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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)

@isaacisafraid.bsky.social
549 followers 533 following 846 posts

Game Dev (Narrative Designer/Game Writer), Tabletop RPG Designer, 2025 Appx. N Jam's Audience Pick, 2026 Bloggies finalist. Writer of "The Knight Errant." isaacisafraid.itch.io afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev Indonesia

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Reposted by Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
sam “ludonarrative disinterest” sorensen @samsorensen.bsky.social · 10h
one of the big challenges of capital-L Lore in tabletop RPGs is that often getting the lore “correct”—making it tangible for the players—requires a bucket of very careful prep and work, but getting the lore “incorrect”—introducing some element that contradicts the Established Canon—is trivial
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 18h
My Indonesian friend Habib just went on another level and wrote this TTRPG taxonomy blogpost 😅 Not sure if we need more of these things. But hey, he's the first Indonesian blogger who made something like this lol beeboobubie.substack.com/p/the-fuckas...
beeboobubie.substack.com
the fuckass axis of rules & regrets
an extremely subjective map of tabletop roleplaying games
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Zedeck Siew @zedecksiew.bsky.social · 16h
You cannot design a game against bad faith just like you cannot cook a meal so delicious it teaches diners how to be polite
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Roseline! @redforroseline.bsky.social · 16h
wrote a mini blog on how to be scarier at narrating horror sessions! redforroseline.nekoweb.org/blog/TTRPGBl...
redforroseline.nekoweb.org
Mini notes on how to describe things better in horror TTRPG sessions
I am too literal when describing things at Horror. Below are my findings to make sure your players will be traumatized by your descriptions. Maybe not traumatized, but so that they feel actually scare...
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The Merry Mushmen @themerrymushmen.bsky.social · 18h
Winter and the Wolf Princess live now on Kickstarter. Pledge now! (or be damned for ever) (and ever). www.kickstarter.com/projects/xno...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Winter and the Wolf Princess
An adventure playable with Old School Essentials and any other derivative of the classic Dragon game
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Rise Up (From the Grave) Comus @riseupcomus.bsky.social · 16h
Rereading old blog posts, and Grognardia reminded me of this essential truth: "don't design rules with bad players in mind. Any rule, no matter how well written, can and will be abused by players looking to find a way to take advantage of a situation."
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 16h
Don't forget the Romans. Also, it's baffling that these people glorify the Crusades, when the fact the Crusaders lost most of them.
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Frankenstein Iscariot @deaconblues1979.bsky.social · 16h
Fascist reimaginings of European history (Vikings, Sparta, the Crusades) are a kind of aggressive and insidious historical colonialism by whiteness
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 18h
When I asked him why he made this, he said "that’s what 10000 years of working in marketing does to you" 🤣
this map keeps fifteen examples: durf, cairn, old-school essentials, d&d, pathfinder, lancer, call of cthulhu, mothership, fate, blades, burning wheel, heart, dungeon world, masks, and fiasco.
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 18h
My Indonesian friend Habib just went on another level and wrote this TTRPG taxonomy blogpost 😅 Not sure if we need more of these things. But hey, he's the first Indonesian blogger who made something like this lol beeboobubie.substack.com/p/the-fuckas...
beeboobubie.substack.com
the fuckass axis of rules & regrets
an extremely subjective map of tabletop roleplaying games
1207
Reposted by Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
Zedeck Siew @zedecksiew.bsky.social · 22h
Today, in The Star: a feature on @chincarok.bsky.social 's solo show! We went out especially to track down a physical copy of the paper. However different our media diets are nowadays it still feels special to be on the front page of a national daily!
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Rise Up (From the Grave) Comus @riseupcomus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This is a HUGE contribution to tooling for running games at the table. DirectSun is burying the lede a little. He has made a web template that lets you have clickable maps, preview hyperlinks, and have multiple views of an adventure open at once. This is an incredible resource for GMs!
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directsun @directsun.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I've been working on this for some time and with the release of the first three Cairn CAS adventures in Markdown, I thought this was as good a time as any to make a few announcements.
games.puzzledungeon.com
Just The Games
Reference at the speed of play.
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
*friend Bluesky sucks so bad omg I've been trying to post that for several times, and now it has a random typo
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Me, my wife, and my friends bought the Cairn 2e Box Set for our local TTRPG community, so that people can borrow it for free and play the game 📷 by my friendg
Cairn 2E Box SetThe contents of the Cairn 2E Box Set:
1. Warden's Guide
2. 3 copies of Player's Guide
3. Twin Lakes, an adventure module for the System
4. Cairn Adventure Anthology 1
5. Character sheet folio (there are many sheets)
6. GM screen
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Yochai Gal @yochaigal.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A few spreads from my upcoming horror adventure, The Forgetting of Lockwood Manor. Art by @robbiaburns.bsky.social and layout by @adamhensley.bsky.social. Out in time for Halloween!
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Zedeck Siew @zedecksiew.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
THE MONKEY KING'S MANY FACES Just a quick run-through of the many, many shapes Hanuman / Sun Wu Kong takes, around the world, in Southeast Asia---and also a stealth announcement that I will have a new adventure out at the end of the year: slowlorispress.com/post/8295484...
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The most difficult challenge for me is how to not make it boring. So having clocked events, some secret passages, and blocked doors/hallways can make it more interesting. I learned a lot from Silent Hill 2's motel and The Raid movie. My LH Summer Jam entry also involves an apartment! And thanks!
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Your adventure inspired mine! Thank you for Night in the Old Dave! bsky.app/profile/isaa...
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And it all started from here 😅
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I've finished the draft 😭 Took a while. Cita thinks it's my best work so far. I can't say if it is. But it's the one that I put the most effort. Around 50 rooms, 4 factions, and 12 unique NPCs. Not sure if they count as a lot or not, but I know I've put a lot of details into them. Some teasers!
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Real Australian right here! That Bintang singlet deep cut LOL Thanks, my friend. Let's hope we can meet some time in the future, yeah?
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Let's hope can meet some time in the future!
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We played for like an hour and that was enough. We all had a blast
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I recently played Perils & Princesses with my 10 yo and 5 yo nieces. Before that, we played Mausritter. I gotta say that they have better creative problem solving than most adult TTRPG players.
static.klipy.com
Yoda: Truly Wonderful, the Mind of a Child
ALT: Yoda: Truly Wonderful, the Mind of a Child
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"How did you get into TTRPGs?" I had to find a new hobby because my PC exploded after I didn't turn it off for 5 days while playing Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3. It got replaced with a shitty one, so I couldn't play video games. Not long after that, I decided to join a session on Roll20.
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John Nephew @johnnephew.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
ARS MAGICA DEFINITIVE FOR FREE! Well, the text at least. Thanks to OriginalMadman and friends, it's all on GitHub in Markdown format, and I just set it up as a free download on @drivethrurpg.com: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...
drivethrurpg.com
Ars Magica Definitive Edition Markdown Text | Atlas Games | Atlas Games | DriveThruRPG
Twenty years after the original release of 5th Edition comes Ars Magica Definitive Edition! While the underlying manuscript is the 5th Edition text, extensive revisions reflect decades of play. It inc...
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The mental gymnastics at play here is so baffling. I love my local scene, but a few of these people are making me turn into The Joker.
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Not to vaguepost, because how the fuck something like "Buying products is pointless consumerism and will not fill the void inside. Do It Yourself." is turned into "So we shouldn't buy dice? We have to make dice ourselves? Isn't buying raw materials count as consumerism?" Be fucking real.
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
It's not a TTRPG community/scene if there's no drama. Am I right?
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
One of the reasons why I want to play Aquelarre www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/2...
drivethrurpg.com
Aquelarre | Nocturnal Media | Nocturnal Media | DriveThruRPG
Carts full of corpses slide through the muddy streets of a deserted city. Monks copy manuscripts silently in their cold monastery rooms. A hammer falls again and again on glowing red metal in a blacks...
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HODAG RPG @hodagrpg.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"On a Silver Platter" Cinderella Smile (Kickstarting Now!) 2025
A beautiful princess sits atop a throne made of vines, plants and skeletons in a ruined manor. She holds a platter with the prince's head on it.
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Hoping that people from outside of Indonesia can join us in the future!
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Day 1: - Troika - Torq - Mothership - 13 Omens - Shadowrun 4E - ECO MOFOS!! - Apocalypse World 2E Day 2: - Orbital Blues - Vampire: The Masquerade V5 - Nimble 2E - Pirate Borg - Liminal Horror - Blades in the Dark - Daggerheart
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
It's convention season again here in the Indonesian scene 🙌 Here are the list of games that we will have for a TTRPG con that my friends and I are organizing! This one will be the biggest Indonesian TTRPG con! 2 days and 14 games!
LFGcon SESSION 4 14-15 November 2026, Liberta Hub Blok M Jakarta2 Days, 14 Games, Consignment Tables, LFG ZINE ISSUE 4, Random 1 Page AdventureHide and Seek (Troika!). Hit the Road (TORQ). Holes (Mothership). The Coelecanth Exploration (13 Omens). Time Value of Mana (Shadowrun 4E). To Put Away a Sword (ECO MOFOS!!). What Lies Behind the Screen (Apocalypse World 2e).Dead Man's Hand (Orbital Blues). Don't Die at Depok (Vampire: The Masquerade V5). N.D.O.G. (Nimble 2E). The Bloody Booty of Miss Scarlet (Pirate Borg). The House on Deep Rock (Liminal Horror). The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad First Mission (Blades in the Dark). Wanaloka: Cosmic Voyage (Daggerheart).
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inés / catsumu @handle.invalid · 01/10/2026
Just wrapped up the S0 of my first ever game! It's my favorite #appxnjam entry, Rays of Beleth's Bolide by @offworldbogil.bsky.social. We're using Cairn 2e (barebones ed) for this one. Whether or not I'm gonna do it justice still remains to be seen, but I'm excited for the actual session!
screenshot of a slide from the S0 of Rays of Beleth's Bolide that I'm gonna run next week. It shows the cover of the adventure and a meme juxtaposing popular teen movies (Stand by Me, Dope, Juno, Superbad, and Sing Street) with the horror movie Christine. The texts say "Catsumu presents an out of sight Appx N Jam adventure by Offworld Bogil" and "NO VTT WE DIE LIKE REAL MEN".
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elmcat @elmc.at · 03/10/2026
dolmenwood witchcraft elmc.at/witchcraft/
elmc.at
Witchcraft
A witch knows how to petition the old gods. Such knowledge leaves debts.
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Adam "Graphic Design Is Not My Passion" Seats @iknowadamseats.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Smart people release their "how to do Strahd more efficiently" booklet outside of the DMs Guild ecosystem so they can actually do what they want to with them. Don't be like me, be like Jack. 😂 Anyway, Jack Dungeonclub has yet to miss on Daggerheart horror stuff, this should be sick.
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HODAG RPG @hodagrpg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Please go buy Spacer... There is something VERY IMPORTANT in development for it right now... You WILL want this book! arcanesword.itch.io/spacer-inter...
arcanesword.itch.io
Spacer: Interstellar Roleplaying in the Far Future by Arcanesword
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lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Now, there are some PbtA and post-PbtA games that do take "acting under fire" as their core template, and build their resolution rules on top of it. Significantly, crucially, they add new systems that deal with the problem I'm describing. Blades in the Dark's position and effect, for instance...
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Atmospheric Underworld @atmosphericunderworld.com · 28/09/2026
Signposting was what I named the underlying tension that drove me to the N/OSR. After months of wrestling with it, I think I've nailed down what it is, why GMs rely on it, and how it goes wrong. This post was months in the making; come check it out! atmosphericunderworld.com/signposting-...
atmosphericunderworld.com
Signposting, Signseeking, and Agency Spirals: Hazards for the Ambitious in Tabletop RPGs
How psycho-social patterns of expected behavior erode the fundamentals of RPG play.
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Adam "Graphic Design Is Not My Passion" Seats @iknowadamseats.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Y'ever go to write something down to work thru thoughts so you can get back to doing other work, only for that thing you start writing to magically teleport you several hours into the future? Anyway, here's a thing re: design choices for similar problems in Mythic Bastionland & The Lands Remaining.
iknowadamseats.blogspot.com
On Myths, Bastions, and Lands (Remaining)
Go listen to this podcast here .     If you have gotten the Mythic Bastionland  brainworms like so many of us have, you've likely been sta...
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Clayton @explorersdesign.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This month’s design newsletter might have the most jams of any Explorateur in the last two years. October is always a busy month. www.explorersdesign.com/the-explorat...
explorersdesign.com
The Explorateur: October '26
Monthly jams, critique, theory, and resources for rpg designers.
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Prismatic Wasteland @prismaticwasteland.com · 01/10/2026
A lot of people are making their own stuff for Into the Oddish. For those who want to make more types of Pokemon as player characters, I put together some guidelines for how I would design them. It is a lot less formulaic than designing Pokemon as enemies. #ttrpg #osr #pokemon
prismaticwasteland.com
Wanting to Be the Very Best Pokémon: Playable Pokémon for Into the Oddish — Prismatic Wasteland
Guidelines for creating playable Pokemon (essentially classes) for Into the Oddish.
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I was planning to run horror TTRPG sessions every week for this month. But plans have changed. So I'm just going to run Mothership: Gradient Descent for Halloween, the whole day! We won't be able to finish it, but I just want to spend the entire Halloween to play a horror TTRPG session 😅
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Goblin Archives @goblinarchives.itch.io · 01/10/2026
One month left. Still time to get your projects in. Winner(s) get an actual play made featuring their entry.
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HODAG RPG @hodagrpg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
DO NOT MISS THIS
A funky zombie monster hunk pointing out something on a 90's computer to a special forces babe from a not- Resident Evil type game
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Afraid of Encounters (He/Him) @isaacisafraid.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2
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HODAG RPG @hodagrpg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
nofoesnotraps.wordpress.com/2026/10/01/p...
nofoesnotraps.wordpress.com
POKÉMON BX III Day 1: Mudkip
Mudkips are probably the only Gen 3 I really, truly love. Enjoy!!! He Happy
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HODAG RPG @hodagrpg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
nofoesnotraps.wordpress.com/2026/10/01/p...
nofoesnotraps.wordpress.com
POKÉMON BX III Day 1: Mudkip
Mudkips are probably the only Gen 3 I really, truly love. Enjoy!!! He Happy
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