James Wallis @jameswallis@dice.camp

Next week I'm doing a live Twitch stream on the subject of making funny games and making games funny, with GM Jeff Stormer, who's running the wildly successful Kickstarter for Mission: Accomplished! right now. It's on Tuesday 5th November, at 16:00 GMT/11:00 EST. Do come and listen, comment or heckle.

While we're at it, is it worth putting your indie RPG on Amazon? This $300 that Lightning Source just dropped in my Paypal account indicates that probably yes it is.

After almost a year of research I have concluded that in 99% of cases, the amount you want to pay in "pay what you want" is nil. In other news, gamers are egregious cheapskates.

If you like tabletop games of any kind, and/or you're an aspiring game designer, then this Humble Bundle is an absolute essential purchase and if you don't back it at the $15 level then you are a fool.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/puzzlecraft-books
Seriously, the Kobold Guide to Board Game Design is worth $15 on its own. This is amazing value.

Slightly belatedly, the committee of the Diana Jones Award is proud to announce that its 2018 winner 'for excellence in gaming' is the Actual Play movement. Full press release here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iesA5lVSlo4lrLFqqxifgA98vpuL_MX3vM2-qQOmeiQ/edit?usp=sharing

I'm blown away by your positive response to These Are Animals. I've now given it a permanent home as a free download on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, which also means there's a space for reviews and comments--which I would welcome. It's here: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/244973/These-are-animals

You remember that 200-word RPG I wrote for a competition last month, 'These are animals', about being a kid taken away from their mother by officialdom?

Hundreds of shares on social media.

No comments from the judges.

Didn't make the final 50.

There's more information about the nominees and the award in the full press release, here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CbtKTggoqbc61G2I7g3xRsLn1gTQDIdoJTDlQf-co3Q/edit?usp=sharing

The committee of the Diana Jones Award has announced its five shortlisted nominees for 2018, 'for excellence in gaming'. They are:
* The 200 Word RPG Challenge, a competition organised by David Schirduan and Marshall Miller
* The Actual Play movement
* Analog Game Studies, a journal edited by Aaron Trammell, Evan Torner, Shelley Jones and Emma Leigh Waldron
* Charterstone, a board game by Jamey Stegmaier
* Harlem Unbound, a roleplaying game sourcebook by Chris Spivey

I have designed a new game for the #200wordRPG challenge. See what you think.

It's called 'These are animals'.

If you missed my latest RPG Alas Vegas, it's a frankly ridiculous $6.38 (down from $15.95) in the Deal of the Day at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow for the next few hours. Check it, and/or tell your friends. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/199713/Alas-Vegas

Last chance to book a place on my game-design masterclass tomorrow. It's a crash course in creating board games, from first concept to twice-tested prototype in three hours. Fun! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/games-design-workshop-draughts-board-game-cafe-tickets-45028760234

Well there's a thing. Twenty years ago, in 1998, my company Hogshead launched a line of unconventional short-form RPGs that we called New Style. We released five in all.

This year, two of them (in new editions) are up for Best RPG in the Origins Awards.

Honoured to be nominated for an Origins Award, for The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen 3e, along with everyone at FFG who worked on it, particularly my editor Tim Huckelbery and artist Omar Rayyan.
http://www.originsawards.net/current-origins-awards-nominees/

ARE WE ALL READY FOR #EUROVISION???!?

no wait sorry as you were wrong social media platform

I did a lovely podcast with the charming chaps from Tea & A Chit Chat. If you get the chance, I can recommend their hospitality and selection of biscuits very highly. https://youtu.be/sbq4BdmALlQ

Learn how to make games in an afternoon! The Games Design Masterclass will be running on Weds 23rd May at Draughts in London, led by me. It's a lecture, a workshop and a playtest all in one. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/games-design-workshop-draughts-board-game-cafe-tickets-45028760234

#aprilttrpgmaker 24: Most notable achievement?

Inventing the entire field of GM-less single-session narrative games now known as "story games", by accident.

#AprilTTRPGMaker 23: People who have helped you

Too many to name, but I owe particular shout-outs to Nicole Lindroos, John Nephew, Marc Gascoigne, Simon Rogers, and to Ken Hite for being the John the Baptist of the New Style games.

#AprilTTRPGMaker 22: How do you document ideas?

I carry a fistful of blank playing cards in my pocket, and I jot notes on them. Best note-taking tool I've ever found and yes, I do also use Evernote.