iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Torn

I’m very excited to be doing Session 0 for the first table I’m starting as a Therapeutic GM for youth on the autism spectrum. I’ve been a substitute GM a couple times but this table I’m leading from scratch! Big shout out to @lawsonphoenix.bsky.social for creating the setting we’re using!

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

We still need to watch Helluva Boss. Amazing Digital Circus is really good, too

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If I have time and think it might get into my zines or last a couple sessions, I might commission an artist, but that depends a lot on my hours at work.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Definitely accuracy and closeness to the character. I occasionally find art that I feel compelled to include, but more often I have a monster that needs a token, and it's weird/bespoke enough that I don't have an existing token.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It may be the hindsight, but this Mox promo feels bizarrely prescient, since it was obviously filmed on Saturday.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Inspired by Draw Steel's Dastards, my writing partner and I made some named goblin minions. Vaguely designed to be a relatively weak party of rival adventurers, but I can already see opportunities to spice up normal goblin encounters with just one of them. Blog post incoming after my shift today.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My friend Antbear has been making these awesome pregens for a local con he's running for, and I wanted to give them a test run with my local group!

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Man, the Dastards in the Draw Steel Encounters book are really inspiring. Basically the perfect spice to blend into an encounter. "Named enemy that isn't super powerful" is a concept for exactly me.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I've been thinking a lot about details in RPGs and which ones end up limiting the table and which end up freeing the GM's mind from improv. It's a personal distinction, but I think we shouldn't give up on "liberating detail" just because most games and settings have far too much "oppressive detail".

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Did you know that the chance of hitting 12+ on 1d20+1d4 is only 5% less than hitting 12+ on 1d20+1d6? Don't be surprised if you see this discovery used in my inevitable departure from ICRPG.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Swerve and the New Level: The Most Dangerous Game Credit: @zacharysnow.bsky.social

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Reposted by Torn

Lawson Al Gaib @lawsonphoenix.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

In the battleground of Humanity v AI, I think folks bonds with the artists they know in their lives are of utmost importance, and will naturally strengthen because of this exact conflict.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Been rereading Dungeons & Drawings and the Monster Overhaul today. Really makes me want to write a bestiary taking from both, but keyed for a specific world. Dungeons & Drawings and Monster Overhaul focus on classic RPG and folklore monsters, while I crave a bespoke world told through its monsters.

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Reposted by Torn

sam “ludonarrative disinterest” sorensen @samsorensen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

one thing I am a strong believer in is Running The Big Scary Dream Game. everybody says "oooh there's this wild game concept I've always wanted to run..." do it. make the gdoc. start prepping now. set a date for session zero. go go go

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

First couple notes for this culture and monster

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Watching the third season of Primal, I can't help but want to include the Andrewsarchus from it in some way. Maybe a crazy nomadic tribe has domesticated them?

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Charmer might be your guy, then. Art by Sean Bova

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

For those familiar with the Darkest Dungeon video games, what kind of characters would you want to be able to play in a ttrpg pitched as "Darkest Dungeon in a fairy tale castle"? What kind of monsters would you want to see?

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

There are also lesser Saints (called Blessed) who have weaker powers that resemble greater Saints and tend to end up as "paladins" and priests

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

One of my worlds, Alastros, has a setup I'm quite proud of: No gods, instead worshipping Saints who are born with powers. Their powers look angelic, but they end up as Saints of strange things: St. Yoran the Beast is a monster in the sewers, St. Jonathan the Vigilant runs a prison.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

I've seen games that come with pregens and very much assume that you're playing those pregens (Eat the Reich, Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, Silent Titans), but the Condemned is the first adventure I've seen that does that AND provides rules to make your own pregen equivalents, which is super cool

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Following up with this: Takete the Tall and Maluma the Mighty are gonna be super fun.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I've historically avoided putting actual names in my published work, but I think the Names table is a good added feature for my future zines. Just enough specificity to ask questions.

Two random tables.
The 1d6 Names table includes 6 bolded names, each with a short story seed for the character that might receive that name.
Signs are small non-violent encounters meant to showcase different aspects of the environment.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I'm no artist, but I'm definitely gonna use a version of this exercise with the next pair of enemies I use in one of my RPGs. I already use a framework I call "the Bastard and the Badass", which can always use more supplemental methods to make different pairings distinct.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

TLDR: Combat As Wrestling Match / Musical Number over Sport or War

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

But I had also "planned" on a recurring rival character stealing their kill, but because they killed the monster before he arrived, I instead had him show up enraged at being dishonored and kept from his supposed destiny.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Or the fight I ran just last night where they absolutely wrecked this monster I had built up over a couple sessions. It left one of the heroes super paranoid and unable to mechanically benefit from help from others (this is somewhat a cheat).

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A core example being a recent-ish combat I had where the Treeherder, an Ent player character, killed an enemy (the first dog, since my world is weird), and we accidentally discovered that he was slowly going insane from dealing with humanity on their timeframe.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

TTRPG Hot Take Done well, Combat is the RPG equivalent of a match on a wrestling show or a song in a musical. It's a structured segment of heightened reality where the characters come out on the other side in a different state than they began.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

He'll defend your tribe from raiders, then eat all your food and leave you to starve. He'll defeat you in a duel, then offer a massive roasted boar in respect. He drinks poison for fun, and a strike from a club only cures his hangover. He is the Brewer, a terror to behold. Art by Stonedrunkwizard

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

What if Gaston was a caveman? What if Kraven was born before the First City was built? What if your Book Boyfriend wielded a club, a necklace of fangs, and a mastodon pelt because swords and armor weren't invented yet? Find out in my next zine, The Forest's Son

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I can imagine this being used in conjunction with capsule games and pregenerated characters and that sounds super fun.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Just published this on Itch! Art by Sean Bova, Stonedrunkwizard, Micah Green, and Caustic Hoping to release monthly zines for a while. tornadofyr.itch.io/the-brewer

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

That Andrade admirer spot was the best one they've ever done. Just brilliant.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Love is Dead, Kyle Fletcher killed it.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Jungle Jack had to count to fuck! Dunkzilla did it!

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

What if Rush's theme had a "Wrestling Has More Than One Royal Family" intro in Spanish? Credits to @zacharysnow.bsky.social

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Watching Collision with @lawsonphoenix.bsky.social, and that Moxley promo was the most anime thing I've ever seen.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Moxley literally keeping it in a briefcase to protect it from everyone he believed was lesser. Swerve threatening families to prove a point and it backfiring twice in very different ways. These are unstructured thoughts, but if I was a video essayist, I would know what my next video would be.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Joe's second reign where he basically gives up being a lone badass because he's lost a step is the epitome of this. Hangman tapping out to spite Swerve is another fantastic example. Also MJF's promo about abandoning his new wife to fight Briscoe.

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Torn @tornadofyr.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Was the build to Darby Allin winning perfect? No. Has the story of the AEW Men's World Championship itself been beautiful since Joe's first reign? I kinda think so? It really tells a story of how desperate these men are for the title.

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