The last two days have involved some emotionally-rough work, so this afternoon I'm taking a break & re-reading @maxgladstone.bsky.social 's Wicked Problems before jumping into the just-released Dead Hand Rule. Today is SO MUCH BETTER.

From Cultural Survival: mailchi.mp/culturalsurv... Of course, many of them are things that are great to do anytime, not just today! Today I'm finally starting Braiding Sweetgrass, which has been on my to-read list for ages.

‼️🚨KICKSTARTER WORKERS ARE ON STRIKE🚨‼️ As of 8am this morning, the workers of Kickstarter United/OPEIU Local 153 are on strike. WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR A BOYCOTT! Creators and allies, please continue using and supporting the platform.

This is a really good explanation of stuff I've seen over the past decade+.

Hey, if you can help me out, take a moment and back or share my new Kickstarter? Even if you don't use VTT's there are options to support us that would mean the world to me. Thanks!

My wonderful friends at @absurdistprod.bsky.social are looking for indigenous artists for paid work on their RPG. Please share! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I remember the experience of noticing, c. 1999, that this newer search engine "Google" just... *gave better results* than others. Over the last month, I've had a similar experience with a search engine called Kagi. Searching over 100x/month requires a subscription, but that may be worth it to me.

Reminder that Congress is out of session and it is the perfect time to look up when your members will be near you and tell them in person how you are affected by all this fuckery. Try to think of one specific ask -- stop funding genocide, stop tariffs, whatever you feel most strongly about.

This is a fantastic overview of reactions to CGE's decision to pay JKR royalties: boardgamewire.com/index.php/20... I'm not a reviewer, but given CGE's current stance, I certainly don't plan on buying from or pitching to them. Which is really too bad, I'd liked them.

Hello, I'm a board game designer in a film, except most folks don't realize that's a profession so I'm shown as a toy inventor instead. I'm manically obsessive and wildly, carelessly creative, working amidst drifts of previous half-baked designs... which to be fair is accurate. Just not the toy part

I knew Tom Lehrer was amazing - I loved his music, growing up - but I did not realize he was amazing in this particular way. (Linking near end of thread so you get the whole thing)

Yeah. While there are certainly households that can manage it these days, as you add common confounding factors (caring for kids/aging parents, disability, exhausting/high-hour jobs, cooking being unpleasant or high-drain rather than easy & enjoyable, etc) it quickly becomes less & less reasonable.

AB Con is holding their yearly fundraiser! www.kickstarter.com/projects/olu... The con supports the board gaming scene in Africa (generally) / Nigeria (particularly), introducing hobby games to people who've never tried them and encouraging the local design community. 👍👍

I've *finally* finished migrating my low-bandwidth email list! These days it's mostly "I'll be at convention X", but news about the future of Spirit Island will also go there. (Once there's anything to say and I can say any of it publicly.) rericreuss.eo.page/newsletter-s...

This is so well-put!

So many people have reached out to me (❤️) that I'm having trouble responding to individuals (for which I apologize). I've made a short post on my website which answers the two most common questions I'm getting: "how are you?" and "what now?" rericreuss.com/2025/04/17/s...

ELECTION RESULT: A team of city council members in Rolla, Missouri, have been pushing anti-LGTB policies, including a ban on drag shows and book censorship. Voters just ousted all three of these city councilors who were running for reelection, backing candidates backed by a local LGBT group.

If you mentally substitute "designing board games" for "writing novels", this video is EXTREMELY applicable to game design, with lots of good information/advice. (Board games are, of course, *different* than books, so there are differences in, e.g., the revision process. But still.)

This is also where I'm at for Generative AI.(*) My understanding is that power consumption is falling drastically (for queries, training a new one still uses oodles), but even at 0 environmental cost I'd still be cranky about "big corps/billionaires appropriate All Internet Text for personal profit"

Old man attends WI hearing to support anti-trans bill, but had to sit through hours of trans voices/allies talking. He changes his mind and apologizes for his past anti-trans views and activism.

Hayao Miyazaki's short guide to watercolor painting -- we put this translation together a couple of years ago

Holy heck!! My fav tea company and my fav game company, AND they collaborated to make an INDIGENOUS TEA?????? This literally could not get any better! Can't wait to try this blend!

Excellently insightful thread, well worth the read. (And it links to one of Bret Devereaux's excellent ACOUP posts, too!)

If you design board games, or work in the industry, check out this NPI video. Not because the thumbnail is awesome (which it is), but because it looks into the origins of some oft-repeated conventional wisdom... which turns out to be a *very* worthwhile examination.

While writing and game design are different crafts/skills, they share some broad similarities (as do most creative endeavors, probably). I find the first major paragraph of Dean Koontz' advice ("Rest assured...") particularly resonates with me.

Awful, but important. (Thoroughly written, however, pulling a lot of existing info together with relevant context.) Content warning for all the awful: sexual abuse, child abuse, suicidal thoughts, more. www.vulture.com/article/neil...

While a lot of stressful/bad things happened in 2024 - both in my personal sphere and more broadly - I'm still *really* grateful for all that did go well, and all that didn't go badly. If you want to see a whole bunch of stuff that went well: fixthenews.com/86-stories-p...

Helping keep BlueSky a nice place to be: if you're not familiar with why follow-back-by-default and follow-farming hashtags create problems, upthread of the quoted skeet are links to half a dozen different explanations and examples. Also useful for spotting scammer accounts! 🙂

When I got up this morning, my kids were playing a board game with each other - no adult involved - just because they felt like it. 🎉 Had it been Pokémon, this wouldn't have been noteworthy, but it was Concept. ❤️

'That there’s no longer a need for the camp’s original purpose “is the greatest story that I ever could have imagined,” [camp founder] Willenson said. “It’s something I never could have predicted.”'

Unbelievable. The good news is, you can find First Monday in October yourself instead of waiting for a Facebook ad. Spread some love for this meaty historical tug-of-war game by my friend Talia! www.kickstarter.com/projects/for...

"Executive Function Theft" is such an excellent term. And once something's named, it's easier to point out.

The last entry in "a long thread of contrarian (but sincerely-held) board game design hot takes"; the whole thing's well worth reading and thinking about! (Linking to the last means the whole thread's upscreen, instead of requiring multiple clicks to unroll.)

I haven't seen a starter pack for indigenous folks in the tabletop industry, so I made one. I know I don't have everyone in here. Who do I need to add? go.bsky.app/KwVc8tX

To expand on this—a good chunk of my childhood was very conservative. I genuinely internalized that gay people existed from reading Mercedes Lackey novels. The book that most radicalized me was ALWAYS COMING HOME. And Pratchett crystallized more of my thinking about life than any class I ever took.

This is quite well written. For some folks I'd recommend it as a really good read, for others as a very useful reference to point others at.

I haven't posted much about Palestine and Israel here because while some *facets* of the situation are simple (war crimes are war crimes), the *situation as whole* is complex, which a short character limit handles extremely poorly. But there's an important facet I haven't seen mentioned much.

Well, *there's* a headline I sure didn't expect. www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

Golden Bell appear to have come back. I would caution anyone in board gaming or comics to read about about Golden Bell games and the experiences creatives have had working with them in the past. From what i have seen in the public record i personally wouldn't go near them

Having played Daybreak a number of times gives me both context for how important/awesome this news is and awareness of many sources of greenhouse gas that aren't electricity generation. We're doing well for early game! Let's keep it up as the turns progress!

Winter Rabbit is a game grounded in Cherokee folklore & culture about readying the community for winter. Designed by Will Thompson (Cherokee Nation). I playtested it a couple times during development, and have been looking forward to it for *years*! Take a look: www.kickstarter.com/projects/941...

Help us hit our stretch goal to supply grants to Native creatives to assist them getting to conventions! We're down to our last 4 days! Please share far and wide. kck.st/4bd9Hme #RPG #TTRPG #TTRPGCommunity #NativeTwitter

Read this! I love Wyrd Science Magazine because they let me write interesting pieces that dig into the particulars of a topic rather than sticking to the fluff.

Gift link to a fantastic article about Jackie Fox and her new game Rock Hard 1977. Definitely one of the hits of Gen Con.

If you're trying to understand why the Democrats are hammering this 'weird' thing about Republicans, read this great piece on political schemas from @brianklaas.bsky.social Schemas and the Political Brain www.forkingpaths.co/p/schemas-an...

I have seen, for a fucking *decade*, European designers/publishers putting racist and ableist tropes into games, and when I said something, been told to deal with it because “we see these things differently in Europe” But a sticker at an award ceremony is a step too far? Fuck all the way off.

Just heard Kennerspiel winner Matteo Menapace, whose Daybreak, about taking action to fight climate change, might be the most overtly political game to win an SdJ award, was banned from future SdJ events for wearing a sticker in support of Palestine. Shame on the SdJ. Absolutely ridiculous.

I'd wager this applies not just to drawing, but to all creative endeavors that benefit from lots of practice and messing around. Goodness only knows how many janky prototypes I've made over the years.

If you'd like to help tabletop gaming become a truly worldwide hobby, check out the crowdfunding for AB Con 2024. The folks putting it on have done a huge amount to nurture and expand awareness of tabletop gaming in Africa, particularly Nigeria. www.kickstarter.com/projects/olu...

Scholars often ask me what they can do, and this is a tangible thing. State and local media are, in particular, hungry for opinion pieces from experts. Lots of people targeting that media is more effective than lots of people trying to land that one NYT op-ed