@marksab.bsky.social
Indie tabletop RPG designer, zine publisher I wrote Return to the Stars, a science fiction RPG, which helps players create their own stories in an optimistic space opera setting. #hopepunk
Happy belated book birthday to @yiizzy.bsky.social and John Yu Branscum! An extraordinary, genre-slipping and genre-defying book. A "UFO" book unlike anything you've seen before, a book about psychology, culture, myth, history, science and more.
www.amazon.com/Stars-That-P...
Support the 2026 @apexmag.bsky.social Kickstarter! Apex publishes amazing SF, dark fantasy, and horror and we need their stories now more than ever.
I'll give an Apex gift subscription and dedication to one random person who promotes this Kickstarter! 1/
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...
Forget the dead, the real terror in Exhuma is uncovering a hidden history of oppression. I explore how the film works as brilliant "goth competency porn" in my new review.
youtu.be/3EBfrUuz840
Finally, the best part! The festival gave me a coupon for a FREE digital pass to the ENTIRE online festival, and I want you to have it.
Get your free pass here (newsletter signup is optional, but appreciated!):
mailchi.mp/65e4949dda0e...
And there's more! I'm running a sale on the full editions of my games, Return to the Stars and also Advertising and Antiheroes, to mark the occasion. If you've been waiting to check them out, now is the time!
itch.io/s/161462/bro...
To celebrate, Iβm releasing a new zine for Return to the Stars! Itβs packed with high-concept, low-prep scenarios, from temporal anomalies to dying planetary consciousnesses. Perfect for any sci-fi game night.
msabalau.itch.io/stellar-beac...
BIG NEWS! My short film based on my award-nominated TTRPG, Return to the Stars, is having its WORLD PREMIERE at the Brooklyn Sci-Fi Film Festival! ππ¬
I'm honored to have my film screen alongside 180 amazing sci-fi films from around the world.
#ShortFilm #SciFi #TTRPG
Also random drive-by post:
Yes, I have written about werewolves in space.
Wolf clans space opera.
WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEE.
For my fellow homebound SFF fans, just learned about brooklynscififilmfest.com from @marksab.bsky.social at a @flightsoffoundry.bsky.social panel. Very reasonably priced (below $14!). Have any recommendations for online SFF fun for homebound SFF fans? Let's share them!
28.09.2025 16:52 β π 4 π 2 π¬ 0 π 3
Mud Ghost Estate, a spooky tumbling tower TTRPG I made for #FolkloreJam 2024, is getting an updated version! Please give it a follow on Kickstarter! π»
www.kickstarter.com/projects/wha...
If you love a cosy MG/lower YA story about princesses, dragons, recipes and palace intrigue - Dragon Sisters might be perfect for you and your tween/teen.
:D
scarletferret.com/books/comple...
Perfect for a Mid-Autumn Festival read. With mooncakes and tea, of course.
Idk man I was diagnosed with autism as a teenager but Iβve had friends and relationships and everything. I just get really obsessed with stuff I find interesting and donβt want to do much else π€·π»ββοΈ but my life is fine. take Tylenol when youβre sick lol.
23.09.2025 09:34 β π 17 π 2 π¬ 1 π 0Oh myβ¦
21.09.2025 17:24 β π 4 π 2 π¬ 1 π 0New bundle of little index card games I made while working at GenCon 2025.
#ttrpg #indiegame #indexcardgame
itch.io/s/160462/gen...
Love GURPS Space for all of these reasons. It was (is) such a fun set of tools for brainstorming worlds.
17.09.2025 13:33 β π 5 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
Very much looking forward to chatting all things SOFIA COPPOLA, my new book on the filmmaker out in Nov, on panel 'The Director's Chair' at London Film Festival! Sun 12 October:
whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/d...
"An ambitious swing at what movies can still be." β @indiewire.com
June Squibb stars in Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut ELEANOR THE GREAT! See it early and for free on Thursday at AMC Boston Common: ow.ly/shUh50WW9bI
Also, one can do the classic 'zine or magazine thing, and collect a bunch of small games, essays, adventures, fiction, poetry, art.
The 6 zines I have done have all come in around 32 pages. If I had intended for them to go to press, I probably would have pushed them to that page count.
There are cool shorter adventures, of course, and a few remarkable adventures and campaigns that are much longer.
But as a reader/GM, subjectively, many adventures longer than 32 pages can feel bloated and padded.
Agree that it's an odd feeling page count for a game.
For me, at least, it's a fairly natural page count to write or run for a substantial adventure. The connected scenarios I included in Return to the Stars were about that long. Most early DnD modules were around 32 pages.
This science fiction slide is going right into the folder with my favourite slide of all time.
10.09.2025 19:06 β π 180 π 23 π¬ 4 π 1Interesting. I hadn't been aware there there were people who valued RAW, in a general sense, across games.
The usage I see "in the wild" is mostly people explaining a mechanic that is confusing to a newcomer, while leaving open the idea that they might want to do something that is not RAW.
Looking for a movie that's an action-thriller, a supernatural comedy, a mystery, AND a touching bromance?
It exists. It's called MARRY MY DEAD BODY, and it's one of the best films on Netflix right now. My review is live!
youtu.be/GHiHTnCb970
Be a princess. Get kidnapped by a strange woman. Fall in love with your Captor.
Please Let Me Go, a 2 player GM-Less TTRPG about Stockholm syndrome, is out now!
#ttrpg #indiegame #roleplay #princess #gamejam
certified-milkboy.itch.io/please-let-m...
I am *finally* getting to this.
As part of my own independent research on the influence of Joan of Arc on current-day HEMA practitioners, I am conducting a survey.
Please boost this far and wide.
The survey will last until end of the year.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
My new video essay explores the film where kung fu collides with Taoist black magic: Sammo Hung's Encounters of the Spooky Kind. It's the chaotic, brilliant, and massively influential birthplace of the hopping vampire genre.
Watch here: youtu.be/erKo4RI3Hbc
Wrote a terrifyingly vulnerable thing about terminal illness and loss - an extremely rare foray, for me, into something which has no mention of movies. Hope someone somewhere likes it or relates to it, I guess.
christinanewland.substack.com/p/a-perpetua...
Oh hai, BIPOC authors!
www.atthisarts.com/publish/
Flame of the Spirit - now available!
itch: blackwolfsings.itch.io/flame-of-the...
draft2digital: books2read.com/u/b5GdNp
