David Thomas
@tentagil.bsky.social
Game Designer and Publisher. Co-Owner of Absurdist Productions.
Got some playtesting of Mirror Agents during a local Con a while back. And gearing up to bring it to PAXU to start showing off to the media and demo it. It always feels amazing to see a game evolve from a random idea to a beautiful, finished product.
November 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Got some playtesting of Mirror Agents during a local Con a while back. And gearing up to bring it to PAXU to start showing off to the media and demo it. It always feels amazing to see a game evolve from a random idea to a beautiful, finished product.
Just a few weeks till I hit the road and head to PAX Unplugged with my company @absurdistprod.bsky.social. Looking forward to showing off the prototype of Mirror Agents, along with demos of our games.
October 31, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Just a few weeks till I hit the road and head to PAX Unplugged with my company @absurdistprod.bsky.social. Looking forward to showing off the prototype of Mirror Agents, along with demos of our games.
Got some board gaming in with the fiancee this weekend. What did you play this weekend?
October 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Got some board gaming in with the fiancee this weekend. What did you play this weekend?
Had this little gremlin watching me the whole time I was playing last night. Well, other then when she was trying to sit in the game box or swat at the titles.
October 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Had this little gremlin watching me the whole time I was playing last night. Well, other then when she was trying to sit in the game box or swat at the titles.
Spent some time last night learning Diatoms by @ludoliminal.bsky.social. Played through the first couple of commissions in the solo mode. It's a really fun puzzly little game, and I look forward to getting it to the table with friends.
October 11, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Spent some time last night learning Diatoms by @ludoliminal.bsky.social. Played through the first couple of commissions in the solo mode. It's a really fun puzzly little game, and I look forward to getting it to the table with friends.
Really love how this one came out. Really gets that sort of 30s/40s fatale vibe. And love how our Illustrator Aster put a sort of spotlight on her and gave the gown a shimmer.
Showing off a new piece of Mirror Agents art. This time, we have The Decoy. We have a strong Marlene Dietrich vibe going.
October 9, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Really love how this one came out. Really gets that sort of 30s/40s fatale vibe. And love how our Illustrator Aster put a sort of spotlight on her and gave the gown a shimmer.
Stumbled on this article yesterday, and love getting a glimpse into what different publishers are looking for in the games they design and publish.
entrogames.substack.com/p/how-do-pub...
entrogames.substack.com/p/how-do-pub...
How Do Publishers Think About Game Design?
5 examples to help you craft your your own design philosophy
entrogames.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Stumbled on this article yesterday, and love getting a glimpse into what different publishers are looking for in the games they design and publish.
entrogames.substack.com/p/how-do-pub...
entrogames.substack.com/p/how-do-pub...
I have a new design buddy. She's really good at moving meeples around the board, but not so much at making strategic decisions. Meet Chaka Khan!
September 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I have a new design buddy. She's really good at moving meeples around the board, but not so much at making strategic decisions. Meet Chaka Khan!
Just found out about #solosept and I happened to have co-designed and written a couple of solo horror #ttrpgs. You can find Transformation and Seven Murders Til Midnight from my company, @absurdistprod.bsky.social
We came across a post from someone playing through Transformation and wanted to reach out to anyone else who has created their own story with one of our books. We'd love for you to share. What dark, tragic, or terrifying tales have you crafted with Transformation or Seven Murders Til Midnight?
September 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Just found out about #solosept and I happened to have co-designed and written a couple of solo horror #ttrpgs. You can find Transformation and Seven Murders Til Midnight from my company, @absurdistprod.bsky.social
We are working on assembling the first full art prototype of Mirror Agents for playtesting. Have to make sure the UX all works as expected and going to start formally blind testing the rules to make sure they are truely ready to go. The game is looking gorgeous.
September 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
We are working on assembling the first full art prototype of Mirror Agents for playtesting. Have to make sure the UX all works as expected and going to start formally blind testing the rules to make sure they are truely ready to go. The game is looking gorgeous.
We've been getting more of the Graphic Design and some of the art in for Mirror Agents. It's all still WIP, but it's looking so good. Loving the Art Deco-inspired direction we've gone in.
We are out playtesting today, and showing off the graphic design in progress for Mirror Agents. Really happy with the art deco vibe we are going with.
July 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
We've been getting more of the Graphic Design and some of the art in for Mirror Agents. It's all still WIP, but it's looking so good. Loving the Art Deco-inspired direction we've gone in.
I was asked to do a workshop on narrative writing/creation in games for a local bookstore. I've written the story and dialogue for a few video games, and written two solo Journaling RPGs. So, I'm not inexperienced in the area, but it still feels weird to be asked to act like an expert.
July 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I was asked to do a workshop on narrative writing/creation in games for a local bookstore. I've written the story and dialogue for a few video games, and written two solo Journaling RPGs. So, I'm not inexperienced in the area, but it still feels weird to be asked to act like an expert.
Along with designing games, and co-running @absurdistprod.bsky.social. I also help run a local board game design group here in OKC. Scheduling playtesting events at shops around the city every month and doing my best to get other designers connected with playtesters.
June 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Along with designing games, and co-running @absurdistprod.bsky.social. I also help run a local board game design group here in OKC. Scheduling playtesting events at shops around the city every month and doing my best to get other designers connected with playtesters.
An excellent early birthday gift from my fiancee. Been a little burnt our on creative endeavors lately do to all the chaos here in the US. So sitting down for a night a clicking bricks together was a nice was to relax. Also, its a fricken Sherlock Holmes book nook.
June 12, 2025 at 5:06 PM
An excellent early birthday gift from my fiancee. Been a little burnt our on creative endeavors lately do to all the chaos here in the US. So sitting down for a night a clicking bricks together was a nice was to relax. Also, its a fricken Sherlock Holmes book nook.
I sometimes forget that I had more hair then.
A throwback photo from around 2018, when we were running the original Churrascaria Kickstarter. And now the second edition is starting to show up in retail stores.
June 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I sometimes forget that I had more hair then.
Big Props to Cole and Joe for the success of Molly House and for now releasing the PNP as CC 4.0.
As part of @wehrlegig.games 's ongoing commitment to the Creative Commons, today we are releasing Molly House under a BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Many thanks to @miasmacorp.bsky.social for making this possible.
Details here: boardgamegeek.com/thread/35109...
Details here: boardgamegeek.com/thread/35109...
Final Print and Play Released | Molly House
As part of our ongoing commitment to the Creative Commons, it is my pleasure to offer the final Molly House print-and-play kit. These files are offered under a BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. This means that th...
boardgamegeek.com
May 13, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Big Props to Cole and Joe for the success of Molly House and for now releasing the PNP as CC 4.0.
This character is known as The Transporter, and playing this card is how you move your agent around the board. When your opponent plays, ii you know they've moved, but you have to keep an eye outfort what other card they play and how they impact the board to decipher where.
May 13, 2025 at 7:18 PM
This character is known as The Transporter, and playing this card is how you move your agent around the board. When your opponent plays, ii you know they've moved, but you have to keep an eye outfort what other card they play and how they impact the board to decipher where.
We've gotten the first card from Mirror Agents essentially done. Meet The Cleaner. An asset card that allows a player to clear all the Intel on a location and keep one.
May 2, 2025 at 1:31 PM
We've gotten the first card from Mirror Agents essentially done. Meet The Cleaner. An asset card that allows a player to clear all the Intel on a location and keep one.
With the craziness of tariffs, I've started shifting my design focus to card games. looking at old ideas and stripping them down to their most basic concepts and themes to see what I can do with them and a deck of cards.
First up, a trick taking/group tableu builder I'm calling Chaos Garden.
First up, a trick taking/group tableu builder I'm calling Chaos Garden.
April 11, 2025 at 6:26 PM
With the craziness of tariffs, I've started shifting my design focus to card games. looking at old ideas and stripping them down to their most basic concepts and themes to see what I can do with them and a deck of cards.
First up, a trick taking/group tableu builder I'm calling Chaos Garden.
First up, a trick taking/group tableu builder I'm calling Chaos Garden.
Took the Board Game Designer Match quiz that's going around. I come from an educational background and like games with thematic and engaging games with smooth gameplay. I'm also a bit of a chaos goblin, so I think the matches are pretty accurate.
April 9, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Took the Board Game Designer Match quiz that's going around. I come from an educational background and like games with thematic and engaging games with smooth gameplay. I'm also a bit of a chaos goblin, so I think the matches are pretty accurate.
Art and graphic design for Mirror Agents, continues and every piece I see gets me more excited. None of these are final, but they are getting close. We are really leaning into an Art Deco meets Noir vibe and I love it.
April 3, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Art and graphic design for Mirror Agents, continues and every piece I see gets me more excited. None of these are final, but they are getting close. We are really leaning into an Art Deco meets Noir vibe and I love it.
Let's talk about art and prototypes. Two of these photos show the final art for Churrascaria, a game I published it in 2018, with the 2nd edition now delivering. The third image is of an early prototype I made.
April 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Let's talk about art and prototypes. Two of these photos show the final art for Churrascaria, a game I published it in 2018, with the 2nd edition now delivering. The third image is of an early prototype I made.
Had some great playtests this weekend at TokenCon. While the design work on Mirror Agents is essentially complete, these tests still gave me data to adjust balance, clean up rules text, and allowed me to test a first play/quick game variant to help onboard players into the game.
March 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Had some great playtests this weekend at TokenCon. While the design work on Mirror Agents is essentially complete, these tests still gave me data to adjust balance, clean up rules text, and allowed me to test a first play/quick game variant to help onboard players into the game.
Had a great playtest of Mirror Agents yesterday with this couple. Plenty of tension and shit-talking as they played.
Getting a Mirror Agents Playtest in at TokenCon!
March 15, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Had a great playtest of Mirror Agents yesterday with this couple. Plenty of tension and shit-talking as they played.
To my mind, a rulebook is a technical document, so I tend to follow the standards for technical writing when creating one. This means staying in the active voice and using the third person as much as possible. Both make it clear who is doing what and why.
March 12, 2025 at 5:16 PM
To my mind, a rulebook is a technical document, so I tend to follow the standards for technical writing when creating one. This means staying in the active voice and using the third person as much as possible. Both make it clear who is doing what and why.