Friendly internet people: “I love how you did this in your game” Me, a terrible human: “I have no idea what you’re talking about—I changed that years ago in the version I have yet to release publicly”

That’s a lot of games for ten bucks toward a good cause.

Cairn: Barebones Edition is now available as a digital download! Print editions coming soon! yochaigal.itch.io/cairn-barebo...

That's right, you can now try Intergalactic Bastionland in a very early, messy state. www.bastionland.com/2026/02/inte...

I think all sports should have light cosplay outfits like figure skating.

Genuinely heartwarming.

the neopets ttrpg kickstarter is going great

Suspected Chinese state-backed hackers hijacked the Notepadd++ update infrastructure to deliver backdoored version of the popular free source code editor and note-taking app for Windows. www.wired.com/story/notepa...

KPop Demon Hunters isn’t perfect, but I’ll always appreciate these two things: 1. It prompted my 8 year old to ask surprisingly nuanced questions about forgiveness. 2. Truly god-tier double entendre—“idol” as both “pop star” and “golden calf.”

Because unpopular editorial decisions are encouraged in every department of the NYT www.tomsguide.com/gaming/wordl...

I am more wary than ever about writing goofy sci-fi with self-aware robots, like the only way I can justify it in the current environment is to say, “Probably these only exist by accident or because of aliens, no thanks to the delusions of zillionaires.”

As of tomorrow, Cairn Press is live! Bring me your modules, your supplements, your hacks - as long as they are Cairn adjacent, I'll take consider it! More soon. cairnpress.ink

Hello. It's my final week as a full time game designer, and as if to underline why I can't do this anymore, I currently can't afford to cover my bills at the end of the month. All of my work on itch is on sale. Tell your friends, buy something, thank you very much. itch.io/s/179351/jan...

Made a game that’s proven surprisingly helpful when my kid is hangry: Parents say, “How about [specific food]?” Hangry kid tries a bite—or, if they decline, it’s their turn to suggest a food. Parents might decline due to availability (or ridiculousness)—back to kid. Repeat until kid’s satisfied.

What kind of rinky dink New England town cancels school two days in a row for only 16 inches of snow

damn bro sounds like your job sucks and you should quit, sounds like you all should quit right now sounds awful. sounds like you should take off all you gear and walk home right now bro

If you have deep expertise in a topic you should have a baseline assumption that you *cannot* communicate effectively with non-experts without training and assistance from an expert in communication.

If I get an offer after interviewing last week while on vacation, and meeting the hiring manager tomorrow while my kid's home for a snow day, I will finally be ready to test my technique while blindfolded in the Chamber of a Hundred Wooden Men

Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)

Great explanation of the right-wing media landscape that encourages half the US to back Trump, with a clear-eyed reminder that “His floor is 34%. He’s above it. He’s been above it for almost his entire political career.” cmarmitage.substack.com/p/how-do-39-...

It's inevitable, you simply must adapt to it and use it, you have no choice, but also please use it more or it's going to die

The monstrously depressing thing is that they may win a majority based on average American citizens desperate for someone in power to do ANYTHING to stop Trump's goons, and they will immediately say "See, our strategy was correct. Now let's turn the page on that unpleasant ICE business."

Consultants are idiots, talk to your constituents you lazy dicks and they'll tell you what they want you to do and then you'll get reelected if you do that thing they ask you to do

Every now and then, I think I should make separate BlueySky accounts for different interests. Then I realize that would encourage me to spend more time on social media. 2026 is probably not the year to do that. (Sorry, UXers uninterested in games, and gamers uninterested in UX.)

It's happening! www.kickstarter.com/projects/unw...

So not only can they not mask up properly...

Going to have to try to remember this. (Applicable to more than comics!)

Normal people today: “Ugh work” Their friends on the job market: “Haha, I hear you. So, ah, how are your coworkers’ facial recognition skills? I could borrow a few outfits, maybe—“

The biggest mistake that guy who flew too close from the sun made was that he wanted to experience flying for himself. He would probably still be alive if he just experienced it through his father icariously

Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago

This should be the statement of not just every Dem, but effectively every US politician.

My kid was disappointed I wouldn’t name an RPG character after her, but was understanding when I explained I’d be sad if pretend-her got hurt. So she made a creature for my game—“good AND bad”—for players to deal with as they see fit. I told her I’m impressed and hope to get her to GM for me soon.

I said chatgpt doesn't have a soul and got put on this list

You FUCKED UP, your LEFTY politics have ALIENATED the BILLIONAIRES who run the CHILD BONE EXTRACTION FACTORIES and now they will do a MASS EXODUS from your STATE or CITY. Don’t CRY to ME when you no longer see their CHILD CATCHING VANS in your STATE or CITY, YOU IDIOT

A WORD (two words) FOR MY HATERS. Watch #NightThoughts on Hulu.

My buddy got a job offer just days after telling me, “If you're not perfect then you're not getting the job. I don't think I was perfect.” Never been so pleased to see somebody eat his words.

SOMERCON TICKETS ARE LIVE! VIP tickets on sale today and tomorrow, general admission on sale Friday at 10am. (You must buy a main entry ticket before signing up for add-ons!) Just look at this gorgeous schedule! 30 games! 5 panels! 3 workshops! Infinite fun! bit.ly/44wyMYW #somercon

Celebrated my boosters in the traditional manner: presenting a case study on usability testing for covid vaccination scheduling flows

Years ago someone "gave me an idea" for something and then immediately demanded that if I did anything with it I should give him 50% of anything I earned from it. So I simply didn't use it and had other ideas instead, because ideas are the easy bit.

Users can be famously resistant to new ideas. Sometimes change just takes time to catch on. Probably not this iOS update, though.

DAY 2, GAME 10: 2400 from @jst.bsky.social is my favorite streamlined system, packing a game into one page, and a world of SF adventure into two more--then gives you a couple dozen variants to show you options and possibilities building on that simplicity. I love it.

12 DAYS OF 12 GAMES, DAY 2: Another dozen-share of games (and game-adajcent things) that I like, and that you might too. And each comes with a link so you can support great designers, writers, and artists! #12days12games

I don’t usually think about it in terms this dire, but it lines up with my sense that video calls CAN be good, but it’s easy for them not to be. (Job interview issue is even more interesting, since there’s so much AI cat and mouse) gizmodo.com/even-minor-v...

One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.

That’s the look of somebody watching you from the pier as your car sinks, with you handcuffed to the steering wheel, beneath the surface. And all she’s wondering is if that Chinese joint will still be open on her way home.

Thanks to my checkered past I’ve been in a few bar fights and had a gun waved at me once or twice. And I tell you that if anyone, man or woman, looks at you with eyes like that, you scram to the parking lot and count yourself lucky to be alive.

The misleading framing in this article drives me nuts. Way to blithely dismiss disability accommodations as a necessary casualty of return-to-office culture! If you’ve ever been in a competently managed, remote-friendly workplace, you know working from home’s not the problem here—it’s leadership.

User researchers already document findings at a faster velocity than orgs can act on them. It strains credulity that tech leaders are clamoring for even more yet worse AI-generated findings. My new blog post, "The only winning move is not to play." gregg.io/the-only-win...

1. My wife @profbanks.bsky.social is doing Tarot readings for $30, she is great 2. You could switch a free Patreon membership to paid for a month Patreon.com/cambanks 3. I do design/dev consults, world building assistance, and mentorship for $50/hour, I’d love to help you out. Thanks. 💜💜