iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

* When you put a gate on gaming based on play style that gate will eventually be used as an excuse to keep out marginalized people. * Communication is key. Showing up is important. The load of organization and rules knowledge should be shared by the whole table, not just the GM.

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* If you keep joining groups and said groups expel you or fall apart, maybe the problem is you and your insistence on one way to play. * True Scotsman arguments have always been harmful to geek communities. Always.

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* Critical Role/Dimension 20 is not the entire hobby. * It has always been difficult to find people to play with, especially when moving beyond the game du jour. That’s the nature of a niche hobby. * Yes, gaming is a niche hobby. Right now it’s visibility is on an upswing is all.

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My thoughts, for what it’s worth: * People should have fun while gaming, so long as it doesn’t ruin other people’s fun. * Not every style of play is right for every table and that’s okay. * Yes, players should make an effort to learn the rules of the games they play.

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J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

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J (me) and James Hutt (senior designer for R. Talsorian Games) hanging out in the RTG HQ. That’s the shrine of swag!

Two dudes in front of a wall of yellow merch.

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Reposted by J Gray

Saga Mackenzie @sagamack.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

hey hey! My comp copy of Night City turned up today. Niiice. These were both very fun and VERY different types of maps to work on!

a colourful theme park style map showing the different districts of Playland By the Sea, a theme park that's been taken over , I believe, by feral youth gangs. The park is split into six colour coded districts with a key showing all the locations on the right.

the credits section of the book, centred on me! With the cartography credit (and also above in interior illustration as I also worked on a couple of the gang logos)

The front endpapers of the book, which open out into a two-page version of the new Night City map. It's a simple grid-based city map with a cool blue, grey and yellow design to look like a digital map in some sort of navigation device perhaps.

The front cover of the Night City 2045 book, with a purple/red hued futuristic cyberpunk cityscape stretching out in front of a moving hover-car with two people perched on top, seemingly tracking a second vehicle in the distance. The text on a black bar at the bottom of the cover read : A city sourcebook for Cyberpunk Red.

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J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

We learned a lesson we had forgotten and forgot again after. War is easy. It’s messy and dangerous and destructive but it’s easy. Especially against a weak enemy. Especially for those in power who aren’t risking their lives. What comes after war is hard. War without a plan for after is useless.

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J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The shock evolved for many in the nation over the next few days. Into rage for many who desperately needed revenge to pave over their fear. And then into two wars executed by an administration who honestly believed just cutting off the head of the snake would magically make everything better.

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J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I worked at Kinko’s when 9/11 happened. I remember hearing about it on the news, but the reality didn’t sink in until I went to work and my manager told me we were closed. The entire country was closed. Everyone in a state of shock.

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Ooooooooh. Right. Thanks for reminding me.

The core document contains every scrap of information the writers need the write. Sometimes, it is a few pages. Other times, it is almost as long as a short supplement. The more you give, the better the team can create.

4. Last, the Core document. It starts with the outline and then brings in all pre-existing information that informs the project. For Night City 2045, that included all existing locations, the info about the city Mike and I worked out, project specifications, and more.

3. Schedule. How many weeks will each phase need. Writing. Design. Art. Playtesting. Editing. Layout. Marketing. Licensed products need approval time folded in. Be aware of holidays and conventions and other forced breaks. We use a pre-make checklist form that lists week by week.

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Budgeting ahead is important. Knowing how much money you need, how much a product costs per unit, where you need to find creative ways to save money, even how much of your full budget one project costs vs another. It’s tedious but necessary.

2. Budget. RTG has an automated spreadsheet we can plug numbers into to help calculate budget needs. Number of words for writing and editing. Amount of art. Number of pages for layout. Expert consultation fees. Potential print costs.

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Finally, I work out rough art ideas: either in number of pieces for specific ideas (such as in a setting book) or as a percentage of page count if writing will heavily influence art (such as in an adventure book).

During outline I also try to work out a rough word/page count. I need to know how big each chapter is.

1. The outline is a bullet point breakdown of everything I plan to stuff into the book. Chapter by chapter, header by header. With notes to document so I don’t forget what “weird guns” means between now and writing.

Stage 2 of J’s TTRPG product design. Planning documents. The best idea in the world means nothing if it stays inside your head. The next step, for me, is creating planning documents. There are four I use in my own prep work: outline, budget, schedule, and core.

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I’m missing context. Could you please explain?

Time spent just thinking about an idea from all the angles will result in a better project once the work begins. Less change mid-stream and a stronger vision to communicate to the team working on the project.

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Don’t be afraid to take time to examine a concept. Evolve it. Change it. Throw parts of it out. Slice it apart and make multiple concepts. Dont allow your ego or certainty get in the way. When someone makes a valid point that runs contrary to your vision, thank them and adopt it.

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I talked with Mike about it. With Cody. With James. With the rest of our crew. Took their ideas, spun them around to look at them and added to the concept. It took shape over months before real work began.

Could we do the isometric block by block structure or was Night City now too big for that? What resources did we already have available and what resources would need to be created? Would it be visual as well as textual?

For example, Night City 2045 started as a simple concept. The original Night City book but in 2045. From there it needed to expand. How would it be presented? What was the in-world fiction? How would we divide up the chapters?

Sometimes for days. Sometimes for months. Occasionally for years. It isn’t enough to know the elevator pitch. That’s where a concept starts. You need to go beyond that so, by the time you hit stage 2, half the work is already done inside your head.

DriveThruRPG @drivethrurpg.com · 03/09/2026

Stage 1 of J’s TTRPG product design. Concept. The first stage is thinking about an idea. A lot. Asking questions. Flipping it around in a ten dimensional head space. It usually starts with the single sentence but then I think on it. Talk about it. Doodle.

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Reposted by J Gray

The September Solo Sale is on now! Shop deals here: tinyurl.com/2p9ky4av Includes Ion Heart, Single Player Mode for Cyberpunk RED, The One Ring Strider Mode and more! #ttrpg #septembersolo

The September Solo Sale is on now at DriveThruRPG.com

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J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I played Diplomacy a few times and mostly learned the people I played with transformed into jerks when the game began. I preferred Cosmic Encounter.

J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I watched a round of Little Wars, once. Fascinating for a bit just for the history - knowing they were playing a game designed by HG Wells. Then I learned they’d still be playing the same battle five hours later…

R. Talsorian Games @rtalsoriangames.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Reposted by J Gray

Our August 2026 DLC Release is here! Missed Gen Con? Then you can see what happened for those who came to play Cyberpunk RED this year! rtalsoriangames.com/2026/08/28/c...

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J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The joys of writing in-universe tech!

J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I’ve done acting and I’ve done writing. I can see both points of view there. Just a matter of perspective. Are you inhabiting a role or choosing an adventure. Both are valid.

J Gray @jgraygaming.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I think the best example of telling the story through companions was the first Outer Worlds. Mass Effect remains the gold standard, of course, of the voiced character you guide rather than inhabit.

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It was fascinating to see Fallout 4 attempt to find a middle road to that spectrum.

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I personally call it the Bethesda/Bioware spectrum of video game protagonists. On one side is the blank slate who has no voice, no personality, and no real limitations. A full self-insert. On the other is the character with specific paths - you guide development but they exist as a voiced person.

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I was going more towards the island name, but “Wildes” or “Wildish” isn’t bad.