I would like all fantasy games to have a page of common sayings that are said by various cultures, and ideally ones that are AT LEAST ONE step more colloquially odd than "Let me preach their values directly".

I have all this work on Hexingtide to do, session prep for tonight, and already have a framework for another minimalist fantasy game in-flight. WHY AM I THEN, SUDDENLY, FOCUSED ON (YET ANOTHER) DERIVATIVE OSR-INSPIRED GAME? SOMEONE TELL ME. #ttrpg #ttrpgcommunity #osr #nsr #gamedesign #indiegames

Working on new pregen characters for the upcoming 4th playtest of Hexingtide. I'm pivoting towards more traditional gothic-folklore archetypes, such as the classic take on the witch. #ttrpg #rpg #halloween #spookyseason #hexingtide

Working on new pregen characters for the upcoming 4th playtest of Hexingtide. I'm pivoting towards more traditional gothic-folklore archetypes, such as the classic take on the witch. #ttrpg #rpg #halloween #spookyseason #hexingtide

Scheduled five quick "meet & greet" chats w/ prospective players for my #ttrpg home game. The open spot is there b/c previous players couldn't consistently attend - and no-showed, too. MFW I've gotten no-showed by three of the five today. #ForeverDM #ttrpgfamily #dnd

Grinding out all the updates to #Hexingtide that I've been testing & taking notes on over the last year in my home game. I struggle to articulate why this has been such a challenge to get organized and written and out the door. But I'm trying! #hxtd #TTRPG #ttrpgfamily #indiegame #gamedesign

I'm happy to share this review from Rattle and Rend playtester Adam: "...I hope the game takes off in a big way - 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲, 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻." #wargaming #indietabletop #indiegames

In other, more sane times, I'd say what an absolutely insane take this is, but here we are in Trump's 2025 where Charlie Kirk got his wish for a MAGA martyr.

Hot damn this is nice work.

"You're the GM. You decide what's fun for you to prep and run. Eff them players." It's a nice platitude. One I want to mostly agree with. For rando games + rando players? Sure. But that sentiment gets nuanced when you're burnt out from a long-running game with players you've gotten to know well.

The August TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective is here! ttrpg-spider.blogspot.com/2025/09/augu... tl;dr: Money is still down compared to August 2024 but it's looking better than July 2025. I genuinely feel like the past 8 months of US economic fuckery are starting to catch up with us

A casual playtest of Rattle and Rend! The rules are miniatures agnostic, and tonight's warbands don't make any sense - higgledy-piggledy on principle. 😆 🎲 Rules-lite 10mm fantasy skirmishes on a 16x16" board #wargaming #10mmwargaming #skirmishgames #indietabletop

That is, before people make decisions on what Halloween games to play - much less guesting on podcasts / streams / etc. Maybe my new goal is scheduling some local stuff around the spooky season?

80% of it's easy. That last 20% though...

Reposting as a reminder to watch later, myself. ;)

As we hit September & I'm still laboring over Hexingtide's playtest update, I'm realizing that I'm likely too late to coordinate any meaningful marketing of it before Halloween. My new goal may be just getting it out by the end of the month. Feeling like ole George here at the keyboard! #ttrpg

. THIS is one of the biggest problems of our time . . . ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ .

I'm here for this. #TTRPG #GTKM (The contrast in the original image was so low. it made it hard to read, for me. Accessibility is important.)

A casual playtest of Rattle and Rend! The rules are miniatures agnostic, and tonight's warbands don't make any sense - higgledy-piggledy on principle. 😆 🎲 Rules-lite 10mm fantasy skirmishes on a 16x16" board #wargaming #10mmwargaming #skirmishgames #indietabletop

SLOW EXHAIL. Guess who flattened all their layers and SOMEHOW MISSED IT. Cool, cool, cool, not so cool. That was a lot of hours compositing this crap this weekend. #graphicdesignismypassion

Tinkering on a new battle mat with matching background art to give my (otherwise underwhelming!) photos a more cinematic effect. 🎥 This is for Rattle and Rend, my rules-light, miniatures agnostic #10mmwargaming skirmish rules. Designed for 16x16" boards. #wargaming #skirmishgames #indietabletop

Another day, another low-effort Mork Borg retread. Can't say I'm not tempted to throw something onto that pile of dross, just for the hell of it.

I've wanted to play Microscope* for literally ten years. Finally got a chance to, tonight. It was exactly as rad as I'd always heard it to be. * Quasi #ttrpg of GMless, co-op worldbuilding, epic history & mythmaking, and collaborative storytelling #indiegames #indierpg #storygame #gmless

Alright #ttrpg Blue Sky, what recommendations do you have for dumb party RPGs? Thinking one page, GM-less sorta stuff. Though I'd default to Fiasco in a heartbeat. #ttrpgcommunity

Just wrapped up a Q&A with Dan at Random Worlds. Talking about my new #TTRPG Twenty Flights. gmshoe.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/q...

Working on pregen Hexingtide #ttrpg characters. Using a spreadsheet to balance the point buys. As the game is all about classic monster tropes from Halloween, folklore, pop culture, I'm going that route w/ pregens: Vampire, werewolf, witch, demon-possessed, and scarecrow. #indierpg

GM screens are just walls between friends.

📣 This Sat, Aug 16 at 10:30am in St. Louis, MO 🎲 Play a one-shot of Hexingtide, a spooky rules-lite #ttrpg of monster heroes (🧛 vampires, 🐺 werewolves, and 🧹 witches, oh my!), with the designer.... me! 👋 ✅ RSVP on FB: hxti.de/aug162025 #stl #indiegames

It's Monday! That means it's time for #AskACreator day. Tag a creator you like in the comments and ask them a question about their work. @rexbrews.world Tell me a cool fact about your Avisax world! #ttrpg

HEY ST. LOUIS, MO TABLETOP GAMERS I'm running a one-shot of Hexingtide, my in-dev rules-light game of Minimalist Monstrous Roleplaying! SATURDAY, AUG. 16th, 10:30a-1:00p at the Rock Hill Miniature Market for RPG Demo Day (I'll... maybe, probably... make a fancier promo about this later.)

I haven't bothered with RedBubble or my history-themed print on demand products (see @rebelsorbeggars.bsky.social) in about a year. This does not entice me back to the platform.

If you're going to introduce complex or high concept ideas in your TTRPG campaign, use handouts and/or references that are easy for your players to engage with and remember. Weird and different is great! Give your players tools to engage with it successfully and not make it a point of frustration.

A diverse TTRPG ecosystem is good for all TTRPG companies/systems. I mean this in terms of representational diversity and system/setting diversity. Bring on Coyote & Crow and Avatar, but also Cyberpunk and Mutants & Masterminds. A bigger pool gives us all more players. #WotCStaff

Is printing and publishing getting expensive? Sure. Are big, 400pg, full color, stuffed with art books prohibitively expensive? Eh, maybe. Does the assumption those books are the only way to play a TTRPG betray certain biases and lack of broader exposure or participation in the hobby? You betcha.

Enjoying how the small board and terrain for my 10mm #wargamimg project Rattle and Rend has come together.

This entire argument smells like semantic games and social media engagement bait. Any TTRPG system - even "universal," setting-agnostic ones - implies tone, genre, and narrative focuses. Does that = a "world" in the sense that many gamers would interpret that word? I'm not convinced.

If your mechanics reward violence, players will choose violence. If they reward relationships, players build relationships. Use the rules to shape the experience at the table.

Enjoying how the small board and terrain for my 10mm #wargamimg project Rattle and Rend has come together.

I'd like to hear from other hobbyist tabletop designers who struggle w/ lingering burnout from the 'hustle & grind' nature of social media marketing and networking. Have you managed to to create a 'successful' (choose your definition) game? How so? How do you manage the marketing effort?

A recent playtest battle of Rattle and Rend: rules-light, miniatures-agnostic 10mm scale skirmishes played on a 16x16in board. It's my response to wargames that are too big, too complex, and take up too much space. #wargaming #skirmishgames #10mmminiatures #10mmwargaming

I admit I rarely watch all of Matt Coville's long videos, but when I do, I often appreciate his insight and approach - even if it doesn't align with the type of games I often run. His recent take on worldbuilding and PC backstories - and how little is often needed - was a refreshing take.

Funny how “platforms can do what they want” and “free speech just means the government can’t censor you” stop being smug comebacks when it’s your favorite niche getting wiped. 🤷

I GM six grown-ups. Too many players. Everything takes too long to run, even with the rules-lite systems I design and play. Twice a month, regularly scheduled since Covid restrictions lifted. Like clockwork. It's been three months since I had a full table. Maybe there's a reason I'm okay with six.

Funny how “platforms can do what they want” and “free speech just means the government can’t censor you” stop being smug comebacks when it’s your favorite niche getting wiped. 🤷

Finally read some of the Dungeon World 2 dev blogs and... huh. There are so many fundamental changes that any value there was in the "Dungeon World" name as a recognizable stepping stone from D&D to #PbtA / storygame-esque stuff will be lost. Strange choices. 1/2 #ttrpg

A recent playtest battle of Rattle and Rend: rules-light, miniatures-agnostic 10mm scale skirmishes played on a 16x16in board. It's my response to wargames that are too big, too complex, and take up too much space. #wargaming #skirmishgames #10mmminiatures #10mmwargaming

I'd like to hear from other hobbyist tabletop designers who struggle w/ lingering burnout from the 'hustle & grind' nature of social media marketing and networking. Have you managed to to create a 'successful' (choose your definition) game? How so? How do you manage the marketing effort?

Adam's #Fantasia 2025 coverage continues with the enchanting I am Frankelda. A heady brew of stop-motion animation and layered storytelling. The film makes its North American premiere at the fest.

Got the cartography itch today. Most of my maps lately have been in printer-friendly greyscale. It's been a long while since I went all-in on color and texture. This is a WIP refresh of The Vast Boral: the setting for my in-development skirmish game Rattle and Rend. #fantasymaps #cartography

This uh is not how I saw my my little lunch time painting break going. www.instagram.com/p/DMN-EZFu_1...