THIS. THIS. THIS. There’s reasons why folks might focus on D&D depending on their scope/ research question. BUT I do not accept arguments for focusing on D&D like: - the extant research focuses on D&D - D&D is inevitable touchstone - D&D was first _________ - D&D can represent all of TTRPG

this is truly it. happy for people who are good at / can stand tiktok, but i shouldn't have to master some other unrelated skill to get work in the craft i have actually spent my professional life improving at

Dear reporter friends, Please don't use military exercises (real world skill oriented training) and wargames (abstracted simulated decision focused events) interchangeably. It makes my job so much harder. 😭 - your friendly neighborhood game designer 🎲

Based on personal experience

Wiltshire turned up to 11.

🚨 The numbers are in... 🎲 252 creators 📚 261 products 💰 $1,100+ USD in value Hundreds of creators have come together to share their work, support the community, and celebrate Free RPG Day in style. 🌟 Recommend and add to your wishlist. This is going to be epic. ❤️ rpg-trader.com/products/102...

My son is awesome. 😁

Caught a mouse in our house and released it in a local park with lots of cover. 🐭

Learning about the Polivoks resulted in me writing a paper about the politics of music in the USSR. I'm glad @cherryaudio.bsky.social recreated the Polivoks as a VST (Atomika) #music #synth www.synthtopia.com/content/2026...

Since I can't remember exactly what day in June 1996 that I got Heathcliff, I made June 13, National Pigeon Day, his unofficial "roost" day. Bittersweet, though, since he's an old, old dove. At least for today, he's sunning himself on his favorite ledge! #PigeonsOfBsky

Musk functionally ran the US government for 6 months last year and managed to: increase spending, slash services, kill 100,000s, and help nurture both Ebola & Screwworms. Yet somehow no one mentions this when they talk about the company he is going to take public this week.

HIRE LYNNE

MORS Symposium lunch break at the US Air Force Academy. Still weird to think that I taught here for six years! If someone told me on my first day of Army basic training that’d I’d retire from here, I’d of told them they were nuts

Anytime we talk in the phone, my wife always ends with an over-the-top “I LOVE YOU BYEEEE!!!” and hangs up before I can respond in kind. 😜

Off to another conference, the Military Operations Research Society Symposium. Giving another talk on gaming psychology & demoing a mod of the "Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition" RPG as a tactical tabletop wargame with two US Army infantry squads

Proposing that all PhDs, regardless of discipline, be allowed to wear a white lab coat with their name sewn in cursive over the right pocket, and the pocket includes a really nice fountain pen

5-minute break for Maximum RPMs game

My one shot Freedom squadron adventure Operation Talon’s Grasp will be on DrveThruRPG soon through Mobius Worlds Publishing. I’m co-authoring Maximum RPMs with my son @pennythegoblin.bsky.social (they’ve done all the pregen characters and NPCs, while I’m focusing on lore)

Picked up a few things art Chupacabracon. Running a game at 2pm set in my home brew Prowlers & Paragons setting, Maximum RPMs (think Mad Max, players have characters and souped-up cars)

Had a lovely conversation with @laurieoc.bsky.social who is the organizing energy behind @playtestmaterial.bsky.social — I’m really optimistic about this one. We desperately need a space that neither journalism nor academic journals cover (as awesome as @analoggamestudies.bsky.social etc. are.)

I am at the exact level of reputation I would like: my face means little, my name makes interesting people excited, I know folks whose work I get to watch grow & folks who rest easy & energetic in their powers, & sometimes I get to interact with cool weird stuff still in process of being born.

*Yes it is normal for historians to spend years reading primary sources in 8 languages + thousands of secondary works to produce one book. This is why those books and our knowledge is valuable! And why a podcaster who reads one book by a historian is not in fact "digging deep" into the subject.

Running Operation: Talon’s Grasp, a one shot for Freedom Squadron

Yes, my handwriting is that bad 😁

Iowa City locals, I'm probably going to be a little quiet this weekend. One of my favorite regulars passed away. You should absolutely still come and enjoy the books. That's what we're here for. Just - tell someone who might not expect it that they mean something to you. I regret that I didn't.

Just reviewed an assignment with a student via cell from the back of an Uber in Austin. Hey, at least it worked!

THANK YOU to author @kevincurleycreates.bsky.social for the latest donation to the shelves ❤️📚 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐬 is a curated collection of hundreds of #VideoGame advertisements from the comic book pages of the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. #Gaming #BookGander #Comics

University of Colorado’s famous lagoon turtles practicing for Fall cheer squad tryouts.

Tuesday night in the Genki house

I'm also doing a thing at Chupacabracon! 😀 tabletop.events/conventions/...

My wife is heading to Las Vegas for her B-Day to see BTS in concert (I got her first-class air tickets, too), then I'm off to Chupacabracon in TX on Thurs just as she's heading home. We have coffee shop and vintage market date plans next week to catch up from our travels. :-)

Whenever I see people struggling through slop "art" for their gaming stuff, I'm going to post this. You are always welcome to link to other sources when I do.

Revision of a track I've posted before, "Astra." I added tabla drums to spice it up ("Tala" module bottom row center-ish). Just a simple loop melody here, but it's intended for live performance: various dials, faders, and triggers are mapped to MIDI controllers so I can alter things on the fly

Going to need a Russophone to explain to me how one misreports (?) on a translation of Aristotle (?) in a political manner (?) meriting arrest and detention by police (?!) meduza.io/amp/en/featu...

A taco is also good.

“Use AI or get left behind!” Please, leave me behind. Drop me off on the side of the road somewhere. Sentence me to a remote cabin with a typewriter and some wildflowers that don’t know how to use the internet

Timeline cleanser

It's always nice when there's something I don't want to do more than I don't want to grade, so that grading becomes the productive procrastination.

I just made lunch featuring all four food groups: soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and noodles.

my most controversial opinion is that every frank lloyd wright building looks super uncomfortable, murderous to clean, and like it should be owned by someone plotting to blow up an orphanage

i love pigeons 🖤🖤🖤 this bumper sticker will be available later this month!

Well, the Canvas outage shortened my final spring semester lesson by 30 minutes…

Game studios keep trying to sneak "AI" past their customers, get caught, then flap around like "Oh wow we love humans we never meant any harm we're just a wittle baby." Bullshit. They know this shit is unpopular but they think they can "just the tip" their way into getting us to accept it.

Krotzka 1739. Black Powder rules. Austrians lost this historically and therefore war against the Ottomans by getting bottled up in a valley and shot to bits. In our game they have got through the valleys and the battle is much more even... To be continued. #wargaming

#books #read #write #authorlife #blueskywriters #booksky