Juhana Pettersson
@juhanaonparas.bsky.social
Writer, roleplaying game and larp designer. Former Lead Developer for World of Darkness releases at Renegade Game Studio, now off to new, as of yet unannounced projects.
www.juhanapettersson.com
www.juhanapettersson.com
Brazil's system dealt with their wannabe dictator. I hope that in the U.S. and Europe, we'll manage the same. Developments like the breaking of the firewall in the European Parliament are not promising.
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Brazil's system dealt with their wannabe dictator. I hope that in the U.S. and Europe, we'll manage the same. Developments like the breaking of the firewall in the European Parliament are not promising.
Reposted by Juhana Pettersson
Many folks' final assessment of Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser---the closest thing to a multi-million-dollar larp experience we've ever gotten and one of Disney's highest-ever-rated attractions---came from a 4-hour complaint video about its game app, instantly accepted as sacred dogma.
Whenever I say this, people get Really Mad, but it's true. Same of any other art, too. You have to read the book, watch the film, see the painting, listen to the song, whatever.
I'm sorry, but watching a video about it on YouTube is not enough. You have not experience the art.
I'm sorry, but watching a video about it on YouTube is not enough. You have not experience the art.
"you have not played the game unless you've played the game" is one of my more annoying but unshakable opinions
November 26, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Many folks' final assessment of Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser---the closest thing to a multi-million-dollar larp experience we've ever gotten and one of Disney's highest-ever-rated attractions---came from a 4-hour complaint video about its game app, instantly accepted as sacred dogma.
Reposted by Juhana Pettersson
SADAKO for VOGUE JAPAN
November 24, 2025 at 10:08 PM
SADAKO for VOGUE JAPAN
A good introduction to the Swedish roleplaying tradition. I was surprised to see a couple of my games get mentioned too.
🚃 the #TTRPG culture train is on the way to Europe!! First stop: SWEDEN (and honorable mentions of other Nordic games!
We need to talk about Swedish TTRPGs
YouTube video by Weird Place
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 10:02 AM
A good introduction to the Swedish roleplaying tradition. I was surprised to see a couple of my games get mentioned too.
Reposted by Juhana Pettersson
Of course I would say this, but we need to talk about the moral & ideological case for play & leisure more than ever. So much political discourse - especially from the super-rich - assumes we ought to construct society around forcing citizens to spend most of their one, unrepeatable life working.
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Of course I would say this, but we need to talk about the moral & ideological case for play & leisure more than ever. So much political discourse - especially from the super-rich - assumes we ought to construct society around forcing citizens to spend most of their one, unrepeatable life working.
This fall, I've been doing a learning project about boardgames, documented in blog posts. I've set a few different goals for myself:
- Become able to answer the question "What kind of boardgames do you like?" in specific terms.
(con't)
www.juhanapettersson.com/category/100...
- Become able to answer the question "What kind of boardgames do you like?" in specific terms.
(con't)
www.juhanapettersson.com/category/100...
100 Boardgames – Juhana Pettersson
www.juhanapettersson.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:18 PM
This fall, I've been doing a learning project about boardgames, documented in blog posts. I've set a few different goals for myself:
- Become able to answer the question "What kind of boardgames do you like?" in specific terms.
(con't)
www.juhanapettersson.com/category/100...
- Become able to answer the question "What kind of boardgames do you like?" in specific terms.
(con't)
www.juhanapettersson.com/category/100...
Reposted by Juhana Pettersson
I enjoyed this a lot, and learned some stuff.
It's not just a polemic about new stuff being bad, it's a sincere look at what makes a movie feel "real."
youtu.be/tvwPKBXEOKE?...
It's not just a polemic about new stuff being bad, it's a sincere look at what makes a movie feel "real."
youtu.be/tvwPKBXEOKE?...
Why Movies Just Don't Feel "Real" Anymore
YouTube video by Like Stories of Old
youtu.be
November 18, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I enjoyed this a lot, and learned some stuff.
It's not just a polemic about new stuff being bad, it's a sincere look at what makes a movie feel "real."
youtu.be/tvwPKBXEOKE?...
It's not just a polemic about new stuff being bad, it's a sincere look at what makes a movie feel "real."
youtu.be/tvwPKBXEOKE?...
I have a burning desire to get the physical editions of these books but alas... No shipping to Europe. Folks in Team America will have to get them, appreciate them, and love them for me.
The Designers & Dragons: Origins backerkit has just three days to go!
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...
Designers & Dragons: Origins
From the birth of roleplaying to the discovery of the Forgotten Realms, from the rise of Basic D&D to the fall of Mystara, historian Shannon Appelcline brings you the story of OD&D, Basic D&D, and AD&...
www.backerkit.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I have a burning desire to get the physical editions of these books but alas... No shipping to Europe. Folks in Team America will have to get them, appreciate them, and love them for me.
Amazing Commissar character power in Only War
November 17, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Amazing Commissar character power in Only War
Yesterday, I had a chance to run a game at a house con organized by a friend. Over the years, I've developed a personal method of running games that has been fairly successful, but also hard to package into a release.
November 16, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Yesterday, I had a chance to run a game at a house con organized by a friend. Over the years, I've developed a personal method of running games that has been fairly successful, but also hard to package into a release.
Others have made the same observation many times before but watching the first Predator movie, it's really striking how it both glories in musclebound machismo and presents it as a total failure. These super masculine men with their huge guns each die panicking helplessly in the jungle.
November 16, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Others have made the same observation many times before but watching the first Predator movie, it's really striking how it both glories in musclebound machismo and presents it as a total failure. These super masculine men with their huge guns each die panicking helplessly in the jungle.
With Civilization VII, I was thinking of a fail state in game design where the designer is so deep in their intricacies of the system they have designed, the meanings people ascribe to words and experiences are lost. It looks great from the top down but less so from the eye level of the player.
November 15, 2025 at 7:51 PM
With Civilization VII, I was thinking of a fail state in game design where the designer is so deep in their intricacies of the system they have designed, the meanings people ascribe to words and experiences are lost. It looks great from the top down but less so from the eye level of the player.
Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion (Official Music Video) [HD]
YouTube video by RHINO
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I once bought a bubblegum vending machine on the vague hope that I could do something cool with it but never did. Yet the dream lives thanks to Jason!
I made a bunch of games and game-like objects that fit in vending machine 1" capsules
Will you be at #PAXU? Stop by Booth #4349 and check out our cool Bubble Gum Games machine!
November 13, 2025 at 10:06 PM
I once bought a bubblegum vending machine on the vague hope that I could do something cool with it but never did. Yet the dream lives thanks to Jason!
I admit that I didn't expect the malignant doll genre concept to be made real quite so quickly but in a world driven by AI hype all things are possible!
toy company CEOs: "at long last, we have created the Sinister Talking Doll Factory from the acclaimed movie 'Don't Create the Sinister Talking Doll Factory'"
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
AI-Powered Toys Caught Telling 5-Year-Olds How to Find Knives and Start Fires With Matches
AI-powered toys are flying off the shelves -- but they're engaging in horrifically inappropriate conversations with children.
futurism.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I admit that I didn't expect the malignant doll genre concept to be made real quite so quickly but in a world driven by AI hype all things are possible!
Terraforming Mars made me nostalgic for Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy: www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
100 Boardgames: Terraforming Mars – Prelude (15/100) – Juhana Pettersson
www.juhanapettersson.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Terraforming Mars made me nostalgic for Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy: www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
MERP was one of the first roleplaying games I ever encountered, or KERP (Keskimaa Roolipeli) as it was published in 1994 in a Finnish edition. It had rich, complex mechanics that felt like strange territory you had to explore and map out, like an adventurer setting out to explore the wilds.
One time at GenCon, I had an amazing chat with one of the original MERP developers. Now this wasn’t Pete Fenlon who I spoke to (in a state of awe) the next year. I never got this fellow’s name, and it’s really bugged me ever since. And over time the convo with him and Pete F have sorta merged. 1/4
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
MERP was one of the first roleplaying games I ever encountered, or KERP (Keskimaa Roolipeli) as it was published in 1994 in a Finnish edition. It had rich, complex mechanics that felt like strange territory you had to explore and map out, like an adventurer setting out to explore the wilds.
In retrospect, pre-enshittification Google search was miraculously good. It's loss contributes greatly to the current feeling of online barrenness.
The Enshittification of Google will go down in history as a second burning of the Library of Alexandria.
To have the accumulated knowledge of humanity at your fingertips and turn it into the pile of slop it is today is a crime against humanity.
To have the accumulated knowledge of humanity at your fingertips and turn it into the pile of slop it is today is a crime against humanity.
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
In retrospect, pre-enshittification Google search was miraculously good. It's loss contributes greatly to the current feeling of online barrenness.
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization reminded me of playing Monopoly as a child: www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
100 Boardgames: Through the Ages – A New Story of Civilization (14/100) – Juhana Pettersson
www.juhanapettersson.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization reminded me of playing Monopoly as a child: www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
I mean... Why else would we have all these dice?
November 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I mean... Why else would we have all these dice?
Reposted by Juhana Pettersson
Dungeness & Dragons
November 7, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Dungeness & Dragons
Reposted by Juhana Pettersson
Sometimes you learn about an upcoming game and your initial reaction is total astonishment that no-one has thought of this concept before gamefound.com/en/projects/...
Vampire Lords by Couple of Games - Gamefound
As the fires of war burn across XVth-century Romania, the vampires emerge from the shadows, ready to claim dominion over the realm of mortals. Will you rise to rival the legend of Vlad Dracula?
Sink y...
gamefound.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Sometimes you learn about an upcoming game and your initial reaction is total astonishment that no-one has thought of this concept before gamefound.com/en/projects/...
Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia was interesting because the reasoning behind it's title became readily apparent during play: You're not changing the dystopia, you're just making it run smoother.
www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
100 Boardgames: Euphoria – Build a Better Dystopia (13/100) – Juhana Pettersson
www.juhanapettersson.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia was interesting because the reasoning behind it's title became readily apparent during play: You're not changing the dystopia, you're just making it run smoother.
www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
www.juhanapettersson.com/100-boardgam...
Do you have an example of a boardgame that feels like it explores ideas and concepts through mechanics, visuals and other thematic experience in a significant and meaningful way?
I mean, as in beyond the norm.
I felt Spirit Island and Ark Nova do this, of the games I've played recently.
I mean, as in beyond the norm.
I felt Spirit Island and Ark Nova do this, of the games I've played recently.
November 5, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Do you have an example of a boardgame that feels like it explores ideas and concepts through mechanics, visuals and other thematic experience in a significant and meaningful way?
I mean, as in beyond the norm.
I felt Spirit Island and Ark Nova do this, of the games I've played recently.
I mean, as in beyond the norm.
I felt Spirit Island and Ark Nova do this, of the games I've played recently.