Kurt Refling
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kurtrefling.bsky.social
Kurt Refling
@kurtrefling.bsky.social
570 followers 45 following 330 posts
Writer, tabletop game designer, occasional artist. Maybe: future friend?

He/him.

My games: http://a-smouldering-lighthouse.itch.io
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kurtrefling.bsky.social
What's that? One translation isn't exciting enough?

WELL. This week, Italian publisher MS Edizioni announced the Italian version of Sock Puppets! With a live actual play at Lucca Comics & Games!! LOOK AT THEM CROUCH BEHIND THE COUCHES, IT'S ADORABLE AHHHHHH
A banner advertising a live playthrough of Sock Puppets at Lucca Comics & Games 2025. A convention table set up with an enormous Sock Puppets banner. Actual play performers crouch behind couches onstage, holding puppets.
October 29, 2025 at 8:14 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
i don't usually post about my weekly indie TTRPG livestream, but this session featured a well dug into the sky... and someone drew it.

thanks to friend of the show sierra for this bizarre, delightful gift. and thanks to nick wedig for Florilegium, a TTRPG about magic.

nickwedig.itch.io/florilegium
A poster reads: UPPER FRESCIA WAITS FOR NO-ONE! Two peasants carrying shovels walk up a tower that leads into the open sky.
October 14, 2025 at 3:25 AM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
sock puppets in this cool indie game store's new inventory picture is looking like
Two people sit beside each other as a selfie is taken in a car. The person on the left has extremely colorful hair and a bright smile. The person on the right is unsmiling and monochrome. Editor's note: I believe this picture was originally shared on the internet by one of the people pictured, and that they were sisters? These distant memories. Who can say. Certainly easier to ramble into alt text then verify for you.
October 2, 2025 at 12:56 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
And here's that post-script on wills.
Post-script: Wills are very important. Not just to ensure your wishes are respected, but also to make life easier for your loved ones. The death industry is largely corporate-owned and profit-motivated, and their revenue streams rely on upselling grief-stricken clientele. I can't be clear enough about this: if you want to "just be tossed in the dumpster" or whatever half-joking thing you always say to mean "please do not spend much money on my death," know that your loved ones will be torn between your offhand assertions and the very real salespeople applying pressure at a very vulnerable time when decisions must often be made quickly. In a perfect world, none of this matters until a very long time from now. But it's good to be prepared, and to take care of the people we love. Be well.
August 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
I wrote an article about how to manage your art in the event of your death, for tabletop RPG designers. Sharing here as screenshots with alt text.

Or, follow the link below:

www.reddit.com/r/RPGdesign/...
Some folks may have seen the article going around about J.D. Maxwell's absence after his Grimwild crowdfunding campaign. We don't know what happened to Grimwild's designer, and I would ask that we not speculate on the nature of his absence here. Still, this raised certain questions in my community of practice about art after death of the artist. There are real options for how to handle creative works after death or incapacitation, if you make preparations while you're around. I'm going to share a practical approach in this thread. Quickly, before we start: if you're not in the headspace to read this, that's okay. Close the tab. Your responsibility is to your well-being. Making a plan for your art is firmly in extra credit territory. It's okay to set this aside. I'll break this down into four steps. 1. Keep organized records (ongoing). 2. Elect caretakers. 3. Set up a dead man's switch. 4. Document your wishes. Both 2 and 4 are areas that benefit from an estate plan (including a legal will) if there's money involved. I am not going to discuss the drafting of formal wills here, but understand that wills are very important. See post-script in the comments. 1 - Keep organized records (ongoing). This is, of course, the biggest pain in the ass. It's also the item on this list that will actually help you while you're here. There are four kinds of information that matter: Creative works This is your art itself, of course. You probably have some that are completed, some abandoned and some works-in-progress. Where are they kept? Do you have a document tracking your catalogue? Financial records If there's one thing this kicks your ass into organizing, make it this. What did you spend on your projects? Where do you keep those receipts? Do you have any annual expenses? Do you have any contracts, active or past-tense? What about annual subscriptions for creative tools? Is your stock being held as consignment by any distributors? All of this should be documented somewhere. Operating procedures This is the sneaky kind of knowledge that tends to be completely kept in the brain. That's partly because it seems superfluous: if I told you I uploaded a game to itch.io, how much work would you imagine that really takes? Well, let's map it out: in practice, I... (1) Log in, (2) start a new project ("upload" a new project in itch lingo), (3) write a tagline and choose a URL, (4) add classifications and tags, (5) price it, (6) upload 3 to 5 screenshots, (7) create and upload a 630 x 500 pixel thumbnail, (8) actually upload the file(s), (9) write a description, which for me includes a thematic quote, the pitch, box info (player count / runtime / materials) and the contents of the file downloads, (10) choose tags, (11) write an engaging announcement post nested in a personal anecdote for my newsletter (and sometimes also Reddit), (12) set visibility to public, and (13) save. If I asked a friend to upload my game for me, how much of that would be a stumbling block? Absence isn't the only time that itemized protocols would be helpful, though. If I think "I need to upload my game to itch.io," I'm either going to see none of these steps (and assume I'll be done instantly), or see all of these steps as an amorphous, daunting process that disinclines me to ever bother doing it. Breaking larger tasks into smaller ones helps you see the labour as something that can be performed in small pieces, and helps you plan an appropriate amount of time to get it done. Plus, memory is unreliable! If there's something I only do once a year, will I remember those steps when it's time to do them again? Maybe not. That's why it's useful to have operating procedures written out, for you and anyone else who comes after. 2 - Elect caretakers. If not you, then who? The ideal person to handle your creative output after your passing is someone who you trust, and who values and understands your art. This is a little tricky, because those two things don't always exist in the same person. You might have a spouse, sibling, parent or child you loves you very much, but has no personal interest in your hobby. Ask multiple people. If you get multiple affirmative responses, that means you have backups. Organize them in a hierarchy of responsibility so that if Person A is too busy (or overwhelmed, or absent, or already passed) when the unthinkable happens, Person B can then accept or decline the duty. If you ask a bunch of people and don't set a hierarchy, now you have a committee. And nobody wants to have to deal with a committee. Much like being the executor of a will, caring for someone's art is an honour-flavoured burden. Your job is to choose people who are both willing and able to do this, and to make "no" a comfortable answer for them if they need it. 3 - Set up a dead man's switch. A dead man's switch is anything that's designed to trigger if the operator is incapacitated or dead. This is what fires the message to your art's caretakers. The simplest way to do this is probably Google's Inactive Account Manager. If your Google account is inactive for a specified period, Google's systems will attempt to contact you several times (through several avenues). If you fail to respond, it will provide access to some or all of your files or accounts to one or more people of your choosing. If you don't store your files on Google Drive, you can still use this feature to provide access to documents with sensitive information -- though be careful with what you choose to store in plaintext. Some password managers also have this service. So do some paid services, but you need to be confident that they'll still be around if you aren't. 4 - Document your wishes. Finally, this is what your art's caretaker is actually responsible for. Make sure your instructions are clear and feasible. You want it to be extremely obvious where your works are kept and what you want done with them. Consider: Should some or all of your drafts be made public? Which ones? Where would they be published? Do you want to offer certain collaborators or publishers the chance to finish and distribute some works? If so, how will rights (& revenue) be divided? Is there any community you want to be informed of your passing, local or online? Would that include a message from you? You may also have business concerns related to active Kickstarters or distribution. The approach to handling this will depend on your region and business structure. If you read all of this and thought: This is too much work, nobody would care, and we've gone beyond the scope of my concerns or interest. Well, perfect. You've learned something. If there's no business stuff involved that would frazzle your loved ones, then it's okay to let your art die too. Maybe its job was to make you smile, or think, or learn something. Maybe it existed to bring a little bit of joy to a small group of people in a strange and scary world. Maybe that's all any of us exist to do, really.
August 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
I used Google Sheets to make the crossword. The little repeating squares should've been a perfect fit! But wanted a fancy-pants sheet that could highlight clues and check for mistakes.

So now there's a snappy, easy tickbox to highlight clues & check words!

But shit, folks. I made some spaghetti.
A crossword laid out on a spreadsheet, with a grid on the left and tickboxes on the right allowing the user to highlight clues and check words for correctness. One word on the grid is highlighted for the viewer. An absolute mess of weird code, custom functions and indirect cell references that are working together to check words. AN ABSOLUTE MESS.
August 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
I'm gonna be a tease about this one.
Text within a halo of dots. The text reads: Name: #ERROR Class: Xenon Age: 83 Type: Mender / Local / Ghost Grandchildren: 2 [name, common interest] x2 Achievement: 1 [career / hobby / obstacle overcome] Regret: 1 [missed opportunity / harm caused]
August 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
Moonshot filmed a playthrough of my Sock Puppets TTRPG. All 4 players made their puppets in advance and didn't show each other until they were live.

Please witness the exact moment Andrew wheeled in "Dr. Bean."

The whole stream is SO funny. See it here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIJ...
A screenshot of a live playthrough of a tabletop RPG. At the top-left, a human-sized puppet is wheeled onscreen. At the bottom-left, a hand puppet fills the frame. On the right, both other plays laugh in open-mouthed astonishment.
June 25, 2025 at 5:45 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
IPR is bringing Sock Puppets and all its friends to Origins this year, so here's some glamour shots of my little TTRPGs. Vibes: Avenue Q, Majora's Mask, Lassie.

(I know marketing is like 80% bragging, but you might wanna stop by early! Sock Puppets sold out at UKGE, to my delight and surprise.)
A copy of a book titled Sock Puppets sits on a table. The book reads, "A roleplaying game about puppets and their problems." The cover image pictures a concerned-looking sock on a puppet show set, complete with lights and a camera. The game is surrounded by crafting supplies: scissors, glue, markets, stickers, paper, and so many googly eyes. A game titled "The Hourglass Sings" sits on a sandy surface. The cover art, done in pixel art reminiscent of cross-stitch, shows a seated figure with a hurdy-gurdy on their back. The figure is facing away from the viewer, looking out at a town that extends into distant mountains. Additional text indicates that the game is 1 - 6 players, and is made by Kurt Refling. Surrounding the book are various decorations: dried flowers; a pocket watch; three bronze triangles; circular cards; and, a vessel spilling sand. A zine sits on a wooden table. The title reads "Big Dog Big Volcano". The cover art pictures a mountain in the background, and a woman with her dog in the foreground. The mountain, title text, and characters all have the same silhouette. Text reads: "A TTRPG by Kurt Refling & Kathleen Hartin. 3 players, 60-90 minutes." Several implements surround the book: dice spilling out from a dice bag; a water bottle; a frond of a plant; and driftwood.
June 12, 2025 at 3:27 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
And, part 2.
Sin ??? - Maybe These Ones Are Fine, Except The Furry Sex Thing : Here are some names that I think might actually have worked. Mostly because I hadn't had any obvious problems come up yet. Including so you can prove me wrong. Big Dog, Big Volcano: I like that saying this makes you sound kinda dumb, because that has dog energy. But that does make me a hypocrite. I worked at a server at a "fun" restaurant, and I know first hand how few people want to order sandwiches with names like Mr. Bacon's Big Adventure. Also, if you write this in a list separated by commas, it does look like I'm a five year old who calls all his games Big. "Someone please buy this man a thesaurus." By Moth or Moonlight: This one page hack of Wanderhome works, I think? The title is gentle, and it alludes to the source material. But it does fall into my classic trap of wanting to name things like a poem. Knots in the Sky: I think this name is really pretty for a game about a floating labyrinth. But I showed one friend and was hesitantly, awkwardly asked if it was about furry sex. Furry sex, apparently, is called knotting³. Reader, it is not about furry sex. The Hourglass Sings: A love letter to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000). I think this one is actually decent, although somebody's already gotten it wrong in front of an audience. Also, the reference to Zelda themes is probably too vague. Bonus: Genius, But By Accident: For this final bonus category, here's the one time I stuck the landing but really shouldn't have. A Crown of Dandelions: I probably shouldn't have won a design award for this one. It was developed and released at at time it was literally unplayable... because players pick and weave real-life dandelions, and the game came out in November. Why do I think the game was honoured anyway? An unfair advantage: the larp design contest lists all their games alphabetically, and guess who's at the front babyyyyyyy. Catch me using tricks most commonly employed in the yellow pages circa 1996. (Still need to change my publishing name to AAA+ TTRPGS.) So there you go: 15 reasons not to take advice from me on naming games. Hopefully you manage to avoid the same pitfalls. Footnotes: 1- Short for Equestrian Arts and Sports. It IS a good joke, but still. 2- This sounds petty but I think it might be true! The only results for Faewater prior to my game was someone's World of Warcraft character. 3- The comments have told me I'm missing some nuance here. Feel free to leave me living in ignorance on this one.
May 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
I've released 15 TTRPGs. Most of them have terrible names. Here's what I did wrong, so you don't make the same mistake.

Linking as a blog post, but also pasting as images in case you really hate clicking off-site (continued in thread).

www.reddit.com/r/RPGdesign/...
Earlier today, I teased a friend for naming their TTRPG EA Sports¹. I realized about five seconds later that almost all my games have their own name problems, most of which were not on purpose. So now it's time for me to eat my humble pie and tell you all my sins. The bad names fall into 3-ish categories. I'll write a quick explanation paragraph, then give the examples. Sin 1 - You Can't Search For This: This is the one thing I am begging you to take away from this post. Always do a quick search for your game's name, or you'll end up being one of the seven people who chose to name their TTRPG Apotheosis. (I think it's back down to 6. The clever guy who got there first rebranded for the second edition.) As a general rule, if a search of "Your Game's Name game" still won't find your work, rethink. Excuse Meow!: I am far from the only person who liked this pun. Most famously, it is an episode from Australian children's television show The Wiggles. Faewater: This one is actually too good, so a dice company stole it². I take solace in the fact that the set is out of stock, and they for some reason needed a warning on the page that their dice are really sharp and may result in death. (It actually says that.) The Junk Drawer: Common expression, and now there's two of us. This Spells Trouble: Once again, this is a common expression in English. And now there's two of us. (Somehow STILL better than the working title, the navel-gazing This Strange World.) Sock Puppets: Not only is this unsearchable, but searching its name on social media brings up the most toxic, depressing threads on any platform. Sin 2 - You Won't Remember This (or the Concept is Unclear): Your game title should stick in people's heads. For most people, "you won't remember this" applies because you've chosen a fantasy word that's much too difficult to spell. For me, it's probably because I got too poetic. Here We Used to Fly: Oh, do you mean Where We Used to Fly, as everyone I have ever spoken to calls it? (This was my big game for a while in spite of the confusion, so I'll take the W. wait. uh. actually. i guess i didn't.) Letters We Didn't Write Together: I thought this was a super pretty title for a collection of game poems. But that's kind of the problem -- it's not an epistolary game, which the title strongly implies. It doesn't even really tell you that it's more than one game! Sin 3 - You Had to Be There: This is a name that's an inside joke. And I know you're thinking what kind of goober names a game after an inside joke? Me, twice. But that's not the only way to make this mistake. Sometimes you just get too into your own worldbuilding. Ask yourself: did you name your game after an in-world location that's only interesting to you? Is "The Flame Lord's Castle" actually a good name, or do you just have a fond memory of it? Chuck & Noodles: A pun that only exists because my Discord server was joking about using a pasta divination mechanic. This is also bad because it's a joke name for a SAD GAME. Star Chapters: A magical girl game. I don't think most people realize I'm playing with "Cardcaptors," which means the title reference is illegible. This is Just Who We Are: The Tangent Game: Awful. What is it even about? Granted, the beloved game group I created this for chose the name, so it's not entirely my fault. But this game's branding is so bad that even I forget it exists.
May 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
this is the perfect series of posts.

know that once, in chinatown, i walked past - but did not dare to pick up - this pile of unmarked curses
May 1, 2025 at 4:33 AM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
90 pounds of my own game arrived today. i feel CRAZY looking at this. it's SO MANY.
500 copies of Sock Puppets on a dining room table.
March 4, 2025 at 8:53 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
i made a jokey, we'll-never-make-this-much-money stretch goal for my puppet TTRPG on kickstarter. $5k for a video of herman the puppet narrating the rules in full.

"ha ha!" i said. "good joke! fun gag!"

well, friends, the joke is on me, because --

www.kickstarter.com/projects/ref...
A still frame from a video depicts a puppet mid-sentence, with a title card that reads "Herman - Game Designer?" Underneath the video, there are project stats: Sock Puppets. 161 backers, 15 days to go, and $5000 pledged exactly.
February 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
i made a tabletop RPG about puppets. naturally, this required making a puppet.

it took 3 years for a tiny game, but i learned forbidden knowledge. it turns out everyone has a wretched little puppet voice inside them. also, muppets are really hard to make (but i did it anyway).

live now, 🔗 in 🧵.
A man looks suspicious of a puppet he's actively operating. In the background, there's a puppet show set affixed to the wall with duct tape. In the foreground, a microphone sits on a copy of Slay the Spire: The Board Game.
February 4, 2025 at 5:06 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
epidiah, you are in good company. i do things to google sheets that google sheets never wanted people to do. easily my favourite online play tool.

(i love your work, so please reach out if you ever have any sheets questions -- this is a Special Interest for me for sure, hahaha.)
January 7, 2025 at 3:11 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
here's a game where you make puppets and ruin a perfectly good puppet show. i learned a lot while making it (did u know everyone has a wretched puppet voice inside them waiting to get out?), but i mostly learned that @lithish.com makes AMAZING ART.

coming in feb. www.kickstarter.com/projects/ref...
January 7, 2025 at 2:58 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
i welcome any explanations at all as to what is going on with my tofu packaging

any at all. please help, actually
A cursed block of tofu wears a baseball cap and walks after a red ball. The tofu block has arms and legs, and is using the arms to move through what may be a forest of rosemary? The tofu also has eyelashes and a smile. A peeling (but printed-on) sticker reads "new".
November 19, 2024 at 11:14 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
one of the cool things about larp design is that you can just tell people to make a flower crown and cry about it

(this is not a boffer larp, but i do also want to hear about your +5 sword of lachrymosity)
A snippet from a collage-style rulebook. The text reads: "When you gather flowers, talk about who Jessie was. Her little habits, her hobbies, her dreams, things she used to say, things she loved (or hated). If it's been a while since you found a good flower, talk about her death instead." "When you weave flowers, talk about your relationship with Jessie. Consider memories in tableau: glimpses of life, rather than full stories. If a stem breaks, share something that fell apart without her."
November 19, 2024 at 10:07 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
my parents warned me about this
Notification on a phone screen reads "A Stranger has followed you."
November 14, 2024 at 9:59 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
i made a sad game for crying about
September 4, 2024 at 1:46 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
if you're at someone's uncle's cottage this summer and there's a weird dusty octagon with some discs in the corner, slap that bad boy on the table and look up "crokinole". it's actually the most fun you can have using circles.

that's a canadian secret, don't tell anybody i told you.
Two people peer over an octagon-shaped board with a play area divided into rings, and discs scattered on the surface. One person's hand is positioned in a way that suggests they just flicked one of the discs across the play surface.
July 31, 2024 at 1:34 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
glimpses from a (failed?) experiment -- some actions for characters in PINPOINT, a weird-fantasy larp about the captains of the zeppelin world
July 26, 2024 at 6:55 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
continuing my rebellion against predatory software practices by never upgrading from the always-offline, crappy offshoot of photoshop i got 12 years ago
A banner welcomes the user to Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. In the splash image, there's a badly-made collage of a child playing the drums and using playground equipment.
June 16, 2024 at 3:19 PM
kurtrefling.bsky.social
as a lil treat, here's a bonus game i did USING one of the other games in the game. it's a zelda poem generator, so out came a lyric game.
June 11, 2024 at 3:55 PM