If you follow me you know how annoyed (too soft a word) I get with the superficial and misplaced criticism that Cyberpunk (big C but also little c) isn't "punk" enough. This essay goes at that criticism as well as I've seen it.

Woke up to my cairn 2e boxset here yay! What an amazing set

Every so often im reminded of the fact some prestigious fucking designers follow me and im like how?? I love you all tho

As someone who grew up in rural britian, and lives in cornwall now, it surprises me how much i love London. I only go there for dragonmeet, but i end up misisng it a lot which is weird because i dont get homesick.

I am so grateful for british pub culture, like of course i love a pint but also i like having a third space i can chill in, do some writing and reading around people, its surprisingly autistic friendly (and coffee shops always feel far to corporate)

I wrote before about points of interactions in solo games, but ive been really thinking about for the queen since i played it and how the image of the queen as a point of interaction that focuses the play group together (in a similar way ironsworn moves do but with *just* a picture)

Drafting an essay titled "a transfeminine reading of 'the green knight'" why did i drop out of uni just to set myself homework?

Two terms ive coined that i use often is "john carter effect" and "mulan effect" - the first is when the origin of a style/genre is reintroduced to modern audiences but is seen as generic (cus of the movies fate) - the latter is when a story resonates with both trans fem and trans masc people

I have said many times, Sanderson is personally nice, but so what. Nice is cheap. He pumps money into a hate organization. That he can launder his own reputation effectively is the only think separating him from Rowling.

Loving hades 2 but nemisis' design is awful that 'snatched' waist is like free mmorpg ads you see on a manga pirating site. Meanwhile everyone else has fantastic design (well hekates ab window is eh)

I love this pub so much, great music, a bookshop with weirdly cheap brand new books (i bought all my le guin here), the barkeeps are playing tabletennis with customers which ive never seen here before, theres pinball and board games, and a great selection of local and foreign ales.

This is true for OSR ttrpgs too lmao

Art by • Yoshitaka Amano

Hm isnt an easy way to do "respawnable" characters in rpgs (esp old school dnd) just that it costs xp to respawn, which makes death still unpleasant but not final? (Or more accurately for a game im designing, it would cost "points" which said points are spent to buy better guns and gear)

How come they haven't done an arthuriana mtg set or secret lair yet? That feels so ripe for it, especially with creative interpretation in the art (like the lotr set), instead of the corpo gen x slop they do instead that already has a static visualisation and often already are in card games

I wrote a massive TTRPG setting guide encyclopaedia about the ancient Scotland and the Picts who lived in it. It covers everything scholars currently know about life in the 7th century, from landscapes to kingdoms to faith, magic, settlements, and so much more. Check it out! carvedinstone.scot

Ah fuckkkk this looks so good

Why is 'the menu', a fun but forgettable movie, brought up so much? Both offline and online, i just dont understand why that movie gets talked about cus... theres nothing there to talk about

If you advertise your book as "book 1" im instantly not interested but if you advertise a book has sequals i dont mind it. I guess book 1 has connotations of the story is unresolved by the end.

And that's how you integrate digital elements into an exhibition. Part of the temporary "China's Dinosaur World" at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, China. Closing this November. Video source: Shanghai Let's Meet

It'll never not get a little chuckle out of me that people got so terrified of the specter of "baeddels" that they unironically brought back an antique anglo-saxon slur against trans women

It is still so bizzare dnd does not have a witch class which i can only surmount is because of misogyny

The homogenisation and consolidation of buisinesses and brands has led to the erosion of the midlist, the indie movie or band or comic. There's a real sense of "I'll only try media that's already popular / famous," and I'm begging you to look for the weird shit, the experimental, the niche.

Cool man, what do you think an unhinged right wing party will do with ID cards after you lose the next election ? Probably nothing right? Cool man, yeah, probably nothing

Ive been lowkey addicted to mario kart world its a great game, and i tried the sonic racing demo because while the general aesthetic vibe of sonic is deeply offputting to me i did like the old racing game on ds - anyway that demo at least was awful, like mr beast levels of over stimulation crap.

The issue with many spicy books (esp romantasy) is they aren't drawing upon or influenced by other erotica stories (even older fantasy erotica) nor are they even drawing upon other contemporary erotic narratives (like in videogames/visual novels/comics)

never joining this fucking program again bro

Alien earth: I like a lot of what it intorduces and attempts, and its well.made and beautiful, but it's just not horror. There's far too much of characters being saved in the nick of time, especially for such a large cast. It never builds dread or tension, and that sucks my enjoyment away.

Back in the Forge days, and I still see it occasionally, there was a story that in our games we were disempowering the GM because we'd had bad experiences with viking hat GMs in our pasts. It's not at all true! Our bad experiences were AS GMs.

My copy of earthborne rangers turned up today; excited to start playing

Thinking about the horror I loved this year vs horror I have hated and I think a common denominator is I cannot stand when protagonists are kept protected from the source of horror.

I do think when people complain that mothership patches don't do anything that's kinda a bad complaint, they literaly shape your character and provide a quick and easy perspective of who they are - very useful for a rules lite deathly osr-type game where youll be rolling many up.

We truly live in the worst timeline. Here are some rambling thoughts on proposed changes to immigration in the UK and how it impacts me directly. byodinsbeardrpg.com/email/2bd5f5...

Tending the garden

"once upon a time, there was a princess"

When we say the games industry is broken, this is the shit we mean

Wait tylenol is just paracetamol??? Thats even more bizzare, the thing that practicly everybody ever has taken at some point.

This led me down a rabbit hole of learning about Eric Gill and what the actual fuck

Found out that people exist who flat out do not see 'oriental adventures' as being racist what the fuck

Art by • Julek Heller

San Diego Comic Con Program 1978. Cover art by Boris Vallejo.

she's just like me fr fr

This is so fucking good im going a bit crazy (is it strange that this satisfied an aesthetic need ive found alien earth has utterly failed at ~ basicly that mothership feeling)

I said this a long time ago, but saying porn must require clear consent is like saying every film about cars needs clear, zoomed in shots of seatbelt buckling. We're making art for adults, it's unreasonable to think we should patronize them like preschool children.

Im so glad they made a legit sequal to dying light finally, can't wait to play it.

I dont want to accept that the arthurian fashion would be no beards (in the roman fashion) - what good is a man if he doesnt have a beard? Ugh

I of course welcome the recognition of the state of Palestine. And there won't be a Palestinian state left if government's continue enabling Israel's unfolding genocide. Labour can't credibly support Palestinian statehood whilst also continuing to arm Israel.

My big personal opinion on cyberpunk is you dont get to talk until youve read both older and contemporary cyberpunk short stories. Its a genre that is alive and well and doesn't need "fixing" and if the over-aestheticisation grate you look at non-visual medium like stories. Pick up an anthology.

I think this is what the sequal did really good on; showcasing more revant fearful aesthetic imagery to today - the awe of one tree because plants are rare, or the large garbage heaps with people picking over it, or empty citys destroyed by warfare, or child factories.

My opinion on cyberpunk 2077 is its handling cyperpunk is kinda mid but not bad, its story is whatever but the dlc story is really fucking good, the gameplay is fun but not amazing, the world is empty but not the point anymore, johnny is fun af but songbird is the best, and i like it a lot.