iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 11h

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

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 19h

I playtested this and it is GOOD. Get it for free at a0rtega.itch.io!

a0rtega.itch.io

a0rtega

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Maurice Suckling @writegameread.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Today’s game: Keep The Faith, a 2-5 player game about how religions transform over time. Our religion featured a magical monkey who ate a magical acorn (there was some schismatic tension over this) and pooped a tree of life. Design Greg Loring-Albright. Published by CMU Press.

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

kill ghost @willjobst.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

a universal feature of the game designer working on a long project is that their next game wells up inside of them until it is physically painful

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Spooky Professor Lifestyle Giant @magnumt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

When a friend tells me we're going to play a fun and easy boardgame

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Loved hearing Peter C. Hayward on @danthurot.bsky.social's podcast -- @am0.bsky.social & I just used his "The Lady and the Tiger" as the base for a game jam in our tabletop design class, and the students made some fun rulesets with these limited components!

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I've been remiss about posting links, but The Game Design Thread, the University-hosted podcast that @am0.bsky.social and I make, has a new episode out! We're talking about the dreaded HOMEWORK: open.spotify.com/episode/0mXA...

open.spotify.com

The Game Design Thread - S2 E4

IMPACT · Episode

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Two days too late, but my students’ Compile card sets were fortuitously aligned today.

Three stacks of cards: the published “Fire” set from “Compile,” and two stacks of printed, simply-laid-out paper cards labeled “Wind” and “Earth”

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

Emily @sadcypress.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Cue up the playlist! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwG...

youtube.com

9/21/16

YouTube video by Demi Adejuyigbe

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#BoardGame folks take note: Meg Lemieur is one of the artists behind @outlandishgames.bsky.social's "Defenders of the Wild"

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I’m headed to Philly Protospiel Fall tomorrow! 🎲✂️ #boardgames tabletop.events/conventions/... Track me down to playtest Negative Space (small box area control w/ shared incentives) and a new card-based storytelling game.

tabletop.events

Protospiel Philly Fall 2026

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

Radical Graffiti @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"No government will ever care about you except for your ability to do work. Talk to your neighbours, care for each other" Spotted in Somerset, UK

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Whooooa this looks so cool. Mystic is where I did an undergraduate semester living and working in the museum, and it’s such an atmospheric place for an immersive show like this.

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

@morecivilized.bsky.social discussed this book cover on the most recent patreon episode, and I was INSTANTLY transported to being a 9-yr-old at my cousins’ house, terrified to open it but unable to look away.

The front cover of “Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear: Eaten Alive,” by John Whitman, a Star Wars take on the Goosebumps franchise, featuring a holographic image of a freaky alien with big eyes and sharp teeth

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sam “ludonarrative disinterest” sorensen @samsorensen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

[rings bell] theoryslop! theoryslop! come get yer theoryslop while it's still hot!

one page. header reads "RPG DESIGNER THEORYSLOP ALIGNMENT CHARTS & SHEET." gray text under the header reads "You have 20 points to assign to each stat array, Pendragon-style. For tri- or otherwise multi-polar arrays, express the stats as ranges, e.g. “Gamist 1–7 / Dramatist 8–9 / Simulationist 10–20.”
subheaders followed by lines for writing read: "Designer: / Project: / Link:"
subheader reads "Binary Traits," followed by a list of silly game studies paired descriptors and space to write stats: "Ludologist / Narratologist // Game-as-Activity / Game-as-Object // Proceduralist / Anti-Proceduralist // Diegetic / Endogenous // Suitsian / Non-Suitsian // Closed Lusory Goal / Open Lusory Goal // Toy-Game / Meta-Game // Character-Locked / Authorial // Problem-Solving / Story-Telling // Rulebooks / Adventures."
subheader reads "Special Twinned Binary Traits (the Bartle Zone)," followed by gray text reading "Assign 20 points to each axis, but make a single roll when testing the combined traits." following is a two-axis chart, north-south reading "Social / Non-Social" and west-east reading "Aggressive / Passive."
in the second column, a subheader reads "Multi-Polar Traits" followed by shapes with stats at their corners: triangle, "Dramatist / Gamist / Simulationist"; square, "Agon / Alea / Mimicry / Ilinx"; hexagon, "Classic / OSR / Trad / Nordic larp / Neotrad / Storygames"; square, "Gamer / Actor / Socialite / Immersive."
a subheader reads "Skills," followed by a big list of 32 skills, with space for stats next to each: Academia, Acting, Art Direction, Blog, Cartography, Copyediting, Credit Rating, Day Jon, Game Studies, Graphic Design, Illustration, Layout, Line Editing, Livestream, Marketing, Networking, Operations, Organizing, Podcast, Printing, Production, Proofreading, Shitpost, Shortform Video, Social Media, Thirst Trap, Video Essay, Web Dev, Writ. (Adventure), Writing (Lore), Writing (Rules), Other: "
gray text reads "Sam Sorensen, September 2026"

same theoryslop designer sheet as before, this time filled out in handwritten green, for me, Sam. I skew towards problem-solving, goal-driven play, as well as towards adventures, imaginary worlds, and simulationism. the notable inclusions in my skills lists are a +6 in game studies, a +4 in academic, blog, layout, line editing, and adventure-writing, and a +2 in "museum," my "other" skill

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 15/09/2026

HR should let you scream until you pass out on one Teams call per quarter

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

From the mind that brought you “everything is pointcrawl” — “EVERYTHING IS AUCTION”

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Eize Basa @eizebasa.baby · 13/09/2026

Andrei Barkovsky

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HODAG RPG @hodagrpg.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE YOUR OWN VERSION YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MODIFY ANTHING YOU OWN TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CREATE YOUR OWN WORLDS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO IT YOUR OWN WAY

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

CHECK IT OUT! I wrote a short guide to making a "Keep-the-Faith-like" in TUMULUS, specifically focused on the goal/victory system.

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

Pittsburgh graffiti @pghgraffiti.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Read some Tumulus from @exeunt.press on the bus across the Susquehanna today. And look! It came with a rad sticker!

Foreground: a black-and-white two-page spread from Tumulus 07 - Slay the Dragon. In the background: stone arch bridge over a river with blue sky above

A green metal water bottle with a black and silver sticker that says “Make Weird Games”

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

An oldie but a goodie (from an exchange with @boardgamefeast.bsky.social). Check out The Nights of King Ludd!

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Damn, Wendell Berry died. A not-uncomplicated figure, but his writings really inspired me in my younger years. My sister read excerpts from "Mad Farmer Liberation Front" at my wedding. Here's a good one for today: www.best-poems.net/wendell_berr...

best-poems.net

A Meeting poem - Wendell Berry

In a Dream I meet my dead friend. He has, I know, gone long and far, and yet he is the same for the dead are changeless. They grow no older. It is I who have ch...

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

Jennifer Adcock @jenkatwrites.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

THERE ARE NO FATES THE FATES ARE A LIE NO GODS, NO MASTERS

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

dl.acm.org

ELIZA—a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine | Communications of the ACM

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I’ll be there too, playtesting “Negative Space,” my small-box homage to big-box space conquest & negotiation games, and a storytelling game about community and adventure. (also We Are Mushrooms is very cool and good and you should get it).

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Wish I was teaching a class on crowdfunding / game publishing / distribution this term, be user this thread would make a killer textbook.

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I am on day two of walking the kid to school, then catching the bus from a new stop right by the school. Already, the crossing guard (and an actual gravedigger who rides the bus with me!) and I are talking shit about the drivers at dropoff.

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

There’s a big event on campus today featuring outside vendors. I just walked past one of their displays that says ”When choice matters, add materials.”

static.klipy.com

Knives Out It Makes No Damn Sense

Alt: Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in Knives Out saying “It makes no damn sense. Compels me, though.”

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

Solomon @solomonrmissouri.com · 20/08/2026

Heaven also known as Philadelphia

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Off-Board Podcast @off-boardpod.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Off-Board unplanned brand synergy! This time, I was joined by @amabel.bsky.social , who is in the midst of celebrating Hollandspiel’s 10th anniversary! We talked about a wide range of topics, from videos made for cats, to adversarial comedy game shows, to fandom’s affect on media and its consumption

podcasts.apple.com

Amabel Holland Goes Off-Board

Podcast Episode · Off-Board Podcast · August 20 · 59m

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Reposted by Greg Loring-Albright (he/him)

Sam Francis (Samphire Games) @tzartzam.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Embedded in this is the maxim that you should seek feedback from your playtesters, but not solutions 🎲✂️

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The real old-school revival is apparently megagames

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

#PAXUnplugged badges bought! Look for the Harrisburg U crew in Philly this December!

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Produce (my garden + local farm share + a neighbor’s where I‘m cat/house/garden sitting)

A wooden countertop covered in a wealth of produce — zucchinis, tomatoes, an eggplant, a green pepper, two jalapeños, two different melons, and a prodigious amount of cucumbers

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Twitch replay is live! Check 16:20 to hear Alita say that "Ahoy team mode on BGA is maybe the best thing I've ever done on the internet. I have so much fun with it."

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Dammmmmmmn I gotta start saving money for PAXU Indie Games Night Market like yesterday. Special shouts out to repeat champion @marcelineleiman.bsky.social, central PA board game design scene keystone @mandashafer.bsky.social, and Philly friend Jessica Creane.

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Based on a guest lecture delivered in my paper prototyping class at Harrisburg University!

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Game Design Thread is back! In season 1, I talked through one lesson plan in detail. In S2, @am0.bsky.social & I let you listen in as we plan our board game design class. If you’ve ever wondered about teaching game design, check out this inside look at the process! www.iheart.com/podcast/269-...

iheart.com

The Game Design Thread - S2 E1 - IMPACT | iHeart

<p>The Game Design Thread is back for another round of podcasts! </p><p>This time around, producer Anthony Ortega joins Greg Loring-Albright and together they discuss the origins of the tabletop game ...

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Truly bonkers. Keep the Faith is much less of a board game than Pax Playground, and I don’t think the publisher had this kind of trouble getting it listed on BGG (but I was not super involved so I could be wrong).

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Proud of my friend and mentor @velixious.bsky.social who was just announced as a HEVGA fellow! hevga.org/hevga-announ...

hevga.org

HEVGA Announces 2026 Fellows – HEVGA

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The Mountain Goats just dropped a new album, "Days," today. That album is a spiritual successor to "Goths," which @luke6080.bsky.social and I discussed for ninety minutes on this podcast episode (we took a short detour into John Darnielle's connection to tabletop gaming).

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Stoked to see Keep the Faith at Sidequest in Massachusett, and in such good company (this thread is chock full of incredible designers). Thanks to @czamboni.bsky.social for the shoutout!

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Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I’m hardcore (enough to record an hourlong podcast about a Mountain Goats album) but I‘m not that hardcore (enough to do any research). Thanks to Luke for having me on the show! Give it a listen, especially if you‘re not sure what the deal with these Mountain Goats is.

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