Avram Grumer

@avramg

Brooklynite, early blogger, general-purpose nerd, ttRPG noodle-arounder, once and future cartoonist, typeface addict, doggerelist, one-time Hugo finalist, occasional crank. He/him.

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Avram Grumer@avramg· 19d

Screencap from 30 Rock, showing Steve Buscemi in a school hallway, wearing a backwards red baseball cap, a red hoodie, and carrying a skateboard, saying "Search it up, fellow kids!"

Avram Grumer@avramg· 24d

Just got my latest POD order from Lulu: #ttRPG

Photo of four books on a wood surface:

- Cairn, barebones edition, black and white cover, only partly visible because the Cairn Player's Guide is stacked on top of it, but appears to show some adventurers fighting some skeletons
- Cairn, Player's Guide, 2nd Edition, color cover showing a large wolfman-like creature climbing a tree to get at three adventurers with swords, bows, spears, and armor
- Cairn, Warden's Guide, 2nd Edition, color cover showing some adventurers standing on a branch of a tree, while horned giants pass below
- Monolith, Interstellar Science Fiction Adventure, black and white cover showing a planet from space, and what might be a bulky spaceship or space station

Avram Grumer@avramg· 25d

A man (Dr Spaceman, from Thirty Rock) in a lab coat, looking at some x-ray photos of someone's lungs, saying "Damn it, where are my car keys?"

Avram Grumer@avramg· 29d

show me a comic page you love, no explanation needed

Two-[age spread from NextWave, showing the heroes fighting a trio of Elvis MODOKs, blue-skinned pirates with rocket peglegs, babies with Iron Man helmets, and naked ninjas. The caption reads "NextWave. You must buy six copies of this comic now."

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 12

Two games arrived in today’s mail:

A pair of shrink-wrapped boxes on a black table surface. The smaller blox is titled "Hearts Blazing," and is white with a fire design. The larger one is "Murder We Wrote, a True Crime Podcast Party Game!"

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 9

Captain Zapp Brannigan, from Futurama, slouching in his captain's chair, making a remark to Lieutenant Kif Kroker, a green alien sitting next to him.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 7

Photo of a jar of Musselman's chunky apple sauce

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 7

Chief Wiggum holding a can of pudding, with the detached pull-ring on his finger, saying "The wheels came off my Senate run"

The monorail salesman, playing the piano, singing "So long, Graham! You've had your fun!"

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 4

Some Derwent lines have black barrels, but color is indicated by the whole end being colored, not just a ring.

Photo of a 12-pencil tin of Derwent colored pencils, their Artists line.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 3

Live footage from the Vatican

Black and white comic book panel showing an anthropomorphic aardvark (Cerebus) in a robe and ornate scarf, with clouds behind him, looking down and shouting "ALL RIGHT, YOU WORTHLESS VERMIN! NO MORE MISTER NICE POPE!"

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jul 2

I ordered a physical copy of @vidityavoleti.bsky.social’s A Land Once Magic, and it arrived today! GM-less, playing-card-driven worldbuilding #ttRPG designed to create non-derivative fantasy settings.

Book open to a two-page spread. Most of the spread is an illustration of a pastel-colored fantasy landscape, but there's a column of text on the left-hand page:

What is Post-Fantasy?
I love fantasy, magic, and
world-spanning adventures,
but they’re steeped in specific
tradition, iconography, and
allegories that either bore or
infuriate me.
In an attempt to give a name
to a vague vibe, I label this
game as “post-fantasy”,
proposing a postmodern-
ist lens to the genre itself.
Specifically, “post-fantasy” is
me asking, “How do we move
fantasy in a new direction?
Can we interrogate the tropes
and canon, mix it with some
new vigor, and move forward?”
Every game of A Land Once
Magic I have played looks
nothing like the worlds of
Tolkien or Gygax, but I still
think, “Damn, that’s good
fantasy.”

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 30

Close-up on the face of Mojo Jojo, a green cartoon monkey.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 28

Today was #FreeRPGDay, so I went to the Twenty Sided Store and picked up a couple of things. Snagged their last copy of For the Queen!

Two items in a wood surface:

A box with the title "For the Queen," subtitled "A Storytelling Card Game," by Alex Roberts, with colorful illustrations of the faces of several characters.

A slim book titled "Sentai & Sensibility," by Bug Boll, with a cover illustration showing a giant robot towering over a traditional English manor house.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 27

Combine the two, though…

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 26

Time to announce my resignation, I guess

Your Results
69% Woke / 31% Chud
52% Techbro / 48% Neo-Luddite
63% Hopepilled / 37% Doomer
70% Davos / 30% Dubai

Your Closest Match:
Kier Starmer
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2024-present)

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 25

I like how they start this song off by swiping a line from The Monkees.

Photo of a young white guy, with dancers behind him, all in 19th-century clothing. Caption:

YOUNG JOSEPH
I saw his face, now im a believer
As a matter of fact, I ain't trying to deceive ya (oh oh!)

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 25

It’s half an hour til midnight, so i haven’t missed out on #makeaterriblecomicday #makeaterriblecomicday2026

Four-panel comic, drawn in pen on dot-grid paper.

Panel 1: Shows a fat bald guy in t-shirt and cargo shorts, pulling a cart towards tage right. A row of building windows is visible behind him. Caption: Had to do laundry today; totally Forgot that it was MAKE A TERRIBLE CoMIC DAY!

Panel 2: Close-up on hand, holding smartphone, Bluesky posts visible, though text is represented as just parallel lines. Arrow pointing to screen, labeled: Idiots losing their minds over last night's primary victory by Lander in NY-10. Caption: Laundry, shopping, reading social media.

Panel 3: Two hands flipping a pair of plaid boxer shorts straight. Caption: Pain in the ass having to do this every two weeks.

Panel 4: Same guy from Panel 1, pulling cart past windows, but towards stage left. Caption: But at least I've got clean clothes now.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 24

So it looks like Green-Wood Cemetery went big for Lander. #NY10

Screenshot of a map from a site called Data Mapper. It shows the results of the recent Democratic primary election in New York's 10th Congressional District, with regions that voted for Brad Lander in yellow, and those that went for Dan Goldman in green. One large yellow region is outlined in black. The sidebar indicates that the region cast 133 votes for Lander and 28 for Goldman.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 21

Some people just didn’t play enough D&D growing up.

CRYSTAL BALLS & SCRYING

Various devices for seeing at a distance (such as crystal balls, various scrying devices such as dishes or pans of water or mirrors, and spells such as clairaudience) are detectable. If the creature being observed in this manner is a spell user, then consult the table given for DETECTION OF INVISIBILITY in the section entitled INVISIBILITY. Find the creature's level/hit dice and intelligence, and then use the table as if an invisible creature were to be detected, checking each round

If crystal balling or scrying in any other form is detected by the observed, then it can be stopped by the use of darkness or dispel magic, the observed simply noting the small disturbance in the air caused by the magical viewing and casting the spell upon that spot, thus causing the scrying to cease for the length of the darkness spell or for a full day in the case of dispel magic.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 20

Statler: What then to do about Jesus of Nazareth? Miracle wonderman, hero of fools? Waldorf: No riots, no army, no fighting, no slogans. One thing I'll say for him, Jesus is cool!

Statler and Waldorf, the two old man Muppets, in an opera box.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 20

“So if you are the Christ, yes, the great Jesus Christ Prove to me that you’re no fool, walk across my swimming pool…”

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 19

Jim, from The Office (US), dressed as Dwight, saying "Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica."

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 18

These are great, and I’m tempted to get something similar for myself, but is this a typo, or an intentional sewing pun?

Close-up on card showing text:

to socialize with folks. Social cues
are hard. Words are hard. Why I
can't just say, with no pressure, "you
seem neat, we should hang out?"
TURNS OUT I CAN
I think you seam neat.
We should hang out.
No pressure,

A bright green outline draws attention to the fact that "seem" and "seam" are spelled differently.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 18

Voted in the primaries today. This is the huge novelty die we use to randomly pick candidates.

A FIFA tribute sculpture, shaped like a soccer ball with flattened sides, mottled green and brown coloring.

A hand holding a square red, white, and blue sticker saying "I VOTED 2026" and "VOTE NYC 125 YEARS Serving Voters"

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 18

Name a TV show you’re positive no one remembers but you.

Publicity image for VR.5. Shows a young blonde woman (Lori Singer) sitting in front of some computers, typing.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 17

Screenshot of a tweet:

Avram Grumer
@avram

I hope the new QUANTUM LEAP series was developed from an unused draft concept for CAPRICA.

1:24 PM • Aug 31, 2022

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 14

The political humor wasn’t particularly sophisticated, but I enjoyed it as a kid.

Four-panel black and white Bloom County cartoon. In all four panels, a chubby man in a suit and hat, holding a cigar, and having a darkened nose, and small bubbles above his head, is standing at a lectern in front of a blackboard, addressing a classroom off-panel.

Man: Good morning, boys and girls!
Class: Good morning, Senator Bedfellow.

Man: My… such a fine group of young Americans you are.
Class: Thank you, Senator Bedfellow.

Man: Any questions?
Class: How'd you launder the Libyan kickback money, Senator Bedfellow?

Man: Any questions?
Class, and one young boy walking into the panel: Aw, c'mon, Senator Bedfellow.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 13

Live footage from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 8

Is this a typo? I can’t figure out what “line” means in the highlighted sentence.

their bill of what they’d like to play. Except they
don’t. Even with upfront warnings, folks will still
line themes integral to the game's functioning. It’s
a type of thing that has frustrated me as a performer
and game designer.

Avram Grumer@avramg· Jun 7

Y’all are missing the best part!