lumpley
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lumpley.bsky.social
lumpley
@lumpley.bsky.social
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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
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lumpley.bsky.social
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...
Help! My Executive Function is borked! (A cartoon illustration of a fox half-buried head-first in the snow.) Self-control: I’m having trouble stopping & thinking before acting Self-Monitoring: I’m having trouble seeing myself clearly Self-expression: I’m having trouble saying what I need to Emotional Control: I’m having trouble managing my feelings Flexibility: I’m having trouble adapting to changes Task Initiation: I’m having trouble getting started Organization: I’m having trouble keeping things organized Working Memory: I remember, but I’m having trouble using it Planning: I’m having trouble figuring out what steps I should take Demand Avoidance: Suggestions, reminders, & instructions are making it harder Neurodiversity means… What’s easy for me isn’t easy for you! What’s obvious to you doesn’t make sense to me! What’s common sense to me is mysterious to you! What you need isn’t what I need! I’m not being opaque or obtuse. You’re not either! When I do something upsetting or something that isn’t what you wanted or expected, please don’t be hurt or take it personally. It’s just our brains. Cutting slack goes both ways! Cut slack unto others as you would have them cut slack unto you. (A cartoon illustration of a couple of foxes and birds sitting together under a tree.)
November 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
Meg's picture:
Photo of a night sky showing a strange spiral glow partly obscured behind the tops of the trees.
November 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM
lumpley.bsky.social
Well, we saw the world's tallest filing cabinet.
October 25, 2025 at 6:46 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
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...)
A diagram showing the model of interaction that underlies the design of Under Hollow Hills. Two characters meet. They each reveal themself and learn about the other, and so come to understand who each other are. This gives them each the opportunity to draw closer, to rebuff the other, or to withdraw. The decisions they make change themselves and their relationship, so that now or eventually they might meet one another anew. So the cycle repeats for as long as their relationship exists. A diagram showing how Under Hollow Hills' basic moves (called "obvious plays" in the game) embody the relationship model in the previous diagram. - By confronting someone you both reveal yourself to them and, from their response, learn about them. You come to, perhaps, an explicit understanding. You might rebuff them or, by mutual understanding, draw closer. And by making this demand of them, you'll very likely change your relationship. - By drawing them out, much the same, but openly instead of confrontationally. You're specifically not rebuffing them. By drawing them out instead of confronting them, you're more likely to deepen your relationship than by issuing confrontational demands, but less likely to simply get them to do what you want them to. ...And so on. Follow the link in the post for much more detail.
September 15, 2025 at 12:09 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
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...
Photo of page 85 of Montola & Stenros' The Rule Book, showing a folded corner and handwritten marginalia. The text is visible and partly readable, but isn't really meant to be read in the photo. It's generally about the difference in sports between cheating and fouling, and whether there is one. One of the handwritten notes says, "okay but this is BRILLIANT."
September 4, 2025 at 8:08 AM
lumpley.bsky.social
As a little preadolescent Mormon boy, I was 100% unequipped to deal with my feelings about Zoltar and his "twin sister."

#FirstBadCrush
Characters from the cartoon "Battle of the Planets." Zoltar — a supervillain with a dramatic mask and distinct, glossy pink lips — laughs evilly behind Mark, the young leader of G-Force, in his eagle-wing cape and helmet, in an action pose.
April 28, 2025 at 10:01 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
Plug!

lumpley.games/edgar-allan-...
A pen drawing of a raven wearing a wizard's hat, underlit by rainbow smoke as from a magical cauldron. Text: "Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica: A Quaint & Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore."
March 13, 2025 at 1:56 AM
lumpley.bsky.social
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...
A graph: "Creative Skills, Critical Skills." It shows two skill acquisition lines, one for creative skills (design, development, production), one for critical skills (analysis, interpretation, vision). Both step up like stairs, showing that as you practice a skill, it plateaus, then rapidly improves to the next plateau, in several cycles. They're out of step, showing that your two skills leapfrog from plateau to plateau: at one point your creative skills are ahead of your critical skills; at the next point, your critical skills have leapt to their next plateau and are ahead of your creative skills.
March 12, 2025 at 5:23 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
Once in a while I get to spend a day making art. This is for a sweatshirt design Meg asked for.
A photo of my laptop showing a drawing in progress, black lines over a pencil sketch. A goblin in a sweater and scarf offering birdseed to a little nuthatch fairy.
March 5, 2025 at 8:49 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
repost with the first album you bought with your own money

Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing, on cassette.

Lotta years ago!
Album cover: Suzanne Vega Solitude Standing
February 24, 2025 at 5:20 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
"You'll be visited by three spirits"

The three spirits:
Three Lectroids from The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the Eighth Dimension.
December 25, 2024 at 5:05 AM
lumpley.bsky.social
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.
A pen drawing of a raven wearing a wizard's hat, underlit by rainbow smoke as from a magical cauldron. Text: "Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica: A Quaint & Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore."
December 21, 2024 at 4:00 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
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?
A pen drawing of a raven wearing a wizard's hat, underlit by rainbow smoke as from a magical cauldron. Text: "Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica: A Quaint & Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore."
December 20, 2024 at 1:47 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
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!
A charcoal drawing of the dam at Turners Falls, showing the flat water of Barton Cove behind the dam, three of the dam's pylons, and the jagged rocks of the Connecticut riverbed below the dam. It's impressionistic, not so easy to make out.
December 6, 2024 at 5:05 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
Here's how to fold it.
A sheet of paper with several fold lines labeled "mountain" or "valley," showing where the "reflection" panel is, with the rest noted "all this is hidden inside."
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
...And there's room for a postscript or whatever on the back if you want it.
A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, but you can't see them here. It's closed to the plain rectangular back, labeled "postscript."
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
The middle page hides the back page. I think of it as illustrating the constant and the reflection, then opening to a revelation.
A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's open to the middle page. It shows the triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant," and the lower panel, labeled "reflection." The central triangular panel is labeled "illustration." A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's open to the back page. It shows the triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant," and the lower panel, labeled "reflection." The central triangular panel is labeled "revelation."
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
This lower panel is visible on both the middle page and the back page.

It reflects the constant panel in the top right.
A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's open to the middle page. It shows the triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant." The lower panel is labeled "reflection." A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's open to the back page. It shows the triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant," and the same lower panel, labeled "reflection."
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
On the front, you have space for an introduction.

It's in relationship with the constant panel in the top right.
A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's closed. It shows the triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant," and the front panel is labeled "introduction."
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
This triangular panel is visible on every page.
A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's closed. It shows a triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant." A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's open to the middle page. It shows the same triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant." A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing several diagonal pages and surfaces. It's open to the last page. It shows the same triangular panel in the top right, labeled "constant."
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
Here's a fun paperfold book form with some interesting qualities.
A sheet of paper folded into a complex-ish shape, showing triangular and rectangular pages.
December 5, 2024 at 11:04 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
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...
A pen drawing of a raven wearing a wizard's hat, underlit by rainbow smoke as from a magical cauldron. Text: "Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven's Ars Magica: A Quaint & Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore."
December 3, 2024 at 7:32 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
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...
A graph: "Creative Highs & Lows." It shows two skill acquisition lines, one for analytic skill, analyzing and understanding games, the other for productive skill, creating games. Both step up like stairs, showing that as you practice a skill, it plateaus, then rapidly improves to the next plateau, in several cycles. They're out of step, showing that your two skills leapfrog from plateau to plateau: at one point your analytic skills are ahead of your productive skills; at the next point, your productive skills have leapt to their next plateau and are ahead of your analytic skills. Two points are highlighted: • When your productive skills are ahead of your analytic skills: "My game is AMAZING!" • When your analytic skills are ahead of your productive skills: "My game is TERRIBLE!" ...When of course it's the same game.
December 1, 2024 at 6:12 PM
lumpley.bsky.social
Oh for goodness sake this is what he made in Hero Forge. He blasphemed specifically the Greek Gods over THIS:
A Hero Forge miniature of, get this, a filing cabinet with a coffee cup on it. The third drawer down is slightly open.
November 29, 2024 at 2:33 AM
lumpley.bsky.social
Show me your Pet and what they are named after
Our cat Shmoopy Bibbins peeking out from under some blankets like a dork. He's sleek black, with orange eyes. An oil painting of young Franz Schubert, looking thoughtful, romantic, and kind of nerdy. He's wearing a high circa-1800 collar and little oval eyeglasses.
November 23, 2024 at 11:07 AM