Hey, I'm Spencer.
Welcome to the workshop.
- I am the best dad*.
- I work as an independent strategic design consultant, chewing on nebulous service systems. You can hire me to do things!
- Talk to me about that, or about tabletop RPGs, DIY carpentry, and home cooking.
*according to a 4 year old with reasonable authority on the topic
Weeknotes
Writing these for me more than for you but there might be gold in the mud!
Projects
Gathering up in one place my (⚠️ probably messy!) notes for various projects I'm working on in public.
Project Fulgurite
An independent research project focusing on the systemic and service barriers to system transformation in home decarbonization. More plainly: how to make home decarbonization go faster.
- Home Decarbonization - Working Notes towards a Research Agenda
- Home Decarbonization - Emerging Bibliography
Project Cuttlefish
A tabletop roleplaying microgame / adventure about the rise of fascism, time loops and simulacra, and bucolic islands in the Pseudo-Adriatic. It's heavily inspired by the film Porco Rosso, the Star Trek holodeck, the artwork of Alariko, and roguelite games like Caves of QUD and Hades.
Project Falling Leaf
A tabletop roleplaying game about daring air racers in fictional inter-war Europe. Heavily inspired by Porco Rosso (like Cuttlefish above), The Rocketeer, the Crimson Skies game franchise, and vintage travel posters.
- Nothing here yet.
Project Lakeshore
An exploration of the role and reality of a modern, voluntary, neighbourhood-based civil defense muscle.
- Nothing here yet.
Writing
Sometimes I'll write to get an idea out of my head. I'm trying to do that more.
The Adventuring Party as a Model for Silo-Breaking
This post lays out a playful argument for why we ought to look to Dungeons and Dragons for a true silo-breaking team structure, the adventuring party.
Stranded Assets
This post borrows the idea of "stranded assets" from an energy sector experiencing transition to suggest some ways of thinking about services / products and the durability and sustainability of the assets they rely on.
Writing towards the network
This post outlines the goal(s) for this blog. Read this if you want to know why a person started a blog in '23, what its opening moves looked like, and what the moment in time looked like for this kind of internet writing.