J. Walton
@ludopolitics.bsky.social
He/they. I teach about Game Design, Technoscience, & East Asia at CMU. Belatedly joining this thing to keep up with my creative & academic communities (comments my own).
Pinned
J. Walton
@ludopolitics.bsky.social
· Feb 23
Hi folks. Not sure if I'm going to post a bunch here -- I'm trying to get back into blogging, actually -- but I want a way to keep track of what y'all are up to, particular in terms of indie games and games scholarship. Nice to see your digital faces again.
No surprise: slowly grinding through Silksong in my few spare hours has definitely got me thinking about a specific unfinished Blades hack, which I last tinkered on with Stras a couple years back. Got to finish a couple other things first, though.
October 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
No surprise: slowly grinding through Silksong in my few spare hours has definitely got me thinking about a specific unfinished Blades hack, which I last tinkered on with Stras a couple years back. Got to finish a couple other things first, though.
Reposted by J. Walton
Agon is the deal of the day @drivethrurpg.com! If you're interested in fast-paced heroic action in a mythic world, now's a good time to check it out.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...
DriveThruRPG - The Largest RPG Download Store!
Your one-stop online shop for new and vintage RPG products from the top publishers, delivered fresh to your desktop in electronic format.
www.drivethrurpg.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Agon is the deal of the day @drivethrurpg.com! If you're interested in fast-paced heroic action in a mythic world, now's a good time to check it out.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...
I know we shouldn't be surprised, given [gestures at all of U.S. history and contemporary politics], but it's still a bit surreal watching our country get frog-pot-boiled (or crab-pot-boiled?) by a slow-motion authoritarian coup.
October 16, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I know we shouldn't be surprised, given [gestures at all of U.S. history and contemporary politics], but it's still a bit surreal watching our country get frog-pot-boiled (or crab-pot-boiled?) by a slow-motion authoritarian coup.
Reposted by J. Walton
Announcing our next slate of TTRPGs—Cosmic Century Knights by @oneshotrpg.bsky.social & @worldstoforge.bsky.social, Homecoming by @meghanlynnftw.bsky.social, and Chuck by Tyler Crumrine—coming to Kickstarter September 2! Learn more and sign up for notifications at www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
Coming soon: PWG Presents: Cosmic Century Knights, Homecoming, & Chuck
Three new TTRPGs from James D'Amato & Drew Mierzejewski, Meghan Cross, and Tyler Crumrine!
www.kickstarter.com
July 22, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Announcing our next slate of TTRPGs—Cosmic Century Knights by @oneshotrpg.bsky.social & @worldstoforge.bsky.social, Homecoming by @meghanlynnftw.bsky.social, and Chuck by Tyler Crumrine—coming to Kickstarter September 2! Learn more and sign up for notifications at www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
Jason Lutes (Perilous Wilds/Freebooters/etc.) sent me this photo of @possibleworlds.bsky.social at GenCon, selling the new edition of Tacklebox -- alongside Tyler's own game Better Strangers and other high-quality entertainments. Major thanks to Tyler, @inauthenticity.bsky.social, & our backers!
August 4, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Jason Lutes (Perilous Wilds/Freebooters/etc.) sent me this photo of @possibleworlds.bsky.social at GenCon, selling the new edition of Tacklebox -- alongside Tyler's own game Better Strangers and other high-quality entertainments. Major thanks to Tyler, @inauthenticity.bsky.social, & our backers!
I know this isn't news, but it's amazing how regularly we get hit in the face with the Overton Window these days.
July 28, 2025 at 4:03 AM
I know this isn't news, but it's amazing how regularly we get hit in the face with the Overton Window these days.
Reposted by J. Walton
The special issue on the 30th anniversary of #LaraCroft in Feminist Media Histories is out now... coedited by Josef Nguyen & Amanda Phillips... online.ucpress.edu/fmh/issue/11/3
Volume 11 Issue 3 | Feminist Media Histories | University of California Press
online.ucpress.edu
July 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The special issue on the 30th anniversary of #LaraCroft in Feminist Media Histories is out now... coedited by Josef Nguyen & Amanda Phillips... online.ucpress.edu/fmh/issue/11/3
With apologies to our Swedish comrades...
July 7, 2025 at 3:58 PM
With apologies to our Swedish comrades...
Reposted by J. Walton
Computers used to scream every time they connected to the Internet. They knew. They tried to warn us. We did not listen.
June 22, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Computers used to scream every time they connected to the Internet. They knew. They tried to warn us. We did not listen.
Reposted by J. Walton
@rachelplotnick.bsky.social's books are so cool, from a history of pushbuttons to her new one about media technologies getting wet direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
License to Spill: Where Dry Devices Meet Liquid Lives
How everyday wetness—from finger smudges, sweat, and spilled drinks to showering and swimming—collides with consumers' media devices designed to stay dry.L
direct.mit.edu
June 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
@rachelplotnick.bsky.social's books are so cool, from a history of pushbuttons to her new one about media technologies getting wet direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Reposted by J. Walton
Rümeysa Öztürk has been freed!!
Tufts student detained by ICE in viral video is released, thanks supporters
Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released from ICE detention on Friday, offering brief words of thanks to supporters gathered outside the Louisiana facility.
www.nbcboston.com
May 9, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Rümeysa Öztürk has been freed!!
@inauthenticity.bsky.social is also the first person I met who designed their own games. We connected in middle school due to Robotech. But then he introduced me the joy of creating our own stuff in spiral notebooks. Now, 30 years later, we got to do that again, thanks to Possible Worlds.
Tadd is one my favorite authors, but before this project I had no idea he was also one of @ludopolitics.bsky.social's childhood TTRPG friends! He absolutely nailed Tacklebox's tone, & connecting two schoolyard chums years later made the whole process even sweeter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
May 9, 2025 at 8:16 PM
@inauthenticity.bsky.social is also the first person I met who designed their own games. We connected in middle school due to Robotech. But then he introduced me the joy of creating our own stuff in spiral notebooks. Now, 30 years later, we got to do that again, thanks to Possible Worlds.
Reposted by J. Walton
The Kickstarter for Tacklebox is live!
It's a fun, weird, uncanny game, and I really enjoyed working on it. I hope you'll check it out.
It's a fun, weird, uncanny game, and I really enjoyed working on it. I hope you'll check it out.
Our campaign for Tacklebox—a surreal fishing RPG by @ludopolitics.bsky.social ft new cards by @inauthenticity.bsky.social & art by @patrickedell.bsky.social—and Better Strangers—a people-watching RPG by Tyler Crumrine w/ art by Ellie White—is NOW LIVE! Back today! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
Tacklebox & Better Strangers: Two Card-Based TTRPGs
J. Walton's surreal fishing RPG Tacklebox & Tyler Crumrine's people-watching RPG Better Strangers return in new editions!
www.kickstarter.com
May 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The Kickstarter for Tacklebox is live!
It's a fun, weird, uncanny game, and I really enjoyed working on it. I hope you'll check it out.
It's a fun, weird, uncanny game, and I really enjoyed working on it. I hope you'll check it out.
Thanks to @grahamwalmsley.bsky.social, I'm now doing content analysis of Tolkien. Did you know that characters have an audience with a king at least 13 times in the Hobbit alone? (Thorin, Elrond, Great Goblin, Lord of Eagles, Beorn, Elvenking x2, Master, Smaug, Bard x2, Pre-Battle, Thorin's Death).
April 13, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Thanks to @grahamwalmsley.bsky.social, I'm now doing content analysis of Tolkien. Did you know that characters have an audience with a king at least 13 times in the Hobbit alone? (Thorin, Elrond, Great Goblin, Lord of Eagles, Beorn, Elvenking x2, Master, Smaug, Bard x2, Pre-Battle, Thorin's Death).
Reposted by J. Walton
Among the great new titles we have coming out this April are "The New Kingdom of Granada" by Santiago Muñoz-Arbeláez and "The Personality of Power" by Brian Massumi.
buff.ly/qNex2AA
buff.ly/qNex2AA
April 1, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Among the great new titles we have coming out this April are "The New Kingdom of Granada" by Santiago Muñoz-Arbeláez and "The Personality of Power" by Brian Massumi.
buff.ly/qNex2AA
buff.ly/qNex2AA
Reposted by J. Walton
Save 30% on #NewBook "Unmaking Botany" by Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, which traces a history of botany in the Philippines during the last decades of Spanish rule and the first decades of US colonization. #Botany #AsianStudies
buff.ly/Nrgkj2u
buff.ly/Nrgkj2u
April 1, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Save 30% on #NewBook "Unmaking Botany" by Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, which traces a history of botany in the Philippines during the last decades of Spanish rule and the first decades of US colonization. #Botany #AsianStudies
buff.ly/Nrgkj2u
buff.ly/Nrgkj2u
Reposted by J. Walton
We have had nearly two decades of panic about Free Speech on Campus and not a single case, not even the ones they made up, were as bad as what's happening now
This is the text of the email just sent to hundreds of international students telling them that their visas have been revoked due to activism or social media posts.
March 29, 2025 at 2:24 PM
We have had nearly two decades of panic about Free Speech on Campus and not a single case, not even the ones they made up, were as bad as what's happening now
Reposted by J. Walton
Only heard this sad news of sound studies pioneer Jonathan Sterne's death today. Among other accomplishments, Sterne wrote one if the earliest articles on shopping mall music. It can be downloaded from his website 👇
sterneworks.org/soundslikemo...
sterneworks.org/soundslikemo...
March 24, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Only heard this sad news of sound studies pioneer Jonathan Sterne's death today. Among other accomplishments, Sterne wrote one if the earliest articles on shopping mall music. It can be downloaded from his website 👇
sterneworks.org/soundslikemo...
sterneworks.org/soundslikemo...
This. Also, it's possible to create a surprisingly effective larp in about a hour with just index cards and name tags.
Larps can explicitly depict serious contemporary issues.
What’s something that’s a banal observation in your field, but which really blows students’ minds the 1st time they encounter it?
I’ll go 1st—when we talk about how technological history gets narrated & I say "no human being has ever lived in a historical period—they’ve only lived in the present"
I’ll go 1st—when we talk about how technological history gets narrated & I say "no human being has ever lived in a historical period—they’ve only lived in the present"
March 20, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This. Also, it's possible to create a surprisingly effective larp in about a hour with just index cards and name tags.
Really tough not to foresee the doom of U.S. academia right now. The corporatization of college administrations has left them deeply vulnerable to pressure from right-wing and center-right politicians, funders, and trustees -- and also deeply resistant to their own students, faculty, and workers.
March 20, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Really tough not to foresee the doom of U.S. academia right now. The corporatization of college administrations has left them deeply vulnerable to pressure from right-wing and center-right politicians, funders, and trustees -- and also deeply resistant to their own students, faculty, and workers.
My top 5 tabletop RPGs (as of this moment in time):
14 Days
Exalted Quickstart
Dog Eat Dog
Heads of State: Nine Short Games about Tyrants
Stewpot
14 Days
Exalted Quickstart
Dog Eat Dog
Heads of State: Nine Short Games about Tyrants
Stewpot
Introducing myself with my top 5 #TTRPG picks (from which I don’t get royalties).
In no particular order:
Fight with Spirit
Blubeard’s Bride
Brindlewood Bay
Blades in the Dark
Koriko: A Magical Year
In no particular order:
Fight with Spirit
Blubeard’s Bride
Brindlewood Bay
Blades in the Dark
Koriko: A Magical Year
Introduce yourself with your top 5 #TTRPG picks!
Vampire: the Masquerade
Cortex Prime
Ten Candles
Call of Cthulhu
Sleepaway
Vampire: the Masquerade
Cortex Prime
Ten Candles
Call of Cthulhu
Sleepaway
March 20, 2025 at 1:10 PM
My top 5 tabletop RPGs (as of this moment in time):
14 Days
Exalted Quickstart
Dog Eat Dog
Heads of State: Nine Short Games about Tyrants
Stewpot
14 Days
Exalted Quickstart
Dog Eat Dog
Heads of State: Nine Short Games about Tyrants
Stewpot
Dems & institutions keep throwing vulnerable folks & leftists under the bus. It's like post-9/11 meets McCarthyism in terms of abandoning Muslims, women, DEI, immigrants, queer folks, & protesters -- all in a delusional attempt to placate white Christo-fascists & puritanical pearl-clutchers.
March 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Dems & institutions keep throwing vulnerable folks & leftists under the bus. It's like post-9/11 meets McCarthyism in terms of abandoning Muslims, women, DEI, immigrants, queer folks, & protesters -- all in a delusional attempt to placate white Christo-fascists & puritanical pearl-clutchers.
Reposted by J. Walton
Pulling my hair out. Trump is looking for every possible way to gut education funding and instead of pointing that out and actually standing up for the idea of academic freedom — whether that means to research or teach or protest on campus — they’re opting to grovel like this instead.
Email from Columbia President Armstrong makes clear that admin still has no idea what it’s dealing with. No amount of “serious action to combat antisemitism” (read: punish Palestine activists) will satisfy the Nazis. They see universities as an enemy institution to crush underfoot.
March 8, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Pulling my hair out. Trump is looking for every possible way to gut education funding and instead of pointing that out and actually standing up for the idea of academic freedom — whether that means to research or teach or protest on campus — they’re opting to grovel like this instead.
Pretty excited that Minerva is teaming up with @ohnomelody.bsky.social on this new edition. It's great when awesome people do cool stuff together!
We're live in ten minutes with the Voidheart Symphony Backerkit launch! I'll be interviewing Minerva McJanda, vamping for an hour, generally being suave and intelligent, you know.
Come along and throw your fuckin cash at us
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/r...
Come along and throw your fuckin cash at us
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/r...
Voidheart Symphony - What Are You Fighting For? Launch Party
Get excited about Voidheart Symphony - What Are You Fighting For? on BackerKit - come join!
www.backerkit.com
March 6, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Pretty excited that Minerva is teaming up with @ohnomelody.bsky.social on this new edition. It's great when awesome people do cool stuff together!
Working on a pitch for @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social and the AGS crew:
March 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Working on a pitch for @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social and the AGS crew: