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Michael of Ragged Feathers

@signalstation@raggedfeathers.com

Author of DEVIL, AIM FOR ME. Contributing writer on ENNIE award winners Trophy, Brindlewood Bay, Wassailing of Claus Manor; Gauntlet writer for Public Access, Arkham Herald, Silt Verses, Planet Raygun, others | profile pic by Binglin Hu binglinhu.com

1858 Followers

653 Following

25 Posts

Joined April 04, 2018

pronouns:

he/him

elsewhere:

https://www.signalstation.com

location:

East Bay / SF Bay Area

buy my games:

https://signalstation.itch.io | https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/26407/michael-van-vleet

Posts

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Jul 23, 2026

Have you ever seen a game before that describe rations in such a way that you're jealous of the adventurer who gets to eat it? [From Munkao's "Kala Mandala", a SE Asian RPG about professional "meddlers" (think "nosy aunties" as heroes instead of fantasy adventure treasure seekers.] itch: https://heycentaur.itch.io/kala-mandala-playbook print: https://plusoneexp.com/products/kala-mandala-playbook

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Jun 07, 2026

Learning truly awful stuff about carnival beverage history.

[from SECRETS OF THE SIDESHOWS by Joe Nickell]

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 27, 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoivgrES4UQ

HONK!

get outta here, ghost!

HONK!

get outta this house!

HONK!

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 27, 2026

Put my RPG project down for a few months and I guess the batteries have refilled, because I just jotted down six ideas for Sideshows (an Unscene-like component of my Carved from Brindlewood game, Step Right Up, set in a traveling carnival in 1930s Dust Bowl Oklahoma.)

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 27, 2026

Asking the hostage negotiator "What'cha thinking?" and "Are you mad at me?" before insisting they hang up first.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 27, 2026

LOST DOG* poster, asterisk says "spiritually lost"

Dog catcher wearing a priest's collar, cornering the dog with a Eucharist extended. "Easy boy."

Heaven's full of bones. Hell's full of bones. How can any dog choose?

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 15, 2026

Somehow I'm supposed to put in a work day, then go out and be social tonight, even though I could be watching the infamous ninja movie that features a ninja leader taking a call on a Garfield phone.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 11, 2026

Yesterday was 21 years married and we celebrated in the expected manner: walked around our neighborhood and found every restaurant already full to the gills with Mothers Day diners, got take-out sushi instead and watched an Indonesian ghost-revenge horror movie.

Year 1 - paper
Year 2 - cotton
Year 3 - leather
Year 4 - fruit & flowers
Year 5 - wood
[...]
Year 21 - sushi and Indonesian ghost

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 07, 2026

Used to feel pretty plugged in about politics, but I've got to vote for governor soon and my strongest opinions are:

• not the guy who texted me all the time asking for $5

• I don't trust the rich

We'll see which dot gets filled in, I guess.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 06, 2026

only 80s kids remember being lured out of town by the piper's melodies because our parents wouldn't pay for ratcatching and we turned out fine

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 06, 2026

imagine having "has wings" as your superpower

your buddy can blast holes in concrete and you get to sleep on your stomach

demons land on Earth and you have to be, like, "I hope they don't like it if someone flies around them"

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 01, 2026

Replying to @jordan@sometimes.social

@jordan@sometimes.social close! it's a united proletariat

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · May 01, 2026

workers of the world, unite!

form a big ball and roll around!

about half of you, face outward so you can bite whatever you roll over!

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com

Yesterday, the college DJ on deck must have received a break-up text while on-air because their voice got sad and they give their listeners the advice to "never settle," then did their best to carry on with a wavering voice, right on the edge of crying. Braver than the troops. Even read a PSA before going back to music.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Apr 24, 2026

After a long local blackout, I finally bought myself a handcrank/solar-powered radio, which won't replace missing electricity, but ... I dunno, it felt like I was doing something responsible.

But lately I've just been turning it on to listen to the local college radio station and rediscover the joys of letting a human pick what I'm listening to next.

The DJ just now said their favorite music was "muzak" and queued up some bossa nova. Tidal can't deliver that kinda delight.

"Muzak"

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Apr 14, 2026

Replying to @apLundell@timeloop.cafe

@apLundell I'd be happy living someplace big enough for me to plant one of those spinning paperback racks somewhere it wouldn't be underfoot.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Apr 14, 2026

Replying to @MCDuncanLab@mstdn.social

@MCDuncanLab@mstdn.social Finally

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Apr 14, 2026

Replying to @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com

These days, if you try to call a reference desk at a library... you still can. I don't know what the point of that anecdote was. My understanding is that this is the expected behavior of someone my age and I'm trying to blend in. "Back in my day" stories for old people are like stripes on zebras. Confuses predators. They can't pick us out of a crowd.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Apr 14, 2026

Tomorrow I'm turning 50 years old.

That's so old that once, when I was a child, I couldn't remember who played David Banner on the Incredible Hulk TV show, so my parents told me to call the library and ask for the reference desk.

The librarian who took the call said "Wasn't it Bill Bixby?" without even having to look a thing up.

So yeah, "the internet" has always been with us, it just used to be other people. I guess it still kinda is. But it used to be, too.

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Mar 29, 2026

Only a few days left on this collection of Trophy Dark and Trophy Gold incursions I'm contributing to.

The pitch is: they're designed for one-shots. Want to dip your toes into the game, or bring it to a con?

All scenarios are reduced to 3 rings (Dark) or 3 sets (Gold).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/firepitpress/ruin-an-anthology-of-one-shot-incursions-for-trophy

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Mar 20, 2026

Replying to @hilljam@mastodon.social

@hilljam@mastodon.social @shannoncurtis@mastodon.social killed it with this one!

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Mar 06, 2026

Replying to @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com

I'm being told that I'm thinking of blair witch friday, during which, apparently, no bands go camping missed opportunity if you ask me, the Strange Man Standing in the Corner of the Basement, Facing the Wall

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Mar 06, 2026

it's bandcamp friday, where all the bands go out and set up little tents in the woods

and the bass player kicks their map into the river

and a guitarist disappears, but later they find his tongue, I think

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Mar 03, 2026

Want to feel sad?

You never know which invitation to go rob a tomb will be your last one. You'll just look around at your life and say "boy, it sure has been awhile, hasn't it, since I've had grave dirt under my fingernails and the tomb guardians' curses upon my bones."

Enjoy it while you can!

Michael of Ragged Feathers @signalstation@raggedfeathers.com · Nov 14, 2022

🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱
actually, you're bricked in, why did you click that button, you FOOL
🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱 🧱

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