iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 05/04/2026

Ah! I think we tagged you in the DE Discord but very understandable if you missed it. We had a lot of fun exploring what Desperation + a new mechanic might look like. It's ~okay~ as a play experience but points to interesting parts of the design space that I hope more folks explore.

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 04/04/2026

Haha all placeholder until I dial in setting specificity!

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 04/04/2026

Oh, @diceexploder.com and I also made "Three Generations..." which started as a Desperation hack but grew to be something more distant. Instead of each card being a quote, each card is a character who travels a trade network, updating the state of the world. randylubin.itch.io/three-genera...

randylubin.itch.io

Three Generations: The Rise and Fall of the Eternal Empire by Randy Lubin, sdunnewold

Build an empire and watch it crumble

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 04/04/2026

I'm working on one inspired by 18th/19th century revolutions! It's still in its early stages but I'm enjoying the design challenge. Instead of locations, characters organize into "Regime" "Reform" and "Revolt" categories. Each Act, the characters reorganize based on new coalitions of power.

A screen shot of the prototype of a Desperation game inspired by revolutions, with a spread of character cards

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 26/02/2026

This is excellent and resonates deeply- I’ll be sharing it around!

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David Finnigan @davidfinig.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

There are many resources out there to help game designers, but none to help project managers design game collaborations from an institution's side. In response to this, I’ve created this Field Guide, for oorganisations wanting to create successful games. davidfinnigan.substack.com/p/commission...

davidfinnigan.substack.com

Commissioning Games for Systems Change: A Field Guide

A new framework for developing impactful games

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 01/02/2026

Our "Gaming Like It's 1930" jam has wrapped up with a total of 37 entries – our best year ever: itch.io/jam/gaming-l... I'm looking forward to reading and playing them over the next few weeks!

itch.io

Submissions to Gaming Like It's 1930

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Jason Morningstar @jmstar.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Now pay-what-you-want! Including nothing, if that's where you're at, although all profits are donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. @randylubin.com and I really want you to gather some friends and play it.

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Bully Pulpit Games @bullypulpithq.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Honor Bound by @randylubin.com and @jmstar.bsky.social is a live action game for exactly 6 players, and it explores honor culture and masculinity through the lens of an old fashioned duel. Play starts after a challenge is issued and the de-escalation attempts begins. randylubin.itch.io/honor-bound

randylubin.itch.io

Honor Bound by Randy Lubin, Bully Pulpit Games

Explores honor culture and toxic masculinity an old fashioned duel

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Jason Morningstar @jmstar.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

I wish more people would play Honor Bound, which I wrote with @randylubin.com. It's a serious game about dueling culture and toxic masculinity but it is also really fun to watch a pair of puffed-up idiots ignore every available off-ramp until they shoot each other. randylubin.itch.io/honor-bound

randylubin.itch.io

Honor Bound by Randy Lubin, Bully Pulpit Games

Explores honor culture and toxic masculinity an old fashioned duel

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 26/11/2025

It's now available in a free public beta and you can either grab files for print and play or play it online via playingcards-io It plays in under an hour, is GMless, and uses card driven prompt mechanics inspired by @jmstar.bsky.social's Desperation games Let us know if you play it!

a session of Three Generations on playingcards.io toward the end of the third era, with the map fully built out

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 26/11/2025

Check out the new game that @diceexploder.com and I have designed: randylubin.itch.io/three-genera... In "Three Generations: The Rise and Fall of the Eternal Empire" you tell the story of an empire as you build a city network and tell stories of the characters who travel across its lands.

randylubin.itch.io

Three Generations: The Rise and Fall of the Eternal Empire by Randy Lubin, sdunnewold

Build an empire and watch it crumble

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 05/10/2025

Yup! You can use setLastCardLocation to specify the specific card location or the portion of the deck (e.g. last 20%). Read more here: docs.storysynth.org/guide/option...

docs.storysynth.org

Custom Options | Story Synth Documentation

How to design and publish games with the Story Synth storytelling game platform

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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 26/09/2025

Some exciting news: this morning we launched a collaboration with @icrc.org: our Trust & Safety: Armed Conflict game. trust-and-safety-game.icrc.org

trust-and-safety-game.icrc.org

Trust & Safety: Armed Conflict

Navigate the challenging world of trust & safety amidst an unfolding armed conflict.

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 26/09/2025

Our latest game is out! In Trust & Safety: Armed Conflict, you'll explore the challenges of running a social media company during an international conflict. Designed with Copia Gaming and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Play it now: trust-and-safety-game.icrc.org

trust-and-safety-game.icrc.org

Trust & Safety: Armed Conflict

Navigate the challenging world of trust & safety amidst an unfolding armed conflict.

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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 17/09/2025

For anyone who missed our Kickstarter for the very fun card game One Billion Users (or if you backed it and want extra copies) we just put up our remaining stock for sale. There are not that many, so this is your LAST CHANCE to get one. We also have a few discounted "damaged box" copies...

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 02/09/2025

In the game, players take on the roles of powerful organizations and influencers who react to an future disruption by posting to social media and spinning events in their favor. It takes an hour to play, runs with 5-6 players (plus facilitator), and involves minimal prep. It's also 100% free!

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 02/09/2025

I'm excited to share a new game called "Posting Through It" that I co-designed with @sidneyicarus.bsky.social The game explores how online discourse changes how we experience global disruption and it's played over a fake social media platform. Check it out: randylubin.itch.io/posting-thro...

randylubin.itch.io

Posting Through It by Randy Lubin, Sidney Icarus

Explore the consequences of a major disruption by playing organizations and influencers posting on social media

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 23/08/2025

Hey - we covered this in Trust & Safety Tycoon! Would you make a different decision? Play here: trustandsafety.fun

A screenshot from Trust and Safety Tycoon where players have to decide if they comply with an "age appropriate" state law. One option is to block the state

A screenshot with the result when you block the state: Everyone is angry at you. Politicians in Illinois call the geoblock a "stunt" and say that it proves that you don't care about children. Users both inside and outside of Illinois argue that this is too heavy handed a response.

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 22/08/2025

Just got my copies from our One Billion Users Kickstarter. They look great!

A case containing copies of the game One Billion Users

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 21/08/2025

I'm on this weeks Riskgaming podcast, discussing the challenges of exploring complex risks through game design Danny and I had a great conversation and we shared the approaches and intuitions we bring to the design process Podcast: pod.link/1615629580/e... Transcript: substack.com/home/post/p-...

pod.link

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 18/08/2025

Working the Case, my murder mystery storytelling game, is now officially out of beta! I've tweaked the visual design of the playcards.io version and updated some of the cards content in the Cyberpunk and Space Station playsets. Grab it now and play online! randylubin.itch.io/working-the-...

The cyberpunk playset for Working the Case - in this session, the Activist killed the Trillionaire

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 31/07/2025

Our session was so much fun!

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 31/07/2025

You can finally get "Working the Case" on Itch: randylubin.itch.io/working-the-... It's a 30min gm-less murder mystery game in a fantasy, space, or cyberpunk setting. Play as investigators and match evidence cards to suspects, describing scenes along the way. It's a blast!

randylubin.itch.io

Working the Case – Digital Beta by Randy Lubin

A collaborative mystery game where you uncover evidence, narrow down suspects, and catch the culprit.

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 09/07/2025

The latest episode of The Game Design Roundtable is about Serious Games. Come listen as @jmstar.bsky.social, Kathryn Hymes, and I discuss how we approach making games that are designed for education, training, and social impact: thegamedesignroundtable.com/episode/seas...

thegamedesignroundtable.com

Season: RPG – Serious Games Pt.1 – The Game Design Roundtable

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 07/07/2025

There are also other tabs that control static game values, initial game state, and selector logic that we sometimes use to determine which screen to show next (using flags or game state)

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 07/07/2025

There's a main tab that contains all of the possible game screens with content columns for the main text, player options, and decision results. There are also helper columns for changing game state, pointing to the next screen, and setting criteria for if options are visible and/or locked.

A screenshot of one dilemma in a spreadsheet, with different rows for response options

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 07/07/2025

I can talk about building an interactive fiction engine powered by Google Sheets and optimizing the sheet workflow so non-designers can effectively collaborate on content and mechanics. The case study game would be trustandsafety.fun where the spreadsheet ended up running over 27,000 words

trustandsafety.fun

Trust & Safety Tycoon

Manage your team, set policies, make investments, and tackle the challenging world of Trust & Safety

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 26/06/2025

Ooh nice - looking forward to playing it soon! FYI pcio lets you create simple automations so you can create a "setup" button that automatically shuffles the decks, removes cards, and stacks them together.

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 10/06/2025

I'm on the most recent episode of The Game Design Roundtable: thegamedesignroundtable.com/episode/seas... We talk about foresight and serious games for organizations, how we collaborate with non-designer clients and experts, and lots of specific examples from my past collaborations and engagements

thegamedesignroundtable.com

Season: RPG – Randy Lubin – RPGs in Organizational Settings – The Game Design Roundtable

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 26/05/2025

Not my game but The Lesser Players’ Tale by @lizziestark.bsky.social and @jmstar.bsky.social is my favorite game set in that period and one of my top ever play experiences!

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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 05/05/2025

These are the LAST FEW DAYS to order a copy of our amazing card game, One Billion Users, and be sure you can get a copy. Most news sites ask you for subscriptions to get news, we're *selling you the best card game ever* but for only 2 more days! www.kickstarter.com/projects/mma...

kickstarter.com

One Billion Users: The Social Media Card Game

A competitive card game to build the biggest and best social media platform

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 31/03/2025

Just a few more days to back @jmstar.bsky.social 's new game Zhenya's Wonder Tales: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b... This game is a blast to play and I love how the cards help players tell a compelling story that hits key story beats while still enabling player creativity and improvisation

backerkit.com

Zhenya's Wonder Tales

Zhenya’s Wonder Tales is a set of 6 card games retelling dark, Slavic-inspired fairy stories in 1-2 hours. Play a prince, a werewolf, an orphan, a monster hunter, and more to make difficult choices th...

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 23/03/2025

Seriously, this game is amazing - pushing the frontiers of what storytelling games can do!

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 20/02/2025

Savoy in Azabu Juban? Their tuna sashimi pizza is one of the best dishes I’ve eaten in my life… such a talented team!

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 19/02/2025

New Dice Exploder this week: the start of a series on larp. Larp! It’s that thing where you dress up like wizards, go into the woods, and hit each other with sticks. Right? Well... yeah! Except no, because it’s a million other things too, and I think all us ttrpg designers can learn a lot from it.

diceexploder.com

Just Read the Card (Ghost Court) with Randy Lubin — Dice Exploder

Today I'm gonna introduce you to the world of larp. If you've ever been intimidated by it, this is a place to start. Because I think tabletop designers have so much we could learn from larp, so much t...

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Randy Lubin @randylubin.com · 18/02/2025

I'm on the latest episode of @diceexploder.com - www.diceexploder.com/blog/2025/2/... Sam and I kick off his miniseries on larp by exploring how sometimes it's as easy as "just read the card" and demonstrate that with a quick round of Ghost Court. Give it a listen and then go play some larps!