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Tor

@ccxvii.bsky.social

I made rally-the-troops.com, mupdf, gargoyle, and some other stuff.

567 Followers  |  81 Following  |  26 Posts  |  Joined: 03.10.2023  |  2.0546

Latest posts by ccxvii.bsky.social on Bluesky

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The Terran Trade Authority series were science fiction art books published in the late 1970s & early 80s, created by British author Stewart Cowley using previously published paintings from sci-fi artists of the era, weaving elaborate fictional histories around the imagery. 1/3

03.10.2025 23:03 β€” πŸ‘ 263    πŸ” 40    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 7
GenAI slop image of faceless american soldiers with deformed limbs carrying bendy guns while two helicopters hover just above the group, rotor blade in motion, which isn't disturbing smoke on the ground at all. Also, tracer fire is coming from the top left of shot and no one is reacting to it. Just the absolute shits of an image. Oh, the game is chopper pilot Vietnam from compass games. A company that clearly has no idea what they are doing.

GenAI slop image of faceless american soldiers with deformed limbs carrying bendy guns while two helicopters hover just above the group, rotor blade in motion, which isn't disturbing smoke on the ground at all. Also, tracer fire is coming from the top left of shot and no one is reacting to it. Just the absolute shits of an image. Oh, the game is chopper pilot Vietnam from compass games. A company that clearly has no idea what they are doing.

The Mediocre wargame companies really are embracing GenAI quite vigorously.

For people who claim to care about history, they sure love depicting faceless mutant handed soldiers carrying deformed weapons, fighting alongside magical choppers that float, but don't disturb smoke.

14.09.2025 21:43 β€” πŸ‘ 46    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 2
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The art of Chris Moore (1947 - 2025)

12.09.2025 00:04 β€” πŸ‘ 204    πŸ” 43    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thanks to Nathan Forget, you can finally play Paths of Glory on Rally the Troops!

rally-the-troops.com/paths-of-glory

09.09.2025 19:52 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

To my friends in Estonia, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Romania please call your MEPs.

Ireland has been a lost cause, giving into the lies around Chat Control not being a privacy-invading nightmare.

But other governments are still debating and they need to be given accurate info.

09.09.2025 07:57 β€” πŸ‘ 50    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

27.08.2025 17:30 β€” πŸ‘ 10277    πŸ” 6849    πŸ’¬ 85    πŸ“Œ 68

Wir sind das Volk! It's finally back online again!

rally-the-troops.com/wir-sind-das...

17.07.2025 10:26 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Early concept art by Chris Foss for Alien (1979)

11.07.2025 23:44 β€” πŸ‘ 276    πŸ” 50    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 2

This is a truly fascinating thread, and discusses an implied cooperation in every game, not matter how competitive. I hadn't thought of it that way and now I am.

02.07.2025 00:11 β€” πŸ‘ 154    πŸ” 58    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
a poster for murdoch mysteries shows a sailboat ALT: a poster for murdoch mysteries shows a sailboat

Look what just set sail on Rally the Troops ...

28.06.2025 15:32 β€” πŸ‘ 40    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 2

The eleventy-eighth ruleset! There are enough ambiguities and unspecified cases in all of the Hannibal rules versions, that any rules enforced digital implementation would need to make its own interpretations.

17.06.2025 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Me too!

Not being able to secure either of those titles for implementation is a bummer.

17.06.2025 15:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Wikimedia Foundation backing off of this after user outcry is good, but IMO not good enough to offset the horrificness of making the decision originally, and the fact that it's "paused" not "cancelled" and they're "still interested in AI-generated summaries" ain't great either.

Fuhhhhhhhhhhck.

12.06.2025 03:29 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Scavengers Reign (2023)

The best recent sci-fi show that almost no one has seen.

25.05.2025 01:20 β€” πŸ‘ 1997    πŸ” 520    πŸ’¬ 64    πŸ“Œ 84
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All of Tim Kirk’s art from the 1975 Tolkien Calendar 1/3

23.05.2025 00:17 β€” πŸ‘ 254    πŸ” 43    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 2

This is so ridiculously harmful and has nothing to do with protecting women. It is about social hygiene and the fact that some people think sex work is gross. And it has massive knock on effects.

21.05.2025 15:30 β€” πŸ‘ 559    πŸ” 207    πŸ’¬ 16    πŸ“Œ 1
Panel One:
A scientist is giving a lecture. she stands at a lecturn. The current slide shows a list of the five kingdoms of living things: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista and Monera. She says "Most people assume that fungi are plants. Whereas in fact, they form a kingdom of their own."

Panbel Two:
Caption : After the lecture 
The scientist now appears to be in a subterranean cave, before her stand two very large mushrooms guarding a larger, beardedmushroom who sits in athrone wearing a crown. One of the mushrooms says "His majesty is very pleased with the work you are doing."

Panel One: A scientist is giving a lecture. she stands at a lecturn. The current slide shows a list of the five kingdoms of living things: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista and Monera. She says "Most people assume that fungi are plants. Whereas in fact, they form a kingdom of their own." Panbel Two: Caption : After the lecture The scientist now appears to be in a subterranean cave, before her stand two very large mushrooms guarding a larger, beardedmushroom who sits in athrone wearing a crown. One of the mushrooms says "His majesty is very pleased with the work you are doing."

A recent @newscientist.com cartoon #fungi

03.05.2025 08:52 β€” πŸ‘ 6759    πŸ” 1199    πŸ’¬ 54    πŸ“Œ 44

Good things can grow in the soil of bad things:

The tariff crisis seems to be sparking a creative surge in me.

For a decade, my game design life has split between work and personal projects.

πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ(1/9)

28.04.2025 20:03 β€” πŸ‘ 28    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Bentley's Game of Om Nom Nom!

29.04.2025 10:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
GMT Games - Drachen Drachen

The follow-on volume to Coast Watchers - this one set on the Western Front in World War I - has hit GMT's P500.
www.gmtgames.com/p-1162-drach...

17.04.2025 18:39 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 5

One of the most powerful pieces of creative advice I've ever come across:

Hang out with people who are better than you at things that matter to you.

My dad used to say: "Your goal should be to be the dumbest person in the room."

In my own life, wow has that turned out to be good advice.

πŸŽ²βœ‚οΈ

17.04.2025 14:17 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 2

Great to see The Guardian recycling an article of mine from 2023 without attribution:

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html

as

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/14/the-big-idea-will-sci-fi-end-up-destroying-the-world

15.04.2025 09:06 β€” πŸ‘ 271    πŸ” 103    πŸ’¬ 16    πŸ“Œ 12
Title: Modern Folk horrors of the British Isles 

Five images of various characters:

A coven of murderous witches...
Who play loud youtube videos on public transport.

An ancient malevolent demon... 
With a three-hour podcast interviewing entrepreneurs.

A flock of bloodthirsty ravens...
Who think absolutely everything is "Woke". 

A primordial shambling beast... 
Wearing a "Make albion great again" baseball cap. 

A mob of satanic villagers... 
Who give bad reviews to books they haven't read.

Title: Modern Folk horrors of the British Isles Five images of various characters: A coven of murderous witches... Who play loud youtube videos on public transport. An ancient malevolent demon... With a three-hour podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. A flock of bloodthirsty ravens... Who think absolutely everything is "Woke". A primordial shambling beast... Wearing a "Make albion great again" baseball cap. A mob of satanic villagers... Who give bad reviews to books they haven't read.

my HORRIFYING cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books

05.04.2025 11:03 β€” πŸ‘ 3521    πŸ” 1256    πŸ’¬ 41    πŸ“Œ 79

also also AI art is theft and ecologically unviable and normalizing it only gives it the continued power to destroy our knowledge & institutions

it is soulless and always, always inexcusable, and some people really should know better but I thought I was pretty diplomatic about it frankly

12.04.2025 18:09 β€” πŸ‘ 37    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Vijayanagara by @sespagnolie.bsky.social and friends is now out for RTT!

A thousand thank yous to JoΓ«l Simoneau for programming it.

rally-the-troops.com/vijayanagara

12.04.2025 20:48 β€” πŸ‘ 44    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 7
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#PortfolioDay Sci-fi, ruins, and odd plants

10.04.2025 09:34 β€” πŸ‘ 5351    πŸ” 886    πŸ’¬ 92    πŸ“Œ 10

Everyone raised on the AP Style Guide is having a moment with this one, thank you @ellecordova.bsky.social

07.04.2025 10:30 β€” πŸ‘ 4023    πŸ” 621    πŸ’¬ 107    πŸ“Œ 43
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Hey! You can play Land and Freedom right now for free on Rally the Troops! And the game will even do the rules for you, so learning is a breeze. www.rally-the-troops.com/land-and-fre... #antifascism @ccxvii.bsky.social

31.03.2025 23:33 β€” πŸ‘ 50    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Yes! It's here.

rally-the-troops.com/land-and-fre...

31.03.2025 09:45 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

And it's a good one too! Hope you'll enjoy it. It's the one that got me hooked on war games, and the one that set me off the path to creating rally-the-troops.com

28.03.2025 22:51 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

@ccxvii is following 20 prominent accounts