thank you for (1) putting The Hourglass Sings on your list, and (2) writing alt text for the image! always a great thing to see for accessibility.
fun correction, if that can exist: the instrument on their back is actually a hurdy-gurdy! it has a crank and a drone string -- SO cool; i had to.
i am so grateful for the attention and support that the solo TTRPG scene has given to The Hourglass Sings. i feel lucky whenever a game finds its audience, but this connection in particular has been a happy surprise.
special shoutout to @hime.vtubers.social, whose kind coverage has gone a long way.
breaking my immersion!! crossing guards are already angels. 😇
thank you for running sock puppets - - and for sending me a picture of your puppets!
thanks for the kind words! i was pretty nervous going into a visual design talk beside the incredibly talented @dngnclub.itch.io and @sifsweetman.bsky.social, but both my fellow panelists and our audience were very sweet. i always love hearing people talk about their craft, and i learned a lot too!
i was running sock puppets at a different convention the same day!! it's always so ridiculous. HUGE kudos for navigating a morning slot; what an insane thing to do before noon, hahaha.
these are all great, but i love the halo and stop sign.
i was with ian this weekend, and you better believe when i saw Bonsai Diaries sitting out i was grinning. "gene's game!!"
such a lovely design concept.
❤️
Someone in one of my tabletop communities asked how to make her own TTRPGs. I didn't LOVE any of the articles I came across, so I wrote one of my own fueled by stubbornness and Vyvanse.
This is the best 101 I can provide on the process of taking an RPG from idea to finished game. Hope it helps.
I have rolled
the dice
that were in
the dicebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for saving throws
Forgive me
they were shiny
so neat
and unrolled
loving the expressiveness you folks coaxed out of those puppets!
graphic that says no ice in Minnesota itch.io charity bundle
The No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle has officially LAUNCHED!
There are 1,439 games to discover for a $10+ donation to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota!
Purchase the bundle here: itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...
he really, honestly does
Stories that aren't mine (from places I haven't been).
A letter with a few feelings about mailing an object I mistook for a friend, the peculiarities of translation, and a bittersweet feeling in a place that's been abandoned.
buttondown.com/Kurt/archive...
A crude MS Paint drawing of a small person smiling nervously. In front of the small person, a placard reads "Kurt Refling: Baby / Imposter." On either side of Kurt, the shoulders of two people can be seen, heads out-of-frame like adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon. The left figure wears a suit jacket; the right figure wears a blouse.
i'm sitting on a couple panels at a convention this year. i know deep down that i'm Smart & Helpful Guy Who Knows Stuff, but do y'all ever feel like --
See you at Breakout? 👀
oh my god
never before has a sock puppets post included video. now i am spoiled forever. listen to this perfect bumpo.
💛
As one of the KS rewards for Sock Puppets — a LARP where you make and operate actual puppets — the inimitable @kurtrefling.bsky.social offered the chance for backers to play a game with Herman, the puppet Kurt built to hype the game.
So what game did I pick? SOCK PUPPETS.
thank you!
Closing this thread: I would love to know if you've ever watched a how to play video for an RPG! They're so common in the board game space, but I feel like it's largely absent from TTRPGs. If you have, link it below so we can see it too!
If people want to pirate a game, there are much easier ways to do it than squinting at a screenshot from a tutorial.
But I am always looking for better ways to open the door for people to play. It's part of what makes @helloalexroberts.bsky.social's game For the Queen such a beautiful thing.
"But Kurt," says a straw man. "Your RPG is like 40 pages. What if people just watch this video instead of buying your game?"
Thank you for asking, imaginary person.
I believe that people WANT to support art. We tip buskers because a moment of music is moving enough to invite something in exchange.
In an act of radical approachability & mediocre puppetry, I made a quickstart video for Sock Puppets: a TTRPG about puppets and their problems.
I made this because I want more games you can just... play. No homework. No tests.
I also wanted to make bad, embarrassing jokes.
youtu.be/DcAZH6iwcXU
Just couple of OVAs, but they're hard to track down these days
...Which means I also didn't know what a "black deck" was. Or that every card in the deck is like, "rotten corpse" or "bone devourer".
Which is how I found myself on my birthday, with my in-laws, playtesting a game about girls attending a school for young... necromancers. [2/2]
I wrote a magical girls game that uses Clow cards as oracles. During playtesting, I quickly realized it could work with any cards that have interesting art, so I asked my brother-in-law to bring Magic cards over.
I do not know anything about Magic. [1/2]
Hey, did we mention we have Desperation back in stock?
So many people do not have a place in their lives where they can play with other people. I mean really be playful. And the capacity is always there, just waiting to be let out.
I know this story wasn't fishing, but I will never pass up on an opportunity to tell you again what a smart smart thing you made.