Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year
@flintlock.bsky.social
stupid people think it's cool, smart people think it's a joke, also cool
While the Carers Allowance Overpayment scandal is obviously incredibly important, it's also worth paying attention to the bigger picture.
Carer's Allowance is £4331.60 a year and requires you to provide at least 35 hours of care (most do more).
Minimum wage for 35 hours is £20,512.80 a year.
Carer's Allowance is £4331.60 a year and requires you to provide at least 35 hours of care (most do more).
Minimum wage for 35 hours is £20,512.80 a year.
November 26, 2025 at 1:51 AM
While the Carers Allowance Overpayment scandal is obviously incredibly important, it's also worth paying attention to the bigger picture.
Carer's Allowance is £4331.60 a year and requires you to provide at least 35 hours of care (most do more).
Minimum wage for 35 hours is £20,512.80 a year.
Carer's Allowance is £4331.60 a year and requires you to provide at least 35 hours of care (most do more).
Minimum wage for 35 hours is £20,512.80 a year.
Why would someone set up "Ukraine Action" when the "Ukraine Solidarity Campaign" are right there and Black Flag Medical are providing direct support to the frontline?
And yet there's no Ukraine Action. Maybe the Palestine Action people weren't keeping up. Or maybe they had other motivations
War of aggression, mass killing of civilians, and settler colonialism
November 25, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Why would someone set up "Ukraine Action" when the "Ukraine Solidarity Campaign" are right there and Black Flag Medical are providing direct support to the frontline?
Fifth Monarchist on the Streets.
Ranter in the Sheets.
Ranter in the Sheets.
November 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Fifth Monarchist on the Streets.
Ranter in the Sheets.
Ranter in the Sheets.
Back in the mists of time when I worked on a building site, I remember that if a contracter didn't pay when they were supposed to all the lads would go round and ask for the money as a group. Starting to wonder whether that's going to be necessary in TTRPG circles.
November 25, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Back in the mists of time when I worked on a building site, I remember that if a contracter didn't pay when they were supposed to all the lads would go round and ask for the money as a group. Starting to wonder whether that's going to be necessary in TTRPG circles.
Starmer is right to say you can't be pro Russia and pro Ukraine.
Unfortunately for him, the same is also true of America and Ukraine, which is one of those weird situations where we have an obvious truism that neither the Tories nor Labour will even acknowledge.
Unfortunately for him, the same is also true of America and Ukraine, which is one of those weird situations where we have an obvious truism that neither the Tories nor Labour will even acknowledge.
November 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Starmer is right to say you can't be pro Russia and pro Ukraine.
Unfortunately for him, the same is also true of America and Ukraine, which is one of those weird situations where we have an obvious truism that neither the Tories nor Labour will even acknowledge.
Unfortunately for him, the same is also true of America and Ukraine, which is one of those weird situations where we have an obvious truism that neither the Tories nor Labour will even acknowledge.
Honestly, I might trust YIMBYs more if a) they didn't consider PHIMBY an insult (public housing is bad because poors might get it above tech workers and b) if London YIMBY weren't in bed with the Adam Smith Institute of all people.
November 25, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Honestly, I might trust YIMBYs more if a) they didn't consider PHIMBY an insult (public housing is bad because poors might get it above tech workers and b) if London YIMBY weren't in bed with the Adam Smith Institute of all people.
Important update on the Chas & Dave greatest hits album.
Lads, with reflection, maybe you should have left "Even Hitler had a mother" off the tracklisting. Like, I accept it isn't in any way a pro Nazi track, but its chirpy Cockney humour is perhaps not the best treatment of the subject.
Lads, with reflection, maybe you should have left "Even Hitler had a mother" off the tracklisting. Like, I accept it isn't in any way a pro Nazi track, but its chirpy Cockney humour is perhaps not the best treatment of the subject.
November 24, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Important update on the Chas & Dave greatest hits album.
Lads, with reflection, maybe you should have left "Even Hitler had a mother" off the tracklisting. Like, I accept it isn't in any way a pro Nazi track, but its chirpy Cockney humour is perhaps not the best treatment of the subject.
Lads, with reflection, maybe you should have left "Even Hitler had a mother" off the tracklisting. Like, I accept it isn't in any way a pro Nazi track, but its chirpy Cockney humour is perhaps not the best treatment of the subject.
If you follow more than 3000 people and still think we're going to have productive conversations, please give me your views on one of the following to help me decide:
1. Runequest ducks?
2. Favourite English Civil War faction.
3. Is Robespierre unfairly demonised?
4. UK Girls Comics of the 70s
1. Runequest ducks?
2. Favourite English Civil War faction.
3. Is Robespierre unfairly demonised?
4. UK Girls Comics of the 70s
November 24, 2025 at 11:48 PM
If you follow more than 3000 people and still think we're going to have productive conversations, please give me your views on one of the following to help me decide:
1. Runequest ducks?
2. Favourite English Civil War faction.
3. Is Robespierre unfairly demonised?
4. UK Girls Comics of the 70s
1. Runequest ducks?
2. Favourite English Civil War faction.
3. Is Robespierre unfairly demonised?
4. UK Girls Comics of the 70s
Has anyone else recently had a massive upsurge in follows from Blue Resist grifters following over 10k people?
November 24, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Has anyone else recently had a massive upsurge in follows from Blue Resist grifters following over 10k people?
I disagree with him politically a fair bit, but Jude Doyle has done what is (at least for now) the defining critique of poptimism - jude-doyle.ghost.io/po/
If you're writing a newspaper article on how poptimism "says you have to like everything" just give up and write about something else.
If you're writing a newspaper article on how poptimism "says you have to like everything" just give up and write about something else.
Poptimism Ate Itself
Oh Christgau! Up yours!
jude-doyle.ghost.io
November 24, 2025 at 8:31 PM
I disagree with him politically a fair bit, but Jude Doyle has done what is (at least for now) the defining critique of poptimism - jude-doyle.ghost.io/po/
If you're writing a newspaper article on how poptimism "says you have to like everything" just give up and write about something else.
If you're writing a newspaper article on how poptimism "says you have to like everything" just give up and write about something else.
If anyone needs an unlikable dickhead insulting everyone at a party, can I introduce you to the concept of "cocaine"?
November 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
If anyone needs an unlikable dickhead insulting everyone at a party, can I introduce you to the concept of "cocaine"?
Going to self indulgently use two threads for this. The other one will have the proper reviews and this one is for snark and random shitposting.
This looks like my kind of meme project so let's give it a go. I'm not restricting it to specific genres because that's for the kind of people that say "I listen to everything but rap and country hahaha" and then you make them listen to Throbbing Gristle until they cry.
Right, so I've started doing this 1001 albums thing because I feel I ought to both broaden my musical experiences, and also listen to whole albums more. So I'll be doing a thread on it at least for as long as I remember to update it. 1001albumsgenerator.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Going to self indulgently use two threads for this. The other one will have the proper reviews and this one is for snark and random shitposting.
This looks like my kind of meme project so let's give it a go. I'm not restricting it to specific genres because that's for the kind of people that say "I listen to everything but rap and country hahaha" and then you make them listen to Throbbing Gristle until they cry.
Right, so I've started doing this 1001 albums thing because I feel I ought to both broaden my musical experiences, and also listen to whole albums more. So I'll be doing a thread on it at least for as long as I remember to update it. 1001albumsgenerator.com
1001 Albums Generator
Explore the history of music. One album a day. From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
1001albumsgenerator.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM
This looks like my kind of meme project so let's give it a go. I'm not restricting it to specific genres because that's for the kind of people that say "I listen to everything but rap and country hahaha" and then you make them listen to Throbbing Gristle until they cry.
One genuine unique "achievement" of the HP fandom is quite how incurious they are about anything else, even direct influences.
The only time I've ever seen them engage with The Worst Witch is to try and defend HP against charges of ripping it off. (NB: HP absolutely ripped The Worst Witch off)
The only time I've ever seen them engage with The Worst Witch is to try and defend HP against charges of ripping it off. (NB: HP absolutely ripped The Worst Witch off)
just saw someone on tumblr describe HP as “the first fandom” like. I know you people are desperate to keep funding a transphobe bc the thought of reading any other book is too hard for you but this is housewives writing kirk/spock fanfic in carefully xerox’d fanzines erasure and I won’t stand for it
November 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
One genuine unique "achievement" of the HP fandom is quite how incurious they are about anything else, even direct influences.
The only time I've ever seen them engage with The Worst Witch is to try and defend HP against charges of ripping it off. (NB: HP absolutely ripped The Worst Witch off)
The only time I've ever seen them engage with The Worst Witch is to try and defend HP against charges of ripping it off. (NB: HP absolutely ripped The Worst Witch off)
Recent historical deep diving has made me wonder if a UK gaming company could repeat early Games Workshop success in 2025. Like, obviously D&D at least shifts serious units, but the entire RPG scene feels 90% dominated by Americans with the arguable exception of Mongoose and Cubicle 7.
November 24, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Recent historical deep diving has made me wonder if a UK gaming company could repeat early Games Workshop success in 2025. Like, obviously D&D at least shifts serious units, but the entire RPG scene feels 90% dominated by Americans with the arguable exception of Mongoose and Cubicle 7.
One conclusion I am rapidly coming to is that Tom Wham is an underrated design genius. Everything here is professional quality, including the unpublished stuff. (I really appreciated Wham games cartoony approach as a kid because my sister was much happier to play them than historical wargames)
Going through ancient issues of Dragon and quite honestly the board games are frequently more interesting and innovative than any of the RPG material. (This is part of a long term project to try and get both the White Dwarf and Dragon games on TTS. I don't think there's other magazines)
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 AM
One conclusion I am rapidly coming to is that Tom Wham is an underrated design genius. Everything here is professional quality, including the unpublished stuff. (I really appreciated Wham games cartoony approach as a kid because my sister was much happier to play them than historical wargames)
Also, rereading the infamous "Gaming and Realism" article again.
Gygax rejected any talk of realism and was more interested in recreating narrative tropes. He was hostile to any kind of idea of simulation or immersion.
Gary Gygax was the first storygame designer!
Gygax rejected any talk of realism and was more interested in recreating narrative tropes. He was hostile to any kind of idea of simulation or immersion.
Gary Gygax was the first storygame designer!
November 24, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Also, rereading the infamous "Gaming and Realism" article again.
Gygax rejected any talk of realism and was more interested in recreating narrative tropes. He was hostile to any kind of idea of simulation or immersion.
Gary Gygax was the first storygame designer!
Gygax rejected any talk of realism and was more interested in recreating narrative tropes. He was hostile to any kind of idea of simulation or immersion.
Gary Gygax was the first storygame designer!
Going through ancient issues of Dragon and quite honestly the board games are frequently more interesting and innovative than any of the RPG material. (This is part of a long term project to try and get both the White Dwarf and Dragon games on TTS. I don't think there's other magazines)
November 24, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Going through ancient issues of Dragon and quite honestly the board games are frequently more interesting and innovative than any of the RPG material. (This is part of a long term project to try and get both the White Dwarf and Dragon games on TTS. I don't think there's other magazines)
I like a bit of rock star arrogance, so I can't help but respect Chas & Dave for calling their greatest hits album "100 Hits Legends" and making it five and a half hours (!) long.
November 24, 2025 at 12:28 AM
I like a bit of rock star arrogance, so I can't help but respect Chas & Dave for calling their greatest hits album "100 Hits Legends" and making it five and a half hours (!) long.
It's kinda funny that the White Wolf version of England (Manchester and Liverpool are the same fief! Football hooligans and hippies allied for the Poll Tax Riots) is somehow less dated feeling than the incredibly well informed Cyberpunk book on the UK.
November 24, 2025 at 12:00 AM
It's kinda funny that the White Wolf version of England (Manchester and Liverpool are the same fief! Football hooligans and hippies allied for the Poll Tax Riots) is somehow less dated feeling than the incredibly well informed Cyberpunk book on the UK.
I know this is crass of me, but I want to post this onto main because frankly it's one of the cleverest lines I've ever come out with.
To an extent. A significant amount of RPG theory has always been about avoiding Scylla by running full steam into Charybdis.
November 23, 2025 at 11:33 PM
I know this is crass of me, but I want to post this onto main because frankly it's one of the cleverest lines I've ever come out with.
D&D Tips: Want a new way of measuring balance and encounter rating? Why not research the wonders of the Monstermark by Don Turnbull?
November 23, 2025 at 9:38 PM
D&D Tips: Want a new way of measuring balance and encounter rating? Why not research the wonders of the Monstermark by Don Turnbull?
I think one big difference is not that wargames and similar old school boardgames are less prone to having colonialist/imperialist assumptions. (Arguably they're worse). It's that they stubbornly refuse to pretend otherwise for my comfort.
...ago about the unspoken divide between combat (ritualized violence) in wargames, and the straight up violence/massacre by which TTRPGs so often operate. Getting rid of morale has a huge semiotic load; one that speaks about the breakdown of rules of engagement and the shifting nature of violence.
November 23, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I think one big difference is not that wargames and similar old school boardgames are less prone to having colonialist/imperialist assumptions. (Arguably they're worse). It's that they stubbornly refuse to pretend otherwise for my comfort.
There was also the purist option of deciding you hated everything on a major label. (I believe I managed to keep it going until the release of Troublegum)
As someone who is this guy's age I can tell you 100% that if you were into Pixies, Nirvana, 120 Minutes stuff, etc. but didn't like the Beatles you had to have worked hard to contort yourself into that special little box. Your enemy, if you absolutely needed one, was hair metal. GTFO here with this.
November 23, 2025 at 6:41 PM
There was also the purist option of deciding you hated everything on a major label. (I believe I managed to keep it going until the release of Troublegum)
RPG Designers - If anyone compared my game about robots shooting each other to a wargame I would DIE.
Wargame designers - Ok, you want to "play to lose" for this scenario because it's important for the overall narrative arc of the campaign. Also, the referee should give roleplaying bonuses.
Wargame designers - Ok, you want to "play to lose" for this scenario because it's important for the overall narrative arc of the campaign. Also, the referee should give roleplaying bonuses.
November 23, 2025 at 6:03 PM
RPG Designers - If anyone compared my game about robots shooting each other to a wargame I would DIE.
Wargame designers - Ok, you want to "play to lose" for this scenario because it's important for the overall narrative arc of the campaign. Also, the referee should give roleplaying bonuses.
Wargame designers - Ok, you want to "play to lose" for this scenario because it's important for the overall narrative arc of the campaign. Also, the referee should give roleplaying bonuses.