Voted. Lot of Republicans running unopposed in my neck of the woods. Wondering if maybe I shouldn't just HARD pivot into local politics. Yes. I have experience. I've told elves and wizards what to do for decades at this point.

This is too cool of a thread idea to pass up on – I've got to try this with my own games. "The kind of tv show each of my games would be if I was given the budget to make tv shows instead of a #ttrpg:" 1/7

No less than 8 and probably no more than 25. Commercially.

In lieu of yet another objectively correct opinion on the "Rule of Cool," I present you a thread of the kind of tv show each of my games would be if I was given the budget to make tv shows instead of ttrpgs. I run games like a writers' room, I write them to help you run them like tv shows. 1/14

“You can’t make a living doing full-time creative work.” You can, maybe you just don’t like the idea of being poor. Success as a TTRPG maker looks like never getting vacations, having 4 roommates, and your friends paying for your drinks. Success does not mean lots of money. It means making art.

G'night everybody. Keep spooky in your heart.

Midnight Muscadines in the wild? Well, that's an easy sell for me. Gonna go find my headphones.

Still enjoying running Dungeon World 2e. Just wrote a move for navigating the fraught relationship between the Rogue's Oathbow (vengeful, brooding, intense) and his new Teleportation Cloak (flighty, extroverted, whimsical). When the items bicker, pick a side and roll +bond...

It's the end of #MorkTober and I have decided that I'm playing along. But I'm probably going to be releasing this zine for Fe-Bruary.

"I need dice that match my character." "I need dice that match the setting." "I need new dice for my new campaign." "I need metal dice so that the table bears the marks of my passage!" "I need mammoth ivory dice!" You /need/ so little to participate in this hobby. I don't understand.

Rev from the Critshow went on Party of 1 to play Cobwebs once and over the next three months I binged until I was current. Party of One is still one of exactly four podcasts I keep up with consistently. Thanks for the years and the years to come!

It is one of my fondest wishes to one day write an audience participation-style CYOA story like "You Awaken in Razor Hill." The problem, of course, is that the internet doesn't host a lot of forums that have the user base who'd be both interested and active enough to make it happen anymore. So...

"In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone, I remember. And they all live again." -Soldiers Live, Glen Cook There are a lot of designers, artists, and players that I grew in the scene with who've kinda vanished. I hope they're doing okay.

Found a TTRPG splatbook called "Conflict Architecture" and am bereft that it's not a treasury of badass setpieces for climactic final fights.

Yesterday was a 2200 word day thanks to starting it 895 words in debt. Burnt Wicks now has an end condition for each of the five playbooks: a final combat encounter where you finally take your revenge on those who made an "adventurer" out of you. One last impossible fight to win.

Writing discourse is not writing. 895 words in debt this morning--forgive me the hot takes. Let's get it done.

Younger Drakeling is going through a Space Marine phase right now and this is half shitpost/half reverent homage is doing the Astartes thing way better than the quick and dirty hack of The Regiment that I was putting together for us to play. Dusting off my chainsword this weekend. Count on it.

My ability to write fiction has become severely compromised. Now everything's got places where mechanics are meant to fit, questions built to be answered at the table, and hooks into stories behind and beyond the one that I'm actually writing. Fiction is concrete, which means that it's impossible.

Forgot that I had an 8 page essay on the role of spectacle in horror film until 45 minutes before class. I rattled off 8 pages about Night of the Living Dead without a single in-line citation and still had time to grab food from the caf before class. A-. Human bullshit first, last, and always.

Man. Would be cool to live in a country that invested in the humanities rather than doubling down on perpetual inhumanity.

Wish granted. From our last Mausritter game: a flare to drive away the Ghost Owl who haunted the Knocking Oak on the border of Fox Crossing. "Rote" says Fennel, "the oil from my bag, just the thing to burn for hours."

Crafting systems are like boats. I am sure I could have fun with one and it would open up an entirely new variety of experiences if I could figure out the logistics. But whenever I grab one my eyes glaze over and I default to my usual. Rote, Tricky, Weird, and Sentimental.

I make my favorite games in hopes that maybe you've got room in your heart for new favorites, too.

Previous winners have received more than 100 nominations and three dozen awards at festivals on four continents. Now it's your turn! The Tabletop Arts Fund is proud to announce our 2026 Actual Play Grants. 📅 Submissions close October 31, 2025. 👉 Apply now: apply.tabletoparts.fund/ActualPlay2026

RING-A-DING! First-time designer has created a niche thing with extraordinary care and obvious dedication. It's my morning flip through, and I suggest you go and put some eyeballs on it as well. At a cursory glance it's looking heartfelt and cozy and very well executed!

Them: So what have y'all been up to? Me: Haha, you know. The usual. The Usual:

No, no...he's got a point. There has never been a game that I've run that didn't make me critically think about the how's and why's. There are games that have rewired my brain; that have solidified my beliefs about play. There are games that have challenged my assumptions. Play broadly and often.

Thank you for the question. The secret to my success is that I hate reality.

Early morning brain is fixated on magical weapons. Crawling around my brain are weird, bloodthirsty companions that ride comfortably upon your hip. Anyone remember Tsamoc? The sword with the gem in the forte that held the small god of a bridge that sacrificed itself to stall an army?

THREADCUTTERS, MAJOR ARCANA: The Moon Lots of wildlife to shoehorn into a JohnWickian setting on this card. Though I'd go with the sexy rooftop party.

Framing this.

This is, like, double true for TTRPGs, where the very nature of the form hands all that potential to players at the table. (But also the nice thing about TTRPG is you do sometimes get to hear stories of how people unpacked it in play.)

I did not sleep well last night. I was up doing this. Also now I am very tired and the words will not obey me.

I cannot begin to impress upon you all how much of the process of writing a game for me is deciding on the tone it's going to take. Burnt Wicks is written in the tone of Ian McShane playing the most polite incarnation of the Literal Christian Devil.

My mug was shattered in the line of duty this morning. The barrel remains intact, but the mug is shrapnel. It served with distinction for six years. Now I begin the arduous task of finding my next constant companion. Good night "Death Before Decaf." We shall not see your like again.

A door with a face is a waste if it doesn't talk, right? Especially when someone rolls a Crit on their Discern roll. HEART's a pretty neat game.

Phenomenal episode. I mean...there was never really any doubt.

"No one is ever going to want to read this," I say, devoting a week and 15,000 words to a funny idea I had for a web-novel. Back to actual work.

I live in a cursed forest on top of a hill. I am officially announcing A Couple of Drakes as a mercenary factor for any needy city for the upcoming TTRPG Jam wars. But also, go Birds

"I'll take 'How I GM' for 200, Alex."

If you see this, post something toothy.

We've got a Patreon. For now.

If you'll pardon the cornball sentiment, it's cold in space, not our hearts.

My toxic tabletop trait? If I'm ever a player at your table in a short-term game, I will jump at the opportunity to test out the death mechanics. Winners for making dying satisfying are currently Orbital Blues, The Regiment (Colonial Marines), and Legacy: Life Among the Ruins.

Okay, fine. A KPop Demon Hunters inspired Disaster game. As a lil treat.

With the prevalence of AI in stock art and the giant scarlet letter of even a whiff of AI in your back catalog, we have all but stopped releasing ashcans. You can't afford to be misunderstood in this industry.

Never in 10 years have I done this but since we all had a fresh start over here last year; Hello! I'm Nemesis, I founded and help run Sandy Pug Games and it's my birthday next week! It would mean a lot to me if we could get closer to our past glory of 5000 followers, pwease?

There are very few more heartbreaking realizations than taking an objective look at a game you're designing and in love with designing and realizing that it is in point of fact, a web-novel.

This was a really fun format for an interview. If Alex ever approaches you and says, "Hey, do you want to do a readable interview," say yes.