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Allen Varney

@bundleofholding.com

921 followers 196 following 554 posts

Writer and game designer (PARANOIA XP, Mongoose Publishing 2004). I operate the Bundle of Holding (bundleofholding.com). allenvarney(at)Gmail.

Posts Replies Media

Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 28/08/2026

Adventurers Club #23 (Winter 1994), the Hero Games magazine for the Champions #TTRPG, published my article "Perklets," with a list of tiny ways to improve your RPG characters.

Perklets, by Allen Varney, from Adventurers Club issue 23 (Hero Games, Winter 1994).
Chewing gum? Obnoxiously cute toys? No, “perklets” are the tiny ways life goes well for your character. Too rare or trivial to cost whole character points, these little benefits pioneer a great new design concept: decimal points!

Cost (points)

0.1: Permission to Photocopy

0.2: Can Lift One Eyebrow Like Mr. Spock

0.2: Easily Assumes Full Lotus Position

0.2: Remembers Dreams

0.2: Wiggles Ears, Curls Tongue Into Tube, Can Bend Thumb Back Until It Touches Wrist, etc.

0.3: Immunity to Jury Duty

0.3: Member, International Youth Hostels

0.3: Fruit-of-the-Month Club

0.4: Has Correct Change

04 each: Usually Picks Fastest Line (per Environment: Supermarket, Bank, Airport, Other)

0.4 each: Turns Almost Exactly to Page Needed on First Try (half-phase action, per Environment: Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Phone Book, Spellbook)

0.5: On Really Neat Mailing Lists

0.5: Not on Annoying Mailing Lists

0.6 each: Free Pass (per Environment: Disneyland, Euro Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Walt Disney World)

0.7: Can Fix Parking Tickets

0.7: Tans Without Peeling

0.8: Related to Airline Employee, Flies Cheaply

0.9: Knows Real Words to "Louie, Louie"

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 02/05/2026

Paper Man was one of the stupider villains in a large league of stupid Wonder Woman adversaries. He fought her by giving paper cuts.

Wonder Woman issue 165 (1966) featured the villain Paper Man. In this excerpt, Wonder Woman tries to capture Paper Man, but he holds her off by giving her numerous paper cuts. Then he folds himself into a paper airplane and flies away.

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 10/08/2025

He competes in RhovaniVision three years running.

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 15/11/2024

NASA's new Globbo Space Telescope. (Image by Duane Beck)

The JW Space Telescope overlaid with counters from the 1985 boardgame Globbo. Image by Duane Beck.

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 05/11/2024

If you see this, post a picture from your device without explanation.

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 27/08/2024

What's your current social media strategy?

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 29/12/2023

Without downloading any new pics, what’s your energy going into 2024?

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 19/12/2023

My artist friend Denis Loubet just posted this meme of his own creation, designed to be posted on social media:

Sepia-tinted photo of a cyclopean fortress door carved with bas-relief images of Christmas trees, snowflakes, wreaths, and gingerbread men. Caption: 1901 Expedition to Santa's Workshop. The only photo of Santa's Workshop from the doomed 1901 Wheelwright expedition shows the massive doors discovered in an impossible mountaint at the North Pole. Wheelwright, the sole survivor, was institutionalized after his rescue, suffering from an uncontrollable and disturbing laughter.

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 17/12/2023

This Watchmen panel marked the first time I realized superhero comics could be beautiful.

Watchmen issue 07, A Brother to Dragons: Nite Owl is piloting the Owlship away from a burning building, while Billie Holiday's "You're My Thrill" plays for the rescued people inside.

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 14/11/2023

Baby's First Skydive - RawrRawr Art, 01 July 2023

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 12/11/2023

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Allen Varney @bundleofholding.com · 27/10/2023

Critical Role demarcates a new generation gap in the roleplaying hobby, akin to the rise of White Wolf in the early '90s. Gamers of a certain vintage seem compelled to announce loudly They Don't Get It At All, Consarn It, No They Absolutely Don't.

Critical Role live show at OVO Wembley Arena, 25 October 2023

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