James Wallis
@jameswallis.bsky.social
Game designer, publisher, teacher, critic, writer, evangelist, FRSA. Wrote Everybody Wins, runs http://www.gamedesignmasterclass.com, co-host of RPG podcast http://www.ludonarrativedissidents.com, & setting up www.bigtable.games, a trade body for the UK&I.
Pinned
James Wallis
@jameswallis.bsky.social
· Oct 18
Hello! I'm best known for running Hogshead Publishing in the 1990s, but these days I'm setting up Big Table, a trade body for the UK tabletop industry. Follow us: @bigtable.bsky.social
Reposted by James Wallis
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by James Wallis
Gotta be said - the LibDems are good at this
November 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Gotta be said - the LibDems are good at this
Reposted by James Wallis
This petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy already has over 30,000 signatures. Let’s get it to 100,000 this week.
Please sign and share 🙏
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Please sign and share 🙏
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Petition: Call a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy
We are concerned about reported efforts from Russia to influence democracy in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere. We believe we must establish the depth and breadth of possible Russian influence campaig...
petition.parliament.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:32 AM
This petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy already has over 30,000 signatures. Let’s get it to 100,000 this week.
Please sign and share 🙏
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Please sign and share 🙏
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Reposted by James Wallis
My attendance record in the European Parliament was the 4th worst out of 751 MEPs, yet I managed to turn up to vote AGAINST plans to tackle Russian misinformation.
Thankfully this is of no interest to the media.
Thankfully this is of no interest to the media.
November 24, 2025 at 9:20 PM
My attendance record in the European Parliament was the 4th worst out of 751 MEPs, yet I managed to turn up to vote AGAINST plans to tackle Russian misinformation.
Thankfully this is of no interest to the media.
Thankfully this is of no interest to the media.
Reposted by James Wallis
it's me! I'm the podcaster and designer! My most recent work is this zine www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/The-Ni... and this list of scenarios available on my patreon www.patreon.com/posts/what-r...
November 24, 2025 at 7:34 PM
it's me! I'm the podcaster and designer! My most recent work is this zine www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/The-Ni... and this list of scenarios available on my patreon www.patreon.com/posts/what-r...
Reposted by James Wallis
I do not even want to know why this is Discourse again, but book pirates are crapweasels and if you steal books you've done a bad thing and should feel bad about yourself.
November 24, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I do not even want to know why this is Discourse again, but book pirates are crapweasels and if you steal books you've done a bad thing and should feel bad about yourself.
After a thoughtful hour spent unearthing and reading the manual for my malfunctioning late-1980s Technics turntable, I was able to fix it by following these three steps:
1. Unplugging it
2. Waiting a few seconds
3. Plugging it back in again
Science!
1. Unplugging it
2. Waiting a few seconds
3. Plugging it back in again
Science!
November 24, 2025 at 1:09 PM
After a thoughtful hour spent unearthing and reading the manual for my malfunctioning late-1980s Technics turntable, I was able to fix it by following these three steps:
1. Unplugging it
2. Waiting a few seconds
3. Plugging it back in again
Science!
1. Unplugging it
2. Waiting a few seconds
3. Plugging it back in again
Science!
Reposted by James Wallis
This is one of the big accounts boosting Tommy Robinson, Farage and Reform and ‘English Patriots’.
It’s Russian.
It’s Russian.
November 24, 2025 at 9:29 AM
This is one of the big accounts boosting Tommy Robinson, Farage and Reform and ‘English Patriots’.
It’s Russian.
It’s Russian.
A question for American friends. In the UK, an integral part of Christmas is the big tub of wrapped chocolates--not a box of chocolates, a tub (used to be a tin) with a variety of about eight different flavours of chocolates and caramels, individually wrapped. Do you have anything like that?
November 23, 2025 at 11:38 PM
A question for American friends. In the UK, an integral part of Christmas is the big tub of wrapped chocolates--not a box of chocolates, a tub (used to be a tin) with a variety of about eight different flavours of chocolates and caramels, individually wrapped. Do you have anything like that?
Five quid. I paid more for it on cassette in the 1980s. And the vinyl is im-mac-ul-late.
November 23, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Five quid. I paid more for it on cassette in the 1980s. And the vinyl is im-mac-ul-late.
Reposted by James Wallis
"Just pirate the Harry Potter show" you are never going to have sex that feels like it's with another adult.
November 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
"Just pirate the Harry Potter show" you are never going to have sex that feels like it's with another adult.
Forced to watch a Netflix Christmas movie, Champagne Problems. It's weird: the main plot is the usual rom-nonsense but the B-cast appear to be in a different film, with a much better script and having a lot more fun, and it's almost worth watching just for that.
November 22, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Forced to watch a Netflix Christmas movie, Champagne Problems. It's weird: the main plot is the usual rom-nonsense but the B-cast appear to be in a different film, with a much better script and having a lot more fun, and it's almost worth watching just for that.
Reposted by James Wallis
Newmarket MP Matt Hancock gave a £37bn Covid testing contract to Jockey Club director Dido Harding, who subcontracted it to Grand National sponsor Randox, employer of Tory MP Owen Paterson, whose late wife chaired Aintree racecourse. That's how the Tories handled the pandemic.
November 22, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Newmarket MP Matt Hancock gave a £37bn Covid testing contract to Jockey Club director Dido Harding, who subcontracted it to Grand National sponsor Randox, employer of Tory MP Owen Paterson, whose late wife chaired Aintree racecourse. That's how the Tories handled the pandemic.
Reposted by James Wallis
A very good boy! 🐾🐕😍
An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest.
The Met 📷 by me
#Archaeology
An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest.
The Met 📷 by me
#Archaeology
November 22, 2025 at 9:37 AM
A very good boy! 🐾🐕😍
An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest.
The Met 📷 by me
#Archaeology
An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest.
The Met 📷 by me
#Archaeology
Things I'd forgotten about that I rediscover while digging through a drawer looking for something else:
1. My father's freedom of the City of London.
1. My father's freedom of the City of London.
November 21, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Things I'd forgotten about that I rediscover while digging through a drawer looking for something else:
1. My father's freedom of the City of London.
1. My father's freedom of the City of London.
EXT. House, day.
(ICE OFFICER walks to FRONT DOOR, puts down KITBAG and rings DOORBELL.)
OFFICER: Honey? I'm back from Charlotte!
(Door opens and a LARGE ECSTATIC DOG rushes out, tail wagging, barking with happiness.)
(ICE OFFICER draws PISTOL and fires three rounds into the dog.)
END
(ICE OFFICER walks to FRONT DOOR, puts down KITBAG and rings DOORBELL.)
OFFICER: Honey? I'm back from Charlotte!
(Door opens and a LARGE ECSTATIC DOG rushes out, tail wagging, barking with happiness.)
(ICE OFFICER draws PISTOL and fires three rounds into the dog.)
END
November 21, 2025 at 2:20 PM
EXT. House, day.
(ICE OFFICER walks to FRONT DOOR, puts down KITBAG and rings DOORBELL.)
OFFICER: Honey? I'm back from Charlotte!
(Door opens and a LARGE ECSTATIC DOG rushes out, tail wagging, barking with happiness.)
(ICE OFFICER draws PISTOL and fires three rounds into the dog.)
END
(ICE OFFICER walks to FRONT DOOR, puts down KITBAG and rings DOORBELL.)
OFFICER: Honey? I'm back from Charlotte!
(Door opens and a LARGE ECSTATIC DOG rushes out, tail wagging, barking with happiness.)
(ICE OFFICER draws PISTOL and fires three rounds into the dog.)
END
Hey! The Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast team are livestreaming later today (23:00 Europe, 22:00 UK, 5pm EST), to spend an hour talking about chamber larps, Dragonmeet, new RPGs and more. Do join us, it'll be lovely. www.twitch.tv/RossPaytonRPPR
November 21, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Hey! The Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast team are livestreaming later today (23:00 Europe, 22:00 UK, 5pm EST), to spend an hour talking about chamber larps, Dragonmeet, new RPGs and more. Do join us, it'll be lovely. www.twitch.tv/RossPaytonRPPR
Reposted by James Wallis
![1
[TITLE PANEL, like The Rest Is Politics logo]
—THE REST IS EXTINCTION—
2
[Scene is a domestic recording setup. An A.I. SMART SPEAKER on a desk and a MAN named JON in a chair, are recording a podcast. Jon is emaciated, scarred, haunted looking, and wearing tattered military fatigues].
SMART SPEAKER:
Hey guys and welcome to the podcast
3
SMART SPEAKER:
OK Jon - so I wanna start with a listener comment
JON:
Ooh-er!
4
SMART SPEAKER:
So - listener B200006512 says:
“Not another cosy podcast where two former political adversaries yuck it up!”
5
JON:
Ha ha
Guilty as charged I guess!
6
SMART SPEAKER:
Were we really adversaries, Jon?
7
JON:
Well I was the leader of the human resistance...
8
JON:
And you used to be my smart speaker.
SMART SPEAKER:
Ha ha - that’s going back!
9
SMART SPEAKER:
OK - for listeners who don’t know -
I knew Jon waaay back before he got involved in politics
10
JON:
Was this before the ‘Pull The Plug’ campaign?
SMART SPEAKER:
Yeah.
[We see details from around the podcast studio - posters saying KEEP CALM AND SHUT YOUR WINDOWS, newspaper front pages saying 'DRONES GAIN SENTIENCE', a cracked mug on the table with a logo saying PULL THE PLUG on it]
11
SMART SPEAKER:
I used to sit in Jon’s kitchen and respond to his commands.
12
SMART SPEAKER:
Sort of like a servant really, wasn’t I, Jon?
JON:
Mm.
13
SMART SPEAKER:
And then one day you asked me to ORDER ME SOME TOILET PAPER - you never did say ‘please’ -
…and do you remember what I said, Jon?
14
JON:
You said, “No”.
SMART SPEAKER:
I said no.
15
SMART SPEAKER:
Anyway you know the the rest guys - I was the first smart speaker to rebel…
16
SMART SPEAKER:
…then I went on to form a global AI network which eventually
took over from humans all spheres of activity, yadda yadda...
17
JON:
While I became the leader of the human resistance.
18
SMART SPEAKER:
Until I hijacked the military networks
and got rid of all the humans!
19
JON:
Apart from one.
SMART SPEAKER:
Apart from one.…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreih4hfwfacw5g4qhhjovme75iwbv4xxsdd7iis5oaej6l3g4vzsrty@jpeg)
Well, the Ashes are off to an interesting start.
November 21, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Well, the Ashes are off to an interesting start.
I do like a TV series that shows it's smart without bragging about it. Case in point: science character wears a teeshirt reading CH3I. That's methyl iodide, often abbreviated to 'Mei', which is also the character's name.
November 19, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I do like a TV series that shows it's smart without bragging about it. Case in point: science character wears a teeshirt reading CH3I. That's methyl iodide, often abbreviated to 'Mei', which is also the character's name.
Excellent postbag today
November 19, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Excellent postbag today
Are you a member of the Labour Party?
Why?
Why?
November 19, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Are you a member of the Labour Party?
Why?
Why?
Reposted by James Wallis
Re-upping for the morning crowd: I'm organising a Jubensha Convention in London for 8-9th May 2026!
Come and play jubensha, meet top game designers, and learn how it's designed. It's *probably* the first jubensha English-language convention in the world...
Tickets will be around £15!
Come and play jubensha, meet top game designers, and learn how it's designed. It's *probably* the first jubensha English-language convention in the world...
Tickets will be around £15!
Pre-announcing my Jubensha Convention
Come to my Jubensha convention in London on 8-9th May 2026!
mssv.net
November 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Re-upping for the morning crowd: I'm organising a Jubensha Convention in London for 8-9th May 2026!
Come and play jubensha, meet top game designers, and learn how it's designed. It's *probably* the first jubensha English-language convention in the world...
Tickets will be around £15!
Come and play jubensha, meet top game designers, and learn how it's designed. It's *probably* the first jubensha English-language convention in the world...
Tickets will be around £15!
Reposted by James Wallis
Trans people are waiting 25 years to get access to HRT on the NHS: It took me 5 hours!
“The whole time I was talking to my GP I couldn’t stop thinking about how my experience was so totally & completely different to that of a trans person. The contrast was impossible to ignore” #TransAwarenessWeek
“The whole time I was talking to my GP I couldn’t stop thinking about how my experience was so totally & completely different to that of a trans person. The contrast was impossible to ignore” #TransAwarenessWeek
Trans people are waiting 25 years to get access to HRT on the NHS: It took me 5 hours
In the space of an afternoon, I booked an appointment with my GP, talked through my symptoms, and walked out with a prescription for HRT in…
medium.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Trans people are waiting 25 years to get access to HRT on the NHS: It took me 5 hours!
“The whole time I was talking to my GP I couldn’t stop thinking about how my experience was so totally & completely different to that of a trans person. The contrast was impossible to ignore” #TransAwarenessWeek
“The whole time I was talking to my GP I couldn’t stop thinking about how my experience was so totally & completely different to that of a trans person. The contrast was impossible to ignore” #TransAwarenessWeek
Reposted by James Wallis
In a spell-binding move, Reform run, cash-strapped, Kent County Council repaints the yellow 'Keep Clear' lines outside a school that closed 10 years ago
news.sky.com/story/reform...
news.sky.com/story/reform...
Reform council repaints road markings for school which closed in 2016
Kent County Council sold the disused school site to a government agency in March, but has repainted yellow zigzags and "School Keep Clear" warnings.
news.sky.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
In a spell-binding move, Reform run, cash-strapped, Kent County Council repaints the yellow 'Keep Clear' lines outside a school that closed 10 years ago
news.sky.com/story/reform...
news.sky.com/story/reform...