Jesse Burneko
@jburneko.itch.io
Professional video game developer. Self-publisher of Gothic and psychological horror themed RPGs. Avid reader of early Gothics, mid-20th century fantasy, and crime fiction.
Bloodthorn Press
https://jburneko.itch.io/
Bloodthorn Press
https://jburneko.itch.io/
Sadly, we did this one on The Forge too. It was called No Myth.
Speedrunning TTRPG discourse by wall-glitching right past “system doesn’t matter” discourse and going right into the far future of “setting doesn’t matter.”
January 19, 2026 at 3:05 AM
Sadly, we did this one on The Forge too. It was called No Myth.
Reposted by Jesse Burneko
If you never want to complete a game design project you're working on you can *easily* find groups of people online who will gladly help you do that by talking with you endlessly in encouraging ways that somehow just never provoke forward movement. Divorce yourself from those groups!
January 18, 2026 at 11:12 PM
If you never want to complete a game design project you're working on you can *easily* find groups of people online who will gladly help you do that by talking with you endlessly in encouraging ways that somehow just never provoke forward movement. Divorce yourself from those groups!
Someone once said to me, “public social media will never be the graduate school conversation you desire” and it helped me make peace with a lot of things. Not everything but a lot of things.
I am intensely sympathetic to everyone who is tired of cyclical conversations and their inevitable return, because I promise that you have no IDEA how tired I am.
But the alternative is saying “We have already had this conversation without you, too bad” and that prospect tires me out EVEN MORE.
But the alternative is saying “We have already had this conversation without you, too bad” and that prospect tires me out EVEN MORE.
January 16, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Someone once said to me, “public social media will never be the graduate school conversation you desire” and it helped me make peace with a lot of things. Not everything but a lot of things.
Reposted by Jesse Burneko
Is this how kids see me??
January 16, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Is this how kids see me??
Freeeeeeeeeedoooooooooom!
January 13, 2026 at 4:18 AM
Freeeeeeeeeedoooooooooom!
I need a word like “zen” that doesn’t feel cultural appropriative or “mindfulness“ that doesn’t feel so commercialized.
January 11, 2026 at 3:41 AM
I need a word like “zen” that doesn’t feel cultural appropriative or “mindfulness“ that doesn’t feel so commercialized.
This comes from games where you’re suddenly locked into your character’s one trick once a fight breaks out instead of just thinking “What does my guy do under fire?” which should be no different then “What does my guy do when their lover leaves them?” regardless of the granularity of the system.
Talking as if "combat" and "roleplay" are different things is anti-TTRPG.
January 9, 2026 at 3:23 PM
This comes from games where you’re suddenly locked into your character’s one trick once a fight breaks out instead of just thinking “What does my guy do under fire?” which should be no different then “What does my guy do when their lover leaves them?” regardless of the granularity of the system.
I'm trying to figure out what I should run for both IGRC Con and Strategicon and I'm at a loss.
January 7, 2026 at 1:15 AM
I'm trying to figure out what I should run for both IGRC Con and Strategicon and I'm at a loss.
Ron Edwards if offering his "People & Play" Course again for the first time in a couple of years. I highly recommend it. It will reframe how you think about playing RPGs. (Cost is in Swedish Krona and time is CET). payhip.com/b/DFLct
Course: People and Play
payhip.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Ron Edwards if offering his "People & Play" Course again for the first time in a couple of years. I highly recommend it. It will reframe how you think about playing RPGs. (Cost is in Swedish Krona and time is CET). payhip.com/b/DFLct
Madness or Genius. You decide.
I made a toasted peanut butter banana corn chex marshmallow sandwhich.
January 5, 2026 at 12:11 AM
Madness or Genius. You decide.
The novel “The Cement Garden” by Ian McEwan and the film “Franklyn”. These are two of the most “me“ pieces of media ever created. I’m okay. Really. Promise. I’m fine.
January 2, 2026 at 8:52 PM
The novel “The Cement Garden” by Ian McEwan and the film “Franklyn”. These are two of the most “me“ pieces of media ever created. I’m okay. Really. Promise. I’m fine.
I’m not a fan of the phrase “ludonarrative dissonance“ but the ludonarrative dissonance is off the charts in Baldur’s Gate 3.
January 2, 2026 at 12:38 AM
I’m not a fan of the phrase “ludonarrative dissonance“ but the ludonarrative dissonance is off the charts in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Anyone who thinks “cosmic horror” and ”family drama” are unrelated needs to read H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Color Out of Space” and recite the plot back to me, in detail, very slowly.
If you wanna watch me lose my fucking mind about a mediocre white man trying to tell me that you have to be careful when combining unrelated genres like cosmic horror and family drama, here's that panel.
Start at 28:30.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAr2...
Start at 28:30.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAr2...
Illusion Horror & Con 2025 - Slot 4.5 || Horror Inspiration
YouTube video by The Illusion Horror & Con
www.youtube.com
January 1, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Anyone who thinks “cosmic horror” and ”family drama” are unrelated needs to read H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Color Out of Space” and recite the plot back to me, in detail, very slowly.
Reposted by Jesse Burneko
"You can just make a game" was not a part of online RPG culture before The Forge. So if you found a RPG rules on someone's GeoCities page it was surely something they were deeply inspired to make. They'd been carried in making it by just their own sense of purpose, of having something to say as...
December 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
"You can just make a game" was not a part of online RPG culture before The Forge. So if you found a RPG rules on someone's GeoCities page it was surely something they were deeply inspired to make. They'd been carried in making it by just their own sense of purpose, of having something to say as...
Me (after loading up Baldur’s Gate 3 for the first time): Oh, you’re STARTING at the point where I usually start to question if we should still be playing this campaign.
December 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Me (after loading up Baldur’s Gate 3 for the first time): Oh, you’re STARTING at the point where I usually start to question if we should still be playing this campaign.
How about the game that doesn’t really sell at all but the 15 people who play it on the regular love it?
Feels like we need a new word for “successful” TTRPGs. A tight print run that sells through in a year might be a bigger win than a flashy but exhausting crowdfunding campaign.
How do you define success for a game you make or back?
1/2
How do you define success for a game you make or back?
1/2
December 30, 2025 at 5:01 PM
How about the game that doesn’t really sell at all but the 15 people who play it on the regular love it?
I’ve played this TWICE and often think about playing it again. Let’s ugly cry together!
Anyway, Seth went on to make A Flower for Mara, which is another one of those games which you either go “what?” Or “Oh, THAT!” At, and he’s on itch. I haven’t seen him in almost 20 years, but remember him fondly.
Seth Ben-Ezra
darkomengames.itch.io
December 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I’ve played this TWICE and often think about playing it again. Let’s ugly cry together!
I also enjoy Ron‘s ratfucking game and am sad he doesn’t sell it any more so I can spread the joy.
(Of course, I also found this on my shelf next to Ron’s ratfucking game, so I’m not going to say they ALL could have been apocalypse world.)
December 30, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I also enjoy Ron‘s ratfucking game and am sad he doesn’t sell it any more so I can spread the joy.
This is one of my favorite games. I’ve played it a bunch. I’ve had middle of the road sessions of it but never a bad one.
Fred forced me, FORCED ME I SAY, to go down into the basement to find Seth Ben-Ezra’s Dirty Secrets.
God, this thing is a beauty.
(And yes. It is square.)
God, this thing is a beauty.
(And yes. It is square.)
December 30, 2025 at 4:40 PM
This is one of my favorite games. I’ve played it a bunch. I’ve had middle of the road sessions of it but never a bad one.
One of the reasons that you’ll sometimes get puzzled responses from people about the nature of Apocalypse World is that - as good as it is - when it came out, it just blended in with the other amazing, experimental, boundary pushing games people were making. It’s just the one that took off.
December 30, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Tunnels & Trolls did the "Everyone on a side combines dice into a single pool. The losing side takes the difference in damage." in 1975. Before I learned that I would have said Story Engine (1999) was the first game that had everyone pool their dice. Everything is older than you think.
I have reached the part of the video where I definitely become an old man, because every single time a game gets cited as originating an idea, my immediate response is “Bullshit, that came from [INSERT GAME HERE]” which is SUPER pedantic of me.
December 30, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Tunnels & Trolls did the "Everyone on a side combines dice into a single pool. The losing side takes the difference in damage." in 1975. Before I learned that I would have said Story Engine (1999) was the first game that had everyone pool their dice. Everything is older than you think.
I want to do a contemporary rewrite of "Death of Salesman" about a burned out internet influencer.
December 27, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I want to do a contemporary rewrite of "Death of Salesman" about a burned out internet influencer.
Reposted by Jesse Burneko
Any critiques that are written entirely through the lens of Campbell/Hero’s Journey. Shut up.
what is your least favorite piece of writing advice and why? 👀
December 23, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Any critiques that are written entirely through the lens of Campbell/Hero’s Journey. Shut up.
Not all attempts to process and analyze the medium of RPGs is insincere marketing but sadly, a lot of it is, which muddies the waters for anyone doing honest reflection.
I tend to tune out TTRPG theory talk because I find it's usually someone explaining why their personal design approach is Correct, True, and Best; i.e. advertising
December 18, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Not all attempts to process and analyze the medium of RPGs is insincere marketing but sadly, a lot of it is, which muddies the waters for anyone doing honest reflection.
Reposted by Jesse Burneko
In TRPG design, across the board, one should stick with the raw inspirational stuff and design rules to provide useful constraints for a group to creatively* express that material in their own way. Not one's story, fandom festishism, processed genre or book product.
*in its general sense
*in its general sense
December 16, 2025 at 9:45 PM
In TRPG design, across the board, one should stick with the raw inspirational stuff and design rules to provide useful constraints for a group to creatively* express that material in their own way. Not one's story, fandom festishism, processed genre or book product.
*in its general sense
*in its general sense