Bad platforms and WIPs
On platforms
Almost all platforms are bad, unless you or someone trust owns them. Right now my main social media is seedling@dice.camp, which is on Mastodon and very well moderated, and I have my own hand-written website and blog with hand-written RSS integration. However, email remains the best way to reach many people.
Most commercial newsletters probably host Nazis, but Substack has shown an alarming enthusiasm for the idea. I’ve been thinking of switching anyway for a while. Buttondown is one promising option, but after a few more subscribers they’ll charge me monthly. I haven’t ruled out the idea - I’m already losing money paying for a PO box for a newsletter I send out every few months - but I’m still considering my options. At least I’m probably costing Substack money while I wait. Also, I’m guessing anyone who really wants to make sure they are not on a Nazi-friendly platform is already on dice.camp and can follow me there.
What I’ve been up to
I was kind of burnt out/distracted/dealing with things IRL for a bit, but I’m back to the world of TTRPGs. Not in a way where I’ve actually published anything, but I have some blog posts and some WIPs.
Some opinions I’ve had lately:
Why Solo Games, as opposed to just Writing A Book.
Relatedly I kind of recently read The Ink that Bleeds, by Paul Czecge, who has some very different perspectives on this than I do
What are Rules For in role playing games
Taking ideas from story games and putting them in OSR, specifically on the similarities between spark tables and pick lists
Some WIPs
Notes on an Oracle deck, maybe for Cairn? Definitely set in my interpretation of the Cairn setting. But I probably won’t work on this seriously in the next year.
Reworking spells in Cairn in a very early WIP that I did mostly to support the actual thing I’m playtesting.
I’ve mostly been playtesting a combination of alternate character building rules, faction procedures, and a bestiary for Cairn. This is something I’m doing very much for my own interest and I don’t know how much other people will care about it - for one it’s not that different from Cairn - but it could also end up being a sequel to Procedures to Discover the Path Ahead, if I can figure out what’s interesting about it. At the very least I might put out some free pamphlets on itch in the new year.
I’ve also been inspired by Mythic Bastionland as well as Cairn 2E in what I’ve been working on, as well as Home.
I haven’t forgotten about A Stolen Sword in a Dark Forest but I need a big chunk of uninterrupted time to playtest it.
A few things I’ve played
The multi year campaign of Blades in the Dark I’ve been playing has been moving towards its final act. It’s probably the longest single campaign I’ve played.
A solo playthrough of Tannic, which I played in preparation for running it for a group, the first time I’d done that