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pat626.bsky.social
PAT 626's Overthinking Emporium
@pat626.bsky.social
350 followers 120 following 1.3K posts
They/Them. DJ. Writer. Gamer. I'm thinking too much about everything and passing the rants on to you!
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pat626.bsky.social
Now that @pugliacci.bsky.social got his drains out, Starbuck is finally home! We're going out on walks, watching movies, and napping. Starbuck is starting to realize Papa can't move as much and that means she can get in more trouble, so normalcy has returned to the household.
November 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Jasper's surgery went super well! We're already home resting. If you want to send Jasper cute links, memes, videos, etc, he would love that. If you want to schedule a visit or help out in any way, please message me! Thanks everyone for all your support! ❤️
October 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
pat626.bsky.social
We've gotten another tremendous wave of support recently and want to say thank you to everyone who contributed time, money, food, & emotional support recently! We are surrounded by a wonderful community and we appreciate each and every one of you. <3
October 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Aflac still hasn't gotten back to us about Jasper's disability insurance so we might be a paycheck down during the recovery, so while we hate to ask, we still need donations. Thank you for your help, even if it's just a share.

His top surgery is TUESDAY and the hype is real!

ko-fi.com/nicnevins
October 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Zagreus, stop deadnaming your mother.
October 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
pat626.bsky.social
Have I mentioned I love Chaos? Later on I'll have to write about how much I love the ark between them and Nyx.
October 18, 2025 at 3:43 AM
pat626.bsky.social
Big thanks to everyone who has donated time, money, or the promise of food so far. We're having some hiccups in expected aid so any help you can give us, even just sharing the link in the comments, would be helpful.
Jasper's top surgery is on 10/28
ko-fi.com/nicnevins
October 10, 2025 at 4:27 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Friends, after almost a year of hoop-jumping, @pugliacci.bsky.social's top surgery is at the end of the month. This is a thread with a couple options/links to help support us during the recovery period after we've launched his tits into the sun.
Pat and Jasper posing together. Pat's making a goofy shocked face and Jasper's trying to smile as if Pat isn't a total doofus... or maybe because they are?
October 4, 2025 at 4:23 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Had to design a logo for the Mobius Trip discord.

A fluffy, light-hearted game awaits within, I'm sure...
Image from the Songs from the Cage game Mobius Trip. Black background with a strange rune engraved into it in red. Overtop, spray-painted in light blue at an odd angle are the following words: ASK THE BLIND MAN WHO SAW IT TOO
September 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
pat626.bsky.social
While I HAVE played the Exocolonist card game, I mostly use my deck when I get stumped for my Colony Kids ttrpg game ideas. I random draw cards until enough of them match together for me to generate a task (players have 3-5 tasks they can pick 1 from most games to ensure engagement).
Promotional image for the I Was A Teenage Exocolonist card game, showcasing several cards laid out on a table. Taken from thegamecrafter.com/games/i-was-a-teenage-exocolonist
September 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Won a rearguard action against my writer's block last night, making progress on the Tropes characters can become. Each trope has a Plot Hook and Advantage, each of which can be used once per episode. Characters can change their Tropes each episode by changing clothing and acting accordingly.
An excerpt from the Songs from the Cage Trope rules in progress. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Cassandra - Description: Your intuition causes you to give great advice, but for some reason no one listens to you. Maybe it’s your delivery? - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP when someone else comes to harm for ignoring your advice. - Advantage: Cause anyone, including you, to redo the last roll if its current standing would contradict one of your predictions. Dead Cat - Description: You can’t help it. You’re bloody curious and that leads to both tremendous finds and disastrous encounters. - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP if you or another player comes to harm due to you being somewhere you shouldn’t - Advantage: Autowin one Awareness check involved with snooping where you shouldn’t. Scholar - Description: You have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and you’re about to make it everyone’s problem. Even if you don’t have a bad attitude about it, your need to know overrides just about everything. - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP if you or another player come to harm in the pursuit of some new knowledge. - Advantage: The first expenditure of Willpower in the name of not giving up your quest for answers is free. An excerpt from the Songs from the Cage Trope rules in progress. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Sheriff - Description: You might not be an actual cop, but right now you’re obsessed with order above all else. It might be your insistence on keeping to rules that keeps everyone alive. - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP the first time you convince someone to change something significant in the name of staying safe. - Advantage: Spend a Willpower to gain +4 on a challenge to keep the safety or the peace. Last One Standing - Description: Luck, looks, survival skills—whatever it is, something’s keeping you alive, hopefully to the end. - Plot Hook: Gain an XP if someone else comes to harm protecting you. - Advantage: If you are not being targeted in a combat, you can call Fair Escape to remove yourself from it unless all exits are blocked. Jock - Description: You might not be a big, dumb ox, but you at least give off that vibe. All I’m saying is: there’s being fit and there’s making it your life. - Plot Hook: Gain an XP the first time you impress someone with your physicality. - Advantage: Spend 1 Health to gain a +4 on any act requiring athletic skill.
September 23, 2025 at 4:55 PM
pat626.bsky.social
As much as I loved the Data/Lore pairing, I just couldn't make the Lore ability DO what I wanted it to do. Then I thought about how Disco Elysium, a major inspiration for this rules set, names some its stats as references it does not explain. Suddenly my SftC naming conventions are a lot easier now.
Preliminary rules for the Songs from the Cage ttrpg. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Chimera - How immersed are you in the waters of imagination: do you step a toe in, swim in them regularly, or drown in your fantasies? Whether forging out-of-the-box hunches or fantastic worlds not like our own, you are not bound by the thought patterns of reality or the prison of Data. Chimera creates the spark, the Innovation skill fans it into the flames of Art. Uses: creative ideas, unpredictable plans, making sense of dreams and visions
September 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
pat626.bsky.social
The Songs from the Cage games I'll run will focus heavily on characters, so I'm making an appendix character creation worksheet for folks wanting a clear idea of who they are ahead of time. BUT, most of it is optional for people that prefer to build their backstory together with me during play.
Snippet from my draft for a Songs from the Cage character worksheet. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: I recommend the first section be mandatory. However, players recognize the Taleweaver reserves right to improvise any issue here the player doesn’t address. That in mind, I also recommend at least reading through the whole sheet and writing “DNU” (“Do Not Use”) next to any item you don’t want to come up in game (for your character at least). Stuff the Taleweaver NEEDS to Know 1. Name 2. Age 3. Gender identity 4. Assigned gender at birth 5. Physical description 6. What are they objectively good at? 7. What are they objectively terrible at? 8. What are they proud of? 9. What are they insecure about? 10. Game-specific Question - NR: You’re driving in your car towards some important new thing. Where are you going and why? - MT: You boarded a train without a ticket. What are you running from, literally or figuratively? Why?
September 18, 2025 at 8:53 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Photo of a scene from the Good Place, where Michael originally says "Jason figured it out? JASON?" but the caption has been replaced with "The NRA figured it out? THE NRA??"
September 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Did somebody ask for a meme?
Photo of a scene from the Good Place, where Michael originally says "Jason figured it out? JASON?" but the caption has been replaced with "The NRA figured it out? THE NRA??"
September 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Text with a friend on Messenger where I asked: "Okay, what's the name of that horse game you play? I'm gonna make the worst Blue sky post ever."
September 5, 2025 at 3:38 AM
pat626.bsky.social
So instead I'm making Flashbacks GM-induced, piggybacking off the "Quests" system, which I've lifted from several games and massaged to my liking. The idea is while every player will be working on their quests each episode, one (or more) character(s) will get the spotlight that episode.
Quest rules from the ttrpg "Songs from the Cage." Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Quests are the main way characters gain XP. They are goals set by the Player or Taleweaver. For the Player, setting Quests not only keeps their priorities fresh in mind, but also signals to the Taleweaver what kind of story they wish to play. If all of the Players’ Quests involve getting dates to the upcoming ball, this may not be the time for that massive brawl you have planned, unless you can somehow turn it into a way for the Players to achieve their aims in a satisfying way. There are a variety of Quest types, delineated by roughly the amount of game time it takes to achieve them. Each Quest type is worth a different amount of XP. Minor Quests Minor Quests are things that shouldn’t take more than one or two Episodes to accomplish. They can be stepping stones to larger goals, something the Character has been putting off, or even something they know is going to happen. Because of the hopeful ease of achieving these Quests, they each award 1 XP. However, because they are simple, grand actions in the plot can affect them, so these are also the types of Quests most often abandoned. That said, course correction should be considered if a Player has to constantly abandon one or more Minor Quest. Players should have 1 or 2 Minor Quests ready before the first Episode of a game so as to give the Taleweaver ideas. Quest rules from "Songs from the Cage." Text reads as follows: Major Quests These quests take some work. This is a project that will require several Episodes to achieve and thus is also a signal to the Taleweaver as to what sort of vehicle their plot should arrive on. Players may go an Episode without making any progress on a Major Quest, but they shouldn’t go more than one unless they are otherwise engaged and enjoying said engagement. Because of the time investment required, completed Major Quests net the player 5 XP. However, because much more time and effort goes into these Quests, Taleweavers should take care not to force a Player to abandon them through plot machinations unless all parties agree it's okay. Players aren’t required to have a Major Quest at the start of game, but should develop one by the end of the second Episode. Arcs Arcs are the most satisfying Quests a character can go on, and are the one Quest they might not even know they’re pursuing. Instead, this represents the serious growth the Player wants their Character to go through, so while “Getting That Big Promotion” might be something the Character is aware of pursuing, “Becoming Less Of A Hopeless Stick-In-The-Mud” might be something the Player wants to slowly see happen even as the Character resists the change at first. Arcs should take quite a few Episodes, as they are basically personal Seasons for the Character’s own internal plot, and the Player should be heavily rewarded with between 10 and 20 XP depending on the time and effort put into the Arc. While pursuit of an Arc won’t happen every Episode, the Taleweaver should take care to meld opportunities for advancing a Player’s Arc throughout the Season. Keeping the Players engaged in your favorite plot by having it coincide with the development they want is exactly how you weave a tale. Only Player action should cut off the route to the completion of their Arcs.
August 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
pat626.bsky.social
What perfect album came out when you were 16?
Album cover for "egodram" by the band Das Ich
August 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
pat626.bsky.social
I know I made the working title (I'm Making My Own TTRPG, With) Blackjack & Hookers the title, but I committed to running all of my games in the Songs from the Cage setting for several years. Easier to put everything under the SftC label, so gonna.

Also, I took a sledge hammer to my writer's block.
Excerpt from a draft ruleset for the TTRPG Songs from the Cage. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Teamwork As much as we sometimes want to power through life all on our own, that not only sucks but is also impossible. You’re not the only person in The Cage, so through clever planning and teamwork a group of people can succeed where one might fail. First, some basic terminology. In a teamwork action, the Primary Check is whatever check is being turned into a teamwork action. Any checks meant to add modifiers to the Primary Check are Secondary Checks. The Primary Actor is the player who will roll the Main Check once all teamwork modifiers have been calculated. Secondary Actors roll the Secondary Checks. Most teamwork actions occur per the Situational Modifiers rules above: Secondary Actors suggest Secondary Checks (using different skills than the Primary Check) that can help the Primary Actor. Secondary Check successes drop the difficulty of the Primary Check by 1. However, maybe multiple players are good at the same skill. In this case, they can choose to all be the Primary Actor. Doing so drops the difficulty category by 1 for each additional Primary Actor (say, from Legendary to Formidable or Challenging), thus dropping the DV more severely. The flipside is that all Primary Actors must beat the new DV; a single failure counts as a total failure. Worse, while multiple Badass Successes can stack, so can multiple Cockups. Ultimately the Taleweaver arbitrates how many people can help with a check, whether it can be a teamwork check at all, and which teamwork ruleset applies (possibly both!).
August 18, 2025 at 6:26 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Finally crafting a proposal for my new universe, now called Songs From the Cage. Here's a sneak peak at the first two games I'll be running:
Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: LIVE GAME: No Regress “To resist it is useless. It is useless to resist it. His cigarette is burning but it never seems to ash.” – Cake, “Comfort Eagle” This trip was supposed to be a new start. Maybe a new job. Maybe a new home. Maybe you finally got out of a bad situation or maybe you’ve been given the second chance you never thought you’d get. But whatever was waiting on the other side of that storm will have to go on without you. First you hit a flood. Then an intersection that can’t possibly be real. And now you’re the guest of a small town, its strange cult, enigmatic mayor, and a clocktower that’s either the disease or the treatment. In order to leave, you’ve first got to figure out where the hell you are and just why so many different things knock on your door, begging to be let in. Black Text on White Background. Text reads as follows: DISCORD GAME: Mobius Trip “One bright day in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight.” – Unknown You all boarded the train for different reasons, but you were all running from something: the cops, the mob, responsibilities, your past, your future—and now running’s all you do. This train you have no choice but to explore, covered in strange etchings and even stranger graffiti, hardly ever stops. When it does, the locations are nothing you recognize. Not all the denizens of the train are human, and each car seems like a world on its own. Leaving’s not a great idea, either, because the only thing scarier in the creatures that want to bring you back are those that want you to stay with them instead.
July 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Am I the only one thinking this?
Christina Ricci as Misty Quigley from the TV Show Yellowjackets, wearing a curly blonde wig, glasses, and nurse scrubs.
July 16, 2025 at 4:22 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Starbuck got those modeling genes...
White Bichon named Starbuck posing with various pool toys. White Bichon named Starbuck posing with various pool toys.
July 14, 2025 at 12:44 PM
pat626.bsky.social
It might seem silly that media on both sides freaks out trying to stop him from getting anywhere near a position of power, but what they're really terrified of is if his policies are successful. Because if they are, these people could lose their grip on more than just New York.
Screen capture of a Wall Street Journal article, which states that the election of Mamdani could cause a socialist experiment which will hurt New York so bad the country will have to bail it out. Written by Bennet Nuss.
July 13, 2025 at 11:17 AM
pat626.bsky.social
What if my TTRPG rules voice is just my Bluesky voice?
A screenshot of a draft for rules for the TTRPG system (I'm Making My Own RPG... With) Blackjack and Hookers. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Teamwork As much as we sometimes want to power through life all on our own, that not only sucks but is also impossible.
July 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM
pat626.bsky.social
Many ttrpgs run like visual novels: scenes follow each other with mostly all-or-nothing challenges characters permanently succeed or fail. I tried to prioritize narratives that work like Metroidvanias, where you could find a challenge in one episode you can't accomplish until several episodes later.
Black text on white background, taken from the rules for (I'm Making My Own RPG... With) Blackjack And Hookers! Text as follows: Situational Modifiers Blackjack & Hookers intentionally starts players off with lower stats to encourage them to roleplay their way into easier challenges. For instance, a bouncer who cannot be easily swayed might block the way into a club, but the Taleweaver could take points off the difficulty depending on how much time the players spend getting to know her. Finding a place to hide might be easier if a character spends time casing the joint first. In this way, characters can rely on more than the points on their sheet to conquer situations. Because of this, games run in Blackjack & Hookers tend to be much more non-linear than certain RPGs. Rather than every scene having challenges that are either succeeded or failed and then moved on from, Taleweavers can introduce seemingly impossible challenges that players can take note of and then return to (hence the rule of not being able to retry a challenge until circumstances change - new stats, new info, new episode, etc.) But who knows… you gotta roll Boxcars sometime, right?
July 5, 2025 at 4:18 PM