iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 03/08/2026

It's live now! ...but will be free for 48 hours tomorrow. Amaryn Smoulders: Book 0 #fantasy #dnd #writingcommunity www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCP8G7JK

Cover of Amaryn Smoulders. For adventurers fighting off a horde of monsters with towers burning in the background.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 25/07/2026

I wrote some fantasy short stories. It has sweet cover art by Kirilot. #Fantasy #WritingCommunity #TTRPG You can get it for free here: www.patreon.com/StuartWatkin...

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 10/03/2026

Post your favourite Lord of the Rings character. Wrong answers only.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 09/03/2026

Doing a little personal appendix n blogging today. Found a touchstone of my nerdom on internet archives.

PC PowerPlay issue 18 november 1999. Has a stormtroop shooting a blaster on the cover. Advertising Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight

Two page spread advertisement for Dark Forces 2. Some screenshots of game play and liveaction clips from the game.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 27/07/2025

I don’t have the capacity to get the writing done, but I had a fun time making this cover for Appendix N Jam.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 15/07/2025

newsletting open.substack.com/pub/largshir...

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 25/05/2025

Early morning scrawling. Kids socks on the table. A fire slowly warming the little house. Just a few words down to help set my course.

Notebook on the table. Small fire burning.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 20/05/2025

New newsletter up. Check out that bison. open.substack.com/pub/largshir...

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 25/03/2025

I've just spent a week at the Adelaide Fringe Festival as a part of a playwriting development program. I was one of six chosen to attend and we spent that time watching theatre, meeting industry people, and writing. I wrote about my time and you can read it here: mypartoffringe.art

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 11/03/2025

Hey! TTRPG heads, I'm talking about West Marches over here! open.substack.com/pub/largshir...

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 25/02/2025

What if communities worked together for a common good? This is one of the core questions I am exploring in The Tower Beyond The Forest. #WritingCommunity

Mak grabbed two baskets and passed one to Hap, who slid the sash over his head and hitched the basket to his belt. Hap was not an orchard tender, but he knew how it worked. Everyone shared the load here. Wherever there was work to do, you worked. Each profession moving through their slow periods and busy periods either giving or taking help from others. The system worked. It was why this place worked. It was why the Bibliotecs always came back. And the apples were good.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 08/01/2025

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 08/12/2024

The beginning of a solo Knave campaign. Work has dried up in town so Faustus Reinhold, and Arthur, with Percy the Mule, set off on the road. There's money to be had chasing off goblins. Or so they say.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 05/12/2024

A system-agnostic zine triple feature: Abbotsmoore, Bitterpeak, and Steelhollow. Crawl through a swamp and explore the otherworldly technology, hoping to meet the Troll Priest. Survive the tundra in search of Demonsbane. Get across the desert to the Steelhollow and the god trapped within. #ttrpg

Shows the three covers of The Abbot Trilogy. Abbotsmoore, Bitterpeak, and Steelhollow.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 03/12/2024

The Abbott is here! Crawl through a fetid swamp and otherworldly technology of a long-forgotten civilisation, to meet the Troll Priest. Survive the tundra in search of the mysterious Demonsbane. Get across the desert to the Steelhollow and the god trapped within. www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 25/11/2024

hey 💿🐴, welcome to bluesky. My rule for bluesky is to not engage with it. So, here's some cool art from The Abbot Trilogy. Art by Kirilot

black and white line art of an excited goblin

black and white line art. POV of a wooden hut. A group on unsavory looking types stare at you.

black and white line art. four shady characters in hoods.

black and white line art. A giant dragonfly and man standing next to it, the dragonfly is the same height as the man.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 24/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky 1/20

Book cover of Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 18/11/2024

But then we discover it was on Mega Drive. We both had one and our obsession grew. We would played this game over and over. Trying the three different characters and learning how they all worked. We would catch up on weekends and play multiplayer all night. This was the game we left on all night.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 18/11/2024

In the summer, my cousins from the other side of the city would come to the seaside caravan park near my house. We'd spend about 2 or 3 weeks there. Me sleeping on the floor of their caravans or jumping into the space in the tents. That caravan park had this machine.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 18/11/2024

Sandworm by Kirilot for Steelhollow.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 14/11/2024

Kirilot also absolutely smashed the artwork out of the park on this.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 14/11/2024

Reasons to hire an editor. The first is the boxed text I wrote after consultation back and forth on this. The second is how it started.

The Stone-faced Men of the Moore
On the north wall, three stone faces are illuminated by the flicker of fire that burns of its own accord, held in stone-carved hands. Each has a wide hole, big enough to crawl through. A hot, dry air billows out from the mouth on the left. It’s tongue lolls out, like a dog panting, right eye shut tight and left eye wide open. Desperate. The face on the right is contorted, as if reacting from dipping a foot into freezing cold water and cold, bitter air floats from the hole its neck. The central face is dead still, expressionless, with both eyes shut. The black hole in its neck draws you, calls to you even. With each step closer, the stench of a thousand rotten corpses is exhaled upon you.

On the north wall there are three small corridors, each one leading to a stone carved face with an enormous gaping mouth. The faces are identical except for their eyes, each one having a distinct combination of eyes open. The mouths are big enough for players to crawl through and doing so has the following effects. These effects will have a serious impact on the party. Ensure they are aware of that the dangers.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 31/10/2024

This was an interesting thing. This store had mostly dnd books. There were four other rpgs. And this was one of them. I don't think I've ever seen it in a store in my town before

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 23/10/2024

This weekend I'm doing a poetry reading for an arts event. The theme is mental health. I've made a little collection of poems about teaching. Here's one for the bsky folks.

circles On the table
Must have made it this morning
but it was lost in the abyss.
The stain is circular but smeared
from when I put it down.
I was in rush and it splashed a little
and I remember that now.
Was going to clean it up before I headed in
but, obviously — some matter, pressing — came up.
Like a B that should have been an A, a lost book,
or note with last month's letterhead on it.
Sometimes I wonder how many litres have been poured
down the drain because of notes with old letterheads.
I pick it up and take a slip.
Cold and bitter.
A sensation I've become familiar with.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

It wasn't until a Sega Mega Drive appeared at my house one morning that I really got sucked into playing consoles. I'm not really sure where it came from. My brothers must have been 17 to 20 years old now and it had apparently come from their friend. It was in our lounge room for a few months.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

Enter the Console. There were two kids in my street with NESs. I don't really remember much about it. Mario 2 seems to feature heavily in memory. And Kung Fu. Aside from those two, it was really just a thing we used sometimes. I've gone back and played them both, only Mario 2 caught my attention.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

Along came Hero Quest. I can't really explain what this game did to me. We could play through the game. Then the character would get better and get cool things. And we'd play again but it would be completely different. Then I found the blank map at back and realised I could make my own...

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

This next game that came in my realm was the Monsters in my Pocket card game. Probably bought at a supermarket. But this, I think was my first experience in game design. I did not have the ability to understand the rules so I made them up. They changed on the fly but they were fun.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

However, there was one other book that spent a lot of time with while they were still there. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At the time the cartoon was at its peak. This books completely blew all that out of the water. I used to read this book at night before bed. Have never played it though.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

I'll jump back in time now and step to tabletop. My eldest brother got The Red Box for Christmas in the early 80s. Before I was born. So dnd was in my life from as early as I could remember. I didn't really know what it was but the books were there.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

I'm on desktop... Might just be a desktop thing. cute.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

It was probably the art that has had some of the biggest impact. It's just so rad. I still play this, the Legacy version. It's genuinely a good experience. Possibly even if you didn't play it in the past.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

It's hard to find images of the games, but our monitor was green monotone. So everything was black and green. Which is, essentially how i see all retro gaming in my mind. like this.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

One of my first memories of games is sitting on my dads lap while he played this. I must have been young enough to have no self control, as i can remember dad holding my hands together and pretending that I was pressing the buttons. As a parent of young people, I see what this ruse for what it was.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

The Apple iie was in my house my entire life. My mum was a teacher and the in the 80s the government had an excellent scheme for public servants to get one cheap. So, we had one and my older brothers filled their draws with floppy disks.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 22/10/2024

I am in a bit of creative slump. I am going to do memory dive into all games (physical & digital) that have stuck with me. Nostalgia is often a bit of a motivator for me I think. The History of my Gaming Experience has two starting points: Apple iie and Where Chaos Reigns.

Photo of Apple iie with floppy disk reader on the side.

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Stuart Watkinson @largshire.press · 21/10/2024

On Tuesday's I'm home with the Tiny People. Today we have prepped for some. New chooks. This includes add two apple trees to the mix!

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