bluesky says my age is verified and then doesn't let me access 18+ features anyway. which means i can't use messages. awesome.

why is the escapist's youtube channel just gambling streamer highlights. what the fuck.

starting to think the british may be genetically predisposed to reviewing games well

is it just me or is cy_borg a really hard book to read?

Writing a scenario for an RPG becomes so much more compelling when you can tell a big portion of it in the past tense. I wrote an article on why, and on how to do it well. open.substack.com/pub/martianc...

"Link to a specific TikTok? Heard, sending you to a completely random post where a woman says 'NIPPLES' at seismically significant volume"

I'm on papercult.club now. So we'll see how that goes. I don't think I've ever been on an actual forum before tbh.

Broadsword? I always take a broad at her word

old pfp, ripped from a wikipedia diagram, vs a new version i made myself

We need to go back to having a dedicated room for the computer.

Want to support trans rights in Aotearoa & get a bunch of cool TTRPGs? The Ban the Ban bundle is raising funds for action against the NZ govt's blocker ban. Proceeds go to PATHA to fund their court challenge & support individuals. Get it now! itch.io/b/3421/ban-t... #transrights #ttrpg #nzpol

Ohh my god I need this game (Deathmatch Island) just for the layout. I've never seen a book look this good.

I had some thoughts on RPGs as they relate to genre, and why we have a strong preference for certain kinds of stories. I actually think our genre biases are strongly linked to what the medium is best at and what it has difficulties with. Here's an article on that open.substack.com/pub/martianc...

just saw a video on video game marketing where the guy talks about how 75% of steam games are made by hobbyists who arent doing much marketing and cut corners when they feel like it. so if you're trying to be a professional dev you're really only competing with 25% of what it looks like you are.

look at the heavy metal logo omg.

My latest release, Prognosis, is free for its first two weeks! Check it out! martiancrossbow.itch.io/prognosis

open.substack.com/pub/martianc... New blog post, for the blog enjoyers out there.

You can get over 250 games right now by donating 10 US$ to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund! Organized by @molgannardpress.bsky.social itch.io/b/3299/pales...

New awareness campaign

Fem Tintin! #theadventuresoftintin #tintin #art

When I first got to art school, class introductions asked us who our influences were. I had to explain who Gary Larson was to at least 3 of those classes. Now, 20yrs later, many of the big contemporary artists I didn't know have been outed as malicious sex pests but cow tools still holds up.

The Basilica (Created for HYPERMALL: UNLIMITED VIOLENCE by @ratbastardgames.bsky.social )

Old painting #sketch #Artist #noai #scifi #flatbrush #mecha #ArtistOnBluesky

Hey all. After moving funds around for rewards and bills, I could use some help. Im short on expenses from this last month and can't in good conscience take on anymore commissons now. Your support would mean the world to me Shares would mean even more. Link below (1/2)

This is commentary on Alien (1979) but it's basically what everyone said about John Carpenter's The Thing, and Blade Runner. "Why would anyone make a movie this bleak and miserable and nihilistic?"

♡

New blog article about representing disabled people in RPGs. Features some quotes from my interviews with @uselrei1500.bsky.social and @ratbastardgames.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/martianc...

Check out this blog post. A really cool topic to explore, especially since it's written by a software engineer. goblinzone.bearblog.dev/making-hacki...

𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘶

I painted this charming Toreador OC for a friend. I’m quite happy with the result of the sketch layer. Gives me some old school VTM book feeling

played edith finch recently and i dont really get the appeal at all? i liked Gone Home so much i was expecting to like this one too, since its the same genre and the premise is so similar.

Look at this art, holy shit. www.kickstarter.com/projects/spe...

New post today about my first experiences with fully fledged in-person industry events: open.substack.com/pub/martianc...

talked to soo many cool people at the Australian Roleplaying Industry Awards tonight.

Silent Star is a one-shot scenario for Mothership RPG, which you can download FOR FREE! It's a pretty classic Mothership experience, so great for first time players or wardens. Illustrated by the lovely @cianetoneon.bsky.social martiancrossbow.itch.io/silentstar

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

errant

It seems like the Draw Steel subreddit is mostly folks who are playing the game, or making characters with intent to play. So when someone shows up from Internet RPGland with "here's how to fix this glaring omission" you just see a bunch of people responding with "???*

nothing pisses me off more than a capable woman being interviewed by a man who doesn't know how to interview someone.

Inkarnate is allowing AI assets in their new marketplace. This program was my first gateway into the #ttrpg scene, and i met a lot of cool people there. I witnessed some shady stuff from them before but this is the last straw. Canceling my subscription and taking down my maps from the explore page

I have three review copies of Synaptic Protocol to give to interested reviewers! Drop me a message by DM so we can talk about the details!

Since I'm not at the NY Art Book Fair for the first time in a decade, I'm using my weekend to make another publication. Shocking! It will combine almost a year of my Bluesky posts about self-publishing, some studio photos, and the text from Why Self-Publish Under Fascism? I think this is the cover:

interactive entertainment loves a somatic verb. twitch, itch, kick ... some others im sure

I long to be torn to ribbons by a blackberry thicket just really let the countryside claim me with its claws

If you're a visual artist or someone looking for illustrators, I'm making something for you! A zine full of visual artists, showing their work. Those looking for illustrators can download the zine and use it to window-shop. Submission and the zine itself will likely both be free. 1/2

i wanna make a zine that makes it easier for ppl to build connections in the tabletop space and advertise themselves. maybe a space where illustrators can advertise themselves. that seems like something that's missing. wouldn't need to be tabletop specific i suppose.

Alright #RPGDesign nerds, let's get into some real nitty gritty! Let's talk about some different ways of looking how mechanics are built, in a sense more finely defining crunch and genre emulation. What are your thoughts on this? thoughtpunks.com/ttr...#RPGDesign #TTRPG #Blog #IndieDev

one thing about rpg designers is that we love love love a buzzword