Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jonathan Tweet

@jonathantweet.bsky.social

1.5K followers 1.2K following 970 posts

Grandmother Fish (Macmillan 2016), the first book to teach #evolution to preschoolers, plus science games for kids (www.grandmotherfish.com). Over the Edge, #TTRPG of surreal urban danger (atlas-games.com/overtheedge). D&D 3E, Ars Magica, Everway, etc.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · Jan 11

Grandmother Fish is the first book to teach evolution to preschoolers. Kids love learning that they are part of the great family of life on Earth, and they love wiggling like Grandmother Fish and hooting like Grandmother Ape. Now in Chinese, Japanese, and Italian.

www.powells.com/book/grandmo...

1 7 47

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 1h

Are you looking for game conventions? I don't have any others to recommend. Maybe Origins? There are a couple good sci-fi conventions in Minneapolis and Seattle.

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 1h

It really was a darling of the industry back in the day. HōL is also now available on eBay.

www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_...

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 14h

someone snapped it up, so that’s good

Reposted by Jonathan Tweet

Chaosium @chaosium.bsky.social · 16h

Today is the birthday one of the most talented creators in TTRPGs, Jennell Jaquays, who passed away last year. Jennell was one of our company's earliest artists, and played an prominent role in Chaosium's success over many years, as an illustrator and writer.

3 64 220

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 1d

What a time that was! This game is one of the bleakest, and I'm happy about that.

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 1d

On the short list of other people's RPGs that I've actually played since I went pro myself. Technically, we played a free-form game in this setting. I also played at Gen Con with the designer. Pretty memorable. Good factions, evil factions, traitors to their factions, big weapons, demons, etc. 2/2

1 4

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 1d

Who else loves 90s-era dark RPGs? This one is bleak, with PCs sometimes damning others' souls to hell in return for a little magic mojo. Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk demon-hunting in an enclosed city. On the short list of... 1/2

Lots more great old stuff now available.
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_...

3 11

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting list. I'll be at Kraken in April. Gamehole Con is one that I've been meaning to return to after 10 years. Maybe next year. I have good friends in Wisconsin, and Gamehole is something else (despite the unfortunate name).

1 2

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

Important clarification!

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

In the yearly game-design class that I taught, I would show that page on a slide as part of the topic "autistic traits and game design". I pored over that chart plenty of times and thought it was pretty neat.

1 4

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

At one point I would slavishly write out my character's to-hit number for each weapon by AC. Four weapons and 9 AC values meant 36 to-hit numbers, four rows of 9 to-hit numbers each. It's amazing how much arithmetic and accounting we put up with.

1 2

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

In Chainmail, any hit killed the target, and that's probably why heavier weapons had better odds of hitting. Those were also the odds of killing. These were skirmish rules, where a player's "hit points" were the number of figures you had on the field, and "damage" meant reducing that number.

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

Some gamers might say that 3E was "ASL D&D"

1 2

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

The big effect seems to be that the OD&D system means that most attacks are misses, at least until higher levels. OD&D also had no bonuses to hit for high Strength, so people missed a lot. Shouldn't players hit with most of their rolls? Otherwise the game's too slow.

2 3

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 2d

One thing that OD&D established and that we took for granted with 3E is that mundane armor improves your Armor Class but mundane weapons don't improve your chance to hit. That's different from the earlier man-to-man rules in Chainmail, in which heavier weapons improved your chance to hit. #DnD

6 18

Reposted by Jonathan Tweet

Lord Chris Hanrahan (He/Him) @chrishanrahan.bsky.social · 3d

This is a ridiculously deep burn

From the mtg community on Reddit: What a time to be alive

Explore this post and more from the mtg community

www.reddit.com

1 8

Reposted by Jonathan Tweet

Greg Stolze @gregstolze.bsky.social · 4d

One of the stories in DISCOMFORT FOOD is entitled GORGEOUS SYNERGIES and it was inspired by my 30th wedding anniversary trip to Vancouver.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/gre...

1/2

DISCOMFORT FOOD

A collection of Greg Stolze's recent science fiction, fantasy and horror. Contains love potions, cursed art and telepathic speed dating

www.kickstarter.com

1 3 5

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks for the information!

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks! Everyone should be very interested in "FOO"! It's pretty cool. Should be available in April, I think.

(Thanks for the acronym.)

1 2

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 5d

Yes, it traps heat 100x better and lasts 1/3 as long, so that’s where I get my 30x figure

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 5d

Methane (CH4) heats up the atmosphere about 30x as badly as CO2. Getting carbon (in plastic) out of our landfills and putting that carbon into the air doesn't seem like a great move. Isn't landfilling plastic effectively a way to sequester carbon? 2/2

2 4

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 5d

Just heard about the fungus _P microspora_ that not only digests polyurethane but can even do so in the anaerobic environments common in landfills. That's nice, but a waste produce of anaerobic metabolism is methane. 1/2

www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/330...

A fungus that eats polyurethane

www.yalealumnimagazine.com

1 3

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 6d

Interesting. Can you tell us more?

13th Age takes rest decisions out of the players' hands, and so does the "freeform OGL oldschool" system that I was working on back in 2010.

2 1 3

Reposted by Jonathan Tweet

Matt Forbeck @forbeck.com · 6d

Readers! Come on out to The Rogue Bookshop on the evening of October 28 to join Greg Stolze, Chris Fink, Cat Stark, and me to talk books at Beloit's brand-new indie bookstore!

1 1 7

Jonathan Tweet @jonathantweet.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, the big problem with balancing D&D has always been that the frequency at which the party rests changes the balance, and it is out of the game designer’s control. It affects spells v melee. It affects monsters v PCs. In play, the balance depends on how often the party rests.

1 12