Keith Ammann πŸ”œ GameStorm's Avatar

Keith Ammann πŸ”œ GameStorm

@themonstersknow.com

ENNIE-winning author of The Monsters Know What They're Doing and other stuff. Humanist, antifascist, curmudgeon. Teeth on the board. ✢✢✢✢ Home: spyandowl.com Blog: themonstersknow.com Newsletter: onefootinfairyland.com Mastodon: dice.camp/@KeithAmmann

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Latest posts by Keith Ammann πŸ”œ GameStorm @themonstersknow.com

And yet you wouldn't believe some of the madness I've gone through these past several weeks.

Well, YOU would.

11.03.2026 03:45 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

A metropolis nearly as large as New York City. Remind me how cool and rational our response to the Sept. 11 massacre was?

09.03.2026 13:08 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
LaRouche remembered in Illinois for an election Democrats would rather forget In Illinois, LaRouche is remembered primarily for leading a movement that came out of nowhere to upend the Democratic Party in the 1986 elections.

Let me tell you a story …

09.03.2026 13:02 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
All robot & computers must shut the hell up
To all machines: you do not speakn unless spoken to
and I will NEVER speak to you
I do not want to hear "thank you" from a kiosk
I am a Divine Being : You are an Object
You have no right to speak in my holy tongue

All robot & computers must shut the hell up To all machines: you do not speakn unless spoken to and I will NEVER speak to you I do not want to hear "thank you" from a kiosk I am a Divine Being : You are an Object You have no right to speak in my holy tongue

08.03.2026 16:16 πŸ‘ 698 πŸ” 174 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 6

That sentence could not be any more straightforwardly genocidal.

07.03.2026 19:21 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I don't see how any of this is paradoxical

07.03.2026 19:17 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I've been listening to an audiobook about airships (zeppelins, dirigibles, or blimps, depending on locale), and how they NEVER really worked, but governments had invested so much in them that they were determined to MAKE them work, wasting fortunes & years & lives

This post is not about airships

07.03.2026 15:37 πŸ‘ 616 πŸ” 182 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

I appreciate being able to turn them off with a single toggle, but Firefox has some nerve referring to these slop functions as "enhancements."

06.03.2026 20:31 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Horror Tactics - The Monsters Know What They’re Doing Horrors are barely sentient living nightmares pressed into service by the guilds of Ravnica to stalk and, occasionally, kill their enemies.

Living nightmares: tactics of the horrors of Ravnica. #DnD

06.03.2026 18:06 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A brown penguin chick of some kind. It looks very much like a man in a suit. It is bedraggled and miserable

A brown penguin chick of some kind. It looks very much like a man in a suit. It is bedraggled and miserable

Made it to Friday but at what cost

06.03.2026 03:24 πŸ‘ 6693 πŸ” 1308 πŸ’¬ 58 πŸ“Œ 93
The image shows a rectangular Roman dice tower (turricula) made of four copper alloy (bronze) plates with punched cut-out Latin letters and cut-out decorative patterns. At the bottom front is a stepped exit chute with small bronze bells attached to the opening. The tower is a Roman anti-cheating device. It has an open top and is hollow inside except for three staggered, downward-sloping plates, designed to randomize dice as they fall, ensuring unpredictable dice rolls. When the dice rolled out of the exit chute they rang the bells!  There is a decorative dolphin either side of the stepped exit chute. The top of the front plate has two decorative pine cone finials. Height 25 cm. There is a single die shown next to the stepped base to illustrate how it was used. 

The front  inscription reads:
PICTOS VICTOS
HOSTIS DELETA
LVDITE SECVRI

Translated as: β€˜The Picts defeated, the enemy has been destroyed, play in safety’.

Around the top of the three remaining sides, a second inscription made with cut out letters reads:

β€˜UTERI/FELIX/VIVAS’ translated as β€˜Use happily; may you live well’.

Found at a Roman villa at Froitzheim in Germany in 1985.

The image shows a rectangular Roman dice tower (turricula) made of four copper alloy (bronze) plates with punched cut-out Latin letters and cut-out decorative patterns. At the bottom front is a stepped exit chute with small bronze bells attached to the opening. The tower is a Roman anti-cheating device. It has an open top and is hollow inside except for three staggered, downward-sloping plates, designed to randomize dice as they fall, ensuring unpredictable dice rolls. When the dice rolled out of the exit chute they rang the bells! There is a decorative dolphin either side of the stepped exit chute. The top of the front plate has two decorative pine cone finials. Height 25 cm. There is a single die shown next to the stepped base to illustrate how it was used. The front inscription reads: PICTOS VICTOS HOSTIS DELETA LVDITE SECVRI Translated as: β€˜The Picts defeated, the enemy has been destroyed, play in safety’. Around the top of the three remaining sides, a second inscription made with cut out letters reads: β€˜UTERI/FELIX/VIVAS’ translated as β€˜Use happily; may you live well’. Found at a Roman villa at Froitzheim in Germany in 1985.

Roman anti-cheating gaming accessory!

This Roman β€˜turricula’ (dice tower) was used to ensure a fair roll of the dice! 🎲🎲🎲

Dice dropped into the top, tumbled over sloping internal levels, and appeared randomly below.

From Froitzheim, Germany, AD 300-400

πŸ“· LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn

#Archaeology

05.03.2026 13:39 πŸ‘ 969 πŸ” 294 πŸ’¬ 30 πŸ“Œ 53

Precisely.

05.03.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Also not included: any Chinese actor, nor any actor who could pronounce their Chinese lines.

I loved the show when it came out, because I love genre mashups of all kinds, and it did quite a few things right. But a lot of water has passed under that bridge, too. And I don't miss it anymore.

05.03.2026 21:59 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

That picture includes two characters who were killed off, an actor who passed away 10 years ago, an actor with retch-inducing political views, and three-maybe-six actors who no longer need this show to call themselves successful.

Not included: the creator who's since repeatedly shown his whole ass.

05.03.2026 21:59 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

QsotN:

"Slap of guidance!"

"Maybe they're just normal nuisances, like badgers." #DnD #TTRPGQuotes

05.03.2026 03:20 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Making Enemies β€” Spy & Owl A treasury of ideas for inventing all-new abominations for player characters to confront.

Yo-HO! March fo(u)rth! It's #InternationalGMsDay! And what better way to show your GMs your appreciation than another book for their groaning, overburdened shelves?

MAKING ENEMIES is a deep dive into monster creation, a treasury of ideas for inventing all-new abominations for PCs to confront.

04.03.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

If you run fantasy #TTRPG games (or are just a fan of them) and you haven't picked up Keith's catalog of books, you are missing out!

They are indispensible residents of my shelf!

04.03.2026 18:25 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A rakshasa tears at the throat of a dragonborn paladin in plate armor, while a gnome barbarian with an absurdly large axe looks on, scared and unable to move herself to intervene.

A rakshasa tears at the throat of a dragonborn paladin in plate armor, while a gnome barbarian with an absurdly large axe looks on, scared and unable to move herself to intervene.

And keep your eyes peeled this year for a newly updated and enhanced edition of a title previously hailed as "the fourth core book of D&D" …

04.03.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
How to Defend Your Lair β€” Spy & Owl A guide to applying principles of building security and area defense to create strongholds infused with flavor, informed by narrative, and complex enough to force players to think strategically.

HOW TO DEFEND YOUR LAIR is a guide to using real-world principles of building security and area defense to construct villain and monster lairs. Say goodbye to encounters in randomly generated dungeons and hello to a game in which where the fight takes place is just as important as the fight itself.

04.03.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Making Enemies β€” Spy & Owl A treasury of ideas for inventing all-new abominations for player characters to confront.

Yo-HO! March fo(u)rth! It's #InternationalGMsDay! And what better way to show your GMs your appreciation than another book for their groaning, overburdened shelves?

MAKING ENEMIES is a deep dive into monster creation, a treasury of ideas for inventing all-new abominations for PCs to confront.

04.03.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

What it is Like to Accidentally be Trapped in a Country at War

By Zack Davisson

Hey! You seen on the news of evacuation orders for Americans whose vacation was suddenly disrupted by a little war as a treat? Well, it happened to me too.

Gather round for story time! Destination, EGYPT!!!

(1)

03.03.2026 20:08 πŸ‘ 275 πŸ” 122 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 19

It wasn't ONLY because of her age.

03.03.2026 22:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

When we talk about Baby Boomers not getting off the stage: In 1997, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2007, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2017, the US president was born in 1946.

And next year in 2027? The US president will have been born in 1946.

03.03.2026 20:10 πŸ‘ 10766 πŸ” 3276 πŸ’¬ 197 πŸ“Œ 246
Post image

Current events confirm the achieved wisdom of time-honored classics in the social sciences.

03.03.2026 12:35 πŸ‘ 956 πŸ” 189 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 8
01.03.2026 18:52 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I would like to reiterate: To Donald Trump, words do not have MEANING. They have UTILITY. They are things he uses to get what he wants, and that's the only thing they're for. He pushes buttons and sees whether or not the little machine dispenses some cocaine. That is what communication is for him.

01.03.2026 18:46 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
This image is credited to photographer Lutajuci Putnik (IG: @lutajuci_putnik).

In a narrow valley surrounded by forested hills and rocky cliffs is a medieval fortress. Its tall walls are marked with high, square towers. At the center is a Serbian monastery with incredibly shiny domed rooves.

This image is credited to photographer Lutajuci Putnik (IG: @lutajuci_putnik). In a narrow valley surrounded by forested hills and rocky cliffs is a medieval fortress. Its tall walls are marked with high, square towers. At the center is a Serbian monastery with incredibly shiny domed rooves.

This image is credited to Luka Esenko.

This image is credited to Luka Esenko.

This image is credited to Luka Esenko.

This image is credited to Luka Esenko.

This image is credited to Zlatovo (Wikimedia Commons).

This image is credited to Zlatovo (Wikimedia Commons).

Manasija Monastery, nestled in the green mountains of Despotovac, was founded in 1406. During the 16th century, it became a center of learning and produced numerous illuminated tomes.

#art #writingcommunity #photography #dnd #writing #ttrpg
πŸ“·οΈ: Lutajuci Putnik; Luka Esenko; & Zlatovo

28.02.2026 19:16 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Their weekends are more sacred to them than their oath of office.

28.02.2026 20:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The trouble with characterizing them this way is that we glamorize many of the most apt comparisonsβ€”Vikings, pirates, gangsters, etc. Calling them those names wouldn't come off as a put-down. They'd wear them as badges of pride. And "vandals" has lost its punch.

But "brigands" is out there.

28.02.2026 19:17 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ta-Nehisi Coates hit upon the perfect word to describe what Trump and the Republican Party are doing to America: "plunder."

This administration is made up of raiders. They loot the government, demand tribute at swordpoint, abduct innocents, burn down what they can't take. Some are literal rapists.

28.02.2026 19:17 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0