Doc Steve
@docsteve2020.bsky.social
Gamer, husband, father, and grandfather. Grizzled veteran of the Edition Wars. Our hobbies are better when everyone gets to participate. He/Him.
“Future Site of Walmart”
November 28, 2025 at 7:22 PM
“Future Site of Walmart”
I miss Forever Knight
Canada made weird tv shows because it was all being done with government funded art grant money so they fell in this wacky middle ground between “shoestring budget” and “no expectation to generate shareholder value” which is really the best way to make art
November 27, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I miss Forever Knight
Wing Commander Privateer. I loved that game.
November 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Wing Commander Privateer. I loved that game.
Darth Vader. Was the first character I ever saw of the franchise in ‘77 when I was five. Responsible for my love of imposing characters dressed in black
When yall were kids (think like.. age 4-12) what was the coolest character design you had ever seen that was super formative?
November 26, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Darth Vader. Was the first character I ever saw of the franchise in ‘77 when I was five. Responsible for my love of imposing characters dressed in black
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
November 25, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
Reposted by Doc Steve
Share a TV series you've watched from beginning to end more than once.
November 19, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Share a TV series you've watched from beginning to end more than once.
I am really struggling to understand the underlying reasons for the metaplot events in the current (6th) edition of Shadowrun, especially since some core sourcebooks have already been released. Seems like something that should have been done at the end of last edition... unless 7e is in the cards.
November 14, 2025 at 2:12 AM
I am really struggling to understand the underlying reasons for the metaplot events in the current (6th) edition of Shadowrun, especially since some core sourcebooks have already been released. Seems like something that should have been done at the end of last edition... unless 7e is in the cards.
There is a sweet spot in games for me: I want a robust rule system to run a game but not so many rules that it becomes the centerpoint of that game, if you get my meaning.
Say it louder for folks in the back! It's come off to me that as of late alot of games try to tout themselves on "not restricting play" or being open but what they really are doing is leaving absolutely no structure to it
I dont care if you've got 15 pages of lore & pictures. How am I running this!
I dont care if you've got 15 pages of lore & pictures. How am I running this!
#TTRPGs are an interpretative medium. But here's the catch:
For players to interpret a game THERE HAS TO BE A GAME THERE.
If your solution to game design is not designing, you're not presenting a game to be interpreted, you're presenting vibes & expecting the players to design the game themselves.
For players to interpret a game THERE HAS TO BE A GAME THERE.
If your solution to game design is not designing, you're not presenting a game to be interpreted, you're presenting vibes & expecting the players to design the game themselves.
November 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
There is a sweet spot in games for me: I want a robust rule system to run a game but not so many rules that it becomes the centerpoint of that game, if you get my meaning.
To continue my thought from another thread:
Continuity, especially in games, serves as a framework of understanding between the gamemaster and the players. Its simply a tool and not holy writ.
What King Bob did 1000 years ago is not as important as what your players are doing now.
Continuity, especially in games, serves as a framework of understanding between the gamemaster and the players. Its simply a tool and not holy writ.
What King Bob did 1000 years ago is not as important as what your players are doing now.
November 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM
To continue my thought from another thread:
Continuity, especially in games, serves as a framework of understanding between the gamemaster and the players. Its simply a tool and not holy writ.
What King Bob did 1000 years ago is not as important as what your players are doing now.
Continuity, especially in games, serves as a framework of understanding between the gamemaster and the players. Its simply a tool and not holy writ.
What King Bob did 1000 years ago is not as important as what your players are doing now.
I am finding it easier to treat ALL lore-dumps as first person narration. Because, narrators can have skewed opinions, mislead, or are just mistaken about facts.
Its easier to reinterpret the lore than work around it.
Its easier to reinterpret the lore than work around it.
In the medium of games, specifically, I would say that this sort of rigid adherence to “the lore” does more damage than good. Games thrive on authenticity, not dogma.
Secondarily, it creates an inflexible “true state” that curtails players’ ability to act in the opportunity space the game proposes.
Secondarily, it creates an inflexible “true state” that curtails players’ ability to act in the opportunity space the game proposes.
Obsessive devotion to continuity is the enemy of epic/mythological storytelling—especially when there are many authors involved. Whether we're talking about Star Wars, superheroes, or Bond, the answer is to nail the essence of the story and care less about making it all "fit."
November 11, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I am finding it easier to treat ALL lore-dumps as first person narration. Because, narrators can have skewed opinions, mislead, or are just mistaken about facts.
Its easier to reinterpret the lore than work around it.
Its easier to reinterpret the lore than work around it.
And you will never make it all fit - the longer a franchise goes, the harder it is to reconcile everything.
Sure, if you need to, make the big slabs of continuity reconcile with each other, but you'll never make all the little bits of lore and minutiae fit. In there lies madness.
Sure, if you need to, make the big slabs of continuity reconcile with each other, but you'll never make all the little bits of lore and minutiae fit. In there lies madness.
Obsessive devotion to continuity is the enemy of epic/mythological storytelling—especially when there are many authors involved. Whether we're talking about Star Wars, superheroes, or Bond, the answer is to nail the essence of the story and care less about making it all "fit."
Or just have him start the next film alive and well and then at some point have someone be like "Bond! I thought you got blown up!" And then have him quip "you know better than to listen to rumors," or "what can I say? That was no time to die" and then absolutely refuse to explain further
November 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
And you will never make it all fit - the longer a franchise goes, the harder it is to reconcile everything.
Sure, if you need to, make the big slabs of continuity reconcile with each other, but you'll never make all the little bits of lore and minutiae fit. In there lies madness.
Sure, if you need to, make the big slabs of continuity reconcile with each other, but you'll never make all the little bits of lore and minutiae fit. In there lies madness.
I really need to catch up on this AP.
New episode of Black Armada Tales is here!
I've been a bit slow in posting recently because the kickstarter kinda wiped me out.
But we are playing Ex Tenebris the star spanning, gothic space investigation game and if that sounds like your jam the please check it out!
#actualplay #realplay #ttrpg
I've been a bit slow in posting recently because the kickstarter kinda wiped me out.
But we are playing Ex Tenebris the star spanning, gothic space investigation game and if that sounds like your jam the please check it out!
#actualplay #realplay #ttrpg
Ex Tenebris part 14 (episode 182)
Podcast Episode · Black Armada Tales · 04/11/2025 · 45m
podcasts.apple.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I really need to catch up on this AP.
Blocklists were an easy way to get into this platform without having to manually block a lot of problematic accounts. I don’t feel the need to engage with people I don’t want to engage with.
Blocking hatemongers is one thing but this trend of using mass block lists to avoid hearing from people who might or might not hold points of view you expect to disagree with is unhealthy imo and hurts the platform.
Bluesky was better off with folks like Margaret Mitchell and Giada Pistilli on it.
Bluesky was better off with folks like Margaret Mitchell and Giada Pistilli on it.
November 3, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Blocklists were an easy way to get into this platform without having to manually block a lot of problematic accounts. I don’t feel the need to engage with people I don’t want to engage with.
Yep, and if a company ever knowingly uses AI (I am looking at you Pelgrane Press), I will NEVER buy anything more from you, whether its AI-generated or not.
I woke up and chose violence today. Do I'll day it with my full chest. Fuck AI! The TTRPG space is built on heaps on creativity and using it cheapens the hard work countless artists, writers and game designers put into it. While the picture is images, I mean all Gen Ai uses!
October 29, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Yep, and if a company ever knowingly uses AI (I am looking at you Pelgrane Press), I will NEVER buy anything more from you, whether its AI-generated or not.
This is straight up Maurader shit - @thetechnocracy.bsky.social this is all your fault!
Tag yourself! I’m bus that is actually a train and inexplicably leaves a ladder behind when it pulls away and turns into another train inside/ adjacent to itself.
Oh my god some fucking tech dingdong posted this on Twitter with the caption "AI games are going to be amazing" totally seriously, you have to watch it. You have to. In full screen.
October 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This is straight up Maurader shit - @thetechnocracy.bsky.social this is all your fault!
what's it like inside your head?
October 23, 2025 at 10:18 PM
what's it like inside your head?
Reposted by Doc Steve
TIL Space Wars Explained exists in Star Wars canon now 👀
October 14, 2025 at 1:25 PM
TIL Space Wars Explained exists in Star Wars canon now 👀
If I am honest it was Immortal: the Invisible War. Sure, it was a very odd game and it so wanted to be like the World of Darkness, but as a small press book it blew me away with its cosmology, ideas, and presentation.
It was my first glimpse into what smaller press could accomplish.
It was my first glimpse into what smaller press could accomplish.
For tons of folks, there was that -one- game that blew the doors open and showed what #TTRPGs could be. The one that started the #IndieGame rabbit hole.
What was YOUR "gateway" indie #TTRPG? The first one that made you realize a whole other world was out there?
What was YOUR "gateway" indie #TTRPG? The first one that made you realize a whole other world was out there?
October 13, 2025 at 11:43 PM
If I am honest it was Immortal: the Invisible War. Sure, it was a very odd game and it so wanted to be like the World of Darkness, but as a small press book it blew me away with its cosmology, ideas, and presentation.
It was my first glimpse into what smaller press could accomplish.
It was my first glimpse into what smaller press could accomplish.
Star Wars. Once it hit the area I was hooked on the franchise. I had the trading cards, action figures, etc.
3. What is one film you always associate with your childhood?
October 10, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Star Wars. Once it hit the area I was hooked on the franchise. I had the trading cards, action figures, etc.
Good gosh, there is a lot of Crowdfunds lately.
I've already had to readjust because of finances - I want to back a bunch more than I have, but I don't have the cash flow right now.
Some I don't back I'll come back later in Late Pledges - just because I don't back now doesn't mean I won't later.
I've already had to readjust because of finances - I want to back a bunch more than I have, but I don't have the cash flow right now.
Some I don't back I'll come back later in Late Pledges - just because I don't back now doesn't mean I won't later.
October 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Good gosh, there is a lot of Crowdfunds lately.
I've already had to readjust because of finances - I want to back a bunch more than I have, but I don't have the cash flow right now.
Some I don't back I'll come back later in Late Pledges - just because I don't back now doesn't mean I won't later.
I've already had to readjust because of finances - I want to back a bunch more than I have, but I don't have the cash flow right now.
Some I don't back I'll come back later in Late Pledges - just because I don't back now doesn't mean I won't later.
This was an easy back.
I've been looking for a weird western game to replace a certain other setting who's owner I know longer wish to support.
This is it.
I've been looking for a weird western game to replace a certain other setting who's owner I know longer wish to support.
This is it.
The Wyrd cannot be stopped! Funded in under 30 minutes and burning through stretch goals, Huckleberry is LIVE now on BackerKit. This bespoke system naturally creates cinematic moments and can be learned in 20 minutes.
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/h...
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/h...
Huckleberry: A Wyrd West RPG
Huckleberry is a TTRPG about tragic cowboys in a world doomed to calamity… unless you save it. Take on the profession of a Maverick: a grizzled bounty hunter who rides out beyond the bounds of civiliz...
www.backerkit.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
This was an easy back.
I've been looking for a weird western game to replace a certain other setting who's owner I know longer wish to support.
This is it.
I've been looking for a weird western game to replace a certain other setting who's owner I know longer wish to support.
This is it.
Reposted by Doc Steve
There is of course an actual campaign in the last few hours... if you were worried about probability curves and @armadajosh.bsky.social has soothed any concerns then you can back the 2d10 game here ;)
#ttrpg #dice #kickstarter #probabilitybellcurves
#ttrpg #dice #kickstarter #probabilitybellcurves
October 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
There is of course an actual campaign in the last few hours... if you were worried about probability curves and @armadajosh.bsky.social has soothed any concerns then you can back the 2d10 game here ;)
#ttrpg #dice #kickstarter #probabilitybellcurves
#ttrpg #dice #kickstarter #probabilitybellcurves