Rob Harper
@harperrob.bsky.social
Player and designer of board games, doer of some other things also.
He/him
He/him
After some time away from the project, @alcannon.bsky.social
and I have got back to The Artifact, which probably needs a new working title. New theme, same core structure, different trappings. Hefty balance issues right now, but that's fine, and we actually enjoyed playing it. Let's goooo... 🎲✂️
and I have got back to The Artifact, which probably needs a new working title. New theme, same core structure, different trappings. Hefty balance issues right now, but that's fine, and we actually enjoyed playing it. Let's goooo... 🎲✂️
November 11, 2025 at 9:42 PM
After some time away from the project, @alcannon.bsky.social
and I have got back to The Artifact, which probably needs a new working title. New theme, same core structure, different trappings. Hefty balance issues right now, but that's fine, and we actually enjoyed playing it. Let's goooo... 🎲✂️
and I have got back to The Artifact, which probably needs a new working title. New theme, same core structure, different trappings. Hefty balance issues right now, but that's fine, and we actually enjoyed playing it. Let's goooo... 🎲✂️
Update: I am the god of dumplings!
November 8, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Update: I am the god of dumplings!
Heh! Finally got around to rebuilding my cooperative game, Sympolis, and giving it a quick, 2-player-solo-test. The problem before was that it was too easy. This time, I lost on turn 2! With a planned tweak I would have lasted a couple more, maybe longer if I was smarter! 🎲✂️
October 25, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Heh! Finally got around to rebuilding my cooperative game, Sympolis, and giving it a quick, 2-player-solo-test. The problem before was that it was too easy. This time, I lost on turn 2! With a planned tweak I would have lasted a couple more, maybe longer if I was smarter! 🎲✂️
Had another good evening at the Oxford @playtestuk.bsky.social meetup, which was once again blessed by a good number of folk turning up to just play other folks' prototypes.
September 25, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Had another good evening at the Oxford @playtestuk.bsky.social meetup, which was once again blessed by a good number of folk turning up to just play other folks' prototypes.
Wow, that's ridiculously cheap. If anyone in the UK wants a copy of Grab Bag Jungle for pocket money, this is what The River Shop is showing me right now...
September 15, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Wow, that's ridiculously cheap. If anyone in the UK wants a copy of Grab Bag Jungle for pocket money, this is what The River Shop is showing me right now...
A friend acquired me a copy of Union Pacific on a recent trip to Cologne. It's got to be 25 years since I last played it, and while it looks and feels a little dated, it's still a cracking game and we really enjoyed it.
September 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
A friend acquired me a copy of Union Pacific on a recent trip to Cologne. It's got to be 25 years since I last played it, and while it looks and feels a little dated, it's still a cracking game and we really enjoyed it.
Boogie Knights is back, baby! It has been (checks notes) over 7 years since the last revision of this game that players generally enjoyed, but was never quite right. We game it a bash this evening, and got some amazing feedback. I think a fresh revision is warranted...
August 27, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Boogie Knights is back, baby! It has been (checks notes) over 7 years since the last revision of this game that players generally enjoyed, but was never quite right. We game it a bash this evening, and got some amazing feedback. I think a fresh revision is warranted...
Had a good day working on games with @davidjmortimer.bsky.social today, including useful progress on 'Squirrelled Away' (a co-design with Dave), some bug hunting for 'The Castle War' (my design) and a try at a new iteration of a game Dave is co-designing with someone else.
🎲✂️
🎲✂️
August 1, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Had a good day working on games with @davidjmortimer.bsky.social today, including useful progress on 'Squirrelled Away' (a co-design with Dave), some bug hunting for 'The Castle War' (my design) and a try at a new iteration of a game Dave is co-designing with someone else.
🎲✂️
🎲✂️
This aged well...
(It's at Llawhaden Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales.)
(It's at Llawhaden Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales.)
July 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM
This aged well...
(It's at Llawhaden Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales.)
(It's at Llawhaden Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales.)
Had another go at The Artifact with @alcannon.bsky.social, this time trying out a couple of ideas inspired by some recent feedback. It was just some stuff roughed out and bolted on to the existing setup, and kinda worked, but was a bit lame. It worked well enough to spark more ideas though... 🎲✂️
July 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Had another go at The Artifact with @alcannon.bsky.social, this time trying out a couple of ideas inspired by some recent feedback. It was just some stuff roughed out and bolted on to the existing setup, and kinda worked, but was a bit lame. It worked well enough to spark more ideas though... 🎲✂️
Had a nice 🎲✂️ catch-up with @mikeharrisonwood.bsky.social today and one of the things we talked about was roller coasters. Turns out that I often communicate better if I am able to make props to demonstrate what my brain is doing.
This project is low priority for us though.
This project is low priority for us though.
June 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Had a nice 🎲✂️ catch-up with @mikeharrisonwood.bsky.social today and one of the things we talked about was roller coasters. Turns out that I often communicate better if I am able to make props to demonstrate what my brain is doing.
This project is low priority for us though.
This project is low priority for us though.
The Playtest Zone at #UKGamesExpo right now
June 1, 2025 at 12:47 PM
The Playtest Zone at #UKGamesExpo right now
At #UKGamesExpo with @playtestuk.bsky.social and the Playtest Zone is getting good and busy.
May 30, 2025 at 9:46 AM
At #UKGamesExpo with @playtestuk.bsky.social and the Playtest Zone is getting good and busy.
Looking around at #UKGamesExpo and nice to see Gibsons has stock of Grab Bag Jungle, and will be demoing and selling them. They're at 2-460 and it would be awesome if they sold out! 😉
May 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Looking around at #UKGamesExpo and nice to see Gibsons has stock of Grab Bag Jungle, and will be demoing and selling them. They're at 2-460 and it would be awesome if they sold out! 😉
At #UKGamesExpo and the set up is in full swing. If you're visiting, please do come to 2-108 and say hello
May 29, 2025 at 1:03 PM
At #UKGamesExpo and the set up is in full swing. If you're visiting, please do come to 2-108 and say hello
We got our first rating! 😁
It's a 6, which is fine by me.
It's a 6, which is fine by me.
May 13, 2025 at 10:28 AM
We got our first rating! 😁
It's a 6, which is fine by me.
It's a 6, which is fine by me.
First sighting in the wild of Grab Bag Jungle at John Lewis in Oxford. @mikeharrisonwood.bsky.social
April 17, 2025 at 9:53 AM
First sighting in the wild of Grab Bag Jungle at John Lewis in Oxford. @mikeharrisonwood.bsky.social
Thanks to @startplayer.bsky.social for joining @alcannon.bsky.social and me for a playtest of The Artifact. This one was a lot more open and fast than last week's 4-player test. Unfortunately discussions afterwards were interrupted by Discord having an emotional event.
April 10, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Thanks to @startplayer.bsky.social for joining @alcannon.bsky.social and me for a playtest of The Artifact. This one was a lot more open and fast than last week's 4-player test. Unfortunately discussions afterwards were interrupted by Discord having an emotional event.
Thanks to @spaceship47.bsky.social and @nicolasstraccia.bsky.social for joining me and @alcannon.bsky.social for a test of The Artifact. It's clearly a bit punishing and grindy at 4 players right now, but we got some great feedback to work with. 🎲✂️
April 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Thanks to @spaceship47.bsky.social and @nicolasstraccia.bsky.social for joining me and @alcannon.bsky.social for a test of The Artifact. It's clearly a bit punishing and grindy at 4 players right now, but we got some great feedback to work with. 🎲✂️
Being able to finally do this makes me really happy... 🎲✂️
March 26, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Being able to finally do this makes me really happy... 🎲✂️
Just had a good test of The Artifact with @alcannon.bsky.social and we feel we have a solid 2-player game, at least when the 2 players are us. Now we need to concentrate on higher player counts. Anyone out there fancy a try next Tuesday evening UK time?
March 25, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Just had a good test of The Artifact with @alcannon.bsky.social and we feel we have a solid 2-player game, at least when the 2 players are us. Now we need to concentrate on higher player counts. Anyone out there fancy a try next Tuesday evening UK time?
A blast from the past this afternoon with Flock by @davidjmortimer.bsky.social, which we really enjoyed, despite the frustratingly small score track.
March 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM
A blast from the past this afternoon with Flock by @davidjmortimer.bsky.social, which we really enjoyed, despite the frustratingly small score track.
A good day of playtesting today. The latest iteration of The Castle War worked well. We got rid of ongoing effects and it didn't seem to feel the loss, but the removal of some other card actions wasn't such a good move. The game seems to be improving on balance though, so very happy with progress 🎲✂️
January 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
A good day of playtesting today. The latest iteration of The Castle War worked well. We got rid of ongoing effects and it didn't seem to feel the loss, but the removal of some other card actions wasn't such a good move. The game seems to be improving on balance though, so very happy with progress 🎲✂️
Table #366: Actual real English place name…
#RandomTables #TablePerDay2024
And that's it! I've done a table every day this year. Time for a break. Happy new year, y'all!
#RandomTables #TablePerDay2024
And that's it! I've done a table every day this year. Time for a break. Happy new year, y'all!
December 31, 2024 at 9:37 PM
Table #366: Actual real English place name…
#RandomTables #TablePerDay2024
And that's it! I've done a table every day this year. Time for a break. Happy new year, y'all!
#RandomTables #TablePerDay2024
And that's it! I've done a table every day this year. Time for a break. Happy new year, y'all!
December 30, 2024 at 8:09 PM