Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
@themikeballes.bsky.social
MEX Born and raised. Writer, Game Designer, CON Panelist & Event Organizer for the Latine Lounge. 🇲🇽 TTRPGs Advocate. ENG ESP. He/Him/Él Husband to @Cymorgan.bsky.social #LATAM #RolORollo #LatineLounge #RolEnTuIdioma #TTRPGNoticias
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Get in the robot, it's time for Playtest Zero again! For our SEA-friendly session, join us next Tuesday, 10 February at 8 pm (GMT+8) over at the Session Zero Discord server to do some 1-hour playtests of TTRPGs/game bits and chat with other designers! (Image unrelated)
February 5, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Get in the robot, it's time for Playtest Zero again! For our SEA-friendly session, join us next Tuesday, 10 February at 8 pm (GMT+8) over at the Session Zero Discord server to do some 1-hour playtests of TTRPGs/game bits and chat with other designers! (Image unrelated)
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Comics retailing legend Greg Ketter standing up to ICE in Minneapolis. Yes, that's tear gas. He's 70 years old.
January 25, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Comics retailing legend Greg Ketter standing up to ICE in Minneapolis. Yes, that's tear gas. He's 70 years old.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
🦀 ANNOUNCEMENT 🦀
I don't have much to give BUT I am GIVING AWAY one (1) Daggerheart Core Set, (4) Final Fantasy commander decks and a Draw Steel Core Rules PDF Bundle raising funds for the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
Tickets are $5 but you can donate any amount here:
🎟️ tilt.fyi/8RCqUl7NDk
(1/3) 🧵
I don't have much to give BUT I am GIVING AWAY one (1) Daggerheart Core Set, (4) Final Fantasy commander decks and a Draw Steel Core Rules PDF Bundle raising funds for the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
Tickets are $5 but you can donate any amount here:
🎟️ tilt.fyi/8RCqUl7NDk
(1/3) 🧵
January 29, 2026 at 7:17 PM
🦀 ANNOUNCEMENT 🦀
I don't have much to give BUT I am GIVING AWAY one (1) Daggerheart Core Set, (4) Final Fantasy commander decks and a Draw Steel Core Rules PDF Bundle raising funds for the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
Tickets are $5 but you can donate any amount here:
🎟️ tilt.fyi/8RCqUl7NDk
(1/3) 🧵
I don't have much to give BUT I am GIVING AWAY one (1) Daggerheart Core Set, (4) Final Fantasy commander decks and a Draw Steel Core Rules PDF Bundle raising funds for the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
Tickets are $5 but you can donate any amount here:
🎟️ tilt.fyi/8RCqUl7NDk
(1/3) 🧵
First milestone completed! Lets go :) Please share with peeps that might enjoy:
-Daggerheart additional content
-Agnostic Villains and enemies
-Support Latine talent in the industry
Firs milestone has been passed, lets get this all the way up there for tomâs!
-Daggerheart additional content
-Agnostic Villains and enemies
-Support Latine talent in the industry
Firs milestone has been passed, lets get this all the way up there for tomâs!
January 31, 2026 at 12:20 AM
First milestone completed! Lets go :) Please share with peeps that might enjoy:
-Daggerheart additional content
-Agnostic Villains and enemies
-Support Latine talent in the industry
Firs milestone has been passed, lets get this all the way up there for tomâs!
-Daggerheart additional content
-Agnostic Villains and enemies
-Support Latine talent in the industry
Firs milestone has been passed, lets get this all the way up there for tomâs!
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
"Ghost Tourist" - a Korean ghost on a trip around the world (here for Dia de los Muertos), and a nod to how rituals and traditions can mirror and echo each other even over great distances.
Acrylics on panel 🧡
Acrylics on panel 🧡
January 28, 2026 at 10:12 AM
"Ghost Tourist" - a Korean ghost on a trip around the world (here for Dia de los Muertos), and a nod to how rituals and traditions can mirror and echo each other even over great distances.
Acrylics on panel 🧡
Acrylics on panel 🧡
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
"A wizard is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to."
I am thrilled to let y'all know I'm joining #WotCStaff as a Game Designer for the Dungeons and Dragons team! This move starts a new chapter in my life and I am so excited to see what adventures await me 💜
I am thrilled to let y'all know I'm joining #WotCStaff as a Game Designer for the Dungeons and Dragons team! This move starts a new chapter in my life and I am so excited to see what adventures await me 💜
January 27, 2026 at 2:29 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to."
I am thrilled to let y'all know I'm joining #WotCStaff as a Game Designer for the Dungeons and Dragons team! This move starts a new chapter in my life and I am so excited to see what adventures await me 💜
I am thrilled to let y'all know I'm joining #WotCStaff as a Game Designer for the Dungeons and Dragons team! This move starts a new chapter in my life and I am so excited to see what adventures await me 💜
This itch project looks amazing. Crypt of the NekroLych looks promising and is currently itch funding. Tomas is prepping for a big slugdown for daggerheart enemies & villains and i am here to see it come through! Well planned & sustainable for the artists involved and set for growth. #TTRPG
January 27, 2026 at 10:46 PM
This itch project looks amazing. Crypt of the NekroLych looks promising and is currently itch funding. Tomas is prepping for a big slugdown for daggerheart enemies & villains and i am here to see it come through! Well planned & sustainable for the artists involved and set for growth. #TTRPG
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Received this incredible, hand-bound and hand-drawn version of the barebones edition MÖRK BORG. Including house rules and the intro adventure Rotblack Sludge. This is the real shit.
January 22, 2026 at 10:47 AM
Received this incredible, hand-bound and hand-drawn version of the barebones edition MÖRK BORG. Including house rules and the intro adventure Rotblack Sludge. This is the real shit.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Happy new year. - may 2026 be kinder.
January 1, 2026 at 7:21 AM
Happy new year. - may 2026 be kinder.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
The woman watching over the grazing sheep was startled by a sudden gust of wind. She thought it was just the wind, but the sheep around her, and the dog she kept, realized this wind was a phenomenon caused by a different presence.
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
January 21, 2026 at 11:11 PM
The woman watching over the grazing sheep was startled by a sudden gust of wind. She thought it was just the wind, but the sheep around her, and the dog she kept, realized this wind was a phenomenon caused by a different presence.
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
#Illustration
#LineArt
#CommentPls
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Wip, something cool is in the works
January 21, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Wip, something cool is in the works
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Explanation Of Board Game Rules Peppered With Reassurances That It Will Be Fun https://theonion.com/explanation-of-board-game-rules-peppered-with-reassuran-1819579569/
January 21, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Explanation Of Board Game Rules Peppered With Reassurances That It Will Be Fun https://theonion.com/explanation-of-board-game-rules-peppered-with-reassuran-1819579569/
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Here's a nice little article about BIPOC designers in #ttrpgs and their influence on the indie scene now, brought to you through the @igdn-official.bsky.social blog. Not every article has to be deep-deep-deep. Sometimes it's just lovely to hear from the community.
www.igdnonline.com/blog/2026/1/...
www.igdnonline.com/blog/2026/1/...
BIPOC Designers’ Awesomeness in TTRPGs Is Nothing New — Indie Game Developer Network
Gamers often appear a homogenous bunch: white, male, middle class, straight, and from the Global North. Structural access to more leisure time and resources for this group of folks—as well as not havi...
www.igdnonline.com
January 21, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Here's a nice little article about BIPOC designers in #ttrpgs and their influence on the indie scene now, brought to you through the @igdn-official.bsky.social blog. Not every article has to be deep-deep-deep. Sometimes it's just lovely to hear from the community.
www.igdnonline.com/blog/2026/1/...
www.igdnonline.com/blog/2026/1/...
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
And it's @writersavvy.com! :)
Legends of Greyhawk and RealmsBound with Savannah Houston-McIntyre (MD 275)
Acclaimed for leading excellent projects, Savannah discusses the Legends of Greyhawk campaign, RealmsBound with Ed Greenwood, and more!
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=isiQ...
#DnD #TTRPG
Acclaimed for leading excellent projects, Savannah discusses the Legends of Greyhawk campaign, RealmsBound with Ed Greenwood, and more!
masteringdungeons.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=isiQ...
#DnD #TTRPG
January 22, 2026 at 12:49 AM
And it's @writersavvy.com! :)
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
No one is forcing a creator to have a particular goal. It’s the creator setting that up and choosing what to offer and determine how that scales and how to compensate their contractors and employees. That’s work you are expected to do up front. It’s mandatory! It’s the job!!!
January 21, 2026 at 6:01 PM
No one is forcing a creator to have a particular goal. It’s the creator setting that up and choosing what to offer and determine how that scales and how to compensate their contractors and employees. That’s work you are expected to do up front. It’s mandatory! It’s the job!!!
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Kickstarter giving a creator more money than the creator knows how to handle on an RPG project is not a Kickstarter problem. Its a “you” problem to figure out what profit really is, how to deliver, and how to manage people well. You don’t get a pass for getting more than you could handle.
January 21, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Kickstarter giving a creator more money than the creator knows how to handle on an RPG project is not a Kickstarter problem. Its a “you” problem to figure out what profit really is, how to deliver, and how to manage people well. You don’t get a pass for getting more than you could handle.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Si educaramos a nuestros más pequeños a dedicarse aquello q quieren por vocación/interés y ética, no tendríamos tanta corrupción el país.
Manzanas podridas existen en todos lados, pero es verdad q aquí la mentalidad de "aprovechar" se les facilita a muchos porque socialmente es, aceptable.
Triste.
Manzanas podridas existen en todos lados, pero es verdad q aquí la mentalidad de "aprovechar" se les facilita a muchos porque socialmente es, aceptable.
Triste.
January 21, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Si educaramos a nuestros más pequeños a dedicarse aquello q quieren por vocación/interés y ética, no tendríamos tanta corrupción el país.
Manzanas podridas existen en todos lados, pero es verdad q aquí la mentalidad de "aprovechar" se les facilita a muchos porque socialmente es, aceptable.
Triste.
Manzanas podridas existen en todos lados, pero es verdad q aquí la mentalidad de "aprovechar" se les facilita a muchos porque socialmente es, aceptable.
Triste.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Delayed several times but now finally in comic shops today, the STREET FIGHTER MASTERS: ELENA one-shot is a throwback to my favorite fighting game franchise, reuniting SF3 characters I enjoyed writing back in 2010!
Ibuki and Makoto head to Africa to visit Elena and tournament-laden trouble ensues.
Ibuki and Makoto head to Africa to visit Elena and tournament-laden trouble ensues.
January 21, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Delayed several times but now finally in comic shops today, the STREET FIGHTER MASTERS: ELENA one-shot is a throwback to my favorite fighting game franchise, reuniting SF3 characters I enjoyed writing back in 2010!
Ibuki and Makoto head to Africa to visit Elena and tournament-laden trouble ensues.
Ibuki and Makoto head to Africa to visit Elena and tournament-laden trouble ensues.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
But as a TTRPG publisher, any time I have chosen to launch a product without that crowdfunding promotional surge, that product has underperformed considerably.
You're leaving tons of money on the table if you don't play the game (and gamble with as much borrowed money as possible).
You're leaving tons of money on the table if you don't play the game (and gamble with as much borrowed money as possible).
January 21, 2026 at 4:35 AM
But as a TTRPG publisher, any time I have chosen to launch a product without that crowdfunding promotional surge, that product has underperformed considerably.
You're leaving tons of money on the table if you don't play the game (and gamble with as much borrowed money as possible).
You're leaving tons of money on the table if you don't play the game (and gamble with as much borrowed money as possible).
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
But the way that the TTRPG industry uses it, as a high-profile, boom-or-bust product launch strategy that leverages flashy upsells and manufactured urgency to try to make number go up, that stakes 6-18 months of work on how big that number gets, structurally produces precarity and volatility.
January 21, 2026 at 4:35 AM
But the way that the TTRPG industry uses it, as a high-profile, boom-or-bust product launch strategy that leverages flashy upsells and manufactured urgency to try to make number go up, that stakes 6-18 months of work on how big that number gets, structurally produces precarity and volatility.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
If crowdfunding was primarily a tool for scraping together the meager startup costs for underfunded artists and makers to make their dreams happen, through the power of community, that would be a different story.
And it's the story that crowdfunding told about itself initially!
And it's the story that crowdfunding told about itself initially!
January 21, 2026 at 4:35 AM
If crowdfunding was primarily a tool for scraping together the meager startup costs for underfunded artists and makers to make their dreams happen, through the power of community, that would be a different story.
And it's the story that crowdfunding told about itself initially!
And it's the story that crowdfunding told about itself initially!
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
I hate that small press publishers are incentivized to overextend, overpromise, launch their new title with a suite of add-ons and upsells, reveal high-profile surprise collaborators at a moment of surging attention, and leapfrog past a healthy, iterative scaling-up of production capacity.
January 21, 2026 at 4:35 AM
I hate that small press publishers are incentivized to overextend, overpromise, launch their new title with a suite of add-ons and upsells, reveal high-profile surprise collaborators at a moment of surging attention, and leapfrog past a healthy, iterative scaling-up of production capacity.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
If it's okay, I want to comment on exactly one dimension of the recent Rascal story about Yazeba's B&B, Possum Creek Games, Jay Dragon (note: a friend), and leaving vital contributors in the lurch:
I hate the warping impact that boom-or-bust product launch crowdfunding has on the TTRPG industry.
I hate the warping impact that boom-or-bust product launch crowdfunding has on the TTRPG industry.
January 21, 2026 at 4:35 AM
If it's okay, I want to comment on exactly one dimension of the recent Rascal story about Yazeba's B&B, Possum Creek Games, Jay Dragon (note: a friend), and leaving vital contributors in the lurch:
I hate the warping impact that boom-or-bust product launch crowdfunding has on the TTRPG industry.
I hate the warping impact that boom-or-bust product launch crowdfunding has on the TTRPG industry.
Reposted by Mike Balles 🔜 2026🔜 MEGA XP in Mexico City
Studio production of Pasion de las Pasiones with an audience, to drama max the gameplay
Fun question inspired by a discord convo: If you had the resources of a renaissance noble and could commission an AP to entertain yourself, what would you commission and from who?
January 21, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Studio production of Pasion de las Pasiones with an audience, to drama max the gameplay