iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 10/11/2025

Nazogaku is a weird and wonderful underground convention for experimental puzzle games, and I was so glad to be allowed an insight into this side of the nazo community! There are many other puzzle events both standalone and as part of a larger tabletop convention that are absolutely worth exploring!

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Rascal News @rascal.news · 10/11/2025

Alanna Yeo spoke to Rascal about Nazogaku, a celebration of Japan's puzzle-like games that take advantage of real-life spaces. This year's "Final Last Nazogaku" pitted a censorious organizing committee against a grassroots resistance of mystery lovers.

rascal.news

Solving secret puzzles at the Japanese mystery school

Alanna Yeo talks nazo, design cultures, and her unique ARG-style experience at Nazogaku.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 10/07/2025

business planning (read: brain dumping) to the sounds of nujabes and clickclacking of my mech keyboard, while surrounded by books. life is really good.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 20/06/2025

I am back for a hot minute to yell about KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix! Incredible animation, catchy songs, and immensely likeable characters. The ending was rushed a little but that just gives more opportunities for a sequel to close the open story threads. I am definitely stanning the Saja Boys!!

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 08/05/2025

My nerdy (?) recommendation at the library today. The last chapter of this little book had a big impact on my writing style for sure!

Whiteboard with writing on it that says "librarian recommendation: elements of style"

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 07/05/2025

'sup bsky, what's going onnnnn (i know, haven't been on here much recently; tbh i'm social media-ed out!)

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 05/03/2025

met someone new at the community library and kinda hit it off; he recommended a book to me later and I tried to borrow it from Libby but it was a waiting list 11 weeks long. 💀 So I told him, and not 2 weeks later, he sneaks the very same book on my shelf and texts me that he left me a surprise.

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Chaoclypse (Brandon Yu) @chaoclypse.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Just released Session 5 of my Kal-Arath solo playthrough! This was quite an insane episode, especially near the end! www.youtube.com/watch?v=k89W...

youtube.com

Kal Arath Solo RPG Session 5 | Foul Sorcery

YouTube video by Chaoclypse

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 19/02/2025

-vibrating- it's happening! My escape game in a speakeasy! It's a nice and gentle game (estimated 20-30mins) for beginners or casual players to be played over drinks; hope people have fun!

An ad for an escape game experience held in Singapore.

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Shannon McDowell @shannonmcdowell.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

The last few days have been all Cryptex Hunt all the time as we gear up for the hunt start in a couple weeks. If you’ve ever been curious about puzzle hunts, this is a great one to be your first! Register a team at www.Cryptexhunt.com

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Robo 🦀 @ttrpgifs.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

HEARTBREAKING: Person with 20+ unfinished projects has a new idea for a project.

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Aaron Lim 林家丰 @ehronlime.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Sooooo.... early stretch goal announcement, if the Kickstarter campaign does well, we'll be putting out Japanese translations of the games. Seeing What Should We Have Tomorrow? get picked up by Japanese players has been a highlight of my gamemaking and I want to continue to support that!

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 12/02/2025

A huge & overwhelmed thank you to @exeunt.press for sending these zines for the community library from halfway across the world! The support is so so appreciated. The 1-page version of Eleventh Beast remains to me as the epitome of elegant 1-page design, so pls have a look if you don't know it yet!

6 tabletop roleplaying game zines from Exeunt Press

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Aaron Lim 林家丰 @ehronlime.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

I'll be launching a new ZineMonth Kickstarter campaign in a couple weeks, for new physical editions for Ithaca in the Cards: Second Expedition, and What Should We Have Tomorrow? Full Course. Please sign up at the pre-launch page to be notified when it goes live! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ehr...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: Ithaca in the Cards & What Should We Have Tomorrow? 2nd Eds.

Updated physical editions for Ithaca in the Cards and What Should We Have Tomorrow?

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Failbetter Games | Wishlist Mandrake on Steam! @failbettergames.com · 11/02/2025

Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game is LIVE on Kickstarter! Back in the first 48 hours to receive a Devilbone Die for FREE. What is it made of? Quite! www.kickstarter.com/projects/mag...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game

An officially-licensed tabletop roleplaying game set in the deep, dark and marvellous city of Fallen London. Welcome, delicious friend.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 10/02/2025

I started my curation at the library last weekend! I'm still waiting for a few more games to arrive to me before I update the shelf at one go with more new books, but here's what I have for now! If you're interested, I can share a little more of the other shelves next time!

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momatoes @momatoes.com · 07/02/2025

Pretty wild that it's crossed $5500 in just one week. I'm very grateful for everyone's support. Check out the cool games at itch.io/b/2864/the-g... and get 36 acclaimed RPGs for just $20

The banner for the Get Loud Tabletop RPG Bundle. A dark purple dragon is breathing green fumes, while polyhedral dice dance away from its mouth. The overall vibe is rebellious.

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Benj Dino 2 has a Patreon! @goobernuts.itch.io · 27/01/2025

I made a video about @ehronlime.bsky.social's An Altogether Different River and returning to a hometown I left. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ1G...

youtube.com

An Altogether Different River | Sailing the RPGSEA

YouTube video by goobernuts

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Leon "Used to Be Cat" Richardson @catlinggun.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

And we are LIVE! itch.io/b/2865/solo-... A huge glorious bundle of singleplayer ttrpgs benefitting @takethisorg.bsky.social ! It's Solo But Not Alone 5!

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 25/01/2025

I'll be curating a shelf at my local community library and I would like to share some indie ttrpgs and zines for borrowing or browsing. I also intend to put up a browsing file of 1-page rpgs. If you have anything that you'd like to share, pls text me and let's work something out! 1/2

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 23/01/2025

One of the shelves of the community library I volunteer at has a book of wordsearch puzzles for patrons to solve. I wanted to do one because I love word search puzzles; and immediately sat down to work on this Cthulhu one once I found it!

Completed wordsearch puzzle, where the words to search are from the Cthulhu mythos.

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Thought Punks 🎲 TTRPGs + Punk 👩‍🎤 @thoughtpunks.com · 20/01/2025

You can find a large random selection of open source #TTRPG resources on our site now for easy reference. Borrowed from the Forever Open Source game jam series I host every year. thoughtpunks.com/open-source-...

thoughtpunks.com

Open Source TTRPG Resources

Here's a collection of forever open licensed tabletop roleplaying games and resources. Borrowed from and inspired by the Forever Open Source RPG game jam series. Example Open LicensesCreative Commons ...

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Wyrd Science Magazine @wyrdscience.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Right, not much to celebrate today but solely because of this site we had our best ever DriveThruRPG sales this weekend, which was v. unexpected So to say thanks, we'll send 1 person who reposts this every copy of the mag in stock (issues 3-4) & 1 of each of our Johan Nohr & Łukasz Kowalczuk tees

a collage of Wyrd Science magazine covers

a black t-shirt featuring an illustration by Johan Nohr of some kind of terrifying creature

a black t-shirt farming an illustration by Lukasz Kowalczuk of a drawn beating up a ratman

a black t-shirt with a small pocket design reading WS

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Brian Kolm @briankolm.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

cryptid no. 2 in the Cryptid Sightings book by Alanna Yeo of @thornandkey.com. This is the Crest Gator of Mavericks, a guardian of the waves who has strong opinions on the surfers and their skills. #drawing #ink #prompt #cryptid #surfer

An ink drawing in the Cryptid Sightings zine of a cresting wave with a large gator like creature in the foam in the crest, a surfer maybe notices something.

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Brian Kolm @briankolm.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Last night starting to draw in @thornandkey.com Cryptid Spotting zine I purchased at @bigbadcon.bsky.social. It's a small cryptid who stole the hat I found on the ground when working on Alcatraz years ago. He is a french speaking 30's newsie.

The cover of the zine, Cryptid spotting is no kraft card stock.

"Take on the role of a field researcher, and hunt down and observe other lesser known cryptids in Cryptid Spotting! Use the prompts in this art game to make field observations of the mysterious creatures that live right in your very own backyard.

Each prompt is printed on a blank page for you to sketch your Cryptid, and the facing page is a grid notebook page where you can write down physical and behavioral "observations". Not sure what field notes are or how to write them? Don’t worry, we have a really quick primer in the notebook as well!"

A drawing of a cryptid who stole my hat I found when I worked on Alcatraz in the early 2000's. He looks like a cross from a rabbit and a mop as he puts on my missing hat.

"CE CHAPEAU est. BIEN UTILISE CE CHAPEAU EST À MOI!" he exclaims!

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 06/01/2025

Went through a huge creative burnout through December and basically holed myself up doing absolutely nothing and wanting nothing to do with anyone. Hopefully January brings some new sparks...

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 01/01/2025

Happy new year, friends! To kick off the new year, I did a volunteer shift at a community library today, and also borrowed this book... Have a good 2025!

The Citadel of Chaos book by Steve Jackson

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Tabletop Arts Fund @tabletopartsfund.org · 28/12/2024

Good morning #ttrpg folks! Did you remember to nudge that indie dev you know, and tell them about our grants for scenario and game designers? The ones opening in January, that will help them pay for art, layout, editing, and other professional services?

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Unseen Japan @unseenjapan.com · 28/12/2024

“Way over limit”

Plastic bottles stacked in a bottle box in Japan in the most terrifying type of Jenga construction imaginable

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 26/12/2024

Omg this is so cute!! Thank you so much for playing!

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 21/12/2024

Sorry for being MIA, Infinity Nikki is currently taking up most of my waking hours.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 20/12/2024

-heavy breathing- Published by Magpie, apparently on a new system. Quickstart is incoming, apparently!

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Unseen Japan @unseenjapan.com · 14/12/2024

Kon Satoshi only directed four films and one TV show in his all-too-short, nine-year directorial career. While most are thrilling, mind-bending psychological masterpieces, one happens to be among the best, most crowd pleasing Christmas films ever. Learn more, in our video below.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 13/12/2024

I'm mentoring some very young interns at Thorn & Key. They've expressed some interest in escape games and puzzles, so as part of their month-long internship, they're working on some small puzzles that I'm featuring in this little activity over the next 2 weeks! They'll be posted on my Instagram!

A notice for "12 Puzzles of Christmas", an activity coming to Thorn and Key's instagram

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 09/12/2024

Had the time to watch the Mononoke film finally and was blown away as usual. We often think about psychological horror visuals as dark, or maybe in desaturated colour, but for the genre to be presented successfully in bright, almost explosive colour is so breathtaking and innovative.

Bright colourful picture of an animated film. The colourfully dressed main character is in the centre, surrounded by ladies in kimono. They are seated on the floor, looking back. Rather than faces, they have spirals for faces.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 07/12/2024

My friend made a sandworm costume in a week for Singapore Comic Con and it is genuinely the best thing I've seen all year.

A handmade sandworm from Dune costume with wooden sticks forming the face of the worm.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 05/12/2024

So many games... so little time...

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Montro @montro.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

We have released an English version of a Japanese indie TTRPG. Pray by Letter is an epistolary tabletop role-playing game for 2 players in which you and your penfriend try to forge the future by exchanging letters. now available on itch.io! malstromrpg.itch.io/pray-by-letter

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The Hearth Magazine 🌈💜🖤🤍 @thehearthmag.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Okay. *deep breath* Here we go. The Hearth Magazine is now accepting pitches for #TTRPG articles. Please check out our website for our Commitments as well as Artist and Article Submission guidelines, and I look forward to hearing from folks. Please spread the word! www.thehearthmagazine.com

Title graphic reads: The Hearth Magazine

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 25/11/2024

Work in progress. Convenient blank wall right in front of me to stare at while trying to write this proposal. Keyboard is Cidoo ABM066 Alice with Womier keycaps.

An ipad matched with an ergonomic keyboard at a cafe setting.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 25/11/2024

This weather is really not it. -suffocates in 84% humidity-

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 23/11/2024

5 faves, 5 tags Food: fried chicken Drink: OJ + americano Season: kyoto fall Colour: purple in any form 💜 Anime: Mononoke モノノ怪 @dicedeeds.bsky.social @thedovetailor.bsky.social @momatoes.bsky.social @paulczege.bsky.social @akisperspectives.bsky.social (Apologies if anyone has been tagged!)

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 19/11/2024

Just got out of an extremely positive meeting with a soft agreement to run the project in Feb 2025. It's a bucket list project idea. I'm going to run an escape game in a speakeasy. (!!!!)

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 19/11/2024

The cover of Wisteria Hall was created using only one royalty-free photo and text elements. The photo was chopped up, blurred in parts and desaturated a little to provide contrast for the title. Then the Japanese text in exclusion mode (I think!) for some accents. 100% free and fairly evocative!

Cover to the game "The Strange Artefacts of Wisteria Hall". The title dominates most of the cover. The background is an edited picture of a large Wisteria tree, in muted colours. The picture is choppy, blurred in parts, with Japanese text accenting the background.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 19/11/2024

Ohhhh that's it, my luck has been used up for the rest of the year! Now to think about what art to request! DiceDeeds is running this lottery for every 100 followers now, and it's only about 25 more followers to the next round!

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 18/11/2024

Now that I have some downtime, I realised that I rushed the T&K launch from June so haphazardly that I'm severely lacking in many aspects including, crucially, actually sharing and talking about things I've written. 🤦‍♀️ My Nov project will thus be getting over my shyness to talk about my work!!

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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

WRITING TIP FOR TODAY Sale racks at bookstores. I'm dead serious. Buy reference books when they are practically giving them away and build a little library. I cannot explain the difference between a book and the ENTIRE WEB. A good reference book will give you a dozen ideas in the first chapter.

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Alanna Yeo @thornandkey.com · 17/11/2024

Obsessed with this concept of investigating moments in time to piece a timeline in the Golden Idol series. Short game but sooo satisfying to close loops.

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Aaron Voigt @aavoigt.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

In my continuing project of hyping up indie RPGs, I've written a short story based in @ehronlime.bsky.social's "Spectres of Brocken!" I love the game's anime aesthetics and its melodramatic conflicts between high school classmates, so I wanted to try my hand at it!

aavoigt.com

The Orbital Century

A short story from the Spectres of Brocken RPG setting, by Aaron Lim

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