Contrarian

Gary Gygax Memorial Game Table for Dungeons & Dragons Fans Building a memorial gaming table for fans of Dungeons & Dragons, in Lake Geneva, WI, dedicated to the game's co-creator, Gary Gygax

I just backed Gary Gygax Memorial Game Table for Dungeons & Dragons Fans on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/617...

I swear, the lifestyle #gamers just never know when to stop, do they?

Blue Sky "Suggested Accounts" screen listing "Dungeons & Dragons" in the "Video Games" category.

"Video Games" Really, @bsky.app ?

Lead exposure influenced ancient human brain and behavior evolution Lead poisoning isn’t just an industrial-age problem. A new study reveals our ancestors, including Neanderthals, were exposed to lead for millions of years, shaping how their brains evolved and overturning what scientists thought about our toxic history.

Does this explain why so many old gamers think like cavemen? It was the #miniatures all along!

newatlas.com/biology/nean...

My barely gaming-related purchase at this month's #Ypsilanti #FleaMarket was some half-priced Kamandi comics. The Last Boy on Earth is about as #GammaWorld as a Silver Age #comicbook ever got.

Looking to refresh the #art in my living room, I found this poster. Doesn't fit my living room's vibe, but it does make me want to play old #scifi #ttrpg like #StarFrontiers. Maybe I'll buy it for my home office.

www.greatbigcanvas.com/view/next-st...

“I said, I think you’re going in a direction that’s going to crash your game,” Salvatore said. “The beauty of D&D, when you’re bringing someone into it, is all they have to do is read a few pages of the player’s handbook and they can play. Like five pages, and they’re in. Now you’re adding all these things to the players instead of giving the dungeon masters the tools they need. […] I don’t think they listened to me. They also went bankrupt, so maybe that was their fault.”

R.A. Salvatore and I have very similar complaints about #ADnD Second Edition. I went back to 1E because TSR wouldn't stop adding dumb stuff to get players' money.

www.polygon.com/ra-salvatore...

Kōnane: Meet the Man Keeping Hawaii's Native Board Game 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.

If you don't enjoy this story about a #gamer dedicated to an ancient #boardgame, you have no heart. This guy here? He's the real deal.

www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-g...

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

"That's the most unrealistic piece of Star Frontiers art ever, because it shows a girl playing #StarFrontiers."

Fortunately for me, #HeroesUnlimited is still in print, and the #PalladiumBooks website even has an errata page for the rulebook... where they misspell "errata."

Yep, same old Palladium! Pride of Detroit, right there!

palladiumbooks.com/heroes-unlim...

U-Con 2025

I'm currently signed up to play #ADnD and #HeroesUnlimited at U-Con 2025, so I figured I better reread the rulebooks before the con.

Turns out I don't own a copy of Heroes Unlimited. Oops! Is it still in print? You can never be sure with #PalladiumBooks.

tabletop.events/conventions/...

Nothing good at the #Ypsilanti #fleamarket today, so I visited some nearby #vintage shops. Made a pest of myself at one, showing the cashier which #DnD and #GammaWorld books were actual antiques, and which were POD reprints. (I didn't buy any, either, because I already owned copies of all of them.)

I try not to wear clothing that advertises my hobbies when I shop at #fleamarkets and #garagesales, because I don't want sellers to see me coming, so to speak. One problem with this plan is that 90% of the t-shirts in my closet are #gameconvention souvenir shirts.

I placed an irrationally large order with gamescience.com today, just because I was excited they had gem dice in stock again. Bought all the colors I thought were too weird 20 years ago!

And the kids who are afraid of subtraction would probably shit themselves if they knew there was an #ADnD rule that required knowing the absolute value of a negative number. Lots of gatekeeping with 6th Grade math in the old days!

Still, it's maybe not as bad at whatever the fuck dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/wiki/THAC0 is trying to say.

The "#THAC0 is not subtraction" argument is especially infuriating to me, because it's popular on #reddit, and dependent on the idea that #DungeonMasters were supposed to announce opponents #ArmorClass to players. That's a really amateurish style of old school. No adult should play like that.

The #redditors are all wrong, of course. #THACO was in the 1979 #ADnD Dungeon Masters Guide, its first definition (in a 1983 #BECMI module) was definitely subtraction, and their brain issues are doubtless pre-existing.

Kids on #reddit got worked up over #THACO this week. The most common complaints were subtraction is hard on the brain, that #THAC0 is *not* subtraction, and THAC0 is proof #2E ruined #ADnD.

Hey, @support.bsky.team! Stop making hyphens hashtaggable! That's annoying!

Awkward #GaryGygax-isms creep into my writing when I try to explain #ADnD rules. I keep typing things like "characters attacking with melee weapons" where I could use sensible phrases like "armed attackers."

No one at the bar liked my suggestion that there should be Global Warming #boardgame where I play the globe and try to wipe out the human race. Come on, man! The human race has it coming!

I'm late for U-Con Game Day at #AnnArbor Brewing #Ypsilanti. I need to hurry and catch up on drink -- gaming! I mean catch up on my gaming!

You have an antique in that d6 pile!

bsky.app/profile/pata...

My wife just complained that a #cosmetics company she liked when she was younger now "won't stop releasing stupid shit." I replied "Ha! #UrbanDecay is your Wizards of the Coast."

Ann Arbor's municipal bus service is running a radio ad telling listeners they can spend more money on #DnD toys if they get rid of their cars and ride the bus instead.

What the hell?

Computers at work have been down for five hours, so I'm continuing a personal project to annotate the #ADnD rules. Fortunately, I keep the core rulebooks on my phone at all times for Dungeon Mastering emergencies.

There's an old #TSR/#WOTC artist at the #MichRenFest, but he doesn't allow photos at his shop. I shall support his effort to remain concealed by refusing to name him!

Jousting at the #MichRenFest is a lot like an #AdventurersLeague #DnD game -- too much talking and not enough stabbing.

Last time I lived with my parents, their #cats developed a habit of chasing (and trying to eat) 20-sided #dice. I tried to switch them to d30s because I worried about them choking on small dice, but they wouldn't touch those. Cats only love d20s!

Strange pin to find at the #MichRenFest, though.