iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The System Mastery boys as John Constantine and Manchester Black.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I was somewhat disappointed that this card isn't called Bilbo Baggins, Burglar from The Hobbit.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

More output from that AI-Cardgage creep Whitman. Hey man, what's "creative exhaust?" That makes it sound like the AIs are being fed like food scraps or some shit. No, you irrelevant dinosaur. They're being fed everyone's active whole fucking lunch.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Based on a never produced sci fi TV show that was to be starred in and written by Richard Hatch from the original Battlestar Galactica.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Man this is a bad ad. Like what the hell does "no memorizing" mean? Does it mean you don't have to memorize anything, or does it mean you're not allowed to somehow? The vast majority of games don't actually force you to memorize anything, that's why they come in convenient tools we call "books."

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

We know you've got a choice in heroes this Halloween. Thanks for going Gold.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Wild that we wrote a book that did well enough they let us make another edition of it but here we are. Dungeonmeister Expanded! Available for preorder wherever books are sold, releasing September 28! A whole new chapter of alcohol-free recipes and several more new drinks besides!

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Oh I figured it was because Disney was hungry for 2014 to be the year that Tumblr was just millions of Elsa recolors with different elemental power sets, like fire, or ...fox.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Took the kid to Chilis today where we figured out her rap name

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Hey D&D, what's a highly generative designer? D&D? Hey D&D! Hey! What's generative mean in this context? Hey yeah hi. Just one question for D&D here.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

The Dungeonmeister RPG Sticker Book is in stores today! Get like 500 adorable stickers for your RPG campaign or just to decorate anything you can affix stickers to, I'm not your boss! a.co/d/b9DixrC

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

My copy is already falling apart so luckily I could just isolate a page to photo. Try and look at this space lady and her vehicles without experiencing total delight, I dare you.

An image from the I terror of the Raven Star RPG. It is hilariously bad early CG art of a blonde lady in a bathing suit and giant space boots posing with her speeder bike thing and tiny spaceship.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Raven Star! Here's an old favorite. It's space opera, but they went really hard on weird fun comic-booky species. If you fondly remember our bonus content episodes, this is the origin book for Cap'n Beefdip. Also I need to go right back to the garage and get one of the interior CG art pages.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

...Comes great forgetability. Seriously, what was this? I've read so many of these little super hero games from the early 90s to mid 2000s.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Gotta put some OGL detritus in here too, yeah? Here's OGL Ancients, which I'm gonna be honest, I thought I grabbed Testament D20, the bible one. I haven't read this. It appears to be about statting out Romans and Egyptians though. Which one gets +2 STR I wonder.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

So Providence here is set in a bubble world that is slowly filling up with water that will kill everyone eventually. Also everyone has various sorts of wings, and they all came here from another dimension as like... prisoners or something. It's also vaguely Australian in some ways I think?

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Here's a game about sky pirates using a dimensional storm to raid all manner of other worlds, but really, the best part about Maelstrom is "Hey how big should we put our company logo on here?" "Bigger than the title for sure." "Yeah, we're never gonna fail. We should name our company accordingly."

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Also here's Future Nexus. I don't remember what's in here, but probably a nexus or even several nexuses (nexodes? nexii?)

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

I already posted Nexus, the RPG that's one giant LARP for like 120 people. But it turns out that Nexus is just such a good title that it shows up a lot. Here's Nexus, The Infinite City. The title actually sums it up pretty well, it's a dimensional fuckery game where you play in an infinite world.

Cover of Nexus: The Infinite City RPG. Purple border around a sketch art image of a street punk waiting behind a graffiti-covered wall to ambush a hero drawing a sword and his shirtless green alien companion in jean shorts.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

I am always forgetting what the thrust of the various weird little bespoke horror titles we have is. I don't think this is the Safeway-brand Cenobites one, and I'm pretty sure it isn't the Capgras delusion one... neat cover though.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Shatterzone, in the original West End Games loadout. This is a space opera game that will be uhhh... let's just say very very familiar to fans of a certain series of wars in some stars.

Cover of West End Games Shatterzone RPG.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Okay, last one for now. Why it's Dark Continent: Adventures & Exploration in Darkest Africa! Uhhh... so yeah, this was definitely a bad idea for an RPG. In practice it's more boring than actively shitty, but dang that it's real, right? Also dude, where you'd buy those pants, from Tom of Finland?

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

I only vaguely remember what this even was, but how are you gonna forget that Bosch-ass cover? It's Muse!

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Okay, Jon reminded me I have to post episodes today. So here's the last few for now. Savage Worlds: Rifts box. Palladium has elected to throw in their lot with chuds recently, so I'm really glad that Pinnacle is making good stuff out of old stuff nowadays. I have ALL of this. It's an addiction.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

This one gets trotted out as a joke a lot, but frankly it's a very playable LARP style mixed PVE/PVP social combat game from 19 fucking 80. Did it basically destroy a company? Yes, probably. But I've run Dallas and let me tell you, it works. Also now you have to explain so many things about the era.

Cover of SPI Games' Dallas the Television Roleplaying Game box set. Features JR Ewing and a handful of the other characters from the show arranged around him in small boxes.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Speaking of rarities, this is Amethyst: Foundations. It's a GSL game. You remember GSL, right? That's OGL, but for 4th edition rules! No one used them, the license deal was worse and also 4e, which we love, is not especially easy to design for. But it's nice that these folks took a crack at it.

Amethyst: Foundations RPG cover. Featuring a gothic elf in a halter top holding knive and standing in front of a chaotic and indistinct battle scene.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

In all our years of doing this, games like Nexus here have remained shockingly rare. It's a LARP game, designed for up to 120 players, and is also a wholly original story designed and told entirely in just this one book. I think we've only ever seen one other game that was meant for this market.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Prime Directive: The Star Fleet Universe RPG. If you've never looked up Amarillo Design Bureau and the story of the Star Fleet Battles universe, you're in for a fun afternoon of wiki deep diving. This post is primarily aimed at Dan.

Prime Directive RPG cover. Reddish world of ziggurats on which weirdly militaristic Star Fleet soldiers fire phasers at a flying lizard creature with butterfly wings and a spear.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Cover of Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth RPG. A woman's face against a black and red gradient backdrop, surrounded by a wide array of realistic face masks.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

We also did not make up The Great War of Magellan! This was written in part by Richard Hatch, star of Battlestar Galactica, and it was part of an attempt of his to spearhead a new sci-fi property. There's even a pitch trailer for a new show out there in the ether, but good luck finding it.

Cover of The Great War of Magellan, a late 90s sci-fi RPG. Features a space warrior man standing on rust red ruins and watching spaceships fly past in the distance.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Also we eventually found a supplement book for it! Still no idea how this ever happened. But here it is, The Xro Dinn Chronicles Book 2: New Horizons.

Uhhh... okay so there's a laser firefight going on in the background, and a sort of mutating alien monster is roaring and crawling around but also holding the arm of an injured snake man that is lying on the ground.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Subtheme! Games that we were accused of "making up." Please, who would ever do that twice? Anyway here's the Xro Dinn Chronicles, which is like a sort of Babylon 5-esque political space odyssey thing? Looks like and is laid out like a Palladium book, but it isn't one! Weird!

Cover of The Xro Dinn Chronicles, featuring a lumpy crystal man being born from some crystals in front of a sci-fi city with a ship flying by.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

I love these Japanese ones that are an RPG and "Resource Book." They almost always use some variation on tri-stat, and the whole RPG takes like six of the pages, with the Resource Book element basically being episode breakdowns and character art/guides. We've got DBZ and Sailor Moon ones as well.

Cover of the Tenchi Muyo RPG, featuring large character art of Ryoko taking off (or putting on, I don't know) a weird space mask and looking all badass.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

And if we're doing the best RPG cover ever, I think it's only fair to also include a contender for worst. Age of Ruin is a weird post-apocalypse doom game where shit's all ruined and mutants are all over, but look at that crayon-style American Gothic on the cover. LOOK AT IT.

Age of Ruin RPG cover. Crayon-style art of a warrior woman in loincloth and spear with beehive hairdo, and balding psychic dude in wraparound sunglasses and a merit badge sash holding what seems to be a giant, bleeding baseball.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Let's look at what is, for my money, the greatest RPG cover in history. Nightlife! This is a game where monsters interact with each other in a secret society that humanity doesn't know about. You could call it a WOD clone except it straight up predates Vampire. Wanna be an OG RPG goth? Here you go.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Okay, took a bunch of advance pictures so I could go back in the house. Let's do... Tales from the Floating Vagabond! It's an original comedy game set in a weird space bar where cartoon stuff happens constantly. This is my original copy, it's pretty shredded because I took it backpacking a lot.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

An example of the irregularities for fun. Moral of the story is if we're mean to your game and you wanna talk about it we will listen! Especially if you like Chris worked on the N64 Shadows of the Empire for LucasArts in the 90s.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

The Secret of Ziran. After we reviewed this game (in which we called out some printing... irregularities) the author Chris Hockabout reached out to talk about it. Now he's a good friend!

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Mythus Dangerous Journeys. Or Dangerous Journeys. Or Mythus. I dunno. We haven't done this one yet because unfettered Gygax text is daunting in a boring sort of way. Charts ahoy. Inscrutable charts at that. But hey it went through somewhere called McKay Books that I've never heard of. Neat!

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Eoris Essence. This game is absolutely gorgeous and a truly original setting, not to mention being the only game I know of offhand from Colombia. The fact that I absolutely don't understand it in any way at all should not be a mark against it. Also google the character sheet, you're welcome.

An unboxed copy of the Eoris Essence RPG.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Starting off with a new love, Eat the Reich from @rowanrookanddecard.bsky.social. The aesthetics on this thing are just stunning. Grabbed our copy while they're still making them with that insane radioactive pink page edging.

A copy of the Eat the Reich RPG on a white background.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Oh easy peasy. Also, every Garbage album from the 90s.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Found this display at the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore @mystgalaxybooks.bsky.social. So nice to see our stuff on local shelves. Always a thrill!

A Mysterious Galaxy bookstore display shelf featuring RPG products including books from the Dungeonmeister and Ultimate RPG brands.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

Been waiting like four years to not be able to read this.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

My daughter has decided that she needs to be more "fashion"and left to her own devices in defining this has settled on these crossed strap bandolier things made out of whatever beads she can find, and they're awesome.

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System Mastery @systemmastery.bsky.social · 08/10/2023

Got that Halloween fit started. Today I'm pulling out my Logans. Tomorrow is Pokemon trainer.

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