Levi Kornelsen

Canadian maker of tabletop RPG bits and assorted weirdness.

Public Key

npub1f56gg44u8f7np68qpl4m0r6qnnavgc4hckq72srwn958ge2mxvws5jhm58

NIP-05 Address

LeviKornelsen_at_dice.camp@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsy6dyy267r5lfsarsql6ah3aqfe7kyv2mutq09gphfj6r5v4dnx8gpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9thwden5te0v35hgar09ec82c30wfjkccte8jw48v

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

ditto.pub/relay

Author Public Key

npub1f56gg44u8f7np68qpl4m0r6qnnavgc4hckq72srwn958ge2mxvws5jhm58

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-10-16 18:03:36

"How can those two species have kids?"
"Because there's fuck magic. OF COURSE there's fuck magic. Fuck magic is INEVITABLE if humans get to make spells."
"Why isn't it in the books, then?"
"I think you need to imagine what the books, and game, would be like if they covered fuck magic."

2024-09-12 17:42:45

I feel like we can now safely say that D&D is succeeding in spite of Hasbro's CEO, not because of him.

2024-09-09 15:24:12

Breaking down what's in the MCDM creator license, a quick thread.
(It's... Not great?)
https://www.mcdmproductions.com/draw-steel-creator-license
1/?

2024-09-08 13:35:40

Lionizing Terry Pratchett's work as universally progressive and incisive denies the early stuff where he happily used racist tropes for a cheap laugh, and the *climb* he made from there to where he ended up.
This is important because it's not just any given book saying "We can do better"; it's the author, doing better, as you go.

2024-09-05 01:18:24

Okay, so, if I am understanding: 2024 D&D ultimately did use species (which at least dumps the bad history of "race" as a term), but didn't peel culture out of that thoroughly (leaving a vast amount of further and very easy-to-get improvement on the table). Yes? No?

2024-09-04 23:36:55

If you switch from "Is this good?" to "Who is this for?", you mostly get to be more pleasant and relaxed about media.
And when you get to be mean, like "Oh, it's for racists", you get to be REALLY mean.
Win-win.

2024-08-27 00:44:20

My little rant about the politics of proceduralization is now a whole blog post, with historical notes:
https://levikornelsen.wordpress.com/2024/08/26/the-politics-of-proceduralization/

2024-08-26 03:47:30

TTRPG hero's journey:
- Call to adventure
- Refusal of the call
- Offering the carrot
- Getting out the stick
- The journey there
- The roll for initiative
- Into the depths
- Tests, allies, enemies
- The reminder of what we're doing.
- Fuckit, ninjas attack.
- Ramping up for the final battle
- The scheduling issue.
- The failure to conclude.

2024-08-25 17:14:24

Rowling now saying "It's easier to publicize DNA test results than to put on makeup and do PR" is so transparently a goalpost setup that''s prepped to be followed with infinite "No, I mean the *long-form* DNA Results / From A Reputable Lab / Etc" moves that it's just... transvestigating down in deep Conspiracy land.

2024-08-24 15:50:55

- reply

@npub1u4k…vxe4 - Yup - and "WotC is rewriting my damn characters" is a hella strong line for said dragging.

2024-08-24 15:46:01

- reply

@npub1u4k…vxe4 - Yeah; I am FULLY happy to drag the shit out of Wizards as a company, but you gotta put in enough effort to actually score a hit, and that's.... let's say, not always happening.

2024-08-16 20:47:06

I understand the impulse to put Chocobos in everything, but isn't there another bird-based mount we're all forgetting?
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/112/973/655/823/456/219/original/9cc817a3cb397096.png

2024-08-08 02:41:29

The new PHB not pushing online play, and the general tone of stuff out of WotC, suggest to me that they aren't necessarily aiming to "Drag everyone to digital" so much as create multiple market segments (that people can move between), where one (the digital side) is the money-maker and the other (the book side) is the IP anchor.
Not an analysis. Just a vibe.

2024-07-29 21:51:47

And as long as we're talking about what's fucking weird and creepy, listen:
Minding Your Own Fucking Business is the baseline. You can get a fair ways away from it before you get weird, but when someone starts to *obsess* on what everyone's got in their pants and who they like to fuck, they're getting real weird.
And conservatives and transphobes in many places have blown right past that into fucking RADIATING Peeping Tom energy.
These are genuine look-over-the-bathroom-stall-wall creeps.

2024-07-22 15:57:23

The degree to which D&D is a massive bundle of dated fantasy genre tropes, many of which are only *recognizable* with a pile of old fantasy reading, and which are not necessarily rendered all that much better BY that reading, is hard to overstate.

2024-07-22 15:08:15

- reply

@npub1u4k…vxe4 - Not in that style; culture is largely locked as changeless as a genre conceit.
Ten-thousand-year empires, medieval periods that never end, and whatnot.

2024-06-11 01:55:27

"It lives, Igor! It lives! It laughs! It loves!"
"Kill it!"

2024-06-05 02:44:03

Our entry into the galactic federation was somewhat delayed by bad translation.
"Those appointed to prepare protocols for diplomatic discussions" introducing themselves, by broadcast, as "galaxy cops here to lay down some space laws for a cool meeting between earth and everyone" was especially egregious.

2024-05-28 03:03:02

New playtest version of Awen is up:
https://levikornelsen.itch.io/awen

2024-05-23 19:38:27

I don't always think about ancient Rome, but when I do, I think about how chariot racing was *vastly* more popular than gladiators, to the point that mobs wearing the colour of their preferred stables had riotous brawls, politicians were heavily involved, and more.
Roman sports hooligans were chariot fans.

2024-05-16 17:16:38

In the race for "Boringest assholes alive", I've got $50 on "Dudes who are still posting mad about Brie Larson". To place, not to win; the competition IS fierce.

2024-04-16 00:27:13

- reply

@npub1hyk…3p33 - "Corporations are people" can be read in the tone of "They're made of meat", and is improved immensely by it.

2024-04-15 18:26:16

It's been a minute; let's do this again:
If you are a Tabletop RPG nerd and have less than, say, 500 followers (or think you have less than 500 that are actually active):
1. Write a post to introduce yourself and your particular nerdery, if you haven't already got one pinned.
2. Reply in the comments with a link to or copy of that post.
3. Share, check back to find people you want to follow, all that.

2024-04-04 19:59:01

- reply

@npub1ekn…2g2y - Whaddaya mean, "Only"?

2024-03-29 18:51:31

An actually smart appliance would be a dishwasher that had exactly one button marked "start", and could figure out the minimum time, water and soap to do the job, and do it.
This is exactly the opposite of the "smart" we're seemingly getting.

2024-03-29 17:32:48

A project I keep coming back and doing, like, an hour of mucking with at a time, is a little booklet of "Standard Eurofantasy Cultures", written out.
It's an oddity, because the *intent* is "I recommend you absolutely DO mess with these significantly before use", and it's weird to write something you not only assume people will modify, but don't really WANT used as-is.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/112/180/150/799/125/328/original/0b9feee2885385b3.png

2024-03-27 21:30:00

- reply

@npub18s6…c4cg - The in-fiction village is cottagecore. The *film* is one of those distant thing-gothic branches.

2024-03-27 01:10:00

Rereading the Vlad Taltos books, and I'm at the one where his wife joins a revolutionary movement, and he does a lot of "Okay, you might be right ethically, but you're all morons tactically".
Which, it's interesting to walk through it again after having crossed into the real-world understanding of "While I think incremental reform is vastly better than burning it all down, there's simply *going* to be violence somewhere along the line if things are going to improve".

2024-03-23 16:42:30

- reply

@npub1hyk…3p33 - In modern capitalist system, you can buy product AND be product! Much more efficient.

2024-03-19 18:30:27

Leto II taking over the Bene Gesserit breeding program to create people whom precognition cannot see is some weird eugenic bullshit, but also Herbert saying "Humanity can in fact fuck their way out of the problems they fucked their way into".
*nodnod*

2024-03-19 01:58:34

After a discussion with @npub1286…8a72 , I thought:
I should blog this.
So I did.
https://levikornelsen.wordpress.com/2024/03/18/reject-the-god-emperor-and-be-free/

2024-03-17 18:08:52

CRANKWAGONS are large and contraption-y conveyances that wander the fringe, carrying portable windmills, animal capstans, millstones, and other hefty devices that supply and use rotary power.
They set up shop in settlements big enough to afford them but not established enough to have their own wind, water, or other mills yet. If the settlement grows or fails, they move on.
Many of those who work crankwagons are traders in relic gegaws, serious tinkerers, or both.
#WeirdGlass #Lore24

2024-03-15 02:54:36

I seek grist for the encounter mill!
Characters are adventuring. They encounter a person, group, monster, or minor locale.
The Vibe is one part:
Sword and Sorcery plus Black Company plus Vance plus Moorcock.
And one part:
Alice in Wonderland plus Abarat plus Neverending Story plus Dark Crystal.
...In a blender.
What do they encounter?

2024-03-13 17:05:47

In any kind of heroic fantasy RPG, the *characters* should be metagaming towards "What will make this into a badass story".
Legendary heroes, for example, make an entrance! And they don't leave this to chance - they arrange it *on purpose.*

2024-03-03 15:16:50

The problem with the Brian Herbert Dune books is not that they are campy Space Opera bullshit. So are the originals.
The problem is that Brian Herbert does not have a raging, all-consuming fetish for questions like "What if our experience of existence was only half-conscious, and a fuller form of wakefulness exists?" which puts the campy bullshit in the shade.

2024-02-29 20:43:46

This is amazing.
(Creator is sadly not active on Mastodon; I checked)
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/112/016/711/936/955/275/original/2ffd65dee7ddf514.jpg

2024-02-27 19:42:13

Me, enjoying the New Blog energy.
Me, seeing report that Wordpress is gonna sell data to OpenAI.
Me, sighing.

2024-02-19 02:25:22

The Trad D&D playstyle and how it integrates with the rules, in four pictures, which may not be comprehensible to anyone else.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/111/955/769/194/115/338/original/6cde0cfcbdf9d808.png

2024-02-04 22:20:07

An older post, copied over to the new blog:
Huge chunks of early D&D were built using the wrong parts of the fiction they were sourced from.
https://levikornelsen.wordpress.com/2024/02/04/the-wrong-parts-of-the-right-fiction/

2024-02-01 20:21:47

On my new blog:
Happenings: A situation preparation method.
https://levikornelsen.wordpress.com/2024/02/01/happenings/

2024-01-21 04:40:41

WeirdGlass concept:
There's a people (the Sanikt) that came into existence with an fixated, built-in, murderous, and often inheritable animosity to another people (the Tskan) that.... don't appear to *exist.*
Some Sanikt spend a lot of time preparing for the Tskan to come into existence. Some try to explain their fixations with various philosophies, or to cure it. Some conclude that they, themselves, are a kind of cosmic joke.
And a few believe the Tskan do exist, in hiding, among others.

2024-01-13 21:53:36

Let's say that in a game setting, there are a bunch of political philosophies (that projects and institutions are often built around), and your character has some history with those.
They might be a:
Loyalist: Believe one philosophy firmly, contribute to projects.
Dabbler: Hang around in lots of philosophic groups.
Syncretic: Have a personal blend of two or more philosophies.
Heretic: Loudly proclaim a deeply unorthodox version of a philosophy (that offends some).
...What else?

2024-01-11 21:31:22

OSR folks:
Judge's Guild decided the right way to post about the death of Jennell Jaquays was by deadnaming her throughout in their Facebook post.
This got them a bunch of yelling-at, during which they doubled down that this was somehow neutral practice, and then it vanished, possibly deleted, possibly reported into oblivion.
So, like, if they weren't already on your asshole list, mark 'em on down.

2024-01-11 05:52:23

People who make free RPG stuff (like me) need a kickstarter-style site called Redliner, where people who want the free thing pledge to read and give redline-style editorial feedback on X number of pages before release, and get credited for doing so.

2024-01-01 22:17:27

Made a book gripper for the lady for Christmas; liked it enough I printed up another one for myself (still needs sanding, but hey).
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/111/683/000/668/540/180/original/54b960e6dd95f137.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/111/683/000/929/950/281/original/5d22a3130d11d681.jpg

2023-12-31 19:40:43

I'd honestly like to see Dark Sun taken out of the hands of corporate interests and put in the hands of someone (almost certainly someone not white) who has Some Serious Shit To Say about imperialism and slavery and ecological devastation.
It's, like, that's what it's *about,* and I'd want to see it amped up and made sharp toward such purpose. I'm not sure there's any *value* in a version that doesn't address that stuff head on.

2023-12-19 19:22:02

The OSR may, collectively, want to have a discussion about accessibility features in games, as particular to their demographic breakdown.
Bluntly, maybe it's time for a few Large Print Editions.

2023-12-19 16:49:42

Essay by Cory Doctorow ( @npub1hyk…3p33 ) talking about what'll remain after the AI bubble pops, and makes some strong points about how the promised big-money uses that an AI industry will run on are unlikely to actually succeed.
(I think he underestimates how persnickety the D&D kids are about art, but it's plainly true that illustration is simply not a big-money enterprise the way medicine and cars are, and may be iffy in terms of paying for itself when the pop sounds.)
https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/19/bubblenomics/#pop

2023-12-17 16:17:12

I suspect that *ideal* case is that Threads breaks off efforts to federate, and blames us, on the grounds that we are a bunch of difficult, cranky, commie perverts, and that makes enough headlines that other companies only pursue federation if they're down with that association.

2023-12-12 18:30:23

Behold the majestic buffalion.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/111/568/866/582/197/648/original/debb5271db12d727.png

2023-12-09 21:46:30

- reply

@npub1kdm…h8jw @npub1hyk…3p33 - "Lemme just engineer a moral hazard for myself here, so I can pretend to be helpless to resist it."

2023-12-07 19:17:24

People with weird theories about the Pyramids should maybe just search "Pyramid Quarries", like, one time.
They are known, and not, like, a log long ways from the final sites.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/111/540/734/960/237/085/original/e93cfba71b2570d4.jpg

2023-12-06 20:31:46

Today I learned about the existence of German Judicial Dueling shields.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/111/535/371/266/051/644/original/a1a04d6c941167f2.png

2023-11-03 20:29:52

Throwing an anchor for horror scenarios into my setting...
"Alchemists and sorcerers have worked to find a cure for the Black Death for centuries, and have found many useful treatments, but also created an arcane variation of it in the Red Death, which is not only deadly, but can warp the bodies and minds of survivors in horrifying ways. Luckily(?), outbreak in humans usually burn out in a few months, but plague dens of warped creatures and survivors are not unknown."

2023-10-16 01:49:45

Having had a childhood in a deeply conservative Christian household means I'm generally able to *fully understand and empathize with* the weirdest right-wing evangelical stuff if I read about enough of it to find the place where It starts to click in on those experiences.
But oh gods I am tired of playing catch-up with the sickening creep of justifying bottomless hates and fears, and attempts to render them as righteous. It's just not worth making the trip to figure it out anymore.

2023-08-27 19:28:08

It's amazing how many problems with the D&D structure vanish if you change the *narrative* to "You are a band of raiders employed by a petty kingdom to go fuck up and get shit from the one next door; 'good' means 'good for your kingdom', evil means bad for it".
As soon as you drop the *pretense* of being Heroic Agents Of Civilization, it becomes vastly more consistent.

2023-07-29 15:47:36

I don't understand people who quit things because they're not immediately good at them.
What I like to do is work at a new skill until it's obvious that I'm making progress and people are going "Hey, you're getting to be not bad at that", and THEN lose interest.

2023-07-29 05:02:49

- reply

@npub1u4k…vxe4 - I have!

2023-07-29 02:43:51

...Using bags of glass beads for clocks, and seeding in a few "the red bead means ninjas attack" ones in there has potential.
(I've done countdowns with poker chip stacks traditionally; the obvious bead bag escaped me)

2023-07-12 16:32:00

Listen, I'm sorry, but you can't just brag that you're weird here; this is Mastodon, and we're all weird.
I'm going to need you to get really specific and enthusiastic about Your Particular Thing.

2023-07-08 19:35:58

- reply

@npub1u4k…vxe4 - Ooh! Good news about the blocking.
I await the inevitable first B-Lister Threads snark feud which will provide the model for those to follow.

2023-07-08 19:05:57

This is probably obvious to many, but:
Threads, by fully centering algorithmically chosen content and making blocking slightly more of a hassle, has committed to rewarding heavy virality, and facilitating celebrity (both existing and attempted).
And it's tilted towards the most popular users of Instagram. Who may not be well practiced at a short-text medium, but they'll learn fast.
What kind of atmosphere do you THINK it'll have in a month or two?
My bet: Reality TV, the social network.

2023-07-08 04:24:45

Re: My last boost:
Learning that Anna Landin DOESN'T have a whole mess of followers on here is jaw-dropping to me; she's kind, creative, makes amazeballs stuff, and is like the opposite of my weird internet crankery; apparently in contact with the grass at all times.
Like, seriously, people, go, look.
https://annalandin.itch.io/
Then go follow:
@npub1uxt…6vee

2023-07-07 02:52:44

If you're a tabletop RPG wonk on here and you have less than 500 followers, reply to this with an introduction post talking about what you like and/or make in terms of TTRPGs (or link to that post already on your profile), and I will boost that post.
(If there's a LOT of responses, it'll be over the next couple days.)
(Uh, also, if you're right-wing, you don't WANT to take this offer; my followers will NOT take well to you.)
#ttRPG #rpgs

2023-07-06 17:24:05

New folks:
If you write an intro post before following people, they will have more to see when they check who just followed them, and might very well share your introduction FOR you, helping you find cool folks!

2023-07-06 03:04:26

- reply

@npub1znz…8l64 - Same. I'm willing to make a Bluesky account just as a secondary / marketing / etc venue, but Threads is. No.

2023-07-04 23:45:37

At 32 out of 36 neat biome modifiers (a d66 table), and resisting the urge to just go "64-66: Look, there's dinosaurs here, okay?")

2023-07-01 16:16:18

The "mu" answer is the right way to to tell someone one "You're asking me to treat your spherical cow as a reality".
...
This joke is probably funny for, like, a thousand people in the world total, but I bet they're almost all on Mastodon.

2023-06-22 20:27:32

The more I read about early firearms, the more it seems like a *lot* of fantasy worlds could easily say "We don't have good enough steel for pistols, but fire lances are all over the damn place".
It's also a great weapon for OSR-type dungeon shenanigans; get it set and pointed and it's awesome; fail to, and it's a heavy, overlong lump.
https://cdn.masto.host/dicecamp/media_attachments/files/110/589/726/203/902/336/original/5d972553b1266fe9.jpeg