Aaron Hammonds

The guts are RenPy, which covers 90% of what you need a visual novel to do. The other 10% is Python classes holding the various meters we tweak as you play (we track the relationships on five axes) and the functions that let us "stat check" you along the way.

Vyn, trust me when I say this game *screams* your name. I'm going to put a beta version in your hands just as soon as I have something I'm not embarrassed to share.

Believe me: no one is more surprised by this development than I am. I was minding my own business watching YouTube videos; next thing you know, I'm writing a game bible and learning Python.

It's wild what you find down here.

Screenshot of Ren'Py script from "Blood/Thirst," a vampire visual novel, showing an opening bus commute sequence. The protagonist, twenty-nine, scrolls Instagram past engagement announcements and wellness ads while reflecting on the distance between their younger self's ambitions and where they've ended up. The scene branches into five backstory choices (striver, intellectual, compromiser, romantic) each written in a distinctive, confessional voice. The striver learned the ladder was built on connections; the intellectual's careful analysis didn't impress the tenure committee; the compromiser stopped being the person who spoke up; the artist discovered you can't eat inspiration. Pronoun variables like [p.They] indicate player-defined identity. The scene closes with the character laughing at their 22-year-old self's color-coded Google Doc of "Non-Negotiables" before a bus announcement ("Now arriving: Maple and 23rd") pulls them back to the present. Code is shown in a dark-themed editor with syntax highlighting, with labels in orange, dialogue in green, comments in gray, and Ren'Py keywords in blue.

What have I been doing instead of making actual play?

Writing an orientation-inclusive vampire dating simulator that turned into a sensual neo-noir supernatural horror mystery about a burned out millennial who becomes a vampire and also you can kiss the other vampires.

It's called Blood/Thirst.

Screenshot of a tweet reading: "We've assembled 100 people with ADHD and 5 people with no soft skills to manage them, and given them a simple goal: make an impossible amount of money. We call it [actual play] and we think it's going to work great."

Battle over Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast contracts leaves the book, relationships, torn apart Creative collaborators clash with Jay Dragon and Steve Jackson Games over unfair treatment.

Five creators who worked on Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast have spent the past year fighting a legal battle against Possum Creek Games and Steve Jackson Games. Neither the tabletop RPG nor their working relationships survived the fallout.

A rectangular retail box for a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card resting on an armchair with a blue-and-white checkered fleece blanket. The box is black with neon green accents, with a futuristic stylized “G” logo in the center.

Santa came a few days early this year.

It's that time of year again. @tabletopartsfund.org has announced the six winners of this year's Tabletop Arts Fund Actual Play Grants.

Computer parts aren't getting any cheaper, so I bit the bullet and decided to upgrade my not-bad-but-aging box into a something a little more future-proof.

I expected the GPU to cost big-oof dollars, but yikes the spike in RAM prices caught me off guard.

Fiona did outstanding work with one of my favorite Kult scenarios. If you've enjoyed my take on the game, I highly recommend seeing what @fkth.bsky.social does with it here.

Sadly, I won't be joining you all in Philadelphia thanks to an acute medical issue. Nothing life-threatening, nothing long-term, but not the kind of thing you're supposed to travel with.

Enjoy the games for me!

A fungus person wielding magic. Text reads "Menagerie of Mayhem" and "From one of the designers of Daggerheart - Mike Underwood" Art by Tania Herrero, additional art and cover design by Andrew Bauman.

Announcing: the Menagerie of Mayhem, a a series of short adversary books for use with the Daggerheart rules, from one of the game's designers and the Lead Designer of the Dungeons of Drakkenheim: Daggerheart Campaign Guide.

Volume 1 coming to Patrons in December! www.patreon.com/posts/introd...

Really enjoying my time with Abiotic Factor. By far the best game I've played that includes a "poop faster" minigame.

Woah! We're at 78% funded for our current goal -- thank you! Now, I have to ask, can you help us get to 80% funded today? Head on over to thecontractfilm.com and find out how you can help!

Look, I can see the form results. I know a lot of y'all are making something great but also haven't applied. Good news! There's still time!

You're already here, why not bop over to your second monitor and fire off a quick DM to your favorite actual play? Let 'em know their show is amazing, and they should apply!

A video game objective prompt from Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 with a diamond-shaped icon on the left. The text reads: “Track down and deal with Jonathan. (Optional) Don’t break the Masquerade.” The background is dark with a faint purple gradient.

Bloodlines 2 was never going to live up to expectations, but I'd be more willing to forgive its shortcomings if it felt like the developers had any kind of respect or affection for the source material.

Vampire: The Masquerade
(Masquerade Optional)

Absolutely!

Promotional graphic for the Tabletop Arts Fund 2026 Actual Play Grants. At the top center is the Tabletop Arts Fund logo, featuring a stylized book with a red d6 and yellow d10 on its pages, crossed by a pen and paintbrush inside a circle. The Text reads: 2026 Actual Play Grants “Open to any podcast or video actual play with at least three episodes released in 2025. Grants provide entry fees to all festivals in the 2026 Audio Fiction World Cup. Preference for all awards given to first-time festival participants and creators from marginalized backgrounds.” At the bottom, bold text states: Submissions close October 31, 2025 Link: https://apply.tabletoparts.fund/actualplay2026

Hey there! Couldn't help but notice that you haven't applied for the 2026 TTAF AP Grants yet. It's cool. I get it -- you've been busy. But why not take some time today to give your show a shot at being screened 'round the world?

apply.tabletoparts.fund/actualplay2026

Do you have an Audio Drama or AP Podcast idea you've been sitting on for too long? I'm currently taking paid sound design work while expanding my portfolio. I've won multiple awards for Audio Drama & AP sound design. Message me for rates based on what you've got in mind.
thesoundofrahrah.carrd.co

Submissions now open! We want to send your actual play on a world tour, putting it in front of audiences and judges on four continents. But you can't be selected if you don't apply!

The gang at @redmoonroleplaying.bsky.social are always a pleasure to play with -- this was no exception.

Home safe! Thanks as always to @njwebfest.bsky.social for a fantastic weekend of art and inspiration!

Hello, New Jersey. Thank you for letting me inside you.

Congratulations! All richly deserved, of course!

I’m not going to lie, RENT hits differently now. Like, Benny is a dick, but he came into some money and wants to build lots of housing to fund usable artist spaces at street level? Why is he the villain?

I get gentrification is bad, but isn’t someone from the neighborhood revitalizing it good?

A Tumblr post by user kirbykonka reads: “I thought Old Man Yaoi was like a specific person or entity. Like you walk down to the river, there’s Old Man Consequences, you walk down to the oak tree there’s Old Man Sensibility, and then you walk into the gay club and you’ll never guess who it is.”

As I reflect on TANS ending, I’m proud it does, actually end. Each season stands alone and leads to its own conclusion.

The story could have gone on, but late-coming listeners can still experience a full narrative. Not the full story, but not a disappointment.

And I'm glad I gave them that.

I appreciate the missing perspective -- it's a refreshing change of tone for an otherwise exhausted brain. And deeply humbled to know you enjoyed our take on your work!

My least favorite part of shuttering an AP company is the huge pile of quietly humiliating emails you have to write.

"I know I promised you this project/offered you this role/pitched you this sponsorship, but it turns out I won't be able to deliver."

Ugh.