iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sad news everyone. Our beloved friend the computer has now become a hated enemy

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Here's the video for the session associated with this prep thread: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE1j...

youtube.com

Dark Ages: The Playtest || Session 5

YouTube video by TheVODViper

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Despite being very tired from overdoing yesterday, I am doing my home-work for my Dark Ages game. (please clap) A lot of things came to a point in our fourth session, and so our fifth was mostly about building out more context for all the new problems we had created.

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We had a delightful session of Dark Ages today, and it reminded me that I never got around to linking the previous session here, so here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wQk...

youtube.com

Dark Ages: The Playtest || Session 4

YouTube video by TheVODViper

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Probably some very cool designers and games associated with this event...

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Myf / Miffy @adjacentstatham.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/6aac1... If you’re in Vancouver BC and looking for a weekly TTRPG hang - I will be running 4 sessions at the Vancouver Public Library on Sundays in November. Would love to have you along - registration required 🩷

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Due to some scheduling complications our usual Sunday sessession of Dark Ages was today instead. It was a session of culminating plot threads, and I don't think I have all that much prep coming out of it, oddly enough.

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

helluva Dark Ages session today...

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Power being out would be a perfect excuse to leave my apartment and go noodle around, except that the elevator needs electricity and I live on the 6th floor.

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yesterday was a write-off, so my dark ages prep thread is a day late. Also the power just went out in my building so no links or images until later. It was the first session of summer, and I used the consequence of Fausta's season move to give us our opener for the session...

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Luke Wildwoods @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

hey, I heard you nerds are into Stonetop. have you ever thought: where's the 'gloomy witch who sees terrible futures' playbook? where's the 'experienced elder on one last adventure' playbook? great news—i've got you covered gamesfromthewildwood.itch.io/harbinger gamesfromthewildwood.itch.io/elder

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DistractedElf @distractedelf.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This game is a current obsession. It is great to be TTRPGing with my friends <3

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Had a lovely second session of Dark Ages, which you can watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw05... and I'm gonna go over my prep following that session here in this thread...

youtube.com

Dark Ages: The Playtest || Session 2

YouTube video by TheVODViper

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Seraphina Garcia Ramirez 🔜 PaxU @seraphina.diceexploder.com · 31/08/2026

Sam has created something magical with Dice Exploder- it was the impetus for my passion for games blossoming. I'm so thankful for all the work he's put in. I'm stoked to carry the show forward! Great season coming up, and I'm thrilled to show you all what I have brewing for the future of the show

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Sera is brilliant, and I hope that this will mean more people can hear her thoughts and insights about rpgs and play. (In the meantime, folks should also go read her essays/blogs) I'm excited to see where Sera ta

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Thursday Garreau @keftiu.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Playing a one-shot of Dream Askew hit me in my feelings so hard that I started a relationship with another player and became a game designer. I can't praise a game more than that.

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

if you have not played all of Avery's games, you owe it to yourself to pick something new from her catalogue and check it out. She does not miss.

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High Shelf Collective @highshelfcltv.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

💫 TONIGHT, 8PM EST - Your favorite collection of cosmic siblings are BACK! #HouseOfStarfall, our #GirlByMoonlight series! After a month of peace with their estranged uncle back in their lives, the Starfall siblings are closer than ever to being able to save their parents! twitch.tv/highshelfcol...

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

As promised, here's a thread about my prep for the Dark Ages playtest I am playing on Sundays. The recording of our first session is here: youtu.be/eM3huoccFQY

youtu.be

Dark Ages: The Playtest || Session 1

YouTube video by TheVODViper

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Luke Wildwoods @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Student of war and stewardship, A patient spider in the crown’s shadow, Alive to the pulse of the stones. the Castellan is one of 4 bonus playbooks from the Stronghold playset—the crown's right hand, cunning and canny. which 4 rights would your Castellan have? sevencrowsgames.itch.io/dark-ages

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DistractedElf @distractedelf.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Hey crew! I made a second channel for unrelated-to-D&D stuff! It's called "TheVODViper", the first episode of our Dark Ages Playtest campaign is up there, and you should check it out! youtu.be/eM3huoccFQY

youtu.be

Dark Ages: The Playtest || Session 1

YouTube video by TheVODViper

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

@newmadras.bsky.social I'm sitting with the reading club suggestion form open in front of me, and I am full of mischief and bad ideas. I will make a real suggestion in the form, but also: It would be funny to repeat games....

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Jonaya Kemper @violetriotgames.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This Winter I'll be teaching an Experimental TTRPG course and I'll be focusing on solo journaling games. If you have a game you think I should read, or you have a game you really love, please plug it and tell me about it. ✨ Also please share widely. I want some non US perspectives.

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Luke Wildwoods @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Least-lovely creature under the sun. Haunted, hunted, hated, Afraid—like you—of what I may become. the Pariah is one of 4 bonus playbooks from the Shrine playset—a weird outcast; maybe feared, maybe pitied, always unsettling. which 4 rights would you give them? sevencrowsgames.itch.io/dark-ages

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DistractedElf @distractedelf.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

This'll be starting about 9:30AM PT on Sunday! So excited! Gaming w/ @andrewgillis.bsky.social is one of those things I've been MISSING

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I'm going to be playing the playtest of Dark Ages with my friend @distractedelf.bsky.social and company this Sunday, for anyone that wants to see the game in action. In addition to the video, I'll be doing weekly posts about my prep, and general thought process around playing the game.

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I was delighted to get a chance to write up this faction for blades '68. I tried to fold in some labour history from the real world, mapping it to the various analogues present in Blades '68. I'm in good company in the BLUE Files, there are so many brilliant contributors!

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Tim Denee @olddog.games · 20/08/2026

We wrap up the Palace Dossier with one more faction: WUP (Workers United in Peace"), a great labour union faction by the great @andrewgillis.bsky.social Next time: the final chapter of the BLUE Files! "Life in '68", diving into the music, movies, film, comics, fashion and culture of Doskvol '68.

A spread from the BLUE Files showing a faction: Workers United in Peace (WUP), by Andrew Gillis.

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Seraphina Garcia Ramirez 🔜 PaxU @seraphina.diceexploder.com · 19/08/2026

I’m beyond thrilled for this conversation- please come join us as we dive deep into Avery’s ouevre and dig into moves and game design as part of her journey through to today!

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The Rascal Reading Club is a wonderful project! The first season is very much worth listening to, and then you should let Thomas know what you want to see in the next season.

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Camilla Zamboni 🔜 Metatopia @czamboni.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

By the way, this is very very exciting, and I can't wait to have some time to try it! Congrats and good luck to @andrewgillis.bsky.social and @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social 👏 Take a look: sevencrowsgames.itch.io/dark-ages

sevencrowsgames.itch.io

Dark Ages by Seven Crows Games

A post-apocalyptic, historical fantasy game of personal ambition, community strife, rights claimed and rights denied.

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Saw credits and bonus post credits 100% stuff in Big Walk and loved every little moment of it. It's easy to miss how thoughtful and perfectly calibrated everything in the game is, because it all just seems to work and feel natural

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

desperation is a wonderful engine for making games that run fast and hard into their bloody ends. I've had lots of fun playing various games that use this framework, it's well worth checking out, and a great space to design in

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I've been having lots of fun playing Big Walk with a friend of mine. That game is so delightfully elegant in its design, not just in terms of puzzles/mechanics, but also just creating a beautiful and charming space to spend time in, and giving you just enough embodiment to draw you in

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Having a bit of a post about apples and get asked questions about oranges situation at the moment around Dark Ages, and I'm finding it frustrating. People can do anything they want with games, and that's none of my business. What is my business, however, is that we put out a playtest

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Aura/Moom @moomanibe.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

*explaining D&D attribute modifiers* basically they invented a system where when you get better at something, you actually didn't

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John Harper @johnharper.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I ran this in its old form (uh... 15 years ago?) and our group loved it. One of the best series we had. This version is *even better*! Jump in and give it a try.

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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 09/08/2026

if they're drinking nounwine it's fantasy. if they're snorting a verb it's sci fi

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Luke Wildwoods @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Dark Ages is a post-apocalyptic, historical fantasy game by Andrew Gillis and myself (adopting the Bakers' draft). It is about personal ambition, community strife, rights claimed & rights denied, in an age of our real Earth but not our real history Now in playtest! sevencrowsgames.itch.io/dark-ages

Something terrible is coming.
The Empire of Eagles left us. The eldest among us still remember the shape of imperial rule. Their children, only the garrisons’ backs as they marched away. We knew not where they were headed, and no news ever came. Empty forts fell into decay. Kin serving in distant legions did not return. Imperial faces faded from silver coins. Bridges crumbled, and no engineers arrived to make them whole. Did the Empire burn? Withdraw? Simply collapse? Whatever the cause, we were abandoned to our fate.
In its absence, a rupture. Long years of chaos and upheaval, but amongst the ruins, possibility.
Now we stand at the precipice of the ungiven future. A resurgence of old ways vies against the advent of new crowns. War hangs in the air like a bloody knife. Dragons stir in the earth, and dream of the world’s breaking. In distant lands, converts kneel to a bloodless corpse-god. This age is a broken thing, ours to make anew—time now for the plunge.
Dark Ages is a post-apocalyptic, historical fantasy game of personal ambition, community strife, rights claimed and rights denied.
***
This is a playtest document. It is the third draft of Dark Ages, formerly Apocalypse World: Dark Ages, which Meg and Vincent Baker developed and abandoned back in 2014.
After a fruitful and compelling experiment in archaeological playtesting, we (Andrew Gillis and Luke Jordan) have adopted it with the Bakers’ blessing. It is our intention to bring the game to publication, incorporating recent developments in the PBTA design scene while honouring the unique, original DNA of the game that captivated us in the first place.

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Luke Wildwoods @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

My friend Judd said: "I grabbed the pdfs and looked them over, thinking I might put a quote here [on his blog] and there isn't one quote to pull. The text of the entire game is somehow haunting. I have gone from intrigued to enthralled."

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Andrew Gillis @andrewgillis.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Hey friends, the Dark Ages playtest by myself and @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social is now live on my itch page. You are invited to download it for free and play it. sevencrowsgames.itch.io/dark-ages

sevencrowsgames.itch.io

Dark Ages by Seven Crows Games

A post-apocalyptic, historical fantasy game of personal ambition, community strife, rights claimed and rights denied.

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SupernalClarity @supernalclarity.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Knowing these folks’ work, you are 100% going to want to take a look at this. 👀

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Galen Pejeau @nightjargames.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

What a lovely thing to wake up to! I've been a huge fan of both of the scribes toiling away on this work, and reading through Dark Ages got me so fired up that I threw a drawing at them. Give it a look!

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🦇Ziggy_1031 is HALLOWEEN!!!🦇 @ziggy1031.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Really awesome thing to wake up to today, ngl I kinda needed this. The writing that's been shown off is very good, can't wait to dig in!

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London Station Girlie @londonstation.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

CHANGE OF PLANS Moving M-Space from Sat AM to Sun AM to make way for DARK AGES, a resurrection/playtest copy of what _was_ to be Apocalypse World: Dark Ages. Join us as we read through the document released by @andrewgillis.bsky.social and @wildwoodsgames.bsky.social ! youtube.com/live/2c4FzaO...

youtube.com

Dark Ages (PbtA, Apocalypse World) First Contact [DC_20]

YouTube video by London Station

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juliet @follypersist.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I had good fortune to play a lot of parts of Dark Ages and spend even more time talking about the poetry in it. I love the specificity of obligation here, as the Dark Ages itself says: "It is up to your character to assert and enforce their rights within the fiction. In many ways, that’s the game!"

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DistractedElf @distractedelf.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Oh we're gonna be diggin' in to THIS on Sunday, Mark my words.

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🦇⚰️DracuLevi⚰️🦇 @likethejeans.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I'm ready! Freakin large popcorn! Hot dog! Damn slurpy dammit! Don't talk to me right now! Don't even breathe on me! This is it!

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