iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 2h

Germany is so-named because it has many germs. #dailylie

Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 10h

To be a bit more serious, and comparing with the Jupitris, this does look seriously under-armed. I read it as an anti-personnel variant, but if so it still needs something for self-defence. Those 'miniguns' may be bigger than the ones on the A-10 Warthog, but they don't look it. Maybe add mortars?

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 10h

Hard to unsee, sorry :-)

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 10h

It has adorable tiny hands!

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 21h

Yeah, anything that involves him actually paying money for ANYTHING is sus

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 21h

I'm surprised. I assumed he'd rip them off.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Heck yes. These kinds of confusions totally do happen in real life. Difference is, they almost always arise organically, unnoticed and without malice. Doing it deliberately is, well, a bit of a dick move I think. And here it's rather blatant. This is a worldbuilding shortcut I'd advise not taking.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I can see Thing falling, er, wrist over knuckles? for this lady

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Orion pulse drive is a thing in Star Wars. In some aspects it's gloriously retro. I'll have to try to find a home for this in my game

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

There should be a profession called RPG sommelier, whose job it is to choose the right RPG for anyone, taking into account crunch, setting, tone, amount of prep work, props, dice, space needed, cost and the many other things that vary from game to game. Alas, Honey Heist isn't right for everyone.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Have you seen the EarthDawn starter booklets? They worked well. They total about 40 pages, I think, in three leaflets. Beautifully presented, lots of artwork, but even without art I doubt they would squidge much below about 16 pages. I have a hunch you just tried to fit a quart into a pint pot.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm getting mostly herbivore vibes from it. Alpaca?

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The next RPG-related stuff I would like to buy is not RPG products, but art, maps, and cosplay images for use in my work - so I in my next round of expenditure I'm hoping to pay artists. I don't really want to fall into the temptation of buying more RPG material but it sure is a slippery slope

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I haven't yet, but I've got no intention whatsoever of using itch. I haven't bought anything RPG-related from anyone in years, but I have some casual projects in flight which might result in my selling some stuff. So I am keeping an eye on RPG Trader as a potential sales location, but not itch.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I've seen activity. How long /should/ it take to build critical mass? Five months would be pretty danged impressive. Did it really only start five months ago??

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Clever! You can get round the squatting problem by rolling a second dice, and then you can make the player guess the result of the second dice - or just pick a fixed number. You do have to roll two dice though.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It looks blurry here. Oh, Bluesky. This trick was fine last time I did it. Reposting with the table text as alt text, in case that helps.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm sorry, due to a browser bug (I believe), only GIFs post successfully, but unfortunately BSky has no concept of a GIF that ISN'T an animation. This is a one-frame animation - which is to say, it's just a still image. Doh.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Rolling once or twice per adventure should generally be enough to register the animal's presence and establish its character without making it too much of a nuisance. 4/4

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is not a formal rules system; it's just a rules-lite way to emulate the kind of things pet animals may get up to. Wild animals may have more serious skills: Hunt, Guard, Smell Predator, while work animals may have a mixture of serious skills with the odd frivolous one mixed in.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

When a critter successfully uses a skill, its skill may go up. If it keep failing at a skill, it will probably stop using it and switch to something else. Intelligent animals often change what skills they like using, while stupid animals change less often, but do still change.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here's one of my own uses for a D36; the Critter Skills table. Critters get 1D6 skills at a level chosen by GM fiat. Just pick any from whichever row you roll. Critters will use their skills 1-2 times during and adventure, and 1-2 times during downtime, and the PCs can deal with the results. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Dangit, the proofreader's curse strikes again; I spotted a typo. 'Furtitive'. I wish I could turn 'noticing typos' on and off at will, but it's stuck 'on'.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

why on earth did you add sound to it??

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If you want to get something like a D7 or a D13, roll the closest bigger die you can get, and then reroll if you get an out-of-range answer. So for a D7 you can use a D8 and reroll on 8s, and for a D13 you would have to use a D20 and reroll on 14-20. However, this may sometimes need many rerolls.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Whoops had to delete post 2: If you want 1-40, you can use (D4 * 10) + (D10 - 10) If you want 1-60, you can use (D6 * 10) + (D10 - 10) If you want 1-80, you can use (D8 * 10) + (D10 - 10) If you want 1-120, you can use (D12 * 10) + (D10 - 10) I knew there was a reason you can't get dice like D70s

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

While I'd theoretically be interested in a game that used D20, D30, D40, D50 and so on in its resolution mechanics, I think overall it's probably just a gimmick.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In theory you can generate a flat probability range for any pair of dice, including previous combos. So you can make a D16 if you want, or a D48, or a D72, and so on. In practice, beyond the D36, these other options are probably more of an interesting mathematical quirk than anything useful. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#GM tip of the day If you want a flat 1-36 number range, as for a D36, you can use (D6 * 6) + (D6 - 6) If you want a flat 1-64 number range, as for a D64, you can use (D8 * 8) + (D8 - 8) If you want a 1-144 number range, you can use (D12 * 12) + (D12 - 12), and so on for other dice combos #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Spongebob Squarepants is the most versatile movie actor of his phylum. His films include: Tinker Tailor Soldier Sponge Supersponge The Sponge of the Father The Princess Sponge Monty Python and the Holey Sponge Wag the Sponge The Third Sponge Spongin' in the Rain Spongebusters MacSponge #dailylie

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

By the way, if you want a flat 1-36 number range, as for a D36, you can use (D6 *6) + (D6 - 6)

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I've got the old Elite planet lists saved somewhere. The similarities are striking, although these new tables are poorer for the lack of 'black fat felines' and variants.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Abridged examples, not all from me: Having shiny new sprockets, chain, and crankset on my bicycle Drinking English Afternoon Tea in the morning When an old friend contacts you out of the blue Watching the birds having a good splosh in their bird bath The Dutch word 'broodrooster' (toaster)

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is not a bad idea at all! I started a 'Little Pleasures' game online with friends, where we just post tiny mundane things that pleased us. And I for one found that because I started to keep an eye out for them, I noticed them more.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

*Lights the Writer-Signal and points it at the clouds* The Writer-Signal is, IDK, probably a quill pen or something Can anyone in my circles help out?

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

You can get some interesting world-building out of it too

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Random encounters are a handy tool if you pre-roll a batch and then are willing to tweak them at runtime. Including shuffling the order, and making hostiles friendly or vice versa. Rolling them and immediately using them - well, let me just say I can see why that died out as a GMing practice.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

is a waste, if you could have fit a dozen character templates in the same space. Nevertheless, every game, no matter how simple, should have at least one full sample character in the rulebook.

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

customisable. Even if you only allow selection of 1D4+2 secondary skills and 1D4 mastered spells or weapons, that turns one character into three or four. Where chargen is very simple, I'd advise a broader selection of templates instead, because four pages dedicated to four really simple characters

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

For me, that's a muddy yes. Example adventure, hell yes, and having seen it done well, I'd also strongly recommend some shortened adventure ideas. For games where chargen is of the complexity of, say, D&D, a selection of pregens is a good idea, but I'd strongly suggest making them at least slightly

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

by a stampede will be accepted by the players as a legitimate defeat, but - under the dramatic rules that most RPG campaigns follow - it also strongly sets up the expectation that the boss could return. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Mega-stunts can be an excellent way to take out an otherwise invincible boss monster in a way that lets them come back as a nemesis later. If the PCs just kill 'em, then you have to fudge things harder to make it work. But burying a boss under a huge landslide, or having them carried away #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

from one system to another, but that's a decent yardstick to start with. That's why you have to put a bit of effort into planning mega-stunts ahead of time - because you need to be able to foreshadow them, and set things up so that the PCs have a chance to try them out. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

As a rule of thumb, a stunt that takes a full combat round should be worth a couple of combat rounds of attacks, a stunt that takes two rounds should be worth about a round of attacks from the entire party, and a three-rounder should pretty much win the fight. Some calibration may be needed #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

When you get a chance to put in a big stunt like this, plan for it ahead of time so that you can give out a big enough bonus. If you don't, the player will realise they wasted their time, and won't bother doing anything fancy in the future, and that's a huge waste. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

That means to perform them, the character may have to take themselves out of the fight for several combat rounds. If they do that, then the bonus from the stunt needs to be worth several rounds of attack rolls, because that's what the character is giving up by doing it. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

#GM tip of the day Sometimes a fight scene gives characters a chance to perform stunts. Cutting the rope that holds up the chandelier, releasing the hungry tarrasque, planting a limpet mine on the back of the big bad robot ... Sometimes these stunts may take more than one combat round. #ttrpg

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Simons Mith @simons-mith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Yes, RPGs should not be a contest. Especially not an adversarial contest between players and GM. I really don't enjoy them. However, no-lose scenarios can spoil the fun as well, if the players catch on.

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