Nicholas Orvis
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nsorvis.bsky.social
Nicholas Orvis
@nsorvis.bsky.social
74 followers 120 following 66 posts
Dramaturg, director, critic, and scholar working at the intersection of theater and games.

Co-creator @dndramanerds.bsky.social. Opinions my own.
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Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
simonwdc.bsky.social
The reason folks are focusing on DHS's refusal to honor Real IDs is that it means that the Trump regime is asserting the right to detain anyone in America, resident or visitor, without probable cause. It's an erasure of habeas corpus for all Americans.
bsky.app/profile/jare...
jaredmcclain.bsky.social Jared @jaredmcclain.bsky.social · 2d
Add to this that HSI just filed a declaration in our case challenging these policies saying they can’t trust REAL IDs as proof of status.

So showing your papers isn’t even enough to end the stop.
December 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
jamellebouie.net
there is a certain condescension in the idea that “racism should be publicly unacceptable and come with consequences” is an attack on the “working class.”
December 12, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
thorbenson.bsky.social
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
Time person of the year cover for 2025
December 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM
nsorvis.bsky.social
I'm not even a HARD-CORE AI skeptic but if "the man-hours poured into this film were more than a traditional Production [sic]" then I have to politely ask:

WHY SHOULD ANYONE USE IT FOR THIS?
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 3d
This is a since-deleted LinkedIn post from the marketing agency that created the since-deleted AI-generated McDonalds Christmas ad, and all I can think of is how the energy consumption must've been about on par with a small suburb or heavy industrial load to produce 30 seconds of slop everyone hated
Gardening.club 556 followers 1w Our team at The Gardening.Club have been pouring in the hours to achieve something that we finally feel ready to put our name to, and while Al film might be dividing opinions, we want to open the process up and reveal just how much human expertise and craft went into this campaign. There's this idea floating around that Al will do all the work for us. Let's set the record straight: the man-hours poured into this film were more than a traditional Production. Yes, this ad is 100% Al. But it was built with the same care that we bring to any live-action film. The brief was tightly prescribed, with a clear mandate for every single scene, so complete control of each shot was essential and pulled off by our team using proprietary workflows, and pulled off spectacularly well, this was not a prompt-and-pray process. Just like a traditional shoot, the film needed a director, real storytelling instincts, and intentional casting, we selected and shaped each Al performer, their look, energy, and emotional presence, to meet the brief just as we would in live action film. It required virtual location scouting, solid references, screen tests, and a countless amount of takes to maintain true cinematic continuity. Our in-house Gardening.club Al and Post team, spent seven intense weeks refining every single frame. They rebuilt shots, debated composition, shaped shadows, and tuned emotional microbeats with precision all overseen by Sweetshop director duo MΑΜΑ. Many scenes had ten or more specialists, with each shot running through a tightly engineered pipeline, Google Earth base plates, style-transfer passes, pixel-level refinements, custom LoRAs, control nets, and bespoke ComfyUl workflows. We composited, fixed physics, balanced lighting, and cleaned artifacts in Flame. New tools, same goal: a film that feels real. Of course, we came across roadblocks. There were many times we were challenged, but the team was able to problem-solve on the spot. This project demanded a team willing to push further than the tech was ready to go. But that's exactly why it works. So no Al didn't make this film. We did.
December 11, 2025 at 10:18 PM
nsorvis.bsky.social
Our @stillfleet.bsky.social campaign wrapped up yesterday! (Well the finale AIRED yesterday.) A real delight to sit down with this crew of mayhem makers and talk about the game.
dndramanerds.bsky.social Dungeons + Drama Nerds @dndramanerds.bsky.social · 4d
At the conclusion of our @stillfleet.bsky.social campaign, Nick sits down with the cast to discuss the experience, the ways success and failure are framed in it, and what it’s like to play such profoundly non-human characters in a far-future setting.
December 11, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
stillfleet.bsky.social
Not only do @benferber.com, @dndramanerds.bsky.social, and company make fun AP; they also say smarty-pants things about gaming in general. It's always strange but nice to read/listen to reviews, and DnDN goes beyond the "good/bad" dichotomy, breaking down how game props lead to different emotions
dndramanerds.bsky.social Dungeons + Drama Nerds @dndramanerds.bsky.social · 4d
At the conclusion of our @stillfleet.bsky.social campaign, Nick sits down with the cast to discuss the experience, the ways success and failure are framed in it, and what it’s like to play such profoundly non-human characters in a far-future setting.
December 11, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
oregonthedm.bsky.social
Biggest commitment to a 3 second joke I've ever seen
April 9, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
thedevteam.itch.io
The final stretch goal (at $180k) is a Creator’s Guide to PBTA, and I need y’all to go back that because I’m a creator looking to make a PBTA and I could really use a guide.
December 8, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
megueyb.bsky.social
11 Days Remain. $8,250 till we hit the last stretch goal, at which point every backer gets the PDF of our creator's guide to PBTA, An Apocalypse of Infinite Games, the moment it's ready.
Wanna be among the first to see? Here's your chance!
#ttrpg #pbta #AW3rd www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
Apocalypse World: Burned Over
The 3rd edition of the groundbreaking original.
www.kickstarter.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
thetransfemininereview.com
It's my pleasure to announce the Longlist for Best Transfeminine Fiction in the 2025 TFR Reader's Choice Awards!

This year, TFR recognizes 14 titles from every genre and section of the industry 🩷

Thank you to everyone who voted early to craft this list! Voting ends December 26th at 11:59 PM EST.
The 2025 Longlist for Best Transfeminine Fiction (TFR Awards)
Thirteen early contenders for the best transfeminine novel of 2025. Voting is open until December 26th at 11:59 PM EST.
thetransfemininereview.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
helenczerski.bsky.social
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Bronze plaque saying "A Letter to the Future. Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019. 415ppm CO2"
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
jameslsutter.bsky.social
People are always surprised to learn how little creators actually own in comics, games, etc. Big corporate brands are usually built on a work-for-hire model, meaning creators get paid once and then the *company* owns their ideas forever. This is why independent/creator-owned work is so important.
culturecrave.co Culture Crave 🍿 @culturecrave.co · 7d
Miles Morales co-creator Sara Pichelli says she does not get any royalties from the ‘Spider-Verse’ films, Insomniac games, or merch

"I don’t get anything … that's the saddest part of my life"

(via SiteJamesons | TW)
December 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
dreaddbound.bsky.social
Every new word in this sentence is worse than the last
December 6, 2025 at 11:29 PM
nsorvis.bsky.social
As someone only peripherally aware of the Steam drama, I really appreciated both this piece's articulation of the issues and its gentle critiques of HORSES. Good Lord, is that all it takes for Valve?
December 4, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
butchanarchy.bsky.social
Then, what if we trusted that if people use an accommodation, that they’re doing it because it’s reasonable to them? The more neutral and abundant accommodations are, the more disabled people will actually get what they need. If able-bodied people happen to benefit too, so much the better.
December 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
nsorvis.bsky.social
I've always liked Shaw's writing (even when I've disagreed), and I'm happy that the Times has a dedicated theatre critic again!

(Lots of other things to be said about that paper, but...)
December 3, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
myhlee.bsky.social
Today marks one year since the Dec. 3, 2024 martial law declaration that rocked South Korea and still reverberates today. What’s on my mind today is the grit of South Koreans who rushed to the National Assembly that night, in freezing weather, to demand a return to democratic government.
December 3, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
prisonculture.bsky.social
"Eligible to New York City-based artists with children under the age of three, awardees will receive a grant for $25,000 to be used for childcare expenses with the provider of their choice." www.artistsandmothers.org/grant - Applications due by Jan 2.
Grant — Artists and Mothers
www.artistsandmothers.org
December 1, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
gregisonthego.bsky.social
“Against Cop Shit“ is my “Tom Holland Lio Syncing ‘Umbrella’.” I see it, I repost it.

Expel cop shit from your hearts.
kirbyconrod.bsky.social Kirby Conrod @kirbyconrod.bsky.social · 13d
"'We are both scamming each other, you and I, and I intend to win.' When a classroom becomes adversarial, of course, as cop shit presumes, then there must be a clear winner and loser."
- Jeffery Moro, Against Cop Shit
jeffreymoro.com/blog/2020-02...
Cop shit is seductive. It makes metrics transparent. It allows for the clear progress toward learning objectives. (“Badges” are cop shit, by the way.) It also subsumes education within a market logic. “Here,” cop shit says, “you will learn how to do this thing. We will know you learned it by the acquisition of this gold star. But in order for me to award you this gold star, I must parse you, sense you, track you, collect you, and—” here’s the key, “I will presume that you will attempt to flout me at every turn. We are both scamming each other, you and I, and I intend to win.” When a classroom becomes adversarial, of course, as cop shit presumes, then there must be a clear winner and loser. The student’s education then becomes not a victory for their own self-improvement or -enrichment, but rather that the teacher conquered the student’s presumed inherent laziness, shiftiness, etc. to instill some kernel of a lesson.
December 1, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
cjfrieman.bsky.social
We can read 4000 year old texts. We can't open 20 year old digital documents
November 28, 2025 at 11:18 PM
nsorvis.bsky.social
I love The Magus (and all @momatoes.com's work), so definitely encourage you to grab one of these if cost has been an issue for you in checking it out!
momatoes.com momatoes @momatoes.com · 13d
The Magus was featured in a popular TikTok, and people have been really supporting the game.

To celebrate this milestone, 100 community copies are now available—no need to email anymore. Get a free copy of the Magus in just a single click.
The game's banner with the text "100 Community Copies" at the bottom.
December 1, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
hazelmonforton.com
ℑ𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪 𝔇𝔞𝔯𝔨𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔉𝔞𝔯 𝔉𝔲𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢, 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔦𝔰 𝔒𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔐𝔬𝔦
Okay bear with me. My amazing friend Robyn (@haykebyr.bsky.social) did this amazing image based on my stupid ass joke. It's Miss Piggy photoshopped into some Sister of Battle armour, with the white bob haircut and a fleur de lys tattoo on her cheek and everything. Except she's got pink satin gloves on. The caption is "In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future there is Only Moi" because that's the whole joke. Thank you.
November 30, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Nicholas Orvis
catacalypto.bsky.social
A story Stoppard told several times, in several places:
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
nsorvis.bsky.social
Giving me a flashback to that time in undergrad when (shortly BEFORE I was on staff) someone was stabbed in the chest by a cavalry saber (prop mixup) during a show they'd written and directed.

(They were, luckily, fine.)
kieranhurley.bsky.social Kieran Hurley @kieranhurley.bsky.social · 16d
incredible quote lol
November 29, 2025 at 2:41 AM
nsorvis.bsky.social
The OSR isn't the center of my focus, but a lot of really interesting thinking has come out of it, and I really love this blogpost. Particularly love the way it draws in to complement (rather than oppose) PbtA, Jay Dragon, et al
November 28, 2025 at 8:45 PM