Everything in this book may be wrong.
There's a solo TTRPG: Cage of Sand , "A time loop horror TTRPG for one or more players." I got it in the Racial Justice Bundle back in 2020 and promptly ignored it for several years (like most of the 12,000+ games I've picked up in game bundles). Recently, I picked up a tarot deck specifically for solo TTRPGs: the Calandra Tarot (it's pretty but not one I'd want to use for divination), and went…
A friend asked me if I worked in an office (yes) and warned me that AI is probably coming from my job. I told him no, I am very not worried: 1) I have a union, and 2) My company works with a lot of confidential personal info that needs careful handling, and 3) AI cannot do my job. AI cannot even attempt to do my job. I do document formatting & processing, and while I'm sure there are AI advocates…
I ran a Whole Game Scenario, more than a single session, for the first time in more than 20 years. Maybe 30 years. ... Brindlewood Bay is the first game I've actively wanted to run in decades. Played in someone else's game first to figure out the mechanics, and established that 1) Wow, I did not like how they ran the game 2) No, I mean... they ignored the base starting premise of the game, which…
There is Drama going around in the indie TTRPG community. Some people accuse a game designer of being a jerk, a cheat (someone who doesn't pay contractors, not someone involved in relationship shenanigans), a liar, and weaponizing their fame to harass other people in the community. Others say the above comments are nothing but hate-speech aimed at a person of a marginalized identity, and this…
Found a nice gaming article on Bluesky ( Three Tiers of RPG Publishing ), which led me to another article, which I found insightful and clever (and a bit sad, as accurate talk about economics these days tends to be), and then hit the bit that blew my mind. They Killed Normal and Called It Progress : "Julia Roberts, Applebee's, Bandcamp, your manager, and the death of everything in between. (Also,…
I'm writing a Brindlewood Bay adventure based on MDZS/The Untamed. Or rather, based on one small detail of MDZS/The Untamed, using a modern-AU setting: Investigating the death of Lan Furen. (Adventure title: Lost in the Clouds. Complexity 7. Would be 6, but the death is 30-ish years old, so they're working with some difficulty.) Brindlewood Bay has a different approach: Instead of "GM decides on…
No ICE in Minnesota bundle at itch.io: 1400+ games for $10 donation that goes to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Notable items include: Baba Is You (video game) A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build (video game) Calico (video game) ECO MOFOS!! (TTRPG) Bump in the Dark: Revised Edition (TTRPG) Tangled Blessings (solo TTRPG) Be Seeing You (GM-less TTRPG) Rosewood Abby (Brindlewood style TTRPG)…
From this thread at Bluesky - When people ask how to get into GA SF I always say that the right way is via some of those fat "Best Of" short fiction collections. Long discussion, many comments, mostly agreeing that yep, the way to get people into SF is anthologies, not novels, especially "best of" anthologies rather than whatever theme-of-the-day was popular. Also many people agreeing that many of…
Eaglecon is Cal State LA's student-focused science fiction convention. It's very small - mid-week, two days only, 8 programming items the first day and 6 the second. Mostly one-hour events with 15 minute breaks between. Programming is over for the day by 4:30; there is no late-afternoon/evening schedule. Daytime student event. I'll post later about the convention itself. General LA-related…
Last night, bluesky exploded with the discovery that itch.io has delisted/shadowbanned pretty much all its "adult" games - they don't show up in a search anymore, even if you have the 'show me adult content' turned on, even if you are the game's creator. They are still listed on the creator's pages; they are still in the bundles they've been in, and the "search title/author/tag" on the bundle…
1. Chaos. Last night, the building across the street caught on fire. Again. It's an abandoned/defunct factory; this is the... fifth? time it's caught on fire in the last couple of years. (The owner who acquired it after the previous owner died has been trying to sell it for far more than anyone wants to pay.) 2. Discord. This morning: Skipped my GURPS game (sigh) for round 3 of 4 of the Seattle…
I'd forgotten how much I love https://theyfightcrime.org . He's a lonely skateboarding shaman with a winning smile and a way with the ladies. She's a bloodthirsty wisecracking wrestler who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. They fight crime! He's an unconventional soccer-playing grifter in a wheelchair. She's an orphaned foul-mouthed socialite from out of town. They fight…
Got the most recent FAPA mailing, #351. It's fewer than 60 pages. While we're up to 21 members I think (I don't have it with me right now) - up from the 14-ish when I joined a few years ago - the page count has dropped recently, possibly in part because the Org Editor can no longer print people's entries for them. (He retired and no longer has access to the work printers.) So the overseas members…
I have been reading the TTRPG space on bluesky. 1) Everything is commercial. Soooo much "buy my thing." You might think there'd be a mix of "buy my thing" and "hey come watch/listen to our playthroughs" but no. It's all "buy my thing." 2) It's really, really hard to avoid D&D and Pathfinder. 3) I had managed to forget how wank in TTRPG spaces goes down. It's never just "D&D has taken over the…
I've been getting more connected to TTRPG communities, both playing groups and game development. I made a solo TTRPG about Glitch, using the Carta system - Lost World of Ur for Solovember , and I've also submitted it to a jam that's going to put it in a bundle soon. (As soon as they get approval from the final person, I gather.) I joined the Gaming Like It's 1929 jam (this year's "make a game…
Yesterday's tea club was virtual, because the weather is icky and I didn't want to be out after dark in the rain. So we had tea - KtE had some kind of chai, and later a lapsang souchong; I had Bone Daddy which is one of the "always keep this in the house" blends. (We may not always succeed at that, but it's very much "buy it again when we run out or notice we're getting low.") And we played…
So, this is a bit late, because today is Tea Club #14 and I have been so busy & frazzled I forgot to post about last Saturday's meeting. We let Joi look at (read: sniff) all the Fruits Basket teas and decided on Kagura Sohma , which we've had before and enjoyed. It was the one we picked up because "okay we got the main character teas we think we'll like (...plus one we got because we want his tea…
I arrived after the first pot had been made but was still warm; we had Dosti Tea because Eldri is visiting for now. (I am about halfway through RRR; we chatted a little about that and some about other Bollywood & Telegu movies.) Had a second pot of Dosti and then Bone Daddy . Both very nice. The day was scattered. Our place had been without hot water or gas for several days - the day after the…
I arrived late to the tea party and they already had a chai blend brewing, so I had that. I'd brought Bone Daddy with the intention of having that for the second pot, but Eldri was there and she had Niti tea - so went with that; it was great. I am approximately 1/3 of the way through RRR; maybe I can watch the rest of that soon. Am I watching the news today? OH FUCK NO. I have joined the…
Saturday's teas were Akito Sohma , which we've had before and liked, and Shigure , which we hadn't tried before but turned out well. We also noted that Hatori's tea smells medicinal, and now checking the ingredients, I can see why. We are likely to save that one for when someone feels sick. I am currently sick but not that kind of stuffy nose, sore throat, fever illness that wants a…
I found the only voting guide I need for the upcoming election; can now fill out my ballot with confidence. Space Cat Voter Guide I was uncertain because it opposes the recalls of the mayor and district attorney, so my friends and I looked into it. While we're not happy with the mayor's recent actions - it seems the recall is funded by a vulture capitalist who is unhappy with her attempts to…
This meeting was virtual. I was sick - not up to traveling, really not interested in inflicting illness on other people. (I've been sick for most of the last week and a half, which is why this is late being posted.) We had our first voice chat over Discord; I had more Warm Hugs tea; I don't remember which tea KtE had. But we also tried something new: Streaming a show together. We watched…
So, ah... it's halfway through October and I have seen nothing from NaNo. Last email from them was at the beginning of August, shilling for ProWritingAid. Last year, I got 12 NNWM emails between Aug 1 and Oct 16. (And 4 more in the last 2 weeks of October.) Nov 1 hit, and they started sending out "30 covers in 30 days" emails, plus the general writing inspiration posts. 16 emails in the first week…
Tea club was just me and elder daughter. Warm Hugs tea (which is amazing and is one of our always-keep-around teas), and later, Kagura Sohma , which was also pleasant. I was worried about the peppercorns (don't like pepper) but it wasn't an issue. Since it was just the two of us, we held it inside, with laptops, theoretically so we could go over election stuff. We did not go over election stuff…
This was a "full" meeting, with me, husband, both daughters, and a visit by Joi, who was not feeling well and spent most of the day upstairs. It was hot. We pondered iced tea instead of hot tea, but several of us don't like iced tea. We decided to opt for hot tea anyway and would just wait for it to cool. So we had Allison Hargreeves tea, and I really enjoyed it. (Huh. Did not know it was a white…