The Burning Question is the name of the monthly newsletter of Phoenix Roleplaying. The newsletter is distributed among all members of Phoenix Roleplaying with the exception of those who have indicated that they do not want to receive the newsletter.
The first edition was distributed in October 2012 and brought the news of the previous month. At that point the newsletter was still named the same as the site (Phoenix Roleplaying) but was mostly referred to as the Phoenix newsletter. It was not until its third edition that it got the name The Burning Question after several voting rounds.
Currently the newsletter consists of two pages: the first page brings the most important news related to the forums and the sims; the second page carries a background story. These background stories can vary from reviews of TV shows and books to interviews and stories about tabletop RPGs.
The current staff of The Burning Question consists of Mischa Brendel (editor-in-chief), Robert Longtin (editor, designer) and Silent Hunter (columnist).
The Burning Question archive
(Background stories are listed in brackets)
- Issue 1 (Cult Television: Blake's 7)
- Issue 2 (A Pivotal Fighter – the MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’)
- Issue 3 (Cult Television: Alias)
- Issue 4 (2012 Views on Phoenix, Simming Meets Tabletop RPG)
- Issue 5 (An interview with Phoenix member Deborah Leighton-Plom)
- Issue 6 (Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
- Issue 7 (Planes and Mercs)
- Issue 8 (Cult Television: Forbrydelsen)
- Issue 9 (Star Trek Into Darkness: a review, From the Osprey's Nest: Head Canon)
- Issue 10 (USS Phoenix CL-46: Lucky Escape to Controversial End, Pacific Rim review)
- Issue 11 (Cult Television: The Bill, Part One)
- Issue 12 (Eavesdown Examiner, The Changing Times of Doctor Who)
- Issue 13 (2013 Views on Phoenix, Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
- Issue 14 (Cult Television: The Bill, Part Two)
- Issue 15 (The Prince of Mercenaries: Albrecht von Wallenstein)
- Issue 16 (Giorgio Borgo's artwork, Cult Television: Airwolf)
- Issue 17 (Review: 24: Live Another Day, The Osprey's Nest, Silent Hunter's artwork, Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past)
- Issue 18 (Alpha Six: The Dossier)
- Issue 19 (Kevin Diamond's artwork, Interview with Jason Andersen)
- Issue 20 (The Longest Journey: The Journey So Far, Settling Accounts, Review: The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies)
- Issue 21 (The Art of the Play-by)
- Issue 22 (Easy traps to fall for as a beginning RPG-player)
- Issue 23 (Greatness Thrust Upon Them, Star Citizen: Return of the Space Simulator)
- Issue 24 (Firefly: The Break-Down)
- Issue 25 (X-Com)
- Issue 26 (Twilight 2000)
- Issue 27 (Spectre / Star Wars)
- Issue 28 (X-Com, Convert-81 High Speed Train)
- Issue 29 (Jumping back into FTL: Dark Matter)
- Issue 30 (A Time of Losses and Covert-81)
