Calum Novak-Mitchell
@calumnm.bsky.social
Folk music, ttrpgs, books etc
1) escape from dino island is a lovely piece of design, and 2) wow apparently my brain does *not* mesh with running pbta
February 17, 2026 at 10:51 PM
1) escape from dino island is a lovely piece of design, and 2) wow apparently my brain does *not* mesh with running pbta
This is just a big list of cool things.
thinking about Nick Groom's suggested "seven types of obscurity" in Gothic novels, forming a handy "is it goth" checklist lmao
February 17, 2026 at 11:30 AM
This is just a big list of cool things.
I'm not sure why so many industry articles include AI-generated paragraphs that neither advance arguments nor include any substantive information. It just gives the reader a worse experience!
February 11, 2026 at 11:08 AM
I'm not sure why so many industry articles include AI-generated paragraphs that neither advance arguments nor include any substantive information. It just gives the reader a worse experience!
Attending a good stag party.
February 7, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Attending a good stag party.
God, vantage is a clever game. The way it starts as a fluffy choose-your-own-adventure and blooms outward into both a crunchy tactical puzzle, and longer term narrative mystery box…
I’ve only played it twice. It’s possible that the magic trick will wear thin. But it hasn’t worn thin yet.
I’ve only played it twice. It’s possible that the magic trick will wear thin. But it hasn’t worn thin yet.
January 28, 2026 at 11:26 PM
God, vantage is a clever game. The way it starts as a fluffy choose-your-own-adventure and blooms outward into both a crunchy tactical puzzle, and longer term narrative mystery box…
I’ve only played it twice. It’s possible that the magic trick will wear thin. But it hasn’t worn thin yet.
I’ve only played it twice. It’s possible that the magic trick will wear thin. But it hasn’t worn thin yet.
It‘s certainly an… interesting statement of intent to walk into Oxford University's new humanities centre and see a giant piece of Gen-AI video art projected onto the wall.
And like, it’s not slop. It’s from a carefully licenced dataset and clearly involved a bunch of human effort. But still.
And like, it’s not slop. It’s from a carefully licenced dataset and clearly involved a bunch of human effort. But still.
January 27, 2026 at 1:12 PM
It‘s certainly an… interesting statement of intent to walk into Oxford University's new humanities centre and see a giant piece of Gen-AI video art projected onto the wall.
And like, it’s not slop. It’s from a carefully licenced dataset and clearly involved a bunch of human effort. But still.
And like, it’s not slop. It’s from a carefully licenced dataset and clearly involved a bunch of human effort. But still.
The sixth session was very different. Dice flying all over the place.
Five sessions into Mythic Bastionland and only one player has rolled any dice. Impossible to know if this means I'm running it Very Right or Very Wrong.
January 26, 2026 at 11:20 PM
The sixth session was very different. Dice flying all over the place.
I rarely post about Work on here, but I thought this was extremely smart and level-headed look at some of the questions that get glossed over when Gen-AI gets approval to be used in scientific publishing.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/01/22/g...
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/01/22/g...
Guest Post - The Ghost in the Machine: Why Generative AI is a Crisis of Authorship, Not Just a Tool - The Scholarly Kitchen
Today's guest author raises the question of whether a researcher submitting an article that was significantly drafted by an LLM without clear disclosure is effectively engaging in a contemporary form ...
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
January 26, 2026 at 11:25 AM
I rarely post about Work on here, but I thought this was extremely smart and level-headed look at some of the questions that get glossed over when Gen-AI gets approval to be used in scientific publishing.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/01/22/g...
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/01/22/g...
It does feel *odd* that if I want to make music or do amateur dramatics, I can go to the places where people make music or do amateur dramatics and find a community there. But when I want to play ttrpgs, I have to persuade friends to play ttrpgs.
January 23, 2026 at 3:36 PM
It does feel *odd* that if I want to make music or do amateur dramatics, I can go to the places where people make music or do amateur dramatics and find a community there. But when I want to play ttrpgs, I have to persuade friends to play ttrpgs.
Five sessions into Mythic Bastionland and only one player has rolled any dice. Impossible to know if this means I'm running it Very Right or Very Wrong.
January 22, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Five sessions into Mythic Bastionland and only one player has rolled any dice. Impossible to know if this means I'm running it Very Right or Very Wrong.
If you want to break your brain and avoid everything else in your life for a day or two, this is an excellent option.
Grant dropped this absolute cognitohazard on me when I was coming down with a head cold; finding it quite useful as an anxiety and/or mucus headache displacement activity, but not at all as a productivity aid thomaswc.com/2025.html
2025
thomaswc.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:54 PM
If you want to break your brain and avoid everything else in your life for a day or two, this is an excellent option.
Reposted by Calum Novak-Mitchell
Ah this will include a cool book by my cool friend @thezhm.bsky.social! manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526188854/
January 8, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Ah this will include a cool book by my cool friend @thezhm.bsky.social! manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526188854/
It’s Bioshock then and now. But it’s *weird* to see that Bioshock and Portal came out in the same year, given that they felt like different eras to me. I was 17 in 2007: Portal feels like the last game of my childhood and Bioshock the first game of my adulthood.
...aaaand we're back! It's the Big One
Quote this with your favourite game NOW that was released in 2007, and what your favourite was THEN (if you had one)
Localisations/early access count, remasters/ports don't. Remakes depend.
Two-way ties count.
Refresher list: backloggd.com/games/lib/po...
Quote this with your favourite game NOW that was released in 2007, and what your favourite was THEN (if you had one)
Localisations/early access count, remasters/ports don't. Remakes depend.
Two-way ties count.
Refresher list: backloggd.com/games/lib/po...
December 26, 2025 at 12:43 PM
It’s Bioshock then and now. But it’s *weird* to see that Bioshock and Portal came out in the same year, given that they felt like different eras to me. I was 17 in 2007: Portal feels like the last game of my childhood and Bioshock the first game of my adulthood.
We accidentally terrified the toddler by telling her that a guy was coming down the chimney tonight.
Pointing to the thin pipe above my dad’s fireplace and saying “yep, a big man will be crawling through that this evening”.
Pointing to the thin pipe above my dad’s fireplace and saying “yep, a big man will be crawling through that this evening”.
December 24, 2025 at 11:35 PM
We accidentally terrified the toddler by telling her that a guy was coming down the chimney tonight.
Pointing to the thin pipe above my dad’s fireplace and saying “yep, a big man will be crawling through that this evening”.
Pointing to the thin pipe above my dad’s fireplace and saying “yep, a big man will be crawling through that this evening”.
A toddler asking you to make up a full story based on their insistent two-word prompt: this to me is a TTRPG.
(Today it was “Winnie the Pooh” and “train”. Quite pleased about how consistent I made it).
(Today it was “Winnie the Pooh” and “train”. Quite pleased about how consistent I made it).
December 21, 2025 at 10:47 PM
A toddler asking you to make up a full story based on their insistent two-word prompt: this to me is a TTRPG.
(Today it was “Winnie the Pooh” and “train”. Quite pleased about how consistent I made it).
(Today it was “Winnie the Pooh” and “train”. Quite pleased about how consistent I made it).
25 books read so far this year. Which is not nearly as much as I'd like, and not nearly as much as I used to read, but I have been parenting a one-year-old, which does seem a reasonable excuse. Anyway, here's what I've thought of them:
December 17, 2025 at 2:51 PM
25 books read so far this year. Which is not nearly as much as I'd like, and not nearly as much as I used to read, but I have been parenting a one-year-old, which does seem a reasonable excuse. Anyway, here's what I've thought of them:
Wake Up Dead Man is of course, great. The Benoit Blanc movies work for me because Johnson is so much more interested in the formal structures and atmospheres of murder mysteries than he is in the mysteries themselves.
December 14, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Wake Up Dead Man is of course, great. The Benoit Blanc movies work for me because Johnson is so much more interested in the formal structures and atmospheres of murder mysteries than he is in the mysteries themselves.
Ragged, late-night Fairytale of New York. Just a magnificent room to be in.
December 13, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Ragged, late-night Fairytale of New York. Just a magnificent room to be in.
Easily my favourite science fiction of the 21st century.
Still time to get the "Too Like the Lightning" ebook for $2.99 today in the goldbox sale: www.amazon.com/Too-Like-Lig...
December 11, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Easily my favourite science fiction of the 21st century.
Fifty Songs From This Year That I Think Are Good (best played on shuffle)
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Zh...
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Zh...
2025 songs
open.spotify.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Fifty Songs From This Year That I Think Are Good (best played on shuffle)
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Zh...
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Zh...
Mark Gatiss is adapting Benson's The Room in the Tower this Christmas! Probably in my top five ghost stories, that one. Properly frightening stuff.
December 10, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Mark Gatiss is adapting Benson's The Room in the Tower this Christmas! Probably in my top five ghost stories, that one. Properly frightening stuff.
May we all aspire the formal invention of late-period Hey Duggee.
December 4, 2025 at 10:18 AM
May we all aspire the formal invention of late-period Hey Duggee.
Among many other wonderful birthday presents, my wife got me a t-shirt with the character art Kyle Ferrin did of my #over/under character!
Looking forward to using this to baffle strangers.
Looking forward to using this to baffle strangers.
December 1, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Among many other wonderful birthday presents, my wife got me a t-shirt with the character art Kyle Ferrin did of my #over/under character!
Looking forward to using this to baffle strangers.
Looking forward to using this to baffle strangers.
God I loved Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog as a kid. a couple of years ago I checked on YouTube to see whether it still held up and My Word it did *not* hold up.
Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog Pasta (1998-1999): Canned pasta in a tomato/cheese sauce from Franco-American, shaped like weapons, a castle, and a dragon from the short-lived Fox Kids action-fantasy series from Saban, which was set in ancient Ireland
November 30, 2025 at 10:10 PM
God I loved Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog as a kid. a couple of years ago I checked on YouTube to see whether it still held up and My Word it did *not* hold up.
