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heavy police presence at columbia, SRG, SWAT and counterterrorism deployed

reports that everyone has been kicked off campus except students barricaded inside hind’s hall

listen to WKCR columbias student radio for live updates

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University of Texas at Austin students standing their ground against the state troopers sent by Governor Greg Abbott to suppress the campus protests

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I don't think it's a radical ideal for the want of Hawai'i to become their own independent country. It should have never been taken over by the US in the first place. For a country whose entire foundation is based upon "separation from a colonial country" it's laughable that they made an entire population that was self governed into a state. It's insulting. It's already blatantly obvious that this whole country was based on lies and blood, and it only continues to perpetuate that. I'm shocked that the Hawai'ian sovereignty movement isn't mainstream even though they have been fighting for it since 1997. Fuck the American government.

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oh my god

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Happy Birthday to me, buy my games

It's my birthday this week! To celebrate, I put basically everything (that isn't already part of a bundle) on sale. Wahoo!

I might be biased, but I think there's some very cool stuff you can pick up.

If you've been enjoying my sneak previews of Stampede Wasteland, you'll probably want to check out DEATHGRIND!!MEGASTRUCTURE, which is in many ways a mechanical precursor to what's going on in Stampede. Also, its got a megastructure.

There's also Into the Riverlands, a system-neutral setting zine chock full of flavor. Some of which you can see here.

Or, maybe you want something a little more experimental. Then check out Fractal Romance's expansion, Velvet Fragments, which includes a whole new set of playbooks for exploring the Fractal Palace with. (There's a decent change you might already own Fractal Romance, it's been in some big bundles).

Check out the whole sale here!

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“Oh boo hoo you shouldn’t ask your friends for favors we’re all adults”

I just spent three hours pulling up carpet and staples for a friend’s home renovation and we all did nothing but chat and joke and have wonderful conversation the whole time.

Helping somebody move or renovate or giving them a ride to the airport is functionally the same as going mini-golfing or playing a board game: it’s an activity that you do that is made more fun by having good company, and which provides something to talk about when the conversation lulls.

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I keep thinking of the double-edged sword of partial success.

On one hand, they do help move the story forward. On the other hand, coming up with complications every time can be taxing.

That got me thinking: what if we reversed the way we look at partial success?

See, a partial success is usually seen as taking away from a full success. It is a ‘success, but…’.

You start with the assumption that you did the thing, but then you take a step back and inject a cost, a complication, or a choice.

I love it, but it can be overwhelming.After the 6th partial success in a row, you're like: “You convince the prince, but… I don’t know, you twist your ankle or something, I don’t care. Let’s move on.”

I've tackled this problem in different ways. Mechanizing it, hand-waving it, offering prompts and tables… They work, but I kept exploring. And that led me to the idea of looking at partial success from the other end.

What if we did the opposite? What if we started from a failure, and built up towards success with costs? Would it help with narrating partial success if we could pick and choose a few costs to work our way towards success?

So in my current project, I adopted this.

You roll 2d6 and need to get a 10+ (which is hard). If you don't, you can buy your success by spending different resources.

Let's see an example:

With a determined yell, I lunge forward, my blade slicing through the air towards the guard. I roll a 7, not enough for a successful strike. I spend one Vigor, representing the sharp sting of the guard's counterattack grazing my side. I also spend one Gear, as my sword hums with a magical energy. Lastly, I spend 1 Resolve. The guard's strength has caught me off guard, a flicker of fear igniting in my chest. With vigor, gear, and resolve combined, I reach the threshold, turning my near miss into a solid hit.

You see what I see?

It feels like you conquered a hit, instead of having your success tainted by costs, although it is technically the same thing.

Is it just me?

Looking at my resources and spending them as a little puzzle to get to my success threshold made the act of incorporating these costs into the narrative more natural to me.

Perhaps the feeling that you are investing into a success is a more powerful incentive to do so?

Anyway, I thought it was pretty exciting to explore this concept. So much so that it ended up being the core of a new game. And I’m itchfunding it right now!

If you want to see this mechanic (and some of its cool variations) in action, check it out!

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devs who put an option in their games to remove QTEs are so hot and sexy

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a classic. jessie loved it

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The weird thing about writing as a kind of work is that it is almost ridiculously variable. Language is unfathomably mutable, and we are ourselves partly made of it. Mythmaking and storytelling are so entangled with language and meaning and culture that it is a working part of our bodies, both individual and collective, like an essential organ. Written fiction is a much newer and much more specialized thing, but it draws purely and directly from that organ. It isn't surprising that there can't be a canonical manual that explains how to write. Even a relatively square didact like Gardner, who seems quite used to telling students what is or is not acceptable, must hedge his advice with disclaimers and qualifiers. Even he cannot escape the grand you do you at the heart of all writing advice.

Quoting myself—I know, how gauche—from a Patreon essay a while back. I was thinking about Gardner's On Becoming A Novelist again and had forgotten I wrote about it before.

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Mayumi, my warsmith / death dancer for an upcoming gubat banwa game I'll be playing!

They're a bearfolk who used to be a normal bear but got cursed into this form at an early age. They've not regretted it a single instant (the opposable thumbs is a major plus).

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Me getting up in the morning like 

Hittin’ the keyboard like

Friends comin’ online like

DID YOu SEE tHE THINGg MY GOD

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The more you look at this picture, the more anxious it becomes.

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Cold snap - Steve Smulka

American, b. 1949 -

Oil on linen , 36 x 48 cm.

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El perro guardian

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so my apartment building got a notice board to post fire alarm tests and maintenance announcements and such. the building is pretty well-maintained, so we rarely get notices. the board is big and grey and to think it would be empty like that 99% of the time was a bland boring sin i just couldn't bear, so i vandalized the corner of its empty canvas with a teeny tiny Guy

and within a few days, there was a sudden addition from my one of my neighbors along with a Bunch of thumbtacks. this was an unexpected, but welcome surprise!

well there was still so much space, i figured i'd add another crumb to the art hoard. i'd been playing genshin that day so i drew my favorite grandpa

and like clockwork, new art manifested!! this person is gonna grow to be a great artist i know it. the detail in those stones? hell yeah that's cool.

we're two weeks into it. more neighbors have joined in with their artwork. who knew there were so many artists in my building?? we're onto somethin great here i just know it.