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Reposted by Dylan Grinder is back to streaming!

Kienna is sometimes a scary goose @kiennas.bsky.social · 15h

me trying to use CSS is like navigating a Miyazaki poison swamp - there's a sense of accomplishment working out the problems, but I'm taking tick damage the entire time

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 19h

Trying to make my way through a permadeath playthrough of Majora's Mask today!

twitch.tv/anarisis

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, twitch.tv/anarisis
An illustration of Dylan (made by @Dragonsparkz.bsky.social) in a blue tunic puzzling over a map is superimposed over the key art for Majora's Mask 3D.

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Reposted by Dylan Grinder is back to streaming!

Kienna is sometimes a scary goose @kiennas.bsky.social · 1d

Have you heard the good word of MEAT? 🥩🥩🥩

Kienna is sometimes a scary goose @kiennas.bsky.social · 7d

Do you hear that? Raucous laughter, festive music, and wet squelching...

#MeatCircusJam is in town! Join me @anarisis.dylangrinder.com @pbplaysinside.bsky.social and @superrobotbear.bsky.social for a #TTRPG jam about MEAT

Submissions open until Oct 31st at 11:59 pm PT!

itch.io/jam/meatcirc...

Graphic for Meat Circus Jam created by Ethan @superrobotbear.bsky.social. It features a circus background and a cleaver.

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Reposted by Dylan Grinder is back to streaming!

Kienna is sometimes a scary goose @kiennas.bsky.social · 1d

I have an unhealthy attachment to all my friends' cats

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 1d

Oh heck, potencies are really interesting as well! So much is being done here to keep interactions nuanced and allow for emergent moments while massively streamlining the process of play itself (once you're past the phase of knowledge where you have to reference the book constantly).

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 1d

One of the smart things about the choice to condense attacks into power rolls (beyond the obvious benefit of streamlining combat) is that it makes the game more tactical. It's easier to come up with strategies when every ability does *something* instead of wasting action economy on possible misses.

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 1d

I've been known to do these 👀
bsky.app/profile/anar...

Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · Aug 18

Hey there, Bluesky! I'm Dylan, a game designer and graphic designer for tabletop and indie projects.

I also use those skills to design free supplements for RPGs and analyze the games I stream!

Games on: anarisis.itch.io
Streams on: twitch.tv/anarisis
Freebies funded by: patreon.com/anarisis

Gold metal lettering is set in a dull blue leather, itself framed in more ornate metal. The text reads "Spoken Magic by Dylan Grinder".

Glowing green lines on a black background trace a circuit-like pattern. Dramatic glassy letters replete with a similar pattern spell out "Become" with a subtitle in glowing typewriter-style lettering says "artificial investigation".

Highly stylized picture of a hand reaching up with a knife pointing down, the point of the knife a small space away from the fingertip. The lighting is pure red with blue highlights. Along the blade is the title "Blood On My Name" in bold yellow text. The author names Kienna Shaw & Jason Cutrone are at the bottom in bold white text.

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Reposted by Dylan Grinder is back to streaming!

Kienna is sometimes a scary goose @kiennas.bsky.social · 1d

We might actually be close to solving the mysteries of Snaktooth Island!

Come aboard the GSS as we reach the end game of Bugsnax 🐛🐜🐝

twitch.tv/kiennas

An illustrated astronaut goose sits in front of a space station window that frames text reading "Bugsnax, twitch.tv/kiennas"

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Reposted by Dylan Grinder is back to streaming!

Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

And lo, what arrives to save this dismal day? My contributor copies of #DrawSteel!

I am equal parts stoked to see my name in such a gorgeous book alongside such awesome people, and frothing at the mouth with excitement to learn the game itself!

A picture of the hardcover versions of Draw Steel: Heroes and Draw Steel: Monsters from #MCDM (@hellomcdm.bsky.social)

A picture of the credits page in Draw Steel: Monsters

A cropped in shot of the credits page from Draw Steel: Monsters where Dylan (among others) is credited for layout.

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

Oh, I forgot to mention! The ancestry choices are sick as hell and I'm stoked that they've let themselves get a little weird with it in places!

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

There's a lot of really good table culture stuff in here presented really smartly as rules to cut down on arguments/rules-lawyering. I also love how character creation is split up, but the choice to attach stats to classes is a bold one!

Honestly a lot of big swings here, but they all feel smart.

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

… outside of The Dragon Game™ for quite some time, this world seems purpose-built to fit that niche. With that in mind, the earlier comparison to Daggerheart seems apt!

Digging into character creation next, but I'm already getting an idea of how this game fits until the ecosystem and I'm excited 👀

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

The stock setting is interesting! Lots of elements that had me *pointing meme*, but that also means it's a relatively small lift for a GM to transpose their setting over or adapt the provided game world to a setting they're already running.

As someone who's been yearning for tactical fantasy…

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Reposted by Dylan Grinder is back to streaming!

Aaron Flavius West @f1zz3r.bsky.social · 2d

Counterpoint: replace "Might" with "Toughness" and switch the order around:

TAPIR 😎

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

You're so right

Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

I haven't even gotten through the system basics yet, but it does seem very up your alley!

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

The probability on crits being so different from d20 systems (1 in ~33 instead of 1 in 20) is surprising to me. Were I to hazard a guess at the reasoning, I could imagine the comparatively greater average of success necessitating a probability change to make sure crits still feel special 🤔

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

(I almost wish Presence were something like "Obviousness" because I think MARIO would've been funnier, but I think we can all appreciate why that didn't happen.)

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

My first instinct is that the lack of a universal "healthiness" stay will shift that determination over to classes (and possibly ancestries) to create more role-based distinctions around tankiness, but I'll have to see 👀

I do enjoy that the characteristics make a fun little acronym: MARIP

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

I am fascinated by the choice to forgo a constitution-adjacent stat in the base characteristics! While there are some other clear shifts in the purpose of the remaining five, this feels like the biggest change from traditional tactical tabletop structure (at least so far).

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

Right off the bat I *love* the choice to not only clearly lay out the design pillars of the game, but also to shout out other games that better serve other gaming experiences that readers might also enjoy (not just for the specific nod to Daggerheart which *also* just landed on my shelf recently).

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

This quote post (the one you are currently reading) is now becoming my first impressions thread as I read through Draw Steel: Heroes for the first time!

Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

And lo, what arrives to save this dismal day? My contributor copies of #DrawSteel!

I am equal parts stoked to see my name in such a gorgeous book alongside such awesome people, and frothing at the mouth with excitement to learn the game itself!

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

The folx over at MCDM were truly such a pleasure to work with, and getting to see the finished books I can tell that my instincts from when I first entered the Layout Mines™ were correct: this is an impressive game made by a skilled team of people who all cared deeply about what they were making.

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

And lo, what arrives to save this dismal day? My contributor copies of #DrawSteel!

I am equal parts stoked to see my name in such a gorgeous book alongside such awesome people, and frothing at the mouth with excitement to learn the game itself!

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Dylan Grinder is back to streaming! @anarisis.dylangrinder.com · 2d

It is exhausting just how much of daily life is now taken up by people and businesses operating on strategies that can most accurately and succinctly be described by the word "fraud".

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