iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Daniel Fedor @dcfedor.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Blue Bottle Games, as a policy, does not use generative AI. It's something we've discussed as a team, weighing the pros and cons, and ultimately, we decided it was not for us. Recently, while chatting with a colleague, she mentioned it was useful hearing our reasoning. So: Sharing time! 1/12

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Clayton @explorersdesign.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Public Domain Art is the lifeblood of small tabletop rpgs, but it can be a nightmare trying to find the right art and license. This week, I’ve re-uploaded my old list from 2020 (with updates) of public domain websites. That's 500,000+ public domain paintings, photos, maps, and film. Link below 🔗👇

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Really digging this Colin! Quick question, how players is this for, and how many sessions of play is the default?

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

It was my pleasure! Of all the TTRPG gigs I've worked on, it's one of the ones I'm proudest of, though I don't think it's been a big seller sadly 😅

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I'm a year late to the party, but just wanted to thank you for playing my adventure and writing up your experience! I'm low-key obsessed with running the same adventure 5 times, bet it would be really interesting to compare which paths players took and which endings they got.

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Stoo Goff @stoogoff.com · 17/03/2026

The Isle of Pelops is now available from the GMS website! It covers important people and places of the Peloponnesos and includes a four part epic campaign which takes you through the Peloponnesos to uncover the motives behind a new and pervasive mystery cult. gmstabletopgames.com/product/isle...

gmstabletopgames.com

Isle of Pelops — For the Aegean RPG - GMS Hobby Game Logistics

Isle of Pelops is a sourcebook and adventures taking your heroes from their home in the Aegean to the Peloponnesos and visits Argos, Mykenai, and Sparta.

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

This is accurate, but also feels backwards, which is a little bit odd to say. There are a LOT of complicated factors Involved in this, but one of the weirdest and most disruptive is a sense that RPGs are an unwelcome activity, *even while doing them*.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Today we played a game of "The Slow Knife" by @mousehole.press and generated this mad sprawl of interconnected conspiracies and resentments. Highly recommended! You can buy your own copy here: mouseholepress.itch.io/the-slow-knife

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

We did! Thanks so much for designing it!

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

We did! Only a one shot so just the one night, think we'd have had a harder time of it if we'd gone the full Five Nights at Freddies lol

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Followed up with a trip to YUE Kitchen on Brick Lane, which has apparently only been open for a couple of weeks. Another recommendation!

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

This month's RPG brunch club took us to the amazing Arcanist's Tavern to play "Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall", a cook-by-day, battle-vampires-by-night RPG by @bananachangames.bsky.social and @senfoonglim.bsky.social. Had an amazing time playing as the family grandmother 😁 Mochi approves!

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Graham Walmsley 🎲 @grahamwalmsley.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

It's the last full week of the Kickstarter for Cosmic Dark, my weird space horror game. We're heading for stretch goals by @gshowitt.bsky.social and @jon.inkle.co , with @planetx.bsky.social and @mytholder.bsky.social coming. Back it before the campaign ends! (And please repost) #ttrpg #kickstarter

kickstarter.com

Cosmic Dark

Cosmic Dark is a tabletop roleplaying game of weird space horror, from the award-winning author of Cthulhu Dark.

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Reposted by Michael Duxbury

Tabletop Bookshelf🔜Gamehole Con @tabletopbookshelf.com · 28/05/2025

Tabletop Bookshelf is looking for professional writers to contribute sponsored reviews of tabletop RPGs and solo games from our shop collection. Interested? Complete the application form below - spaces are limited! forms.gle/ivRtRGQjZdqv...

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Going to UKGE as a punter, mostly to hang out with me mates, but please do come and say hi 😊

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Reposted by Michael Duxbury

Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Back on the other site I had a long thread of contrarian (but sincerely-held) board game design hot takes. Here's a shorter thread with the best of them. 🧵

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

(3 is kind of a guess, hard to say if I've played more Trail of Cthulhu or Dark Heresy.)

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

1. First #ttrpg played? Dark Heresy 2. First ran? Rogue Trader 3. Played the most? Wrath & Glory 4. Run the most? Fate Core 5. Favorite? Fate Core, Monsterhearts 2, Band of Blades, whatever I'm currently working on! 6. Most recently played? Me, the Singularity 7. Most recently run? Wrath & Glory

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Ben Rosen @benrosen.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

i thought sean baker's speech was really inspiring

Sean Baker: Now that I won an Oscar, I hope they let me make a Green Lantern movie.

Sean Baker: He can make anything he wants with his ring. Even a car.

Sean Baker: But it's not all fun and games.

Sean Baker: He's vulnerable to the color yellow.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Thank you so much Camilla - hope you enjoy your games! 🥰

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Really good home Wrath & Glory game last night! I was running something like a dungeon crawl, not my usual flavour but it went really well. Concluding fight with cybernetica autonoma is in two weeks!

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Reposted by Michael Duxbury

Mikhail Malkin @ronamis.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Is my #ZineQuest entry - Escape From The Tower of Dusk already funded? Yes! Do I want to give away custom digital sketches and adventure keys? Yes! Will I be giving them away on February 28th to random folks reposting this message? Yes! Will you like and share this message to join this Giveaway?

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Reposted by Michael Duxbury

UK Tabletop Industry Network (UK TIN) @UKGE: 3-510 @uktin.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Have you checked out Mappa Mundi yet? This TTRPG about recording and preserving threatened fantasy ecologies is striking out on a journey with inspiring art and wonderful rules that support curiosity, wonder and non-violent solutions to problems.

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Epistolary Richard @epistolaryrichard.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Before ZineMonth kicks off, I am saying a final goodbye to 2024 with the TTRPG Year in Review. I will be posting in this thread the contributors thoughts on themes from the year and links to oh so many games. So let's look back at some things from 2024... therpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2024/11/drag...

therpgpipeline.blogspot.com

What's Hot in Indie TTRPGs 2024 - Year in Review

What’s Hot in Indie TTRPGs 2024 A compilation of data and opinion Produced by Epistolary Richard an...

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Reposted by Michael Duxbury

The Diana Jones Award @dianajonesaward.org · 22/01/2025

The nomination period for the Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer Program is open! Please head to our website for all the details. You can nominate yourself or any other worthy tabletop game designers in their first three years of publishing. Nominations close Feb. 14. www.dianajonesaward.org

dianajonesaward.org

The Diana Jones Award

For Excellence in Gaming

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

To use a silly example, I wanted something that can graph my mood when I'm playing board games, but also my mood when I'm playing Settlers of Catan. This feels like basic functionality to me, but it's absent from all the most popular apps (and searching for anything online is a nightmare now).

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Hoping someone can recommend me a mood tracking app that has the functionality I want. I'm looking for an app that tracks mood, activity, AND nested sub-activities, and that can graph mood against activity OR mood against sub-activity. Needs to input custom activities and sub-activities as well.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Golden Eggs is consistently my worst selling game but I'm really proud of its design! If you're intrigued by an RPG blending the vibes of Apple TV's Severance with collective action and hidden role/social deduction mechanics... I think you should buy and play it. seal-of-sabbad.itch.io/golden-eggs

seal-of-sabbad.itch.io

Golden Eggs by Seal of Sabbad

A dystopian tabletop RPG of labour exploitation.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Collaboration of my dreeeeams 🤩

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

I have so much more I want to celebrate about this game when I get the chance 🤣

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

If this sounds like your jam, you can buy a PDF here! Or pick it up at UK Games Expo I'm sure 😀 exstasisgames.itch.io/pnavs

exstasisgames.itch.io

Perfectly Normal Animal Village Simulator by Ex Stasis Games

Animal Crossing meets the Wicker Man.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

But the questionnaire writing part of Dread is something our GM had lots of fun with! We chose archetypes related to the Animal Crossing personality types (Jock, Sisterly, Snooty, Lazy, etc.), and answered questions that specifically set us up with skills our GM knew we'd need for the adventure.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

I managed to get eliminated from play embarrassingly early when I fluffed a pretty basic lie-detector test! This is when we discovered a potential downside of not using a Jenga tower - the tower fell so quietly that one of the players took half a minute to realise it had even fallen 😆

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

(Yes, technically Dread has a difficulty modifier of how many blocks you pull, and a failure condition of refusing to pull. But this was a more intuitive option.)

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

This had the mechanical advantage of giving "Dread" a scalable difficulty modifier - the cards you apply to make a pull harder - and an actual failure condition when just a couple of balls fall, which isn't something that can really happy in Jenga.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

This is a system neutral horror adventure, so for a system, our GM decided to use Dread (the one with the Jenga tower). Except, instead of using a Jenga tower, we used "The Fuzzies" the fuzzy ball tower dexterity game, which seemed on theme.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

An aside from talking about #UndyingRPG - last weekend, I also got to play in a game of Perfectly Normal Animal Village Simulator by @exstasisgames.bsky.social, which we picked up at Dragonmeet the other week. It's Animal Crossing meets Midsommar, Cult of the Lamb goes tropical.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Love to see designers making the tough choice of cutting content out of the game, rather than the appealing trap of putting more in! Kill your darlings! 💪

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

And of course, when Blood is the key currency for Getting Shit Done... you lose empathy for the people containing that Blood FAST. One of many ways that the game ekes delicious tension out of trying to remain a good person.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

The prospect of eternity undone in a millisecond means that actual Fights are rare. But, well, shit happens. We managed to get through our whole campaign without a PC death. But every time we went to bloodshed, the entire table was on tenterhooks. Exactly what you want from a horror combat system.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

The most memorable move is Fight: Secretly decide how much Blood you're spending; whoever spends the most chooses who lives and who dies. This is the unspoken threat behind every trivial negotiation over territory and debts. The test of the proverb that a well armed society is a polite society.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Undying is PbtA, which means Core Moves, Playbook Moves, all that jazz. Because it's diceless, the line between miss, hit, and middly messiness is all a matter of how much Blood you're willing to spend to Get Shit Done.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Undying is all of the teeth (fangs?) and none of the bullshit. Your key stats are Blood, Humanity, Status, and Debt. To quote the book, everything else is inconsequential. I'm probably going to do threads on all of these - let's start with Blood, since it's the core resolution mechanic and all.

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Michael Duxbury @sabbad.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Day 1 of frothing about #UndyingRPG by @magpiegames.bsky.social. Certain Popular Vampire Games have billed themselves as a game of personal horror, whilst periodically interrupting to ask if you'd like a talent for dual wielding Desert Eagles. Let the Right One In meets a lesser Underworld sequel.

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