Evan Torner
@guyintheblackhat.bsky.social
Associate Professor of German, Niehoff Professor of Film & Media Studies at U of Cincinnati; Scholar of East German cinema, science fiction, and role-playing games. He/Him. Bi. Wears a hat.
Pinned
I'd like to think of "dark academia" as "I, a brooding professor who wears all black, have [these clothes] on while I send many emails and update Canvas assignment due dates"
Reposted by Evan Torner
the life of an animator rarely if ever comes with the prestige or recognition of live action cinema. there is no glitz, no glamour. its just long long hours with inks, cels, paper, light tables, and a million minute decisions. in this way it shares a lot with game dev
most creators remain anonymous
most creators remain anonymous
January 30, 2026 at 11:38 PM
the life of an animator rarely if ever comes with the prestige or recognition of live action cinema. there is no glitz, no glamour. its just long long hours with inks, cels, paper, light tables, and a million minute decisions. in this way it shares a lot with game dev
most creators remain anonymous
most creators remain anonymous
From Peter Fleming's Dark Academia:
January 31, 2026 at 1:02 PM
From Peter Fleming's Dark Academia:
Reposted by Evan Torner
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
January 30, 2026 at 11:58 PM
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
One day, my son asked me how Emperor Palpatine got all his power.
Since it's been a snowy hellscape the past week, we've now been watching *every* SW movie (not show) in timeline-chronological order:
TPM --> AotC --> Clone Wars --> Solo --> Rogue One --> ANH --> ESB --> RotJ --> TFA --> TLJ...
Since it's been a snowy hellscape the past week, we've now been watching *every* SW movie (not show) in timeline-chronological order:
TPM --> AotC --> Clone Wars --> Solo --> Rogue One --> ANH --> ESB --> RotJ --> TFA --> TLJ...
January 31, 2026 at 10:35 AM
One day, my son asked me how Emperor Palpatine got all his power.
Since it's been a snowy hellscape the past week, we've now been watching *every* SW movie (not show) in timeline-chronological order:
TPM --> AotC --> Clone Wars --> Solo --> Rogue One --> ANH --> ESB --> RotJ --> TFA --> TLJ...
Since it's been a snowy hellscape the past week, we've now been watching *every* SW movie (not show) in timeline-chronological order:
TPM --> AotC --> Clone Wars --> Solo --> Rogue One --> ANH --> ESB --> RotJ --> TFA --> TLJ...
Reposted by Evan Torner
Restitution digital durch @kulturspk.bsky.social: „Außerdem soll ein digitales Archiv der Nuba-Fotografien im Büro des Pan Nuba Rats entstehen. Die digitalisierten Fotografien und Videos wurden dem Rat übergeben.“
via @monopolmagazin.bsky.social
www.monopol-magazin.de/riefenstahls...
via @monopolmagazin.bsky.social
www.monopol-magazin.de/riefenstahls...
Riefenstahls Fotos neu gelesen – Nuba-Perspektive im Fokus
Wie sehen die Nuba heute die berühmten Fotos, die die NS-Filmemacherin Leni Riefenstahl von ihnen und ihren Vorfahren machte? Ein Forschungsprojekt gibt ihnen eine Stimme
www.monopol-magazin.de
January 31, 2026 at 9:43 AM
Restitution digital durch @kulturspk.bsky.social: „Außerdem soll ein digitales Archiv der Nuba-Fotografien im Büro des Pan Nuba Rats entstehen. Die digitalisierten Fotografien und Videos wurden dem Rat übergeben.“
via @monopolmagazin.bsky.social
www.monopol-magazin.de/riefenstahls...
via @monopolmagazin.bsky.social
www.monopol-magazin.de/riefenstahls...
Reposted by Evan Torner
I’ll just leave this here. 😄
Odysseus: In Search of a Clockwork Larp | Nordic Larp
Running a clockwork larp is a fool’s errand, because the very point of a clockwork is interdependence, and the very point of a larp is agency. The Odysseus team invested a massive amount of skilled…
www.nordiclarp.org
January 31, 2026 at 9:48 AM
I’ll just leave this here. 😄
For 2 years, I was part of the incredible 200-volunteer team that produced the 2024 runs of the blockbuster larp Odysseus.
Now YOU can play this extraordinary experience, with a team of professionals, in 2026-2027!
www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/...
Now YOU can play this extraordinary experience, with a team of professionals, in 2026-2027!
www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/...
Odysseus – First Light by Ellarion Tales - Indiegogo
Odysseus – First Light is an epic sci-fi larp about survival. Help us build a spaceship and join us onboard!
www.indiegogo.com
January 31, 2026 at 9:28 AM
For 2 years, I was part of the incredible 200-volunteer team that produced the 2024 runs of the blockbuster larp Odysseus.
Now YOU can play this extraordinary experience, with a team of professionals, in 2026-2027!
www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/...
Now YOU can play this extraordinary experience, with a team of professionals, in 2026-2027!
www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/...
Reposted by Evan Torner
<waves to all my BIPOC TTRPG designers>
Hello!
You may think you are feeling impostor syndrome, but did you stop to consider it may actually be a reaction to being silently (or loudly ) invalidated in society and in the TTRPG community?
They feel similar, but they arent the same thing.
Hello!
You may think you are feeling impostor syndrome, but did you stop to consider it may actually be a reaction to being silently (or loudly ) invalidated in society and in the TTRPG community?
They feel similar, but they arent the same thing.
January 30, 2026 at 1:09 PM
<waves to all my BIPOC TTRPG designers>
Hello!
You may think you are feeling impostor syndrome, but did you stop to consider it may actually be a reaction to being silently (or loudly ) invalidated in society and in the TTRPG community?
They feel similar, but they arent the same thing.
Hello!
You may think you are feeling impostor syndrome, but did you stop to consider it may actually be a reaction to being silently (or loudly ) invalidated in society and in the TTRPG community?
They feel similar, but they arent the same thing.
Reposted by Evan Torner
✅making games is a communal effort that requires the specialized labor of many different fields.
✅making games is a solo artistic journey where one person stubbornly creates everything on their own.
👍👍both ways are artistically relevant, and bring different things to the table.
✅making games is a solo artistic journey where one person stubbornly creates everything on their own.
👍👍both ways are artistically relevant, and bring different things to the table.
January 29, 2026 at 10:46 AM
✅making games is a communal effort that requires the specialized labor of many different fields.
✅making games is a solo artistic journey where one person stubbornly creates everything on their own.
👍👍both ways are artistically relevant, and bring different things to the table.
✅making games is a solo artistic journey where one person stubbornly creates everything on their own.
👍👍both ways are artistically relevant, and bring different things to the table.
Reposted by Evan Torner
COVID-19 left a lasting increase in mortality that has yet to fully unwind in most rich nations, according to an analysis of data from 34 countries.
COVID-19 left lasting rise in deaths in rich countries, study shows
The findings challenge the idea that the pandemic mainly hastened the deaths of the frail who would have died soon anyway and result in fewer fatalities in later years.
ebx.sh
January 30, 2026 at 6:05 AM
COVID-19 left a lasting increase in mortality that has yet to fully unwind in most rich nations, according to an analysis of data from 34 countries.
Reposted by Evan Torner
🚨💻📚 Last week to submit works for consideration for the Electronic Literature Collection Vol. 5.
Last minute questions? email us as elcvol5 [at] gmail [dot] com
More info 👇
Last minute questions? email us as elcvol5 [at] gmail [dot] com
More info 👇
Call for Submissions
The Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) seeks submissions for Volume 5 of the Electronic Literature Collection.
eliterature.github.io
January 26, 2026 at 5:00 PM
🚨💻📚 Last week to submit works for consideration for the Electronic Literature Collection Vol. 5.
Last minute questions? email us as elcvol5 [at] gmail [dot] com
More info 👇
Last minute questions? email us as elcvol5 [at] gmail [dot] com
More info 👇
Reposted by Evan Torner
BREAKING: The Senate just blocked a bill that would have renewed ICE's budget without real, enforceable changes.
This is a direct result of hundreds of thousands of people across the nation demanding that our Senators vote no.
This is a direct result of hundreds of thousands of people across the nation demanding that our Senators vote no.
January 29, 2026 at 6:26 PM
BREAKING: The Senate just blocked a bill that would have renewed ICE's budget without real, enforceable changes.
This is a direct result of hundreds of thousands of people across the nation demanding that our Senators vote no.
This is a direct result of hundreds of thousands of people across the nation demanding that our Senators vote no.
Reposted by Evan Torner
For all our hubris, primary elemental forces will continue to haunt attempts to reify our ambitions:
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
This is such a good article. When I was a teenager, I was swept away by this bombastic idea of Richard Feynman discovering the O-ring problem with sheer ingenuity. In reality, engineers knew and tried to stop the launch. Sally Ride was the one who gave him the tip.
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
'They're gonna die': How five people tried to stop the Challenger tragedy
Forty years ago, the Challenger space shuttle disintegrated just after lift-off. A small team of engineers tried to prevent the tragedy.
www.abc.net.au
January 29, 2026 at 9:18 AM
For all our hubris, primary elemental forces will continue to haunt attempts to reify our ambitions:
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
The contemporary global far right draws much more power from the mafia-ization of capitalism and communism in the 1980s and the "shock therapy" of the 1990s than we'd imagine.
My historical framework is gradually aligning with Frank Bösch's "1979 as global turning point" argument.
My historical framework is gradually aligning with Frank Bösch's "1979 as global turning point" argument.
January 29, 2026 at 10:50 AM
The contemporary global far right draws much more power from the mafia-ization of capitalism and communism in the 1980s and the "shock therapy" of the 1990s than we'd imagine.
My historical framework is gradually aligning with Frank Bösch's "1979 as global turning point" argument.
My historical framework is gradually aligning with Frank Bösch's "1979 as global turning point" argument.
Reposted by Evan Torner
A new collection added to Exhibit:Play 👀
Deciphering Languages
Featuring games from @inkle.co, @rundisc.bsky.social, @kevindu.itch.io, @playismen.bsky.social @lizardrydev.bsky.social and more.
11 games in total and always on the lookout for more.
Deciphering Languages
Featuring games from @inkle.co, @rundisc.bsky.social, @kevindu.itch.io, @playismen.bsky.social @lizardrydev.bsky.social and more.
11 games in total and always on the lookout for more.
Deciphering Languages in Video Games
From ancient scripts to alien tongues, these games challenge you to decode unfamiliar languages and unravel mysteries through communication.
exhibitplay.com
June 9, 2025 at 4:12 PM
A new collection added to Exhibit:Play 👀
Deciphering Languages
Featuring games from @inkle.co, @rundisc.bsky.social, @kevindu.itch.io, @playismen.bsky.social @lizardrydev.bsky.social and more.
11 games in total and always on the lookout for more.
Deciphering Languages
Featuring games from @inkle.co, @rundisc.bsky.social, @kevindu.itch.io, @playismen.bsky.social @lizardrydev.bsky.social and more.
11 games in total and always on the lookout for more.
For all our hubris, primary elemental forces will continue to haunt attempts to reify our ambitions:
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
This is such a good article. When I was a teenager, I was swept away by this bombastic idea of Richard Feynman discovering the O-ring problem with sheer ingenuity. In reality, engineers knew and tried to stop the launch. Sally Ride was the one who gave him the tip.
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
'They're gonna die': How five people tried to stop the Challenger tragedy
Forty years ago, the Challenger space shuttle disintegrated just after lift-off. A small team of engineers tried to prevent the tragedy.
www.abc.net.au
January 29, 2026 at 9:18 AM
For all our hubris, primary elemental forces will continue to haunt attempts to reify our ambitions:
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
Heat & Cold
Air Pressure
Water & Moisture
Gravity
Material Scarcity
Regolith Instability
It is those who operate with caution and triple-check everything who should hold the reins of power.
Reposted by Evan Torner
found out today that Triangle Agency is really popping off in China so we're looking through rednote and...someone made a visual novel???? multiple someones made multiple visual novels?????????
January 28, 2026 at 7:20 PM
found out today that Triangle Agency is really popping off in China so we're looking through rednote and...someone made a visual novel???? multiple someones made multiple visual novels?????????
Reposted by Evan Torner
Prepping to teach Shiraz (Franz Osten, 1928) & A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926) tomorrow and, man!, these films are both so beautiful. Opulent, rich, exciting, innovative, there's so much to both. I hope the students are as excited about them as I am!
January 28, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Prepping to teach Shiraz (Franz Osten, 1928) & A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926) tomorrow and, man!, these films are both so beautiful. Opulent, rich, exciting, innovative, there's so much to both. I hope the students are as excited about them as I am!
Reposted by Evan Torner
Now pay-what-you-want! Including nothing, if that's where you're at, although all profits are donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. @randylubin.com and I really want you to gather some friends and play it.
Honor Bound by @randylubin.com and @jmstar.bsky.social is a live action game for exactly 6 players, and it explores honor culture and masculinity through the lens of an old fashioned duel. Play starts after a challenge is issued and the de-escalation attempts begins.
randylubin.itch.io/honor-bound
randylubin.itch.io/honor-bound
Honor Bound by Randy Lubin, Bully Pulpit Games
Explores honor culture and toxic masculinity an old fashioned duel
randylubin.itch.io
January 28, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Now pay-what-you-want! Including nothing, if that's where you're at, although all profits are donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. @randylubin.com and I really want you to gather some friends and play it.
#GSA2026 Seminar Announcement:
Gaming Expectations
"We will examine current research in game studies and pedagogy, which will inform the discussion of seminar-participant responses and workshopping... [This] seminar will ...expand scholars’ pedagogical abilities in classroom game implementation."
Gaming Expectations
"We will examine current research in game studies and pedagogy, which will inform the discussion of seminar-participant responses and workshopping... [This] seminar will ...expand scholars’ pedagogical abilities in classroom game implementation."
January 28, 2026 at 11:34 PM
#GSA2026 Seminar Announcement:
Gaming Expectations
"We will examine current research in game studies and pedagogy, which will inform the discussion of seminar-participant responses and workshopping... [This] seminar will ...expand scholars’ pedagogical abilities in classroom game implementation."
Gaming Expectations
"We will examine current research in game studies and pedagogy, which will inform the discussion of seminar-participant responses and workshopping... [This] seminar will ...expand scholars’ pedagogical abilities in classroom game implementation."
Reposted by Evan Torner
HEADS UP! 🔥 🚒 In a few weeks time, we will be launching our Kickstarter campaign for All Will Rise - our game about taking billionaires and corporations to court for destroying the planet. Follow us here! More below: www.kickstarter.com/projects/spe... #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame
Coming soon: All Will Rise: a narrative courtroom deck-builder
A game about taking billionaires to court for destroying the planet.
www.kickstarter.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:40 PM
HEADS UP! 🔥 🚒 In a few weeks time, we will be launching our Kickstarter campaign for All Will Rise - our game about taking billionaires and corporations to court for destroying the planet. Follow us here! More below: www.kickstarter.com/projects/spe... #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame
Reposted by Evan Torner
Mit Aktionen wie „Ice Out Comics“ protestieren US-Künstler gegen das Vorgehen der Einwanderungsbehörde ICE. Sie machen Schicksale von Betroffenen anschaulich und werben für Zivilcourage: www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/comic...
January 28, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Mit Aktionen wie „Ice Out Comics“ protestieren US-Künstler gegen das Vorgehen der Einwanderungsbehörde ICE. Sie machen Schicksale von Betroffenen anschaulich und werben für Zivilcourage: www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/comic...
Reposted by Evan Torner
Just started doing new data analysis and I know I keep saying this, but: I really, really don't think people appreciate how much this moral panic was a deliberate and extremely expensive invention.
January 28, 2026 at 3:12 AM
Just started doing new data analysis and I know I keep saying this, but: I really, really don't think people appreciate how much this moral panic was a deliberate and extremely expensive invention.
Reposted by Evan Torner
Sam has been experimenting with a form of RPG play-adjacent podcasting that focuses on the *emotional experience* of play, rather than the beat-by-beat radioplay format common in APs. He has succeeded triumphantly. I’m in this one!
Dice Exploder is back this week with a new episode of Afterimage all about ERPL, The Experimental Role-Playing Laboratory, a mini-con that took place at my college several times a year.
I still think about the people I met there. They still mean something to me. What might I still mean to them?
I still think about the people I met there. They still mean something to me. What might I still mean to them?
Afterimage #3: The Experimental Role-Playing Laboratory — Dice Exploder
The Experimental Role-Playing Laboratory, or ERPL, was a thrice a year mini convention put on by students at my college back in the 00s and 10s and onward to this day. It's how I got into indie games....
www.diceexploder.com
January 28, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Sam has been experimenting with a form of RPG play-adjacent podcasting that focuses on the *emotional experience* of play, rather than the beat-by-beat radioplay format common in APs. He has succeeded triumphantly. I’m in this one!
Reposted by Evan Torner
"Chains" is a R & B song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was a hit for the American girl group the Cookies in 1962, which inspired @thebeatles to record the song for their debut album in 1963.
January 28, 2026 at 7:23 PM
"Chains" is a R & B song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was a hit for the American girl group the Cookies in 1962, which inspired @thebeatles to record the song for their debut album in 1963.