Today my Pulp Cthulhu characters tried to interrogate a cultist with no more than a Spanish phrasebook to help them. So I gave them an actual phrasebook and said they could only use phrases they could find in there. It was very funny.

Labour's immigration policy is now so right wing they've lost Stella Creasy.

I am 100% sure Zack has played a RPG or two in his time and am honestly surprised I don't remember ever seeing him at a LARP.

It's almost impressive the way the Jo Cox Foundation managed to frame "political assassination by a fascist" as "people not being 'civil' enough to politicians on social media".

I agree AI is bad. I think it is entirely contradictory to say that and be as cavalier with fake accusations as some in the RPG sector. If someone falsely accuses you of AI use they should be offering financial compensation. If they don't, you are morally justified in punching them at a convention.

Gonna become one of those "GURPS can do it" guys, but instead of guys I'm going to recommend Tales from the Floating Vagabond for everything.

Interesting to see some serious pushback against rules elide/system doesn't matter coming from segments of the OSR now - rancourt.substack.com/p/what-are-t...

List 3 things you're known for and your followers will tell you if you're right or wrong. 1. Talking about early 90s indie bands. 2. Going down RPG theory rabbit holes. 3. 20 post political analysis threads.

Called it. www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/10/14/a... I'm not normally a big fan of defamation laws but in this case I think it might be a good thing if a few of the more egregious examples of false accusations find themselves facing a lawsuit pour encourager les autres.

I totally related to a lot of this thread. I'm sure some of my followers have noticed I talk about physical force antifascism with a slightly jarring mix of flippant dark humour and dry, almost clinical tactical language. It affects us all, even if the details are individual.

Most artists would have course of stopped there, but then Luke launched his solo career with a concept album about the Baader Meinhof gang. We're lucky to have him, although I'd probably cross the road if I saw him coming the other way.

Talking about Britpop and Luke Haines earlier and now I'm laughing as I remember that while Britpop was being all "wahey, beer" at us, The Auteurs decided it was the right time to release an album called After Murder Park with songs like Unsolved Child Murder and the LP single Light Aircraft on Fire

This is a really good thread. And I'm not just saying that because it is, at its core, an argument for simulation. (In the sense of genre emulation)

Same applies to criticism of AP's for focusing on 5e tbh. They aren't doing it in most cases because they don't understand that other games would be more structurally suitable. They're doing it because revenue stream matters to them more (or at all) to them than that.

This is fair comment though tbh and we're probably just off spending energy pushing games we like at people. If someone's making 5e stuff it's at least likely they're doing so for commercial reasons which means they aren't going to care whether a different system would do a better job.

I don't actually think this is by far the worst idea for a 5e conversion by any means. Like, obviously it's going to be shit, but not at a standout level like some other ideas.

When I was young I related to songs about partying. Now I can't think of a song that speaks to me on a direct personal level more than this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGDr... I've had a busy week and I'd like to ease my brain You can take drugs if you want, but I'm taking a rain - check me out

Perfect album from the year of my 21st. One of the few redeeming things to come out of the Britpop apocalypse. (I don't count Luke Haines because he clearly had a miserable time and hated every moment of it openly)

A reminder that as much time has passed between the release of Apocalypse World and now as between OD&D and Shadowrun. Sorry, not sorry.

I'm obviously not saying anyone has to agree with Polanski on Nato, but it's very noticeable that those criticising it don't seem willing to address his arguments on it directly.

"Who would have imagined we would ever hear this from a Labour government" Lots of people. Just none of us have jobs as professional politics explainers, weirdly.

One thing that I think is a serious issue for Your Party is that it's almost certain that if Corbyn was offered a chance back into the Labour Party (by Burnham say) he'd jump at it. Hard to build an alternative to Labour when your leading figure is only not in the LP because he can't be.

RIP Todd Snider. Only 59 as well. Fuck. One of the best lyricists of the alt country scene. This song was written in response to him noticing that more conservatives were turning up to his gigs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jajy...

If anyone has these lying around and is trying to work out what to get a Flintlock for Christmas. Just saying.

Look, much as I don't like Starmer and think he actually is on his way out, I don't really think "Clive Lewis calls for Starmer to be replaced by Burnham" is an unexpected development. Slow news day?

I would like to apologise to those projects I wasn't involved in that I made fun of for stuff far less significant than this. Apart from anything involving George Galloway, where I regret nothing that I said.

I have been involved in several attempts to form left electoral projects and even I hadn't expected this clusterfuck, at least not for a year or two.

Congratulations to Your Party for somehow managing to all hate each other more than we did in the Socialist Alliance. And we had people having to work side by side with groups they'd been expelled from.

The Epstein scandal: A group of wealthy, overwhelmingly heterosexual men abusing girls. US liberals: LOL, this means Trump is gay. Seriously, go fuck yourselves.

True story. At sixth form, I tried to get my hair cut like Syd Barrett but it turned into an afro after crimping. (I have very straight hair). I thought I might have carried it off, until I walked into college to be met by six goths, all humming the Shaft theme tune.

I think on this, the most useful approach I've found it to look at regional differences, especially in the US where they can be very pronounced. The midwest Gygaxian scene seem to be very socially conservative overall and frequently theologically as well.

Genuinely, anyone interested in the use of system to reproduce a specific play experience should try a Richard "Master of Chrome" Berg wargame. Not Campaign for North Africa, obviously. Blackbeard is a good entry point to Bergworld. To take one example, its turn order rules.

It's worth observing that one group that would never claim that system doesn't matter is hardline simulationists, whether in RPGs, wargames or boardgames. (Secretly we consider ourself *more* system matters than anyone else but we're generally too polite to say that bit out loud).

Like when I think of left wing "old guard" designers (Stafford, Jackson, Costikyan) they might have started with looking at dungeons when that was the default, but it's noticeable that they jumped to other genres very quickly.

There's an obvious structural flaw with the "in a two party system only Labour can beat Reform" argument. How do the people making it think we came to be talking about Reform as the threat of a right wing government rather than the Tories?

While I don't go for the idea that the OSR is inherently right wing, at the same time, I can't help notice that the founders of the hobby seem *far* more likely to be that way if they focused on dungeons.

Jimmy the Giant is right there.

It was a lime, and he was successful.

Hurrah! My article on the Twilight 2000 RPG in the Journal of American Studies is now open access (OA), so anyone who wants to can have a read. OA is important to me, as I want my work on RPG history to go beyond the academy and reach the gaming public. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

1/ Funnily enough my analysis in 2019 (controversial to many on the left) was that centrists refusing to vote for Corbyn was to be applauded because it would normalise the idea of refusing to "vote Labour with no illusions". Feeling very vindicated on that one.

I think Starmer's issue can be boiled down to the fact that lying your way into the Labour leadership is feasible, but if you lie your way to Prime Minister you'll have to face the electorate again.

Most people are decent. Like, not saintly or anything, but basically good.

Looking back at primary documentation from the early RPG scene, what's notable is that the distinction is just that, not a serious divide. It fits with my suspicion that the negativity round "Theatre Kids" is a more modern construction, not authentically "old school".

The funniest outcome would be if Wes manages to take out Starmer, but then loses the leadership election in a head to head with Ed Miliband.

I feel called out but I'm not going to deny it. Although I would point out that those of us that do RPG history are better than those design theory weirdos.

I think what we probably have here is "proto narrativist/storygames) in the same way Korns and Western Gunfight are proto RPGs. Again, those didn't have impact at the time; their significance only became clear in hindsight. Early games I think qualify.

I can't believe people are still supporting Starmer and risking letting Reform in. The country can't afford their student union protest politics.

It is kinda funny that Labourites genuinely seem to think that despite vote shaming not working as a tactic in the last American election, it's somehow going to work in the UK. Despite us having recent hard examples of centrists not in fact "holding their noses" to keep the Tories out.

You know when it was the end of term and the "cool" teachers would perform on stage as a rock band. All I'm saying is that I watched Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone" video today and that geography department must have been practicing for months. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P17...

One of my favourite stories from that time. I'm at a goth club with my then girlfriend who suddenly starts staring and goes "oh my god, look at "that guy". I see "that guy" has his back to us and is wearing a pair of jeans he has turned into assless chaps with a pair of scissors.