iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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James Wallis @jameswallis.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Nerdify a book, game or film: Five Geeks In A Balloon AD&DHD Richard the Nerd

Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The "Everway" RPG (1995) and its freeform character generation was designed thinking of a player who'd wanted to play a princess and found that traditional RPGs didn't support it (according to @jonathantweet.bsky.social's designer's notes article in Interactive Fantasy #4)

Everway: Designer's Notes
Jonathan Tweet discusses some of the whys are wherefores of his latest role-playing game

Melissa wanted to be a princess, a beautiful princess. We, an all-guy group, were playing a fantasy/SF/post-holocaust game. Melissa was joining us for the first time. She was - can you guess? - the girlfriend of one of the players. We were mutated, magic-wielding, ass-kicking mercenaries in a ruined world. And Melissa wanted to be a beautiful princess.

Insert awkward pause here.

This home-brew game, you see, had statistics for strength, hit points, damage bonuses, and magical power. But looks? Status? The referee hadn’t bothered to include rules for those. It would have been unfair for Melissa to play a beautiful princess because her character would have advantages (good looks and status) that she hadn’t got by rolling dice. In an effort to make her happy, we suggested she play a sorceress, about the closest thing to a princess that fitted the rules.

She played, she left, she never returned.

I designed Everway with Melissa in mind. Everway uses freeform character generation so that you can play an ass-kicking mercenary or a beautiful princess. More to the point, you can play characters that I never would have thought of. You’re limited by your imagination, not by mine.

(From Interactive Fantasy #4, 1995)

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Leisure Games @leisuregames.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

It’s International Tabletop Day! We’re going to be playing games in store all day today to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I liked the #FateRPG ever since I read "Spirit of the Century" and the aspects mechanic clicked with me. So this was an interesting interview with Fred Hicks on the history and possible end of the game line: www.rascal.news/with-the-rel...

rascal.news

With the release of Umdaar, we might be at the end of Fate

Fred Hicks talks about the birth, life, and maybe death of the gaming line that launched his company.

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

On the way back from my first #UKGamesExpo in Birmingham - had an excellent time, played some fun games (City of Mist, Daggerheart, and Flabbergasted), enjoyed the live shows, and apparently boosted my step count wandering the halls and hurrying between the Hilton and the NEC! #UKGE

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Rav BOO!dram 🎃👻 @rvbdrm.com · 05/04/2026

Depluralize a movie. I'll start: Tree Gump

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

"Why is trading such a rare mechanic in modern Board Games?" (2017) - interesting post and discussion at boardgamegeek.com/thread/17418... (I hadn't thought trading a rare game mechanic, but ready to accept the author's analysis of Board Game Geek data over the sample of games I've played recently!)

boardgamegeek.com

Why is trading such a rare mechanic in modern Board Games? | BGG

Trading is one of the basic kinds of human interaction. It has probably been practiced for as long as we have existed, and can be implicitly understood by almost anyone. With that in mind, it's not s...

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Ok, this is @friede.bsky.social's fault. She raised the question of *how* people analyze RPG texts, and that is a BIG, HAIRY QUESTION, and it got me thinking. I'm not ready to take a tilt at it yet, but that's because it turns out there are a lot of things I do *before* I read an RPG. A lot.

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Scott M | Haunted Edition 🎃 @voxparlour.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Ever wanted to design a solo rpg? I can probably offer some advice. This is just how I like to design. A key design point is tension. The player should be trying to do something, but the game should work against their goals and giving them meaningful choices.

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 23/12/2025

I’m an 18th centuryist & thanks to the work of @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social (& others) I’m very aware that D&D is just a visible part of the history of TTRPGs that’s much much older. (The emphasis on wargaming & D&D has often erased other parts of the history of roleplaying)

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Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Indeed. The purchaseable *product* we call the TTRPG begins in the 1970s with Western Gunfight, Chainmail, and D&D. Yet role-playing "parlor games," simulations, and similar are centuries old and draw from a well that resembles all the positive stuff about D&D. Parlor games were feminized...

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Dwiz @knightattheopera.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Probably my last post for 2025. A little look at one of my earliest attempts at homebrewing RPG content. knightattheopera.blogspot.com/2025/12/arch...

knightattheopera.blogspot.com

Archaeology: Dwarf Class for 5E

I had been playing RPGs for many years before I ever even considered getting into homebrew. Of course, I wasn't against homebrew. I routine...

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Steve Jackson Games @sjgames.com · 12/12/2025

Everyone is excited for Toon Second Edition! We've enjoyed seeing all your wonderful comments and feedback, and we can't wait to tell you even more about the amazing project as soon as it launches on December 17. Visit BackerKit today to sign up and be the first to pledge! bit.ly/toon2ebk

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Fun this weekend with @samarmstronggames.bsky.social's "Hello Wizard, I Have a Problem": a comedy game of troubleshooting wizards. Zero-prep, light rules (but with random tables for inspiration/structure), with GM hat rotating for each quick-three-scene problem. sam-armstrong.itch.io/wizardproblem

sam-armstrong.itch.io

Hello Wizard I Have A Problem by Sam Armstrong Games

An improv heavy TTRPG about wizards making things worse

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Kalum 🔜 GrogLaw 2027 @rolistespod.itch.io · 02/12/2025

A thread about ExCel feeling "too big" or "empty" as part of Dragonmeet 2025, or at least my understanding through attending the convention for 10 years and founding its #PodcastZone, with a sprinkle of my professional experience with London real estate and exhibition centres planning. 1/x

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

On Saturday, another fine #Dragonmeet, now expanded at Excel. Lots of traders and some interesting finds; a fun cross-universe caper in my first time with the Cypher system; and post-con meetup for the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast.

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Serket :3c @serket08.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

It's been over a decade since the original quantum ogre posts. We use the term, but do we all mean the same thing? In this post I unpack the history of the quantum ogre and propose a modern definition. www.fluoriteguillotine.com/blog/2025/11...

fluoriteguillotine.com

quantum ogre reborn

It’s time we re-examine what we mean when we use the term “quantum ogre”. The seed of this post started when Valeria posted her review of Fabula Ultima and quoted Emanuele Galletto (the game’s author)...

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Game booked at London #Dragonmeet. Many great options - will miss revisiting my early days in the hobby at 1st-edition AD&D with "references to a certain folio of a fiendish persuasion" plus "Nobody's favourite Advanced Fighting Fantasy monster, the wheelies": fightingfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Wheelie

fightingfantasy.fandom.com

Wheelie

Wheelies were strange disc-shaped species found scattered across the wild land of Allansia.[1] These weird creatures were disc-shaped, with large faces in the centre of one side. From around the edge ...

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

The argument for the value of rules is not (and should mot be) an argument for the value of ALL rules. Some rules are mistakes. Some rules are well crafted, but do not match the situation.

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Mikel L. Matthews Jr. @improvgm.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

The reason I prefer RAW is that you’re often changing the rules because you want to make less interesting decisions I see every new improvisers making no decisions in their scenes and good rules help push you into story choices you wouldn’t make. We change systems if what we want is different

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Daily Dwarf @dailydwarf.eurosky.social · 01/08/2025

#34 Lots of GMing advice on Bluesky at the moment - what goes around comes around. A Guide to Dungeon Mastering, by Lew Pulsipher, illustration by Alan Hunter.

Top of page of A Guide to Dungeon Mastering (Part 1: Setting up Adventures) by Lewis Pulsipher, from White Dwarf #34. The picture by Alan Hunter shows a sword-wielding adventurer, dwarfed by a horned demon looming over him.

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Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 21/07/2025

Today, I wrote Got Not Game! It's a discussion of system agnosticism in modules, how different modules approach it, and what process to take when deciding whether it's right for your module. Check it out here! idlecartulary.com/2025/07/22/g... #osr

idlecartulary.com

Got no game: Should your module be system agnostic?

A lot of people ask questions like “should I write a module as system-agnostic, or for a popular system?” or “if I write a module for an unpopular system like X, will nobody read my module?”. I’m a…

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

I'd enjoyed the #Amber diceless #RPG, now found an unofficial Amber playset for #Fiasco: actionyann.itch.io/fiasco-amber.... On a read it hits plenty of the right tropes, & I expect Fiasco's focus on rivalries and relationships suits. (And if it ends up more comedic than the original, so be it :-) )

actionyann.itch.io

Fiasco Castle Amber Diceless Playset by actionyann

Fiasco playset and Hack to play in the Castle Amber.

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Graeme Davis @graemedavis.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Just posted: The first in a series of blog posts about in-jokes and pop-culture references in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition. graemedavis.wordpress.com

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Rob Donoghue @rdonoghue.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Before I actually crack open Daggerheart, I want to talk about a very important related topic: THE BOX. Because I had not been paying attention, it was only when I walked into Games & Stuff that I realized that the hardcover book came bundled with a box. I was very curious about this.

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Magpie @creativemagpie.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

TTRPG DND Thoughts: Elves 🧵 We know them, we love them, too often we fall into the role of letting them just be the "better than everyone else" race and allow them to feel that way about themselves. Another element is there is too often too many flavors of elf.

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Simon Burley @squadronuk.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

This has a massive overlaps with something called “Bait and Switch”. It’s generally seen as a bad thing hated in #TTRPGs. Difficult to pull off and lauded in other media, but far far too easy to do in a game. It’s not as clever as we think. And as soon as you give a warning, the twist is spoilt.

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James Wallis @jameswallis.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Update on Ludonarrative Dissidents, the RPG analysis podcast I host with @rosspayton.bsky.social and @gregstolze.bsky.social. We've just released s3e11, covering stylish technoir epic CYBERPUNK RED, and you can hear it and read the shownotes here www.ludonarrativedissidents.com/season-3-epi...

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Marx S— @phophos.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

I have a joke about Midas, it's absolutely golden.

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Pop Tartarus @jack-a-dandy.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Could tell you a joke about Prometheus but what am I, chopped liver?

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Scott Tate @typhonicbeast.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

I have a joke about Orpheus but, looking back, it's not a good idea.

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Paul Mitchener @thetweedmeister.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

I've got a joke about Cassandra, but nobody will listen to it.

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🍁 Levi Kornelsen @levikornelsen.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

I will never stop telling people to go get the Schema sheet and put it in their GM clipboard:

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Longwing @longwing.sunkenlibrary.org · 29/03/2025

I'm reading an absolutely fascinating blog post that collects many different kinds of Initiative in RPGs. It's really eye opening. It shows just how hard it is to find a good answer to "who goes first" when a fight breaks out. knightattheopera.blogspot.com/2024/06/ever...

knightattheopera.blogspot.com

EVERY Initiative Method??

Not really. But maybe, with your help, we actually can. Let's give this a shot. Every now and then I've seen a blog post attempting to cover...

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Snapshot of #RPG discourse past (prompted by another thread): 1997 FAQ of newsgroup rec.games.frp.advocacy. Intro (www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/t...), the threefold model (www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/t...), plotting (www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/t...) & diceless (www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/t...)

darkshire.net

The rec.games.frp.advocacy FAQ

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Classic Paranoia RPG scenario "Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues" is discussed in latest episode of always-interesting podcast "Ludonarrative Dissidents" (from @jameswallis.bsky.social , @gregstolze.bsky.social, & @rosspayton.bsky.social) www.ludonarrativedissidents.com

ludonarrativedissidents.com

Ludonarrative Dissidents

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Played and enjoyed "The King is Dead" (Meguey and Vincent Baker) for the first time - a GM-less RPG of princes and princesses of royal houses vying for the throne (e.g. through "Intrigue and Muster", "War") alongside other pursuits (e.g. "Conversation over Food", "A Dance") of noble society.

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Jon "The Warhammer Modeller" @warhammermodeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Something different for today's #RandomWhiteDwarfCover Here's the first 10 years of #WhiteDwarf June 1977 to June 1987. Whatever you're doing today make someone else smile, it might make their day.

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Bull @bulldrek.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

For the old school #DnD players...

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Gareth Hanrahan @mytholder.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

There are two lines in Lord of the Rings that have caused me, specifically, an alarming amount of stress and suffering. (Today’s entry is going to be super inside baseball - apologies)

Jan 24rd - Gandalf pursues the Balrog to the peak of Zirakzigil

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Pleased to book next month into playing the "Rivers of London" RPG (from @lynneahardy.bsky.social, @paulfricker.bsky.social et al.) based on the @benaaronovitch.bsky.social novels. Good prompt to actually *read* the signed copy I'd picked up at Dragonmeet in 2023... :-)

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Kalum 🔜 GrogLaw 2027 @rolistespod.itch.io · 13/01/2025

I borrow ideas from others (I'm careful to credit them in my books' Inspiration section) but I still put some work in. 😅

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Kalum 🔜 GrogLaw 2027 @rolistespod.itch.io · 13/01/2025

Thanks @stochasticpath.bsky.social ♥️ Giving credit where it's due (rendre à César...), the collaboration sheet concept is pulled out of Good Society. Thanks @sabinev5.bsky.social for recommending to replicate this for Rosewood Abbey.

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Terry @stochasticpath.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Reading Rosewood Abbey, @rolistespod.itch.io's RPG of medieval monastic mysteries (think "The Name of the Rose" & Cadfael). Many neat ideas, including one item on the collaboration sheet - agreeing upfront as a group "How important is actual history?" in the game. drive.google.com/file/d/1NH5H...

Section from Rosewood Abbey "Collaboration Sheet" with the question "How important is actual history?" and presenting options of "Unimportant", "Middling", and "Important".

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