Chris Gardiner
@chrisgardiner.bsky.social
Narrative Director at Failbetter Games. He/him. Our titles include: Fallen London, Sunless Sea/Skies, and Mask of the Rose. Opinions are mine, so there.
Just remembered seeing Eternals at the cinema, and when Starfox appeared in the post-credits scene the row of teenage girls behind me abruptly LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS.
I was thinking, "Wow, I never knew Starfox had such a young & passionate following!"
Readers, Starfox was played by Harry Styles.
I was thinking, "Wow, I never knew Starfox had such a young & passionate following!"
Readers, Starfox was played by Harry Styles.
August 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Just remembered seeing Eternals at the cinema, and when Starfox appeared in the post-credits scene the row of teenage girls behind me abruptly LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS.
I was thinking, "Wow, I never knew Starfox had such a young & passionate following!"
Readers, Starfox was played by Harry Styles.
I was thinking, "Wow, I never knew Starfox had such a young & passionate following!"
Readers, Starfox was played by Harry Styles.
It was inspired by Jan Neruda's 'Malá Strana Stories' and Jenny Odell's books 'Saving Time' and 'How to Do Nothing' as well as a recent family bereavement, and my longstanding love of Fallen London's Clay Men,
[3/4]
[3/4]
August 5, 2025 at 9:43 PM
It was inspired by Jan Neruda's 'Malá Strana Stories' and Jenny Odell's books 'Saving Time' and 'How to Do Nothing' as well as a recent family bereavement, and my longstanding love of Fallen London's Clay Men,
[3/4]
[3/4]
I wrote this month's subscriber story for Fallen London – the first one I've written in apparently NINE YEARS.
It's an intimate story set on an eccentric, quiet square about how routine can trap us; and how isolation makes us vulnerable to our demons.
(With a bonus adorable beetle.)
[1/4]
It's an intimate story set on an eccentric, quiet square about how routine can trap us; and how isolation makes us vulnerable to our demons.
(With a bonus adorable beetle.)
[1/4]
August 5, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I wrote this month's subscriber story for Fallen London – the first one I've written in apparently NINE YEARS.
It's an intimate story set on an eccentric, quiet square about how routine can trap us; and how isolation makes us vulnerable to our demons.
(With a bonus adorable beetle.)
[1/4]
It's an intimate story set on an eccentric, quiet square about how routine can trap us; and how isolation makes us vulnerable to our demons.
(With a bonus adorable beetle.)
[1/4]
GM: What do you roll on your stealth test?”
Player: “…partial success.”
Player: “…partial success.”
June 29, 2025 at 9:08 AM
GM: What do you roll on your stealth test?”
Player: “…partial success.”
Player: “…partial success.”
Pippin: never knowingly not a disgrace.
June 13, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Pippin: never knowingly not a disgrace.
I absolutely love the flippable format of this book from @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social
Two novellas back to back! It’s a joy. This is the luscious hardback, but there’s softback & digital too. And the stories are *fantastic* – rich, characterful, gripping.
newedgeswordandsorcery.com/product-tag/...
Two novellas back to back! It’s a joy. This is the luscious hardback, but there’s softback & digital too. And the stories are *fantastic* – rich, characterful, gripping.
newedgeswordandsorcery.com/product-tag/...
June 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM
I absolutely love the flippable format of this book from @newedgeswordmag.bsky.social
Two novellas back to back! It’s a joy. This is the luscious hardback, but there’s softback & digital too. And the stories are *fantastic* – rich, characterful, gripping.
newedgeswordandsorcery.com/product-tag/...
Two novellas back to back! It’s a joy. This is the luscious hardback, but there’s softback & digital too. And the stories are *fantastic* – rich, characterful, gripping.
newedgeswordandsorcery.com/product-tag/...
Hey, @abeewords.bsky.social – behold THE WORLD’S BIGGEST PILE OF HORSESHOES as authoritatively claimed by a very convincing little sign when you drive into the village.
May 8, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Hey, @abeewords.bsky.social – behold THE WORLD’S BIGGEST PILE OF HORSESHOES as authoritatively claimed by a very convincing little sign when you drive into the village.
It came! It’s… it’s so beautiful…
🥹
🥹
May 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM
It came! It’s… it’s so beautiful…
🥹
🥹
Highest possible recommendation for @juniba.bsky.social & Aditya Bidakar’s magnificent graphic novel “The Fables of Erlking Wood”.
A sequence of intricately interwoven fairytales that collectively tell a sometimes-haunting, sometimes-charming story of guilt, loneliness and hope. A complete delight.
A sequence of intricately interwoven fairytales that collectively tell a sometimes-haunting, sometimes-charming story of guilt, loneliness and hope. A complete delight.
April 27, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Highest possible recommendation for @juniba.bsky.social & Aditya Bidakar’s magnificent graphic novel “The Fables of Erlking Wood”.
A sequence of intricately interwoven fairytales that collectively tell a sometimes-haunting, sometimes-charming story of guilt, loneliness and hope. A complete delight.
A sequence of intricately interwoven fairytales that collectively tell a sometimes-haunting, sometimes-charming story of guilt, loneliness and hope. A complete delight.
On one hand, the sigh I emitted upon seeing this ad was so deep that my entire soul fled with it, and has passed beyond the circles of the world.
On the other, the tagline “Finally a mug that’s as smart as you are” is such a blistering excoriation of anyone who backs it that maybe it balances out.
On the other, the tagline “Finally a mug that’s as smart as you are” is such a blistering excoriation of anyone who backs it that maybe it balances out.
April 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM
On one hand, the sigh I emitted upon seeing this ad was so deep that my entire soul fled with it, and has passed beyond the circles of the world.
On the other, the tagline “Finally a mug that’s as smart as you are” is such a blistering excoriation of anyone who backs it that maybe it balances out.
On the other, the tagline “Finally a mug that’s as smart as you are” is such a blistering excoriation of anyone who backs it that maybe it balances out.
Man, Journeys in Middle-Earth is *such* a good game.
The app-generated map and events is a lot of fun, and mean it varies each time you play. But the character building is so satisfying as well – building the perfect skill loadout over the course of the campaigns feels great.
The app-generated map and events is a lot of fun, and mean it varies each time you play. But the character building is so satisfying as well – building the perfect skill loadout over the course of the campaigns feels great.
April 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Man, Journeys in Middle-Earth is *such* a good game.
The app-generated map and events is a lot of fun, and mean it varies each time you play. But the character building is so satisfying as well – building the perfect skill loadout over the course of the campaigns feels great.
The app-generated map and events is a lot of fun, and mean it varies each time you play. But the character building is so satisfying as well – building the perfect skill loadout over the course of the campaigns feels great.
Every fucking day, mate.
April 2, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Every fucking day, mate.
Extremely excited to have an adventure I wrote included in this!
This is the first issue of the official zine supporting Black Sword Hack – a TTRPG of doomed Elric-y adventures in worlds riven by the war between Law and Chaos. I love that game to bits.
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/the-...
This is the first issue of the official zine supporting Black Sword Hack – a TTRPG of doomed Elric-y adventures in worlds riven by the war between Law and Chaos. I love that game to bits.
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/the-...
March 31, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Extremely excited to have an adventure I wrote included in this!
This is the first issue of the official zine supporting Black Sword Hack – a TTRPG of doomed Elric-y adventures in worlds riven by the war between Law and Chaos. I love that game to bits.
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/the-...
This is the first issue of the official zine supporting Black Sword Hack – a TTRPG of doomed Elric-y adventures in worlds riven by the war between Law and Chaos. I love that game to bits.
www.themerrymushmen.com/product/the-...
Help me, Bluesky, you're my only hope!
I have a zoology/wikipedia quesiton: when looking at the binomial name section in an entry about an animal, does the (human) name and date in brackets shown here indicate who named it and when?
I have a zoology/wikipedia quesiton: when looking at the binomial name section in an entry about an animal, does the (human) name and date in brackets shown here indicate who named it and when?
March 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Help me, Bluesky, you're my only hope!
I have a zoology/wikipedia quesiton: when looking at the binomial name section in an entry about an animal, does the (human) name and date in brackets shown here indicate who named it and when?
I have a zoology/wikipedia quesiton: when looking at the binomial name section in an entry about an animal, does the (human) name and date in brackets shown here indicate who named it and when?
#JustFinishedReading:
‘Edsel’, one of Loren D. Estelman’s ‘Detroit series’ of standalone novels which tell the city’s history one hardboiled crime story at a time.
This one is set in the 1950s, and covers cutthroat corporate politics, union organising in the face of violent opposition…
[1/3]
‘Edsel’, one of Loren D. Estelman’s ‘Detroit series’ of standalone novels which tell the city’s history one hardboiled crime story at a time.
This one is set in the 1950s, and covers cutthroat corporate politics, union organising in the face of violent opposition…
[1/3]
March 8, 2025 at 11:10 AM
#JustFinishedReading:
‘Edsel’, one of Loren D. Estelman’s ‘Detroit series’ of standalone novels which tell the city’s history one hardboiled crime story at a time.
This one is set in the 1950s, and covers cutthroat corporate politics, union organising in the face of violent opposition…
[1/3]
‘Edsel’, one of Loren D. Estelman’s ‘Detroit series’ of standalone novels which tell the city’s history one hardboiled crime story at a time.
This one is set in the 1950s, and covers cutthroat corporate politics, union organising in the face of violent opposition…
[1/3]
This is, of course, best expressed in @davidgaider.bsky.social’s laws of naming things:
March 3, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This is, of course, best expressed in @davidgaider.bsky.social’s laws of naming things:
The MAPS! Oh god, the maps!
March 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM
The MAPS! Oh god, the maps!
While digging through the garage yesterday, I came across nerdy treasures I thought I had lost ages ago! Very happy to be reunited with them. I *scoured* these books when I was a kid.
March 3, 2025 at 11:32 AM
While digging through the garage yesterday, I came across nerdy treasures I thought I had lost ages ago! Very happy to be reunited with them. I *scoured* these books when I was a kid.
I love little bits of outrageous local folklore like this.
Yeah, sure – until some ninth century village in Nottinghamshire invented pancakes, no-one in the entire history of human civilisation had stumbled across the concept of “flat batter”.
Yeah, sure – until some ninth century village in Nottinghamshire invented pancakes, no-one in the entire history of human civilisation had stumbled across the concept of “flat batter”.
February 18, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I love little bits of outrageous local folklore like this.
Yeah, sure – until some ninth century village in Nottinghamshire invented pancakes, no-one in the entire history of human civilisation had stumbled across the concept of “flat batter”.
Yeah, sure – until some ninth century village in Nottinghamshire invented pancakes, no-one in the entire history of human civilisation had stumbled across the concept of “flat batter”.
If Cheltenham was your roommate, it would put passive-aggressive post-it notes on everything in the fridge.
February 2, 2025 at 4:12 PM
If Cheltenham was your roommate, it would put passive-aggressive post-it notes on everything in the fridge.
Very normal number of Churchill biographies for one bookshop to have, Cheltenham. Very normal indeed.
February 2, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Very normal number of Churchill biographies for one bookshop to have, Cheltenham. Very normal indeed.
I hit the ground hard, taking damage, and then race hell for leather across the mire, the dragon thundering after me all the way to the teleport gate, and I blink out *just* as the fire catches up with me.
[11/12]
[11/12]
February 1, 2025 at 9:20 PM
I hit the ground hard, taking damage, and then race hell for leather across the mire, the dragon thundering after me all the way to the teleport gate, and I blink out *just* as the fire catches up with me.
[11/12]
[11/12]
Having a great time with Eternal Strands. I'm really digging:
- the sheer chaos of its physics-powered magic
- how reactive the NPC dialogue topics are
- the character-focused base-building
To convey what I love about it, I will tell the story of the Watchtower and That Fucking Dragon.
[1/12]
- the sheer chaos of its physics-powered magic
- how reactive the NPC dialogue topics are
- the character-focused base-building
To convey what I love about it, I will tell the story of the Watchtower and That Fucking Dragon.
[1/12]
February 1, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Having a great time with Eternal Strands. I'm really digging:
- the sheer chaos of its physics-powered magic
- how reactive the NPC dialogue topics are
- the character-focused base-building
To convey what I love about it, I will tell the story of the Watchtower and That Fucking Dragon.
[1/12]
- the sheer chaos of its physics-powered magic
- how reactive the NPC dialogue topics are
- the character-focused base-building
To convey what I love about it, I will tell the story of the Watchtower and That Fucking Dragon.
[1/12]
Uuurgh why is this day so loooooong? Days don’t normally feel this loooooong. 5pm is so far awaaaaaaaaay.
January 31, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Uuurgh why is this day so loooooong? Days don’t normally feel this loooooong. 5pm is so far awaaaaaaaaay.