This problem is very meaningful to me because in the school lunch scandal, I see a microcosm of the problems plaguing NZ’s ability to organise and deliver sustainable innovation and economic development that provides social benefits and feeds back into further innovation and economic development.

Excellent as always from Fisher. & yet more proof that many politicians (Labour politicians!) owe abject apologies to Tamatha Paul for saying police make some people feel unsafe.

I read this with my jaw on the floor. A strategy that must have been created by the cut-up method.

The secret 4th stage of enshittification is “destroying your own company and dragging the world down with you”

Companies are already finding that retail pricing for tokens makes employing humans a much more affordable option. Are the NZ government guaranteed cheap token prices? I very much doubt it. Are they going to build their own infrastructure and models? I don't think so.

Also - government here and everywhere seem very keen to lock in dependence on AI... ...which is a service that can only be provided by big overseas tech companies... ...who can ratchet up the cost of tokens whenever they like. Forever. How can this possibly make financial sense?

Government pinning their reelection hopes on getting a rancid culture war going. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Content warning, death threat. Turning the latest round of death threat into a blog post. Because colonial legacy. For anyone that still thinks the FSU promotes free speech. culture-centered.blogspot.com/2026/05/from...

A KiwiRPG member just spotted this local creator on YouTube - Forest Lily, an artist making (among other things) fantasy item art cards with blank spaces for writing in #TTRPG details. Their art drop is coming soon! youtube.com/shorts/k9tOd...

We're launching tomorrow! One of the four new books is MORE FANTASY, so here's a @badsquiddogames.bsky.social muscle mommy and druid hanging out doing adventures and stuff. Gena and Xabrielle, I think they're called. Sign up! www.kickstarter.com/projects/han... #jhbackdrops

As I have always said, the way forward for humanity requires transforming capitalism and eroding capitalism as well as rejecting or smashing capitalism. Paradoxical and in tension. Many struggles and strategies needed. Not one true way.

Excellent post here from Cyn. The logic of this change is “we need to be able to establish and police a social hierarchy”. NCEA is imperfect (to say the least), but its premise is “we need to support all kinds of people to achieve in all kinds of ways”. It is humane, evidence-based, and it works.

Everything I do is authentic and that's why I'm often mistaken for a Team of people. Also I'm tired.

This is a great book

Pleased to report I have again missed many waves of games-related discourse and outrage. Yes, I sometimes feel uninformed on the discord from time to time, but so worth it. Highly recommend my “engaging in discourse is a blocking offence” strategy, enabled by BlueSky block, the block that works.

COMING SOON TO KICKSTARTER! From Iron Hills Studios in Whangarei: A Kobold Pilgrimage: One-Hour One-Shots for #Shadowdark & #DnD5e www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...

The Captives of Dolagan scenario for #DnD5E from @dicelegenz.bsky.social is now available at @roll20.net ! marketplace.roll20.net/browse/gamea...

just announced: an upcoming #Pathfinder2E Pathfinder Society scenario from @paizo.com, by #KiwiRPG member @davidschwartznz.bsky.social ! Set in a sinister abandoned theatre, FOR THE LOVE OF VANITY releases in July! store.paizo.com/pathfinder-s...

Before designing a game, explore your ideas by designing a game. (This is a great thread about making stuff and what you can discover by exploring different, even challenging, processes.)

As the writer/director of this film, I’ve seen many, many reviews. None have been written with the care & insight & contextual resonance of this one. Tears came to my eyes as I read it. It’s just that beautiful. Thank you @femfilmrogue.bsky.social for seeing my intent, and celebrating it with gusto!

So exciting to see Cortex hitting the scene at last!

The Spotlights were originally stretch goals from the crowdfunding campaign for Cortex Prime. I am excited to finally get them into wider distribution. @ayvalentine.bsky.social & @sachristensen.bsky.social did so much work at @direwolfdigital.com developing and expanding them for publication!

When you go solar, you DO NOT want to deal with Endless Energy...

Perhaps the least surprising win in the history of NZ book awards, because this book is mind-blowingly impressive. Congratulations Elizabeth Cox!

‘Social stability’ is an imported dog whistle, explicitly designed to prime us with idea that immigrants destabilise things and are a danger. This is the worldwide right’s plan for climate change: it *will* just happen, we can’t stop it, we just need powers to repel climate refugees.

Official statement from the KiwiRPG committee on the 4 Pillars Tabletop Icons site and the use of AI generated images of people, including our members www.kiwirpg.com/blog/2026/05...

I just backed Second Chance Charms: An Urban Fantasy Novel With Heart on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/kar...

new zealander everlee wihongi was due to meet with her lawyer yesterday. then ICE moved her to their most notorious tent facility in texas: 3000 people, highest death rate, most sexual assaults. and today, she disappeared off the system. please RT: www.webworm.co/everleehasdi...

Anyone doing video thumbnails like this deserves to be shunned and blacklisted from the industry. (I’ve never heard of this person, presumably they’re chasing those sweet sweet misogyny clicks, but they are far from the only one.)

Looking for RPGs that are coming out in June or beyond for my TTGM column. If you have a project, or know of one , then post it here!

It is interesting to me how, organically, “how do we do scenarios for this game?” is core to the Handiwork method. Old school “actual play”. We need a new phrase for using your game at a table. (No shade towards the current meaning, but the artist formerly known as actual play really matters eh?)

#ttrpg dice nerds will know this is a bit of a breakthrough!

turns out there’s a nice way to encode Sorceror-style dice pool rolls making them very susceptible to analysis

Discover great Solo and Duet TTRPGs on solorpglist.com We have over 1,115 listed, with more titles added every day! If you've played a solo or duet game that you enjoyed, or made one, feel free to submit it to our site so it can be shared with others. #soloTTRPG solo RPG journaling game TTRPG

making my own dice roller, on steroids, for when you need… a lot of dice (the output here is analytic, not generated by sampling, but it _is_ a close approximation [mean off by 0.0005%] and not an exact calculation — it has to be, with values this large)

OK FOLKS! Want to w in THE SAMPLER BOOK from the upcoming @handiworkgames.bsky.social KS? *and* a Bad Squiddo voucher? Photo our minis on a Jon backdrop, tag #jhbackdrops @badsquiddogames.bsky.social @handiworkgames.bsky.social All the T&C in this link: badsquiddogames.com/blog/photo-c...

I was just saying to a friend in Reform-laden UK that the worst thing about the turn to fascism everywhere is that every piece of “the establishment” has at best shrugged and let it happen, if not promoted and normalised it. NZ government must raise hell about this. Our own future depends on it!

Imagine, if you will, a new technology so bad that it bypasses cool early adoption by young people and immediately becomes cringe boomer shit. Like if Facebook skipped a decade straight off the bat.

Every NZer should be shit-scared that if they get unlawfully and arbitrarily detained by an authoritarian regime overseas, their Minister of Foreign Affairs For Life Winston Raymond Peters will just tell them that they shouldn't have been wearing a skirt that short in the first place

He's right you should know about Stonetop! For another take, here's my piece that won a Bloggie last year. indiegamereadingclub.com/indie-game-r...

If you like modern horror, there's a big bundle of Delta Green goodness over at Fanatical. This is my favorite modern horror setting for RPGs. I might get this just so I can finally have a copy of The Conspiracy.

Sir Rod Drury forfeits NZer of the Year award

Phwoar. The first copies of Cold City and Hot War limited edition have arrived and passed quality assurance. We're due the main shipment of the regular edition any day now. Exciting stuff. #coldcity

The state of things is absolute horses

This post deserves its own Mortal Kombat “Fatality” animation.

It’s very funny how this man spent years attacking mātauranga Māori for being taught in NZ schools, falsely claiming Māori spiritual belief was being promoted as science, and is now convinced the plagiarism machine is sentient with no evidence to back this up other than he fancies his AI girlfriend

Oedipost complex

Disney should release special editions where every time Darth Vader says “dark side” he instead says “bogan” (Because in early drafts the dark side of the force was called “The Bogan” and it should never have been changed.) “Feel the power of the bogan!”