Mark "Neomaxim" Gottlieb
@newtruthneomaxim.bsky.social
Screenwriter in another life, now enjoying a second act as a designer in the RPG, and tabletop gaming space.
Empathy matters. Whatever finds you here reading this, just know you are in a safe space, and are appreciated for whoever you are.
Empathy matters. Whatever finds you here reading this, just know you are in a safe space, and are appreciated for whoever you are.
We made another game!
Demon Castle Mononoke Prototype Unboxing
YouTube video by Cardboard Revolution
www.youtube.com
July 15, 2025 at 8:35 PM
We made another game!
So nice to write something positive for once, but OH MAN, is "Clair Obscur" the best video-game I have played in years, if not a decade. Thoughtful, emotionally and intellectually complex, a banger soundtrack, and incredible game-play. It hits like an all-timer, like Chrono Trigger, or FF6!
a man and a woman are holding hands in a dark room
ALT: a man and a woman are holding hands in a dark room
media.tenor.com
April 28, 2025 at 7:57 PM
So nice to write something positive for once, but OH MAN, is "Clair Obscur" the best video-game I have played in years, if not a decade. Thoughtful, emotionally and intellectually complex, a banger soundtrack, and incredible game-play. It hits like an all-timer, like Chrono Trigger, or FF6!
Wow, now Boardlandia is gone thanks to the tariff shitshow. Every day hurts the board-game, miniature game space even more than the last. These things compound, and soon these hobbies will be in a decade long hibernation.
April 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Wow, now Boardlandia is gone thanks to the tariff shitshow. Every day hurts the board-game, miniature game space even more than the last. These things compound, and soon these hobbies will be in a decade long hibernation.
Oh man, "Post Trauma" on PC, PS5 etc is just awful. I dragged myself through it, but it is an embarrassingly unsubtle pastiche of the worst Silent Hill sequels. Same day Clair Obscur is dropping jaws for its take on serious issues, this game is just awful. Got a review copy and still want a refund.
a cartoon of spongebob with a rainbow behind him and the words trauma
ALT: a cartoon of spongebob with a rainbow behind him and the words trauma
media.tenor.com
April 23, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Oh man, "Post Trauma" on PC, PS5 etc is just awful. I dragged myself through it, but it is an embarrassingly unsubtle pastiche of the worst Silent Hill sequels. Same day Clair Obscur is dropping jaws for its take on serious issues, this game is just awful. Got a review copy and still want a refund.
New ""Tariffs"" are absolutely shattering the miniature war-gaming industry. Just had three companies pull out of deals with me as they are legitimately afraid their businesses just became unsustainable. Gamers are about to freak when they hear which Kickstarters might suddenly not be delivering.
April 3, 2025 at 8:17 PM
New ""Tariffs"" are absolutely shattering the miniature war-gaming industry. Just had three companies pull out of deals with me as they are legitimately afraid their businesses just became unsustainable. Gamers are about to freak when they hear which Kickstarters might suddenly not be delivering.
Holy crap is Gudnak a SPECIAL game! Magic the Gathering, sprinkled with Warhammer and a bit of Chess! Check this game out, and if you back from my link you help get my goodest boy Caliban INTO the game as an official card!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cha...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cha...
Gudnak Card Game - Big Plays, Bolder Moves and Epic Battles
Marvorren expansion is here! Dive deeper into Gudnak - an expandable, tactical card game where every card is broken. It’s MtG for dads.
www.kickstarter.com
March 15, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Holy crap is Gudnak a SPECIAL game! Magic the Gathering, sprinkled with Warhammer and a bit of Chess! Check this game out, and if you back from my link you help get my goodest boy Caliban INTO the game as an official card!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cha...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cha...
After watching "The Gorge" on Apple+, I have decided the sub-genre of "body horror/rom-com" shall forever be known as "Cute-Meat".
February 15, 2025 at 3:36 PM
After watching "The Gorge" on Apple+, I have decided the sub-genre of "body horror/rom-com" shall forever be known as "Cute-Meat".
Co-pilot Caliban.
February 7, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Co-pilot Caliban.
RIP to an absolute legend, David Lynch. Without him serialized TV shows as you know them wouldn't exist. Don't pour one out for him, but maybe have a damn good cup of coffee (and hot). :-(
January 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
RIP to an absolute legend, David Lynch. Without him serialized TV shows as you know them wouldn't exist. Don't pour one out for him, but maybe have a damn good cup of coffee (and hot). :-(
Not really feeling Wayfinder, by Airship Syndicate, but respect them turning another games-as-service nightmare, into a proper game. A slippery arpg that sort of feels akin to Hellgate London. A decent game, but just not for me.
January 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Not really feeling Wayfinder, by Airship Syndicate, but respect them turning another games-as-service nightmare, into a proper game. A slippery arpg that sort of feels akin to Hellgate London. A decent game, but just not for me.
Played my first new indie of 2025, Ghost Lore, a Malaysian take on Diablo made by one person. Far from perfect but loads of incredibly creative systems. Keep supporting super indies, as its how we also get Balatros, Staredew Valleys, etc!!!
store.steampowered.com/app/1783280/...
store.steampowered.com/app/1783280/...
Ghostlore on Steam
Ghostlore is an 'Eastpunk' Action-RPG where you fight supernatural monsters from Southeast-Asian folklore. Inspired by classic ARPGs such as Diablo 2 and Titan Quest, Ghostlore features detailed item ...
store.steampowered.com
January 3, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Played my first new indie of 2025, Ghost Lore, a Malaysian take on Diablo made by one person. Far from perfect but loads of incredibly creative systems. Keep supporting super indies, as its how we also get Balatros, Staredew Valleys, etc!!!
store.steampowered.com/app/1783280/...
store.steampowered.com/app/1783280/...
"Bramble: The Mountain King" is one of my favorite games of the year. "Inside" + "Ico" with incredibly affecting Scandinavian folklore. Between it and "Mouthwashing" I have had a very special week with video games!
December 14, 2024 at 9:46 PM
"Bramble: The Mountain King" is one of my favorite games of the year. "Inside" + "Ico" with incredibly affecting Scandinavian folklore. Between it and "Mouthwashing" I have had a very special week with video games!
I feel ancient right now. I remember watching this live and being captivated. Obviously non-canon though as Dr. Doom would never be defeated by such pedants!
Fun Fact: The MCU isn’t actually based on Marvel Comics. It’s based on this 1987 Marvel Universe Thanksgiving Parade performance:
December 2, 2024 at 11:26 PM
I feel ancient right now. I remember watching this live and being captivated. Obviously non-canon though as Dr. Doom would never be defeated by such pedants!
Reposted by Mark "Neomaxim" Gottlieb
Fun Fact: The MCU isn’t actually based on Marvel Comics. It’s based on this 1987 Marvel Universe Thanksgiving Parade performance:
November 28, 2024 at 5:42 PM
Fun Fact: The MCU isn’t actually based on Marvel Comics. It’s based on this 1987 Marvel Universe Thanksgiving Parade performance:
Less and less do I find myself excited by games from gross game-mills as Wizards/Hasbro, or CMoN, as they lose a lot of allure once you see them as soulless cash-grabs, but they do make occasional winners... Man, Marvel United is a rare casual game that I just can't get enough of. Megaverse mod is😍
December 1, 2024 at 8:16 PM
Less and less do I find myself excited by games from gross game-mills as Wizards/Hasbro, or CMoN, as they lose a lot of allure once you see them as soulless cash-grabs, but they do make occasional winners... Man, Marvel United is a rare casual game that I just can't get enough of. Megaverse mod is😍
As a severely disabled gamer, videogames can sometimes feel frustratingly like they have left me behind... But seeing accessibility controls go mainstream is something I never expected. Our world can be a tough, hard place...but once in a while we do something pretty cool!
www.8bitdo.com/lite-se/
www.8bitdo.com/lite-se/
Lite SE 8BitDo
Lite SE was designed to be a compact, mobile, and reasonably priced controller to meet the needs of gamers with limited mobility.
www.8bitdo.com
November 29, 2024 at 11:58 PM
As a severely disabled gamer, videogames can sometimes feel frustratingly like they have left me behind... But seeing accessibility controls go mainstream is something I never expected. Our world can be a tough, hard place...but once in a while we do something pretty cool!
www.8bitdo.com/lite-se/
www.8bitdo.com/lite-se/
Just putting feelers out for my first few folks here. What indie actual-plays might you want to see? Armoured Clash is getting painted, but any interest in Spearhead bat-reps? RPGs like Black Sword Hack? RPG-Boardgame like Ker Nethalas? Anything that usually doesn't get a spotlight.
November 27, 2024 at 10:39 PM
Just putting feelers out for my first few folks here. What indie actual-plays might you want to see? Armoured Clash is getting painted, but any interest in Spearhead bat-reps? RPGs like Black Sword Hack? RPG-Boardgame like Ker Nethalas? Anything that usually doesn't get a spotlight.
Quickly wanted to mention Toby Lancaster's awesome "2d6 Dungeon" games as they are great intros to solo RPGs thanks to a boardgame DNA that kind of holds your hand as you learn about the hobby. Also the faux-leather books are gorgeous. Current KS has a tier for all books that is a wild value!
2D6 Legendary Dungeon - A Dungeon Crawler
An Expansion for 2D6 Dungeon - A Print and Play, Roll and Write, Dungeon Crawler, Solo Player Game designed by Toby Lancaster
www.kickstarter.com
November 27, 2024 at 4:39 PM
Quickly wanted to mention Toby Lancaster's awesome "2d6 Dungeon" games as they are great intros to solo RPGs thanks to a boardgame DNA that kind of holds your hand as you learn about the hobby. Also the faux-leather books are gorgeous. Current KS has a tier for all books that is a wild value!
Digging out from power-outages, so wanted to at least try honoring my promise to constantly highlight great, smaller games. Today that spotlight is on Kevin Crawford who makes THE BEST GM tools I have encountered in decades. "Without Number" series is a must own! Here's his newest!
Ashes Without Number
A Post-Apocalyptic RPG
www.kickstarter.com
November 26, 2024 at 6:19 PM
Digging out from power-outages, so wanted to at least try honoring my promise to constantly highlight great, smaller games. Today that spotlight is on Kevin Crawford who makes THE BEST GM tools I have encountered in decades. "Without Number" series is a must own! Here's his newest!
Without power for a few days thanks to weather shenanigans... Silver-lining, a whole weekend to play the wonderful Black Sword Hack. This 112pg, A5 little books holds a shocking amount of RPG playability with a joyous, punk, indie ethos! A must own!
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/blac...
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/blac...
Black Sword Hack – Ultimate Chaos Edition – The Merry Mushmen
www.themerrymushmen.com
November 23, 2024 at 6:55 PM
Without power for a few days thanks to weather shenanigans... Silver-lining, a whole weekend to play the wonderful Black Sword Hack. This 112pg, A5 little books holds a shocking amount of RPG playability with a joyous, punk, indie ethos! A must own!
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/blac...
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/blac...
Pics by my wife. Our boys must inspect each new board-game or miniatures acquisition. Not pictured, even more AoS Spearheads.
November 21, 2024 at 9:59 PM
Pics by my wife. Our boys must inspect each new board-game or miniatures acquisition. Not pictured, even more AoS Spearheads.
Just wanted to share an early peek at my 5000pts of Disciples of Tzeentch. The aesthetic theme is ravens and hyacinths. VERY early WiP.
November 21, 2024 at 5:34 PM
Just wanted to share an early peek at my 5000pts of Disciples of Tzeentch. The aesthetic theme is ravens and hyacinths. VERY early WiP.
Quickly highlighting Dr. Gerald Ravenpie's "Let's Talk", a FREE, simple, powerful system for having conversations with NPCs, when playing a GM-less RPG!
LET'S TALK! - Standalone NPC Dialogue System for Solo Roleplaying
J ust click the image to get the PDF. No, seriously, do it. Don't make Pan'ya-chan sad! LET’S TALK! is a stand-alone dialogue system for...
ucmeumm.blogspot.com
November 21, 2024 at 2:29 PM
Quickly highlighting Dr. Gerald Ravenpie's "Let's Talk", a FREE, simple, powerful system for having conversations with NPCs, when playing a GM-less RPG!
Something for those tempted to dabble in solo/co-op roleplaying games without a GM. Just starting? Grab a d10. When you would ask a GM question roll it. Twice taking highest for likely yes answers, opposite for no's...
1 = No and...
2-4 = No
5= No, but...
6= Yes, but...
7-9= Yes
10= Yes and...
1 = No and...
2-4 = No
5= No, but...
6= Yes, but...
7-9= Yes
10= Yes and...
November 21, 2024 at 2:18 PM
Something for those tempted to dabble in solo/co-op roleplaying games without a GM. Just starting? Grab a d10. When you would ask a GM question roll it. Twice taking highest for likely yes answers, opposite for no's...
1 = No and...
2-4 = No
5= No, but...
6= Yes, but...
7-9= Yes
10= Yes and...
1 = No and...
2-4 = No
5= No, but...
6= Yes, but...
7-9= Yes
10= Yes and...
Several gaming outlets are calling JRPG Metaphor a top game about Democracy and activism to which I beg players to consider a small game called 1000xResist, first. To say literally anything is a spoiler, but it is a profound narrative that every game player should experience.
November 20, 2024 at 7:09 PM
Several gaming outlets are calling JRPG Metaphor a top game about Democracy and activism to which I beg players to consider a small game called 1000xResist, first. To say literally anything is a spoiler, but it is a profound narrative that every game player should experience.