Kevin Wilson
@kevinwilson42.bsky.social
Boardgame designer best known for Arkham Horror, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, A Gentle Rain, and the Kinfire series of games. Now Director of Game Design at Incredible Dream Studios. He/him.
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Kevin Wilson
@kevinwilson42.bsky.social
· Oct 18
For new followers, I'm Kevin Wilson and I've designed tabletop games for about 25 years now, though I'm mostly known for board games these days. Around here I largely talk about my games, food, and my recently-renewed cd collection. I try to encourage folks to be kinder to themselves and each other.
Need to go pick up a prescription from the grocery pharmacy, and I'll prolly buy some blackberries while I'm there at the very least, but when I get back I think I'll mess around with Pneumatic Santa Returns, my Xmas game for this year, and see if I can't start finishing it up.
December 7, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Need to go pick up a prescription from the grocery pharmacy, and I'll prolly buy some blackberries while I'm there at the very least, but when I get back I think I'll mess around with Pneumatic Santa Returns, my Xmas game for this year, and see if I can't start finishing it up.
Whenever my internet gets a bit wonky and slow, I try to remind myself that I first started with an acoustic 300 bps modem where you could watch plain text slowly scroll down the screen. God help you if there were ANSI graphics. And yeah, it was Wargames-style, where you put the phone handset in it.
December 7, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Whenever my internet gets a bit wonky and slow, I try to remind myself that I first started with an acoustic 300 bps modem where you could watch plain text slowly scroll down the screen. God help you if there were ANSI graphics. And yeah, it was Wargames-style, where you put the phone handset in it.
It's been too cold to walk outside this week for me, so I've largely just been holed up inside listening to cds and such. With luck I should be able to sneak in a walk on Tuesday though. We'll see if the weather report is right or not. I hope so, cuz I'm getting antsy.
December 7, 2025 at 6:58 AM
It's been too cold to walk outside this week for me, so I've largely just been holed up inside listening to cds and such. With luck I should be able to sneak in a walk on Tuesday though. We'll see if the weather report is right or not. I hope so, cuz I'm getting antsy.
One of my favorite things about watching Legends of Avantris on youtube is periodically seeing the copy of Arkham Horror in the background. Always makes me smile.
December 4, 2025 at 9:40 AM
One of my favorite things about watching Legends of Avantris on youtube is periodically seeing the copy of Arkham Horror in the background. Always makes me smile.
Hmm, well, I can't say exactly what all music I've listened to this year, but here are bands I've been enjoying.
The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl (Most listened to this year)
The Flaming LIps - Lots of stuff, with emphasis on Soft Bulletin
The Shins
The Lumineers
Sigur Ros
Jethro Tull
Styx
The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl (Most listened to this year)
The Flaming LIps - Lots of stuff, with emphasis on Soft Bulletin
The Shins
The Lumineers
Sigur Ros
Jethro Tull
Styx
December 3, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Hmm, well, I can't say exactly what all music I've listened to this year, but here are bands I've been enjoying.
The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl (Most listened to this year)
The Flaming LIps - Lots of stuff, with emphasis on Soft Bulletin
The Shins
The Lumineers
Sigur Ros
Jethro Tull
Styx
The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl (Most listened to this year)
The Flaming LIps - Lots of stuff, with emphasis on Soft Bulletin
The Shins
The Lumineers
Sigur Ros
Jethro Tull
Styx
I've wound up with several advent calendars this year - one I bought for myself and 3 others my parents gave me. One of them is a tea advent that gives you 2 tea bags each day of one flavor. I've decided to make those in the evening, and tonight's tea was anise cookie black tea. It was pretty nice.
December 2, 2025 at 6:21 AM
I've wound up with several advent calendars this year - one I bought for myself and 3 others my parents gave me. One of them is a tea advent that gives you 2 tea bags each day of one flavor. I've decided to make those in the evening, and tonight's tea was anise cookie black tea. It was pretty nice.
Honestly, most of the stuff I design on my own is shorter and simpler than a lot of big stuff I'm known for, because investing ages and ages on huge games with no buyer interested in it is usually a bad idea, and hasn't been feasible for me in the past.
December 2, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Honestly, most of the stuff I design on my own is shorter and simpler than a lot of big stuff I'm known for, because investing ages and ages on huge games with no buyer interested in it is usually a bad idea, and hasn't been feasible for me in the past.
Updating some game design sell sheets this week. I have a lousy hit rate with selling stuff I've just designed on my own, most likely because I'm a lousy salesman, but every so often the stars align. Most of my freelance work is people coming to me for licensed designs. Doesn't mean I stop trying.
December 2, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Updating some game design sell sheets this week. I have a lousy hit rate with selling stuff I've just designed on my own, most likely because I'm a lousy salesman, but every so often the stars align. Most of my freelance work is people coming to me for licensed designs. Doesn't mean I stop trying.
A nice big batch of potato salad ready for Saturday. This is my family's version that I included as an easter egg in Kinfire Chronicles. 4 parts boiled sliced potato, 1 part sliced cucumber, 1 part sliced onion. Oil, red wine vinegar to cover, dashes of maggi sauce (like soy sauce), salt, pepper.
November 28, 2025 at 5:57 AM
A nice big batch of potato salad ready for Saturday. This is my family's version that I included as an easter egg in Kinfire Chronicles. 4 parts boiled sliced potato, 1 part sliced cucumber, 1 part sliced onion. Oil, red wine vinegar to cover, dashes of maggi sauce (like soy sauce), salt, pepper.
Suiting up for a walk before it gets dark. Hope you all have a terrific and delicious Thanksgiving if you celebrate. And may you all be happy, safe, warm, and well-fed. Now if you'll excuse me, time to go brave the cold for some exercise and hopefully deer sightings.
November 27, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Suiting up for a walk before it gets dark. Hope you all have a terrific and delicious Thanksgiving if you celebrate. And may you all be happy, safe, warm, and well-fed. Now if you'll excuse me, time to go brave the cold for some exercise and hopefully deer sightings.
A nice little Thanksgiving dinner secured, along with a few cheap 80s cds and Duck Dodgers season 1 and 2, so that should be a good time tomorrow.
November 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
A nice little Thanksgiving dinner secured, along with a few cheap 80s cds and Duck Dodgers season 1 and 2, so that should be a good time tomorrow.
Anyway, apparently I'm feeling spicy today. Sorry about that. Here's hoping you all have a terrific Thanksgiving, or at least a delicious one.
November 26, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Anyway, apparently I'm feeling spicy today. Sorry about that. Here's hoping you all have a terrific Thanksgiving, or at least a delicious one.
Had a pomegranate for the first time in ages, and I remember how much I like them and why I don't usually get them. Lots of work and they're basically like a red dye grenade. But hey, they can be disassembled underwater, which works well, since the seeds sink and the pulp floats.
November 26, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Had a pomegranate for the first time in ages, and I remember how much I like them and why I don't usually get them. Lots of work and they're basically like a red dye grenade. But hey, they can be disassembled underwater, which works well, since the seeds sink and the pulp floats.
Now Sid Sackson, there's a guy who could keep a notebook. His notes are so far beyond mine it's not even funny. Mine are more just about keeping my scattered ideas straight, he flat out journaled his boardgame life in meticulous detail.
November 23, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Now Sid Sackson, there's a guy who could keep a notebook. His notes are so far beyond mine it's not even funny. Mine are more just about keeping my scattered ideas straight, he flat out journaled his boardgame life in meticulous detail.
Pretty much every boardgame design I do starts out as hand drawn notes in a notebook, but there's usually a number of doodles, diagrams, and spreadsheets in there as well, and computer just doesn't work as well for that phase of design for me. But after all, boardgames aren't books - it's different.
I know a number of writers who draft in pen and I consider them like I would someone who insists on making bread by first planting the wheat
And if you're already quite mad, like Neal Stephenson, you might write upwards of 3500 pages with a fountain pen.
November 23, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Pretty much every boardgame design I do starts out as hand drawn notes in a notebook, but there's usually a number of doodles, diagrams, and spreadsheets in there as well, and computer just doesn't work as well for that phase of design for me. But after all, boardgames aren't books - it's different.
Been enjoying some pfefferneuse I got from Aldi's, and given that the Minnesota Heritage cookbook I picked up at the library sale has a recipe...I might give making my own a whirl. Just have to make sure I can get reasonable amounts of the spices rather than a 20 year supply.
November 22, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Been enjoying some pfefferneuse I got from Aldi's, and given that the Minnesota Heritage cookbook I picked up at the library sale has a recipe...I might give making my own a whirl. Just have to make sure I can get reasonable amounts of the spices rather than a 20 year supply.
So, I don't actually have a degree in game design. My degree is in Cognitive Science, which is the study of intelligence, and my emphasis was in artificial intelligence. It was an interdisciplinary degree at UC Berkeley that I got in the mid-1990s...
November 21, 2025 at 12:06 AM
So, I don't actually have a degree in game design. My degree is in Cognitive Science, which is the study of intelligence, and my emphasis was in artificial intelligence. It was an interdisciplinary degree at UC Berkeley that I got in the mid-1990s...
Just so foiks out there know, I do actually read revirews of my games, and if a review is just full of fabricated mechanics and has nothing to do with my game, I'm gonna call you out on it.
November 20, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Just so foiks out there know, I do actually read revirews of my games, and if a review is just full of fabricated mechanics and has nothing to do with my game, I'm gonna call you out on it.
Huh, I think I just came across the first AI-generated review of one of my games that I've seen. There's basically nothing correct in the review. Absolutely wild.
November 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Huh, I think I just came across the first AI-generated review of one of my games that I've seen. There's basically nothing correct in the review. Absolutely wild.
I started walking in parks for Pokemon Go. That extra little bit of digital candy helped me keep it up. Eventually, I started taking photos of mushrooms, landscapes, and the occasional deer I saw, and stopped playing Pokemon and just focused on walking to enjoy nature and take photos.
November 20, 2025 at 5:03 AM
I started walking in parks for Pokemon Go. That extra little bit of digital candy helped me keep it up. Eventually, I started taking photos of mushrooms, landscapes, and the occasional deer I saw, and stopped playing Pokemon and just focused on walking to enjoy nature and take photos.
It occurs to me that I've only ever been allowed to significantly guide a game line a few times - Arkham Horror 2e, Descent 1e, FFG Cosmic Encounter (up through expansion 3 or 4), and Kinfire. Honestly, looking at that list, I'm starting to think I might just be okay at game line product planning.
November 19, 2025 at 8:39 PM
It occurs to me that I've only ever been allowed to significantly guide a game line a few times - Arkham Horror 2e, Descent 1e, FFG Cosmic Encounter (up through expansion 3 or 4), and Kinfire. Honestly, looking at that list, I'm starting to think I might just be okay at game line product planning.
Reposted by Kevin Wilson
Rarely does a game manage to capture both my strategic & thematic heart. Kinfire Council does just that.
Check out my Review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekG...
@incredibledream.bsky.social
#boardgames
Check out my Review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekG...
@incredibledream.bsky.social
#boardgames
Kinfire Council Review | My Top 5 Pros and 2 Cons
YouTube video by Board Game Apprentice
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Rarely does a game manage to capture both my strategic & thematic heart. Kinfire Council does just that.
Check out my Review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekG...
@incredibledream.bsky.social
#boardgames
Check out my Review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekG...
@incredibledream.bsky.social
#boardgames
I talked to BoardGameWire a bit ago about my plans as I return to freelancing. You can expect me to be a bit of a slow burn for awhile, I suspect.
Veteran Arkham Horror and Descent: Journeys in the Dark designer Kevin Wilson spoke to BoardGameWire about how he plans to make a success of his return to freelancing after tariff-related downsizing at Kinfire series publisher Incredible Dream earlier this year:
boardgamewire.com/index.php/20...
boardgamewire.com/index.php/20...
November 19, 2025 at 8:32 PM
I talked to BoardGameWire a bit ago about my plans as I return to freelancing. You can expect me to be a bit of a slow burn for awhile, I suspect.
Somewhere between 6 and 8 deer on my walk this evening. I'll see if any of the photos are any good later. I think I'm gonna pop over to Half Price Books while they're open, though, and then maybe a quick stop by the grocery, since I'm now out of burritos given how long they've been out of stock.
November 18, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Somewhere between 6 and 8 deer on my walk this evening. I'll see if any of the photos are any good later. I think I'm gonna pop over to Half Price Books while they're open, though, and then maybe a quick stop by the grocery, since I'm now out of burritos given how long they've been out of stock.
For this year's Xmas giveaway game, I'm revisiting my 2017 Xmas game, Pneumatic Santa, about a steampunk Santa setting up a pneumatic gift delivery system. Found some nice Library of Congress photos to tinker with, and mocked up a little cover tonight.
November 18, 2025 at 9:09 AM
For this year's Xmas giveaway game, I'm revisiting my 2017 Xmas game, Pneumatic Santa, about a steampunk Santa setting up a pneumatic gift delivery system. Found some nice Library of Congress photos to tinker with, and mocked up a little cover tonight.