Remembering how fucked up it was last time I went to a Playtesting convention that was meant to be a welcoming testbed, and someone posted a blog publicly criticising the slice I tested (by name). Playtest communities should have a proper NDA (No Dickheads Arrangement) that sorts this kind of shit.

Can anyone who knows Suits help me with Prelusory Goal thoughts? So Suits says the Prelusory Goal is a specific state of affairs we want to be completed, which requires the playing of the game. Eg "I want to run from one line to another line" or "I want to get this golf ball into a hole". (1/3)

At #GamesForChange Asia Pacific today. If you're attending and want to talk about interactive impacts, please grab me.

Even setting aside ethics (but, yknow, THAT) - I just don’t want AI bullshit. I don’t want an AI pop star, movie, book, video game. Art is a conversation. Why would I stare at a dictionary run through the washing machine when I could read a poem lovingly constructed by someone’s hands?

It’s been hard to be silent while we’ve been building our first game but now we finally have some content to share! Introducing Twilight Towers, a shiny new website, and some words from our COO about what’s to come: play.fortis.games/tltandbeyond

My latest co-authored article is now available in Global Environmental Change. Giving challenges a playful context creates meaning, meaning creates agency, and agentic interaction generates multi-lateral knowledge exchange. Games are good, actually. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New free game alert! "Posting Through It" A playful futures game that explores how social media has redefined what it means to “win” and “lose” in uncertainty. I co-designed Posting Through It with @randylubin.com, so grab it over at his Itch page: randylubin.itch.io/posting-thro...

Layla writes a beautiful response to Yochai Gal's Beyond the Pale, but she also leaves out the most important analysis that came out of our play session.

Me, curling my hair and trying my best to look aloof: "So, is there a Mrs Dobalina?"

Another day in the perpetual argument as to whether or not I can face down years of poverty to do Postgrad.

Well well, look at who is kicking goals all over the place! Congrats Lucie!

Has anyone covered Hamilton's Your Obedient Servant using Trump and Elon's breakup tweets?

No d4iday this week. Had an eye test, which means full dilated pupils during my usual writing window. Not able to focus on text and screens in the way I need to. I'll be back at it next week!

Imp Games are back tomorrow in Toronto! please share with your local friends and come help us build a community😸

Story Games TO at the Imp is just the best. If you're around, come along!

game night with @sidneyicarus.bsky.social and the toronto crowd tomorrow! message us or email [email protected] if you want to facilitate a game or have any questions💟

My favourite part of writing d4idays, is that after I write 1500 words on my game design newsletter, Mailchimp's AI wants to suggest titles for me: "4 secret design tips you WONT BELIEVE" And I ignore that shit and write "d4 Reasons Tim Curry Kicks Ass"

#SkeetReview Tempest Rising (dev. Slipgate Ironworks, pub. 3D Realms, Knight’s Peak, 2025). A nostalgic mechanical experience that captures the play of classic Command & Conquer well, but can’t deliver on any novel ideas. One thumb.

Absolutely 1000% No better advice I've heard.

My first game at Breakout was Spirit Wardens, a game @sidneyicarus.bsky.social is developing based on Blades in the Dark. A neat setting and ideas.

Nothing humbles me more than seeing @timhutchings.bsky.social lament 24k subscribers to his newsletter at thousandyearoldvampire.com (it's very good and every one of those readers gets something cool and valuable). d4iday still looking to break 3 figures, maaaaaaate.

If you ever want to get into a hobby that will validate your imposter syndrome, consider RPG design. 90% of the population has no idea what you’re on about, 9% don’t care, and of the 1% remaining, more than half are ready to tell you you’re doing it wrong.

Going live now! Session Zero of Girl By Moonlight with the weirdheart crew over at twitch.tv/actualplay join @wallstormer.bsky.social @andrewgillis.bsky.social @sidneyicarus.bsky.social and myself as we build ourselves some magical girl tragedy.

I have one regret about Willow Bluff, I didn't include designer notes. As at least a few Dogs I've played through it with discovered, Willow Bluff was an opportunity to experience the subversion at the core of DitV. But most of the time, it just reinforces the bigotry. [d4iday readers can drink]

If you also would like to enjoy d4 weekly game design considerations, you can sign up to d4iday at: waxwings.com.au/email My faves so far: a d4 Framework for receiving feedback on your games d4 ways to handle Accidental Fascism in play The most crucial d4 hours after you fuck up a playtest

Submitting my narrative design portfolio that just says "wrote the word d4iday" in 11pt font. Waiting for the job offers to come rolling in.

This era will be defined by the definitional difference between engagement and fulfillment.

My new career ambition is to fight everyone who treats leading a team like a burden but still takes the money. Line em up like a Royal Rumble. Give me two minutes before you send in the next one so I have some breathing room.

Standard progression from shit post thought spoken aloud -> bluesky skeet drafting -> oops way too much, bluesky thread? -> too complex, blog post? -> ugh too much work I'd rather just post the unqualified Skeet... So here is it: Game dev teams need to do the work Emerg medicine did 15 years ago.

This is such a different and enjoyable way to listen to Decaying Orbit. A smoothly edited, lightning fast AP with just the right amount of delighter-audio scattered throughout. Duet versions always feel so different. Thank you! Shame about the 'fest tho :/

What a really great podcast featuring a super smart friend of mine. Great discussions on creation, exploration, and Metatopia. (Also @stillfleet.bsky.social, Wythe! I lost your card in my GenCon pile, I meant to reach out to you after we spoke. If you have my email, please send me yours!)

On this episode, we chat with Graham Gentz, author of Under the Autumn Strangely (as well as many others) and vocal proponent of GM-less TTRPGs! We talk supportive design and what that means, genres as buckets, and the power of community and cons! rss.com/podcasts/why...

I had a creative director tell me that game development is "building the airplane you are in mid-air as it is coming in for a landing, and the plane is on fire." Game dev is a non-euclidian, seat-of-your-pants nightmare every minute. You fight problems at every angle constantly. And I love it.

Based on your opinions about the Gelatinous Cube and Displacer Beast, I can comfortably predict my favourite moment when playing D&D with you.

Writing out a spreadsheet of projects I want to deliver next year and I'm just crossing hobbies off my list. I literally don't have room for more than four things on my plate at any one time. Take day job and projects to build cv/portfolio for game job, and we're down to the least reliable two.

This is hilarious to me. I have heard a thousand knuck callsigns dumber than "the last thing you ate". I used to work with a tactics specialist called "Kelp". I worked with a guy who was called "T-rex" and "Muppet" interchangeably Callsigns are DUMB. "The last thing you ate" is on the saner side.

I don't think I've seen a single TTRPG that has approached Life Paths well. Even the podium-finisher of Burning Wheel loses points because (for all the wonderful detail) the resulting characters are systemically unusable. Might just be a cursed problem...

"Cows don't look like cows on camera, you have to use horses" demos the two types of game designer I am. The first sees it as analogous to the aesthetic experience of play being understood experientially. The second kind: "What do you do for horses? Usually we just tape a bunch of cats together."

The bad version 1. Make a system 2. Play the system 3. Notice that system shows concrete fun. Players say "This is fun!" 4. Invest in finishing / polishing the system. Issue: Step 3 almost never actually happens. Fun is not *revealed* in most prototypes. There is a process to uncover the fun

I've been adoring Michael's game for over a year (though my attendance hasn't been 100%). I kind of want to talk about games with constraints and "All Killer, No Filler" approaches to design.

Going live now! @sidneyicarus.bsky.social @wallstormer.bsky.social @andrewgillis.bsky.social and I are jumping into the second session of our AW2E game over at twitch.tv/actualplay ! Let's find out how everyone gets by in a mech-littered, defoliant-scorched, hellscape?

I've been wrapped up for a while in my rejection of "The Rule of Cool", which is so vague as to lead itself to be so often misunderstood and misapplied. @jenkatwrites.bsky.social performed the beautiful service of showing me a piece from 2010's RPGs "Warrior Cats Adventure Game".

There's an unspoken piece to this, which I wonder if it'll come out through the upcoming discussions and threads. Not just "why is this the way design is structured" but "why has it been so underdiscussed for 10 years?" There's subtlety to these expressions of what a problem is and how is it solved

Bringing Highlights for XP back to Blades cause I'm an incredibly blunt object of a designer. I genuinely think it's a remarkable moment in play that we can elevate: "I want to see you do X, and if you do, I will reward you for that."

New Little Oracles with @arthograph.bsky.social for the plane home! Weekend keeps on giving.

As I head to bed on Monday, despite being in the hotel, I can definitely close out on Big Bad Con 2024. It was a pleasure to return after five years to the most warm and welcoming place in indie games. A beautiful success in which I leave full of very fun game ideas.

July 2025 I'm going to ressurect #RPGTheoryJuly here on BSky, so get your shit ready. This is your...9 month warning.