lumpley

@lumpley

D. Vincent Baker, longtime indie ttrpg creator. Co-creator of Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills, and many more. Disarm, defund, abolish. He/him.

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Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir lumpley.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

lumpley@lumpley· Jun 22

STONETOOOPPPPPP (extra appreciate the "all you fascists bound to lose" bookmark)

Stonetop, an enormous boxed 2-volume book set, on my dining room table.

lumpley@lumpley· Jun 22

#Origins was a blast! The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design (AAGAD) inducted Apocalypse World into its Hall of Fame. @megueyb.bsky.social and I are beyond honored. www.originsawards.net Here's me accepting the award:

Vincent Baker talking at a podium, accepting Apocalypse World's induction into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design (AAGAD)'s Hall of Fame.

lumpley@lumpley· May 7

Without stating your age post your favorite film released the year you turned 18.

lumpley@lumpley· Feb 15

5 years ago or so, I dreamed that the new fashion for fascists was (a) an unfortunate haircut; (b) swim flippers; (c) putting their arms into their coat sleeves elbows-first. When I woke up, I drew a picture of it:

A cartoon drawing of a scowling fascist with an unfortunate haircut, swim flippers, and his arms stuck elbows-first into his coat sleeves. Caption: "In my dream, you could always tell the fascists by their duck suits."

lumpley@lumpley· Jan 26

Happy birthday!

A scratchy cartoon of a skeletal guy with two bloody swords, standing over a bloody mess with a crown in it. "Death to the wizard kings!"

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 9

Too hard to choose, some of my favorite artists ever were working in 1922...

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven's surreal "Portrait of Marcel Duchamp," a wineglass full of feathers and wires and I dunno, the resemblance is conceptual I suppose.

Man Ray's "Mona Lisa As Seen By Duchamp," a reproduction of the Mona Lisa with curly moustaches.

René Magritte, untitled, a cubist-surrealist painting of a woman riding a white horse in an uncertain architectural landscape, with an ambiguous other figure.

Paul Klee, "Alter Dampfer (Old Steamboat)", a surreal line drawing perhaps suggesting a wooden structure with chimneys and water wheels, looking more like a playground climbing structure, on an ambiguous pink and blue field.

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

Selfie, Vincent in hat & scarf. It's cold!

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

2 weeks until the end of the campaign and here's our last(?) stretch goal! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...

Text:
Working title:
An Apocalypse of Infinite Games
Making Your Own RPG the PbtA Way
1st Look Excerpt

lumpley@lumpley· Nov 28

You just died, the sixth picture in your camera roll is what killed you. So, um, huh.

Cartoon drawing of a guinea pig in segmented armor ballooning like a spider on a spiral strand of guinea pig silk. Handwritten text reads "you wouldn't think this would work, but it does."

lumpley@lumpley· Nov 16

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.)

lumpley@lumpley· Nov 5

Meg's picture:

Photo of a night sky showing a strange spiral glow partly obscured behind the tops of the trees.

lumpley@lumpley· Oct 25

Well, we saw the world's tallest filing cabinet.

lumpley@lumpley· Sep 15

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Sep 4

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."

lumpley@lumpley· Apr 28

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Mar 13

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."

lumpley@lumpley· Mar 12

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Mar 5

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Feb 24

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

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 25

"You'll be visited by three spirits" The three spirits:

Three Lectroids from The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the Eighth Dimension.

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 6

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

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."

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

...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."

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

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."

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

This lower panel is visible on both the middle page and the back page. It reflects the constant panel in the top right.

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

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."

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

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."

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 5

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Dec 1

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.

lumpley@lumpley· Nov 29

Oh for goodness sake this is what he made in Hero Forge. He blasphemed specifically the Greek Gods over THIS: