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

There's no better way to observe MLK Day than to go on the news and insist that the civil rights protesters objecting to police brutality are actually "paid agitators"

🪦 gothHoblin's Grimoire is closing its pages - but before we shuffle off this mortal coil, we're awarding 6x $50 USD micro grants to ttrpg designers or content creators that could use a small boost. If this is you, apply using the form below. Open until Jan 31! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Do not patronize these companies. There are still local, family owned lumber and hardware stores many places and also ACE Hardware and True Value. HFH Restores also sell some building supplies.

For our first stream of the new year, we’re discussing Ubisoft’s closure of a studio that just unionized and then making predictions about what lies ahead for the video game industry in 2026. We go live at 4 PM ET twitch.tv/aftermathdot...

Our next crowdfunder! Blades '68 grabs Blades in the Dark by the lapels of its woolen jacket and launches the game 100 years into the future! New crews, new rules and subversive acts of radical revolution await you under the light of an artificial sun. Sign up here: www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

It was three minutes after that very light #eqnz when the first Aucklander posted that it was EXXXXXTREEEEEEMMEEEE

#OnThisDay - 31 December - in AD 192, the Roman Emperor Commodus was assassinated by conspirators. When poison failed, he was strangled in the bath by the athlete Narcissus (Dio 73.22). #History 🏺 Image: RIC III Commodus 237Ae; Münzkabinett Berlin (18278371). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

If you don't have Burning Wheel, check out the latest Bundle of Holding! bundleofholding.com/presents/Bur...

It’s a cliche now, but techbros never seem to get the message of any of the sci-fi/fantasy they claim to love. They seem to just scan the cover, maybe the blurb on the back, and go with the cool names. It’s that old tweet: “We made the TerrorNexus from that book called Don’t Make The TerrorNexus.”

I have a chapter in Stephanie Hedge's forthcoming edited volume on indie trpgs. I engage in a retrospective self-examination of the design and publishing processes of The Sprawl. Lots of other great chapters too! mcfarlandbooks.com/product/Play...

Hi @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social and @friede.bsky.social and @profmikesell.bsky.social ! @peregrinekiwi.bsky.social Happy to say I am getting to the (brief) appendices for Designing Historical Games and working on historical TTRPGs and Solo Journaling RPGs. 1/

Surprise, we're getting pretty close to the final version of REALIS! ICYMI: I've been making a TTRPG about mystical moons and living spaceships and sentences that can kill you. A preview is available now (see my pinned post), but the full version draws near! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...

Tonight's butternut squash and bacon risotto was definitely in season!

I am begging us to keep basic humanities education the norm

This article presents this burst of historical games through the lens of Historical Fiction rather than the Historical Game Studies, but nevertheless it's great to see some engagement with historical game studies in the media criticism space! Author: @reidmccarter.bsky.social

It's not just about salary, it's about working conditions. At ACA we believe teachers and students deserve clean air classrooms, adequate sick leave, and access to vaccines and antivirals. We don't accept the "new normal" of constant sickness and teachers quitting the profession due to Long Covid.

The current Government wilfully spreads misinfo about unions despite being well aware unions are the collective voice of workers that rebalance the scales so that people in work are protected from exploitation and harm. It’s a good time to join one. #nzpol I’m retired but I’m a solidarity member.

This is why I will never buy another sucker punch game unless they apologize and offer that employee’s job back.

In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:

Dog Eat Dog is my pick for the best designed TRPG, full stop.

I hadn't heard about EX TENEBRIS and it's kickstarter, but this (looong) interview-meets-description definitely sold me on it. If "40k investigation but you don't play as fascists" sounds good to you, have a read.

(I still need backers for my light novel about a guy surviving a badly-run RPG campaign, so if you like my work (or posts) I'd appreciate it if you spread the word! Tell your friends, your parents, your Discords, your subreddits, buy a haunted pizza joint and then tell the ghosts about it)

More people need to understand that saying only “criminals” should be subjected to expanding state violence around us is what led to the broader public being targeted by it, too. Criminality is subjective, and power determines what it is or is not.

Fuck off Judith It's your government that have caused people to take the extreme measure of striking, not the Unions #nzpol

Buried in the detail about reducing earthquake strengthening is the removal of requirements for disabled access and fire safety. You know who does that? Sociopaths.

Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work

is there any kind of logical reason as to why stuff keeps publishing fluff nonsense on these far right personalities

Even if you don't vote for your council (pls do but), tick that box for the referendum. It is BINDING for three terms - so if it fails, no Māori ward for nearly a decade. And EVERYONE votes, not just Māori. Tāngata Tiriti step up, Pākehā mā, you need to vote.

I wish there were more examples to clarify the big ideas jay has included, but big respect for making an Expressionist Manifesto expressionist in form. There is a good chance I will re-read after mulling and reading other reactions.

Indeed. Also the authors of the piece in question are a disgraced former professor fired for cause *through tenure* for sexual misconduct with students (plural) and his wife and former undergraduate student (the latter a member of the publication's editorial board). So, you know. Gross.

‘AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complex.’ I’ll ask again: What is the trillion dollar problem that this trillion dollar technology is supposed to solve? A difficulty writing emails?

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT! @mahliann.bsky.social, @marcuscarter.com, and myself have combined our collective brains and written a wide-reaching introduction to the complex and interdisciplinary field of Game Studies in this forthcoming book for Polity. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

One thing I’m relieved about is the calibre of candidates running for the Māori Ward. Te Paea and Matt are great and would both make a very fine Councillor. In saying that I still want to win it so vote for me 😂 #nzpol

The only people more delulu than Ray Chung's merry gang of financial illiterates are the reported 13% of Wellingtonians who both answer phone calls from Curia and support Ray Chung's merry gang of financial illiterates. These people deserve your contempt and mockery.

Or trying to have their cake and eat it too by mentioning the boycott up front before immediately violating it in the same breath/paragraph. "Reporting Xbox news in direct violation of BDS but shaking my head the whole time so everyone knows I disapprove"-ass theory of politic.

Can anyone remember the name of the 90s satirical TRPG/larp where magic is drugs?