lumpley
lumpley.bsky.social
lumpley
@lumpley.bsky.social
D. Vincent Baker, longtime indie ttrpg creator. Co-creator of Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills, and many more. Disarm, defund, abolish. He/him. https://lumpley.games
We've had these two little posters hanging on our wall for basically ever. They helped our kids get through middle school and high school and I personally still take a second to read them often.

Printable PDF here: lumpley.games/wp-content/u...
November 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Meg's picture:
November 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Well, we saw the world's tallest filing cabinet.
October 25, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Examine and analyze the conceptual models that underlie games.

Examine and analyze the ways that the game's processes embody its underlying models.

(These diagrams are about our game Under Hollow Hills, from this blog post: lumpley.games/2021/04/07/p...)
September 15, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I'm taking my time and reading the heck out of Montola & Stenros' The Rule Book: the Building Blocks of Games. I'm dogearing and writing in my copy...
September 4, 2025 at 8:08 AM
As a little preadolescent Mormon boy, I was 100% unequipped to deal with my feelings about Zoltar and his "twin sister."

#FirstBadCrush
April 28, 2025 at 10:01 PM
March 13, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I'm taking studio art classes so here I am, climbing the skill acquisition staircase again. Knowing the shape of it gives me perspective, even when it doesn't feel good.

I'm working with pastels for the first time ever. They're hard!

Anyhow, here's my periodic link:
lumpley.games/2019/10/21/g...
March 12, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Once in a while I get to spend a day making art. This is for a sweatshirt design Meg asked for.
March 5, 2025 at 8:49 PM
repost with the first album you bought with your own money

Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing, on cassette.

Lotta years ago!
February 24, 2025 at 5:20 PM
"You'll be visited by three spirits"

The three spirits:
December 25, 2024 at 5:05 AM
Last night we sat down, five of us, and set up to play Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica.

My magician is Doctor Ermide Mercere. He's an elegant, tuberculotic wizard in the prime of his power, seeking to summon a demon who will tutor him in true mastery.
December 21, 2024 at 4:00 PM
We've opened Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica for playtesting! Join in: lumpley.games/edgar-allan-...

If you're interested in doing a quick solo playtest, would you:
• Create a wizard
• Report back: what are your best interests, self-interests, and the object of your game?
December 20, 2024 at 1:47 PM
This is a charcoal drawing by me of the dam at Turners Falls. I'm standing on the Turners-Gill bridge, looking toward the Gill side. Barton Cove is to the right, the level water behind the dam; below the dam are the jagged rocks of the Connecticut riverbed.

It's okay if it's not too intelligible!
December 6, 2024 at 5:05 PM
Here's how to fold it.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
...And there's room for a postscript or whatever on the back if you want it.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
The middle page hides the back page. I think of it as illustrating the constant and the reflection, then opening to a revelation.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
This lower panel is visible on both the middle page and the back page.

It reflects the constant panel in the top right.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
On the front, you have space for an introduction.

It's in relationship with the constant panel in the top right.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
This triangular panel is visible on every page.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
Here's a fun paperfold book form with some interesting qualities.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
Very soon, we're going to release the public playtest document for Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica. A matter of days (maybe a week or two).

@megueyb.bsky.social, Emily Care Boss and I played Ars Magica for 15 years with expansive overlapping circles of friends. At the end...
December 3, 2024 at 7:32 PM
I'm riding the skill acquisition highs and lows pretty hard right now! I'm in the "why am I so terrible at this skill I've been practicing all my life? Despite all my practice I'm somehow worse at it than ever before" phase. Uuuugggghhhh.

lumpley.games/2019/10/21/g...
December 1, 2024 at 6:12 PM
Oh for goodness sake this is what he made in Hero Forge. He blasphemed specifically the Greek Gods over THIS:
November 29, 2024 at 2:33 AM
Show me your Pet and what they are named after
November 23, 2024 at 11:07 AM