Hamish
@peregrinekiwi.bsky.social
Game Designer. Classicist, (Ancient) Historian, Historical Games Studier. Pākehā. He/him/his.
@TheSprawl_RPG, @ardensludere, @[email protected] & Twitter.
@TheSprawl_RPG, @ardensludere, @[email protected] & Twitter.
Pinned
Hamish
@peregrinekiwi.bsky.social
· Oct 22
Because of all the new users/followers, an intro thread seems in order. This can also be a "what's Hamish up to these days" thread for not-new folks!
#ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky #gamestudies #gamedesign
#ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky #gamestudies #gamedesign
Reposted by Hamish
Surprise, we're getting pretty close to the final version of REALIS!
ICYMI: I've been making a TTRPG about mystical moons and living spaceships and sentences that can kill you. A preview is available now (see my pinned post), but the full version draws near!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
ICYMI: I've been making a TTRPG about mystical moons and living spaceships and sentences that can kill you. A preview is available now (see my pinned post), but the full version draws near!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
Coming soon: Realis
A new tabletop roleplaying game by Austin Walker
www.kickstarter.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Surprise, we're getting pretty close to the final version of REALIS!
ICYMI: I've been making a TTRPG about mystical moons and living spaceships and sentences that can kill you. A preview is available now (see my pinned post), but the full version draws near!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
ICYMI: I've been making a TTRPG about mystical moons and living spaceships and sentences that can kill you. A preview is available now (see my pinned post), but the full version draws near!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru...
Tonight's butternut squash and bacon risotto was definitely in season!
November 8, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Tonight's butternut squash and bacon risotto was definitely in season!
Reposted by Hamish
I am begging us to keep basic humanities education the norm
November 8, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I am begging us to keep basic humanities education the norm
This article presents this burst of historical games through the lens of Historical Fiction rather than the Historical Game Studies, but nevertheless it's great to see some engagement with historical game studies in the media criticism space! Author: @reidmccarter.bsky.social
Ghost of Yotei, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Mafia: The Old Country each, to different degrees, complicate our vision of the past.
Ghost Of Yotei And Other Historical Games Are Rewriting Old Myths
Ghost of Yotei, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Mafia: The Old Country each, to different degrees, complicate our vision of the past
kotaku.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:27 AM
This article presents this burst of historical games through the lens of Historical Fiction rather than the Historical Game Studies, but nevertheless it's great to see some engagement with historical game studies in the media criticism space! Author: @reidmccarter.bsky.social
Reposted by Hamish
It's not just about salary, it's about working conditions. At ACA we believe teachers and students deserve clean air classrooms, adequate sick leave, and access to vaccines and antivirals. We don't accept the "new normal" of constant sickness and teachers quitting the profession due to Long Covid.
October 19, 2025 at 4:52 AM
It's not just about salary, it's about working conditions. At ACA we believe teachers and students deserve clean air classrooms, adequate sick leave, and access to vaccines and antivirals. We don't accept the "new normal" of constant sickness and teachers quitting the profession due to Long Covid.
Reposted by Hamish
The current Government wilfully spreads misinfo about unions despite being well aware unions are the collective voice of workers that rebalance the scales so that people in work are protected from exploitation and harm.
It’s a good time to join one. #nzpol
I’m retired but I’m a solidarity member.
It’s a good time to join one. #nzpol
I’m retired but I’m a solidarity member.
Find Your Union - NZCTU
Want to know what union you can belong to? Use our Find Your Union tool that covers over 350,000 working people in Aotearoa New Zealand.
union.org.nz
October 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM
The current Government wilfully spreads misinfo about unions despite being well aware unions are the collective voice of workers that rebalance the scales so that people in work are protected from exploitation and harm.
It’s a good time to join one. #nzpol
I’m retired but I’m a solidarity member.
It’s a good time to join one. #nzpol
I’m retired but I’m a solidarity member.
Reposted by Hamish
This is why I will never buy another sucker punch game unless they apologize and offer that employee’s job back.
October 7, 2025 at 3:32 AM
This is why I will never buy another sucker punch game unless they apologize and offer that employee’s job back.
Reposted by Hamish
In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:
October 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM
In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:
Dog Eat Dog is my pick for the best designed TRPG, full stop.
RPG nerds, this is worth keeping an eye on. The physical reprint of Dog Eat Dog in particular. Not been in print for ages, and it's a well designed and confronting framework for role-playing the shitty ass power balance of colonialism.
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/c...
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/c...
Art & System: Games for Expanded Play
A new indie game series from Central Michigan University Press launching with a lineup of three games: Princess with a Cursed Sword, Dog Eat Dog, and the Mountain Witch
www.backerkit.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Dog Eat Dog is my pick for the best designed TRPG, full stop.
I hadn't heard about EX TENEBRIS and it's kickstarter, but this (looong) interview-meets-description definitely sold me on it. If "40k investigation but you don't play as fascists" sounds good to you, have a read.
Interview feature with @armadajosh.bsky.social and @beckyannison.bsky.social about EX TENEBRIS, currently in the last week of their crowdfunder, where we talk influences, mystery games, systems and their future.
"I just didn’t want my friends to have to play fascist enforcers."
"I just didn’t want my friends to have to play fascist enforcers."
A Bright Dark Future: Ex Tenebris Interview - Old Men Running The World
If you're a British game designer, you work beneath a cloud - both literally and figuratively. For the former, it's really cloudy here, For the latter, it's a
oldmenrunningtheworld.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I hadn't heard about EX TENEBRIS and it's kickstarter, but this (looong) interview-meets-description definitely sold me on it. If "40k investigation but you don't play as fascists" sounds good to you, have a read.
Reposted by Hamish
(I still need backers for my light novel about a guy surviving a badly-run RPG campaign, so if you like my work (or posts) I'd appreciate it if you spread the word! Tell your friends, your parents, your Discords, your subreddits, buy a haunted pizza joint and then tell the ghosts about it)
CRINGE WIZARD: A TTRPG Isekai Light Novel
A light novel about a guy forced to live through the terrible TTRPG campaign he ran when he was a teenager.
www.kickstarter.com
September 28, 2025 at 3:47 AM
(I still need backers for my light novel about a guy surviving a badly-run RPG campaign, so if you like my work (or posts) I'd appreciate it if you spread the word! Tell your friends, your parents, your Discords, your subreddits, buy a haunted pizza joint and then tell the ghosts about it)
Reposted by Hamish
More people need to understand that saying only “criminals” should be subjected to expanding state violence around us is what led to the broader public being targeted by it, too. Criminality is subjective, and power determines what it is or is not.
September 29, 2025 at 8:09 PM
More people need to understand that saying only “criminals” should be subjected to expanding state violence around us is what led to the broader public being targeted by it, too. Criminality is subjective, and power determines what it is or is not.
Reposted by Hamish
Fuck off Judith
It's your government that have caused people to take the extreme measure of striking, not the Unions
#nzpol
It's your government that have caused people to take the extreme measure of striking, not the Unions
#nzpol
Govt and union trade blows over strikes
New data shows there has been 22 “work stoppages” - strikes and lockouts - in New Zealand this year so far, adding to 47 in 2024.
www.thepost.co.nz
September 28, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Fuck off Judith
It's your government that have caused people to take the extreme measure of striking, not the Unions
#nzpol
It's your government that have caused people to take the extreme measure of striking, not the Unions
#nzpol
Reposted by Hamish
Buried in the detail about reducing earthquake strengthening is the removal of requirements for disabled access and fire safety. You know who does that? Sociopaths.
September 29, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Buried in the detail about reducing earthquake strengthening is the removal of requirements for disabled access and fire safety. You know who does that? Sociopaths.
Reposted by Hamish
Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work
the entire media ecosystem is just not built or ready for events like this and far right billionaires like larry ellison buying news orgs will only make this worse
September 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work
Reposted by Hamish
is there any kind of logical reason as to why stuff keeps publishing fluff nonsense on these far right personalities
September 12, 2025 at 10:04 AM
is there any kind of logical reason as to why stuff keeps publishing fluff nonsense on these far right personalities
Reposted by Hamish
Even if you don't vote for your council (pls do but), tick that box for the referendum.
It is BINDING for three terms - so if it fails, no Māori ward for nearly a decade.
And EVERYONE votes, not just Māori. Tāngata Tiriti step up, Pākehā mā, you need to vote.
It is BINDING for three terms - so if it fails, no Māori ward for nearly a decade.
And EVERYONE votes, not just Māori. Tāngata Tiriti step up, Pākehā mā, you need to vote.
September 12, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Even if you don't vote for your council (pls do but), tick that box for the referendum.
It is BINDING for three terms - so if it fails, no Māori ward for nearly a decade.
And EVERYONE votes, not just Māori. Tāngata Tiriti step up, Pākehā mā, you need to vote.
It is BINDING for three terms - so if it fails, no Māori ward for nearly a decade.
And EVERYONE votes, not just Māori. Tāngata Tiriti step up, Pākehā mā, you need to vote.
I wish there were more examples to clarify the big ideas jay has included, but big respect for making an Expressionist Manifesto expressionist in form.
There is a good chance I will re-read after mulling and reading other reactions.
There is a good chance I will re-read after mulling and reading other reactions.
good morning, i wrote a manifesto about a new direction for game design / play
possumcreek.medium.com/the-expressi...
possumcreek.medium.com/the-expressi...
The Expressionist Games Manifesto
“Work! Intoxication! Brain-racking! Chewing, eating, gorging, rooting up! Rapturous birth pangs! Jabbing of the brush, preferably right…
possumcreek.medium.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I wish there were more examples to clarify the big ideas jay has included, but big respect for making an Expressionist Manifesto expressionist in form.
There is a good chance I will re-read after mulling and reading other reactions.
There is a good chance I will re-read after mulling and reading other reactions.
Reposted by Hamish
Indeed.
Also the authors of the piece in question are a disgraced former professor fired for cause *through tenure* for sexual misconduct with students (plural) and his wife and former undergraduate student (the latter a member of the publication's editorial board).
So, you know.
Gross.
Also the authors of the piece in question are a disgraced former professor fired for cause *through tenure* for sexual misconduct with students (plural) and his wife and former undergraduate student (the latter a member of the publication's editorial board).
So, you know.
Gross.
The online classics journal has published a piece attempting to defend "classical philology" against "attacks". The piece is driven by personal animus and makes the strongest case for the narrowmindedness of its authors
September 7, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Indeed.
Also the authors of the piece in question are a disgraced former professor fired for cause *through tenure* for sexual misconduct with students (plural) and his wife and former undergraduate student (the latter a member of the publication's editorial board).
So, you know.
Gross.
Also the authors of the piece in question are a disgraced former professor fired for cause *through tenure* for sexual misconduct with students (plural) and his wife and former undergraduate student (the latter a member of the publication's editorial board).
So, you know.
Gross.
Reposted by Hamish
‘AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complex.’
I’ll ask again: What is the trillion dollar problem that this trillion dollar technology is supposed to solve?
A difficulty writing emails?
I’ll ask again: What is the trillion dollar problem that this trillion dollar technology is supposed to solve?
A difficulty writing emails?
"UK government trial of M365 Copilot finds no clear productivity boost"
www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/m...
www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/m...
M365 Copilot fails to up productivity in UK government trial
: AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complex
www.theregister.com
September 5, 2025 at 7:49 AM
‘AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complex.’
I’ll ask again: What is the trillion dollar problem that this trillion dollar technology is supposed to solve?
A difficulty writing emails?
I’ll ask again: What is the trillion dollar problem that this trillion dollar technology is supposed to solve?
A difficulty writing emails?
Reposted by Hamish
BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT! @mahliann.bsky.social, @marcuscarter.com, and myself have combined our collective brains and written a wide-reaching introduction to the complex and interdisciplinary field of Game Studies in this forthcoming book for Polity. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
September 4, 2025 at 4:59 AM
BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT! @mahliann.bsky.social, @marcuscarter.com, and myself have combined our collective brains and written a wide-reaching introduction to the complex and interdisciplinary field of Game Studies in this forthcoming book for Polity. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
Reposted by Hamish
One thing I’m relieved about is the calibre of candidates running for the Māori Ward. Te Paea and Matt are great and would both make a very fine Councillor.
In saying that I still want to win it so vote for me 😂 #nzpol
In saying that I still want to win it so vote for me 😂 #nzpol
September 3, 2025 at 4:51 AM
One thing I’m relieved about is the calibre of candidates running for the Māori Ward. Te Paea and Matt are great and would both make a very fine Councillor.
In saying that I still want to win it so vote for me 😂 #nzpol
In saying that I still want to win it so vote for me 😂 #nzpol
Reposted by Hamish
The only people more delulu than Ray Chung's merry gang of financial illiterates are the reported 13% of Wellingtonians who both answer phone calls from Curia and support Ray Chung's merry gang of financial illiterates.
These people deserve your contempt and mockery.
These people deserve your contempt and mockery.
September 3, 2025 at 2:23 AM
The only people more delulu than Ray Chung's merry gang of financial illiterates are the reported 13% of Wellingtonians who both answer phone calls from Curia and support Ray Chung's merry gang of financial illiterates.
These people deserve your contempt and mockery.
These people deserve your contempt and mockery.
Reposted by Hamish
Or trying to have their cake and eat it too by mentioning the boycott up front before immediately violating it in the same breath/paragraph.
"Reporting Xbox news in direct violation of BDS but shaking my head the whole time so everyone knows I disapprove"-ass theory of politic.
"Reporting Xbox news in direct violation of BDS but shaking my head the whole time so everyone knows I disapprove"-ass theory of politic.
Independent gaming outlets continue to post about Microsoft games like nothings happening and that’s WILD to me
September 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Or trying to have their cake and eat it too by mentioning the boycott up front before immediately violating it in the same breath/paragraph.
"Reporting Xbox news in direct violation of BDS but shaking my head the whole time so everyone knows I disapprove"-ass theory of politic.
"Reporting Xbox news in direct violation of BDS but shaking my head the whole time so everyone knows I disapprove"-ass theory of politic.
Can anyone remember the name of the 90s satirical TRPG/larp where magic is drugs?
September 1, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Can anyone remember the name of the 90s satirical TRPG/larp where magic is drugs?