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Lee

@dieselee.bsky.social

1.9K followers 1.4K following 3.9K posts

E-Boy / tabletop game designer / twitch streamer Bi💜he\him Streams on twitch.tv/dieselshot Links: https://beacons.ai/leeplay Tags: #TTRPG #GameDev #UE5 #Writer

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Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · Mar 11

Hello dreamers!

Did you know that @spiderqueenlong.bsky.social and I, of @dieselshot.bsky.social fame, have a fully playable 304-page Hard Sci-Fi Tabletop RPG set in a more hopeful future? And that you can download and play it RIGHT NOW?

It's true! <^_^> #ttrpg
dieselshot.itch.io/changedstars

ChangedStars by DieselShot

Hard Scifi TTRPG

dieselshot.itch.io

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 7h

sm4rt

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 7h

👀 waoh

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 7h

Part of my wants to take this as license to stop quibbling over what should(n't) be included and just wing it b\c hey. People bought those! Quite a lot of them! But it feels rather silly, too, and like you're leaving people ill equipped.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 7h

They've quite a distinct lewwwk don't they? XD

Reposted by Lee

Seamus Conneely of Cannibal Halfling Gaming @cannibalhalfling.bsky.social · 3d

"There is value in seeing how people play games, and from what they derive satisfaction and value. That said, the realities of how actual playstyles break out can get a bit complicated. " - Aaron Marks #ttrpg cannibalhalflinggaming.com/2025/10/09/c...

Cultures of Play, Quanta of Play

The assumptions, intentions, and design of tabletop roleplaying games are infamously broad; seeing eye to eye on how to play is as primary a challenge as finding a time on the calendar for four to …

cannibalhalflinggaming.com

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 10h

The latter. You see stuff for your game or that you find of interest and it's just sorta window shopping.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 11h

Whereas with a home group, it's really just what everyone agrees to, and plenty of people routinely play ultra-dark games. It's just a matter of figuring out what meshes withe group and agreeing to what's OK.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 11h

Nah hmu and it varies but broadly speaking folks will have safety tools and talk about Lines and Veils—things they don't want to come up at all and things they want a fade to black on.

The usual don'ts are stuff like harm to kids and sexual assault. There's limits to what y'can do at a game store.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

You shed the need for the many uniformities and expectations of a formal publication and produce an omnibus work that is sort of like the nerd equivalent of a mall to walk through but everything is already paid for/free.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

I think that if you have fun designing it 99.99% of the time there's at least one group that would have fun playing it! But of course as authors of commercial works we've got so many considerations and hewing close to the market has its own hazards yeah.

I'll be a focus group of 1 any day!

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

If you're not too married to D&D in particular there's also a ton of different settings/systems that emphasize darker themes like horror. But you can also do pretty much anything with D&D, and many folks do!

You will probably need a home game to get too dark tho.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Oh for sure! It helps enable cross talk too, the irl.

Meetups dot com and similar websites will also have certain public groups. Hell, my library system does D&D!

The general rule will be you'll make pals there at one-shots and more casual stuff and potentially get invited in to other games.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

How to iGet my sim-self on this career track tbhhhh?

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Aside from that I'm always down to chat about games and help people learn new ones and play online!

As a side note you've already got a ton down from playing Baldur's Gate 3, but it's worth remembering they actually buffed quite a few abilities and spells for the video game so do double check.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Fair!

In that case I can recommend seeking out a local game store and looking for organized play events like Adventurers' League (the official one). They may be a little cliquish or removed depending on your luck but they'll get you in and playing.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

The problem with me, see, is that iDo not want to make a game nobody ever plays. Even if just one group I want that light of joy to pass from me to you.

And that is not a happy want for a game designer in a world where these books exist to stuff shelves and drive FOMO.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Why hello there o,o

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Reminds me of my first ever roleplaying game I designed! It has no layout and is a word doc but I haven'taken it down from dtrpg for Lord knows what reason xD but I think abouthose themes/Aspects a tonne.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Matt Colville's "Running the Game" springs to mind.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 12h

Generally speaking friends who are down to try or have played before! I wanted to for years and that was really the difference. Groups of strangers form all the time but I don't think that's always the best way to get in as you're gambling a LOT with(e)perience.

Tons of great youtubers too.

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 13h

No blog post quite like an indulgent blog post!

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 13h

Woof, sorry to hear that. Never fun to have to cancel >_<

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 13h

Aah! That is pretty intriguing isn't it?

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 13h

Felt :/

Lee @dieselee.bsky.social · 13h

Important work on both fronts!