iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16h

The Spirit Wardens beg to differ

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 29/09/2026

Caro was on last year too if you missed it! They're very great and smart.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 29/09/2026

Caro's coming from a very larp-forward background, but I think this is a space where tabletop rpgs, especially ones going for high emotions, could take a lot of lessons. Take a listen!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 29/09/2026

This week on Dice Exploder Caro Murphy, one of the designers behind Galactic Starcruiser, is back to talk about de-roling. After the game is over, what does it look like to step out of your character, debrief, and reincorporate the experience you just had back into yourself?

diceexploder.com

Transcript: De-Roling with Caro Murphy - Dice Exploder

Listen to this episode here. Further reading Back Tower Runners on Kickstarter! DrachenFest Incantrix Productions Imagi-Ne'er-Do-Wells Socials Caro’s website Sam on Bluesky and itch The Dice Exploder ...

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Reposted by Sam D

Yochai Gal @yochaigal.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I love seeing stuff like this. And how cool is it that Karly just drew the characters? Just like that!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 27/09/2026

These are so great, uncannily accurate to how I imagined them. Thank you for them!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

Thanks for playing, glad you liked it! Who was facilitating? I've been trying to track who's picking up the game.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

Glad you like them! I love that added light pvp element during play, I just love getting players talking with each other as much as talking with the ref/environment/whatever.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

The "here's 10 example characters who could be PCs or hirelings" feels different from the kind of pregen I'm looking for where the character has more of a personal invested interested in the situation, but the Alien ones sound very much what I'm after! I'll have to check them out, thanks!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

...read a Mothership, Mausritter, Cairn, Mork Borg, etc module that came with pregens, much less pregens who felt like they belonged in the situation the adventure described. If you have examples I'd love to see them!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

I am extremely sure you are correct. I was doing research at one point and found a bunch of old modules like you describe, and certainly modules in communities like Gumshoe which are outside the current day (post)OSR/Mothership may be different. But I have never... (cont)

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

I'm especially interested in discussing with people: - What might adventure modules gain and lose by having pregens? - Do these pregens feel like a good set for this module? If not, what would you want to see instead?

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

Nobody fucking @ me about how I said I was leaving Dice Exploder because I was out of things to say about rpgs and then published like three blogposts this week.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 26/09/2026

I’ve had a bugbear recently about wanting adventure modules to come with pregen characters, and I'm so pleased this one inspired me to write up an example. Maybe my friends will have to hear me yelling about it less now.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 25/09/2026

This looks sick, just read the free version on itch and I'm gonna write pregens for it so hard

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

My theory is that Pluribus is in part about Gilligan's visceral reaction to entering that world.

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Reposted by Sam D

Indie Game Reading Club @indiegamereadingclub.com · 24/09/2026

It's crazy they let these kinds of typos into the wild. (@bullypulpithq.bsky.social 's Nine Space Games is very cool, highest recommendation, a must-have for fans of The Culture and/or make-believe arguments.)

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

Oh shit, that's crazy. I gotta check that out.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

Evan's post is also excellent

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

Back when I was playtesting Nine Space Games I really wanted to do a DE about real life timers on play. Never got to it, but it's still a very interesting tool.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

I wrote about some more things I try and do as a player in RPGs to make the games good. Specifically: - have goals - listen to what your other players are telling you they want - reincorporate everything - everyone at the table plays several and/or shares minor characters

diceexploder.com

RPG Table Skills: Goals, Listening, Reincorporation, and Sharing Characters - Dice Exploder

Today I’m continuing my series on RPG Table Skills: skills that’s going to be used primarily at the table rather than during prep and used by many or all people...

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

2027 goals: - write a post called "how to play slowly" - write a post called "how to play quickly"

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

My 2027 goal is to start a group specifically based on practicing how to get through story quickly, so yknow, two sides of a coin.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

This also neatly dovetails with / solves the problem of a "required baseline of trope knowledge": if everyone has a different baseline, that's good actually.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

My experience with falling back on tropes is that the trope I think to fall back on is rarely the same as anyone else at the table. I bring something I think is predictable but when it collides with what everyone else thinks is predictable it becomes new and shiny.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

The thing is I would enjoy spending three hours luxuriating in a single scene. 30 minutes establishing the bigger picture, 30 minutes setting the scene, 90 minutes breaking down every single detail of what every character in the scene is doing, thinking, not thinking. 30 minutes debrief. Gold.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 24/09/2026

Two absolutely banger sessions this week, I love rpgs

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 22/09/2026

Kendo's great, definitely check out all their AP work!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 22/09/2026

I also cohere one of my biggest thoughts about AP in this, namely that the unique thing about AP is the way it's by default telling the story of several levels of "reality" at once: the game design, the players at the table, the fiction, and the audience at home.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 22/09/2026

This week on Dice Exploder it's a one episode revival of last year's series on actual play! @kendomakesfilms.bsky.social's on talking about a specific fictionally-tense moment of play from their series Our Lives in the Wood...

diceexploder.com

Transcript: Our Lives in the Wood with Kendo Smith - Dice Exploder

Listen to this episode here. Further reading Our Lives in the Wood episode 5 This Game Takes Place in Your Home Town Socials Kendo on Bluesky and the web Sam...

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 19/09/2026

Thanks to Khee Hoon Chan for letting me and Sera talk about Dice Exploder on Rascal, it was a fun excuse to reflect on making the show.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 18/09/2026

Two cards from the 2012 list RETURNED in the intervening two years. Massive bonus points for anyone who can guess those.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 18/09/2026

Updated for 2026. We dropped from 176 cards still in the vintage cube from 2012 down to just 144.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 17/09/2026

- Breeding means you take all parent spells (potentially more than 2) and randomly choose 2-4 of their potential effects. GM adds a new one however they want. That's your new spell. - Additional rules for "grooming" a spell: manipulating the existing choices it has - No other advancement system

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 17/09/2026

The bsky sized version: - Magic system based on the explorers design Jackian Magic post - Casting is Oddfolk coded: each spell has a list of 4 potential effects (some are obviously negative consequences) - Between sessions you can spend [TK resource] to breed spells (cont.)

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 17/09/2026

I'm still working on that part

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 17/09/2026

Just cracked the rules in my fantasy heartbreaker for breeding spells like they're tamagotchi

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16/09/2026

I gotta write about 40 of these for my current project

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16/09/2026

I saw Aaron posting the posters, I'll definitely be at the next one. DM me the discord link!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16/09/2026

I'm from Minneapolis, I know what's up

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16/09/2026

The real question is on how many days in a row will the same people see you. If you only see any given person like once a week you can probably get away with nearly three weeks before it kicks in.

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16/09/2026

I live in Minneapolis now

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 16/09/2026

Glad you're both home and doing alright

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 15/09/2026

Since recording this many months ago Jeeyon and I have started a Blades campaign and are like 8 episodes in. I think a lot of what we talk about here holds up, and we have indeed spent time talking about what's on the menu when it's time for a meal.

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