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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep

@clearkeep.bsky.social

850 followers 340 following 870 posts

he/him. UX & TTRPG. Visiting weird vistas. ENNIES & IGDN award winner. Creator: Planet Raygun, Sunken, The Wassailing, Tourist Hole Contributor: Butter Princess, Dark Designs in Verdigris, Trophy, Public Access, Silt Verses RPG clearkeep.us

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · Oct 17

O HEY.

I'm a UX writer and ttrpg designer, with graphic design in my side holster.

If you want a feed about any of those things or their intersections, add me! 👾👾👾

I'm also bad at marketing myself, so this is your chance to follow someone before they're cool.

Cover of Best Art-nominee Sunken, the first game I published and a hit from the early years of Zine Quest.

Cover of the Ennie-award winning Wassailing of Claus Manor! A horrific holiday ttrpg that should be an annual tradition for all peoples.

Cover of the Indie Groundbreakers' Best Graphic Design winner and Best Game nominee BUTTER PRINCESS. Writing by Brian Sago, graphic design by meeeee. It's a heist at the Minnesota State Fair, and it's so bonkers I demanded Brian let me do the layout.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 12h

Night 10. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires … You think you’ve seen vampires? Those are not vampires. THESE are vampires. And these are gold.

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Devin, Again @doctorteeth.bsky.social · 14h

It’s my turn up to “bat” for this year’s #Hauntalong and since it’s my first year I figured I’d come out swinging. Are you prepared for the combination of Dracula and kung fu that is…The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires?

(Is anyone?)

Poster for THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES (1974). Title in red text on a white poster; below are drawings of figures and characters most of whom are not in the film.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 16h

You pretty much can't go wrong with a Ramsey Lewis record.

Aquarium Drunkard @aquariumdrunkard.com · 16h

For anyone who frequents their local record store, the term “cheap heat” is likely a familiar one. Ramsey Lewis’ 1970 funky soul jazz gem Them Changes, a record we’ve never seen priced higher than $10 that burns hot.

aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/10/10/r...

Ramsey Lewis :: Them Changes - Aquarium Drunkard

For anyone who frequents their local record store, the term "cheap heat" is likely a familiar one. Often its own section, the cheap heat bin usually contains copies of iconic records in dubious condit...

aquariumdrunkard.com

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

Night 9. Fire Walk With Me … Yeah, so that whole mess with Laura Palmer? Pretty bad, hunh?

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Ben // Foresight Studio @foresightstudio.bsky.social · 1d

Hi friends! For my first ever #hauntalong, I want to shine a (flickering) light on Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (FWWM). Released in 1992, a year after the titular TV show's cancellation, David Lynch took a beloved setting known for its charming characters and said: "it's worse than that."

The cover of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, featuring a burning half of a heart-shaped "best friends" necklace with a photograph of Laura Palmer, a young blonde woman, smiling. In the background, red curtains line the walls of a room with a zig-zag black and white floor. Toward the bottom is the text, "In a town like Twin Peaks, no one is innocent."

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

What.

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

Played soooooooo much of it in high school. Looking back I’m astonished the games just didn’t break from the manufactured rules … I wonder how much of the game premise instills implied boundaries in the play culture vs. how much of that was in the particular social sphere I played with.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

The established rules are never stated: You just play as if everyone should already know them.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

Mao works both ways!

There are established rules (which can vary regionally) that exist at the start, and then players create in additional rules to make the system more byzantine even to the “insiders.”

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

Inductive games / inductive logic games

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

Portland Frog, if you are reading this, please know you are often the highlight of my day.

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

I keep hoping that we’re nearing a more widespread breaking point … My biggest fear is that the cities/communities that have been on the front lines will be depleted by the time everyone else witnesses the threat first hand. But I think we know this is going to be a long haul.

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 1d

If it’s any encouragement …

I live in the same town the late-night show is hosted. And I live about a block from the ICE detention center in said town. And the amount of outrage and activism around the second is vastly larger.

Changing the outcome is just a lot fucking harder. But we’re out there.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 2d

Night 8. Creature from the Black Lagoon … Fin. (No, not really, we still have a long way to go.)

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𝙒𝙚𝙨 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 is Dead. @carrion-comfort.com · 2d

It's my second (of many) entries for #hauntalong this year and I'm surfacing one of my favorites of the Universal Monster movies for the morning crowd!

Today I present you:

Jack Arnold’s 1954 creature–feature The Creature from the Black Lagoon!

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Reposted by Mike Murderens | Clear Keep

jex thomas @lastpinepress.com · 2d

Can I suggest

If you are stuck on a project

Talk to another fucking human being about it

I guarantee whatever solution you come to will be better than anything "AI" could spit out

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 2d

Still wake up in the middle of the night embarrassed about that incident with the cave moss and the elder blood even though it ended up being no big deal. Haha lol. Human brains are so weird. 😳

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 2d

Pros of knowing @jesseross.com:
Thoughtful support, inspiration and overall friendship from one of ttrpg-land's most studied and open-minded designers.

Cons:
Annual required sacrifices to the old gods that power him, which have brought about some AWKWARD situations.

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 2d

On this, presumably his birthday, I can reflect and say it's been a net positive.

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 2d

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 3d

Night 7. Bring Her Back … You've talked to the hand, but there's a strange new face that wants you to listen.

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Gabriel Robinson @glowingroots.bsky.social · 3d

Continuing this year’s #hauntalong, I’m recommending Bring Her Back (2025).

Film poster for Bring Her Back, featuring a hand grading the head of a child with red demonic eyes and a circle of blood in the background

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Reposted by Mike Murderens | Clear Keep

Luna P. @satelitesnaturales.bsky.social · Mar 4

Hey gamers, Luna here. I'm a graphic designer for ttrpgs, you can hire me to make your zines cooler, or to kill your enemies with my mind. Unless they deal poison damage, then I'm out. Anyways, you want this. Yes?

Table of contents for the game OMEN. Grey and red stripes decorate the page with the titles for each section.

A 3D render of a spread from wolves at the lake. There's a zine and 2 red die on dark wooden planks.

A spread from a feast for a sphinx. It depicts a centipede person holding an obsidian spearhead, along with the descriptions of said weapon and the rooms 7 and 8. The colors red and gold adorn the white page.

A spread from the goblin mail extras zine. Showing two characters, a mail goblin and a robot made out of mail. The art is black and white and features halftone pictures of stamps.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 3d

One of my faves, especially as a transplant Angeleno!

Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 4d

Make something for the best damn community zine in existence.

Amanda/iamatrex @iamatrex.com · 4d

Sprigs & Kindling sprigsandkindling.com is actively seeking pitches:
Vol 6: Endings & Beginnings. Any Carved from Brindlewood-related creation. Due Dec 1, 2025
Vol 7: Gods & Monsters. The Silt Verses TTRPG and Arkham Herald. Due Mar 1, 2026
Vol 8: Short-form CfB. Due Jun 1, 2026

DM me with pitches!

Sprigs and Kindling

An ongoing digital zine of community collected creative works for Carved from Brindlewood TTRPG games

sprigsandkindling.com

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 4d

Night 6. Bram Stoker’s Dracula … a film for those with strange tastes – for bloooooood.

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𝖏 𝖆 𝖈 𝖐 @jackofficer.bsky.social · 4d

Hello, rats and bats. It's #hauntalong time, and tonight I'm kicking off my selects with inarguably the best (authorized) Dracula movie ever.

Title card for "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992)

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Reposted by Mike Murderens | Clear Keep

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 4d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 4d

PSA for anyone without a dog:

It is impossible to overestimate how much the back half of an electric scooter is soaked in dog piss.

Those things are basically dog internet.

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Mike Murderens | Clear Keep @clearkeep.bsky.social · 5d

Remember that time Warren Zevon wrote a song about werewolves and everyone assumed it was secretly about something other than werewolves?

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Reposted by Mike Murderens | Clear Keep

competentposter @competentposter.bsky.social · 6d

wizard frog is insane

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