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Kevin Wilson

@kevinwilson42.bsky.social

1.4K followers 270 following 2K posts

Boardgame designer best known for Arkham Horror, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, A Gentle Rain, and the Kinfire series of games. Now Director of Game Design at Incredible Dream Studios. He/him.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · Oct 18

For new followers, I'm Kevin Wilson and I've designed tabletop games for about 25 years now, though I'm mostly known for board games these days. Around here I largely talk about my games, food, and my recently-renewed cd collection. I try to encourage folks to be kinder to themselves and each other.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 5h

I've had my sliding glass door open most of the last few days, trying to enjoy the weather while it lasts. Before long, I'll be locked in for 6 months of winter or so. This year, however, more than any other, I feel I've taken advantage of the outdoors while it's nice out. So yay me. :)

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 5h

Spent the day working on my homebrew version of the Great Khan Game. Just something fun for me to putter around with. Then I got in a walk before it got dark (3 deer), poked through the record store briefly, and got dinner from the lovely Vietnamese place down the road.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 1d

My farmshare friends are out of town this week, so I headed over to the pickup site today to grab it. A bushel of veggies and a dozen eggs. Happily, this year we've gotten a fair amount of apples, and not much eggplant. I admitttedly snuck a couple squashes into other folks' boxes (I'm allergic).

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 1d

I can imagine. I'll have to keep a sharp eye out.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 1d

Nice! I really need to pick that up on dvd too.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 2d

Big businesses always want endless handouts while their owners take hard-line stances against feeding the poor, housing the homeless, paying for libraries, universal healthcare, etc. We have to stop listening to these empty husks pretending to be people.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 2d

Then let it die, the same way how if you can't pay your employees, you should go out of business. If you can't bear the cost of doing business, then you're either a charity or a criminal, not a business.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 2d

That's wonderful, Patrick! Congratulations!

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 2d

Silicon Valley is such a plague on the world.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 3d

Got in a walk today, hit up Taco Johns for taco Tuesday, and swung by my PO Box to grab a couple cds I've been waiting on (last of my online buys for awhile).

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 3d

Hooray!

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 3d

Jesus, mood.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 4d

Had to spend the morning dealing with some admin stuff, and hoo boy did I barely have the spoons for it. Still, I've got it done, thankfully. Now I just have to go drop off the documents.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 5d

Listening to the Creature with the Atom Brain for the 3rd or 4th time today. Definitely my favorite song on this New Wave Halloween album.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 6d

Dang. I was kinda hoping for a cozy anime about a noodle shop owner.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 6d

There was a couple in front of me who were having some difficulties that held the line up, but it's not like I was in a hurry to be anywhere, so I just chilled for a bit, and the cashier was way too grateful for that. Poor dude. I couldn't handle a customer service-based job at all.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 6d

Did a bit of grocery shopping tonight, and the night air was absolutely perfect. Windy and just the right temperature. I had the car windows down and the stereo off and just savored it. Also, the grocer had finally restocked my preferred frozen burritos, so that's good too.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 8d

I guess some people just have a corporate boot fetish.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 8d

I try to give folks the benefit of the doubt by remembering how much money is spent to brainwash people by "think tanks" and such, but...jesus.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 9d

Oh my gosh! I hope you're well on the mend.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 10d

For me, it's like tension in a movie/story or something. You don't want the needle pegged into the red constantly. You want build-up and cooldown, sudden spikes, that sort of thing.

Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 10d

The thing I'm always chasing is a stable enough game with room for astonishing events to occur. Memorable moments that stick with the players, that they find themselves re-telling to folks who weren't there. That drama is what I enjoy in games and what I usually try to design for.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 10d

I've heard some folks describe a good game as a series of "agonizing decisions", and wow, those games are not for me - they just exhaust me and make me not want to play. I want there to be some easy decisions, some tougher decisions, and the occasional agonizing decision.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 10d

I try to design around a 'normal turn', but leave room for crazy turns, when all the players stop for a moment and go, "Ummm...welp, that's a thing." This kind of feeds back and forth with my philosophy on decision-making in games as well, which is, once again, ebbs and flows.

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Kevin Wilson @kevinwilson42.bsky.social · 10d

Now, some players love utter constancy in games, and that's fine, but I don't generally design for them, honestly. I like games with ebbs and flows, where you can ignore an element while you work on your own goals, and must choose when it's urgent to pay attention to it.

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