Travis D. Hill, Ph.D. ☕️

Stacks of paper zines folded with text on the cover.

Just stacks of zines about zines.

Video! Not super comprehensive w/ multiple angles or anything, but hopefully the visual of me playing the solo game & my commentary on top gives you some insights into the vibes of playing the game! Solo-able train game! Market manipulation! Side hustles! Color! All aboard!
youtu.be/DRhrPkmikMA?...

About to leave to do so!

Choo chooooooooo!

Oh I still need to order a copy! Thanks for the reminder!

"AI is a part of everyday life" because companies keeps trying to force it to happen, not because its a good, organic or practical product.

I know thats not a catchy headline but its more truthful.

Actually, this would make a Very Cool RPG Zine cover.

Oh this is dreamy!

I just signed up for excited to see more about Elsewhere Express.

Exciting!

A game of the westward United States with a bunch of colorful cubes as railroad tracks.

In a rare treat, I had a chance to play a game of Westward Rails with some friends today. I haven’t played this one since 2021, and it was delightful. Lots of “but that’ll just help them!” moments.

Thanks again @amabel.bsky.social @hollandspiele.bsky.social & @domhnallh.bsky.social

#CCMF

As a traditionally Reese’s purist, I was wildly surprised by these.

And this is why there are so many options out there. We are fortunate to have an increasing range of design diversity. What attracts/detracts one gamer might detract/attract a different one!

a photo of a paper with a small green drawing of a sprout in dirt. It reads, "Sprout: a meditative, reflective, lyric RPG by travis d. hill"

ok ok o k o K ok what if?

Do something for yourself soon. Don’t worry about getting good at it. Make a thing for the sole reason to create.

Liberate yourself from this capitalistic hell.

I don’t!

HAIL

A greyed out map of Scotland with a bunch of lines and triangles connecting to cities. There are several wooden cubes in several colors as connection pieces.

Busted out an old cube rails design, Rails Through the Highlands, to begin ideating on what makes sense. Added a rondel (in a train game!) that feels like it has some interesting spaces to explore.

Now it's time to upload this digitally and start getting some reps in! It feels fresh again.
#CCMF

And I wouldn't say just stick to cube rails, but they definitely highlight more operational work overall.

You're going to get 300 conflicting opinions on this, so I'll get in early.

Usually 1889 (Shikoku) has been touted as the best 3p title, plus it's more widely available now. I'd recommend Railways of the Lost Atlas as a far more interesting (and flexible) game all around.

Haven’t done a larger (more than one page) lyric game in a while! It’ll be nice to explore.

LOL! Self-hype is real hype.

I think I’ll front load it so it can be a reflective exercise or simply A Game. But yes, something about meditation and/or reflection will be very upfront.

Maybe a lyric game? Probably

!!! As long as it’s not “friend doctor.” Think that gets weird.

A calendar invite that reads “basking in Dr. Hill’s genius”

Make friends who hype you up this way.

For context, I’m literally hopping on a call to help answer some questions about dissertation formatting. No “genius” involved here.

Okay. I already know what I’m doing for this. I’m really excited. Thinking I’m going to completely bypass my usual route of creating a unique topic and tying it to reflection and instead go straight into meditation and reflection.

Knave has been kind enough to stock several of my zines. They’re so great to work with.

I am proud of you being here today.

Noted!