Dr. Steven Bruso

Congratulations! One day at a time.

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

It is such a good book!

Oh wow! Are you amenable to discussing the game via email or the like? I can DM you my email.

@jayb33.bsky.social you wouldn't happen to be the Justen Brown who wrote For Gold & Glory would you?

Love it! I have the same basic policy, but I hadn't thought to explicitly link it back to the typical student's use case (mismanaged time) and the better solution to that problem (an extension, which I already have provisions for).

Enough people said they wanted to see the final slide deck, so I took the time to put it on my non-teacher github so I could share it. I didn't end up getting in trouble. I ended up being encouraged by a colleague to share it with my dept chair, and he liked it

authorblues.github.io/lecture-slid...

Human Rights First Launches ReadyNow! App to Offer Lifeline to Immigrants During ICE Encounters - Human Rights First Today, Human Rights First’s Innovation Lab announced the launch of ReadyNow!, a free and secure mobile app designed to help immigrants prepare for possible detention and act quickly in moments of cris...

Share with the vulnerable you know:

humanrightsfirst.org/library/huma...

I can think of thousands of reasons why I wouldn't want some random AI chat bot to have access to my entire college career and all of my job prospects. I can think of literally no good reason to do this ever.

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has a plan to overhaul college education — by embedding its artificial intelligence tools in every facet of campus life. If the company’s strategy succeeds, universities would give students A.I. assistants to help guide and tutor them from orientation day through graduation. Professors would provide customized A.I. study bots for each class. Career services would offer recruiter chatbots for students to practice job interviews. And undergrads could turn on a chatbot’s voice mode to be quizzed aloud ahead of a test. OpenAI dubs its sales pitch “A.I.-native universities.”

Every future imagined by a tech company is worse than the previous iteration.

Folks in the gaming space: does anyone know how to get in contact with Justen Brown, the copyright holder for the 2e retroclone, For Gold & Glory?

Nice! I'll look forward to reading it when it comes out!

Is this related to your Rites of Transmutation game?

For folks who have wholly moved to blue books for student essays, how has it worked for you? I presume it would be held in-class.

That sucks. I was *really* hoping that it was one of those scenarios where the car still operates in the meantime. I've had good luck with certified pre-owned vehicles, and I second the vote for either Honda or Toyota.

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear that. What was the diagnosis? Can you still use it, until you can get something better in the meantime?

At least it was polite! 🤣

Wow! That's awesome! I'd love to talk with you about this stuff. If there are days and times that work best, let me know, and we can set up a Zoom call.

I've *always* loved it when players come up with super interesting solutions for any given scenario. If you offer open-ended problems, you encourage player agency and emergent gameplay.

I'm not a fan of either the GM = adversary or the GM = player's number one fan. I prefer to think of GMs as the person who puts obstacles in the way of the players without specific solutions. TTRPGs are, at least in part, exercises in dramatic, creative problem solving.

Last week I attended Pax East to learn more about game design, and couldn't believe how open and affirming that space is. Some academic conferences could learn a thing or two.

Long time, no post. So, what have I been up to? Researching TTRPGs, drafting my own game, and learning about book layout and design with InDesign.

Authorities say a babysitter checked under the bed for monsters — and found someone Kansas authorities say a babysitter went to refute a kid's claims of a monster under their bed, but "came face-to-face with a male suspect who was hiding there." They later arrested a 27-year-old man.

Oof, talk about bringing a horror film to life.

Kansas babysitter finds man hiding under kid's bed www.npr.org/2025/03/28/n...

This is amazing 🤣

I love this so much

I'm glad to see someone else does this!

This is all to say: I think that for independent TTRPG companies, the landscape has shifted to quickstart rules in place of starter boxed sets, which makes sense, considering how labor-intensive it is to write, design, and market your game in the first place.

I've seen lots of independent TTRPG producers creating quickstart rules to show people what the game is like before they commit to purchasing it, but I haven't seen many producing box sets of a game they have just produced. If memory serves, Arcane Library hasn't made one for Shadowdark. 1/2

Ich get unhorsed
But Ich mount up agayne
Ich am nevir goinge to lose thys joust

How are you handling Stat generation? Do you still roll per usual, but just record the modifier in the stat block?