Ian Cooper
icooper.bsky.social
Ian Cooper
@icooper.bsky.social
Principal Engineer, speaker, gamer, geek. Tattooed, pierced, and bearded. The 'guv' on https://github.com/BrighterCommand Line Editor at Chaosium for QuestWorlds: https://github.com/ChaosiumInc/QuestWorlds

#Tech - tech posts
#TTRPG - rpg posts
Pinned
For those interested in my two-day workshop on messaging (day one: messaging; day two: reactive architectures), then I will be presenting it next at KanDDDinsky.

kandddinsky.de/workshop/pract…

This will be the only remaining public presentation this year.

Hope to see you there.
KanDDDinsky - The art of business software
https://kandddinsky.de/workshop/pract…
Reposted by Ian Cooper
New on the blog this week!

Our experimental archaeologist @experimentalkearns.bsky.social has shared a highlight from her recent trip to Italy, where she came face to face with the Copper Age legend himself, Ötzi the Iceman... ❄️
www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/blog/2025/11...
Frozen in Time: Coming Face to Face with Ötzi the Iceman — Butser Ancient Farm
This week, our Experimental Archaeologist Therese Kearns shares a highlight from her recent trip to Italy, where she came face to face with Ötzi the Iceman.
www.butserancientfarm.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Hey all, do I have any UK based concept artists following me (or who knows anyone) who would be up for a long term 22 month contract working on Dragonwilds at Jagex? Remote with a very occasional day in office in Cambridge. Development experience and fantasy genre work is a must. Mid level role.
November 27, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Let’s talk about “Move fast and break things.” First of all, Facebook itself changed its motto to “Move fast with stable infrastructure” in 2014. So much for breaking things, at least if you’re a soulless corporate behemoth.
1/12
November 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
when we say “Glorantha is mean to be Bronze Age” this is what we mean.
Thinking of the Helmand Culture woman from Shahr-e Sukhteh in Iran with the sick ass golden artificial eye again.
November 24, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Might I suggest a new industrial strategy for the UK, transition our economy to become world leaders in tabletop.
November 20, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Order from Chaosium.com by the below dates to receive by Christmas!

🇺🇸: 12 Dec
🇨🇦: 9 Dec
🇬🇧: 12 Dec
🇪🇺: 15 Dec
🇦🇺: 12 Dec
🌍: 1 Dec

There's always risk of delays, so early ordering is better! We do appreciate people buying direct, and remember when you do you get the PDF instantly.
November 20, 2025 at 5:48 AM
I think that Labour MPs must make a stand and call for a leadership election to oust Starmer and his far right cronies from the Labour Party.

And we must go to the streets to protest this.
So the solution is… to join in?

I'm afraid the “dark forces” are calling from inside the house at this point.
November 17, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
The Labour Government reeling off the same far-right talking points on immigration. And look who is celebrating. The far-right.

There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture

join.greenparty.org.uk
November 16, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
A friendly reminder to my friends and colleagues; the kickstarter campaign for Apocalypse World: Burned Over is going strong and now is a good chance to show your support to @megueyb.bsky.social and @lumpley.bsky.social

www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
Apocalypse World: Burned Over
The 3rd edition of the groundbreaking original.
www.kickstarter.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Want to play a Duck? After appearing as a location and then counters in Greg Stafford's 1975 board war game White Bear and Red Moon ("Ducks, Ducks, and More Ducks"), as #TTRPG creatures Ducks first appeared in @chaosium.bsky.social's first edition of #RuneQuest (1978).
November 17, 2025 at 6:57 AM
It’s a day to be very glad that I left the Labour party and joined the Greens.

Amazed tha no one can see the echoes of the Holocaust in the principle of seizing refugees jewellery on arrival, to fill the public coffers.

We voted progressive; we got ethno-nationalism.
November 17, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
September 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Hurrah! My article on the Twilight 2000 RPG in the Journal of American Studies is now open access (OA), so anyone who wants to can have a read. OA is important to me, as I want my work on RPG history to go beyond the academy and reach the gaming public.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
When You Say, “Thermonuclear War,” I Think You Mean “the Call to Adventure”! The Twilight: 2000 Tabletop Role-Playing Game and the Postapocalyptic World’s Imaginary Spaces | Journal of American Studie...
When You Say, “Thermonuclear War,” I Think You Mean “the Call to Adventure”! The Twilight: 2000 Tabletop Role-Playing Game and the Postapocalyptic World’s Imaginary Spaces
www.cambridge.org
November 14, 2025 at 11:03 AM
October was a crazy month for conference travel, work commitments whilst road warrioring etc.

Good to see friends on the tech conference “circus” but better to be home. Lovely to just spend time with my daughter, 11, yesterday at the London Youth Games, and just chill in the afternoon together.
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I’m a little mixed in Pluribus, but prepared to give it time. The first episode was great, but the character’s varied reactions to the trauma of the event in the second didn’t ring true.
November 9, 2025 at 11:05 AM
It’s a Saturday, so it must be a cross-country
November 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
It's 2025, and we are raising a petition so that children can go to the toilet at school, but here we are. (For those not in the UK, yes, this is real, and as stupid and cruel as it seems.)

Please do sign:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Petition: Require schools to let children use the toilet at all times in the school day
Make it mandatory for schools to allow students to go to the toilet at all times throughout the school day when they need to and do not lock toilets so that they aren’t accessible during certain times...
petition.parliament.uk
November 7, 2025 at 9:42 AM
We have released V10 of Brighter. This represents a significant set of improvements and sets the groundwork for other changes in V10.X releases to come. (We will continue to support V9 with bug fixes until V11; Our release cadence for major versions is 1-2 years.) Details below.
October 27, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Well, I am never going to win a Penguin is better than Tim-Tam argument with an Australian ever again, am I?
October 18, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
What happens when you mash up two of @chaosium.bsky.social 's biggest recent releases? Find out with our one-shot #actualplay of @icooper.bsky.social #Questworlds #AgeOfVikings over on Unconventional GMsa
youtu.be/0R1QtixmQRw?...
Questworlds | Age of Vikings : One Shot | King of the Bears | Actual Play
YouTube video by Unconventional GMs
youtu.be
October 12, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Sounds awesome
We mashed up @chaosium.bsky.social @icooper.bsky.social QuestWorlds with the Age of Vikings setting for an exciting Actual Play.

What's driving the polar bears to rampage and are the Hidden Folk to blame, Loki, or some other villain?

youtu.be/0R1QtixmQRw?...
Questworlds | Age of Vikings : One Shot | King of the Bears | Actual Play
YouTube video by Unconventional GMs
youtu.be
October 11, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Thank you @icooper.bsky.social for the talk on Responsibility Driven Design tonight at the London DDD group. A great talk as always. Thank you.
October 9, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
If you want hardcore runtime details then I recommend botr (book of the runtime)

github.com/dotnet/runti...
github.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Ian Cooper
Happy about it as @icooper.bsky.social is on my short list of the people I respect the most in messaging and architecture.

Plus, he's a cool guy, so feel invited, we'll try to keep it lightweight, but I'm sure that Ian will bring sound insights 🙂
Don't miss a new Small Talk Episode! 🔔

Distributed Systems & Messaging Patterns with @icooper.bsky.social moderated by @oskardudycz.bsky.social

When: Oct 6th, from 3 pm (CEST)

RSVP on Meetup:
www.meetup.com/avanscoperta...

Live streaming on:
YouTube: youtube.com/live/0NYwN_p...
October 2, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Geek down!

So great was the amount of material in Monolith’s Conan Kickstarter shipment (an age of cardboard packaging undreamed of) that I have been injured during the unboxing.
September 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM