iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 23h

I love table photos of Decaying Orbit, especially on light tables. Look at that black and orange pop!

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Josh Sawyer @jesawyer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Many people don't understand probability very well and many of them are resistant to having it explained to them. This leads some designers to creating mechanics that work like the player's instinctive (read: fucking wrong) understanding of probability, further confusing everyone.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I absolutely will never stop admiring our ability to play at anything and everything. I think we might have a moral obligation to be absolutely stupid bastards forever.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

If Powered by the Apocalypse is "an approach to system design", Forged in the Dark is "an approach to setting design".

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It was never about success or failure. It's about wringing everything out of good people and then abandoning them when the money comes in. Absolutely unforgivable. Brutal.

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Tim Clare @timclare.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

If I'm remembered for just one contribution to ludology, let it be this

A meme that says 'The Myth of Player Agency in TTRPGS'
Player: I consent
DM: I consent
d20: I don't!
Beneath, the slogan reads: Isn't there somebody you forgot to ask?

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🍁 Levi Kornelsen @levikornelsen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This isn't a critique, just... If what we collectively wanted (again, at the level of abstraction) was games that work exceptionally out of the box, we'd have moved a lot closer to that by now.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I've been thinking about the value of this, and how it flattens a conversation that could use some detail, and also how it says what it really means and communicates it well. But also, one of them has a little peepee and I think that's hilarious.

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Mike Laidlaw @mikelaidlaw.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Savage and accurate.

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Tim Denee @olddog.games · 31/07/2026

Followed by THE ELECTROPLASMIC ZODIAC, by the formidable @sidneyicarus.bsky.social

A spread from Blades '68; the Electroplasmic Zodiac by Sidney Icarus. 7 fictional zodiac signs are shown in a wheel.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

"A little scary, a little sad" is my new favourite phrase for Decaying Orbit.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Every time I start a design I allocate myself an "Innovation Budget", an amount of newness that I am allowed to introduce. Day two, I blow through it twice. I just watch that self-imposed limit shrink in my rearview. I live in awe of people who are great at taking those little steps.

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jenn martin is not trying so hard @tenpenjenn.com · 08/07/2026

Ai is a fake orgasm machine and the people who use it either can't tell or don't care

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Nobody reflect, nobody gets choked up.

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

But part of the temptation to try that arises from the simple fact that D&D is genuinely very difficult to explain. Not the rules. D&D itself. Do a 5 whys on any element of D&D, and the whole thing unspools. I used to think that was a problem, but these days I think it’s the point.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Talking about games with Sam is one of my favourite pastimes, would you like to listen in on this conversation?

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Sam D @sam.diceexploder.com · 05/05/2026

On top of launching Band-Aids & Bullet Holes on kickstarter today, I've also got a new episode of Dice Exploder! This month I'm talking games/mechanics that inspired BABH starting with @sidneyicarus.bsky.social on character nonmonogamy: when players share control of characters. I love doing this!

diceexploder.com

Transcript: Character Nonmonogamy (Space Post) with Sidney Icarus - Dice Exploder

Listen to this episode here. Today is the launch of Band-Aids & Bullet Holes, my melodramatic action game of bloody revenge. It's a one shot, capsule game, box set, deckbuilder...

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I have the awesome opportunity to see @themountaingoats.bsky.social in Melbourne tonight. My hope is that for the encore, John just tells us all about his Night Witches characters. "Normally, this is where we'd play No Children" Band starts up "But today, I want to talk about Lt Olga Sebrova..."

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

I miss session stat highlights! A few months ago I played some Apocalypse World 2e with old friends and new friends, and I really fell in love again with the idea of Highlights. I miss having a tool to say "we've been rewarding you for being X, try being Y" daily-apocalypse.com/daily-apocal...

daily-apocalypse.com

32. more on highlighted stats

We are wrapping up the chapter on Character Creation today with a quick look at “Highlighting Stats” (page 78). Go around the table one last time. Every player finds the character her character...

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

non-dev playing a game: why didn’t the team do [X thing that seems obvious]? are they stupid? dev playing a game: why didn’t the team do [X thing that seems obvious]? am I stupid?

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Bully Pulpit Games @bullypulpithq.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

How do your favorite #TTRPGs handle death when your character hits 0 hit points? @sidneyicarus.bsky.social and @heyitsmattyp.bsky.social discuss this and cover #NightWitchesRPG in their video podcast Start A Quest! #RPGs #games youtu.be/XuCdM-PErhc

youtu.be

What TTRPGs get wrong about dying

YouTube video by Start A Quest!

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

I've said before my favourite special ability of the last however long has been "When it matters who's fastest, you are." But, actually, this is such a giant problem and I'm so tired of it.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

From @diceexploder.com in the Lightning Barriers Episode: "I should do a whole episode on Turf" Omg yes please, yes. Friend. Yes. Please do. Get me back on for this. Or anyone else. Get Tim on. The world needs this.

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Mike X. Nichols @mikexnichols.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

the video game industry is a mess

“Make bad game? Fired. Make good game? Fired. Make incredibly successful game? Believe it or not, also fired.” Original source of meme is from Parks and Recreation.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

I spent two days in hospital investigating mid-tier abdo pain (kidney stone >1cm takes the money). The biggest thing I achieved, besides getting a bit of needed rest, was learning how to solve a Rubik's cube. Not a meaningful success, but a success all the same.

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Sticky Doodler 🖍️ Color Jam @stickydoodler.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

What really mattered: We were part of their community. What still mattered: basics like attractive covers, MSRP discounts, and easy distribution What didn't matter: that D&D is over 100,000x bigger than any of us 4/▶️

Local DMV game "Valiant Horizon" on the shelf next to the D&D Players Handbook

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Does my social reach hit anyone in the Northern Territory? Katherine-adjacent? Is "Jesus Loves Nachos" still a thing? I have an overwhelming nostalgia for three words spray painted on a rail bridge.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

So my very favourite part of beta-reading, Playtesting, or giving any feedback is when I ask the question that gets answered by "That's just the kind of thing I'm making." This is what I call reaching "Feedback Bedrock".

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Every now and then I am struck by an overwhelming feeling of missing Toronto. There's no "then I got a Boston Cream and everything settles" bit here. From time to time I am struck with a deep and beautiful longing for a country that opened her arms to me for two years.

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will jobst @willjobst.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

this has not been paid for by john taylor of geekify

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

(The warehouse issue IS genuinely bad, but it’s not part of the narrative of the conflict.) Our BAD conflicts involve fraud, theft, assault and genuinely terrible activities. Disagreements over contract terms, leading to negotiations that break down and returning IP is a *success*.

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

I feel like Levi has hit the nail on the head here, because while it’s really clear that there are a lot of emotions in play here, the *business* story here was pretty mundane, and not terribly persuasive of anything nefarious.

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failnaut @failnaut.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

As a former journalist, and as someone who has had mixed experiences with Rascal as a developer and artist, this article was absolutely infuriating to read and led to me not renewing my subscription. An unattributed pull quote before a paywall calling someone a fake queer is beyond ethical failure.

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Tim Denee @olddog.games · 17/01/2026

Great thread. Something under-appreciated, maybe, is when those anti-play rules are only unlocked after time (e.g. at a certain level). I often enjoy resource-tracking etc to begin with, but after X sessions it becomes repetitive and tedious. At which point I'm glad for a reason to put it aside!

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

I've been doing a lot of work focused toward a D&D-familiar audience, especially how "how to solve" problems (encumbrance, magic items, exploration etc). One of the things that has come up often is this consideration of "more game vs less game", which is a lens I haven't seen discussed (1/4)

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Swords Without Master is back! One of the most tremendous and formative games I've seen! www.kickstarter.com/projects/unw...

kickstarter.com

Swords Without Master

A ttrpg of strange sorceries, ferocious deeds, and astounding wonder by Epidiah Ravachol.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Yes! I have been saying this exactly, up to an including the "I don't know what this means.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Remembering how fucked up it was last time I went to a Playtesting convention that was meant to be a welcoming testbed, and someone posted a blog publicly criticising the slice I tested (by name). Playtest communities should have a proper NDA (No Dickheads Arrangement) that sorts this kind of shit.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Can anyone who knows Suits help me with Prelusory Goal thoughts? So Suits says the Prelusory Goal is a specific state of affairs we want to be completed, which requires the playing of the game. Eg "I want to run from one line to another line" or "I want to get this golf ball into a hole". (1/3)

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

At #GamesForChange Asia Pacific today. If you're attending and want to talk about interactive impacts, please grab me.

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Mary Kenney @marykgames.com · 28/09/2025

Even setting aside ethics (but, yknow, THAT) - I just don’t want AI bullshit. I don’t want an AI pop star, movie, book, video game. Art is a conversation. Why would I stare at a dictionary run through the washing machine when I could read a poem lovingly constructed by someone’s hands?

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Fortis Games @fortisgames.com · 25/09/2025

It’s been hard to be silent while we’ve been building our first game but now we finally have some content to share! Introducing Twilight Towers, a shiny new website, and some words from our COO about what’s to come: play.fortis.games/tltandbeyond

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

My latest co-authored article is now available in Global Environmental Change. Giving challenges a playful context creates meaning, meaning creates agency, and agentic interaction generates multi-lateral knowledge exchange. Games are good, actually. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Participatory storyworld building for unlocking climate adaptation

Worldwide, local communities are experiencing increasing climate change impacts, for which they are underprepared, and which are predicted to further …

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

New free game alert! "Posting Through It" A playful futures game that explores how social media has redefined what it means to “win” and “lose” in uncertainty. I co-designed Posting Through It with @randylubin.com, so grab it over at his Itch page: 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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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Layla writes a beautiful response to Yochai Gal's Beyond the Pale, but she also leaves out the most important analysis that came out of our play session.

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Sidney Icarus @sidneyicarus.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Me, curling my hair and trying my best to look aloof: "So, is there a Mrs Dobalina?"

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