I stopped playing Absolum because I was waiting for cross-platform multiplayer, and I haven't seen The Odyssey yet because I feel like if they went through all the trouble to film it on these big weird cameras I should make the effort to see it on a big, weird screen. Is this edging? Maybe… Maybe I just like rules?

I.

Just before Ronia was leaving for a flight, she addressed me in a serious tone. It's the tone I use when I'm not being serious at all, so I should have clocked it immediately. For example: I might lean my shoulder against her doorframe, and say, hey. I don't know if you heard the recent news alert. But there was an incident at the zoo's Darkfang exhibit, and one or more of these terrifying serpents was inadvertently released.

It's clear by this point that she's not taking the threat seriously, which means I haven't communicated the very real danger such creatures present. "It's like a Ghost Snake," I'll say, my brow knit to stitch the mortal threat into place. "Even an ordinary snake constitutes a wily opponent. Imagine if physicality itself were no object! Imagine if a snake had mastered Death."

"Release me," is her typical response. Anyway, this time, she said, "Dad, if you go to Florida… please. Please," she said. "Make sure that cookie tea."

"Daughter," I replied gravely. "Only one beverage has this power."

We appear to be living in the age of the demo again and I could not be happier. It is especially nice when you can transfer your save data to the full game if you are having a good time. I recently grabbed the demo for Echoes of Aincrad because I like Anime RPG’s and it looked cool. I had no idea it was a Sword Art Online game and for that matter I really didn’t know what Sword Art was all about. 

Sorry about that; two things. One, I get incredibly dumb when there is a time change. And two, a couple of the people I asked for stuff to post no give it to me. V shameful in my opinion, except…. one of them was in a tender place after completing their new company's first game, thought they could write about it, and just… couldn't. It's about a teenaged raccoon who delivers love letters on his sweet-ass BMX. I guess I could just ask him questions. That might get around it. I've been meaning to start interviewing all the weirdos I know, under the monomer "FrieNDA." I'll do that next week.

This is just a quick note to say that the 23rd annual Child’s Play Charity Dinner and Auction is coming up on November 13th and you can get your tickets now!

I hardly know what to say about young Christopher Badell. Maybe I simply know too much to effectively cull it. His Sentinels of the Multiverse shit is brilliant - whether in its original form, an RPG, or a wargame somehow. He's a very generous person and, dare I say it, maybe even a buddy or pal - acting as midwife to games from others like Spirit Island or COMPILE is a completely separate skill which he also possesses. It gets rude after a certain point. Did he get extra points at character creation? Gotta be. That's before we even get into this last couple years, which has certain things in common with the Hero's Journey. Anywho, here he is:

Concerning Comics That Do Not Exist

Through his company Asmadi Games, Chris Cieslik - however you might choose to pronounce it - has either published or designed some of my favorite games. A lot of people might be familiar with We Didn't Playtest This At All, but between Innovation, Red7, and especially One Deck Dungeon he's just associated with a lot of all timers. His next one, which will be at Gen Con, has the potential to be another Uno in my opinion. If you see him there, ask him for The New Shit.

Why Games Need to be Unfair

by Chris Cieslik, 

Owner & Lead Designer, 

Asmadi Games

I really wanted somebody to tell me what videocard to upgrade to, and when I saw that GamersNexus was following me on the Tweetzorz I shuddered with delight. Steve got back to me "weirdly fast" and since then we bother each other on occasion. He starts shit when shit needs to get started, which I appreciate. I asked him if he had anything he wanted to discuss, and luckily a bee was already firmly lodged in his bonnet. Thanks, dude.

The Block Market, or

Bail Me Out: I've Committed a Felony

Every block looks the same to the people voting on video game laws.

I decided I wanted to try and get back to doing some more traditional artwork rather than just digital. It’s been decades since I took drawing with pencil and ink seriously and so I am pretty rusty. I still find myself reaching for the undo button and trying to zoom in constantly. I’m having a lot of fun though and I have given myself the challenge of eventually drawing one of the monthly bonus Club PA comics traditionally. I’m not ready for that yet but I’ve been posting some of my practice/learning drawings over on my Bluesky and I wanted to share them here as well.

Rex Ready continues to unravel a global conspiracy. Will this time-travelling secret agent dinosaur be able to dismantle this dark machinery in time?

I'm going somewhere for a little while, so we looked at our list of quote unquote treasured, underutilized characters from our ancient past and decided to take Rex Ready for a spin. It seems like it ended up being topical.

There is a very famous video during the console war of 2013 where Microsoft said a bunch of weird shit about DRM and watermarking games to your console and controlling software purchases after the fact. This video referenced above may be the most malevolent assault since Sega did what Nintendidn't. Just… blood everywhere. Gandalf suggested that a wizard is never late, nor are they early - they arrive precisely when they mean to. Microsoft's doom is that they are perpetually late, except when they're so early people don't even understand what the fuck they're talking about.

Potent wisdom, delivered weekly - that's what #Fridabe is all about. Join us for another SponStream™️ with Once Upon A Galaxy!

(CW)TB

Gabriel misunderstanding things is one of our most profound genres; I should make up a keyword based on this propensity and begin utilizing its subtle power.

Tim Sweeney fascinates me; he is an endless source of activity and interest. He is always whipping out a tendril of some kind at this or that - he doesn't like that Steam identifies works made with AI, referring to it as a Scarlet Letter, which it is. It's whatever the opposite of an Organic sticker is. And it makes sense why he wouldn't like it - I've heard our designers talking about how AI tools are enmeshed now through their industry standard software, and now Gmail literally tries to write my emails for me. I saw a video for the newest Unreal technology that involved typing prompts into it so it would draw over the work you did, and then you'd have to draw over that work and fix it. So, yes. If using Unreal is synonymous with AI, a big sticker that says so isn't gonna be super welcome. Luckily, they just remembered that they have their own store recently and are gonna work on it.

Tim Sweeney fascinates me; he is an endless source of activity and interest. He is always whipping out a tendril of some kind at this or that - he doesn't like that Steam identifies works made with AI, referring to it as a Scarlet Letter, which it is. It's whatever the opposite of an Organic sticker is. And it makes sense why he wouldn't like it - I've heard our designers talking about how AI tools are enmeshed now through their industry standard software, and now Gmail literally tries to write my emails for me. I saw a video for the newest Unreal technology that involved typing prompts into it so it would draw over the work you did, and then you'd have to draw over that work and fix it. So, yes. If using Unreal is synonymous with AI, a big sticker that says so isn't gonna be super welcome. Luckily, they just remembered that they have their own store recently and are gonna work on it.