Rob Donoghue

Thank you to all the people who are good at talking about random things for hours.

We are in the process of deciding how much of the weird post apocalyptic bullshit that got inserted into the setting by 4e we intend to keep, and I feel like we're doing the same thing as the official 5e material and just quietly sweeping it under the rug. Nothing to see here.

Digging into Forgotten Realms lore always reveals more weird bullshit. Turns out the retreat from Myth Drannor was WAY more recent than I imagined.

Apparently, it's *on*.

A mockup of the Blades '69 book where the 69 has been crossed out and replaced with 69 in bright purple. Below that, the bio for April Kit Walsh which reads: April Kit Walsh writes games about feelings, vulnerability, and caring for one another, including Thirsty Sword Lesbians and End of the Line. She used to be a swordfighting ballerina, but claims those days are behind her; she has absolutely no idea who that masked heroine with the sword and the tutu might be. When not writing RPGs, April is a civil liberties attorney working to protect the rights of criminal defendants, activists, journalists, and everyone else impacted by the technologies of control or empowerment. Next to the bio, the description for the $420k stretch goal: Blades '69: The Sexual Revolution The 1960s were a time when the counterculture challenged establishment norms around sex, love, family, and a person's right to choose what happens to their own body. How does this conflict manifest in Doskvol? How does the Consensus exercise control through these dimensions of human experience, and what struggles and delightful deviancies does your group want to explore? Blades '69 is a combination of a worldbuilding exercise and safety tool to help you bring themes of both real-world and fantastical sexual liberation to your game.

yeah yeah we saw all you sly posters going "Blades '68? ...just ONE off."
Well we're not COWARDS. Challenge accepted!
At $420k we'll commission April Kit Walsh (designer of Thirsty Sword Lesbians) to write up... Blades '69
Time to put your money where your mouth is.
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

One big weakness of the original Slay the Spire is how long it takes before you realize what game you're ACTUALLY playing. It *feels* like StS2 smooths that out, but that may just be an impression skewed by knowledge.

So far, yes. It's very recognizably Slay the Spire, but the play experience seems smoother in more ways, and the unlocks it introduced are a lot more fun.

Ooof, yeah, the Slay the Spire 2 Early release just ate a big, unplanned chunk out of my day.

I'm so excited to share this artwork with the world. And on a personal note, you should absolutely work with Jenn if you get the chance! Here's a side-by-side of my original sketch and the incredible final product. #ttrpg #art #tarot

So You Want to Commission An Artist? So You Want to Commission an Artist? (from left to right) Grace Zhu, Alhin Row, looceyloo, Lemongrace Created 2025. All works in this guide are copyrighted by each Artist and cannot be reproduced by a...

Want to get a private commission but you don't know how? Or are you a seasoned patron looking to iron out a few wrinkles?

Together with several artists and patrons, I've put together a comprehensive guide to private commissions, covering topics like first correspondence, feedback, and payment!

‎Hemlock & Silver ‎Fiction & Literature · 2025

Oh hey, on sale for 2.99. •yoink•

books.apple.com/us/book/heml...

A thread on the South Sea Bubble which, if you don't know about it, is a *fascinating* annal in British history that is not taught in schools.

There are some fun asides that are glossed over in here, so I may make my own mini-thread here for those!

Look if you don’t know both Tabers, you absolutely should.

YouTube video by Secret Galaxy The Mostly Forgotten Alien Nation: Mild Hit, Cancelled, Uncancelled, Cancelled, Uncancelled

Oh HELL yeah. God, I love Alien Nation. I haven't seen it since its first run and I still remember a bunch of quotable lines from it. The movie bangs, too. I don't care what Ebert said about it.
youtu.be/0CQhphu3VjE?...

A screengrab of part of a character sheet. It has six Attributes (Agility, Intuition, Logic, Strength, Willpower, and Vitality) with themed icons to their left and die shapes from d4 to d12 next to them; the d4 is already filled in. Below the Attributes are seven Roles (Decker, Face, Infiltrator, Mastermind, Mage, Rigger, and Street Samurai) that have the same icons and die shapes, but there is also a spot to write down a Primary Role, and two slots for Expertises under each Role.

A second screengrab from the same character sheet, with Special Attributes (Essence, Ware, and a blank field); to the left of each is a circle to write a number in, and to the right are six tick-boxes for each Special Attribute with the word "Spent" above each row.

You GOTTA have Adepts! I made a Leverage/Shadowrun hack for my usual game group last year, though I ended up going a different way and having Mage cover all three types with different "keystone" Talents to distinguish them, and per-job resources (Essence, Ware, and Magic/Resonance/Transhumanity)

I have just now reached the point where Elayne shows up, and Caleb’s reaction is everything I could possibly have wanted, and I resent all world saving activity that takes the narrative away from that moment.

This is entirely accurate.

But if necessary systemic solutions happen to require it, I’d be willing to take the win.

I hadn’t really thought about the role of “drone strikes on AWS data centers” in warfare, but current events have me thinking that it’s going to be super common from here on out.

Can only take so much credit when the source material works that well!

It feels great to be back to making comics again. I was in survival mode for so long I lost the thread. Making comics and telling stories are a huge part of who I am. I hope you’ll give IGS a read. I have big plans.

I think they might have better luck spending two thousand dollars holding a press conference where they detail who made the key decisions to collaborate with the Trump administration, how and when they were fired, and explaining what would stop that from happening again.

The rules and rulesets you create don't have to answer to people who don't choose to use them. They have to answer to the people who do choose to use them.

Coming soon: Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG – 2nd Edition Navigate the pitfalls of romance, reputation, manners, and marriage in the sumptuous new edition of this award-winning regency rpg.

A new edition of Good Society is set to grace the ton!

With revised rules and additional sumptuous art, this new edition will be useful, usable and scandalously good looking.

Check it out and help support this unique game of regency romance, scandal and drama!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/sto...

adventure games from the 80s were intentionally designed to be tricky, mean and occasionally counterintuitive so that you could get stuck for long periods of time. this was called “value for your dollar”

I have no idea what this is, but this is one of those areas where the person posting it is all the endorsement I need to go find out.

There we go: I knew I was forgetting SOMETHING.

So, this is my brain churning over what it would take to make a divine game that doesn’t feel like a religious game. I think Exalted managed that vibe pretty well (though it went in other directions) so I think it’s doable.

So for now, I ponder divine spies and mercenaries.

As an aside: this is kind of the reason that I think the D&D Warlock is one of the most interesting ideas that WOTC has ever wasted. It has many of these same benefits - power with a face - but in a much, much more personalized fashion. But it’s potential that D&D will never lean into.

But, simultaneously, characters have a direct line to their god, even if they are not necessarily high in their church hierarchy. They don’t need to wait or jump through hoops to talk to god, and that freedom works well in play.

First, if you start from gods, then religion is now an optional add on. It doesn’t need to be complicated, but if you WANT it to be complicated, then the sky’s the limit. You can have baroque hierarchies of priests, legions of saints and angels, doctrines and heresies - so many options!