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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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You can do flashbacks in anything but I don’t know of anything this specific
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Mikel Matthews@improvgm.bsky.social |
119 followers 141 following 94 posts
Improvisor, actor, director, GM, stand up
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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You can do flashbacks in anything but I don’t know of anything this specific
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Project: Dark? (which will probably never come completely out) You use playing cards in the game and the # on the card is the multiplier for the stuff you steal and the inventory is 1 slot/card, so a bunch of cards can take up a lot of space or you can find one valuable thing that takes up less.
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Wil
@rivetgeek.aggregatecognizance.com
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Tim Bannock has some more very salient observations on Cortex Prime.
timbannock.com/the-future-o...
#CortexPrime #TTRPG
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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This is why I wish it was dropping once a week---if we all lived with and talked about THAT for a week..... The amount of confidence and restraint the writing, acting, directing, and music-holy fuck, to compose that music took a ton of confidence-it never took any escape routes
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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No spoilers The Bear Season 3: Episode 1 I don't think I"ve ever seen an episode like that. At the 13 minute mark, when we get a moment of pause, I was like "Damn---that's a long time to keep that up. Well fucking done." The entire episode.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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We had a similar thing happen in the GMs workshop where a mob boss told a corrupt cop they needed to kill the people in the previous scene for screwing up a job. The cop didn't take the order seriously and the scene just stopped. When we changed that, story happened naturally
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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The scene went from something very boring to a really alive, interesting, tense scene that gave all the characters things they could spin off into other scenes for. Going through and asking what they would do next, everyone has answers where they didn't before.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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When I came in and reminded them that the company has basically extended their mission for a year with full foreknowledge and without telling them---that they won't see their friends and family, some of whom are very sick, for another year--and when I told them to start angry--
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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We used the opening scene from an Alien cinematic campaign, which gives you Agenda cards. Because really taking initiative to make things happen can feel like you're taking up too much space or being an asshole, everyone was kind of lukewarm with how they reacted to anything.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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In the improv workshops I've taught, a really simple way to not only make scenes more interesting but to help the GM make things happen is to honor the stakes of the scenes and react appropriately. It seems simple but knowing what to look at and take that permission is a skill
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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The Acolyte---new star wars show
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Gave up on Acolyte. There's only so much I can take of people talking in short, declarative statements telling us exactly what they think, what's happening, and what they plan to do. If the lack of subtext is to make sure people on the internet understand, that's a fool's game
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Ah, but does the character grunt when they get back up and need to take a moment to let the world stop spinning? That's the fantasy.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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The amount of effort that people use to ignore the rules and then still claim it's important to use this system we're going to ignore the rules to....
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I loved the person on twitter who tried to claim it was "literally six books" and a good deal. WotC doesn't need to be charging extra for the pdfs of the same damn books.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I ran this the other day for the first time and really enjoyed it. It's kind of a great system to throw down if you're missing people and just want to have a blast.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I get more worried when people mistake "compelling" for "likeable." People forgot that Walter White wasn't likeable but was compelling as hell and then became (and remain) absolute monsters towards Skylur because of it.
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cait
@cait.bsky.social
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how come "realism" in games only applies to shit that sucks and not, for instance, the fact that most flashlights do not actually run out of batteries after 3 minutes, and good quality tools will literally outlive you if you take good care of them
72 replies 321 reposts 2223 likes
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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3d Printer technology seems to be mostly made for ttrpgs, wargamers, cosplayers, and people who make the tchotchkes you win at amusement parks.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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In my Masks game, when they wanted to do a heist, we switched to Leverage for a few sessions because Masks is awful for heists.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I don't think it's the GMs doing all the work. The players do a lot to make that work, too, which is a problem when people think the GM is the one responsible for all that.
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The (Reverse) Size Queen
@hyvemynd.bsky.social
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It absolutely boggles my mind how contentious a statement some people seem to take this as. Yet here we are.
7 replies 7 reposts 52 likes
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I was telling someone about that the other day because every time the Vengaboys are brought up, I go back to that.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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A bit to the side of this, but were you part of the Vengabean Urban Dead family from the V Hive (offshoot of the WEF)?
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Art by Committee is fantastic and comes with a DVD showing a fantastic tagout. Theatre Games for Actors and Non-Actors is a great book that's about Theatre of the Oppressed, Image Theatre, and Forum Theatre. A lot of great exercises.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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He did say he was joking, though he tried to play up the joke in the comments. It's what happens when people who aren't funny try to be.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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The way some people talk about GMing like you're babysitting a bunch of ignorant people and have to do all the work----no wonder people are scared to try it.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I've had arguments with people who refuse to even consider that More Than Words is about sex
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I don't know if you've seen the interview where they try to ask him about Pokemon Go, but it's fantastic. Werner tries to figure it out and asks if people fight to the death on street corners.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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"So Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is like D&D but dirty." "ah...so really sexy?" "No, like literal dirt and filth." First campaign I ever actually had a finish for was 1st edition WFRP---back with the Realms of Chaos books.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Ratcatchers have to get bait somewhere
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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That GMless games COULDN'T work. And that's an absurd statement when you're talking to someone who has played GMless games (even though I've got my reservations about them). For a hobby that's supposed to be about imagination, a lot of people limit themselves. 5/5
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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But the number of people I saw who said "this couldn't work" is a stark reminder of how limited someone's pov can be on the hobby when they haven't tried other systems, other approaches. I got blocked on FB by someone who claimed to sit at Gygax's table because he insisted 4/5
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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And I'll be honest--getting out of the turn based mindset is HARD. I'm better at it in some pbta games. For some reason, in Masks, I default to turns too much. I think it's partly because we think of distance being travelled much faster in supers games/fictions. 3/
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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There aren't turns in pbta---you can follow the narrative flow like you would in a film. Stick with one player for a few volleys and then maybe check in with a few others. It's a conversation but it's still on the GM can control--it's not just "whoever is loudest goes" 2/5
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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So I haven't read Daggerheart but I did see the snippet that some people have been complaining about. And I find it interesting the people who say "this couldn't work at my table" when what they're talking about is bog standard pbta approaches to combat. 1/5
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Me: "The Sherriff will not wake up." When they find out that they can play on the memories, the creaking of the house, the nervousness of the Thief and flashbacks to their relationships, they learn they can approach conflicts in a very different way than they have in other games.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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When I've run the Deadwood style Cortex Prime/Smallville one-shot, there's something I really like to do that makes some players think won't work at first. The Thief is breaking into the Sherriff's house to steal a deed. Me: "I'm making this stipulation:" 1/2
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin
@mbkplus.bsky.social
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July 2025: the Supreme Court rules 6-3 that Jimothy Meachem deserved a B-, not a C+, in his Introduction to Telecommunications course.
21 replies 112 reposts 489 likes
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Guster "2 Points for Honesty"
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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1st night playing City of Mist and it has the FATE problem. You can make Aspects/Tags that give you insight into your character but are never usable in game. If you don't make a point of checking those to see if they're usable, you can end up with a character who has a ton of useless tags/aspects
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Filamena Young seeking Sophia -she/her
@filamena.bsky.social
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“Men who eat pussy are like Schindler from that movie which I think is a pejorative” is… wow.
4 replies 4 reposts 20 likes
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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My brain feels like it's on fire.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Our City of Mist group and their Rifts (mythic beings they're channeling): Pandora! Prometheus! Merlin! Puxatawney Phil!
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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It's so tempting to get some people together, teach them the system, and then put together an AP that really does something that very few rpgs are good at.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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I could do this as a troupe style game, like we did with the Red Dragon Inn. A group of players who knew how to do Cortex Prime/Smallville could do some incredible things with character if they were using The Bear as a template for how they approached a game.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Part of me wants to make a tiktok/youtube video series explaining how the Bear would be done if it were Smallville. Forkes, Richie's Episode, is like a session specifically designed to reduce Richie's Stress and Trauama (while getting a few hits in) and loading him up with XP.
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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A slight change and this is also good for The Shining convention next door.
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Protest and Survive
@postnatodepression.bsky.social
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One of the great tragedies of history is that Maarten van Nieuwenhove had a face born to wear an oversized Metallica tshirt that smelled of weed but was forced to live in the 15th century
85 replies 924 reposts 3548 likes
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Mikel Matthews
@improvgm.bsky.social
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Everyone collaboratively building the world is a valid way to play. Using a published setting and sticking to it is a valid way to play. The GM creating the world is a valid way to play. There are benefits and drawbacks to all of those. It's not a moral question.
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