Sign in

Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd.

@flintlock.bsky.social
1.3K followers 627 following 22K posts

Neither OSR nor Storygaming but international socialism

PostsRepliesMedia
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
My players are taking Bloodshadows very seriously as you can see by this PC portrait I've just been provided by the Skitterrat player.
060
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
With the recent PbtA discourse I was inspired to look into the history of "success with consequences" and inevitably the third seems to have been Ghostbusters. (See the Three Gregs rule).
2314
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Also, no Americans, the parade issue has not in fact arisen because of Trump. (Also seen several suggesting that a united Ireland is a bad idea because Trump said he liked it. At this rate they'll be giving us a rousing chorus of Billy Boys by tomorrow).
150
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
9 games that shaped me. Largely chosen on whim and would change if I did it tomorrow.
120
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Oh, god, the outrage I got when I suggested Apocalypse World playbooks were essentially classes and vampire clans are race-as-class. Most of the replies boiled down to
3100
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hilariously, only a quarter of YA readers are actually under 18.
181
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
You can still play this on Spectrum Computing:
000
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It's unfair to say the Commodore had no worthwhile programs. This one greatly improved the quality of the machine.
Spectrum Simulator for the C64
0121
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Chaos for the ZX Spectrum
250
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Been thinking about this (from Huw Lemmey) a lot again recently.
You come to understand that the class system soaks into everything in Britain: how, at the top, they’re all essentially the same. The socialists are all aristocrats, the satirists are all bullies. Everyone is related to each other, or went to school with each other, and all are invested in keeping the class motor running. I myself went through a process that I think is a common disillusion. As an socialist eighteen year old, full of rage, you think Britain is a cesspit of conservatism, ruled at the top by a parasitic monarchy, where everything is rigged in favour of the rich. You think Britain is a closed shop where an Oxbridge elite perpetuate a system of patronage, of jobs for friends and the children of friends, where mediocrities rise to fame and fortune and where those who are talented but aren’t rich and white and usually straight and male rise only as performing seals or in order to line their pockets or flatter their egos. You think Britain is only a simulation of a democracy, where opposition is tolerated only so far as it shores up the establishment, tarts up the place to look a bit more modern, or where criticism is allowed only as an escape valve, to release pressure, where satire is a jester to a court that laughs then continues just the same. 

Then you grow up a bit, and realise, of course, things are a little more complicated than that. Change is a slow process, realised in incremental steps that might seem invisible in the short term. Negotiation is the British story, the slow accretion of progress, the winning over of heart and mind. You get over your youthful idealism and realise that, while change is slow, the process does perhaps work. Not ideally, and not every time, but the power elites that once dominated British culture and society are seeing their power eroded in favour of a more open, egalitarian, and democratic national culture. Then you grow up some more, and realise you were right the first time, and the joke isn’t funny anymore.
37223
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I think it's undeniable that the 80s tankies at least put out some fantastic front covers. Now it's all anime avatars and rebelling against your parents.
THe front cover of the Leninist 1986.  "Imperialism wants reform. Comrades want AK47's"
060
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I also want to point out that Paranoia has three ways of tracking ammunition. People understandably focus on the gonzo fun part of Paranoia but miss how the game (especially XP edition) is genuinely one of the best designed games out there.
180
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Last four characters you saved on your phone are your D&D Party.
220
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
AFA cursed by the gift of prophecy yet again (From 1994)
he working class is increasingly alienated from Labour, the BNP's strategy can is entirely reliant upon this alienation: 'they really hate Labour' etc. The total ineptitude and the tangible contempt that exists in some areas between Labour and its former constituency has locally and nationally begat the BNP. And fascism begat anti-fascism. In straight­forward language, it is the politics of the Labour Party that has created the BNP. So by acting as campaign managers for Labour, the ANL are are prostituting anti-fascism, and instead of being identified with a radical, pro-working class position, anti-fascism is seen to be defending the status quo, thereby practi­cally forcing people who want change to vote BNP, out of sheer desperation. They are literally driving people into the arms of the fascists. Up to now it is entirely due to the cutting edge of AFA that the passive support has remained just that. But it is unrealistic to expect that vacuum to be maintained indefinitely.

Nor as working class militant anti-fascists can we stand on the sidelines, wringing our hands hopelessly. We have to take a stand. And we have to take that stand against Labour. Not simply in a theoretical sense, but in an organisational sense. It is vital that the working class on the estates, seriously alienated from Labour, are provided with an alternative to the BNP. The election of a Labour government will be a massive shot in the arm for the Far-Right. It is also very possible that in the subsequent local elections the Isle of Dogs scenario could be repeated on a national scale, and all our\good work in the last decade would be undone at a stroke. The ambition of militant anti-fascism is not simply to see the Far-Right defeated and removed from working class areas: the ultimate solution is to see them replaced there. The BNP's attack on Labour is from the Right and is racist, ultra-conservative and anti-working class, Our primary role is to guarantee that a successful challenge to Labour comes only from the Left. Furthermore, and purely from an anti-fascist point of view, as the best insurance against any nazi renaissance, it would be the duty of militants to offer protection and encouragement to any genuine [anti-­Labour] working class revolt.
010
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
But I think this for example is likely a pretty accurate snapshot of the UK RPG scene going into 1980, fits with other data and contains some surprises like the popularity of the now forgotten Gangster. And the fact that 53% is seen as dominance for D&D, despite the results being skewed!
Reader's poll from White Dwarf, published 1980.
230
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Post you from a different era in your life
010
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
010
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Alice In Chains.
Toy Box - FanTastic
230
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
We can make fun of the OSR as much as we like (and it frequently deserves it). I've still not seen a single D&D content creator or influencer be this clear eyed about what they're actually playing.
Text from Muster about the ideological underpinnings of D&D.  Sadly too long to post, but it rightly puts D&D in context as an American colonial enterprise.
182
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Share someone who looks stylish wearing a hat.
Brunel looking dashing in a topper.
040
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I think it's fair that my benchmark for sexy art is that you need to be at least *almost* as good at it as Olly Frey. Helped by the fact Olly was also an erotica artist although one suspects the fact it was gay erotica would be a step too far for the Deathbringer audience.
4150
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
RIP Ravi Singh Gill. Great bloke and dedicated antifascist. We lost one of our best yesterday.
030
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Congratulations to the Home Nations for winning the tournament that truly matters.
The Home Nations Blood Bowl Team
061
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
040
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
If wrestling is fake explain THIS.
1112
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Only one game can do all three.
120
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
This is 100% what it feels like living in Aberdeen right now.
160
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
If you want to understand the decline of the Labour Party, UK Politics and the rise of Reform, it doesn't start with Brexit or even Cameron. It starts earlier. Look at the decline in turnout under Blair and more specifically, this is key.
440
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
On the Palestine Action ruling:
A Donald Rooum carton.
032
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
If wrestling is fake explain this. #indywrestling
Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher wrestle in Riot Cabaret.
030
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
I will respect any manifesto author who does at least a 10th of what the Motherfuckers got up to though. (Can you *imagine* the reaction if someone decided to perform a mock assassination of a prominent RPG designer?) Now they were my kind of hippies.
The Motherfuckers grew out of a Dada-influenced art group called Black Mask with some additional people involved with the anti-Vietnam War Angry Arts week, held in January 1967.[1] Formed in 1966 by Ben Morea,[2] a painter of Catalan origins,[3]and the poet Dan Georgakas.[4]

Black Mask produced a broadside of the same name[5] and declared that revolutionary art should be "an integral part of life, as in primitive society, and not an appendage to wealth".[6] In May 1968, Black Mask changed its name and went underground. Their new name, Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers, came from a poem by Amiri Baraka. Abbie Hoffman characterized them as "the middle-class nightmare ... an anti-media phenomenon simply because their name could not be printed".[7]

In 1967, The Motherfuckers forced their way into the Pentagon during an anti-war protest[8] and flung blood, eggs and stones at U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk who was attending a Foreign Policy Association event in New York.[9] In January 1968, they performed a mock "assassination" of poet Kenneth Koch (using blanks)[10] and dumped uncollected refuse from the Lower East Side into the fountain at Lincoln Center on the opening night of a gala "bourgeois cultural event" during a NYC garbage strike (an event documented in the Newsreel film Garbage).[11][12] That year the Motherfuckers also organized and produced free concert nights in the Fillmore East after successfully demanding that owner Bill Graham give the community the venue for a series of weekly free concerts. These "Free Nights" were short-lived as the combined forces of NY City Hall, the police, and Bill Graham terminated the arrangement.[13] The Motherfuckers also created a ruckus at the Boston Tea Party: after the MC5 opened for the Velvet Underground. One of the Motherfuckers got on stage and started haranguing the audience, directing them to "burn this place down and take to the streets". This got "The Five" banned from the venue.[14] Also in 1968, the Motherf…
081
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
I've posted this before but UK nerd culture in the 80s was subversive enough that people thought this was a funny idea to put out as a line of miniatures.
171
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Elvis can be added to the "aging rock stars who aren't pricks" list.
Elvis Costello responds to anti-woke backlash to him removing 'Oliver's Army' from set: "Go Fuck Yourself".
1104
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
If Wraith the Oblivion was #bosr
Daily Star: Bruce Forsyth's 'ghost' terorrising joggers by singing Japanese national anthem

There is a transparent Brucie to drive home what a ghostly Bruce might look like.
180
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Show me a picture that captures your essence.
Despite all my rage I am still a just a rabbit Nic Cage
130
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
RIP John Blanche. John's art was a major factor in defending what we see as the aesthetics of the British old school. #bosr #fightingfantasy #warhammer
Some of John's art; threee happy looking humanoids. (They're from Sorcery and you've just saved the village chief's daughter from the headman).
1233
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
We have brought more documents to the cat check point then we needed.
Mimi, a grumpy elderly tabby.Kismet, a fucking menace.
040
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Post a poster that you used to have on your wall.
Event poster for Phoenix Festival 1994
320
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I think Grant Morrison is a bit of a dick but he's spot on here.
 “Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.”
― Grant Morrison, Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human
030
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Every Delta Green group.
1122
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
These are direct quotes or at least paraphrases.
100
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
I think this from Clinton R Nixon is a vital glimpse into a direction the Forge were close to taking and didn't. (I'm with Nixon on this one and think it would have probably been better for storygames if his argument had won out).
"We're not making role playing games any more and it's time to admit it"
140
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Reading the old 90s anarchist comic book Breaking Free (where Tintin becomes an anarchist activist) and honestly, it's a bit preachy but pretty good. Of particular note is that it rejects class reductionism despite being from the class war tradition. Here, Tintin gets a lesson about homophobia.
Tintin's lesbian neigbour Nicky points out the hypocrisy in Tintin complaining about being gay being "unnatural" when the people that tell him that are the same people that claim to be against.
140
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Pick a Bond villain from the photos you already have on your phone. Checks out.
One of these young men is PJ and the other young man is Duncan. Nobody knows which is which, not even their parents.
120
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Early American History is wild.
The comic strip "our sherriffs an ape"
010
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Best adaptation of The Odyssey, wrong answers only
The children's video game "Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey"
162
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Even by Labour's bottom of the barrel standards, this is disgusting. The person in question is someone who made a mistake over 30 years ago, helped jail the dealer who exploited her, did her time and now runs a charity working with ex prisoners. This was posted on an official Labour account.
1143
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Sadly, I think they've peaked. They're never going to top the Rotherham campaign, a campaign so Yorkshire the Northern Independence Party would go "that's a bit much, lads".
121
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I've heard of all of the RPGs the rest of you have mentioned, for the record.
Hipster Jon Snow: "I worship the Old Gods, you've probably never heard of them"
1163
Flintlock. Why do all these nerds follow me? I'm not a nerd. @flintlock.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
The cover for "So Ya Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star' by William A Barton
183