TrooperSJP's Academic Foxhole Profile picture
TTRPG Producer, GM, Player, Writer, Sensitivity Reader; Actor, Singer, Composer, Musician, Academic. Kind Human. Contact: TrooperSJP@AcademicFoxhole.com
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May 24, 2023 108 tweets 25 min read
I've just read that Tina Turner has died.
She's one of the unsung people who helped transition Rock'n'Roll to Rock. Without Tina Turner we wouldn't have the musical landscape we currently have. So, I'm going to delay my bike ride so I can make a quick Thread on Tina. Image As a professor of pop music studies it is all I can do at this moment.
People like to argue what is the first Rock'n'Roll Song. I think the argument is silly...because I don't believe in such a thing. But there are two candidates that are often thrown out there.
Apr 22, 2022 27 tweets 6 min read
Solid advice. Here's more: *Ask. If there's a channel/game you want to play on, respectfully reach out with something like, "Hi, I'm so and so, and I'd be interested in playing on your channel if you ever have any openings. I have this gaming experience and here are some links." More advice:
*Assess your level and try to put out asks at your level. What does that mean? Do research. What sort of people are cast on the channel you are looking at? Are they all people who are video game streamers with 20k+ viewers and you are not? Maybe that's not for you.
Sep 23, 2021 51 tweets 10 min read
There's a discourse going on right now about the upcoming film Passing. As Britni notes, a lot of people are complaining, "But she looks Black! She couldn't pass!" And as Britni notes, she looks Black to other Black people, but white people often don't have a clue. Some musings: I'm a Gen X'er...which means I'm of a certain age. And I'm also an historian (musicologist), and queer, and trans, and a Veteran, and biracial Black...which means I have certain contexts. And I want to talk about passing for a moment.
Sep 23, 2021 24 tweets 6 min read
So, I need to go to bed...for real...but I think I might need to do a 10 song stream of consciousness thread. Why...because I'm watching a video and I need to share it with the world right now. The song? "Jealous" by Gene Loves Jezebel (1990).
Why am I sharing this? Because I think this song has some of the worst rhymes I've ever come across. This song rhymes "night" with "inside," "lot" with "fact," "worry" with "happy." And the way the singer warps the words to try to make them rhyme...but they just don't.
Why?!!
Jul 25, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
I’m a transexual man and I stand in solidarity with my sisters. “Autogynephilia” is made up crap and a tool to invalidate and harm trans women. Trans women are women. What Buck Angel is signing onto is harmful and wrong. It is harmful to all trans people, including trans men. Being a trans man is difficult. And the issues and concerns trans men face are often ignored. There are even some talking points that are becoming popular in some trans circles that can be very invalidating of trans male experiences. But…
Jul 19, 2021 30 tweets 6 min read
I was watching this great video by @PopDetective on men crying in media. It's what you expect: men discouraged from crying but encouraged to sublimate their sadness into violence which has negative consequences for everyone. You know, toxic masculinity.
There is also the discussion of how women are expected to comfort the men emotionally, but how men, because they are disconnected from vulnerability, do not reciprocate that emotional work for their partner, resulting in unhealthy relationships.
Jul 17, 2021 13 tweets 3 min read
A thing about me. I love music (this y'all may know)--but no one has ever wanted to hear my party playlists at any party I've ever been at...including parties I've hosted. Sometimes they say, "Sure, play your playlist"--but after one or two songs, they sing a different tune. Every time I've had access to the speakers, my iPod was promptly removed and better music was put on instead. Other people's playlists would be allowed to spin for hours, I'd never get more than one three songs...and I'd not get a second go at the speakers.
Dec 25, 2020 41 tweets 8 min read
A tactical RPG, for me, is one that Zooms in in a more granular way to deal with something (not necessarily combat), where there are multiple options to deal with a problem and what is best will vary based on a number of different in the moment circumstances. Maps are optional. To go into a bit more detail. I think of tactics as about maneuvering. And I think of it as different than skill. You could have great boxing skills, but if you have bad tactics...you could well be beaten by a boxer with better tactics but less skills technically.
Sep 10, 2020 24 tweets 4 min read
There was a tweet where a jerk GM wouldn't let a woman play a male PC because of "immersion" and when she politely decided to not play in that game because it was not a good fit, he revealed himself to be a sexist jerk. Everyone is taking away from this exchange, not that this GM was a creepy misogynist, but the absolute that if you do not allow cross gender play you are either limited and not enlightened at best or most likely a sexist/misogynist/transphobe. Ah! Twitter Absolutes!
Sep 10, 2020 43 tweets 9 min read
It is Witcher Wednesday! Go watch it! I am! I am also livetweeting! So we pick up where we left off, when our GM @GrimJack21502 served us a big old cliffhanger! The Witchers Dusa (@doublecrits) and Harald (@TheKillerGM) along with their cohort of elven scouts find themselves being chased by undead.
And...Maren...one of the elves is ripped apart.
Aug 30, 2020 18 tweets 4 min read
Chadwick Boseman made about 8 films while dying of cancer, and also not disclosing. You may think this is brave. And I suppose it is. But it is also a condemnation of our society. Why did he not disclose? Because how ablism manifests in Hollywood means that insurers would balk. He had to not disclose so that he could keep getting work. Why did he have to keep working? In the US, health insurance comes through your employer. Actors are freelancers. So...no health insurance. SAG/AFTRA can provide health insurance. But it isn't that easy.
Aug 20, 2020 39 tweets 9 min read
And we are live with the penultimate (?) episode of Season 2 of Witcher: Family of Wriaths! Get ready for the live tweet-a-thon! We begin with @Laughlovelindy who plays Yanika doing the intros. Why do we care about these intros? Because her transitions from player to player are the most epic and the most amusing and the best. That is all.
Aug 18, 2020 5 tweets 1 min read
Apparently there is some jacked up article about "games for girls" going around. I haven't seen whichever article people are talking about...but I've seen articles like it. So I figured...why don't I list 5 "games for girls" that don't exist that would make me grin. Add more! *The Stepford Wives (Survival Horror, with a lot of puzzles and investigations. You must discover the secrets of Stepford before you are doomed!)

*The SCUM Manifesto (Action Adventure, dismantling the Patriarchy through lots of violence--there is weapon customization!)
Aug 13, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read
Some people, when playing RPGs, want to play someone like themselves. Some people, when playing RPGs, want to play someone unlike themselves. Some people want to make a PC and insert it into a game. Other want a game, then create a character that fits it. Lots of diversity here! Some GMs say, "make whatever character you want and I'll make it fit." Other GMs say, "would you like to play in a campaign with these constraints?" Or some mix of the two...or a third. Lots of diversity here as well.

I think all of these approaches are cool and none superior.
Aug 13, 2020 16 tweets 3 min read
People use the word Crunchy a lot. Though it means different things in different contexts and also different people.
I can think of two really different popular framings.
1) Crunchy as: "Is this a crunch book or a fluff book?"
2) Crunchy as: "How crunchy is this rules system?" So I think #1 is pretty simple. Crunch vs. Fluff is basically asking is this a book with mostly rules and mechanics or is this a book with mostly setting info?

The FATE Adversary Toolkit is a crunchier book, GURPS Horror is a fluffier book. Overlight has lots of both.
Aug 13, 2020 44 tweets 9 min read
Episode 25 of The Witcher is live! There will be romance problems to be sure...so I'll be live tweeting this madness...watch that madness! We start with a very drunk Wim by @Billoftheforest realizing that the Dwarven blacksmith's cute puppy is named Fleck...the same Fleck that Gaunter O'Dimm (played by our GM @GrimJack21502 amazingly) has been searching for for months. @Rollplayers_TV's Aris must take care of him.
Aug 11, 2020 38 tweets 8 min read
So @mustangsart put out a combat wheelchair PDF for D&D so that people could play a character in a wheelchair in their magical fantasy game. It is free! And Optional! I think she is still updating it...check it out!
But there was a backlash about it and I wanted to ponder that. One of the complaints is "it is historically inaccurate"--which I want to muse about for a moment. One of the first counterarguments is--you get freaked out about realism in a game with magic and dragons? What is wrong with you? This response happens a lot in these conversations.
Aug 4, 2020 33 tweets 7 min read
So you all know, in my other life I'm a music historian. And I work on race, gender, sexuality, etc in popular music. A lot of what I do is based on a concept I'm going to put in the book I'm working on I'm calling "contextual empathy." It is more than just contextualizing. I mean, it is also about contextualizing, because I notice a lot of people are not contextualizing at all when they launch into their critiques. (My book is a book transgender musicians and race from the 1950s--or maybe the 1930s if I can get a lot of writing done--by the way).
Jul 30, 2020 44 tweets 10 min read
The Witcher is live! And you know what that means? Live tweet time! @GrimJack21502 Kicks off the episode with excellent descriptions. There are a lot of party members and refugees all passed out in the ice cold water of a mountain river. The only people standing? Our medic @Laughlovelindy's Yanika, @doublecrits's Dusa, and @Billoftheforest's Wim.
Jul 29, 2020 10 tweets 2 min read
You know what chaps my hide? If I say, I won't engage with some media because there's too much racism/sexism/classism/etc. people get all upset and insist I should engage with it anyway. But if I say I won't engage because I don't like the genre, no one gives me beef. Not cool. Basically, it doesn't matter why don't want to engage with a thing. If I don't want to engage in a thing in my free time for fun, no one should pressure me to. There are billions of books/games/musicians/films, etc. I will never be able to engage with all the media there is.
Jul 28, 2020 27 tweets 5 min read
Charisma Carpenter talks about her exit from Angel. This is a story of sexism, ableism, and pregnancy discrimination.
It is interesting to me the host desperately wants to hear that is wouldn’t be like that today, but she won’t tell him that.

reddit.com/r/buffy/commen… His desire to hear that an actor in our current climate wouldn’t face what she faced is something I see quite a lot. I see a younger generation often wanting to think that things are much better now than in the bad old days (20 years ago) due to their hard work, but...