Tabletop RPG writer, editor, graphic designer (for hire!). Corpselike academic. he/him samsorensen.blot.imhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mjaw2afvx22aplayed in a playtest of this today and had a delightful time bullying @seanireland.bsky.social with increasingly silly physics-geometry problem-solving techniques and asking the NPCs questions like "How do you all get to your dormitories from here?" [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Apr 2026 22:45 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjaw2afvx22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mj3nbmqtuk2ytonight! come chat with us! [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 Apr 2026 20:24 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj3nbmqtuk2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mj3l3ksc5k2ynew episode of DEAD LETTERS is up! this one's about Luka Rejec's HOLY MOUNTAIN SHAKER! we discuss physical space, non-standard fantasy sources, map design, parentheticals, context-dependent AAA videogame interactions, and more. check it out! https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bOwzx4pK2dR5UQdAtQiR3?si=1d28ea1f46cb460109 Apr 2026 19:45 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj3l3ksc5k2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3miz4dzswns2cvery good post!!! RPGs have a ton to learn from urban design! also, if you're a sicko radical theory pervert and Frederick & Mehta / Marohn / Jacobs / Speck / Alexander aren't enough, you should read James C Scott's SEEING LIKE A STATE [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Apr 2026 20:16 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3miz4dzswns2chttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3miwn6pgvvs2wgood post! good post! good post! everyone in RPGs could stand to spend more time thinking, writing, and designing around explicit and implicit goals [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Apr 2026 20:39 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3miwn6pgvvs2whttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mirunnvv5k22wait so can you not filter for specifically modules or adventures on DriveThruRPG anymore? am I missing something obvious?05 Apr 2026 23:10 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mirunnvv5k22https://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3min444gehc2tran to catch an impromptu bus and the driver opened the door just for me. new york I love you you're the best city in the whole world [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Apr 2026 01:40 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3min444gehc2thttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mimwvpw3lc2vimagine if tabletop RPGs had caught on a century earlier, in the 1870s instead of 1970s. we debate the Moscow School vs. the Tunisia School of designs. we have a decades-old subgenre called "verdylikes." some pith-helmeted Victorian makes a stat array using phrenology. there are modernist RPGs04 Apr 2026 00:07 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mimwvpw3lc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mimigozhlc24oh, yeah, as of yesterday—more DEAD LETTERS! this time we're talkin about the (current) best Mothership module, GRADIENT DESCENT: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7r5SuvkUVrbgmdSVU2HUmv?si=1d08b745113b41b203 Apr 2026 19:48 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mimigozhlc24https://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mikbmtsc4k2tNYC TTRPG book club! Thursday the 9th, a week from today! we're reading Amit Moshe's LEGENDS IN THE MIST! come chat and discuss with us!02 Apr 2026 22:41 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mikbmtsc4k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhyasxzadk2hnew episode of DEAD LETTERS just dropped, this one about Thriftomancer's exceptional meta-system, NULL. this one's about rules and games and play! https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UNxwi4zT8LVvILuaVxc97?si=740af354e2534a6826 Mar 2026 18:38 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhyasxzadk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhvwwpkuac2hhello gamers I have a new blogpost up, a review of a massive $4m Kickstarter third-party 5e adventure based on an AP, called THE CROOKED MOON. it's a big old honkin review, talking about info design and 5e creative direction and folk horror. I hope you enjoy! https://samsorensen.blot.im/review-the-crooked-moon25 Mar 2026 20:36 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhvwwpkuac2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhtcajqvrc2yone oddity I've noticed in my RPG habits is that I am pretty bad at tracking rules values—clocks, phases progression tracks—but the minute you say "this exists in the world" I transform into a logistics goblin. yes of course I would like to know which hip my scabbard is belted to, thank you24 Mar 2026 19:20 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhtcajqvrc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mho6vi724s2hif you meet an RPG Guy and don't know his age you should always guess thirty-nine years old. not always correct, but you'll be right more often than you're wrong22 Mar 2026 18:37 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mho6vi724s2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhmfpbn6u22owe have enough one-page RPG rulesets. where are my one-room RPG adventures. I want to play Sam Barlow's Aisle (1998ish?) but it's an RPG adventure. I want to zoom in to such fine and specific detail that one room takes a whole booklet, yet also there are still things to do and problems to solve22 Mar 2026 01:34 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhmfpbn6u22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhmfm4yxy22oone thing I love in my RPG games is ~tactility~. love to take my backpack off to fit through a small crevice. love to rotate a puzzle box to find the secret latch. love to learn distinguish between brick and mortar for hammering in pitons. delicious, scrumptious, fractious little details22 Mar 2026 01:32 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhmfm4yxy22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhjmy2lqh22git's Cataphracts Design Diary #5! this one has a link to the official unofficial Cataphracts HQ Discord server (link below), as well as rules update v1.2, and a big old list of all the cool posts people other than me are making about Cataphracts! https://samsorensen.blot.im/cataphracts-design-diary-520 Mar 2026 23:06 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhjmy2lqh22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhjmy2lqh22git's Cataphracts Design Diary #5! this one has a link to the official unofficial Cataphracts HQ Discord server (link below), as well as rules update v1.2, and a big old list of all the cool posts people other than me are making about Cataphracts! https://samsorensen.blot.im/cataphracts-design-diary-520 Mar 2026 23:06 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhjmy2lqh22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhhdz3dpqs2kNYC TTRPG book club! a week from today, on Thursday the 26th! at @boshis.place! we're reading Patrick Stuart and Scrap World's VEINS OF THE EARTH! be there or be square!20 Mar 2026 01:20 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhhdz3dpqs2khttps://bsky.app/profile/samsorensen.bsky.social/post/3mhgmqs6lc222hello gamers did you know that I and @the-goblin.bsky.social and our offline friend Walid have a podcast now??? it's called DEAD LETTERS, episodes come out on Thursdays, and it's about—what else?—tabletop roleplaying games! this week's episode is Apocalypse World! https://open.spotify.com/episode/67Bj1zxfLyrnz8iafZRRi1?si=36cd22cd17fe47af19 Mar 2026 18:24 +0000at://did:plc:ku77xydmphm4eg5jvbgnqo7o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhgmqs6lc222