Omg. I wonder how many of my first years will get this...

It's so close, I can almost touch it! After a lot of work by the @handiworkgames.bsky.social games team - @paulbourne.bsky.social, Jon, @fromthemorgue.bsky.social, @gregorhutton.bsky.social - we are within a gnat's whisker of it being the hands of backers!

AirBnB has appeared in front of the Wellington Council to lobby against the proposed rates increase for people who use their houses as small hotels and said the stupidest thing. (from this story: www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/595...)

The Manchester Games Centre at MMU is a great group; one of the foremost places for analogue game research in the UK and the world.

It's good to be back in Aotearoa so I can check my BlueSky messages again!

A quick reminder: We’re still gathering responses for the HGN Impact Survey. If the Historical Games Network has shaped your work, teaching, research, or thinking in any way, we’d really value your perspective. ⏱️ Takes 2–5 minutes Kindly click this link forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...

A bunch of grifters are publishing AI slop bios of game industry folks, including AI images, and are refusing to respect requests for removal.

Hey there fellow syllabus-makers! Having sunk hours into finding student-friendly chapters on basic aspects of medieval history, I figured I'd sink several more into putting them in a handy list so I can quickly find them again—and so can you! Drop-down contents lists included for quick comparison.

Remembrance Games in the History Classroom – more important than ever. Speaking at #HistoDay in Berlin today on how games can engage younger generations as holocaust survivor voices fade. Thanks @evzfoundation.bsky.social for this event. 3-4pm at Frizzforum #KeineZeitzuVergessen #seriousgames

REPOSTING: 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑰𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆 𝟐 "Pleased to announce Gudama Gudama and I’s [ Jordon Houston ] co-edited special issue for New Classicists:" tinyurl.com/2sv53d8c #AncientBluesky #ClassicsBluesky #BlueskyClassics

If you find yourself in or near Newcastle in Northumbria, I highly recommend taking the Metro out to South Shields to visit Roman Arbeia. In the second century, Arbeia was a legionary fort at the mouth of the Tyne, associated with Hadrian's Wall. #AncientBluesky #BlueskyAncient

A lot of fun playing @peregrinekiwi.bsky.social 's The Sprawl last night. One of the first PbtA games I encountered and still one of the best. One shots are fine, but I would love to run or play a season of missions. www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/1... #ttrpg #pbta #cyberpunk

REALIS IS LIVE! After 5 years of development, countless hours of playtesting, and invaluable ashcan feedback, the hardcover edition of @austinwalker.bsky.social's debut TTRPG Realis is now funding on Kickstarter April 1-30. Learn more & back the campaign today at www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...!

Nostos is a super cool TTRPG & ought to be funded by now! If you like the weird fiction moon-hopping of Realis, Nostos is like a classical lit island-hopping cousin. Check out the blurb I wrote based on the game's ARC, and pledge the campaign while you still can! www.kickstarter.com/projects/hon...

I just came across the crowdfunding campaign for Nostos, a post apocalyptic fantasy game drawing heavily on Classical themes. It looks really cool! www.kickstarter.com/projects/hon...

Over the past ten years NZ has averaged 55.9 days annually under a State of Emergency each year, and 66.6 days over the last five. In the 10 years prior to this, NZ averaged only 13.4 days per year. Consider the implications of central government continuing to refuse to believe in climate change.

In today’s game of The Sprawl we rescued a bioengineered netrunner cat who had the ability to send text messages but the texts just said “meow” and it hacked into our accounts to order cat food and changed our passwords I would die for this NPC

I'm out of practice at con social media-ing, but I'm at #Conpulson2026 this weekend! I ran Nefas yesterday morning, played a fun game of Spire, and then left the con to attend and present at a Lovecraft academic conference.

Look at this arm waving pillock!

Chaosium Con New Zealand - Badges are now on sale! Join us in November in Wellington!

Mediterranean Antiquity in the Work of H. P. Lovecraft: A virtual conference April 10–11, 2026 www.carmanromanophd.com/lovecraftcon... @curtisdozier.bsky.social @peregrinekiwi.bsky.social @beldonstevens.bsky.social

Play Unsafe is Very Good and the new edition will be even better.

Great view up the Royal Mile as I head to my talk!

"AI remains a series of solutions in search of problems. No one is asking for eerie yassified mannequin faces that clash with a games art direction. Developers are not asking for these features, which threaten to pave over their hard work with a messy Slip ‘N’ Slide of slop. "

Putting on my scratched record to play what should be plainly obvious to everyone now. Rocketlab are just a part of the US war machine.

They will build bridges, and engage, and sell out, and sell any staff who fall foul of the right-wing outrage machine down the river, and they will still inevitably be cast as “convenient enemies” because that is baked into far-right populist ideology.

Thanks so much for having me on, @lexie-henning.bsky.social! Really enjoyed talking games, Classics, and academia on the Ancient Office Hours podcast 😊🎮

May 2026 👀 My monograph "Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games" will be out next year in @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social's IMAGINES series! Many thanks to @ubisoft.com for the #ImmortalsFenyxRising art ⚡ More information (soon!) on www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character...

Adam Baldwin was literally *the* guy who named GamerGate and made it go viral. It was just some loser 4chan/incel YouTuber shit before then. They spammed him to get his attention because they knew he’s also a psycho loser and they wanted to make it go viral, and he did it. And it worked.

So, basically Fillion wants to produce a Firefly animated series, but hasn’t sold it to any network yet and is hoping to get fans to loudly demand it. Strangely, he has the sense to make clear Whedon isn’t involved, but dumb enough to have Adam Baldwin still in the cast deadline.com/2026/03/nath...

Luxon and Willis are both pretty unconvincing and offloading responsibility for our weakness in an oil crisis. It's hit us hard because we're at a much lower %age of EV uptake than we could be under a sane government. Tax cuts and farm rebates have increased sales of thirsty cars and utes. #NZPol

Important piece on the enshitification of games media (which is likely to be a canary for the enshitification of other media).

On today's stream, we're joined by @jacksonwryan.com to discuss his months-in-the-works investigation of Clickout Media, the secretive company filling video game sites with gambling and AI, that he published on Aftermath. NOTE: Starting early today, at 3 PM ET www.twitch.tv/aftermathdotsite

Hey folks, CfP coming up for a Workshop on Analogue Games and the Ancient and Pre-Modern Past at Durham University hosted by cool HGS folk @drhelenroche.bsky.social and @peregrinekiwi.bsky.social. Looks great; wish I could be there! submission email in the CfP

Deeply ironic, but also classic right-wing projection, that a Reform candidate would talk about another party's "dangerous sectarianism". Congratulations to Spencer, the UK greens, and the people of Gorton & Denton! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I'm in Edinburgh on research leave that includes working on a couple of game design projects with the History and Game Lab here. Apparently I took all the good weather from Wellington and brought it here. Sorry not sorry!

Apparently the UK age verification thing means I can't see messages on Bluesky. @malcolmcraig.bsky.social, I emailed you!

Voyager 1 is currently more than 24 billion kilometres from Earth and getting 17km farther every second and hilariously it is not as out of touch with New Zealand as our Prime Minister

Oooo, hey hey!

I can’t believe you lefty Luddites hate tech so much that you embrace mRNA vaccines, heat pumps, electric bikes, hybrid work, renewable power (and awesome advancements in storage), space telescopes, and hot/cold running water but reject the planet destroying plagiarism enrich the worst people bots!

The Mandalorian is such a Firefly tribute show.

Get this occult action thriller ttRPG for 1-7 people. Perfect if you enjoy playing powerful undead revenants embroiled in breakneck action, interpersonal drama, and occult investigation. Soundtrack by @mollynoise.bsky.social and human-made art by @stregawolf.art. Jump in now for early bird deals!

NZ has fallen into a 'crisis and response' pattern on climate disaster, experts say. Billions have been spent on storm recovery since 2023, while key climate adaptation funding and planning tools have been cut. My story looking at last week’s storms www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Some more games have been added to the Language Deciphering Games list. Blightseed by Zen of Mars The Apothecary of Trubiz by Kinjo Games Lab Lessons on Strange Symbols by nants00 Lost in Translation by @featurekreep.bsky.social 7 tags have been added so you can sort the list further.

The climatologist told me historians will wonder why we didn’t do more. The epidemiologist told me historians will wonder why we didn’t do more. The activist told me historians will wonder why we didn’t do more. The historian told me that nobody listens to historians.

Damning. Absolutely damning.

There is a ska-punk band called Ska Pai and they have a song called "hot pie", in which the chorus says to always blow on the pie, and after performing it they give the best dancer a pie, and everything about this band is delightful even if it might not all translate over to international audiences.

Sunday 25 October is the date to focus on, being the mandatory enrollment deadline. Stuff reported over 200,000 people enrolled or updated their details in the final 12 days before the last election, who would miss out this time. Make sure all your friends & whanau are enrolled to vote: vote.nz