iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Matt | Krasiph 🔜 HOPE DIES LAST @krasiph.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Meanwhile the Fighter - and all the other "martials" + Warlocks - are going to be almost as powerful in the last encounter as they were in the first. Notice I included Warlocks? That's cuz the Class Binary in D&D isn't Martial vs Caster. It's Short Rest vs Long Rest.

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Matt | Krasiph 🔜 HOPE DIES LAST @krasiph.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I solved this by doing the 6ED, which does a couple of things for you. 1. Each encounter is easier to prep while still challenging players. 2. It emphasizes the differences between classes in really satisfying ways. 3. It creates a more satisfying, lived-in story of exploration and heroism.

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Matt | Krasiph 🔜 HOPE DIES LAST @krasiph.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

These are what I call "Nova Fights", because you eventually teach your players that as soon as they roll initiative, they can "go nova" -> burn every resource, spell slot, cooldown, etc. they have to kill the thing. Nothing comes after this, so smoke 'em while ya got 'em.

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Matt | Krasiph 🔜 HOPE DIES LAST @krasiph.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I told you I didn't forget! I've been absolutely swamped with Hope Dies Last, but I thought it was finally time to put all of my Six Encounter Day thoughts down in a blog post; something that I can always refer folks back to so the knowledge isn't trapped in videos/threads. bsky.app/profile/kras...

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Bill Childs @billchilds.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Just to be clear: we are fine in Minnesota. We are not being taken over, though there are more rabbits in our yard than some years. Also we still need to address creeping bellflower. But otherwise all good. Don’t need rescuing or another murderous occupation.

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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Having long been aware of those tech bros who read my work as utopian porn, where they’ve taken that doesn’t exactly surprise me.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Dusk City Outlaws is the 2nd best heist game I’ve found (after Leverage) and Slectaculars is an incredible, easy to play supers campaign game.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It’s amazing how, at a karaoke bar with lots of people talking, the 70 year old trying to flirt with the late 20 something’s voice comes through clear over everything

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Running The Darkening of Mirkwood in 2e right now and loving it

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Seriously, watch and share this.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

While some purists restrict the "OSR" label to games emulating OD&D and/or Mentzer Basic, others consider anything from the hobby's first decade fair game; thus, having first been published only six years after OD&D, under the broader definition you could technically write an OSR game based on this:

The cover of "Dallas: The Television Roleplaying Game", a licensed RPG based on the 1978 American prime time soap opera of the same name. The cover depicts Larry Hagman in the role of J R Ewing, dressed in a business suit and a large cowboy hat, surrounded by inset photos of the remainder of the show's principal cast. The cover's promotional blurb reads "All the drama and power, the wheeling and dealing, the loves and lives of TV's greatest family are yours to enact in this fun-filled, fast-playing game."

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The same one that say something like "Go now" at the end of the very fast paragraph they've just spit out?

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Today, in Alien, two PCs ended up with guns on each other and one is now dying of a gut shot. Shit has escalated.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I love Dungeon Crawler Carl, but nothing will make me skip a post more than a DCC fan writing "NEW ACHIEVEMENT!" and then trying to mimic the AI's voice.

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The Lexorcist @lexidarlingxoxo.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I’m at the Pizza Hut. I’m at the house of leaves. I’m at the combi s n e a v t a i e o l n fo esuoh & tuh azzip

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doctober @docseuss.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

ADIOS RETURNS! At the lowest price it will ever go! That's right: it costs less than the price of an Arby's Reuben sandwich! store.steampowered.com/app/1271400/... If you like the game, please leave a review? We're only a COUPLE reviews away from OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE!

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Slots are open for Alien: The Draconis Campaign and The One Ring: The Darkening of Mirkwood via startplaying. We're seeing the Shadow return to Mirkwood in The One Ring. In Alien, they've found a distress signal. Things are starting to go wrong. startplaying.games/gm/improvgm

Ad for Alien: The Draconis Cycle and The One Ring: Darkening of Mirkwood games on startplaying. The Darkening of Mirkwood is a campaign where the players try to stem the rise of the Shadow in Mirkwood after the Necromancer had been driven from the forest.

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Gay Pumpkaboo @gaypsyduck.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

i am the daughter of the pumpkins you could not fuck

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lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

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 · 30/09/2026

Why didn't these kinds of moves— Pick 3, pick 2, pick 1 Pick 2, pick 1, pick none Exceptional success, success, compromise — become "how PbtA works"? Like I say, I think it's obvious why, but choosing one move to be "how PbtA works" at all was the first mistake.

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Ishmael, The Transition will be Live @comrade-ishmael.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Not how PBTAs work and I do not think we need to take this criticism seriously. I've been GMing PBTAs for years and every single one of them has a Principle that says "be a fan of the PCs" and explains that means not fucking them on mixes. If a GM is acting in bad faith, game design can't help

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I agree that about that distinction. I just don't see how it applies after the game as opposed to during.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Gotta be honest, I’ve never understood the “an experience that will later be told as a story” thing. If you mean it feels closer to a polished narrative when you edit parts out…..I mean….sure, but that doesn’t make it not a story as it’s happening.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 16/07/2026

Games Not (Only) By Cis-Dudes 🧵 (list in progress I keep on my phone & pasting here) * Apocalypse World * For the queen * The quiet year * Yazeba’s bed and breakfast * Seven part pact * Kagematsu & A single man * Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife * Steal Away Jordan * A Mending * Field guide to memory

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It gets so frustrating to see that they can’t even describe the movie correctly or that they claim people are media illiterate when giving defenses that show they are media illiterate

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The Last Jedi is a movie I thought was….fine… but I’ll defend it because the critics are so wrong about it. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a series I love but I’ll defend takes that don’t like it because the fandom handles critiques poorly and is bad at knowing what a good critique is.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Saw a guy who was dragging himself, fully prone, closer to one of those cliffs in Scotland that overlooks the ocean and I understood every moment of why it was hard for him

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The Rude Pundit @rudepundit.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I feel like we are so used to living in a time of madness that we can't grasp just how insane the Kennedy Center dispute is. Trump took something that was running just fine and destroyed it because he couldn't put his name next to the murdered president whose memorial it is. That's completely nuts.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I try to finish the ones I start but my tolerance for writing like that is pretty thin. I've noticed a bunch of TV shows where every scene feels like bullet points for things you'd see on a recap, given as dialogue. It makes my teeth itch.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I gave up on D&D: Honor Among Thieves about 30 minutes in No one cares about anything, what they want to be jokes aren't. Not an ounce of subtext in writing or performance. Just stating exposition It wants to be an adventure comedy but won't commit to the first and isn't good at the second.

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Stellbound: Stellraiser II @antlervel.vet · 25/11/2025

ME POSTING: Good pussy sound like the Silent Hill radio ME AFTER I NOTICE A FAMOUS PERSON JUST FOLLOWED ME: More than ever it is so inportant to be apprised of all that is to be and furthermore to learn of all that could in the best manner we are able as this is the true delight of Life

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BatsCaulder (They/He) @mattcaulder.com · 17/09/2026

You know, I've been saying it for a long time, but it's great to hear Rick Scott say he's useless with his own mouth

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Juan (he/she/they). @mrrodriguez89.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Like holy shit dude right now the republicans are dragging around a corpse as they wage a forever war we’re losing all while they unleash a not-so-secret police on our friends and neighbors if they don’t pledge allegiance to the flag in just the right racist way.

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Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Bari Weiss has plunged CBS News into ratings calamity. —"Evening News" has posted worst ratings of 21st century —"CBS Mornings" has posted worst ratings of 21st century —And now "60 Minutes" has posted worst ratings of 21st century More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/60-minutes...

status.news

Bari’s ‘60’ Bust

Bari Weiss blew up “60 Minutes," ostensibly to create a better show. Instead, her revamped premiere just suffered its worst debut ratings of the 21st century—what one longtime TV executive told Status...

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Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Hey folks: I’ll bet you feel REALLY represented now. They’re going home to serve themselves. NOT us. The ultimate accountability dodge. Elections are accountability. Let’s prove it.

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Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

BREAKING: Remmick will no longer be opening for Ed Sheeran

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

My thing is less about planning. It’s about the moment to moment decisions where they choose to not make anything really happen.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

As a player? Make strong choices. In improv, we have to teach people to stop making milquetoast decisions and to care strongly about what’s happening in the scene. I see so many players making decisions where nothing happens You’re playing people who go out and do things. So go out and do things.

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Adam Makey @darkestadam.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The evergreen pass the spotlight around. And something I learned from a @improvgm.bsky.social video a while back: be willing to invite another character to do stuff as a duo or the like. Also, if possible don't slow the game down for stuff that can be resolved later.

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Alexander the Fine @alexrineh.art · 13/09/2026

Sunlight breaks through the clouds, birds chirp as if for the first time. The smell of hope fills the air.

Comment on itch.io
I am new to TTRPGs, what is 5e?

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John Harper @johnharper.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Y'all, @scenefour.bsky.social is doing *the work* with short form videos in the #ttrpg trenches -- posting truly insightful commentary while parrying and riposting a barrage of nit-pickers every day. Massive respect and glory to his name! Check him out here: www.youtube.com/@scene_four or on Insta.

youtube.com

Sean Foer

I'm Sean, a professional Game Master and designer, writer and editor of tabletop RPGs!

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

It feels like he was made in a factory specifically for this

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Yeah. They could have even leaned in more to Crem being the kind of stereotyped, by-the-numbers villain and it would have been fine if they did more with the protagonists.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

RIGHT?! If they actually tackled their ideas, she would kill it. The 2nd to last scene, she really shows how much heart this film could have had.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

He's got an opportunity to work, if they actually made the whole "Kara doesn't want her to kill the guy" a thing. It's such a frustrating film because.... it's fine. But you can see how good it should have been. Milly is really good. I wish they let her kill it like she deserved

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

David Corenswet's Superman is a fucking dork. That's a high compliment, btw.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Watching Supergirl and what's frustrating is that you can see the better film that's here if they would just commit to the stakes they've laid out. Mamoa should feel like a cartoon. Lobo gives him that permission and Alcock could kill it in this movie if they'd let it get dark.

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