Followed by THE ELECTROPLASMIC ZODIAC, by the formidable @sidneyicarus.bsky.social

"A little scary, a little sad" is my new favourite phrase for Decaying Orbit.

Indie Game Reading Club@indiegamereadingclub.com · 3w ago

Summers are where campaigns go to die. And from their ashes arise ONE SHOTS. I've gotten some fun one-offs to the table this summer and wanted to share them with you. @jaytreat.bsky.social 's Strange Gravity, @sidneyicarus.bsky.social 's Decaying Orbit, and @adambell.games 's Uneasy Lies The Head.

Every time I start a design I allocate myself an "Innovation Budget", an amount of newness that I am allowed to introduce. Day two, I blow through it twice. I just watch that self-imposed limit shrink in my rearview. I live in awe of people who are great at taking those little steps.

Ai is a fake orgasm machine and the people who use it either can't tell or don't care

Nobody reflect, nobody gets choked up.

Marcelo Teson@marceloteson.com · 3y ago

There was an interview with DJ Shadow in a doc about turntablists that took place in a basement full of all these old forgotten LP's and 45's, and he said he likes sitting there because every record is someone's dream and his own work isn't special, it's just like all of these forgotten dreams.

But part of the temptation to try that arises from the simple fact that D&D is genuinely very difficult to explain. Not the rules. D&D itself. Do a 5 whys on any element of D&D, and the whole thing unspools. I used to think that was a problem, but these days I think it’s the point.

Talking about games with Sam is one of my favourite pastimes, would you like to listen in on this conversation?

Sam D@diceexploder.com · 3mo ago

On top of launching Band-Aids & Bullet Holes on kickstarter today, I've also got a new episode of Dice Exploder! This month I'm talking games/mechanics that inspired BABH starting with @sidneyicarus.bsky.social on character nonmonogamy: when players share control of characters. I love doing this!

On top of launching Band-Aids & Bullet Holes on kickstarter today, I've also got a new episode of Dice Exploder! This month I'm talking games/mechanics that inspired BABH starting with @sidneyicarus.bsky.social on character nonmonogamy: when players share control of characters. I love doing this!

Transcript: Character Nonmonogamy (Space Post) with Sidney Icarus - Dice Exploder

Listen to this episode here. Today is the launch of Band-Aids & Bullet Holes, my melodramatic action game of bloody revenge. It's a one shot, capsule game, box set, deckbuilder...

diceexploder.com

I have the awesome opportunity to see @themountaingoats.bsky.social in Melbourne tonight. My hope is that for the encore, John just tells us all about his Night Witches characters. "Normally, this is where we'd play No Children" Band starts up "But today, I want to talk about Lt Olga Sebrova..."

I miss session stat highlights! A few months ago I played some Apocalypse World 2e with old friends and new friends, and I really fell in love again with the idea of Highlights. I miss having a tool to say "we've been rewarding you for being X, try being Y" daily-apocalypse.com/daily-apocal...

non-dev playing a game: why didn’t the team do [X thing that seems obvious]? are they stupid? dev playing a game: why didn’t the team do [X thing that seems obvious]? am I stupid?

How do your favorite #TTRPGs handle death when your character hits 0 hit points? @sidneyicarus.bsky.social and @heyitsmattyp.bsky.social discuss this and cover #NightWitchesRPG in their video podcast Start A Quest! #RPGs #games youtu.be/XuCdM-PErhc

What TTRPGs get wrong about dying

YouTube video by Start A Quest!

youtu.be

I've said before my favourite special ability of the last however long has been "When it matters who's fastest, you are." But, actually, this is such a giant problem and I'm so tired of it.

TheDevinTeam@thedevteam.itch.io · 5mo ago

RPGs have got to stop writing flavor text like, “You’re the apex of this discipline, all bow before you in awe,” and then the ability associated with it is, “You can do a thing you could do at level 1 an extra time before you need to take a nap.”

From @diceexploder.com in the Lightning Barriers Episode: "I should do a whole episode on Turf" Omg yes please, yes. Friend. Yes. Please do. Get me back on for this. Or anyone else. Get Tim on. The world needs this.

the video game industry is a mess

I spent two days in hospital investigating mid-tier abdo pain (kidney stone >1cm takes the money). The biggest thing I achieved, besides getting a bit of needed rest, was learning how to solve a Rubik's cube. Not a meaningful success, but a success all the same.

What really mattered: We were part of their community. What still mattered: basics like attractive covers, MSRP discounts, and easy distribution What didn't matter: that D&D is over 100,000x bigger than any of us 4/▶️

Does my social reach hit anyone in the Northern Territory? Katherine-adjacent? Is "Jesus Loves Nachos" still a thing? I have an overwhelming nostalgia for three words spray painted on a rail bridge.

So my very favourite part of beta-reading, Playtesting, or giving any feedback is when I ask the question that gets answered by "That's just the kind of thing I'm making." This is what I call reaching "Feedback Bedrock".

Every now and then I am struck by an overwhelming feeling of missing Toronto. There's no "then I got a Boston Cream and everything settles" bit here. From time to time I am struck with a deep and beautiful longing for a country that opened her arms to me for two years.

I'm helping

this has not been paid for by john taylor of geekify

(The warehouse issue IS genuinely bad, but it’s not part of the narrative of the conflict.) Our BAD conflicts involve fraud, theft, assault and genuinely terrible activities. Disagreements over contract terms, leading to negotiations that break down and returning IP is a *success*.

I feel like Levi has hit the nail on the head here, because while it’s really clear that there are a lot of emotions in play here, the *business* story here was pretty mundane, and not terribly persuasive of anything nefarious.

🍁 Levi Kornelsen@levikornelsen.bsky.social · 6mo ago

This is not to say these people can't possibly have some kind of legitimate beef with Jay. Maybe they do! But these numbers ain't it, and they certainly don't make any other complaint paired with or springboarding off them them look *stronger.*

As a former journalist, and as someone who has had mixed experiences with Rascal as a developer and artist, this article was absolutely infuriating to read and led to me not renewing my subscription. An unattributed pull quote before a paywall calling someone a fake queer is beyond ethical failure.

jay Dragon is sleepy@jdragsky.bsky.social · 6mo ago

a response to the @rascal.news article on yazeba's bed & breakfast, clarifying some misunderstandings and (hopefully) providing a clearer explanation of what happened possumcreek.medium.com/a-response-t...

Great thread. Something under-appreciated, maybe, is when those anti-play rules are only unlocked after time (e.g. at a certain level). I often enjoy resource-tracking etc to begin with, but after X sessions it becomes repetitive and tedious. At which point I'm glad for a reason to put it aside!

I've been doing a lot of work focused toward a D&D-familiar audience, especially how "how to solve" problems (encumbrance, magic items, exploration etc). One of the things that has come up often is this consideration of "more game vs less game", which is a lens I haven't seen discussed (1/4)

Swords Without Master is back! One of the most tremendous and formative games I've seen! www.kickstarter.com/projects/unw...

Swords Without Master

A ttrpg of strange sorceries, ferocious deeds, and astounding wonder by Epidiah Ravachol.

kickstarter.com