Thomas M, Full-time Rascal

Lin, probably.

Wish I could but I'm not based in the US!

(And neither are the other two...)

At the top, an illustration from the cover of Blade's 68 for Blades in the Dark. Various 60s-inspired characters appear in concentric rings of grey, blue, orange, and yellow. This is followed by a manifesto of player advice. HOW TO PLAY HARD AND HAVE FUN IN '68 1. GO IN BOOTS AND ALL. The campaign will be shorter than you think. Make stuff happen now. Don't wait, pull the trigger. 2. DIG THE OTHER CHARACTERS. Dial in on the other player characters, pay attention to their narrative, and get your own character involved. Be their fan, or be their foil. 3. MAKE THE GM SWEAT. Think of the game like a physics toy, and push the levers you have as hard as you can, just to see what happens. Rattle the cage, jump out the window, don't look down. Move so fast the GM can't keep up. 4. SELL THE PUNCHES. Always choose the bigger reaction. Let your character be changed by the world and by other characters. Let them be upset, emotional, irrational. 5. FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT. If your character dies, they can come back as an echo. If they have to retire, you can always make a new character. The crew cannot be stopped. Act first and think later, make bad decisions, let the chips fall where they may. 6. LEARN TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE CONSEQUENCES. Most rolls are going to have consequences. Wouldn't it be boring to succeed all the time? Embrace consequences, and create consequences, then roll them up in a giant ball of chaos and surf on top. Following this manifesto is an illustration in monotone orange, yellow, and black of a muscle car jumping in front of a speeding tractor-trailer. A woman brandishing a pistol leans out the window of the muscle car and fires toward the truck.

Listen, it wouldn't be the radical, swinging 60s if there wasn't a manifesto.
Blades '68.
Get in, buckle up, and lean forward.
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

Very smart stuff as usual!

@czamboni.bsky.social beat me to the punch! This was under wraps until, I guess, today. Anyway CMU Press is publishing an updated and Very Deluxe version of my game and I could not be happier. Art by Sam Araya!

Thank you!

Rascal Reading Club: Apocalypse World The Most Impossible Fun Thing continues.

A deeply thoughtful, insightful reading of 'Apocalypse World' by @newmadras.bsky.social on the @rascal.news podcast feed. A model for the kind of work I want my students to do when we read TTRPGs as texts that design specific kinds of fun, principles, and values. www.rascal.news/rascal-readi...

Playtest Zero is a good and cool event, and I have gotten lots of good feedback, as well as opportunities to think about and talk about games with lovely and clever people.

One week to go! Can we hit our first stretch goal?

The game begins. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/a...

Fifty Ways To Love Your (Roleplay) Lover "How to GM Romance" is rules, advice, and some stuff in between.

More than just a collection of tools and advice, How to GM Romance tackles the perennial (and often taboo) issue of flirting, dating, and sex at the RPG table.

The NYT style guide

The day after we put the final touches on issues #88-91 of “Swamp Thing”, news broke about the passing of Tatjana Wood, the original colorist on the series. Tomorrow, March 2nd, would have been Tatjana’s 100th birthday. Let’s raise a glass to one of comics’ originals.

Graphic from the Blades '68 BackerKit crowdfunding campaign, showing stretch goal contributors Avalyn Ramsay writing "Psychic Commie Rats" and Aaron Lim writing "Report on the Inaugural Crowfoot Wargaming Convention of '68".

They announced my stretch goal for Blades '68! Let's get to $390,000 so I can write about The Inaugural Crowfoot Wargaming Convention of '68 (which split of from the Charterhall Conference On Historical and Strategic Wargames that started two years before). www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

A screenshot from Chess.com showing me beat a bot with 90% accuracy and the bot having 87%.

In case you thought I only play bad games of Chess:

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

Haha, I was waiting for you to get to that part!

AI could never

I can definitely pull off Die but after that I foresee some trouble!

*at

Genuine awe that these episodes runtimes, this would wipe me out

I did not know!

TIL

no good answers sadly!

my new years resolution is to use the words looksmaxing in a conversation with my family

Weird Place (w/ Gabriel and Le)

We had a great time talking to @newmadras.bsky.social for his podcast Yes Indie'd. It was our first ever interview, and talking to Thomas felt so natural and welcoming. Thank you so much for having us on! Go check out the episode.

Reading Club: Apocalypse World

Friday afternoon library Administravia while listening to @newmadras.bsky.social discuss Apocalypse World at the @rascal.news Reading Club.
open.spotify.com/episode/4quf...

b-b-bulbasaur?

"Be reasonable about this," he says. "Meet me in the middle."
"OK," you say. You take a step forward.
He takes a step back.
"Be reasonable about this," he says. "Meet me in the middle."