Aaron Helton
@aaronhelton.com
He/Him
Library systems dev @ UN Library
en/es
TTRPGs, ♾️ DM
Reader. Writer. Digital Humanist in training @ CUNY GC. William Blake stan.
Queens, NY
www.aaronhelton.com and blog.hilltown.studio
Likes/Reposts ≠ endorsements.
Library systems dev @ UN Library
en/es
TTRPGs, ♾️ DM
Reader. Writer. Digital Humanist in training @ CUNY GC. William Blake stan.
Queens, NY
www.aaronhelton.com and blog.hilltown.studio
Likes/Reposts ≠ endorsements.
Pinned
Aaron Helton
@aaronhelton.com
· Jun 27
Dead I Am the Rat by hilltown
A Mausritter adventure about defeating the cat lord.
hilltown.itch.io
At the beginning of the year I made myself a goal of publishing a TTRPG adventure, which I've never done before. After making a last push on writing, then learning layout and making my own art, here's the result!
Dead I Am the Rat: Play as rat zombies to defeat the cat lord!
#mausritter #osr
Dead I Am the Rat: Play as rat zombies to defeat the cat lord!
#mausritter #osr
Reposted by Aaron Helton
The Picts were always more than their blue-painted, bloodthirsty depictions. Carved in Stone, a new setting guide from @stoutstoat.co.uk and archaeologist Heather Christie, invites players to explore their incomplete but beautiful history.
Carved in Stone is both a history book and an eye-catching RPG
Publisher Brian Tyrrell and archeologist Heather Christie paint a pretty Pict-ure.
www.rascal.news
November 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The Picts were always more than their blue-painted, bloodthirsty depictions. Carved in Stone, a new setting guide from @stoutstoat.co.uk and archaeologist Heather Christie, invites players to explore their incomplete but beautiful history.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
I don't exactly predict, but do want, a giant surge of Sociological Fantasy (as in, "Let's explore and expand on this imaginary culture") in both fiction and TTRPGs, and I think there's a real market for it.
November 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM
I don't exactly predict, but do want, a giant surge of Sociological Fantasy (as in, "Let's explore and expand on this imaginary culture") in both fiction and TTRPGs, and I think there's a real market for it.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
I went through a perspective shift lately that if we want to fix the real issues with info, media, and sense-making in the 21st century, we can’t start from the position that we are already doomed to no longer access ground truth or share a consensus reality, but can in fact still know true things
November 12, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I went through a perspective shift lately that if we want to fix the real issues with info, media, and sense-making in the 21st century, we can’t start from the position that we are already doomed to no longer access ground truth or share a consensus reality, but can in fact still know true things
Reposted by Aaron Helton
I know there’s big news today, but in smaller, local news we have some extras of the Le Guin poster, available with donations to @skeuomorphpress.org until the stack is claimed
Now that our edition of Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Rant About 'Technology'" is (finally!) printed, bound, packed, & with campus mail, on its way to folks, we’re making approximately 60 of the internal poster available separately
If you’d like to claim one see the order form at forms.gle/BKJQWSmcnuq8...
If you’d like to claim one see the order form at forms.gle/BKJQWSmcnuq8...
November 12, 2025 at 5:23 PM
I know there’s big news today, but in smaller, local news we have some extras of the Le Guin poster, available with donations to @skeuomorphpress.org until the stack is claimed
Reposted by Aaron Helton
my mac doing its best to telephone a seventeenth century ecclesiastical record 🗃️
November 12, 2025 at 11:29 AM
my mac doing its best to telephone a seventeenth century ecclesiastical record 🗃️
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Set myself up a little printing press out of a slightly modified old pasta machine, kind of works! Not the result you'd get from the tonnes of pressure from the real presses, but still not too shabby :)
November 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Set myself up a little printing press out of a slightly modified old pasta machine, kind of works! Not the result you'd get from the tonnes of pressure from the real presses, but still not too shabby :)
Reposted by Aaron Helton
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org
November 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
"The materials you authored from sixth through eighth grade are now free and available to the populace (everyone) for adaptation, publication, or general enjoyment."
We Regret to Inform You That Your Middle School Diary Has Lapsed into the Public Domain
This letter is to inform you (the author) that your intellectual property (middle school diary) has officially entered the public domain due to you...
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
"The materials you authored from sixth through eighth grade are now free and available to the populace (everyone) for adaptation, publication, or general enjoyment."
Reposted by Aaron Helton
‘Don’t reproduce and don’t eat meat were twin mantras for anyone who wanted to reduce their carbon footprint over a lifetime. That second piece of advice still holds. But the first was a misunderstanding.’
David Runciman on depopulation, online now from the next issue.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman on depopulation, online now from the next issue.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
‘Don’t reproduce and don’t eat meat were twin mantras for anyone who wanted to reduce their carbon footprint over a lifetime. That second piece of advice still holds. But the first was a misunderstanding.’
David Runciman on depopulation, online now from the next issue.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman on depopulation, online now from the next issue.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Excellent new titles releasing today:
-Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis, fiction by Larry Millett
-Everything Is Permitted: On Assassin's Creed by @ckunzelman.bsky.social
-By Their Work: Indigenous Women's Digital Media in North America, edited by Joanna Hearne and @karrmencrey.bsky.social
-Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis, fiction by Larry Millett
-Everything Is Permitted: On Assassin's Creed by @ckunzelman.bsky.social
-By Their Work: Indigenous Women's Digital Media in North America, edited by Joanna Hearne and @karrmencrey.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Excellent new titles releasing today:
-Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis, fiction by Larry Millett
-Everything Is Permitted: On Assassin's Creed by @ckunzelman.bsky.social
-By Their Work: Indigenous Women's Digital Media in North America, edited by Joanna Hearne and @karrmencrey.bsky.social
-Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis, fiction by Larry Millett
-Everything Is Permitted: On Assassin's Creed by @ckunzelman.bsky.social
-By Their Work: Indigenous Women's Digital Media in North America, edited by Joanna Hearne and @karrmencrey.bsky.social
Reposted by Aaron Helton
New Blogpost: I’d Rather Be a Mouse Than an Elf
Why sword & whiskers fantasy is more gameable than your standard pseudo-medieval fantasy settings.
#osr #ttrpg #MausritterMonth
Why sword & whiskers fantasy is more gameable than your standard pseudo-medieval fantasy settings.
#osr #ttrpg #MausritterMonth
I’d Rather Be a Mouse Than an Elf — Prismatic Wasteland
I love pretending to be an elf just as much as the next guy, but it pales in comparison to the joys of pretending to be a mouse with a sewing needle sword at my side.
www.prismaticwasteland.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
New Blogpost: I’d Rather Be a Mouse Than an Elf
Why sword & whiskers fantasy is more gameable than your standard pseudo-medieval fantasy settings.
#osr #ttrpg #MausritterMonth
Why sword & whiskers fantasy is more gameable than your standard pseudo-medieval fantasy settings.
#osr #ttrpg #MausritterMonth
Reposted by Aaron Helton
This #VeteransDay, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus David Nasaw reminds us that the story of WWII didn’t end on the battlefield. In “The Wounded Generation,” Nasaw uncovers the silent suffering of veterans who came home changed — and a nation unprepared to care for them
David Nasaw Uncovers the Silent Suffering of World War II Veterans
The Graduate Center distinguished professor emeritus and acclaimed historian reveals the emotional and social tolls of winning a brutal war.
www.gc.cuny.edu
November 11, 2025 at 1:15 PM
This #VeteransDay, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus David Nasaw reminds us that the story of WWII didn’t end on the battlefield. In “The Wounded Generation,” Nasaw uncovers the silent suffering of veterans who came home changed — and a nation unprepared to care for them
Last night in class I was distressed when we started talking about readings I hadn't done.
Turns out the professor changed the readings after I downloaded the PDFs but didn't really communicate the change.
Also turns out I wasn't the only one!
Anyway, we ended class a bit early.
Turns out the professor changed the readings after I downloaded the PDFs but didn't really communicate the change.
Also turns out I wasn't the only one!
Anyway, we ended class a bit early.
November 11, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Last night in class I was distressed when we started talking about readings I hadn't done.
Turns out the professor changed the readings after I downloaded the PDFs but didn't really communicate the change.
Also turns out I wasn't the only one!
Anyway, we ended class a bit early.
Turns out the professor changed the readings after I downloaded the PDFs but didn't really communicate the change.
Also turns out I wasn't the only one!
Anyway, we ended class a bit early.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
going on twitter now is like the dark world part of link to the past, where the shape of things is roughly the same only now instead of the friendly villagers there's some demihuman freak snarling at you going "welcome to the village of assholes!! we hate you!!" also the trees shoot bombs now
November 11, 2025 at 1:27 AM
going on twitter now is like the dark world part of link to the past, where the shape of things is roughly the same only now instead of the friendly villagers there's some demihuman freak snarling at you going "welcome to the village of assholes!! we hate you!!" also the trees shoot bombs now
Reposted by Aaron Helton
March 22, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Aaron Helton
so this post, and the one it replies to, reminded me of a very silly thought experiment i constructed a while ago.
if a game can be experienced without a player taking actions to experience it, it's not a game. each moment of interactivity is an element of the text that's created. if there are no moments of interactivity, it's a movie, or a book, or a monologue.
November 11, 2025 at 8:56 AM
so this post, and the one it replies to, reminded me of a very silly thought experiment i constructed a while ago.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Reading this, written by a comrade, and it's ace books.google.com.au/books/about/...
Motivations for Refusal
In Motivations for Refusal: Work, Value, and the Limits of Postworkerism, Mark Gawne develops a critical account of how the affective politics of capital and class are formed and contested in contempo...
books.google.com.au
November 11, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reading this, written by a comrade, and it's ace books.google.com.au/books/about/...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
We are featured in over 50 news outlets today: PhD student David Mahoney's research using web archives, @archive.org, to measure historic website emissions, offering a new method and open-source code for analysing & highlighting online environmental impact. www.energylivenews.com/2025/11/11/c...
COP websites emit 10 times more carbon than average webpages - Energy Live News
COP conference websites emit more carbon per page view than typical webpages
www.energylivenews.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:34 AM
We are featured in over 50 news outlets today: PhD student David Mahoney's research using web archives, @archive.org, to measure historic website emissions, offering a new method and open-source code for analysing & highlighting online environmental impact. www.energylivenews.com/2025/11/11/c...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all
“whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation”
November 11, 2025 at 6:31 AM
there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all
Wash, wax, and roll out
“Run your character like a stolen car” is great advice because D&D characters are clearly just cars. HP? Horse power. AC? Air conditioning.
November 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Wash, wax, and roll out
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Imagine you read the Iliad and your takeaway is "fighting for princesses."
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Imagine you read the Iliad and your takeaway is "fighting for princesses."
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
I'd question your reading comprehension and translation, in that order...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Dorothy Vaughan | NASA mathematician, programmer & manager died #OTD in 2008
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
November 10, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Dorothy Vaughan | NASA mathematician, programmer & manager died #OTD in 2008
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM
Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
i find every story about costco's brand strategy and overall approach completely fascinating.
Why Costco Went All in on Kirkland — and How It Paid Off | WSJ Case Study
YouTube video by The Wall Street Journal
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:18 PM
i find every story about costco's brand strategy and overall approach completely fascinating.
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Got a player who can't always make it reliably? Well, now there's a class where their absence is a feature. Sort of.
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
The Leaper
Every Table has that one friend who wants to play, and we want them to play, but their awful schedule makes committing to anything nearly im...
wayspell.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Got a player who can't always make it reliably? Well, now there's a class where their absence is a feature. Sort of.
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
Reposted by Aaron Helton
Regardless of how you feel about the new Frankenstein adaptation, I think we can all agree it is a rousing success at producing meme-content, and, in that alone, is well worth existing.
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Regardless of how you feel about the new Frankenstein adaptation, I think we can all agree it is a rousing success at producing meme-content, and, in that alone, is well worth existing.