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Dr. Emily Friedman

@friede.bsky.social
19K followers 3.3K following 46K posts

Historian of storytellers. 18th century to today & beyond. J.W.Liles Prof of English Words: Polygon (RIP), LARB, etc Next book: THE ACTUAL HISTORY OF ACTUAL PLAY (MIT) (#TTRPG digital storytelling performance) (free) patreon.com/ecfriedman

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Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 3h
I've gotten a lot of requests from faculty about how to talk to their students about the Cornell 7. I'll post a few resources I've built over the years that I've heard are the most helpful:
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Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 3h
Including: Friend Computer! Diceless! City-stabbing-flashback Stuff! Novel Telenovellas! Unfound family multidimensional arseholes! Monsterkissing! Shamelessness! Extra shamelessness! And I've just quickly edited a story about which of these horror-indie TTRPG I've played with my 4-year old!
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Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at York @cecs-york.bsky.social · 11h
📢 Our first seminar of the academic year is nearly here! Declan Kavanagh, University of Kent, will be presenting a paper on: "‘The Fear You Had for Your Eyes’: The Terror of Sight Loss in Gulliver’s Travels (1726)" 🗓️ Tuesday 6 Oct, 5pm 📍 H/G09, Heslington Hall 🔗 www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
Tiny Gulliver rows a toy boat in a large wooden cistern while an oversized king, a queen and fanned ladies, and stern pikemen watch from a raised platform, a satirical scene emphasizing the comic size contrast and royal bemusement.

The King of Brobdingnag and Gulliver. [graphic] / (Plate 2d), Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker, Lewis Walpole Library
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lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 7h
PbtA fans, here's my challenge to you. For the next 12 months, when somebody asks how PbtA works, tell them that normally a 10+ is a critical hit, a 7-9 is a hit, and a 6- is a compromise, but that unusually challenging or dangerous situations can bump itdown.
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lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 7h
15 years ago when Apocalypse World was new and people were beginning to understand and work with it, it was seductive to look at "acting under fire" and see, not one basic move of several, but the template underlying all the game's moves. Like @kierongillen.bsky.social 's classic gag:
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Marissa Nicosia @nicosiamarissa.bsky.social · 4h
New recipe up on Cooking in the Archives: "To Make Pistacho Cream" from Lady Craven's 18th century receipt book. rarecooking.com/2026/09/30/t... This manuscript is now held at Penn State Libraries Eberly Family Special Collections & I'm studying it with Penn State Abington students this semester.
rarecooking.com
To Make Pistacho Cream
It was a hot August day when my students read a recipe “To Make Pistacho Cream” from Lady Elizabeth Craven’s receipt book out loud, letter by letter, on their first day of class. …
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 5h
What a weird and uncomfortable joy to look ahead & know my next writing tasks are inextricably bound with this weird list.
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will jobst @willjobst.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
don't be shy gen con go ahead. don't be shy pax unplugged go ahead. don't be shy origins go ahead. don't be shy gamehole go ahead. don't be shy gary con go ahead. don't be shy page go ahead. don't be shy breakout go ahead. don't be shy dragon con go ahead.
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 5h
An early 19c game board where age 51 is “The Old Man”
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BSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Submissions are welcome for the London Topographical Society's Anne Saunders Prize: £1,000 for an original & unpublished research essay on the topography, development, or buildings of #London in any period. Details here: londontopsoc.org/about-us/ann... #skystorians 🗃️
londontopsoc.org
Ann Saunders essay prize - London Topographical Society
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Adrienne Massanari @adriennemassanari.bsky.social · 11h
The invisible labor (often performed by women and marginalized folks) that keeps organizations afloat remains hidden and uncompensated. But those musing about AI's "transformation" of work have probably always benefited from this kind of labor in all parts of their life and don't see it as work.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9h
Had she posted her papers on the arXiv at the time of submission, this would have really forced her PhD advisor's hand on giving her the PhD. But without public accountability, he actually got away with this. She eventually got a PhD in a different field, leaving astronomy. 🔭
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Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 20h
When I taught at Colby College years ago, the trustees abolished fraternities, which dominated campus social life & were notorious for sexual assault &rowdiness all around. “Donations will decline,” cried the fierce opponents.Their threats never materialized. Before long it didn’t seem that frats 1/
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 21h
Thinking about how @oliviamesser.bsky.social covered some of the worst fraternity hazing you could ever think of, and then stuff worse than that, for two straight years at The Daily Beast. I would not last a week in that job.
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The Bibliographical Society of America @bibsocamer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Deadline extended until 7 October! The Events Planning Committee seeks proposals for sessions centered on the tools and methodologies of bibliographical work, to take place during BSA’s Annual Meeting in January 2027 View the full CfP and submission instructions: 🔗https://bit.ly/cfp-tools-trade-27
Promotional graphic announcing a 7 October deadline and a call for proposals titled “Tools of the Trade at the 2027 Annual Meeting,” with a black-and-white meeting photograph. White text on a copper background.Copper text on a white background, with more details about submitting a proposal including a link to learn more and a deadline of 7 October
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Tabletop Bookshelf🔜Gamehole Con @tabletopbookshelf.com · 21h
NEW: Five Hundred Year Old Vampire is a multi-player keepsake role-playing game that adapts the award-winning Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings into a new collaborative play experience. Players become vampires chronicling centuries of existence. From Central Michigan University Press
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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Rather than your standard press release, I talk a little bit about what drew me into making Mousetrap, about what feels both Shakespearean and dramatic about Firebrands-style games, about metagames. I hope you'll check it out!
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Dr ShinyGoth @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Humanities will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no humanities.
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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 29/09/2026
Joanna Baillie’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥 (1810): A Virtual Public Reading 21 Nov, online. Free A virtual public reading & discussion of Baillie’s “Highland play”, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥 – an early example of the Scottish “National Drama” #C18 #theatre Zoom link: essex-university.zoom.us/j/93091876464
JOANNA BAILLIE'S THE FAMILY LEGEND (1810): A VIRTUAL PUBLIC READING
DATE AND TIME: SATURDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2026, 6:00 - 9:00 PM (GMT)
LOCATION: ONLINE

Please join members of the Baillie Working Group for a virtual public reading of Baillie's The Family Legend, organised by Sarah Burdett and Diane Piccitto. Attendance is free.
Meeting link: https://essex-university.zoom.us/j/93091876464

With thanks to the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Literary Studies, University of Essex.
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Asa Donald | Backwards Tabletop @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mousetrap's framework is based on the Bakers' Firebrands. You alternate between mini-games and vignettes — mini-games that depict common interactions between players at the table and scenes that depict your characters in the fictional Castle Muldoon. Until your player and your character swap!
Immerse yourself in the game. Bring your characters to life. Cross the magic circle. Concentric circles. In the outer circle are the titles of mini-games and the Players at the Table. In the inner circle are Muldoon Vignettes and Characters in the Castle.
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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I have a newish publication at @analoggamestudies.bsky.social ! I co-wrote a piece on what "gameplay" is in TCGs and whether or not deckbuilding is gameplay (I think so! Most people do! But the scholarship and a lot of general writing splits it off!) escholarship.org/uc/item/2gt8...
the landing page for the link below
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 29/09/2026
substack executives gave him a big cash advance to post on the platform
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 29/09/2026
Oh my GOD this is a love letter to my hometown. (Real H-Town Kids know)
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 29/09/2026
I spent the day making a spreadsheet about casting and representation in union Actual Plays to double-check one sentence in my book. So I missed … whatever folks are talking about.
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Seo-Young J. Chu (she/they) @seoyoungjchu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Solidarity with and empathy for the "Cornell Jane Doe." (I, too, am a Doe.) #MeToo #MeTooAcademia
Solidarity with former Cornell University student "Jane Doe.”

School campuses are sexually violent places. From frat houses to English departments, rape culture thrives in colleges and universities - just as it thrives in the world more generally. Too many victims suffer agony, hardship, and even death as a result.

We need rape studies. We need more memoirs by survivors. We need more academic books on rape. We need more classes devoted to the study of rape culture and sexual violence. We need more conferences where those of us who work in these fields can share ideas and build solidarity. We need # MeToo.

By “we” I mean all of us, because rape culture harms everyone - including you.

#MeTooAcademia
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Amanda Wyatt! Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For some particular infra folks who actually lead the university: deliberately overlooked, routinely underestimated, capaciously knowledgeable, injecting care into bureaucracy. Thanks to all the Doloreses for making academia run instead of trying to say "AI" loudest. Many Dolores; no president.
Photo of 4 of the same letterpress prints on royal blue paper with blue ink, arranged in a 2x2 grid. It says "more doloreses / no president"Photo of 4 of the same letterpress prints on tan chip paper with dark blue ink, arranged in a 2x2 grid. They say "more doloreses / no president"Photo of letterpress wood type arranged on a printing press bed with blue ink on the type, used to make the percy's in the previous photosScreenshot of a QT by me from a month back, of a good tweet by Tressie McMillan Cottom. QT: "Thinking of that tweet re:everyone in academia knows a 60yo woman only known by her 1st name, who actually runs the dept/uni. (Which is almost at an anarchist understanding: not "make Dolores president" but "many Doloreses, no president" and "how can you Dolores too")"
Dr. Cottom tweet: "Anyway, your problem isn't finding the time to take notes. The problem is that taking notes is thinking and thinking has to be done by someone. women have been doing a lot of metacognition that looks like a task when it's really thinking."
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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm categorized as an AI subscriber, because I'm subscribed to the 3 TB tier of Google Drive and and they literally just changed the name of the plan to "Google AI Plus." Those "AI subscriber" numbers are 100 percent juiced and phony, and you're a sucker if you believe otherwise.
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Bryan Waterman @waterman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thursday, 10/1 at 4PM Eastern I'll be talking about Hannah Webster Foster's THE COQUETTE & why c18 seduction novels still have lessons to teach us (though perhaps not those they were designed to convey). Pre-register here & share with students if you happen to be in seduction mode this semester!
us02web.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The Coquette and the Boarding School: A Norton Critical Edition Speakers Series Event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joinin...
Join editor Bryan Waterman (New York University) for a discussion of the enduring legacy of the works of Hannah Webster Foster as America 250 comes to a close. How do seduction novels of the early Ame...
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No Escape from the Tyranny of Virtue 🏴🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸 @noescapevg.com · 29/09/2026
nobody who's anybody denies that gamergate was a right wing hate mob that turned into bigger shit. and nobody denies that at least one of its targets was games media, and specifically any women and queer/trans people working in games media. so what is the methodical purging of women from this space?
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Tim Clare @timclare.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If you'd like to listen to our boardgame agony aunt podcast, But Why Vikings?, all the episodes are up on Boardgamegeek - you can just click & listen. Also we are always in need of questions: dilemmas, questions about our game experiences, recommendation requests: boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepod...
boardgamegeek.com
But Why Vikings?
This page does not exist. You can edit this page to create it.
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 28/09/2026
Thanks to y’all’s help & some more research, my list of video games that include printing presses is growing I think I’ve found a student who wants to work on this project with me, so any other suggestions—particularly from the 80s & 90s—would be most welcome I can’t find an existing list anywhere
Sid Meier's Colonization (1994)
* Anno 1404 (2009)
* Deus Ex Human Revolution (2011)
* Dishonored (2012)
* Assassin’s Creed 3 (2012)
* Anno Online (2013)
* Bioshock Infinite (2013)
* Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015)
* Fallout 4  (2015)
* Civilization 6  (2016)
* Graveyard Keeper (2018)
* Anno 1800, Empire of Skies DLC (game 2019, DLC 2022)
* Hitman 3  (2021)
* Pentiment (2022)
* Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023)
* Esoteric Ebb (2026)
* The Sinking City 2 (forthcoming)
* Stop the Press! (forthcoming)
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Kieron Gillen @kierongillen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Includes! Warhammer stuff of various levels of fidelity! My highest OSR game! Games set in malls involving time travel and kissing! Games about language! Civ: but a TTRPG! And more!
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 29/09/2026
I am delighted to note that I have written a mostly-true introduction to the history of Shakespearean games for MOUSETRAP.
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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 28/09/2026
If you enjoyed the latest episode of 'But, Why Vikings?' with @ava.foxfort.net and @ecfriedman.com then know that we are always on the lookout for new questions. We want to help you have a better tabletop gaming life, so fire your questions to us here, or via DM (website coming soon!).
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Cole Wehrle @colewehrle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In today's diary, I get into one of my favorite subjects: agency in historical games. Did the Opium Wars have to happen? Were the player's historical counterparts in a position to prevent them? It's a big subject, and a place where the 2e differs sharply from 1e. boardgamegeek.com/thread/37746...
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026
Love when I get asked to do something and the brief is “light touch, warm, fun and engaging as possible” with some of my favorite colleagues.
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Sam Reich @samreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
have you ever seen someone rob themselves 20 years in the future
Katie Marovich demands Maria Bamford take out her fucking wallet and then they hug.
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Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026
Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.
wisn.com
Skydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airport
Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m.
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026
What a goddamn delight.
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026
If a prospective PhD was looking for a program that would welcome close reading of video games (like, full-on narratology), where would you point them?
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SHARP @sharpweb.org · 28/09/2026
Mark your calendars! SHARP 2027 conference on “Opening (up) the Book” will be held at the University of Pretoria. Abstracts: 30 January 2027 Conference: 7–9 July 2027 #CFP: sharpweb.org/conferences/
sharpweb.org
Conferences – SHARPweb
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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!
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Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 28/09/2026
Social media is weird because if you give people a good feeling they will be overfamiliar with you, and if you do not do that they treat you like a human yelp page
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026
How it started/How it’s going, 18C TTRPG Nerd Edition — with my stalwart research partner, sometimes-handler, always friend @emnk.bsky.social
Em and Emily holding a bunch of TTRPG stuff in 2019.Em and Emily in black tie in 2026.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Pope reminds me of a version of Catholicism I knew growing up as a young man attending anti-war and anti-death penalty protests, where I met elderly Catholics who shared their version of faith with me. I learned that Catholicism was about love and mercy for the weak, the condemned, and the poor.
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Amanda Wyatt! Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Been saving screenshots of weird printing stuff since finishing my previous letterpress collage zine (also using a "Look!" printing block in the title: "Look!! Here's your unusual letterpress blocks invitation to joy", as a collage-of-interesting-visuals series hint) zinebakery.com/homemade-zin...
Cover of the zine "Look!! Here's your unusual letterpress blocks invitation to joy", "a collage miniz-ine / Zine Bakery Homemade Hand Pie #1 / by Amanda Wyatt Visconti, collage in various fonts and screenshots of historical letterpress printing blocks
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 28/09/2026
TTRPG nerds: Prof Cook (also known for coining “dirtbag medievalism”) is open to playful media for this one!
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Takes less than an hour at the Folger before I'm wondering how expensive it would be to get a book done in ol timey typesetting
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
One reason to learn about things outside your major is so that you have something to talk about with people at parties and on dates. No amount of money will make up for you being a crushing bore. History majors learn this early but I guess it takes other people longer.
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