Jesse Ross
@jesseross.com
I design and develop experiences that bring people together. Creator of Trophy, Girl Underground, and other fine roleplaying games. Minnesotan and DFLer | he/him
https://jesseross.com
https://trophyrpg.com
https://hedgemazepress.itch.io
https://jesseross.com
https://trophyrpg.com
https://hedgemazepress.itch.io
Pinned
Jesse Ross
@jesseross.com
· Oct 19
Hi, I’m Jesse and I make tabletop RPGs. You might know me from my games Trophy, Girl Underground, R’lyehwatch, Sunset Kills or others (hedgemazepress.itch.io). I like smallish games where the mechanics reinforce the theme. I’m also a designer and illustrator and I do most of my own art and layout.
Reposted by Jesse Ross
NEW WILDWOOD TRAILER JUST DROPPED!!!
I was in the department that built the wild-wood itself. Come see all our hard work!
youtu.be/bJQGtSeLPII?...
I was in the department that built the wild-wood itself. Come see all our hard work!
youtu.be/bJQGtSeLPII?...
Wildwood – Final Trailer | Get Tickets Now
YouTube video by LAIKA Studios
youtu.be
September 16, 2026 at 1:02 PM
NEW WILDWOOD TRAILER JUST DROPPED!!!
I was in the department that built the wild-wood itself. Come see all our hard work!
youtu.be/bJQGtSeLPII?...
I was in the department that built the wild-wood itself. Come see all our hard work!
youtu.be/bJQGtSeLPII?...
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Did you know... there's a new issue of Sprigs & Kindling out? The free fanzine for Carved from Brindlewood games?
You get free Silt Verses content! Weird gods & weird followers!
Plus: entire games! Amazing layout variety! There's a reason these folks were Ennie-nominated.
sprigsandkindling.com
You get free Silt Verses content! Weird gods & weird followers!
Plus: entire games! Amazing layout variety! There's a reason these folks were Ennie-nominated.
sprigsandkindling.com
Sprigs and Kindling
An ongoing digital zine of community collected creative works for Carved from Brindlewood TTRPG games
sprigsandkindling.com
September 16, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Did you know... there's a new issue of Sprigs & Kindling out? The free fanzine for Carved from Brindlewood games?
You get free Silt Verses content! Weird gods & weird followers!
Plus: entire games! Amazing layout variety! There's a reason these folks were Ennie-nominated.
sprigsandkindling.com
You get free Silt Verses content! Weird gods & weird followers!
Plus: entire games! Amazing layout variety! There's a reason these folks were Ennie-nominated.
sprigsandkindling.com
Hell yeah. Love this.
Blumineck lo ha vuelto a hacer 🥹 le aplaudo hasta que se me caigan las manos, bravo.
"Be masculine, be feminine, be neither, or be both. But be kind."
"Be masculine, be feminine, be neither, or be both. But be kind."
September 16, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Hell yeah. Love this.
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Latest Sprigs & Kindling just came out! I have a Trophy Gold incursion in it—The Frozen City—and there are tons of amazing Faith Sheets and Assignments for The Silt Verses RPG! Check it out at sprigsandkindling.com !!!!
Sprigs and Kindling
An ongoing digital zine of community collected creative works for Carved from Brindlewood TTRPG games
sprigsandkindling.com
September 16, 2026 at 1:23 AM
Latest Sprigs & Kindling just came out! I have a Trophy Gold incursion in it—The Frozen City—and there are tons of amazing Faith Sheets and Assignments for The Silt Verses RPG! Check it out at sprigsandkindling.com !!!!
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Adam Savage Experiences Anatomically Correct Wings!
YouTube video by Adam Savage’s Tested
m.youtube.com
September 15, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Jesse Ross
_PbtA to Z_ is a collection of Powered-by-the-Apocalypse moves. I wrote it for the _Making Moves_ jam, and just released it for free. It's here on my website, which also links to Itch, RPG Trader, and (soon) DriveThruRPG.
games.natknight.xyz/pbta-to-z/
games.natknight.xyz/pbta-to-z/
PbtA to Z
A collection of moves
games.natknight.xyz
September 15, 2026 at 4:39 AM
_PbtA to Z_ is a collection of Powered-by-the-Apocalypse moves. I wrote it for the _Making Moves_ jam, and just released it for free. It's here on my website, which also links to Itch, RPG Trader, and (soon) DriveThruRPG.
games.natknight.xyz/pbta-to-z/
games.natknight.xyz/pbta-to-z/
Reposted by Jesse Ross
We're being told that if we sacrifice the rights of some people, then the rest of us get to keep our rights.
We all know that's some BS.
We all know that's some BS.
August 23, 2026 at 3:19 PM
We're being told that if we sacrifice the rights of some people, then the rest of us get to keep our rights.
We all know that's some BS.
We all know that's some BS.
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Over 20 people showed up. Multiple people are helping to plan the next one plus other community stuff. Wow! Local shit is good.
September 12, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Over 20 people showed up. Multiple people are helping to plan the next one plus other community stuff. Wow! Local shit is good.
Today! Come hang out, Twin Cities game designers!
Broken Clock Brewing
5:30–7:30 PM
Broken Clock Brewing
5:30–7:30 PM
September 11, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Today! Come hang out, Twin Cities game designers!
Broken Clock Brewing
5:30–7:30 PM
Broken Clock Brewing
5:30–7:30 PM
If you're in the Twin Cities and want to talk tabletop game design, come hang with us out tomorrow!
Broken Clock Brewing
Friday, September 11
5:30–7:30 PM
Broken Clock Brewing
Friday, September 11
5:30–7:30 PM
September 10, 2026 at 8:55 PM
If you're in the Twin Cities and want to talk tabletop game design, come hang with us out tomorrow!
Broken Clock Brewing
Friday, September 11
5:30–7:30 PM
Broken Clock Brewing
Friday, September 11
5:30–7:30 PM
Reposted by Jesse Ross
This Saturday (9/12) in Minneapolis, there's a cool West Marches-style session of Cloud Empress (my ecological science fantasy game set in the Midwest, thousands of years in the future) being held at the Greenway Glow festival. More info here:
www.simpletix.com/e/greenway-g...
www.simpletix.com/e/greenway-g...
Greenway Glow Bike Ride and Arts Festival Tickets | Midtown Greenway Coalition
The Greenway Glow Arts Festival is a cultural celebration of art, light, music, local artists, and community along the Midtown Greenway.
www.simpletix.com
September 9, 2026 at 6:46 PM
This Saturday (9/12) in Minneapolis, there's a cool West Marches-style session of Cloud Empress (my ecological science fantasy game set in the Midwest, thousands of years in the future) being held at the Greenway Glow festival. More info here:
www.simpletix.com/e/greenway-g...
www.simpletix.com/e/greenway-g...
Reposted by Jesse Ross
September 5, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by Jesse Ross
This old railroad bridge in taylr's video looks basic but has an important history, especially relevant this weekend. And the great new bike path through what was once inaccessible industrial land now allows people to (legally) see it up close. A bridge🧵!
September 5, 2026 at 8:59 PM
This old railroad bridge in taylr's video looks basic but has an important history, especially relevant this weekend. And the great new bike path through what was once inaccessible industrial land now allows people to (legally) see it up close. A bridge🧵!
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
September 4, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
Tom compiles a great list of inspirations and shows why “vanilla” doesn’t mean “boring.”
Plus there’s this great quote: “In some ways the ideal space to be in a participatory artform is to be good enough to inspire and bad enough to get some people in the audience thinking ‘I bet I could do that’.”
Plus there’s this great quote: “In some ways the ideal space to be in a participatory artform is to be good enough to inspire and bad enough to get some people in the audience thinking ‘I bet I could do that’.”
I wrote about the inspirations I’ve been drawing from while writing intentionally generic D&D fantasy
Where Do You Get Your Ideas From? – My Eveningstar Appendix N
Last year, a regular reader of my solo game play reports was kind enough to comment on my setting gazetteer with some praise for my worldb...
houselesshills.blogspot.com
September 3, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Tom compiles a great list of inspirations and shows why “vanilla” doesn’t mean “boring.”
Plus there’s this great quote: “In some ways the ideal space to be in a participatory artform is to be good enough to inspire and bad enough to get some people in the audience thinking ‘I bet I could do that’.”
Plus there’s this great quote: “In some ways the ideal space to be in a participatory artform is to be good enough to inspire and bad enough to get some people in the audience thinking ‘I bet I could do that’.”
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Fuck you're welcome to buy MY game! #iHunt is such a huge piece of work for just two people. We put so many pages into that game. And pretty much everyone that follows me would have fun just reading it, not even necessarily playing.
It's a game about poverty. But from the poor POV.
It's a game about poverty. But from the poor POV.
I get that advertising rules all but it is very frustrating how many people in the replies are asking Olivia to bless so and so publisher when you could buy an independently developed game that would put like 75% of the money you spent directly in a trans woman's pocket.
Gamers will be like: "D&D is so bad! You shouldn't support them with your dollars! Instead you should play [commences to list a bunch of companies that literally just did not pay me for countless hours of hard work and fired me because I'm trans or I spoke out about a mass sexual predator]."
September 2, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Fuck you're welcome to buy MY game! #iHunt is such a huge piece of work for just two people. We put so many pages into that game. And pretty much everyone that follows me would have fun just reading it, not even necessarily playing.
It's a game about poverty. But from the poor POV.
It's a game about poverty. But from the poor POV.
Reposted by Jesse Ross
If you were going to teach a course on TTRPG design and (besides playing lots of games) could assign three books that *aren't* games to read, what would they be?
August 29, 2026 at 6:47 PM
If you were going to teach a course on TTRPG design and (besides playing lots of games) could assign three books that *aren't* games to read, what would they be?
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Cortex Prime is a gorgeous toolkit of a game but it can be intimidating for the casual gamer or new GM! I highly recommend Jeremy’s CORTEX LITE as a starting point for your Cortex journey. Grab it for only $5 and see what all the hype is about!
GAMERS!
New Cortex TTRPG licensed content just dropped. @jeremyforbing.bsky.social has revised CORTEX LITE, a swift & sturdy build ready to run at your table, and it’s now on DrivethruRPG! Grab it now for a low price!
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...
New Cortex TTRPG licensed content just dropped. @jeremyforbing.bsky.social has revised CORTEX LITE, a swift & sturdy build ready to run at your table, and it’s now on DrivethruRPG! Grab it now for a low price!
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...
DriveThruRPG - The Largest RPG Download Store!
Your one-stop online shop for new and vintage RPG products from the top publishers, delivered fresh to your desktop in electronic format.
www.drivethrurpg.com
August 29, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Cortex Prime is a gorgeous toolkit of a game but it can be intimidating for the casual gamer or new GM! I highly recommend Jeremy’s CORTEX LITE as a starting point for your Cortex journey. Grab it for only $5 and see what all the hype is about!
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Have you ever wanted to visually compare the size of your favorite extinct animals? Now you can, as I'm launching an interactive size comparison tool on my website. Give it a try and let me know what you think: www.skeletaldrawing.com/compare/
August 28, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Have you ever wanted to visually compare the size of your favorite extinct animals? Now you can, as I'm launching an interactive size comparison tool on my website. Give it a try and let me know what you think: www.skeletaldrawing.com/compare/
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Minnesota voters should have an early-voting strategy this year, and to help I made this FAQ. Feedback/questions encouraged. It’s aimed at Democracy Defense trainers who are informing/organizing voters, but we want everyone to do this work & uphold voting rights! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Nov 3 2026 voting FAQ
This Frequently Asked Questions document is for Democracy Defense facilitators to better understand how early in-person and mail voting works as of August 28, 2026 for the 2026 general election in Min...
docs.google.com
August 28, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Minnesota voters should have an early-voting strategy this year, and to help I made this FAQ. Feedback/questions encouraged. It’s aimed at Democracy Defense trainers who are informing/organizing voters, but we want everyone to do this work & uphold voting rights! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Jesse Ross
Jennifer Nelson’s entry to this year’s Minnesota State Fair crop art
August 27, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Jennifer Nelson’s entry to this year’s Minnesota State Fair crop art
Reposted by Jesse Ross
really good thread and something i hadn’t considered strategically. donating to out state long shot dems could be the best bang for your buck in helping protect peggy, keith etc. especially when you know for sure they are doing the work. donating now.
7/ I know not everyone has bucks for political donations, and even then saves for swing districts. But if you wanna honor allies who are fighting for us against all odds, consider contributing or doorknocking. Leah Temple: www.leahtemple.com. Keenan Gentry: www.gentryformnhouse.org
Home | Leah Temple for MN Senate
www.leahtemple.com
August 26, 2026 at 1:39 PM
really good thread and something i hadn’t considered strategically. donating to out state long shot dems could be the best bang for your buck in helping protect peggy, keith etc. especially when you know for sure they are doing the work. donating now.
Reposted by Jesse Ross
A masterclass in how to critique – which, in the indie RPG space, is really 'how to explain that a book is worth the reader's time'.
To celebrate next month's review jam on the Quinns Quest discord, I wrote some tips!
(Are we going to criticise one another's criticism? It's unclear)
(Are we going to criticise one another's criticism? It's unclear)
August 24, 2026 at 3:34 PM
A masterclass in how to critique – which, in the indie RPG space, is really 'how to explain that a book is worth the reader's time'.
I just grabbed a copy of PROXY and have only read to page 4 and I'm already sold.
A bit of PROXY design that lingers in my mind after playtesting last night: the Standardized Identity Fragmentation Test, or SIFT.
Androids are expected to download "roles", false identities, to get their contracts done. Part of that process is taking a SIFT to learn who this new person is.
🧵(1/5)
Androids are expected to download "roles", false identities, to get their contracts done. Part of that process is taking a SIFT to learn who this new person is.
🧵(1/5)
Spy. Mercenary. Sex doll. The neighbor next door. You'll be anyone the Division asks you to be, so long as you get to be *someone.* Anything to be a person again.
PROXY, my Girl Frame hack about Androids, is out now as an ashcan on itchio! Check it out:
hexjellyfish.itch.io/proxy-androids
PROXY, my Girl Frame hack about Androids, is out now as an ashcan on itchio! Check it out:
hexjellyfish.itch.io/proxy-androids
August 25, 2026 at 3:12 PM
I just grabbed a copy of PROXY and have only read to page 4 and I'm already sold.