Xander, the Epithetless

A wizard ponders five blue crystal orbs labeled WIP

Them: So what have y'all been up to?
Me: Haha, you know. The usual.

The Usual:

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Finish That Damn Game Jam A game jam from 2025-09-01 to 2026-01-01 hosted by Jellyfishlines. Do you have a game you need to finish but have been sitting on the damn thing for too long? Have you've been unmotivated lately? You ...

TTRPG PEOPLE!!
Do YOU have a project you've been putting off that is almost done?
What are you waiting for!? Finish The Damn Game and submit it to the Jellyfish Finish That Damn Game Jam! (fully understand if you can't or smth comes up!)
itch.io/jam/finish-t...

HELLO//GOODBYE Charity Bundle for Legal Aid. available until November 5th, 6PM EST

Drumroll please...

HELLO//GOODBYE is a charity bundle containing 203 games for only $12. Every dollar goes directly to Virginia charities providing free legal aid to people facing injustice. Available now until November 5th.

itch.io/b/3276/hello...

only 24 hours left to grab a free copy of HOWS MY DRIVING

Bookplay in TTRPGs An essay on how we play with books in ttrpgs

In SPINE, I want players to play with the ttrpg's rulebook in innovative ways.

I wrote this essay to think through the design. It describes the various ways we play with books in ttrpgs, with examples of how we use books as props, as anchors for fictions, and how we recreate them as art.

Scaretober 2025 - Day 5: Time

Scaretober 2025 - Day 4: Menagerie

Scaretober 2025 - Day 3: Identity

Scaretober 2025 - Day 2: Predator

Witness if you will…

Happy Scaretober Eve!

Editing by @hiadventurecast.com
Narration by Ed Kelly
BG Music by Purple Planet Music

promptober list of prompts on a light orange background. here is what it says: Promptober 2025 Use #promptober or #ttrpgpromptober when you post! Create a pitch for a game, design a mini-module, draw a quick map-- anything ttrpg related, according to the prompts! 1. Free space (do whatever) 2. spells 3. potions 4. Dark woods 5. masquerade 6. myths 7. secrets 8. spirits 9. thriller 10. moon 11. Thalassophobia/thalassophilia 12. Liminal space 13. Abandoned locations 14. stars 15. Free space (do whatever) 16. hauntings 17. blood 18. sorcery 19. Wizard’s tower 20. Lost book/lost knowledge 21. Sword in the forest 22. Summoning circles 23. aliens 24. Colossal beast 25. cryptid 26. Trail cams/found footage 27. Dreams/nightmares 28. Gods/goddesses 29. flowers 30. harvest 31. halloween

#Promptober is here! This time I included two free spaces, for people to make whatever they want (or to even take that day to rest). As usual, please use the #promptober or #ttrpgpromptober tags when you post! please also don't feel shy about tagging me in them so I can reskeet.

You are a researcher who has inherited a strange book from an estranged relative… Image: Print copy of SPINE

NEW (FREE) GAME FORTHCOMING:

SPINE is a dark solo ttrpg about losing yourself in a book.

In SPINE, you are a researcher who has inherited a strange book from an estranged relative…

Panel 1: Shen is looking at a tall box that we can see into and through dollhouse-style. It's filled with just a little green powder, and below it, it says "INT". Shen says "Hmmm... I'm not that smart ..." Panel 2: Shen is happily filling the box with yellow powder from a big burlap sack labeled "EFFORT", holding it up on his shoulder and tilting it over the box. He says "I'll just study really hard!" Panel 3: Shen is looking at a similar tall box, this time labeled "DRAWING" and filled only a little bit with pink powder. He says "I'm not that good at drawing either ..." Panel 4: Shen is on his tiptoes, once again resting the burlap EFFORT sack on his shoulder and tilting it into the box, filling it. He says "I'll just practice really hard!" Panel 5: Some time later, a girl with bell-shaped orange hair and a black top is holding a piece of paper and talking to Shen. She says "Wow, you got an A on that test?? You're so SMART!" Panel 6: A guy with dark brown dreadlocks and a yellow t-shirt holds a piece of paper, pointing at it, and says "Wow you DREW this! You're so talented at ART!" Panel 7: Shen has a devious evil grin, holding the EFFORT sack and looking at it, as the background darkens into shades of purple and red. He thinks "I've fooled them all."

Well now, would you look at that?

A massive, 26-YEAR-LONG study of MORE THAN 2.4 MILLION people in Sweden found found NO EVIDENCE to support a causal link between acetaminophen (the API in Tylenol) use during pregnancy and increased risk of autism, ADHD, OR intellectual disability in children.

my body is a machine that turns purchased TTRPGS into unplayed TTRPGSs

a hand drawn hex map showing two major towns with forests, farms, hills and deserts in between and oceans around the edges

I should probably do occasional self-promotion

I made a system-neutral supplement called Procedures to Discover the Path Ahead. You can use it to make maps (or point crawls or paths) that are semi-random, where landmarks change as you travel

seedling.itch.io/procedures-t...

I'd expect no less from an entity known as Seedling Games

Folklore Jam 2025 A game jam from 2025-09-30 to 2025-10-31 hosted by W.H. Arthur, Lari Assmuth, Lucky Newt Games & unseeliejess. Analogue game jam on folklore (including myths, urban legends, etc.) from your own cultur...

Psst!

Hey you.

The analogue game creator in the corner.

Folklore Jam 2025 starts in a week. It runs through the end of October.

Have you joined yet?

itch.io/jam/folklore...

"Just tell them" is such an underrated piece of advice for telegraphing dangers in RPGs.

"How can I hint that the hallway is trapped? How can I hint that if they defeat the dungeon lord, they become the next dungeon lord?"

Just tell them. Tell them out loud. With your words.

They Tried to Snuff Out Hawaii's Native Board Game. Meet the Man Keeping It Alive Kōnane was once a national pastime, played by peasants and rulers alike. Now John Kaʻohelauliʻi has made it his mission to bring it back.

This is a great piece, shows not only how games are an intrinsic part of our cultures but also how you can use them to tell wider stories. Excellent stuff

How do You Read TTRPGs? This poll is to try and get data on what devices and formats people read TTRPGs in, so designers can make more informed choices in regards to what they choose to support. The response data will be mad...

Running a poll to try and get data on what devices and formats people read TTRPGs in, so designers can make more informed choices.

I intend to share the data once I've gotten enough responses, please spread this so we can cover more ground!

forms.gle/V7WtvMpAUkJa...

Boundless Tides by Fari RPGs Souls-like pirate RPG

Raise the sails, ye landlubbers! For Talk Like a Pirate Day I’ve gone all in with FREE stuff:

- Boundless Tides, a free soulslike pirate RPG
- Boundless SRD, the system I’ve been tinkering with for a year
- The Boundless website which has rules, faq, extras, and more.

THIS IS ALL FREE

I'm glad pulverize went out of fashion as a verb. There always used to be so much pulver around growing up, it was pretty gross.

The history of RPGs, one hour at a time Anna Anthropy talks about the laborious but rewarding process of condensing historically important RPGs into classroom sessions.

We chat with @cyborgurl.bsky.social on the process of making bite-sized sessions out of historically significant RPGs for her classes on the History and Design of RPGs.

Introducing The Loom System! Hey folks, Sylvan here! This system has been in the works for a very long time, and has undergone many, many iterations of playtesting. Think of it less as a full game and more as a box of tools from....

Introducing The Loom System! - The Loom SRD
clawhammergames.itch.io/loom-srd/dev...

The first clue to the 2025 Blinking Birch Puzzle Hunt will be posted on Saturday, September 20th at 9am ET, along with the link to the Discord server.

Solving these 8 puzzles will require your brain, your indie TTRPG collection, and your friends. Best of luck to you all.

"but we can't support trans rights, it's unpopular!"

just a reminder that US approval for marriage between black and white people at the start of the civil rights movement was 4%, reaching a whopping 20% by the end of the movement

it's 95% now

you don't wait for popularity for a rights movement

One of Britain’s most senior police officers has launched an angry tirade against Extinction Rebellion protesters going “all floppy” when they get arrested. Sir Stephen House, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said the tactic of going limp was a “flipping nuisance” as it required extra officers to drag protesters away. House told a London assembly police and crime committee hearing: “We have asked them to stop being floppy. And that might seem like a silly thing to say, but when we arrest them and pick them up, they go all floppy, which is why you see four or five officers carrying them away. It’s a complete waste of officers’ time, and a complete pain in the neck.” Extinction Rebellion: how successful were the latest protests? Read more House also expressed annoyance at how the tactic made the police look heavy-handed. He said: “The problem with them going floppy and four offices carrying them away [is that it] looks to the general public like police are overreacting here. We’re not making them go floppy. They’re just sort of being a nuisance.”

This gets progressively funnier with every use of the term "floppy".