Rose Skye
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vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Rose Skye
@vorpalcoil.bsky.social
170 followers 190 following 1.2K posts
Actually a living doll. Author of fiction and tabletop RPGs. There is a cat sleeping on my lap as you read this.

https://vorpalcoil.bttg.net/
https://vorpalcoil.itch.io/
https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=77546454
https://ko-fi.com/roseskye
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vorpalcoil.bsky.social
The first sentence of METASTRUCTURE, a novel of simulacra and the system that sustains them.
Chapter 1 The sound of crackling radio static exploded in Elliot's ears.
November 13, 2025 at 6:08 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Went to a post-Halloween party with the theme "Haunted Ballroom", so I put together a Rondò Veneziano outfit.
Woman in a blue dress with black sleeves and gloves. She has long dark hair and wears a featureless silver mask, while playing a flute. Behind her is a print of a Dali painting.
November 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
In Cordwainer Smith's Instrumentality of Mankind stories, eldritch creatures called "dragons" lurk in hyperspace, waiting to drive humans to insanity and death. In these vulnerable, liminal moments, only cats – who see the invisible monsters as simply rats – can protect us.

Much wisdom in this.
A black cat with yellow eyes, perched on a shoulder.
October 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Watched Sorcerer (1977) and this film was robbed of its accolades by its proximity to the release of Star Wars. That bridge scene was scarier than most horror movies I've seen.
A truck crosses a rickety wooden bridge over a river in the rain, with a man sitting in front of it giving hand directions.
October 20, 2025 at 4:36 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
My short story, "Alignment", is in this anthology, just in time for All Hallows' Eve!
checkout.square.site/merchant/ML5...
#booksky #horrorsky
@whisperhousepress.bsky.social
Grey gradient background, a book with a cover reading "Dread Mondays". Available October 25th, pre-order now wherever books are sold.
October 5, 2025 at 4:41 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Protoplastic was originally going to be a squarecrawl (because bricks, get it?) but then I remembered Marshall Islands stick charts and realized that I had to make a pointcrawl instead. Besides, I have some thoughts about making path choices meaningful that I want to explore.
White background, black text, circular symbols. Title: "TRAVEL" Body: The world consists of a vast ocean of oil dotted with metal islands. The ocean’s top layer is an iridescent black oil slick, along which the boats of the People sail. When the chronicle begins, the Tyrant draws a map of the archipelago: the small home island of the heroes sits in the center, surrounded by other islands further out. They then draw lines connecting the islands: these are the known routes between them, based on ocean currents mapped out by other sailors. Each line has one or more one-word tags next to it indicating the hazards one has to survive to cross that route. A given route can have multiple tags, which trigger in the order they appear on the path based on which direction the boat is going along it. Sailors can draw new routes between places they’ve been during downtime. Passing through a route takes a travel turn. At the end of each travel turn, expend one bottle of fuel for each person aboard. Whoever pilots the boat makes any checks. Route Hazards: Rough: Grace check versus all passengers taking a point of stress due to seasickness. Long: No check, but expend an extra bottle of fuel for each person on board due to the time taken to cross. Infested: Insight check to avoid a sea monster or pirate encounter – the Tyrant picks one ahead of time. Murky: Insight check to avoid getting lost in the mist, drifting into another nearby route of the Tyrant’s choice. Perilous: Courage check to pilot the ship around undersea rocks or reefs, or lose a boat part. Sidebars: The heroes should name their own island and define what it’s like. The rest of the world is up to the Tyrant. All islands should have at least one connecting route, and preferably two or more in total. Try to draw a web of links so that the heroes can choose which hazards they prefer to deal with on their way.
September 29, 2025 at 3:43 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Appropriately for a game inspired by modular building toys, Protoplastic has so much crafting in it. Each of the nine character types has their own unique form of crafting, and downtime is almost entirely devoted to the pursuit of making things.
White background, black text, circular symbols. Heading: "CRAFTING". Body: Each type of pearl is innately skilled at a particular craft – each one of them can make something, although not always something physical. Crafting usually requires appropriate tools and materials, and typically involves an Insight check to avoid wasting time or supplies. Simple repairs can be done in the field, but any new constructions require a downtime action. CRAFTING SKILLS Artist: You can carve scrimshaw into masks, either adding or removing a mien. Carving requires a blade of some kind, but no materials. Builder: You can build, deconstruct, and repair boats, buildings, and terrain. This requires both tools and one brick of plastic per part added. Cook: You can blend bottle of oil, including fuel, grease, and medicine. Crude oil bottles can be made into any other type. Requires a pump arm part. Farmer: You can grow body parts as long as you have a piece of the same type that you want to grow. Requires a bottle of fuel per part grown. Hunter: You can tame and care for monsters as pets. Once captured, teaching the monster requires a check. Leader: You can engage in politics to generate debts to yourself. You must be able to communicate with the target. You can also cancel out an existing debt. Sailor: You can chart new sailing routes with only one hazard of your choice. You can chart a route between any two locations you’ve been to before. Scholar: You can assemble a theory based on research: this grants a secret about any topic of your choice. Requires no tools or materials. Seer: You can perform a ritual to invest a spell you can cast into an idol (expends a pearl), making the effect locally permanent as long as it exists. "Protoplastic is fundamentally a game about making things. Aside from recovery, crafting is the primary purpose of downtime. If you don’t want to use your own crafting skill, you can instead spend your action to employ someone else at your village who can do it."
September 28, 2025 at 4:14 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
In Protoplastic, you roll a pool of d6s in advance, then choose which one you want to apply to a given check when the time comes. You still have to take the good and the bad rolls, but the timing becomes a meaningful decision. Many thanks to Citizen Sleeper for inspiring this system!
White page, black text, circular symbols. Title: "TAKING ACTION". Body: "Whenever someone takes a consequential action, resolve it in one of two ways: Success: If you try to do something you would reasonably expect to be able to do, simply say you do it and it happens: this includes common tasks everyone knows, as well as skilled work you’re trained to do. Failure: If you try to do something that doesn’t make sense for you to be able to do, it doesn’t happen. The Tyrant should let the player know something isn’t going to work before they commit to the action. If you try to do something under dangerous conditions, you also use dice to see if something bad happens as a result – this is called making a “check”. The dice don’t inherently determine whether you succeed or fail, but whether you avoid the danger while doing so. At the beginning of the session, the players roll six dice and leave them on the table showing their results: this is the Light Pool. The Tyrant also rolls six dice in the same way: this is the Dark Pool. Whenever a situation comes up that calls for a die, if a player is making a check, they pick one of the dice from the Light Pool. If the Tyrant is making the check, they choose from the Dark Pool. Add any relevant numerical modifiers (discussed later) to the number on the die and compare it to this chart: 4 or more: You avoid the danger. 3 or less: The danger takes effect. Once a die is used, remove it from the pool. Once a pool has no more dice remaining, roll another six dice to refill it. Note down leftover dice when a session ends to carry them over to the next session." Sidenotes: "In other words, you can always do anything that makes sense for you to be able to do, and you can’t do things that don’t make sense. Unlike most roleplaying games, you roll dice ahead of time instead of at the moment of resolution. You still have to take good and bad rolls, but you get to choose when they happen.
September 27, 2025 at 5:05 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Version 0.3 of Protoplastic, the plastic robot building RPG, drops on the 30th!
White page, black text, odd rounded symbols. Title: "INTRODUCTION" Body: "The People live on islands of cubic metal jutting out above a sea of iridescent black oil. Living plastic forms their mechanical bodies, and colorful masks adorn their faces. Beneath the pale tangerine sky, they tend to farms of twitching half-formed limbs, dive for glass pearls, and ceremonially assemble these pieces together to build new members of their villages. Then they dance – dance the same instinctive patterns their ancestors did long ago without quite knowing why. Even so, they know the world of their ancestors deteriorates further with each passing year. Bizarre monsters, mutagenic plagues, and catastrophic storms devastate their homes and claim their lives. The elders tell a story that a dark spirit cursed the creator deity to eternal slumber, allowing the world to fall out of balance and into decay. Renewal will come, they say, when destined heroes wielding the forces of nature rise from beneath the waves and wake the sleeping god. A century passed in fervent prayer. Then, just as the People lost their hope, the promised womb-vessels washed up on the ironsand of the beach. Yet no glorious heroes stepped out: inside, their component parts lay in ruins, lacking the pearls that would hold their courageous souls. Despair weighed upon the People like heavy chains until one of them climbed inside, removed their mask, and donned instead one of the masks meant for the stillborn heroes. One by one, others stepped forward to accept the same burden: if fate lay derelict, then they would take the task into their own hands. They would assume any form, cross any distance, do whatever was necessary to drag the world back from the brink of ruin. Seek salvation through salvage." Sidebars: "You were build for a purpose you have long since forgotten. Even divinity succumbs to entropy."
September 26, 2025 at 4:17 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
The noble Hanno, seated upon his comfy throne.
A cat (white with tan spots) sitting atop folded blankets on a red leather couch.
September 15, 2025 at 3:51 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
I made a key lime pie yesterday to celebrate the vestiges of summer while it lasted, and behold: for today is it misty and overcast, the first truly autumnal day of this year. The seal has been broken.
Key lime pie in a glass dish sitting on a wooden table.
September 14, 2025 at 4:11 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Artwork by @nornnoszka.bsky.social of characters from their session of my space necromancer romance RPG, 'Til Death (link below)! In the end, the mage Luna (of House Luna) ascended to the throne after the tragic sacrifice of her sworn knight, Gaia. I'm so pleased to get to share this~
Drawing on a sketchpad: A buff warrior woman in a rough leather outfit, holding a spiked mace. Beside her stands a long-haired mage in a dark robe, holding a staff and surrounded by ghosts. A skull floats beside her.
September 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
I still don't wear my glasses most of the time (I reject my chains) but I'm trying to incorporate them into outfits more often.
Woman with long brown hair wearing glasses and a burgundy dress.
August 21, 2025 at 6:33 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
It's blackberry season, and the bushes are bountiful.
(If this doesn't look like a lot, it's a trick of perspective: my stocks are now 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦.)
A white plastic bucket full of blackberries, sitting on grass.
August 16, 2025 at 5:34 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Someone said I looked like I was from Blade Runner.
A long-haired woman in a monochrome floral dress and a black jacket sits in a wooden chair. She looks at the camera with an aloof expression while the light streams in onto her through the window.
August 5, 2025 at 4:36 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Even though it's a direction the games have been slowly sliding for years, it's still wild to me that Pokemon Champions is going to let you directly alter stats. It expends a currency you acquire for winning battles so it's not utterly dissimilar to traditional training, but still!
A set of screenshots from Pokemon Champions showing an interface for altering Pokemon stats and traits by spending Victory Points.
July 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Thank you~

I'm not sure what it translates into gameplay-wise just yet, but I'm vividly reminded of a passage from Pale Fire:
Jacques d'Argus looked for a twentieth time at his watch. He strolled like a pigeon with his hands behind him. He had his mahogany shoes shined - and appreciated the way the dirty but pretty boy clacked taut his rag. In a restaurant on Broadway he consumed a large portion of pinkish pork with sauerkraut, a double helping of elastic French fries, and the half of an overripe melon. From my rented cloudlet I contemplate him with quiet surprise: here he is, this creature ready to commit a monstrous act - and coarsely enjoying a coarse meal! We must assume, I think, that the forward projection of what imagination he had, stopped at the act, on the brink of all its possible consequences; ghost consequences, comparable to the ghost toes of an amputee or to the fanning out of additional squares which a chess knight (that skip-space piece), standing on a marginal file, "feels" in phantom extensions beyond the board, but which have no effect whatever on his real moves, on the real play.
July 6, 2025 at 3:21 AM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Working on a game for this year's Lego jam and accidentally (intentionally) made Orange Transparent Chainsaw best-in-slot apex gear.
July 5, 2025 at 4:50 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Portrait of a blue hedgehog, with the words "SONIC x7"
June 21, 2025 at 2:31 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
From "A Suggested Remote Viewing Training Procedure" (published in 1986, declassified in 2000).
A black and white diagram of "Psychic Function - The Remote Viewing Process", consisting of a series of sometimes-overlapping, arrow-linked circles with names like "target, "unconsciousness", "analyst", and "noise".
June 5, 2025 at 4:15 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
This Strategist ability inspired the basis of an entire character, despite never actually being used in play. With this sort of thing, sometimes the threat itself is enough.
Kinetic Bombardment: Once per assignment as a short action you may call a strike on your current location. At the beginning of the next scene, the entire location and everything in it is destroyed by tungsten rods moving at near-relativistic speed. Your superiors will likely be upset unless you have a very good reason for wiping out part of the City or Engine.
May 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Black Iron Engine drops in two days! Which would technically give me a point of experience - I experimented with some nonstandard ways of handing that out.
"Engagement". Rules for getting character experience points for starting new campaigns or making things related to the game.
May 24, 2025 at 3:48 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Your level in Black Iron Engine is called your "pay grade", and I will forever be chasing that triumph of RPG nomenclature.
Rules for gaining experience to go up in pay grade.
May 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Quite proud of how the Black Iron Engine character sheets look. You will fill out that government documentation and you will like it.
Civil Service Record of Employment, Parts A and B An RPG character sheet in the style of a government document. Civil Service Record of Employment, Parts C and D An RPG character sheet in the style of a government document.
May 22, 2025 at 3:24 PM
vorpalcoil.bsky.social
Yes, ARPANET is a thing in Black Iron Engine, in their timeline it grew into a public-servicing Minitel-esque proto-internet, such that what we know as the internet never came into existence.
Yellow-papered list of "Radio Noise" glitches, including ARPANET connections going down.
May 22, 2025 at 3:09 AM