cobb.land

Lucas Wars

2026-04-15T23:30:00Z

I often struggle with graphic novels. It's probably because I usually read them on a $50 tablet that's as slow as a slug and not quite big enough. With Lucas Wars it was a little different though. I enjoyed reading it enough to finish it in two sittings. And I even learned a few things (did you know R2 met Jesus?!). While I still prefer the massive tomes that are Paul Duncan's The Star Wars Archives for experiencing the creation of my favorite franchise, if the graphic novel is your preferred medium, I recommend it.

Hexcrawl to Pointcrawl

2026-04-01T18:00:00Z

I just read Cats Have No Lords's post Tyranny of the Crawl (as well as the accompanying topic on The Cauldron), and it got me thinking about the relationship between hexcrawls and pointcrawls.

First, in response to the post linked above, I agree! Not every OSR adventure needs to be a hexcrawl. Not even every open-world, choice-heavy adventure needs to be a hexcrawl. And while my preference is not for linear adventures, I feel like I've read plenty of TSR-era modules that were very much linear. But, for the purpose of this post, I can think of one very good reason to make an adventure a hexcrawl instead of a point crawl—It's easy to turn a hexcrawl into a pointcrawl.

Here is how you do it in just three steps:

Identify relevant points of interest on the hex map
Draw lines between them that make sense (following roads, trails, rivers, et cetera)
Using a given games hexcrawling rules, determine how long it would take and how hazardous it would be to travel along each line, as well as which random encounters are relevant.

See? Easy.

And should you want to go further, transforming it into a linear adventure is even easier: take the points of interest you identified in step one and turn them into a numbered list.

Think of a hexmap as a high-resolution image. In some cases, you might not need so many pixels. Perhaps some cropping and compressing is in order. Or maybe all you need is a tiny thumbnail. In either case, starting from a higher resolution and working your way down is ideal. So when it comes to published adventure modules, it seems best to provide as much resolution as possible.

Super Mario World

2026-04-01T12:30:00Z

My only experience with Super Mario World was accidentally (on purpose) overwriting my older cousin's save during a visit after playing for a few hours and not wanting to lose my progress. It didn't matter in the end, because he never let me play it again. So it was back to Super Mario All-Stars for me. Finally getting to play it all these years later has been fun. I hadn't realized back then that all the Mario games in All-Stars were originally for the NES and that World was made specifically for the SNES. Playing them now, the enhancements are obvious. Yoshi is in this one! Come on! But—call me crazy—I think I prefer the older games. Still, I recommend it.

Super Mario Land

2026-03-28T15:30:00Z

I'm in the process of collecting cartridges of all the original launch titles for the Game Boy (both Japanese and North American). So far, Yakuman is pretty fun (see my mahjong page for a bit more on that) and Baseball is annoying yet somehow compelling, but Super Mario Land is the first one that I've really enjoyed. It's short (only four worlds with three levels each) and weird (aliens and ninjas?!), and Mario's momentum feels a little strange. Still, it feels enough like a Mario game to be recognizable, but it does some things—successfully, I'd say—that no other Mario game I've played has done. I really enjoyed the regular Mario stuff and the shmup levels (I want more Mario shmup!). I finished the game satisfied and still wanting more. I'll be playing it again. I recommend it.

TTRPG Webrings

2026-03-24T14:00:00Z

I've heard some folks only allow characters in dnd to wear two magic rings—one on each hand. Well, I say that's dumb. I've got ten fingers, after all (and that's before we even get to toes), so why can't I wear more rings? In the spirit of my bountiful phalanges, I present four TTRPG webrings followed by a well-intentioned sermon and a magic item:

The first one I learned about, and I think the first one in this collection to exist, is the Wood-Paneled Web Ring, started by Stu Horvath of Unwinnable, Vintage RPG, and Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground fame.

Then there's cartweel's TTRPG webring, which is actually part of the Wood-Paneled Web Ring—rings in rings!

Next is the New Old Gaming Blogring, run by Daniel Sell, who made Troika.¹

Finally, and the main reason for this post, there is rootring. Elmcat of Among Cats and Books has been killing it in the TTRPG blogging scene lately, first with the Blogosphere Map and now this.

With the big web platforms getting worse by the day, more and more folks are returning to personal websites, blogs, and webrings as a way to take back the 'net. Combine a personal website and blog with a webring or two (or ten) and a blogroll (with bonus points for using a feed reader) to make something better than social media—something that's all your own.

This website can be found in both the Wood-Paneled Web Ring and the rootring (pending acceptance), among other non-ttrpg—but still just as magical—webrings.

Join me!

(Okay, I'll stop preaching now. On to the magic item.)

Ring of the Web. Crafted by an ancient race of interdimensional hyper-intelligent spiders, this magic ring creates telepathic links between other rings crafted of mundane metals. Each mundane ring can be linked to two other rings in this way, granting the bearer one daily use of the spell ESP, targeted at the bearer of one of that rings linked rings or the bearer of the Ring of the Web.

1: The first three blogrolls are all powered by onionring. Onionring is nice because setup is easy—it's just a few JavaScript files and some CSS. But it's not so nice if you prefer to keep on-site JS to a minimum, and there are security implications to running JS files you don't host yourself—they could be changed at any time. (I've got a hacky local way to get around this, but that's a topic for another time.)↩︎

Bookmark of Bloggies Archive

2026-03-09T13:30:00Z

I've always meant to keep up with, read, and vote on the Bloggies. Sadly, I've only ever managed to read a few of the winners after the fact. Time to catch up, and then do better next year! (Find this past year's Bloggies here.)

Bookmark of Defuddle

2026-03-03T17:00:00Z

This seems incredibly useful (especially in light of my recent abandoning of read later apps). It inspired me to make a bookmarklets page. Find a bookmarklet for using this there.

Bookmark of Pokémon Is OSR

2026-03-03T13:42:00Z

I blame this post for my recent return to Pokémon via the Nuzlocke Challenge.

A Note

2026-03-02T19:00:00Z

I just started playing Pokémon LeafGreen for the Game Boy Advance. It will be my first playthough of a generation 3 Pokémon game. (I'm opting to play the 3DS remake of the mainline gen 3 games because I actually own a physical cartridge.) Since I've already played both the originals for Game Boy and the "Let's Go" remakes for Switch, I've decided to do something different: The Nuzlocke Challenge (with some modifications). Check out the details and follow along on my Nuzlocke page.

Goodboy Galaxy

2026-03-02T02:00:00Z

Goodboy Galaxy is a metroidvania released for the Game Boy Advanced on the console's twentieth anniversary (and also available on Steam). It's also the first game I played on my new-to-me GBA (i.e., I don't have much to compare it to, so take my review for what it is). And what a game it was! It's got everything: backtracking, puzzles, platforming, shooting, swords, drills, minesweeper, Star Fox, a rhythm game, fishing, and—most importantly—friendship. Upon beating the game, I'm only at about sixty percent completion and still missing about a dozen friends, so I fully intend to play some more. I strongly recommend it.

My Introduction to TTRPGs

2026-02-17T20:15:00Z

I was introduced to TTRPGs by the bassist of the band I was in right out of college. This was back in 2012 in Akron, Ohio (USA). We started with D&D 4E, premade characters, and a simple three-room dungeon full of combat. I was amazed and instantly obsessed. It was like a video game but using imagination (hah!).

Modern Beginnings

When it came time to actually start a campaign and make our own characters, the group decided 4E wasn't for us (much to the bassist's chagrin), so we explored 3.5E before quickly switching to Pathfinder (1E). As a player, I really enjoyed the system at the time—so many buttons and levers to push and pull, so much mixing and matching of skills and feats and classes and races, so much fiddling—but when it was my turn to run the game, I found Pathfinder to be too ridged and brittle in it's rules and application for the stories (hah!) I wanted to tell.

It was around then that D&D 5E was in public testing. Codenamed D&D Next, it offered what I was looking for at the time: a system with a lighter touch (hah!) that would allow me to run the kinds of adventures and narratives I had in mind. I convinced the group to switch to the public beta and took over running our weekly game.

(The sessions back then were just as much drinking game as they were roleplaying. Someone roll a 1? They take a shot. Someone roll a 20? The GM takes a shot. Someone get knocked prone and then stand up? We all stand up or else take a shot. By the end of the night, it was hard to keep track of what was even going on. This level of drinking is not conductive to adventuring, let me tell you!)

By the time D&D 5E was actually released, we'd moved on. I was running a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire campaign, which continued through me moving away to Houston, Texas (USA). We played via Google Plus (remember that?), Hangouts, Sheets, and Drawings. The game only lasted a few more months before puttering out.

(That original group went back to Pathfinder and continued playing for about another year without me. But I made my triumphant return eventually!)

It was then that I made my first foray into old-school gaming, thanks to a Half Price Books that was a few blocks from my apartment (in the Montrose neighborhood for those who know). I stumbled upon a collection of Basic D&D and Advanced D&D adventures for cheap and bought them all up (man, I wish I'd kept all those)—no rulebooks, though. Intrigued, I picked up a pdf of Basic D&D and invited my old friends to join me online for a few sessions of B1: In Search of the Unknown. The game was abandoned after only a single session, and I decided Basic wasn't for me (hah!).

Story Game Revelations

I couldn't muster my old group to play online and I didn't know anyone in Houston, but I still wanted to play something, so I turned to Meetup dot com. There I found The Gauntlet!

At that time, The Gauntlet wasn't a publisher of games and producer of podcasts and zines. They were just a local group of story gamers (a local group that continues to this day). I joined their recurring Friday game, which at the time (and usually) was Dungeon World.

Over the next six months my whole perspective of what a tabletop roleplaying game was and could be completely transformed. First, via Dungeon World (and accompanying advice online), then through all the subsequent games. I played everything from The Shab Al-Hiri Roach and In a Wicked Age to InSpectres and The Final Girl.

(This is around the time I started designing my own games. More on that in another post.)

Occasionally, I would also join their Wednesday One-Shot game night. When it came my turn to run something, I returned to my roots and picked up the D&D 5E Starter Set: Lost Mine of Phandelver. Taking everything I'd learned from story games and applying it to 5E turned out to be a revelatory experience. The story wasn't what I prepared—it was the emergent narrative that happened at the table as a result of the mechanics and player choices.

Fusion

After a year in Texas, I returned to Akron, Ohio. I wasted no time getting the old gang back together, along with a few newcomers. Their Pathfinder game had since ended, and they were ready to get into whatever I was running. Taking a page out of The Gauntlet's book, I ran both a campaign night—5E—and a (mostly) one-shot night—various story games.

I did my best to fuse 5E with my then story game sensibilities. Combining my newly learned ideas about emergent narrative and player choice with my newly acquired tools for prepping fronts (or factions) and non-player characters resulted in one of the most satisfying campaigns I've ever run to completion, regardless of game system.

Still, I grew to feel about D&D 5E the same way I'd felt about Pathfinder before, only now for different reasons. With the campaign over and the one-shot night ending, my frustrations were such that I stopped playing TTRPGS almost completely (aside from a short-lived 5E campaign run by that original bassists with a new group in Cleveland).

Then the global pandemic hit. Feeling isolated and bored, the dice called to me once more—virtually, of course.

I started up a (mostly) story games (mostly) one-shots night online using Roll20. At the same time, the bassists got another online 5E campaign going.

Once we could meet in person again, I ran my first (and last) Dungeon World campaign. While the campaign itself was a success, and despite the recent online one-shot successes, my dissatisfaction only grew. Neither games from the modern nor story game tradition could scratch my intensifying itch.

A few other games were played every now and then, off and on—more off than on. Then I moved away again.

Old School Revolution

I credit three games with introducing me to the OSR. Ironically, they're all more part of the story game tradition, though they're each designed to call back to or emulate old-school play in some way.

The games: World of Dungeons, Freebooters on the Frontier, and Trophy.

As I settled into my new home in the foothills of Appalachia and got a new D&D 5E campaign going with a new group of friends and family, I kept thinking back to the ideas found in those games. I went searching online. I found the OSR blogosphere. I explored new games. I reread Basic D&D and this time decided it very much was for me. The OSR was everything I'd been looking for this whole time. The OSR was my jam!

Some OSR ideas mixed with my old story game thoughts and combined in 5E to result in an even more satisfying campaign than the last. But there were still a few trappings of modern play I needed to let go of.

I convinced my local group to let me run some OSR games. I ran a few sessions of Old-School Essentials and Dungeon Crawl Classics (which some would argue isn't OSR, but whatever). Death In Space proved fertile soil for a months-long campaign. But even after all that, they wanted to return to 5E.

If I wanted to keep playing OSR games, I figured I was going to have to do so online. And if I was going to run a game online (this time with Owlbear Rodeo), perhaps I could make a few bucks in the process (on StartPlaying).

Synthesis

My foray into paid GMing started with lofty ambitions. I created a shared, living world. It was my intention to run several different parties in this same world, all playing Old-School Essentials. But the market for paid old-school referees was and is vanishingly small, so I opened my world once again to D&D 5E. And since I was going to be running 5E anyway, I invited my home game to also play in the same shared world.

This all proved to be a monumental challenge. The twin modern chains of player character centered adventure design and encounter balance weighed me down and threatened to drown me. It was then that I made my greatest (and most controversial) discovery. A discovery that proved to be my key to freedom.

With the right preparation, culture, expectations, and play style (and maybe a handful of house rules)...

System doesn't matter.

I started running my 5E games in the same ways as I ran my OSE ones. Same prep, same random encounters, same dungeons. Nothing broke. In fact, 5E began to sing. The game's mechanics were only there to answer a simple question: Did the action being attempted succeed or fail. And that question only needed to be asked when the outcome was uncertain and there was real risk in failure. Everything else was just window dressing.

Now, of course I start by meeting a new game where it's at and on its own terms. But if I don't end up liking that place, I alter the terms. After all, the system isn't the game. The game is what happens at the table. The game is play. And play is what you make it.

The Purpose and Size of a Hex

2026-02-15T15:53:00Z

This topic over on The Cauldron talking about hexes (originally, in reference to this blog post has me thinking about the purpose and, by extension, size of a hex in dnd¹.

To me, hexes have always been spaces on a game board, essentially. Sure, stuff happens inside of them, but the hexes themselves are for counting movement. They're abstractions. But, to my surprise, to some (see this blog post and the referenced original linked above) they're a measuring stick for adjudicating mile-by-mile (and sometimes even more granular than that!) movement across a representational space.

Something else linked in the Cauldron topic (this blog post) also has me rethinking my universal six-mile hex. Might three-mile be better for abstract hex maps?

These are just questions right now, but I hope I'll be able to form some coherent opinions after some more thought and discussion. More soon!

1: I'm speaking about the folk tradition of dnd and tabletop roleplaying adventure games here, and not corporate D&D. ↩︎

Bookmark of Blog of the .Day

2026-02-06T15:45:00Z

Hey, this website is todays Blog of the .Day! Fun!

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2026-01-29T15:50:00Z

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Enshittification

2026-01-25T14:30:00Z

I blasted through Enshittification by Cory Doctorow in just three days. It was a great, if mostly infuriating, read. I was already familiar with Doctorow and his idea of enshittifiction, but it was illuminating to see the whole concept and what's actually happening laid out in so much detail. And it was mildly uplifting to see the positive changes slowly being made recently. My only problem with the book is it got me all riled up but didn't leave me with a call to action. What do I do now, Cory?! I recommend it.

Good Web Search

2026-01-18T19:10:00Z

Search on the web is so broken right now. Ads, auto generated "answers", "related" searches, LLM slop—the list goes on and on. In an effort to curb some of this crap, I spent Friday hacking together a little extension for Chromium-based browsers. I call it Good Web Search. Right now, all it does is adjusts search parameters for potentially better results and offers a few alternative search options, but I hope to add more features as time goes on (and as I learn how to properly make an extension in the first place).

All of the extension's features work when using the Vivaldi browser (and should work with other Chromium-based browsers, though I haven't tested yet) and searching on Google, with some of the features working on StartPage, DuckDuckGo, et cetera. It can force Google to use the "web" search mode, removing a lot of the cruft, and can append "before:2023" and/or "-ai" to search queries to get rid of most of the rest. Each of the aforementioned features can be toggled off and on in the extension's popup menu, where it also links to some websites where you might rather be searching anyway (Wikipedia, et cetera).

I'm pretty happy with it so far. If you try it out, let me know how it goes and if you encounter any bugs or have suggestions for improvement!

Kero Kero Cowboy

2026-01-07T21:30:00Z

Kero Kero Cowboy is a great little platformer for the Game Boy Color (which I played on my Anbee, aka my Anbernic RG 35XX Plus). The first half of the game is near perfection, but there are some problems with the later levels: the game's framerate drops during some tight spots, the timing for the super jump off of enemy heads—and especially mushrooms—is a little too unforgiving, and the difficulty spikes almost unreasonably near the end. Still, it was a really fun time, and I recommend it.

I got Kero Kero Cowboy as part of Playtiles' first season of games.

Bookmark of The Rankin Bass Hexmas Crawl

2026-01-06T18:18:00Z

I didn't get a chance to participate in the The Rankin Bass Hexmas Crawl, but it sure looks like an exciting project. I hope to run some games in it next holiday season (probably using this map and index from Bakenshake). (Also, important reminder that Christmas didn't end until yesterday. It lasts for twelve days, you low church heathens!)

C64 Dice Roller

2026-01-03T15:30:00Z

Back when I was messing around with an emulated C64 and reading through the user manual, I made this little dice roller. Forgot to post it back then. Now that the new C64 Ultimate is out (and I am once again wanting one), I figured I'd post it now.

10 PRINT "❤";
20 PRINT "TIME TO ROLL SOME DICE!"
30 INPUT "HOW MANY FACES"; F%
40 INPUT "HOW MANY DICE"; N%
50 PRINT "ROLLING "N%"D"F%"..."
60 T% = 0
70 FOR CT = N% TO 1 STEP -1
80 R% = INT(F%*RND(1))+1
90 PRINT R%
100 T% = T% + R%
110 NEXT CT
120 PRINT: PRINT "ROLL TOTAL: "T%
130 INPUT "ROLL AGAIN (Y/N)"; Q$
140 IF Q$ = "Y" THEN 30

Bookmark of Consider this: Captured spell books

2026-01-01T04:30:00Z

If you're into old-school dnd and not already reading "You see this." (not to mention using their excellent tokens), you definitely should be.

Bookmark of Patchwork Newsletter (Vol 1, Issue 2)

2025-12-21T19:50:00Z

Another great recurring collection of TTRPG news, links, and discussion to add to the growing list (already containing Indie RPG Newsletter, Shiny TTRPG Links, OSR News Roundup, CATMAIL [new!], and a few others on Substack so I won't link to them). A sad thing it highlights though is how much interesting conversation is missed because so much of it is trapped on Discord. (The quote above is a summary of one such discussion.) We need a return to forums! For such talk I recommend The Cauldron. (I should really practice what I preach and post there more often.)

Best of 2025

2025-12-18T08:36:00Z

Looking back on twenty twenty-five as I was making this list, I kept thinking of things I wanted to put on it, only to realize they're from two thousand twenty-four. This past year has blown by without so much as a hi-how-are-you. But here we are: Some of my favorite things.

Please let me know everything I got wrong.

Best album: Wolfroy Goes to Town by Bonnie "Prince" Billy. I stopped using Spotify this year¹, and I have yet to settle on how I want to enjoy music going forward, so my listening has mostly been in the form of random CDs, and it's been mostly untracked. But if I had to guess which album I've listened to the most, I'd put money on this one. I enjoyed it fourteen years ago when it came out, and I enjoy it just as much now.

Best book: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. I didn't read enough this year, and I certainly didn't read enough new stuff. But I did reread one of my favorites.

Best game console: Nintendo 3DS. Why didn't anyone tell me about this thing sooner? The 3DS came out during the decade and a half when I didn't play video games. I guess I missed out on some good stuff. Catching up now!

Best Linux distro: Bazzite from Universal Blue. Listen. I love Linux. I've been using it as my main OS off and on since Hardy Heron. But I am still very much a Linux beginner. Bazzite has made things that used to be hard for me very easy—namely playing games.²

Best meal: Pla Lad Prik (ปลาราดพริก) from Mom's Siam in Richmond, VA. You just cannot beat a crispy, spicy, tasty, whole fish. (Could have been spicier, though.)

Best movie: KPop Demon Hunters. Much like books, I didn't watch many movies this year. But this one definitely stands out in my memory. I was surprised by how good it was. And those songs are so catchy!

Best piece of furniture: IVAR from IKEA. Got the massive two-section unit that nearly goes up to the ceiling. Completely changed the functionality of our studio. Seriously.

Best retro handheld: Miyoo Mini Plus. My first one was defective. My second one still feels janky. And yet, I really enjoy this little guy. Took it with me almost everywhere this year. I even played it some, too.

Best show: Star Wars: Andor (season 2). Nothing beats the original trilogy. After that, nothing beats the prequel trilogy (I was eleven when it came out—leave me alone). After that, and arguably "better" than some of both, is Andor. This show did things I hadn't realized were possible with Star Wars. And it has stayed with me.

Best tabletop roleplaying game: Dolmenwood from Necrotic Gnome. Surprising absolutely no one. I've only run one session so far, but I can see this being one of my forever games.

Best video game: Hollow Knight from Team Cherry. I know I'm way late to the party on this one. But better late than never. This quickly became one of my favorites of all time.³

Best website: cobb.land. I mean, just look at this place! How cool, right?

1: There was a great article about how to quit Spotify posted by Brian Merchant of Blood in the Machine last month, but I'm not going to link to Substack. Here is a Wayback Machine capture instead.

2: Relatedly, KDA Plasma is my new favorite desktop environment. Wow. Just wow.

: Proposal to add Medievalist punctuation characters to the UCS

3: Honorable mention and close second place goes to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past—even later on that one.

Bookmark of Open Blog Revolution Release

2025-12-18T00:00:00Z

Eko has done some good work here. If I hadn't already hacked together my own setup using Eleventy, I'd probably give it a try. Regardless, looks like a great option for new folks. Blogs, baby!

Moving (Digital) House

2025-12-16T22:00:00Z

I'm in the process of turning my old website (if you know, you know) into my more professional home on the 'net. To that end, and during that process, I've brought over all my old blog posts to this site. (I apologize for the RSS feed deluge anyone may have experienced.)

Mario Kart 7

2025-12-14T17:13:00Z

The 3D on the 3DS was really cool. I got every gold trophy on every difficulty, but couldn't quite manage three gold starts on all the 150cc and mirror cups. Still, solid Mario Kart game.

Bookmark of Mari Lwyd’s Pantri Panic Launched

2025-12-10T22:05:00Z

You know I had to load this puppy up on my Miyoo Mini Plus for some festive holiday fun! (So what if my high score is currently only nine hundred something—I'm still getting the hang of it.)

Bookmark of Discovering the indieweb with calm tech

2025-12-10T19:45:00Z

Robert shares two great tools here (in addition to his beautiful vision of the internet): Blog Quest (for finding RSS feeds as you browse the web) and StreetPass (the same but for finding Mastodon profiles). I've already installed them both.

Let It Snow

2025-12-04T17:30:00Z

With a winter weather advisory in effect here in the foodhills of Appalachia, I'm feeling pretty festive. So, inspired by Dávid's Snowfall post (and using most of his code), I added falling snow to this website.

Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

2025-11-16T01:00:00Z

It could be argued that Return of the Jedi is the weakest of the original Star Wars trilogy. The same could be said for the Super Star Wars trilogy of Super Nintendo games. And yet, just like when I was a kid, I enjoyed the last one the most. Though it wasn't because it was the best game of the trilogy—it was just the easiest.

Listen, I like platformers, but I don't think I like run and gun games. So, despite almost all of the reviewers online listing each game in this trilogy among the best Super Nintendo games of all time, they're just not for me.

I still enjoyed playing through them, though. The music and sound effects tickled my brain in a pleasantly nostalgic way. The pixelated renditions of scenes from the movies where expertly done. And this game the most among the trilogy was technically impressive—Escaping aboard the Millennium Falcon through the guts of the second Death Star as it exploded all around me was truly exhilarating.

Did I love every minute? No. Do I think they're great games? Yeah, probably. Just not for me. I recommend it with reservations.

Bookmark of scriptorium@christdesert

2025-11-14T16:13:00Z

I've heard if monks making beer, wine, and even fruitcake, but never have I heard of an order of monks making websites. I kind of love it. (Too bad they're not still coding.)

A Note

2025-11-13T12:54:00Z

I guess this is a retro game review blog now.

Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

2025-11-12T19:45:00Z

The sequel is better than the original in this case (as with the movies, arguably). Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is an improvement on Super Star Wars in almost every way.

Now there are level codes to get back to where you left off, force powers (though somehow I missed most of them), and special moves for Han and Chewie (grenades and a spin—how fancy). In general, the level design is better. And I actually managed to figure out the bosses well enough this time around to beat them without taking too much damage (except for the one on Cloud City that I cheesed by one-hitting with a thermal detonator).

There were a few parts with jumps so annoying that I ended up reloading a savestate a dozen times (I still don't have the patience required to beat these games the old fashioned way—I definitely would have gotten at least three game overs). And the final fight with Darth Vader was long and brutal but still kind of fun.

This game was pretty good. I recommend it with reservations.

Super Star Wars

2025-11-11T00:30:00Z

I was gifted this and the rest of the Super Star Wars trilogy along with my Super Nintendo for my eighth birthday (or somewhere around there). Super Star Wars was the only one of the three I didn't beat as a kid. Unlike the later two games, it doesn't have level codes, so when you get a game over you have to start again from the beginning.

I'm sure this game was great at the time of its release—I even remember enjoying it back then, despite not being able to finish it. But, other than the nostalgia and fact that it's Star Wars, I didn't love it this time around, and I wouldn't have had the patience to finish it if it hadn't been for savestates.

The run and gun gameplay was frustrating. I just want to keep my healthbar full and to clear the stage of enemies. But the baddies keep respawning and everything throws of little bits of shrapnel that constantly chip away at your health. Finding Obi-Wan and getting your lightsaber was a cool moment, though. As was flying your x-wing down the Death Star trench. But I think the genre just isn't for me.

At least it's pretty short. I recommend it with reservations.

A Note

2025-11-09T17:05:00Z

At what point does a blog need to be paginated? Asking for a friend.

A Note

2025-11-09T17:01:00Z

I kind of really don't like reviewing media. Every book, game, et cetera is special in its own way, right? Still, I'm slowly working my way through my past media, writing reviews. (Plus it gives me coins in my little "gamified intentional media tracker" thing, so that's fun.)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

2025-11-08T18:20:00Z

My first game console was the Super Nintendo. I got it for my birthday just as the N64 was coming out. It didn't bother me at all that I was rocking last-gen hardware—a benefit of the pre-social-media age, most likely—because I finally had a Nintendo!

You'd think that among my first few games I collected, I would have the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. But, as mentioned above, this was a different time. I didn't know or care at all about Zelda. Instead, I had Super Mario All-Stars, Donkey Kong Country, the Super Star Wars trilogy, and... ClayFighter??? I'm not complaining. I loved those games and played them to death. Even ClayFighter. But, in retrospect, my collection was seriously lacking.

Thirty-ish years later, I'm neck deep in retro console emulation and ready to rectify my childhood mistakes.

And, boy, was I missing out. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is great! Though I can also see why my younger self might have skipped it. Compared to Mario, Donkey Kong, and Luke Skywalker platforming across dynamic 2D landscapes (not to mention Bad Mister Frosty pummeling Taffy with his icy fists), Link's top-down traversal of Hyrule and—let's be real—clunky combat could feel a little underwhelming. But maybe that just goes to show how shallow little me was. Because beneath all that is a rich experience for a kid (or grown adult) willing to spend some time exploring its depths.

Speaking of depths... I love these dungeons! I almost feel as if I've explored them all before, and I mean that in a good way. Either because of their brilliant construction or because of the influence this franchise has had on the rest of gaming—or, more likely, both—each puzzle, twist, and loop felt satisfying and inevitable.

The game also introduces more depth with its RPG mechanics. Though light and lacking in any real progression choice, other than the order in which you explore the world, they offered just enough interest to keep me poking into every corner of the map. (Still, I missed a single heart piece, dang it!)

I took my time with this game. I spent over a year (despite what the above dates indicate) slowly working my way through Hyrule and the Dark World. I looked forward to powering on my old CRT TV once a week or so for a cozy hour of saving princesses. I savored every minute.

This was a very good game, even by modern standards. I strongly recommend it.

Myst (2021)

2025-11-05T12:15:00Z

I've got a long history with this game. I first played it as a child back in the early 90s on my uncle's computer. I had no idea what I was doing, and it's doubtful that I solved a single puzzle. I tried the series again later, sometime in the early 00s, when I got both Myst IV and Uru. I made it further this time, and I really enjoyed what I played of them, but I was still absolutely stumped before long. Finally, later in the 00s (when I was in college), I actually beat through Myst and most of Riven—though I'm almost sure I used a guide a few times. Still, I loved the experience.

There's something really special about a game that forces you to take notes. During my late 00s playthrough, I remember keeping a journal, much like the ones found in the game. As cheesy as that is, it really added to the experience. I was an archeologist rediscovering lost worlds, piecing together clues, and solving the mysteries of the past. (I enjoyed it so much that I almost changed my major, haha.)

Though I puttered out somewhere in Riven (and dropped out of college—a story for another time), I remembered my fondness for the series years later when I saw a Kickstarter for a new game by Cyan: Obduction. I backed it and their next game: Firmament. And recently, after snagging a recent Humble Bundle, my collection is complete.

Finally, it was time to return to the Island of Myst.

It wasn't as hard as I remembered. While foggy memories still swam in my head from the last time I played, none were clear enough to aid me much. Each puzzle was solved as if it were new. And they were solved... Easily? Listen, I'm not trying to brag or anything, but this game wasn't as hard as I remembered. Maybe it was the graphical makeover or the freedom of movement, or perhaps my memories were masquerading as cleverness without my knowledge, but I breezed through without being stumped on a single puzzle for more than a few minutes.

Speaking of the "improved" graphics and movement "freedom"—perhaps you can guess by the quotes where this is going—what a downgrade. There was a charm to the original version of Myst, with its perendered views that you stepped through like a slideshow and its live-action cutscenes that sometimes lacked in the acting department. (At least there's an option to switch back to the live-action video; no such luck for movement, though.) Now it just looks like every other Unreal Engine game. And while the VR addition was neat, the tradeoff wasn't worth it. (Though admittedly, the novelty of virtual reality has almost completely worn off for me.)

There's definitely some jank, and not always the charming kind.

Even with my respectable PC, the game stuttered often. Any time I turned my view too quickly, I was met by a few-millisecond pause or two.

The menus worked inconsistently. Some things that looked like they should be clickable weren't. Other options seemed to appear in multiple places.

The journal feature, with its camera and notes, was pretty useless. It just takes so much time and struggle to switch back and forth. I ended up using Steam screenshots and notes, in addition to some physical notes on scraps of paper lying around my desk.

Despite all that, Myst is still a great game. I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it and am looking forward to playing through the series in the coming months.

I recommend it.

The Left Hand of Darkness

2025-11-02T14:00:00Z

This is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, and one of only a handful of books I've read more than once. While its progressive-at-the-time notions of gender feel almost quaint now, I feel it still has something to say to a modern reader. Plus Game of Thrones has nothing on this political intrigue. I strongly recommend it.

Hunt for the Last Owl Bear

2025-10-29T13:30:00Z

Only one of the foul creatures remains—abominations forged by the meddling hands of wizards. After generations of slaughtering us, we've finally driven them back to the brink. Let the final hunt commence: the hunt for the last Owl Bear.

Hunt for the Last Owl Bear is a 16-page A5 fantasy hex crawl adventure for B/X and other old school games. I wrote it as part of a game jam last year. It came in third place according to the votes of everyone else who participated, and got an honorable mention in a YouTube video by the host of the jam.¹ Some people said some nice things about it, and some other people said some not so nice things about it—more on all that later.

(All of this happened over a year ago, but I'm just now getting around to writing about it. Forgive me this late indulgence.)

I've been running dnd² for about a decade and a half now, and almost always adventures of my own creation³ (and sometimes game systems I made myself, too). I like to fiddle with things. I like to tinker. I like to create. So I signed up for a game jam to give me the motivation to finally polish something up enough to publish it.⁴

It went... well. I had a few scraps of notes collected in the first few weeks. I had the seed of an idea and a rough hex map. Then I had procrastination. The majority of the work was done on the last day of the jam with my wife standing behind me with a timer, giving me just fifteen minutes to complete each page. Turns out, that method works really well for me! (Thank you, Sai! Thanks for that and for the art!)

In the end, I have an adventure module I'm proud of. It's got some rough edges that I might still sand down eventually. And I'd like to throw a dungeon in there someday. But I'm happy with it. Actually, it's really good!

But don't take my word for it!

Just listen to Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole.org who had this to say:

"This is not roleplaying. There is no subtly [sic] here...I am not amused."

Or, better yet, Meguey Baker, the Mother of the Apocalypse, who said:

"This is the most interesting hex crawl I've seen in a Very long Time."

Anyway, it's on sale now for 50% off as part of a big Halloween sale (because this adventure has ghosts in it). Check it out!

1: There was some negativity surrounding the host of this jam, so I have chosen to distance myself from them professionally. Email me if you're curious about the details.

2: Lowercase "dnd" being my preferred generic term for tabletop roleplaying adventure games. Everything else is just too much of a mouthful.

: Proposal to add Medievalist punctuation characters to the UCS

3: Don't call it "homebrew". Dnd is all homemade. Don't let the corporations that control the brand make your creations feel second class.

4: Well, my two games—Fell and Peasant—were already available to download. But those are free, so I don't count them.

The Quarry

2025-10-25T17:30:00Z

Enjoyable movie/walking simulator/quick time event game. Made me jump a few times. Never truly scary, though. I recommend it.

Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents

2025-10-25T09:30:00Z

I love reading about what it was like to work in tech in the 90s (and 80s and 00s), though it's also depressing to see the direction things have gone. This book seemed to predict some of that. (There was also a surprising amount of sex.) I recommend it.

Sojourn (Dark Elf Trilogy #3)

2025-10-20T02:00:00Z

Hollow Knight

2025-10-17T00:00:00Z

Dark Souls with bugs and one fewer D—who needs 3 of them?! I strongly recommend this game.

Exile (Dark Elf Trilogy #2)

2025-10-13T02:00:00Z

Bookmark of Don't call it a Substack.

2025-10-08T19:48:00Z

Yes! It's called a newsletter, people. They've existed for longer than the internet. Substack didn't invent them. (Also, you should probably leave substack.)

And while we're at it—and this is only tangentially related, but I've got a bone so I'm gonna pick it—they're headphones, not airpods; it's a phone, not an iphone; that's a laptop, not a macbook. Stop giving these companies free advertising. They're not your friends.

Homeland (Dark Elf Trilogy #1)

2025-10-07T02:00:00Z

Bookmark of Google and HTTP

2025-10-02T17:56:00Z

It hadn't occurred to me before reading this that HTTPS might not be a universally good thing, nor did I previously know the history of its push. Maybe blogs don't need it. Maybe most of the web doesn't need it. (But I'll be keeping it for now against my will because Netlify enables it by default and doesn't allow you to turn it off.)

Petr: A Star Folk Saga

2025-10-02T02:00:00Z

Dungeon Crawler Carl

2025-09-15T16:00:00Z

Is it a good book? I don't know. Is it a fun book? Absolutely yes! I wasn't interested in this book or its genre at all, but I kept hearing about Dungeon Crawler Carl everywhere, and with every mention came praise. So finally I thought, "I play D&D. I like dungeons." And even though it's more video game dungeons than D&D dungeons, those two concepts often bleed together anyway. Surprising even myself, I recommend it.

Good Smartphone

2025-09-11T22:27:00Z

I just redid my smartphone so that it can serve what I view as its ideal purpose, free from the app attention economy. In this effort, I came up with a list of what a smartphone should not be and what it should be.

A smartphone should not...

Replace a regular computer
Be an addiction machine
Have endlessly scrollable feeds
Serve mindless, algorithmic content
Constantly demand attention
Be distractingly colorful

My smartphone should be...

An atlas. It provides navigational directions on and off the road, as well as maps for other purposes, such as stargazing.
A library. It sorts, collects, and plays music, radio, and podcasts. It contains and displays ebooks and plays audio books. It plays enriching games. It serves up the news, weather, and updates. It takes, views, and organizes pictures and videos.
A phone. It makes and receives calls, both voice and video, sends and receives texts and other forms of direct messaging, including email.
A planner. It tells and tracks the time with clocks, alarms, timers, a calendar, and timely reminders. It collects quick thoughts, reminders, notes, and todos.
A toolbox. It has other useful tools for everyday life and specific mobile-friendly tasks.
A wallet. It makes and receives payments, stores membership cards and ID information, assists in managing banking, and stores passwords and other login information.

With six labeled app folders on my home screen, almost all notifications turned off, and colored set to black and white, I think I've achieved it.

Post Blaugust Thoughts

2025-09-10T21:46:00Z

Almost two weeks late, but I figured I should post a Blaugust wrap-up. This is that.

Well, I didn't "win" Blaugust. I didn't post everyday. But I did make twelve posts, which earns me the bronze award. (Just now realizing I was only three posts and one activity away from getting silver and the community award. Ah, well.)

I had four goals for Blaugust: post everyday, avoid posting about blogging, explore all the different types of IndieWeb posts, and participate with the Blaugust community. I'd say I succeeded in two of those goals.

As I already mentioned, I didn't post everyday. And I'm pretty sure a full half of my posts were about blogging.

No regrets! On to my successes.

I made five different types of IndieWeb posts—at least one of each: article, note, reply, bookmark, and review. (I also am all set up to post photos, but I just didn't take any worth posting.) I call that a success.

I participated in the Blaugust community. I followed and engage with bloggers on Mastodon, took part in the great blog comment debate of 2025, and added a few blogs to my regular feed reader (hi, Nick and Matt—and I know there are a few others, but I can't remember who you are right now^edit). Success again!

Anyway, I don't think I'll do Blaugust again next year. It just doesn't align with my goals for this website. But it was still a lot of fun. And just the kick I needed to get this new blog going.

edit: I remembered two more: Dávid and Juhis!

Ambush at Corellia (Star Wars: The Corellian Trilogy #1)

2025-09-08T02:00:00Z

Bookmark of Fix the Signal

2025-08-25T17:56:00Z

Remove Unread Counts from Miniflux

2025-08-23T16:23:00Z

A recent post by Ruben and [email protected]/115077909529571008">conversation on Mastodon inspired me to finally mess with some custom CSS to remove all the unread counters from my feed reader of choice—Miniflux.

If you too happen to use Miniflux¹ and want the same peaceful feed reading experience, here is the CSS I used² (to be added under "Settings" then "Custom CSS":

.category-item-total, 
.feed-entries-counter, 
.unread-counter-wrapper, 
.error-feeds-counter-wrapper, 
#page-header-title > span {
    display: none !important;
}

1: If you don't already have a feed reader, Miniflux is a great option ($15/year or free if you self-host).

2: I know, I know—I used !important. But I had to in this case. Don't at me.

Annihilation

2025-08-18T21:00:00Z

Bookmark of JavaScript dos and donts

2025-08-14T18:24:00Z

Words to live by.

I have webmentions

2025-08-13T01:14:00Z

I have a confession to make. I lied. Sort of. In my previous post (Who's a blog for?) I said I wasn't here for engagement or community. I stand by everything I said in the context of a blog having a comments section. But there is one area where engagement and community are something I really enjoy: being part of an ongoing conversation that spans multiple blogs and posts and authors and days.

Right now, the topic du jour is blog comments. And I've already read over half a dozen related posts, some (read: one) of which mentioned this very website. (The most recent of which, and maybe my favorite, was Rabbit's Blaugust Notes on Comments.)

Normally, all of these related posts would be lost to me (especially without webmentions—more on that in a minute). But in the case of Blaugust, and thanks to owl's Blaugust 2025 OPML, I've added one hundred and fifty feeds to my reader. It's impossible to read everything coming through that firehose, but I have been at least skimming through those that look interesting.

Anyway. Something, something, transition...

Webmentions¹²!

I just finished implementing webmentions on my own site. I can send 'em, I can receive 'em, and now I can even display 'em. If you look towards the bottom of each of my posts, you just might find links to where others have liked and commented upon them.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Cobb, how is that any different from having a comments section?"

Because it is! Don't ask me questions! Nothing means anything!

By implementing webmentions, we can let each other know when our posts are in response or related to one another's. That way, relevant posts won't so easily get lost in the feed deluge. It's a handy way to connect, facilitating much more in depth conversations than those drive-by point-n-shoot comments section conversations—yuck.

Think about it: Would you rather have a quick and less thoughtful back and forth in the comments section on a random blog, or would you prefer to write your own carefully considered post in response? I choose the latter. And I hope you will, too.

Setting this whole thing up seemed daunting at first, but it actually wasn't too bad. I used Webmention.io and webmention.app for receiving and sending webmentions, as well as Bridgy for connecting to Mastodon (and sometimes Bluesky). They all have pretty decent documentation. (And it might be even easier for you Wordpress people. I hear you have plugins and such.)

Send me webmentions!

1: Webmentions on indieweb.org

2: Webmentions W3C Recommendation

: Proposal to add Medievalist punctuation characters to the UCS

Reply to Blaugust Notes on Comments

2025-08-13T00:06:14Z

My thoughts exactly (only written more eloquently than my own post)!

Who's a blog for?

2025-08-11T18:46:00Z

Note: A draft version of this post accidentally went up a few days ago. I pulled it down within minutes, but at least one person had already seen it. (Sorry for the bait-n-switch, Matt!)

I've seen a few Blaugust posts¹ over the past as many days in which their authors bemoan the lack of comment sections on other people's blogs. I'm writing this response post in lieu of leaving a comment (and undermining my entire thesis).

Who is a blog for?

A blog is for its author. Engagement and community are byproducts, and not always welcome ones, and certainly not ones the author is obligated to host.

Let me explain.

But first, a disclaimer:

I'll admit that I'm new to Blaugust. It's possible that I've completely missed the point of the whole thing. In fact, I think I have. Looking more into its history, it seems that a large part of the event was encouraging new bloggers by commenting on their blog posts. It is/was also mostly centered around video games—more specifically, MMORPGs. I'm not sure how word of the event spread to the more indieweb-y, static-site-generator-y crowd (if such a group can even be considered a "crowd"), and I understand how it feels to have a bunch of new folks who don't get the established culture invading your space, but here we are. As such, I'm only writing in a general sense, and not addressing the Blaugust event specifically.

Okay, back to it:

Who is a blog for?

Before I can really answer the who, I must address the what.

What is a blog?

I'll tell you what it's not. A blog is not social media. And it shouldn't be.

There have been scientific studies that find social media can be harmful to mental health (and if I was a professional journalist, this is where I would cite my sources). The likes. The shares. The comments. They all contribute to the addictive nature of social media. They also provide the drip-drip-drip of dopamine that keeps folks coming back and perpetually scrolling. I don't want or need to be addicted to my own website (more than I already am).

What is a blog?

A blog is not a public forum.

I understand the desire for a comment section. Engaging with a work in that way, especially when you feel strongly that you have something to add (or correct), can be satisfying. I often long to respond when listening to a podcast that touches on topics I have strong feelings about, especially when I either want to vehemently agree with what is being said or—more often and even more so—when they got something very wrong. There isn't anything inherently wrong with that urge. And if someone wants to signed up to be the moderator of a public forum on their own blog, that's on them. I don't want to host or moderate the thoughts and opinions of others. That's what their own websites are for.

So what is a blog?

Enough of that question. I'm not actually answering it. The question I'm posing is:

Who is a blog for?

A blog is for the person writing it. It's for the person who built it, who's hosting it, who's spending hours tweaking it until it looks just right (and spending countless more hours redoing the whole thing again and again).

If I wanted engagement, I'd be on social media (and I am, to a small extent). If I wanted to foster a community, I'd host a forum or my own fediverse instance (which I might actually want to do one day). But I'm not here on this website for either of those things. I'm here to share my thoughts with the void. If someone out there wants to share their thoughts back, please do! I welcome your emails (or, better yet, webmentions).

1: They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Static Site, I Couldn't Possibly Comment, Blaugust in a Post-Comment-Box World, Are Comments Worth It?, Should There Be Comments?

Reply to oatmilk

2025-08-11T12:00:14Z

Welcome to the good internet, Sai!

Ready Player Two

2025-08-09T19:13:00Z

A Note

2025-08-05T12:00:14Z

Finally got to play some Mythic Bastionland tonight. Was my first McDowall joint. Definitely lived up to the hype.

A Note

2025-08-02T12:11:00Z

Just finished the third and final volume of Taiyō Matsumoto's Tokyo These Days. I don't have the context to really appreciate it, as it is the only manga I've ever read, but I did enjoy it a decent amount. Maybe review forthcoming.

Tokyo These Days: Volumes 1–3

2025-08-01T19:13:00Z

Blaugust First

2025-08-01T12:13:00Z

Blaugust is a month-long celebration of blogs. Participants are encouraged to post every day and to interact with each other, all to facilitate community building and the creation of genuine writing in this era of AI slop.

At least, I think that's what it's all about. I've never participated before now.

I first heard about Blaugust from Matt Bee's blog post "Overcoming friction, gearing up for #Blaugust", then I saw it mentioned again in the IndieWeb chat, then it popped up again on The Virtual Moose. After a search and reading about the event on Nerd Girl Thoughts (she's facilitating this year), I decided to give it a try.

What better way to inaugurate my new website than by posting every single day of August?

I'm going to try to avoid posting too many meta posts about the event and the act of blogging—that would be too easy. Instead, I plan on using this as an opportunity to explore all of the different types of IndieWeb posts.

As for the community building aspect, I'm following the #blaugust and #blaugust2025 hashtags on the Fediverse (Mastodon or whatever) in the hopes of connecting with some cool, like-minded folks and following their blogs. I can already hear my RSS reader groaning.

We'll see how it goes!

Play Videos Faster

2025-07-30T14:53:00Z

I have a problem. Two problems, in fact. (Well, I'm sure I have more than two problems, but I'll only address the following for now.)

My first problem is that I've developed a habit of listening to podcasts and audiobooks and watching videos at two times speed. It started with wanting to finish a chapter of a book in the limited amount of time I had. But then, I realized how much more CONTENT I could CONSUME if I ticked that speed up a little bit more, then a little bit more. Now, listening to anything at normal speed makes people sound drunk and makes me feel impatient.

My second problem is that two times speed isn't fast enough anymore. Luckily, my podcatcher and audiobook player can go faster. But most video platforms online cannot. I want three times speed! (I need more speed, man. Got any of that speed on ya? Come on, man. Just help me feel good.)

Anyway, if you also have these problems—or want to have them—I can help. The following bookmarklets work on YouTube (yuck), PeerTube (better?), and maybe even elsewhere. Drag one or both and drop them into your bookmarks bar for on-demand video speed in a click (2.5x and 3x, respectively):

Play fast!

Play FASTER!

Edit: See bookmarklets for more.

Shanghai Chip Dip

2025-07-28T11:10:00Z

Kids aren't allowed to play Shanghai with the grown ups. Those were the rules. Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncles would gather around the grown up table, cards in hand, accompanied by glasses of ice cold Coca-Cola and chips and dip on Henn Pottery plates.

Me, my siblings, and my cousins were relegated to the kids table, but no one was keeping us from having our own game. We would drink our plastic cups of Sprite and Mug, eat our chips and dip from paper plates, and try and fail to finish a game of Shanghai without parental guidance. Our failure was more from lack of attention span than anything else.

It didn't really matter that we couldn't get through a game of Shanghai or join the adults at their sacred table. The important part was the dip, and we had plenty of it.

Before long, more siblings and cousins were born, and we got old enough to join the grown up table. A blessing. And a curse.

"Does anyone even like this game?"

"Why are we playing this again?"

"Who started this tradition anyway?"

Those are just a few of the questions one might hear around the table when we sit down for another game of Shanghai. The answer to all of them—at least the most important ones—is one word: dip.

Once the game got going and everyone had their plate of snacks, someone would inevitably say, "The dip tastes especially creamy this time," which always reignited the age old debate of whether or not creamy is a taste or just a texture. (I say it's both.)

Grandpa had a handful of phrases he'd repeat over and over during a game of Shanghai. Most of them included an announcement of which hand we were on.

"One set and one run. Aren't we having lots of fun?"

"Two sets and one run. Aren't we having lots of fun?"

"One set and two runs. Aren't we having lots of fun?"

And then, after an elbow from Grandma, "Alright. I'll hush. Alright. I'll hush. I'll hush. I'll hush." He was singing it by the end. "I'll hush, I'll hush, I'll hush."

Dad's go-to, which the rest of us have wholeheartedly adopted, is "Let's breeze right along."

Dad has made the World Famous Secret Family Recipe Chip Dip for as long as I can remember. It isn't a family gathering, especially a card based family gathering, without THE dip. It is an integral part of our get-togethers. (The recent cream cheese shortage was especially hard on us.)

A few summers ago, Dad finally handed over the keys to the kingdom: the recipe and responsibility for THE dip:

2 packets ranch dip mix (must be Hidden Valley)
1 lb sour cream (must be Daisy)
1 lb cream cheese (must be Philadelphia, and none of that lowfat crap)

The ingredients might seem simple, it's just a slight variation on the recipe from the back of the dip mix package, after all. But there are subtle nuances in technique and specificity of ingredients that one must consider.

First, everything must be "name brand". Listen, I know, I know. But I've tried it with store brands and it just doesn't come out the same. You need Philadelphia cream cheese, Daisy sour cream, and—most importantly—Hidden Valley ranch dip mix.

Second, you need to let that cream cheese warm up a little. It should be almost room temperature. It should still have a little stiffness to it but not too much. The best way is to let it sit on the counter for half an hour. But, if you're in a pinch, you can message it in your hands or stick it in your armpits for a few minutes. Whatever you do, DO NOT MICROWAVE IT. That's a recipe for a dip of poor consistency.

Lastly, you need an electric mixer. A spoon or hand mixer just won't do; not with the cream cheese still being a little stiff and all. But you don't need a fancy stand mixer. Just a little handheld fella will do the trick just fine.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until the cream cheese is fully incorporated. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a few days. It's best when it's a little cold.

Serve with:

Ruffles or Wavy Lays potato chips (There is some disagreement within the family on which is best.)
Fritos corn chips
Bugles
Pretzels
Vegetables if you're feeling healthy

Also, keep this recipe on the down low. It is a family secret, after all.

Page Migration

2025-07-25T23:32:00Z

I've been digging through the bones of my old website, trying to decide what is worth resurrecting on this new one. I'm skipping over all the media lists currently, because I have BIG PLANS™ for all that later. Same with recipes. And I've got a couple guides (one on writing novels and the other on prepping D&D—because I'm an expert!) and project pages that will make their way over after an edit. So for now, I present to you the following three new-old pages:

Sabacc, the best card game in a galaxy far far away
Shanghai Royale, a good modification on an okay card game from right here on Earth
Writing Advice, a collection of advice about... writing

All of this and more (to come) can be found under More. Take a look!

(I also—unrelated—joined some webrings. Find them down below amongst the 88x31 buttons.)

Posting from Github

2025-07-24T22:40:00Z

I wanted to test if posting straight from GitHub by creating and commiting a file is something reasonable to do. The editor on the mobile site is kinda trash, so I wouldn't want to do this often. But I do think it will work. (Just have to remember to pull the changes on my computer before I start messing around.)

Anyway, that's all. Bye.

Edit: Okay, using the GitHub app instead of the mobile website works pretty well. Perfect for small posts.

Hello World

2025-07-23T21:41:00Z

    **** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 ****
 64K RAM SYSTEM  38911 BASIC BYTES FREE

READY.
PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
HELLO WORLD

READY.

Pokémon Crystal

2025-07-16T19:13:00Z

As a child of the 90s and 00s, of course I played Pokémon. Blue was my first, followed by Yellow. Then came Silver and another hundred or so creatures. Yeah, I caught them all (with the help of a GameShark—shh, don't tell). I dabbled in Go on mobile and the Let's Go remakes on Switch, but never got very far. They just didn't have the same charm. But, recently, when I started to get into "retro" games, I knew I had to give Crystal a shot.

I told myself I'd do this one differently. I'd pick Pokemon I liked instead of the most powerful; I'd keep the interesting status moves and try to play smart. That lasted for almost half the game. But, in the end, I destroyed Lance with an under-leveled Alakazam. I hoped I could find a more complex game here, but any nuance crumbles under the power of using super effective damage types. (My six Pokémon can beat up your six Pokémon—as long as you don't switch them around too much.)

I loved every minute of my thirty-hour playthrough. It's not all nostalgia, but it is mostly nostalgia.

I recommend it (with reservations).

What Child is This

2024-11-30T16:00:00Z

Ran the first (of two or three) session(s) of Nate Treme's holiday classic, What Child is This, using my "foldie" game, Peasant, for my three sisters and my wife.

I started the party right outside the dungeon in the north west of the hex map—the Tomb of the Owl Lord. They delved in, killed the giant roaches, and descended through the well of illusory sludge with a rope.

In the chamber below, they encountered my first change to the original adventure: I made the cultist into an evil Santa type figure. I also downgraded the spined devil to a second imp. They killed Santa, but not before one of the imps killed one of them. After donning his festive robe, the two devils obeyed a command to slaughter themselves upon the door leading down into the tomb proper, which unlocked it.

Below, they looted all the treasures from the sarcophagus. Then headed back up, stopping to explore the final room. The carpet ghost was annoyed by all the dust, but was appeased after they cleaned the carpet, telling them they could have it—I changed it into a carpet of traveling, which can't fly but can scoot along the ground at a brisk walking pace.

Outside, it was night. A random encounter roll had them meet the three wise men characters. Stars rained from the sky. One particular blue star descended about a dozen miles to the south. They set out together to see what they could see.

That's where we ended it, to be continued when I visit for Christmas. Everyone enjoyed the adventure and Peasant worked out pretty well.

Peasant is finished!

2024-09-10T16:00:00Z

I finally finished developing my little tabletop roleplaying game called Peasant. It’s a single-page game of fantasy adventure (or misadventure, considering peasants usually have fewer than four hit points) for one-shots or introducing new players to D&D.

The main gimmick of the game—and one I’m very excited about—is its fast and simple character generation. You roll a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 all at once, consult some charts, and you’re done. It actually takes less than a minute. And after surviving a session, your peasant can be leveled up into a full fledged adventurer using the core rules of D&D.

Download the game over on its itch.io page, where you’ll find two versions: one that’s compatible with the 2014 rules of D&D 5E and the other compatible with the 2024 rules. (I plan on eventually making a version that’s compatible with the old B/X rules as well, by way of OSE.) Please let me know how it goes if you play it.

Married!

2024-09-07T16:00:00Z

One year and a week ago, I started talking to someone on a dating app. Our daily messages to each other quickly grew to letter-length missives. Within a week, we’d exchanged phone numbers. A week or so after that, we were planning to meet. Several months of spending time together almost daily later, we were engaged. And eight months after meeting, we were married.

I’ve always heard people say, “when you know, you know.” In the past, that phrase rang meaningless to me—just something happily married people said while looking all goo-goo gah-gah at each other. Turns out, they were right. When you know, you really do just know.

This past summer began with a simple, private ceremony under a tree in a park. From there, it proceeded more perfectly than I could have imagined. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and I look forward to every day.

(I know you’re reading this, Sai. Thanks for being my biggest supporter—both of my silly little website and of me in general. Your drive, compassion, and creativity are a constant inspiration. I admire you, and I love you!)

Thoughts on D&D 2024

2024-09-06T16:00:00Z

I play D&D 5E sometimes. I even run it professionally. And while my preference tends towards more rules-light and OSR-y systems, I do enjoy 5E quite a lot.

Recently, 5E got an update in the form of a new 2024 Player’s Handbook (and a Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual are on the way). I didn’t think the game needed an update, especially not one that made it more crunchy and made PCs even more overpowered. But here we are.

After reading through the 2024 PHB, I’ve concluded that it really is still the same game. But there are changes, my pros and cons of which are listed below, followed by the house rules I’m already considering.

Note that these pro and con lists focus almost exclusively on the rule system that the player characters operate within as presented in the (actually wonderful) rules glossary in the new PHB and not on character classes or species (formerly races). This is because I think 5E classes and such are too long and boring. I don’t read through them unless I have to. (I assume the new iterations will be full of things I don’t like.)

Pros

Listed in alphabetical order. Almost all of my “pros” are ways in which the new rules are simpler than the old. Huh.

Attitude and influence. An NPC’s attitude affects the roll to influence them—advantage if they’re friendly and disadvantage if they’re hostile. This is actually even simpler than how I do it in my games, where there are more degrees of attitude, each modifying the roll by a static number. Still, I like it for its simplicity.

Crafting. Proficiency with a tool, have raw materials, spend time. I don’t love or hate the crafting rules, but I’m glad they exist.

Bloodied. When someone reaches half or less HP, they’re bloodied. I’ve been playing with this for so long that I forgot it wasn’t already part of the rules. It’s a good way of conveying to the players how hurt a monster is.

D20 test. Saves, checks, and attacks have all been rolled (hah) into something called a d20 test. Simple. I like it.

Exhaustion. The new exhaustions is -2 to d20 tests per level of exhaustion until dead at level 6 (or past -10). It’s an improvement to the old rules that were too penalizing (and always required me to look them up). But I don’t like that yet another thing has levels—player levels, spell levels, et cetera.

Help. You must have proficiency in a relevant skill or tool to help. Wonderful. That’s how I’ve been doing it the whole time.

Rules presentation. Starts with the rules, goes over character creation, has a rules glossary. In general, I love how the rules are presented in this new PHB. It all just makes sense.

Spellcasting as a service. Most settlements have it, priced by level and components. I like that there is guidance for this, but I wish it was in the DMG instead. Since players tend to assume everything in the PHB is law, this will make it harder for DMs to run low-magic games.

Surprise. When surprised, roll initiative with disadvantage. While I prefer characters simply not being able to act on the first round when they’re surprised, this work too.

Unarmed Strikes. Choose to do damage, attempt to grapple, or try to shove; the latter two prompting a save from the enemy. I did like contests, but I imagine this will work more consistently and interact with other rules better. (I also like how we have some consistency with coming up with DCs for saves imposed by characters—8 + mod + prof.)

Cons

Again, listed alphabetically. Most of these are extra crunch or something that makes the game harder to DM.

Feats. Feats are no longer optional. Everything is a feat. Most (or every—I didn’t read through them all) feats include an ability score improvement. I never did like the extra crunch that feats added, so I usually try not to allow them in my games. Now, with them integrated much more closely into everything, it’ll be harder to weed them out.

Long rests. Long rests now restore all hit (point) dice, instead of just half. This makes it even easier for PCs to heal up and stay that way for longer, giving the DM fewer ways to add difficulty to the game.

Multiclassing. Multiclassing is no longer an optional rule. I don’t care for multiclassing.

Predetermined DCs. Adventuring gear, tools, specific actions, and many other things now list specific predetermined DCs for doing things. I hate this. I like setting the DC based on each specific situation. While I like guidance for what a DC might be, having them presented here in “stone” and in the PHB is going to cause a lot of either “wait, let me look up the DC for that” from me or “but that’s not the DC that is listed here” from players. Terrible.

Search and study actions. Searching—using wisdom and associated skills—and studying—using intelligence and associated skills—now specifically require an action. Again, this is something I prefer to rule situationally—sometimes taking an action, other times a bonus action, and still others being free to do. The new rules are made worse by the inclusion of feats that turn them into bonus actions, making it even harder to house rule this crap away.

Weapon mastery. With weapon mastery, each weapon has a little extra mechanical something it can do when you hit (or, in one case, miss) an enemy. Seems like it would slow down combat even more and be an annoying extra step for everyone involved. It’s closely integrated into some classes, which will make it harder to remove.

House Rules

Once again, flexing my knowledge of the alphabet. These would be in addition to my already established 5E house rules (which are in desperate need of tidying up).

Checks as bonus actions. If you have proficiency with an associated skill or tool, you may perform such ability checks as bonus actions, assuming it would reasonably take six seconds or less to complete the task. This includes the Help, Hide, Influence, Search and Study actions.

Limited feats. You can only take the Ability Score Improvement feat when granted the Ability Score Improvement feature, unless a different feat specifically fits the narrative of your character (and by DM approval). When taking the Ability Score Improvement feat on any level other than 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, or 19th, it must be used for improving your class's primary abilities or saving throw proficient abilities.

Limited multiclassing. You may only multiclass if it specifically fits the narrative of your character (and by DM approval).

Variable DCs. If a rule lists a static DC for a task, that DC may be modified up or down situationally by the DM.

Weapon mastery. If granted Weapon Mastery, instead of gaining the Mastery Property for a weapon, you get +1 to attacks and damage with said weapon.

Finally—Em Dashes

2023-02-10T16:00:00Z

This might be the most important thing I've ever posted on the internet.

Before today, every time I needed to type an em dash, I would do one of the following: copy and paste it from the Wikipedia page for dashes, hold alt and type 0151 on my numpad, or wait until the end and replace all "--" with em dashes using search and replace combined with one of the first two methods.

No more!

Today, I discovered a little utility called Em-n-en, which adds options for shortcut keys and inline replacement. Now, I can add an em dash by hitting ctrl+alt+shift+- or by typing ==-.

So much better. My life will never be the same. And neither will yours.

Welcome to the future.

The Big Trip: A Postmortem

2022-03-22T16:00:00Z

I was on my way back from Space View Park in Titusville, Florida when it hit me: I don’t want to live on the road anymore.

I had spent the day in and around the park, waiting for the big show--NASA’s Space Launch System, their new super heavy-lift rocket, was scheduled to roll out to the pad for testing, and I was there to witness the historic event. After an hour delay, just as the sun was setting, I finally saw the launch tower peeking out from behind the Vehicle Assembly Building. Then came the rocket itself. Even viewed from ten miles away through my binoculars, it was spectacular. I watched until it was too dark to see.

As I drove my Prius-camper up South Street, the excitement I’d felt during the rollout was quickly fading. It would be my second night sleeping in the same Cracker Barrel parking lot. I was dreading it.

Something I hadn’t realized would be a thing before starting this trip was the mental anguish of not knowing where you’re going to sleep for the night and, once you do find a spot, fearing the dreaded knock on your window accompanied by the demand that you pack up and roll out. It wasn’t so bad when I had a designated campsite. But it had become unbearable at the stops in between.

Nothing happened that night. But I was restless. The idea of ending the trip was in my head. I was eager to do something else. By the next morning, I knew. I was done.

More than my low hitpoints from sustaining so much psychic damage--and this is something I never thought I’d say--I missed my stuff. I missed my books and my computer and my coffee mugs. I missed having a couple projects going. I missed being cozy in my own home. The thought of getting my own apartment and settling down for a little while somewhere was so alluring.

Knowing the trip was ending freed me to have a really fun day. I went to a brewery for dinner, got an ice cream cone, made friends with a nature/rocket photographer, and watched a Falcon 9 launch into the cloudy night. Then I drove north until I was too tired to keep going. After a long nap at a rest area, I finished my drive back to Virginia the next day.

It’s been a good trip. It hasn’t gone how I’d planned. The grand adventure from coast to coast didn’t happen. I didn’t even cross the Mississippi River. But when it was fun, it was very fun. And I got a lot of work done on my novel. I don’t regret any of it.

This is the end of The Big Trip. But it’s also the beginning of whatever is next. I’m pretty excited!

The Big Trip Update

2021-11-08T16:00:00Z

The big trip has not gone as planned. Which is fine. It was a loose plan. That’s the whole idea. It’s a good thing.

Instead of going north and spending September in New England, I went south. When your cousin (Hi, Jordan!) goes on a surprise vacation and invites you to meet him and his family at Mammoth Cave National Park, you go. I don’t make the rules.

I camped first in central Ohio but left after one night—the mosquitos drove me out. After a three-hour southernly drive, I was going to stop for the night in a Walmart parking lot near Cincinnati. But the manicured green space and general well-to-do-ness of the area told me I wouldn’t be welcome bumming it there. So I muscled on for a couple more hours and made it to Kentucky.

For four nights, I stayed in a nature preserve in northern Kentucky, with a view that overlooked the Ohio River and Indiana beyond. The first two days were relaxing. I lazily hiked the grassy hilltop trails, lounged in my hammock with a book, and watched the moon wane as the planets journeyed across the night sky.

But with the weekend came the noise. Folks not looking for natural tranquility arrived bearing booming bluetooth speakers playing the worst kinds of modern country music. (This trend continues even now—peaceful weekdays and annoyingly loud weekends.) I can’t complain, though. It’s free camping, after all. And many of these loud weekenders have been among the nicest people I’ve met on this journey.

From there, I headed deeper into Kentucky and eventually deeper into the earth by way of Mammoth Cave. I’ve been visiting this national park since I was young and it’s always nice to return. The smell of the woods and streams and caves--especially the caves--is cozy and nostalgic in the best way. It made for a great thirty-third birthday.

I was going to continue south but instead went east to stay with my cousin for a few days. A few days turned into a week, which turned into two. But I don’t regret that detour. I was getting a lot of writing done during the day and we were having fun in the evenings--playing games, watching movies, and killing it at trivia night. It’s my trip and I can do it how I want, thank you.

When I finally did leave, I drove down to Birmingham, Alabama, spending a day there bookended by two nights in Walmart parking lots. What little of Birmingham I saw, I liked. But it was very little: a park, a library, a coffee shop (Domestique Coffee), and a brewery/music venue (Avondale Brewing Co). I accidentally stood in line for two hours to see Phoebe Bridgers because I forgot what time zone I was in. The show was eventually postponed due to a thunderstorm and hail, which I waited out in my car, but was good once it did start. I was surprised to discover that I missed seeing live music. (There is youth left in me yet!)

Continuing south, I stopped for a weeklong visit with my dad. Even though at that point I hadn’t yet been on the road for very long, and even though while he’s stationed at Fort Rucker my dad is living in a camper (a full-sized camper; not a little Prius-camper), it was still nice to stand up indoors and shower regularly (and to see my dad, of course). We watched the first two and a half phases of the MCU and visited a couple nearby museums. And then I continued south.

It was at this point that I decided to take up watercolor painting. (I do not remember why.) It has been a worthwhile hobby. Whenever I’m camping and don’t feel like writing or reading, I whip out my watercolor set and paint the view from my campsite. I’m far from proficient, but I have slightly improved over the past few weeks. It’s fun.

I spent the next two weeks in Florida. A few days here, a few days there. Hiking, writing, reading, and painting. I’d meant to make it all the way down to Key West but was thwarted just north of Tampa. In my midwestern mind, it was fall and so would be nice and cool. It was not. It was hot. And the mosquitos were biblical. So I turned back. But I will try again someday.

The next week was spent meandering west along the gulf coast. In the mornings, I drove from one desolate coastal town to the next. In the afternoons, I sat on the beach and wrote or painted. In the evenings, I slept in parking lots because all the free campsites in Mississippi were closed due to hurricane damage. It felt like another country--houses lifted on stilts and accents almost thick enough to be beyond my understanding. But I liked it there. People were friendly and gas was cheap.

To conclude this leg of the big trip, I met friends in New Orleans. I’d been to the city once before and hated it. But you know what they say: second time’s the charm? We ate too much good food, saw the sights, and spent evenings in our Airbnb pretending to be wealthy. I’ve heard it gets weird after dark but I don’t know firsthand. Maybe next time.

Instead of continuing west, I’m going north. I’m in Tennessee, experiencing fall for the first time this year, in a forest made of red and gold. By the weekend, I’ll be back in Akron, Ohio. Back to where I started for a short visit. It will be the Ninth Annual Great Pumpkin Beer Tasting. When your old friends invite you to return for such an event, you go. I don’t make the rules.

The Big Trip

2021-09-07T16:00:00Z

After much ado and many delays, and despite having left Akron, Ohio—my home of the better part of the past fourteen years—over a month ago, today is the day I start my big trip. Finally.

The wait has not been for nothing. I spent most of August at my family’s home in West Virginia, helping on the farm and assisting my dad with an apartment renovation. I saw my brother for the first time in years, learned how to properly deadlift from my middle sister, and won many times at cards. (I didn’t lose. Not even once. Don’t listen to what they tell you.) It has been time well spent. But there are too many dogs and they are too big and shed too much. And the birds are loud (but that’s okay, Heidi; I still like your birds).

My Prius-turned-camper (named Penelope II) is packed and my cardboard cutout of Mark Hamill dressed as Luke Skywalker is sitting in the passenger’s seat and growing impatient.

Yes, it is time to go.

The big trip!

The plan, vaguely

The plan is to leisurely head up to Maine and then down the East Coast (but not so leisurely that I become snowbound), then to drive along the southern border to the west, and keep going until I reach Anaheim. Really, I can go as slow or fast as I feel like. There are only a few places that I have to reach by certain dates—Birmingham by October fourth, New Orleans in early November, and Anaheim on the twenty-fifth of May.

But I can go wherever, whenever, as long as I reach Anaheim by the twenty-fifth of May¹.

Why?

A more relevant question might be, “Why not?” It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m never going to be freer and abler to do it than I am right now. But there’s more to it.

You might say the pandemic—more specifically: the government’s handling of it and businesses’ treatment of their workers during it—has radicalized me, but I no longer want to work to make someone else wealthy. I’m opting out. And the best way I can think of to tell the whole system where it can shove it is by removing myself from it as much as I can. As a person of limited means, living cheaply and simply out of my car while on an extended trip seems a fun way to go.

My labor going forward will be for me.

I’m knee-deep in the second draft of my novel. By the end of this trip, it is my hope and plan that it will be finished and agented, and hopefully even sold. I’m also working on a couple of games. One is a tabletop roleplaying game and the other is a text-based narrative adventure game. And I just started a small business venture with my sister (more on that in a later post).

Plenty to fill my days and maybe even make a little money along the way. But just enough to remain free.

Off I go

Now I am off. Stay tuned here for updates and maybe even sign up for my newsletter. See you later!

1: For the much-delayed Star Wars Celebration Anaheim!

Milkmaid of the Milky Way

2021-07-05T16:00:00Z

I thought I'd try adventure games again,
So I purchased this one up from a sale.
At two hours long, should not cause me much pain.
I can finish before the moonrise, pale.

You play a girl atop a fjord so green,
With cattle she milks to make butter and cheese.
'Til a flying ship takes them in the sheen
Of its magic beam, locked up without keys.

The story, music, and art are all quite nice.
You are a hero in this tragic tale.
I was even moved to tears once or twice.
And challenging puzzles—I did not fail.

The dialogue is told in rhyme resplendent.
Hence this review sonnet. I recommend it.

Milkmaid of the Milky Way was included in itch.io's recent Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid.

Budget Cuts

2021-05-12T16:00:00Z

On a Friday (TGIF) in 1997, ABC aired a special 3D episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It might have been because I didn't have a pair of those blue and red glasses, but as characters tumbled, threw objects, and launched spells towards the screen, I didn't get the appeal. Seemed like a gimmick. My skepticism persisted during the resurgence of 3D in movie theaters this past decade or so. So when VR gaming recently came to PC, I didn't care at all. At least, not at first. But, eventually, curiosity got the best of me. (That, and the promise of more Half-Life.) The first game I decided to play: Budget Cuts.

Office work is hard, I assume. With coworkers borrowing your stapler, middle managers constantly looking over your shoulder, and a boss that hates you, all you want is to escape. This game is just like that. Except in a good way. And your coworkers are robots. Some of them just want to make small talk around the water cooler. Others want to murder you--I assume they're the middle managers. To escape, you'll need to either sneak by or stab those ones with scissors while solving keycard puzzles like its 1993. And your boss? His enigmatic presence looms over you throughout the whole game.

It's part Mission Impossible, part Portal, and part sorting through messy desks looking for important documents. Just like a real office job. Right? I don't know. I've never had one. Anyway, VR is cool. And so was this game. I recommend it.

Budget Cuts is available for PCVR via Steam and Oculus, and for PSVR.

Old Man's Journey

2020-06-20T16:00:00Z

My online tabletop roleplaying game was canceled so I found myself with some free time. “I should play a computer game,” I thought. After filtering my bloated Steam library down to games that only take three-ish hours or less to finish (according to HowLongToBeat) and games rated above eighty percent or so (according to Metacritic or similar), I decided to play Old Man’s Journey.

I was an old man, traveling across a hand-painted countryside, accompanied only by french sounding accordion music and my dusty memories. And occasionally a goat. To progress, I had to raise and lower hills so I could step between them on my hike of forced perspective. These puzzles started out easy, but were actually quite challenging by the end–what, with waterfalls and goats and stone fences needing smashing by rolling stone wheels. (Admittedly, the challenge might have come more from the lateness of the hour than the game itself, but the result was the same.) The story, as told through occasional flashback vignettes, also increased in emotional impact as the game progressed. (Again, this might have been two AM talking, but I don’t care.)

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this game at first. I fell asleep that night and dreamed about it, about being that old man on those rolling hills. I woke up unable to separate my memories of the game from the quickly dissolving impressions left by my dream. But isn’t that the idea? Maybe? Whatever. I recommend it.

This game was included in itch.io's recent Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality.

Cayne

2020-05-23T16:00:00Z

I like point & click adventure games. At least, I think I do. I also assume I must like horror games because that’s pretty much all Steam recommends for me to play. And I’ve been meaning to play something from The Brotherhood ever since I backed a Kickstarter of theirs a few years ago. The internet says I can beat Cayne in less than three hours, so here I go.

You ever fall asleep in a friendly hospital and wake up in a body horror nightmare operating room? That’s how Cayne starts out. Also, you’re extremely pregnant. And the only way to survive is to use the wrench on the ID card, apply mutant milk as an adhesive, and then take all of that and insert it into a computer to access the secret code you need to open the door to the chamber that holds that other item you need to open the other door. Do that, or something like it, five more times and you beat the game. It’s creepy, it’s gross, and the story is actually pretty compelling.

How long did I last before I looked up a walkthrough? Buddy, I couldn’t even solve the first puzzle. I’m not good at point & click adventure games, as it turns out. And I’m disproportionately affected by horror, especially body horror. Still, not a bad way to spend a couple hours. I recommend it.

The regular edition of this game is free on both GOG and Steam, so check it out!