Kurt Refling

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he really, honestly does

Stories that aren't mine (from places I haven't been). Hello darlings. I’ve been sipping at an idea these past weeks. Nursing it like a drink on a night that’s on the edge of over. Stories don’t really belong to...

Stories that aren't mine (from places I haven't been).

A letter with a few feelings about mailing an object I mistook for a friend, the peculiarities of translation, and a bittersweet feeling in a place that's been abandoned.

buttondown.com/Kurt/archive...

A crude MS Paint drawing of a small person smiling nervously. In front of the small person, a placard reads "Kurt Refling: Baby / Imposter." On either side of Kurt, the shoulders of two people can be seen, heads out-of-frame like adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon. The left figure wears a suit jacket; the right figure wears a blouse.

i'm sitting on a couple panels at a convention this year. i know deep down that i'm Smart & Helpful Guy Who Knows Stuff, but do y'all ever feel like --

See you at Breakout? 👀

oh my god

never before has a sock puppets post included video. now i am spoiled forever. listen to this perfect bumpo.

💛

As one of the KS rewards for Sock Puppets — a LARP where you make and operate actual puppets — the inimitable @kurtrefling.bsky.social offered the chance for backers to play a game with Herman, the puppet Kurt built to hype the game.

So what game did I pick? SOCK PUPPETS.

thank you!

Closing this thread: I would love to know if you've ever watched a how to play video for an RPG! They're so common in the board game space, but I feel like it's largely absent from TTRPGs. If you have, link it below so we can see it too!

If people want to pirate a game, there are much easier ways to do it than squinting at a screenshot from a tutorial.

But I am always looking for better ways to open the door for people to play. It's part of what makes @helloalexroberts.bsky.social's game For the Queen such a beautiful thing.

"But Kurt," says a straw man. "Your RPG is like 40 pages. What if people just watch this video instead of buying your game?"

Thank you for asking, imaginary person.

I believe that people WANT to support art. We tip buskers because a moment of music is moving enough to invite something in exchange.

YouTube video by An Open Hand How to Play Sock Puppets, ft. Herman

In an act of radical approachability & mediocre puppetry, I made a quickstart video for Sock Puppets: a TTRPG about puppets and their problems.

I made this because I want more games you can just... play. No homework. No tests.

I also wanted to make bad, embarrassing jokes.

youtu.be/DcAZH6iwcXU

Just couple of OVAs, but they're hard to track down these days

...Which means I also didn't know what a "black deck" was. Or that every card in the deck is like, "rotten corpse" or "bone devourer".

Which is how I found myself on my birthday, with my in-laws, playtesting a game about girls attending a school for young... necromancers. [2/2]

I wrote a magical girls game that uses Clow cards as oracles. During playtesting, I quickly realized it could work with any cards that have interesting art, so I asked my brother-in-law to bring Magic cards over.

I do not know anything about Magic. [1/2]

Hey, did we mention we have Desperation back in stock?

So many people do not have a place in their lives where they can play with other people. I mean really be playful. And the capacity is always there, just waiting to be let out.

I know this story wasn't fishing, but I will never pass up on an opportunity to tell you again what a smart smart thing you made.

Of the many things that make FtQ so genius (revolutionary!) is that and truly embodies games as conversation. You're just answering questions! It's such a perfect way to transition from natural discussion into this place of creativity and imagination.

After games of For the Queen, I've had people sheepishly tell me that they'd borrowed some idea from a piece of media they love, or it was just a reframing of something that happened to them.

And I'm like, darlings! Sweet lovelies. Please. That's where all stories come from. You're doing great.

God, yes, this exactly. People are so scared that they won't be clever or funny or cool, but none of that is what makes a good story. Good stories come from a place of honesty.

writers are such magicians with storytelling games. always a treat.

An amateur watercolour painting of a forest scene. A gnome couple sits in the foreground at the root of a tree. Behind them, a forested hillside angles upwards to the right, while a creek passes by on the left.

went to a white elephant gift exchange this weekend where everyone had to bring something hand-made.

nobody said i *wasn't* allowed to bring watercolour gnomes, so obviously that's what i did.

A Smouldering Lighthouse

10 - I tricked you, there's no 10th footnote. You're just reading this because you like reading, nerd. Go read one of my games instead.

a-smouldering-lighthouse.itch.io

Some are even free.

itch.io/c/3144634/li...

Or maybe read my newsletter? I'm fun there too.

buttondown.com/Kurt/archive/

9 - If this still sounds high, look into "marginal tax rates"! If you can understand how that works, you'll be a lot less mad about taxes (and a lot more informed than most people).

7 - Paying for Adobe would change this thread to "how I made zero money as a game designer this year".

8 - The German title for Sock Puppets is Sockenpuppen. It's the literal translation. I know this. But tell me that isn't adorable. (The Italians have gone with "Sock Puppets," which, fair play.)

5 - ULINE is a shipping behemoth headquartered in the US. They are affordable and ubiquitous. They also are megadonors to a very specific political movement that I personally find reprehensible.

6 - If you see me at Breakout (Toronto) in March, please say hello!

3 - One Canadian dollar is worth about 70 US cents. That said, cost of living is about 16% higher in the US, so they're closer than they look in practice.

4 - If I was shipping a game in a box or anything that could be considered a toy, my US customers would have to pay significantly more.