lumpley
@lumpley.bsky.social
D. Vincent Baker, longtime indie ttrpg creator. Co-creator of Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills, and many more. Disarm, defund, abolish. He/him. https://lumpley.games
What is the movie that came out before you were born that you've watched the most times?
Charade Shock
Alt: A clip from Charade (1963) in which Audrey Hepburn is surprised to see Cary Grant and he makes a silly face at her.
static.klipy.com
42itous@rbc42.bsky.social · 3d agoMore of the story of my great-great grandmother Stena (short for Kjerstina). For some reason right now I'm intent upon finding out about my polygamous ancestors. I have 4 sets, 2 sets of great-great grandparents and 2 sets of great-great-greats. #familyhistory #Mormonhistory #polygamyquest
lumpley@lumpley.bsky.social · 6d agoWell I just learned that when I went to Fastaval in 2013, I was about 35 miles from the birthplace and childhood home of my great great grandmother Inger Kjerstina Pedersdatter. She was born in Aalborg in the 1850s.
UNION UNION UNION UNION
United Wizards of the Coast - CWA@uwotc-official.bsky.social · 5d agoThis morning, the D&D team and Magic's Studio X informed our leadership of our intent to unionize. We love the games we make and the work we do, and unionizing is how we protect that work. unitedwizardsofthecoast.com/news/dnd-stu...
Your town has deep secrets, terrifying monsters, unspeakable evils, a clandestine city council...and a public radio station! Tell the tales of your own strange town in Community Radio. #ttrpg Itch: thoughtcrimegames.it... IPR: www.indiepressrevolu... TBS: tabletopbookshelf.co...
Well I just learned that when I went to Fastaval in 2013, I was about 35 miles from the birthplace and childhood home of my great great grandmother Inger Kjerstina Pedersdatter. She was born in Aalborg in the 1850s.
This morning, having survived my perilous ordeal (covid vaccine), I'm going on polygamy quest through my family tree. Trying to piece stories together from geneological records, you know how it goes.
Speaking of toxic miasma... :) (work on the Breathless hack continues!)
John Harper@johnharper.bsky.social · 5mo agoThose who die choking on the toxic miasma and ash of the deathlands sometimes rise again as foul Wretches.
A beautiful, beautiful review of Under Hollow Hills! sparkybee.bearblog.dev/under-hollow...
Under Hollow Hills - A Review
Ever think about joining the circus?
sparkybee.bearblog.dev
Why hello there, body aches, chills, poor appetite, lethargy! Good of you to stop by. (Covid shot yesterday.)
After a solid 15+ years of writing it out of my attention, I find I'm digging into Mormon history again. It's not altogether a comfortable development in my life, but my brain's gonna do what it's gonna do. This song slays me. CW: religious absurdity & violence. youtu.be/5-Vt8hineS0?...
Brother Brigham, Brother Young
YouTube video by Corb Lund - Topic
youtu.be
As a game thinker, personally, I'm not interested in distinguishing games clearly from other kinds of behaviors and activities. I'm interested in finding and learning from the games that are hiding, unidentified, unrecognized, unacknowledged in the other things we do.
Now, there are some PbtA and post-PbtA games that do take "acting under fire" as their core template, and build their resolution rules on top of it. Significantly, crucially, they add new systems that deal with the problem I'm describing. Blades in the Dark's position and effect, for instance...
lumpley@lumpley.bsky.social · 2w ago15 years ago when Apocalypse World was new and people were beginning to understand and work with it, it was seductive to look at "acting under fire" and see, not one basic move of several, but the template underlying all the game's moves. Like @kierongillen.bsky.social 's classic gag:
Me too!
MegueyB 🔜Metatopia@megueyb.bsky.social · last wk.One thing I love about the #BakerHouseBand is how frickin SHARP these young folks are. We've cultivated an in-house play group that can both just play the hell out of our games AND have really cool theory discussions. Every time I talk to Elliot or Tovey about game design, my own work improves.
Mousetrap's framework is based on the Bakers' Firebrands. You alternate between mini-games and vignettes — mini-games that depict common interactions between players at the table and scenes that depict your characters in the fictional Castle Muldoon. Until your player and your character swap!
COMING SOON: In prelaunch w/ Violent Delights, another game inspired by Shakespeare: Mousetrap is a cursed game-within-a-game that won’t go back into its box. It’s game night. You and your friends have gathered to play a Hamlet-inspired game manuscript from 1983. But there’s a catch…
Coming soon: Mousetrap & Violent Delights
A cursed game-within-a-game that won't go back into its box, and a chess-based RPG about Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.
kickstarter.com
If you see young people, creatively, desperately finding ways to make their own third spade, maybe you keep an eye on it to make sure they are okay, maybe you don’t tear the branches down and yell “the kids stick fort is Right Here and they are talking about things that matter to them!!!”
Mousetrap has numerous inspirations. Mini-games come from Firebrands-style games with permission from @lumpley.bsky.social & @megueyb.bsky.social. Art derives from John Austen’s Hamlet (1922), and the game is nothing without Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Christie’s The Mousetrap, and Tom Stoppard’s plays.
Under Hollow Hills presents In Dreaming Avalon by Meguey & Vincent Baker, et al
A Role-playing Party Game of Arthurian Knights and Shakespearean Fairies
lumpley.itch.io
15 years ago when Apocalypse World was new and people were beginning to understand and work with it, it was seductive to look at "acting under fire" and see, not one basic move of several, but the template underlying all the game's moves. Like @kierongillen.bsky.social 's classic gag:
Kieron Gillen@kierongillen.bsky.social · 2w agoWHAT HAPPEN?
This is the skeleton key to every mid PBTA game and session - people look at the moves and think they’re equivalent to, like, initiative mechanics or something. Like an optional add-on for flavor. No, man, they’re the *whole deal.* Ignore them and everything falls alll the way apart
TheDevinTeam@thedevteam.itch.io · 2w agoI think a big problem is that players (and designers) look at the generic “do something” moves and think, “Oh this move does everything I need!” And, like, no they don’t. Your PBTA game needs specificity. Those generic moves should be used rarely and only in situations where the stakes are obvious.
As others have said, this is an example of a certifiably bad move or bad GM call, but I think it’s worth delving into why this example feels so relatable and pervasive. Because though you can pretty easily point out how this is against the rules and principles of PBTA, it’s also pretty common.
PJ Coffey - They/Them @homebrewandhacking@mastodon.ie@homebrewandhacking.bsky.social · 2w agoWhy I do not love PBTA stuff. "I try and cook a Michelin star meal. Oh no! A 7!" "You partially succeed. You cook the meal but it poisons the reviewer." The words to describe that situation is "You fail. Badly." But apparently that is "success with a complication" and that is "the same thing".
even more illustrations for under hollow hills characters! #illustrations #ttrpg #underhollowhills (I'm still trying to make rent, if you can support me, anything helps)
paisley ghostlywhispers@nerdywhispers.bsky.social · 2w agoko-fi.com/nerdywhisper... Hi! I'm still a very big chunk of money away from making rent, which is due on the 30th. I make TTRPGs, but I continue to be unemployed after having to leave my day job back in July. If you can, helping by donating would be massively appreciated. #mutualaid
look at some of these cool illustrations i did! they were commissions for an Under Hollow Hills campaign! #illustration #commission #ttrpg
paisley ghostlywhispers@nerdywhispers.bsky.social · 2w agoko-fi.com/nerdywhisper... Hi! I'm still a very big chunk of money away from making rent, which is due on the 30th. I make TTRPGs, but I continue to be unemployed after having to leave my day job back in July. If you can, helping by donating would be massively appreciated. #mutualaid
CW: Food The season's turned. I know this because our farm share isn't requiring every patron to take a 5lb bag of tomatoes like they were the last few weeks. To celebrate we're having BLTs (for those of us who partake) and MLTs (that's mushrooms, for those of us who don't).
In the old days I had a reputation for controversy-for-controversy's-sake (mostly undeserved, genuinely; it should have been a reputation for putting my foot in it). Anyhow I'd be a little surprised if there's anything in this one that ANYone would take exception to.
Tanya Floaker@floaker.bsky.social · 2w ago@lumpley.bsky.social knocks out pt2!
Ok, time to introduce y'all to some of my favorite dance battles and battlers. Meet Norah and Yarah, who are bad as hell (Norah is white shirt, Sarah green): youtube.com/shorts/_U1zz...
Winners 2vs2 Hiphop Battle | Norah & Yarah Free Spirit 2025
YouTube video by LET IT HAPPEN
youtube.com