Alex Wiltshire
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rotational.co.uk
Alex Wiltshire
@rotational.co.uk
750 followers 120 following 140 posts
Gamester and writer. Former Edge editor, now working at Mojang on storytelling for Minecraft. https://rotational.co.uk
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rotational.co.uk
I've been running Night's Black Agents for my regular RPG chums, and — HYPER-NICHE-BULLSHIT TIME! — we're using QuickShock rules because we're PbtA narrative sickos who couldn't take NBA's dose of good old-fashioned combat crunch. Here's how I hastily adapted it!

rotational.co.uk/2025/10/conv...
Converting Gumshoe QuickShock rules to Night’s Black Agents
For my regular group I’ve been running Night’s Black Agents, a TTRPG in which players are cinematic hyper-competent agents fighting a vampire conspiracy, with QuickShock rules. Here’s how I’ve adapted...
rotational.co.uk
October 20, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
metanetsoftware.com
TEN++ is a big thank you to everyone who has played the game and supported us over the years -- you rock! Check out this amazing video community member abho made for us to help celebrate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8gs...
Happy 10th Anniversary, N++!
YouTube video by metanetsoftware
www.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
andylemon.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wubk...
Boards of Canada's Olson played thru a 1959 DEC PDP-1 via Lightbulb pulses at the Computer History Museum. Mountain View, California. Hosted on Joe Lynch's YT chan <3 603 bytes of music code on punchpaper :)
#chiptune
Boards of Canada "Olson" on a 1959 PDP-1 Computer
YouTube video by Joe Lynch
www.youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:14 PM
rotational.co.uk
Was before your tenure, right, @mrbasilpesto.bsky.social? But do you know who wrote this delight?
yunanoire.bsky.social Yuna.EXE 🏳️‍⚧️ @yunanoire.bsky.social · Mar 10
Real opening paragraph in an Official Nintendo Magazine feature

"I once punched my younger brother so hard in the chest that he vomited up that morning's breakfast - cornflakes mainly. It wasn't technically the Heimlich manoevre, as he wasn't choking and I wasn't trying to save him-"
October 13, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
kierongillen.bsky.social
I wrote this over the weekend, and was a lot of fun writing something about reading something that's a lot of fun.
September 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
rotational.co.uk
Innocent
Golden retriever looks imploringly in front of a sign on a lamppost saying “missing tortoise (again)”
September 28, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
rossignol.bsky.social
Right you lot. Get WYRD SCIENCE Issue 7 ordered: shop.wyrd.science/products/wyr...

I am in it talking CAVES OF QUD. I will take it as a personal favour if you pick this up. But don't do it for me, do it for the health of #TTRPG generally, because this is the magazine we all deserve.
Wyrd Science Vol.1 / Issue 7 [Print]
PLEASE NOTE - THIS ISSUE WILL SHIP IN EARLY/MID SEPTEMBER, ANYTHING ORDERED AT THE SAME TIME WILL BE SENT OUT TOGETHER PLEASE PLEASE NOTE - IF YOU WANT A SUBSCRIPTION, AND TO SAVE 10% ON THE COVER PRI...
shop.wyrd.science
September 19, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
mtrc.bsky.social
I don't make a lot of predictions, but I feel pretty ok saying that this kind of thing will not work. I wrote about something similar three years ago or so: www.possibilityspace.org/blog/posts/i...

It also fails the 'comfort' check I mention in the blog - people don't want to do work to watch tv.
August 29, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
marshdavies.bsky.social
I spent the last month driving (sailing?) myself mad drawing these diagrams. But they're finally done! Phew! Thank god I'll never have to draw another ship again. What's that, Jim? We accidentally wrote an entire book about ships? FUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUuuuu
Four semi-isometric diagrams of an 18th-century sail-ship, each showing a different deck. It looks to be in a bit of distress: its masts have been shattered; an enormous crane arm has plunged into it, piercing multiple decks; and a large hole is rapidly filling the cargo hold with water.
August 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
rotational.co.uk
Roddy and Athena
A golden retriever sits beneath a stone statue of Athena
August 25, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
breachwizards.bsky.social
Tactical Breach Wizards is a year old today! To celebrate, we're rewinding the whole last year to see if it can be done better or if it's just a bullshit level.

In the meantime, we're 25% off til Monday! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
Save 25% on Tactical Breach Wizards on Steam
In Tactical Breach Wizards, you lead a team of renegade wizards in kevlar through turn-based battles to unravel a modern conspiracy plot. Combine their unique spells in clever ways, or rewind time to ...
store.steampowered.com
August 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
wes.readonlymemo.com
Incredible quote from Team Cherry. Can't believe they make games like this
It's a famous quote from Kurt Vonnegut about computers. It goes: "I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I’d never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterwards I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this woman named Carol out in Woodstock and say, “Are you still doing typing?” Sure she is, and her husband is trying to track bluebirds out there and not having much luck, and so we chitchat back and forth, and I say, “OK, I’ll send you the pages.” Then I’m going down the steps, and my wife calls up, “Where are you going?” I say, “Well, I’m going to go buy an envelope.” And she says, “You’re not a poor man. Why don’t you buy a thousand envelopes? They’ll deliver them, and you can put them in a closet.” And I say, “Hush.” So I go down the steps here, and I go out to this newsstand across the street where they sell magazines and lottery tickets and stationery. I have to get in line because there are people buying candy and all that sort of thing, and I talk to them. The woman behind the counter has a jewel between her eyes, and when it’s my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately. I get my envelope and seal it up and go to the postal convenience center down the block at the corner of 47th Street and 2nd Avenue, where I’m secretly in love with the woman behind the counter. I keep absolutely poker-faced; I never let her know how I feel about her. One time I had my pocket picked in there and got to meet a cop and tell him about it. Anyway, I address the envelope to Carol in Woodstock. I stamp the envelope and mail it in a mailbox in front of the post office, and I go home. And I’ve had a hell of a good time. And I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different. Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We’re dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go do something. [Gets up and dances a jig.]"
August 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
radiatoryang.bsky.social
shaders were a mistake. let's go back to handpainted textures for everything
vgcartography.bsky.social Max (VGCartography) @vgcartography.bsky.social · Aug 15
FF8 summons, finally ripping these models for HD card use
August 15, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
willwiles.bsky.social
From the individual to the national scale, the long term winners will be the ones who avoid all this like the plague and retain the ability to think, question, research, learn and remember
nslayton.bsky.social Nicholas Slayton @nslayton.bsky.social · Aug 12
Overheard a rich guy at the gym say he relies on chat gpt to think. Not a joke, he went on to say he relies on it to tell him what to take when he leaves the house.

Everything is so stupid.
August 12, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
alfredvalley.bsky.social
Sunday morning 2 minute video essay about taking a break. Enjoy! youtu.be/GEICXWcnhQk?...
Idling with the ghost car
YouTube video by Alfred Valley
youtu.be
August 10, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
rossignol.bsky.social
This includes a contribution from one of the gaming world's better-known Jim Rossignols. Worth picking up for that alone.
wyrdscience.bsky.social Wyrd Science Magazine @wyrdscience.bsky.social · Aug 8
Hey, hey, hey. We have very very big news. We finally have a new issue on sale right... NOW!

We hope it's not our last but that is up in the air so this really is a case where YOU ARE THE HERO

but also other very cool non WS stuff mentioned! so check it out...
Wyrd Science 7! Back from the Dread
Not going to sugarcoat this, we're here to talk - at length- about our new issue here...
wyrd.science
August 9, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
stecurran.bsky.social
Deep breath.

✨ Mindset GO! is in soft launch now! ✨

🔵 iOS: mindset.game/app/
🔺 Android: mindset.game/app/
🟨 ... Or web: mindset.game

Mindset is a new smart casual puzzle that tests 👀 observation and 🧠 logic.

Install! Play! Share! ENJOY. And let me know how you get on.

Big day. More to come... 🔮
A release image for Mindset GO! It says "Mindset GO! Out Now!" next to the Mindset logo, a modified Venn diagram. Below, a cat lurks by some sortable shapes. There are cats in the game; also shapes.
August 7, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
rossignol.bsky.social
Final in-house test of Gold Teeth this evening. Locks were picked with remote controlled crabs, murder-apes boarded a zoo ship by leaping from nearby jungle, and a newly awakened sea-god dragged the British flagship to a watery grave.
August 4, 2025 at 9:30 PM
rotational.co.uk
I just released a single-page RPG called BOARD OF MAMMON, in which you get to be a demonic exec competing for Mammon's favour in corporate board meetings! It's free, also fun. rotational.co.uk/rpg/2025-08-...
Board of Mammon
I wrote another RPG. I set myself the challenge of creating it for a single sheet of paper and came up with Board of Mammon, a GM-less PVP one-shot RPG about greed: You are demonic executives competin...
rotational.co.uk
August 5, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
rotational.co.uk
I wrote a TTRPG called BOARD OF MAMMON.
- Exercise demonic corporate greed for Mammon's favour!
- You don't need a GM! It's for one-shot sessions!
- The rules fit on a single sheet of paper!
- Someone gets to be CEO and you can vote them out!
- It's totally FREE!
rotational.co.uk/rpg/2025-08-...
Board of Mammon
I wrote another RPG. I set myself the challenge of creating it for a single sheet of paper and came up with Board of Mammon, a GM-less PVP one-shot RPG about greed: You are demonic executives competin...
rotational.co.uk
August 2, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rotational.co.uk
I wrote a TTRPG called BOARD OF MAMMON.
- Exercise demonic corporate greed for Mammon's favour!
- You don't need a GM! It's for one-shot sessions!
- The rules fit on a single sheet of paper!
- Someone gets to be CEO and you can vote them out!
- It's totally FREE!
rotational.co.uk/rpg/2025-08-...
Board of Mammon
I wrote another RPG. I set myself the challenge of creating it for a single sheet of paper and came up with Board of Mammon, a GM-less PVP one-shot RPG about greed: You are demonic executives competin...
rotational.co.uk
August 2, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
adelfaure.bsky.social
Stealing a cow

#ASCIIart #animation
August 2, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
jwaaaap.com
when you ask for feedback and get feedback but what you really wanted was encouragement
marxologist.bsky.social Ksenia Arapko @marxologist.bsky.social · Aug 2
Ai Weiwei was invited to contribute short reflections on “What I would have liked to know about Germany earlier" for an upcoming issue of Zeit Magazin. His submission was first shortened and edited, then immediately cancelled after a review by the Executive Editor. Ai shared his reflections anyway:
Here is the column I wrote on the theme "What I Would have liked to Know About Germany Earlier," along with the additional reflections I provided at Zeit Magazin's request. -A society governed by regulations, yet lacking individual moral judgement, is more dangerous than one with none at all. -A society that values obedience without questioning authority is destined to become corrupt. -A society that admits to error but refuses to reflect on its origins possesses a mind as stubborn and dull as granite. -Here, at a deserted street, people stop dutifully at a red light. Not a car in sight. This, I once thought, is the mark of a highly evolved society. -At the heart of bureaucracy lies a collective endorsement of power's legitimacy, and therefore, individuals surrender their moral judgement–or perhaps never developed one. They abandon challenge. They relinquish dispute. -When conversation becomes avoidance, when topics must not be mentioned, we are already living under the quiet logic of authoritarianism. -When the majority believe they live in a free society, it is often a sign that the society is not free. Freedom is not a gift; it must be wrestled from the hands of banality and the quiet complicity with power. -When people sense that power is beyond challenge, they redirect their energy into trivial disputes. And those trivialities, collectively, are enough to erode a society's very foundations of justice. -When public events of great consequence–such as the Nord Stream Pipeline bombing–are met with silence from both government and media, the silence itself becomes more terrifying than any atomic bomb. -Facts are acknowledged partially, forgotten deliberately, or swallowed by collective silence. And so we repeat catastrophe–against and again, in cycles. -When the media becomes a servant of public opinion, or avoids conflict to maintain favour with existing powers, it becomes an accomplice to authority. What we call lies are not always distortions of fact. -Political leaders make decisions steeped in fallacy & failure. This reflects the broader political condition of a society in which most people have surrendered their awareness & even their basic agency–allowing such leaders to enact their mistakes on their behalf -When a society uses linguistic difference or cultural misunderstanding as excuses for exclusion, it has crossed into a more insidious form of racism. This is not a political opinion–it is an attitude, a stain in blood, passed down like genes -Bureaucracy is not merely sluggish. It is a cultural scorn. It rejects the possibility of dialogue. It insists that ignorance, codified into policy, no matter how wrong & inhumane it is, remains the best resistance against social mobility, against moral motion. In such a society, hope is not misplaced. It is extinguished -In the surrounding atmosphere, one sees not culture, but self-congratulation; not art, but insularity & collective reverence for power. What is missing is sincerity–honesty of emotion & of intention. In such an environment, art that grapples with true human feeling or moral reckoning is nearly impossible to produce. -A place that routinely discards self-awareness & erases individual agency is one that lives under iron walls of authoritarianism -I have no family, no fatherland, never known what it is to belong. I belong only to myself. In the best of circumstances, that self should belong to everyone. I still do not know what art is. I only hope that what I make might touch its edges while it seems unrelated to anything. & in truth, in the best of circumstances it is unrelated to me, for the "I" already melts into everything -Those things found in galleries, museums, & collectors' living room–are they art? Who has declared them so? On what basis? Why do I always feel suspicion in their presence? -Works that evade reality, that shy away from argument, from controversy, from debate–be they text, painting, or performance–are worthless. -I understand now: people crave power and tyranny as they crave sunshine and rain, for the burden of self-awareness feels like pain. at times, even like catastrophe. -Under most circumstances, society selects the most selfish, least idealistic among us to take on the work we call "art" because that choice makes everyone feel safe. Additional reflections -In Berlin, I encounter the ever-present Schweinshaxe and Schnitzel, and I can hardly believe that such a highly developed, industrialised country offers such a monotonous selection of ingredients. Even more baffling is the sudden proliferation of Chinese restaurants–most of them noodle-based, and operating at a culinary level that any Chinese person could easily achieve at home. The variety of food and cooking methods is so limited here that people form all over the world feel compelled to open restaurants: Vietnamese, Thai, Turkish–you name it. -But the truly horrifying part? The sheer number of Chinese restaurants. I can only assume they believe that no matter what ends up on the plate, German customers will come running. In front of some of these establishments, there are even long queues–yet the food they serve bears little resemblance to anything recognisably Chinese. My favourite food in Germany is the bread and sausage–you simply can't find ones with such distinctive character anywhere else. -I'm puzzled by why so many people would willingly cram themselves into a small bar just to have a long conversation. Since I don't speak the language, I can only imagine that the young people coming to Berlin would talk about clubbing. This sort of thing was all the rage in the U.S. back in the '70s and '80s. -The Germans might be the only people who are truly the furthest from a sense of humour. This could be the result of their deep reverence for rationality. Just look at Berlin Airport or the advertisements for Mercedes-Benz cars–you start to feel that their lack of humour has become a kind of immense humour in itself
August 2, 2025 at 9:32 AM
rotational.co.uk
Behold, Fortune Dark, my simple TTRPG system in which desperate acolytes of bad gods attempt to deal with their luck running out rotational.itch.io/fortune-dark
Fortune Dark by rotational
A light ruleset for running desperate TTRPG adventures.
rotational.itch.io
July 31, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Alex Wiltshire
stecurran.bsky.social
I've been waiting three years to post this.

Mindset is a new type of puzzle, a mix of observation and logic. Think Sudoku, Picross, Connections and... none of those. It's new.

The first videogame version is called Mindset Go!. It's out soon on iOS and Android. I really hope you like it.

🟨🔺🔵
The logo for Mindset Go!. It shows two interlinked circles, one blue, one black. On the edge of the black circle are two smaller shapes, a yellow square and a red triangle.
July 28, 2025 at 1:20 PM