Mitchel Pigsley
Building online TTRPG tools and playing games with friends. Software artisan, bibliophile, and traditional artist.
- I have a confession. I have a crippling addiction to purchasing TTRPG books that I know I will never be able to GM.
- Luka Rejec was cooking with the fantastic Ultraviolet Grasslands #ttrpg. The caravan mechanics emphasize westward movement, while the XP system emphasizes new experiences. It seems like a fantastic way of engaging players by giving them a clear and common goal.
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- If you are transcribing your #ttrpg sessions, you know it can be a lot of text! With the latest feature release of realmsofshod.com, quickly jump between sessions and scenes and search for keywords to find a conversation or all references to an NPC. 🧵👇 More details below
- I read and loved Dan Simmons's Hyperion well over a decade ago. I decided to give it another read recently, and.. Oh boy, has it delivered—the Ouster invasion of Hyperion as a backdrop to the final pilgrimage as the characters tell their stories. Father Hoyt and Sol Weintraub's are my favorites.
- Let's talk Ultraviolet Grasslands. Who has played it in a group setting? Are the caravan mechanics fun? #ttrpg
- We've been misled in our quest to play #ttrpg games online. Why default to complex platforms with unreliable character sheets and costly assets you can only use on their platform? That's vendor lock-in, meant to extract your money. There's an alternative. Reason #5 of why I built realmsofshod.com.
- I'm reading the tea leaves. Modern #vtt platforms are pushing for more immersion through technology and complexity. This is at the cost of more GM and player difficulty during #ttrpg play. Stay immersed in the story, not the platform. Reason #4 of why I built realmsofshod.com.
- Crafting engaging #ttrpg stories in real-time with friends is hard. I write stacks of notes before, during, and after each session to track and remember every story thread. This takes time! Live session transcriptions and summarization save me that time. Reason #3 of why I built realmsofshod.com.
- I started using Roll20 less and less. Instead of forcing players into specific encounters, for which I spent hours creating dynamic lighting maps, I'd rather be more dynamic with my storytelling. Less #vtt complexity. More theater-of-the-mind #ttrpg play. Reason #2 of why I built realmsofshod.com.
- As much as I'd like to world-build, craft stories, and jump into a weekly #ttrpg session with friends, I don't have time. The same goes for my friends. I needed a simple, virtual way to play that takes away the complexity of modern #vtt platforms. This is reason #1 of why I built realmsofshod.com.
- Turso migrated from Fly infra to AWS. I received an email about this with assurances that the existing db URL will still be valid and simply redirect to AWS. On Friday night production and all staging envs went down. Low and behold, it was the db connection.
- For all you TTRPG dads out there, what does your play schedule look like? How often do you get to the table?
- I'm feeling a bit uneasy about the recent shake-up at Discord with their new CEO and leadership team, especially with the IPO on the horizon. It makes me wonder what changes might be in store for the platform we all love. Don't enshitify my Discord!!
- Around my neck of the woods, #first-friday is a time for #artists to show their work and engage with their community. So here’s me engaging! I'm a bit proud of this site. This is where I collect and show my #art: mitchelpigsley.art Now it’s your turn! Share your websites, artwork, or stories!
- It’s one of those Fridays y’all. Get out and enjoy the sun!
- New realmsofshod.com feature drop to support more immersive real-time play. - Chat outside of session - Upload images into the live gamestream - Live message editing/deleting - Privacy setting to delete stored audio If you’re curious, we recently released a quickstart video. Check the 🧵👇
- Do you prefer TTRPG systems where settings and rules are deeply intertwined? (Mothership, Blades in the Dark, Vampire: The Masquerade) Or systems that are setting agnostic? (Gurps, Fate, Cypher)
- I'm not at all worried about vibe coding as a replacement for traditional software development. In fact, I believe it will only increase the need for software engineers as AI generated code is shipped into production and the inevitable bugs and vulnerabilities are discovered.
- On storytelling and myth: Gods and devils have been rationalized out of modern existence—at least for me. Yet, I find it so worthwhile to read and follow the hero’s journey told across peoples and cultures. You tap into an ancient consciousness not found in contemporary literature.
- The stars have aligned on my GitHub contribution graph. I’m not writing another line of code all year.
- Video chat just got a major upgrade in Realms of Shod! - Enhanced stability for long sessions - Audio chime for new adventurers - View peer's connection status - Auto-rejoin on refresh Join your party and transcribe your #ttrpg sessions at realmsofshod.com
- Something is always at an imbalance. Maybe that's just part of being an adult, or maybe my friends and family need to realize that it's okay to be addicted to Enter the Gungeon in 2025.
- The new transcription mode in Realms of Shod is here! Gather your party for a webcast, play your #ttrpg session, and see your transcriptions stream in as you play. Check it out at realmsofshod.com
- One of the things I find so difficult in being a #ttrpg Game Lord is pacing. I want to clue my players in and I do that by info dumping to the detriment of the story.
