Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
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jonasmerlin.bsky.social
Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
@jonasmerlin.bsky.social
I wish I could but I would prefer not to.

(Morally) good negotiator.
four books to get to know me
October 27, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
Personally I think there's significance in the fact that Mr. Rogers doesn't try to claim that his drawing is just as good as anyone else's, and instead he's honest that it's *not* a good drawing, and affirms that it's worth doing anyway. I think that's important.
October 10, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
I wanted to share this funeral photography I captured in 2019 for a woman whose beloved Friesian mare had passed away. I still think about this experience often, it was such a privilege to be part of that moment. There was deep sadness, but also an incredible amount of love and even laughter.
September 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Just added the first pattern written by someone else to the OSR Adventure Pattern Language. It's "One, Two, or Three Exits" by @samseer.bsky.social, and it's a really good one!

#ttrpg #osr

ttrpg-pattern-language.vercel.app/one-two-or-t...
One, Two, or Three Exits
ttrpg-pattern-language.vercel.app
September 1, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
You've started something, you mad wizard. My contribution is below.

[An OSR Pattern] One, Two, or Three Exits

sam-seer.blogspot.com/2025/08/an-o...
August 30, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
"You can't strike, you're too important" from a judge or government should instantly make you side with the people striking. They're *that* important but they get treated like shit? Nah. Naaaah. Let the government force better conditions.
August 17, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Yo, you, stop what you're doing. I just learned that there's a version of the Hobbit illustrated by Tove Jansson!
August 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
There's a genre of advice that's basically "if you want to do X, read/do things outside of X," which I feel gets misinterpreted a lot as "don't read/do X". But the advice really is that you should read/do things both inside and outside of X. So... read/do many things is what I'm saying, I guess.
August 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I think understanding the existence of, and differences between, playstyles should be one of the earliest concepts to learn when getting into TTRPGs. This video does a great job of summarising and expanding on The Retired Adventurer’s post on the topic!
Did something a little different this week!

A video about 8 different #ttrpg playstyles and how to find games to suit your style. Inspired by The Retired Adventurer's article: Six Cultures of Play. retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-...

youtu.be/P7udGsX0SMw
How to find the right TTRPG for your playstyle
YouTube video by Cozy RPG Reviews
youtu.be
August 11, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
This post is a thought experiment, but one I would love to see explored further and for other gameplay styles. It would be incredibly interesting to see what a work based on this model looks like, and even more so as points of comparison between pattern languages!
August 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
A wrote a few words on what A Pattern Language for TTRPG/OSR adventure design might look like.

dungeon-merlin.leaflet.pub/3lw2nzp6yls2y

#ttrpg #osr
A Pattern Language for (OSR) Adventure Design - Dungeon Merlin
dungeon-merlin.leaflet.pub
August 10, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
My recommendation is, very strongly, that you learn to code if you want to and think it'll be fun, because in 20 years you'll be one of a dwindling number of people who actually know how anything works.
August 7, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Why is everybody always talking about Huizinga's magic circle and whether it's a good or useful concept, when they could also talk about the fact that the opening of the book fucking rules?
August 1, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Hex Kid progress report #003: basic grid in place, including offset and orientation selection

#ttrpg #osr
July 31, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
Why am I reading portrait PDFs on my landscape monitor? RPGs could embrace digital-native design with tooltips, integrated dice rollers, and responsive layouts instead of treating screens like worse paper.
dicegoblin.blog/why-the-fuck...
Why The Fuck Am I Reading RPG PDFs On My Computer?
Work on DANGER CLOSE is progressing, but as it progresses, I’m thinking about the pending task of layout. This had me thinking about something else. I LOVE print and PDFs – but I person…
dicegoblin.blog
July 30, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Hex Kid progress report #001: elegant hover animations ✅

#ttrpg #osr
July 30, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
“Nobody loved the library more than Dan.”

A meticulous list kept by Dan Pelzer from 1962-2025, cataloging all the books he borrowed and read from the Columbus Metropolitan Library, shared by his daughter.

I could not could not love this more.

Dan's book list (all 109 pages) at what-dan-read.com
July 23, 2025 at 9:47 AM
This week for @leaflet.pub's summer pub club, I let @bastionland.bsky.social's Mythic Bastionland inspire me create & publish an early version of a set of hex tiles based on paintings from The Met collection:

jonasmerlin.itch.io/the-met-coll...

#ttrpg #osr
The Met Collection Hex Tiles v0.1 by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
Hex tiles for Hex Kit
jonasmerlin.itch.io
July 19, 2025 at 11:20 AM
My timeline's friendship with holes ended. Now small flying creatures holding staffs are its best friend.
July 18, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Dreading that feeling of having to come up with a sweet mobile lair concept on the spot? Not anymore!

#ttrpg #osr

dungeon-merlin.leaflet.pub/3lt6dz5j5bc22
Mobile Lair Generator - Dungeon Merlin
dungeon-merlin.leaflet.pub
July 4, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
New month, new Carouse, Carouse!

This time, I'm getting spicy about subtweeting (and a lot of people write more interesting things).

www.carouse.blog/july-2025-ju...
July, 2025 - July, July!
We're halfway through the year now, and what have we got to show for it, a handful of RPG newsletters published? A long list of cool blog posts read (perhaps we should be taking notes, so we don't for...
www.carouse.blog
July 1, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
Explorateur #9 is live and over encumbered with design links.

www.explorersdesign.com/the-explorat...

I'll share some of the standouts here on Bluesky...
The Explorateur: Issue #9
Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.
www.explorersdesign.com
July 1, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
Instead of penalizing being overencumbered, what if there was a reward to carrying fewer items than your capacity? Would this make encumbrance tracking something players want to do instead of a chore? Read the thought experiment
#osr #ttrpg
Advantage by Default — Prismatic Wasteland
Instead of punishing being over-encumbered, would players be more willing to track their inventory if we rewarded being under-encumbered?
www.prismaticwasteland.com
July 1, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Just released my first little TTRPG thing: jonasmerlin.itch.io/robot-bee-be...

It's a science-fantasy themed character background for Cairn 2e, inspired by this great jam, which has a whole bunch of super flavourful backgrounds: itch.io/jam/cairn-ba...

#ttrpg #osr
Robot-Bee Beekeeper - Cairn 2e Background by Jonas-Merlin Schumacher
A Science-Fantasy themed background for Cairn 2nd Edition.
jonasmerlin.itch.io
June 30, 2025 at 3:11 PM