@grahamwalmsley.bsky.social
I design games, especially tabletop roleplaying games (Cthulhu Dark, Cosmic Dark). I also write books on storytelling (Play Unsafe) and drift into interactive fiction (39 Steps) and LARP (Will That Be All). And I love theatre, art and history.
We played Arkham Horror RPG and I'm still having a lot of fun with it. The scenarios are well-written: there's genuine horror and a refreshing lack of Lovecraft's creatures.
Yeah definitely, more autobiographical games.
Hi both! @newmadras.bsky.social , I'll send you Marinara, and I must put it up somewhere.
It's a game where you taste an ingredient, then make a character based on it; then taste ingredients together, and make your relationships based on them.
What's the book?
Ah, Aldbury not Avebury, I just realized. Still, not too far
I was researching the Bath Road stagecoaches, which took me via Avebury! Did you do the whole route in one day?
I wrote an essay on "How to write an 80 Days TTRPG" for this!
If you don't know what 80 Days is, have a look on Steam. It's one of my favourite games.
That's amazing. I Googled but couldn't find much. Have you got a link about the walk, any advice...
I've played Cthulhu Dark but not often. It's a really valuable thing to do
Cold City & Hot War are out now in PDF and available to pre-order in print. Written by Malcolm Craig, a senior lecturer in Cold War Studies, & updated for this 2026 edition, Cold City & Hot War bring trust and betrayal to a backdrop of a terrifying alternate timeline. handiwork.games/cold-city-ho...
looking for some narrative juice this weekend? Most of our games are on a discount right now - with 80 Days for less than a bus fare.
We're just about to go out to karaoke. Any songs that you think would be good for me?
(1980s and 1990s songs that don't go too high are good. I like weird but also they need to have the song for me to sing it)
We're part of a fantasy book club, which consists mostly of young women under 30, and they are so excited about new ACoTaR books. So excited. It gives me life.
The Winters Tale. It's late Shakespeare, so he's doing crazy things with the verse, and I love the bit where it goes "Anyway let's pick this up 100 years later". Also, "She's warm" is really sweet.
There is a subtle design skill around using dice probabilities to inject things into a TTRPG narrative. It's largely been forgotten, but you can see it clearly in indie games from 2004-2009 or so.
being able to sell a game is one of the factors in game design. it can be something you decide you don't care about (same as not caring about hit points), but if it is something you do care about, than it's a valid way to shape other design decisions.
Ballad Hunters launches on Kickstarter March 17. Investigate deadly folk ballads in Regency Britain using a bold new twist on the GUMSHOE system. Thirteen ready to play adventures. Two to three hour sessions. Songs that shape fate. Follow the trail before the last verse is sung.
Another part of Bayt al Azif issue 6, that has been there throughout every issue, is Grave Spirits by @evanjohnstondesign.bsky.social ! The latest in the case files of Dr. Niles Harriford draws to its conclusion! What will happen to Doc in this final chapter?
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher...
This is obviously a great title. I was thinking of other Tolkein quotes using the word Dark, such as In Dark Places, but this beats that
Love it
This is usually the kind of thing where I drop them an email and, see how it goes and hope I'm surprised. But...I don't know the situation, I'm probably overoptimistic about these things, etc etc.
It's very good!
And I like that it sits in that category of "Looks clean and professional" but not "Huge amounts of glossy art"
I wrote for this, along with a whole bunch of experts in interactive fiction. Sign up here for a copy.
(I am not an expert in interactive fiction obviously although I wrote that one game once)
@jon.inkle.co Who did the cover, out of interest?
For weird reasons, I've got a subscription to the Financial Times, which ends tonight. I'll miss it, especially the book reviews.
It's not a series *yet*
This is amazing. Read the manual. No, really, read the photograph of the manual
We hit goal! So excited!
We need another $2k to reach our first stretch goal, fancier binding for the books!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/pet...
The thing is, I really like The Next Day (2013). I keep going back to listen to it. I also loved Blackstar (2016), although it's too painful to listen to often.
And then it's probably Ziggy Stardust. Not exactly deep cuts, but I genuinely love those albums.
If you're looking to back ZineQuest projects, I know of this by the wonderful @gejwatts.bsky.social .
Tell me if you know others!
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...