Brandon Leon-Gambetta
@bleongambetta
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🇵🇪 Latino Game Designer Author of Pasión de las Pasiones Host of @stophackandroll and @proteancity #PasionRPG (he/him) blg on cohost and dice camp
Joined April 2014
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Hey there! I'm a tabletop games designer, podcaster, and streamer.
💃🏽 Pasión de las Pasiones the game of telenovela drama!
🚦Stop, Hack, & Roll, a podcast about game design
🦸🏽Protean City Comics, a Masks Actual Play podcast
⚔️ RADCrawl, a post-dungeon fantasy skirmish game
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Quick level setting for
#DnDOne
feedback
When POCs say that something in a playtest is racist or makes them feel like garbage reading it, that isn't an attack on the people who made it.
It's valuable playtest feedback. That's a gift that they are giving instead of just not buying
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When you [fictional trigger], [interact with mechanics]. On a hit [you more or less get what you want]. On a 7-9, choose 1. On a 10+, choose 2.
-[You get more of what you wanted]
-[You get something else you want]
-[You avoid paying a price]
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One of the criticisms about the DND creator summit was that influencers were doing PR work for WotC's bad behavior as a corporation. Many people invited were angry about that and said they had truly pushed WotC for good and demanded apologies for those criticisms.
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DM Advice: Add "or don't, do what's right for your table, I'm not your dad" to any piece of DM advice you read. Or don't, do what's right for your table, I'm not your dad.
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90% of the "what was your biggest controversy" tweets from ttrpg twitter are just "I said something super normal and innocuous then was harassed into silence that directly damaged both my prospects in the industry and my relationship to games so that 20 people could get likes."
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If your dedication to your fandom is so deep that you say that you are lesser than the people that create the show, that's an enormous sign that your fandom is bad for you.
This is about Critical Role, but also SO many geek fandoms.
You can enjoy art without deifying humans.
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I used the phrase "tend your garden" to refer to ensuring that your fandom has traits you can be proud of and every time someone likes it I'm just immediately like, "Yeah... That's the stuff. That's the good metaphor."
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When marginalized folks criticize your fandom for toxicity don't:
*Pretend it isn't true
*Make jokes
*Deflect blame
*Attack a different fandom
Instead...
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The day that ttrpg social media decided that games should be defined in broad design philosophies instead of by what you do in the game was when we forever lost the plot.
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D&D has had a decades long problem of not listening to marginalized people and making the same mistakes over and over. WotC is saying they want to do better. POCs saying "Hey, this feels racist" is a really valuable piece of feedback to help on that goal.
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I am holding in my hands right now a beautiful hardcover book with the title written across: Pasión de las Pasiones.
I can hardly believe it. It's not set in yet.
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I don't think that influencers should always have to speak on every bad behavior of the companies they work tangentially with. It points too much blame at people not making decisions.
But if DnD influencers deserved apologies a month ago then people who called out WotC do now.
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To now either say nothing, continue to advertise WotC products, or post that influencers have no power is in direct contradiction to that message.
I get it. We are all contradictions.
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AND to pretend that people who have raised concerns about...
*The treatment of POC writers
*The OGL
*Racist products
*The industry control
And now *The Pinkertons
...were just doing so for clout, is also wrong.
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We are in an industry that is 90%+ one company and we all have to eat. I get it.
But posting through it or making grand statements that it's influencers who have been wronged isn't productive to improve the industry.
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Hey there! I'm Brandon, a Latino indie TTRPG designer and podcaster!
💃Author of the telenovela ttrpg Pasión de las Pasiones at
🎙️Game design podcaster at
@stophackandroll
🦸🏽GM of superhero comic actual play podcast
@ProteanCity
More links below!
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WotC has done a better job lately of hiring marginalized designers
AND there's things in playtest that can be tweaked to be more inclusive
AND there's things that won't be
AND it's not unreasonable to be angry about those things
AND that anger isn't a personal attack
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I'm saying this gently because I think, as an industry, ttrpg twitter rushes to condemn and I have many dear friends who feed their families with help from DnD.
It isn't fair. It sucks. But to pretend at this point that DnD is your friend is wrong.
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The
#GenCon
"Hey, i caught COVID" tweets are starting to roll out. Please remember that some variants can be contagious and even have symptoms for multiple days while testing negative on home tests.
If you've got cold like symptoms, assume COVID and isolate as if it is.
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How does this keep happening in
#ttrpg
?!
*A culture encouraging parasocial relationships with
#ttrpgfamily
and content creators allows abusers to blend in as "safe people"
*When the hobby calls out an abuser the fallout is weaponized to gain points in a thousand petty squabbles
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So you know how kids will sometimes just be super creepy for no reason?
We got one today! 🧵
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I've been thinking for a couple weeks and you know what ttrpg twitter needs? Acceptance of people not liking each other. It's a huge industry with tons of people who can't stand each other. We should get better at just quietly not liking each other instead of making it a thing.
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@StoneJamison
"I had to be an abusive piece of shit because i was worried that you'd steal my OC" is the weakest shit anyone has ever said.
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The problem with every ttrpg discourse debate on Twitter is they are basically all just a small group of people stoking an enormous straw-man fire to trick people into thinking there's two radically opposed sides.
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I'm not upset that Pasión de las Pasiones didn't win the Ennie. Our team made a great game, The joy people have found in it, the nomination, and what the team did is something I will always be proud of.
I AM upset that I didn't think to steal $300k of Lorecana cards.
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I want to express again, I am saying this with no malice or hate in my heart. I am assuming that we all want the same basic thing. A hobby that is safe for people to be in, where diverse voices can succeed, where everyone is paid well and can play games.
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Me in 2015: Ttrpg twitter is honestly a great way to meet other designers and make connections with a community.
Me in 2023: There's like twenty people that if you block them, you'll never where discourse started which feels isolating at first but then Twitter gets less hellish.
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Hey,
@TwitterSupport
, the account
@GilaRPGs
is a game designer that depends upon twitter access for business and has been suspended incorrectly! Is there something that we can do to help get him reinstated quickly?
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Discourse is bad for ttrpgs and most ttrpg designers.
I was going to write a thread, but I think it's not necessary.
Ttrpg Twitter has burned out SO many incredible designers with silly fighting and no amount of visibility is worth the mental toll.
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If your garden is full of shitty dudes, fix it. You can make fandoms better by making them unwelcoming to shitty dudes who don't respect people.
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I want influencers to succeed. I want designers to succeed. I want content creators to succeed. I want third party designers to succeed. I want everyone to be safe.
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WotC: Hey listen, this isn't a new edition. We're not looking for any edition wars here.
Me: ANYWAY FOURTH EDITION HAD-
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I don't have the energy to engage with ttrpg discourse, but its wild seeing takes that assume that the only way to include romance in your game is for someone to graphically and nonconsensually describe sex acts.
Like yes, that happens. That's not what romance games try to do.
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2019 ttrpg twitter was not pre-discourse, it was honestly the same discourse. I'm relatively in sure in 2019 I had already blocked this week's weird self-proclaimed-villain for doing the exact thing people are blocking him for today.
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Re: the OGL announcement. I am aware Hasbro used the word Passion in the context of a ttrpg announcement, which is in violation of the Apasionado por el Apocalipsis license. Legal action will be swift and immediate demanding what I deserve.
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Indie ttrpg discourse got you down? Don't forget you can unfollow, mute, and block anyone who kinda annoys you!
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Screw guessing my height, for each like i will be an additional inch tall starting from nothing.
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I didn't intend to write a thread here and I don't want to become a lightning rod for discussion on this. I largely am not interested in running a DnD account.
I just don't want to see this very real issue dissolved into the noise of constant ttrpg drama.
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Thank you to the
@ENnies
for this nomination for Pasión de las Pasiones! It's exciting to be in such good company across the awards and an honor to be up against some truly great competition within it!
I am again rendered extremely emotional by this incredible journey.
The ENNIE Awards is pleased to announce the 2023 Nominations and Judges Awards!
Special Thank you to our judges: Candace, Chris, Jim Kevin and Shauna for all your hard work!
Final voting will take place from July 14th-23rd.
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"Most people don't post replies like this" WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD TWITTER COME ON.
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If you believe there isn't an issue:
*Don't tweet
*Read the discussion carefully and see how marginalized people are being effected
*Think about and work to improve these issues
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Alright, last year for 2022, i made a kind of shot-in-the-dark claim that Hexcrawls would be big for indie ttrpgs this year and i think i can confidently say crushed that prediction.
So here's my official 2023 indie ttrpg predictions.
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When you [fictional trigger], [interact with mechanics]. On a 10+, [you get what you want]. On a 7-9, [pay a resource and get what you want] or [pay fictional price and get part of what you want].
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I've longed for this day for ages. With the Kickstarter release of Pasión de las Pasiones now shipping (books should all be delivered by January 30th), pre-orders are officially open!
You can pre-order for the Valentine's Day release!
…
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Overwatch 2 being released by a multimillion dollar company slowly over a year and a half makes me way more confident that it's okay to release indie ttrpgs in any format we want.
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If you believe there is an issue:
*Like the tweet
*RT the tweet if you know they are cool with the publicity or can get permission to do so
*Follow their guidance and the guidance of other marginalized people to make improvements
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Rolling 2d6 PbtA style with these questions:
*Is this kind of your whole thing?
*Do you have a cool thing to help you do it?
*Is friendship or love on the line?
Roleplayers: What is the lightest system you would consider using for an ongoing campaign?
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We could have had move based, core resolution, dice pool, etc as non-value judgment descriptions of a mechanical style of play. We could have been talking like board gamers do about worker placement or trick taking.
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Feeling a terrible urge to outline which Pasión de las Pasiones playbooks should be used for The Super Mario Bros.
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Imagine if every three months board games had to have a debate about whether deck building gamers were inherently evil. That would feel so silly.
We could structure our hobby in a way that we wouldn't need to do this.
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I love this shit, kids being creepy unintentionally is SO fun, so I listen to her sing for a bit, then join in again. She tells me REALLY sternly, "No. You can't sing it. When *I* sing it, the girl animal sings back. When YOU sing it, she turns into a wolf and chases the car."
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If you believe the issue is being worked on:
*Like the tweet
*Say the following- This sucks. Our fandom has had this issue and we are still trying to fight it. There's some really cool places that are working on this issue. You may like this product within this fandom.
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If you are a marginalized person who disagrees:
*Consider whether there's a possibility that while you haven't had this issue, other marginalized people have.
*Discuss openly and fairly
*DO NOT BECOME A SHIELD FOR NON-MARGINALIZED PEOPLE
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When you [fictional trigger related to gathering information], [interact with the mechanics]. On a 7-9, [get 1]. On a 10+, [get 3]. Take [mechanical advantage] when you use this information.
-[What will happen if I do nothing?]
-[What can I do for free?]
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Was it a discourse or did the same 20 people pretend that a ttrpg opinion was somehow a moral failing?
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"But Brandon, that sounds like you want everyone who feels any symptoms at all to quarantine for like a whole week!"
No, of course not. I want everyone who went to GenCon (regardless of symptoms) to quarantine for like a whole week.
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A bunch of people have told me I need to watch Our Flag Means Death but nobody thought to mention that it includes a Latine pirate on a revenge mission?!
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Briefly off topic:
This is just the shape of some moves. It may look like dark secrets, but it's honestly just different ways to basically say the same things! If you use these formats, your moves will likely work.
Some things are left really intentionally vague.
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I can hardly express how honored I am that Pasión de las Pasiones has been nominated for the
@ENnies
for Best Game!
❤️🔥If you have a passion for this game, then please consider getting in your vote before the 23rd!
Link below!
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If i had infinite time, i would start an open table West Marches high fantasy game played using Masks.
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I don't know everything. I'm not some kind of genius. But legitimately, I've blocked a couple hundred people recently for coming at me with bad takes when I've talked about my experience as a (admittedly MAD privileged) Latino in the hobby.
I've blocked NOBODY who has done these.
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The reason I blocked people who did the Donts is that they aren't safe. They are saying by the Donts that their hobby matters more than the comfort of people. That's gross and I don't need it. None of us do.
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Also, regardless of the rest... Don't harass people. That tends to blow back on marginalized people even if you don't intend it to.
And especially if you're trying to convince people your hobby doesn't suck.
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-[I'm interested in involving an NPC I care about]
-[I want an advantage against the most difficult part of this interaction]
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In a broad sense, the theme of 2023 is Reclaiming the Fun. The indie ttrpg space (especially on twitter) is tired and i think there's movement towards having the fun we used to have.
Look for over the top themes, fiddly fun mechanics, and people being on their bullshit.
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Oh also DO NOT TAG IN MARGINALIZED PEOPLE WHO AREN'T INVOLVED.
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This is a joke, 4e is too expensive to buy just by selling your 5e books.
Also please don't fight me, this is in good fun, I won't send Pinkertons to tell you which games you can play.
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Maybe a couple of playbook moves...
When you [act in a way that is fictionally disadvantageous], [interact positively with a game currency].
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If ttrpg Twitter could stop glorifying people they don't know AND accept that disliking someone doesn't prove they are evil, we could go a long way.
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Hey, this is a weird one, but please don't DM to let me know when people you know I've blocked are subtweeting me. I can't control if other people subtweet or block evade, so blocking is the best I can do to not have to deal with someone I don't want to deal with.
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Baby L-G got out my copy of Quest and when i explained that it was a game, she insisted we play right away.
We are now rolling dice and telling a story about Knight Minnie.
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Twitter isn't allowed to go down yet. People are like... a week or two from receiving their physical copies of Pasión de las Pasiones and posting pictures with them that will return me to my full power.
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Gonna make a Twitter account called "It Depends On Your Table" and just RT DnD/TTRPG drama that is completely subjective questions that are solved by asking your fellow players what they think.
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When you [spend a currency], [get a specific fictional outcome without GM or other mechanical interruption].
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A reminder on this Fathers Day that every ttrpg rule I've ever written has an unwritten subrule of "Or don't, I'm not your dad."
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I've been thinking about D&D and other ttrpgs and getting people to try new games.
I think that the D&D audience is not a good match for most designers looking to get more players of their games.
(Vaguely controversial click-bait hook, I know)
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Every time this comes up, I think "Brandon, you don't need to RT it. Everyone who follows you has seen it by now" and then I'll learn someone hasn't seen it and I must RT my greatest work.
When you [fictional trigger], [interact with mechanics]. On a hit [you more or less get what you want]. On a 7-9, choose 1. On a 10+, choose 2.
-[You get more of what you wanted]
-[You get something else you want]
-[You avoid paying a price]
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That's because (like the entire Marvel Universe) Reed Richards is the main villain.
Doctor Doom will reportedly not be the main villain of the MCU’s ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ film.
(Source: )
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Horrific D&D GMs Abusing Their Tables =/= Games With Positive Romance
I don't think that was the OP intention. But i think we can all agree that some of those later responses are (please forgive me) buckwild.
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After years and years of everyone saying it, i think we're going to see more people supporting their projects beyond release with expansions and new content. I think that nostalgic hunger for having "your game" that you play is gonna be huge and that's gonna mean games that grow.
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(Not happy with the formatting of that last one, but quite happy with the accuracy)
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Deleting that post. I'm right, but I don't have the mental energy to fight with WotC stans right now and I don't want to get into the center of this.
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When you [fictional trigger to effect a character choice], [interact with mechanics]. On a hit, [NPCs do it, PCs are either do it or spend currency]. On a 10+, [gain a currency yourself].
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But fandoms AREN'T families and usually aren't communities, especially as far as the content creators are concerned.
Fandoms are gardens. They are a labor of love and work, of pain and creativity, and they can bring a TON of joy.
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So we all agree the future space of trrpg design is Gaia online, right?
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If you are a successful POC saying people from the Global South aren't real marginalized people and threatening directly to blacklist them for speaking up about American Imperialism, uh... Hey, nobody made you the villain. You handled that on your own.
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I made my How To Play Masks YouTube videos more than four years ago and people still find and comment on them. I'm thinking I might make a Pasión de las Pasiones series too.
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I'm very much hoping this story gets to continue someday. Except for the couple of moments that she got stern, she was totally casual about it, singing softly or explaining things as though they were the most normal thing in the world.
Great experience, I loved it.
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To make it more plain, I see the same trolls harassing in support of CR every time there's problems with CR. CR can, AND SHOULD, block them.
Losing that follower will improve life for everyone in their garden AND people in nearby gardens.
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New day, one of my hibiscuses bloomed, and hopefully will be building my garden fence tomorrow.
#TTRPGarden
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Yesterday an account posted a video with sections meant to discredit me. As I understand it, the creator spent years making this video. I do not understand what prompted this level of commitment and I am extremely discomforted by it. I have blocked for my and their benefit.
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"Oh, is it a song you listen to with mom?"
"No, it's the girl animal," and back to singing. We drove for like 3 minutes like that and she said, "The girl animal follows the car. She's in the woods over there now!" and pointed to some woods along the side of the road.
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It is freaking wild that my little predictions thread has people subtweeting like I'm running a grift. I'm not interested and will continue to block people who hate follow me.
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Because we hold onto the 2003 Geek Social Fallacy of "if you aren't my friend we are enemies" it is WAY harder to actually look out for problems, make improvements, or uplift voices/products that will do good.
That's a hard change, but it isn't hard to get how this all connects
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Here's where the metaphor gets useful. You prune a garden. If you have weeds in your garden, it's your responsibility to locate and pull them. You can make it clear that your garden doesn't welcome harassment. Even if you can't pull every weed, you can be quick with the block.
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