managing editor and director of Labor Notes, a prominent cross-union publication 2000- 2009. Kutalik's union involvement began in Austin, Texas in 1994 , where he was elected as a union officer for the Amalgamated Transit Union. [https://solidarity-us.org/radicalsatwork/ Radicals at Work]. Solidarity pamphlet. June 23, 2008. He has also worked as a community director for UNITE HERE, a union representing hotel and hospitality workers in South Texas. While at Labor Notes he wrote chapters in their 2005 book, A Troublemakers Handbook 2[https://archive.org/details/jane-slaughter-a-troublemakers-handbook-2-how-to-fight-back-where-you-work-and-win-labor-notes-2005/mode/1up A Troublemakers Handbook 2]. Archived., on union contract campaigns and other labor tactics.
Beyond union work, Kutalik has been active in progressive political movements. He served as a director of Our Revolution in Texas 2017-2018[9] [https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/can-our-revolution-build-a-blue-texas/ Can Our Revolution Build a Blue Texas?]. The Nation. November 30, 2017 and the Democratic Socialists of America, where he was the National Communications Director from 2020-2025.
As a journalist, Kutalik contributed to various publications, including the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, Z Magazine, CounterPunch, Monthly Review, Against the Current, and Canadian Dimension.
References
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