Freaky Tales is the best movie I've watched in ages. So fresh and fun and rare to see a film full of such genuine joy

All packed for Unpub! I’ve got games about: - a failing monster containment facility - rescuing your animal family from hunters - surviving as a colony of field mice - hacking a surveillance state Can’t wait to play everyone’s games!

making a presentation

Gonna stop using the word "balance" and start using the word "tuning." Whenever I talk about "balance", I get pulled into conversations about "overbalancing" and how "balance isn't that important actually"--which feel like non-sequitors to me. But I think I've just been using the wrong word.

the time spent on the windowsill was just a brief speck on my life's timeline, but even so, it was a moment so shining and brilliant that I remember it clearly even millenia later buried in the ruins of their civilization. oh, to be loved, even for a heartbeat

I have this one on my office door. It rules.

hey look a new Mountain Goats song

I'm designing a card game with special powers right now, and I'm trying a self imposed restriction of no more than 12 words per card... It's common wisdom that less text is good, but I'm finding the adoption of a specific limit to be extra useful in staying on track.

Bad games are the best games because they create game designers. If 5e were perfect, there would be only one game. Instead, 5e sucks so there are 10,000 tiny indie games that suck less and that’s beautiful

I love Balatro, but it hits a pet peeve of mine in difficulty design. The first stake decreases your overall earnings, meaning you have fewer resources to play with. It raises difficulty, but at the expense of what makes Balatro fun: crafting a unique deck.

Bird heaven is neither above nor underground; it's underwater, inside that twinkling mirror, that discontinuous, lake-faceted jewel

Guess I have no choice now! Favorite basic pokemon for my #starting6

So well deserved!

been playing some good board games lately and thinking about how board games vs. ttrpgs are, in their use of metaphor, very similar to poetry vs. prose

hundreds of people contributed to qud meaningfully over the years and it wouldnt be the same without any of them. our societ worships the auture but the truth is we make it together or not at all

If you're at #PAXU and looking for THE freshest games, skip the floor and ascend to the terrace for Unpub. There you can shape the future of tabletop games! We're all the way on the west (Broad St) side of the hall; keep going up til you can go no higher. #PAXUnplugged @unpub.bsky.social

Since I’m probably up until flight time here’s a little convention tips thread for y’all. No one asked but here you go anyway. 🧵

I'm bringing 3 prototypes to PAXU: 1. Research directors run a failing monster containment facility 2. Hackers disrupt a surveillance state 3. Bog monsters rescue their family from ruthless hunters Hope to see you in the Unpub room!

Hey all 👋 I make games and illustrate covers for middle-grade fiction! I designed Tesseract and am always tinkering with too many prototypes. I'll be posting mostly about games here! You can find the rest of my work on my website: www.jamesfirnhaber.com

Philly Game Design Starter Pack! Seeing these pop up so it seems fitting that we should help our awesome designers in Philadelphia & the surrounding area find each other and get found! This will be a living document so make sure to repost/hit me up if you want to be added! 🎲✂️ go.bsky.app/NZc3zmJ

It doesn't resolve an *action*, it resolves an *outcome*. An entire war can, if desired, by decided by a single roll. But the core break down is: 6-: MC says what happens 7-9: MC and player say what happens 10: the player says what happens Lots of things can be built on this.

🎲✂️ I forgot how much I enjoy paper prototyping. Tactility is so important to the play experience, and is totally muted in virtual spaces.

It's time for board game designers to start writing "no AI art" clauses into our contracts. 🎲✂️

So happy this design is finally out in the world!