Lester Smith's Avatar

Lester Smith

@lestersmith

Award winning tabletop game designer & formalist poet. Woke vegetarian gun owner. Zen mootist. "Retired."

211
Followers
35
Following
88
Posts
29.06.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Lester Smith @lestersmith

Preview
Psychology says people who express themselves better through writing than speaking aren't socially awkward — they're processing at a depth that verbal conversation physically cannot keep up with and t... While extroverts command the room with quick wit and seamless small talk, the quiet ones are crafting texts and emails that reveal a startling truth about how different minds process the world—and why...

geediting.com/d-bt-psychol...

09.03.2026 16:56 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
25 years of Wikipedia

25 years of Wikipedia. Here's to 250 more. 🥂

"From dial-up days to now, travel through Wikipedia's history." wikipedia25.org/en/which-wik...

08.03.2026 06:29 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Fanged Smileys – Postage Outside the US Hey, gang. To compensate for extra postage outside the US, I've been giving your choice of PDFs on DriveThruRPG equal to the added cost. So far that added cost has been roughly $12 to Canada and the UK, $15 to Eastern Europe, and about $18 to Australia. Add that to the US price of $21 for your total of dice plus shipping.

Fanged Smileys – Postage Outside the US

Hey, gang. To compensate for extra postage outside the US, I've been giving your choice of PDFs on DriveThruRPG equal to the added cost. So far that added cost has been roughly $12 to Canada and the UK, $15 to Eastern Europe, and about $18 to Australia. Add…

07.03.2026 16:28 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Not AI-nevitable I'm no Luddite. I was raised on hard sci-fi as much as any other sort, and as an adult I've dealt with much more code and gear than is typical for my profession. I wouldn't be surprised if a machine intelligence inherits this earth from us in the far future, as the next evolution of human intelligence. That having been said, what we're being pitched as AI right now is a buzzword for a stock market feeding frenzy.

Not AI-nevitable

I'm no Luddite. I was raised on hard sci-fi as much as any other sort, and as an adult I've dealt with much more code and gear than is typical for my profession. I wouldn't be surprised if a machine intelligence inherits this earth from us in the far future, as the next evolution…

06.03.2026 00:04 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Fanged Smileys dice sets Black Oak Workshop recently produced a limited run of "Fanged Smileys" dice for me, based on my Lester Smith Games logo. The set includes one of those d2 coins pictured above, with their company logo on one side and mine on the other. To say I'm thrilled is an understatement! An entire set of polyhedral dice with my goofy fanged smiley on them?

Fanged Smileys dice sets

Black Oak Workshop recently produced a limited run of "Fanged Smileys" dice for me, based on my Lester Smith Games logo. The set includes one of those d2 coins pictured above, with their company logo on one side and mine on the other. To say I'm thrilled is an…

01.03.2026 22:01 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Stand With Minnesota Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

The ICE surge may be over, but the aftermath damage remains. For future resistance to succeed elsewhere, they'll need to know we have their backs longer than the headlines.
www.standwithminnesota.com

26.02.2026 22:03 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

tomorrow, StandWithMinnesota.com will hit a million site visits and over 650,000 unique visitors.

i made it 10 days ago with $600 from you guys for hosting and cloudflare.

thank you. thank you.

25.01.2026 20:12 👍 2741 🔁 997 💬 72 📌 56
Post image

notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich

18.02.2026 16:03 👍 20519 🔁 6591 💬 468 📌 455
I am not a Linux evangelist, but . . . If you'll forgive this YouTube video's clickbait title, the content is actually a pretty balanced explanation of what's happening with Windows right now. For most of the past 40+ years, I've been a Windows user because that's what was generally an employer's OS for writing and editing. And for a home computer, it's been cheaper than Apple. But when when an employer preferred Apple, I've happily used Apple.

I am not a Linux evangelist, but . . .

If you'll forgive this YouTube video's clickbait title, the content is actually a pretty balanced explanation of what's happening with Windows right now. For most of the past 40+ years, I've been a Windows user because that's what was generally an employer's…

04.02.2026 17:09 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Alerting @lollardfish.bsky.social

04.02.2026 14:11 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

quick someone award Jeffrey Epstein a Greatest Pedophile Ever medal and Trump will get so jealous he'll release the Epstein Files just to prove he deserves it more

20.01.2026 01:04 👍 2150 🔁 365 💬 45 📌 14
Post image

It's tragic that those first four board members died so young. :-(

12.01.2026 21:19 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

And every single month, my eyes misread this as "autopsy."

29.12.2025 18:30 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Post image
04.12.2025 04:30 👍 169 🔁 56 💬 6 📌 5
Preview
Voting Rights: The Struggle To Be Counted (a film viewing/discussion event) · John Lewis Actions “Voting Rights: The Struggle To Be Counted 1619-2014” is a 35-minute film documentary, written and produced by Phil and narrated by his wife Pat Sloan. Through words, music, and vivid images, he tells...

I'm attending John Lewis Actions's event, “Voting Rights: The Struggle To Be Counted (a film viewing/discussion event)” - sign up now to j www.mobilize.us/john-lewis-a...

21.11.2025 02:55 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Update 6: The End is Nigh · Children of the Elder Sign Hey, gang!As I write this, we're about nine hours away from the Kickstarter's close, and at 272% of the funding goal. Your enthusiasm for the Children of the Elder Sign premise has been both heartenin...

"The End is Nigh"

This modest little Kickstarter ends tonight. Role-play a Lovecraftian demigod -- sort of like if H. P. authored the Odyssey or the Percy Jackson series.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/les...

14.11.2025 23:11 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Span or Tandem? Image by bafritch from Pixabay In my head are two horses. One is a creative force, prone to enthusiasms, award-winningly clever, easily bored, easily dispirited. The other a disciplined adult, clear-eyed, trained as an editor and educator, tempered by experience. Faithful, honest, enduring. As a writer, I've learned to nurture the first when starting a project. After all, it's the one that came up with the idea in the first place, the one with a view beyond the horizon.

Span or Tandem?

Image by bafritch from Pixabay In my head are two horses. One is a creative force, prone to enthusiasms, award-winningly clever, easily bored, easily dispirited. The other a disciplined adult, clear-eyed, trained as an editor and educator, tempered by experience. Faithful, honest,…

06.11.2025 20:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

Nice to see this modest little project funded this morning. Just 8 hours.

31.10.2025 13:59 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Celebrating Halloween with a new RPG project This "Children of the Elder Sign" idea has been rattling around in my head for a few years. The success of The King of Elfland's Daughter bundle, and Kickstarter's October "Witchstarter" promotion, inspired me to finally tackle the project, and to do it for all four Lester Smith Games role-playing systems. The premise is simple. Imagine you're a demigod like Hercules, except that your supernatural parent is one of the Lovecraftian deities, like Cthulhu or Nyarlathotep.

Celebrating Halloween with a new RPG project

This "Children of the Elder Sign" idea has been rattling around in my head for a few years. The success of The King of Elfland's Daughter bundle, and Kickstarter's October "Witchstarter" promotion, inspired me to finally tackle the project, and to do it…

31.10.2025 04:58 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Fight or Flight in the Time of Trump We're all familiar with the "fight or flight" concept: Our early ancestors, when faced with danger, instinctively either fled or fought that danger, depending on the situation. It's easy to think that we've somehow outgrown those instinctive impulses. We're more civilized, and life is less perilous for most of us than it was back then. Although I think of myself as a cerebral guy, I can say from personal experience that the genetic instinct remains—red flags that flash before the danger becomes consciously evident.

Fight or Flight in the Time of Trump

We're all familiar with the "fight or flight" concept: Our early ancestors, when faced with danger, instinctively either fled or fought that danger, depending on the situation. It's easy to think that we've somehow outgrown those instinctive impulses. We're…

28.10.2025 20:41 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Why am I using Windows? What with the end of support for Windows 10, and a bit of self-publishing windfall a few months ago, I bought a brand-new HP ENVY x360 laptop for a move to Windows 11. Didn't want to, but it seemed a necessity. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I discovered that Windows 10 security updates are extendable for another year. (See my earlier blog entry.) So my old workhorse of a ThinkPad still has life in it.

Why am I using Windows?

What with the end of support for Windows 10, and a bit of self-publishing windfall a few months ago, I bought a brand-new HP ENVY x360 laptop for a move to Windows 11. Didn't want to, but it seemed a necessity. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I discovered that Windows 10…

28.10.2025 08:41 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Battle Bookmark Turns Silver! The Battle Bookmark has reached Silver Best-Seller status on DriveThruRPG! This is the Bookmark HP RPG supplement that adds tactical options—including range, movement, ambushes, outnumbered foes, cover/concealment, and deadlier damage—while still retaining the game's storytelling focus. To celebrate, here's a discount link to get it for just 25¢ through Thanksgiving: Battle Bookmark 25¢ sale!

Battle Bookmark Turns Silver!

The Battle Bookmark has reached Silver Best-Seller status on DriveThruRPG! This is the Bookmark HP RPG supplement that adds tactical options—including range, movement, ambushes, outnumbered foes, cover/concealment, and deadlier damage—while still retaining the game's…

26.10.2025 21:03 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Role-Play the Apocalypse It isn't yet the apocalypse, so there's still time to have some escapist fun Borderlands style, or Mad Maxish, or Twisted Metallic, or whatever brand of ruined wasteland you prefer. Speaking of which, Larcenous Designs released a new apocalypse-themed GameMaster's Apprentice oracle deck on DriveThruRPG today; I released a Bookmark the Apocalypse! sourcebookmark for the Bookmark HP RPG; and they're…

Role-Play the Apocalypse

It isn't yet the apocalypse, so there's still time to have some escapist fun Borderlands style, or Mad Maxish, or Twisted Metallic, or whatever brand of ruined wasteland you prefer. Speaking of which, Larcenous Designs released a new apocalypse-themed GameMaster's…

25.10.2025 20:59 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Actually, you can get another year of Windows 10 support for free. Most of my actual writing nowadays is done in Google Docs on a Chromebook. But most of my graphic design and layout over the past several years has been done on a robust Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 10. As you probably know, Windows 10 support is ending in a few days, but my workhorse of a ThinkPad isn't upgradeable to Windows 11.

Actually, you can get another year of Windows 10 support for free.

Most of my actual writing nowadays is done in Google Docs on a Chromebook. But most of my graphic design and layout over the past several years has been done on a robust Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 10. As you probably know,…

12.10.2025 04:07 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Halloween Horror Card Games Sale My horror-themed card games have joined the role-playing games in celebrating Halloween! Through the end of the month, these card games are just 66¢ for the print-&- play PDFs, and 31¢ above my cost for print decks. Here are direct links to those card games: Wolf Man's Curse! PDF: $4.95 66¢ / Print: $9.95 $6.87 Monster Con! PDF: $4.95 66¢ / Print: …

Halloween Horror Card Games Sale

My horror-themed card games have joined the role-playing games in celebrating Halloween! Through the end of the month, these card games are just 66¢ for the print-&- play PDFs, and 31¢ above my cost for print decks. Here are direct links to those card games: Wolf…

11.10.2025 01:37 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
Halloween 31+2=33 % Off Sale Through the end of October, all Lester Smith Games horror RPG titles on DriveThruRPG are on sale for 1/3 off! Including all four best-selling core rules titles! Here's your chance to score something new to celebrate your Halloween on the cheap. Dare I say, "monstrously" so? And here are direct links to the items on sale: Bookmark No HP RPG…

Halloween 31+2=33 % Off Sale

Through the end of October, all Lester Smith Games horror RPG titles on DriveThruRPG are on sale for 1/3 off! Including all four best-selling core rules titles! Here's your chance to score something new to celebrate your Halloween on the cheap. Dare I say,…

05.10.2025 00:34 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Got my autism booster yesterday. Taking autism pills today for the achiness and fever.

25.09.2025 15:23 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Dear friends and fans outside the US. I apologize that our President is such a buffoon. :-/ Be thankful that he isn't yours. And please keep it up with the Trump+Epstein photos! :-D

24.09.2025 14:14 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Role-Playing The King of Elfland’s Daughter Way back in April, I started reading Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter, due to its reputation as a fantasy classic before there were fantasy classics. (The Hobbit wasn't published until 13 years later; Lord of the Rings fully 30 years later.) Having read less than half of it, I was already in love and knew I'd want to role-play in this world myself.

Role-Playing The King of Elfland’s Daughter

Way back in April, I started reading Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter, due to its reputation as a fantasy classic before there were fantasy classics. (The Hobbit wasn't published until 13 years later; Lord of the Rings fully 30 years later.)…

21.09.2025 17:07 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Frankie & Pudge Meet Apep Back in February of this year (2025), I mentioned here, in "Fey and Fedoras, Nixies and Noir," that my old college buddy Tim Ryan and I were using the Fairyland Confidential solo mystery game by Teapot Dome as a GM-less framework for play-testing the d4ce rpg.  Before I go any further, let me repeat that the biggest crime here is that Fairyland Confidential has gotten so little love on DriveThruRPG.

Frankie & Pudge Meet Apep

Back in February of this year (2025), I mentioned here, in "Fey and Fedoras, Nixies and Noir," that my old college buddy Tim Ryan and I were using the Fairyland Confidential solo mystery game by Teapot Dome as a GM-less framework for play-testing the d4ce rpg.  Before I…

16.09.2025 06:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0