Author, game geek, curator. Irritant. From the depths of the cognitive void...
Lawrenceville, GA
Joined February 2007
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Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
This would be fun - life sized #DnD with #TrickOrTreaters walking up.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Read a romance series where, after 7 books, the author allowed a blind character to regain her sight and in the afterword explained the research she did that indicated that this does, in fact, sometimes happen and *still* the reviews are full of people complaining about this 'ableist' turn the author took and how disappointed they were.
I got similar complaints when I allowed one of my characters in a fantasy world to have his chronic pain disorder resolved, because frankly, having chronic pain problems vanish was *my* fantasy and I wanted to enjoy it.
People are always going to find something to complain about. Make the art that calls you anyway.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
One of the best things about indie games is that nobody asked for them. No meeting of people in suits decided your game should exist. You just wanted to make something cool that you love. Never forget that's your biggest strength
You're indie. Be weird, be raw, be authentic! ❤️
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Gaming tips from Sandy Petersen.
House rules are better than a rules-heavy game that covers everything. Why? Because you can never find a specific rule when you need it. You have to go poring through all the books searching for that one thing, and gameplay stops cold and it sucks.
Just make up something. You're as smart as the game's creator, and you know your gaming group's style better.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Pendragon 6e invites you to use your book.
As much as it would KILL me to write in these nice books, I can appreciate the sentiment.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
The real crime a reader (gamer, viewer) won't forgive is lack of imagination. If you want to talk about sex (hi, Bioware) or disability (see you, Medivh in your glowing wheelchair), and you put in the worldbuilding work, your fans will be fine with it. Scifi where you can 'resleeve' your body and we're grappling with the effects of transhumanism? People will fight about what it means but not whether you're preaching. Fantasy where magic can't heal injuries? But there's a crazy industry around clockwork limbs and spells that make it possible to float instead of walk (and maybe there's some healer somewhere trying desperately to discover a way to conquer death and disabilities and disease... and does? What then)? People will go there cheerfully.
But transplant 21st century problems/ideas complete with 21st century jargon into any setting that's not literally right now? That's on you as a writer. You should have been creative. As the kids these days say: "Skill issue."
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Every day is WarHulk Marine Training
Here’s how to make a plan to do anything:
Identify the situation.
Come up with a plan to handle the situation.
Figure out how you’re gonna execute that plan.
Figure out ‘what’ and ‘who’ you need to make it happen.
Communicate with others what you’re gonna do and how you’re gonna do it and what they need to do, or be aware of, while you do it.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Pain is information
As a child, you touched something hot, and it burned you. That pain gave you a piece of information: be careful touching hot things.
When you sign up to run a marathon, you are signing up for pain. But whether or not you keep running is up to you. In Haruki Murakami’s words “pain is inevitable but suffering is optional”. You can choose pain without choosing suffering.
Pain is information, and information is painful. Rewiring your brain is not a frictionless process. Some knowledge can only be discovered the hard way.
The sooner you can convert pain into knowledge, the sooner you can experience the next useful pain. Don’t put yourself through the same pain too many times. To access new information you must experience new pains.
They say “knowledge is power”. If pain is information, then pain can be converted to power. To do so, you must learn to control your suffering, accept that scars are beautiful.
If you felt pain, ask what information it gave you. If that information was useful, seek the next pain. You are learning.
ALT As a child, you touched something hot, and it burned you. That pain gave you a piece of information: be careful touching hot things. When you sign up to run a marathon, you are signing up for pain. But whether or not you keep running is up to you. In Haruki Murakami’s words “pain is inevitable but suffering is optional”. You can choose pain without choosing suffering. Pain is information, and information is painful. Rewiring your brain is not a frictionless process. Some knowledge can only be discovered the hard way. The sooner you can convert pain into knowledge, the sooner you can experience the next useful pain. Don’t put yourself through the same pain too many times. To access new information you must experience new pains. They say “knowledge is power”. If pain is information, then pain can be converted to power. To do so, you must learn to control your suffering, accept that scars are beautiful. If you felt pain, ask what information it gave you. You are learning.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Every time a developer says using AI isn't real programming, remember what happened to Grace Hopper in 1952.
When she built the first operational compiler so programmers could write in English words instead of symbols, fellow engineers refused to touch it insisting that computers could only do arithmetic, not write programs.
Every generation mistakes its current abstraction layer for the only real way to work.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
On October 31st, we’re going ham with Twilight 2000 4e from @FreeLeaguePub . We will break down the core game and how things work in this latest edition and open up some major expansion goodies. Mark your calendars. The fun starts at 12:00 p.m. EST.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
With 24 hours left to go on the ShadowSun Revised Kickstarter campaign, we are at 1,224 backers. Thanks to everyone that has been a part of this campaign.
Here is my final pitch
ShadowSun presents you with a setting packed with unbridled evils to fight, deeply challenging moral questions, and no judgment of what content might be "too much" for you to handle.
Don't take my word for it either, check out the 144 page free quickstart.
The full books will let players begin with knowledge from a generous gazetteer, surrounded by a vast unforgiving surface world, with a dark, terrifying underworld beneath their feet. Use new unique mechanics and tools designed to make GMing easy, with innovations on the base ShadowDark structure like caravan travel, brewing customized alcohols, and world-spanning cataclysms.
Both books are done and in editing. They will be ready for PDF release in a couple of weeks when Kickstarter gives me a confirmed backer list, then I will proceed to proofs & print after that.
kickstarter.com/projects/chu…
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
The ShadowSun kickstarter has been a bit exhausting, but it is almost over. All writing is done, editing proceeds rapidly. I am on track to release the PDFs in roughly 2-3 weeks from today. Feels good.
We are at $99,000 as I write this. Amazing!
link below
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
Revenge in fiction and film is pretty great, and it can go either way. In Nobody, it's the bad guy who's driven by revenge, and Bob Odenkirk actually tries to be reasonable several times.
A very common revenge scene has the hero say something like, "Nothing you can do can bring my beloved back, so revenge is pointless."
BUT Inigo Montoya says, "Nothing you can do can bring my beloved back, SO NOTHING CAN SAVE YOU."
Be like Inigo.
Alexander 'Lex' Williams retweeted
This is the Waffle House Index as of 2:45PM (EST). Please stay safe and follow federal, state and local guidance.
