Not Writing posts
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The Devil's Almanac
Hello Scoundrels,Finished up my entry for one of the TOO MANY game jams I'm participating in. The Devil's Almanac is a collection of random tables that help you generate devil's bargains for Blades in the Dark. This is for the 2021 Generator Jam. It's free! If you're a recent patron, look for your name in the credits!Working on yet another jam submission that I'm hoping to finish by the end of the month. I've also had some video game companies actually interested in employing me, so I've been doing writing tests ...
Sythicide on Kickstarter Now
Hey Sharpers,Told you it was gonna be soon!As I mentioned earlier, I've been hired to adapt this game into a new system. It's got spaceships, evil space church, and a big ol' grimdark galaxy full of factions, planets, and more.I'm looking forward to working on it, and being paid to do so! But that only happens if the Kickstarter funds so, if you can spare some cash I appreciate it, if not please do spread the word.Thanks again!
Synthicide Kickstarting Soon
Hey folks!Well I can finally talk about one of those mystery projects I've been working on. Synthicide is a science fiction game of daring criminals surviving under the heel of synthetics and an overbearing church in an empty, ruthless galaxy. It was released a few years ago and recently the designer reached out to me to help him update the game and port it over to the Forged in the Dark engine. We've already put together a quickstart guide which folks will be able to read through for free when the Kickstarter launches. Money raised wil...
Bundles, Bundles, Bundles
Hey folks!As of last night I have some games in some pretty awesome bundle sales happening right now on itch.io. If you want to get some deals on more indie TTRPGs and video games, please check these out:Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid. This is a collection of over 1,000 tabletop games, video games, supplements, etc. with all proceeds going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency who are providing food and emergency health services for folks right now in Palestine.Summer Romance Bundle. This is a collection of 29 tabletop games all about...
Not Writing Games now on DriveThruRPG
Hey folks!I am now selling my games on DriveThruRPG. It's... a very different process than hosting games on itch.io so I won't be bringing everything over. Right now I'm just diversifying to see if I can get some more sales. If my titles do well there I may start to bring over more products. I'll probably release future products there as well.But honestly it's a lot more work to put stuff on DriveThruRPG than it is on itch.io, so much so that I'm not sure if it will be worth it. It's a much older storefront, so it...
Sense & Stencibility Released
Hello Artists!Finally finished my entry for the Mock Cover Jam. I used one of the cover images provided by the jam organizer and made a game about tragic street artists doomed to die, fall in love, or sell out.Sense & Stencibility is available now on my itch store for $5, and all $5+ patrons will be receiving a message shortly for a link to download the game.Next month I'll be working more on Prisoners of Light & Matter, as well as some other game jam projects, and bringing some of my games to DriveThruRPG so I can start doing print-on-dema...
Sense & Stencibility Prototype
Hello Tragic Youths,This post contains the prototype for Sense & Stencibility, a game about young folks facing terrible fates like falling in love and falling out over street art.This will be my submission to the Mock Cover Jam, a game jam where folks make games using covers provided by other designers. It's a great idea, and as soon as I saw the cover for Sense & Stencibility, I had an idea about a rules light RPG about street art and Shakespearian tragedy.I'll be working on the finished version of this game for the rest of this month,...
Sales and Bundles!
Hey folks!So, there's some sales happening! Itch is having their first creator's day where folks on their platform get to keep 100% of their profits for the day. To mark the occasion I've bundled some games together in a sale. If you haven't gotten my games and want to pick some up, give them as a gift, or whatever, now is the perfect time!Creator's Day SaleMy game World Maker is also currently a bundle with several other games and exercises all about making fictional worlds, or games based on making maps, etc. It's a gr...
Prisoners of Light and Matter - Prototype
Hey folks!Attached to this post you'll find a pdf of Prisoners of Light and Matter, my forged in the dark game of noir mystery and nihilism. This prototype is a little... I dunno. Light, I guess (hah). There's a lot more work I want to do to get it where I want it. Evoking a very specific feeling in a game is a difficult thing to do, and honestly I just haven't felt, well, hopeless enough to real nail this right now. But I'm excited to do the graphic design work on this one.I've also updated A Torch in the Dark. The new vers...
Nasty, Brutish, & Long Released!
Hello Workers!Nasty, Brutish, & Long, my game about class and revolution is out! All $5+ patrons should have received a message giving them access on itch.io. I'm really happy with how this one looks and plays. I wanted it to be a small project and while 25 pages is longer than a lot of my games, I still feel like it fits the bill.For the rest of the month I'll be working on 2 prototypes. Prisoners of Light and Matter, my grim nihilistic mystery game, and Kaleidoscope Heads, a chaotic game of multiple dimensions. The latter will be publ...
Nasty, Brutish, & Long - New Prototype
Hello Comrades!So I actually made a handful of adjustments to the Nasty, Brutish, & Long prototype that I released a few weeks ago. Just made some rules clarifications and changed 'money' to 'resources' and so this version linked in this post reflects those. I think it gives a better overall impression of what the game is and what it's trying to do. I'm really happy with it!You can grab a copy of the digital character sheet here as well.I also wanted to tell you about what I have planned for this month:A New Prototype! P...
Nasty, Brutish, & Long - Prototype
Hello Revolutionaries!Attached to this post are the prototype documents for a new RPG I'm calling Nasty, Brutish, and Long. It's an open world game of lives made complicated by some sort of revolution. It could be the dawn of the industrial age, the sudden appearance or negation of magic, or the death or ascension of the gods!I'm using the Forged in the Dark engine again, but with a lot more changes and innovations to the core formula. I was also inspired by Luke Crane's The Burning Wheel. I read through that game last month, an...
Operative v 2.0
Hey folks!Just uploaded some new graphics and layout for my fan playbook for the Scum & Villainy RPG. Similar to the Pledge, I just wanted to make sure I deviated some from the trade dress in the book. This will be the last time for a little while that I revisit my old work and give it a fresh coat of paint, since I've covered basically everything at this point. Going forward you will see updates about the new projects and new ideas I talked about in my last post.As always, thank you!
The Pledge v 2.0
Hello Scoundrels!In my quest to give a new graphic update to all my old work, I did some design work on my fan playbook for Blades in the Dark. The Pledge now looks less like I just copied the design in the Blades in the Dark book and more my own approach. Being a fan work of someone else's world this is available for free on my itch store, so feel free to check it out and see your name in the credits!Thanks again!
Wild Speed: Space Family v 2.0
Hey folks!I updated one of my more ridiculous RPGs this week. Wild Speed: Space Family is my take on ridiculous action movie franchises like Fast & Furious. It's an easy to play story game, no game master required, and easily played within an hour. It's a lot of fun and I'm happy I got to revise it with your support, and add some new names to the credits as producers! Thank you so much!$5+ patrons should be able to download this new version at your convenience from the itch page!I've successfully moved and am getting back into t...
Underground Maps & Passkeys
Hello Scoundrels,Last year (woof) I contributed to a collection of alternate starting scenarios and small supplements for the Blades in the Dark RPG. Now the collection is finally live and all proceeds are going to the Bail Project, an organization fighting against the mass incarceration of citizens in the USA and paying people's bail fund in the process.If you're a fan of Blades, want some inspiration for your campaign, or just want to support a good cause and get an awesome and varied 50+ page supplement in return, please check it out...
External Containment Bureau on Kickstarter Now!
So uh... that all just happened.The ECB Kickstarter went live yesterday morning and we funded in just under 20 minutes. Myself and the other designers are really floored by all this support and I can't thank folks enough for it. We've blown past our initial stretch goal, so now ECB will have a custom illustrated cover and some killer art throughout. We actually got to pay our artist more than her asking price so, that's pretty cool too.I'm not quite sure what else to say. I wish I wasn't in the middle of moving so I could re...
World Maker Update and Delays
Hey Folks,Last month I wanted to share a prototype of Devil's Dice, my solo hack of External Containment Bureau (coming to Kickstarter tomorrow!) but I got quite a lot dumped on my lap at the end of month: in a good way. Some contract work, a possible full-time job, and an opportunity to work on another RPG.I'm not sure when I'll be able to deliver that prototype because right now I'm focused on moving out of my current apartment. This came as quite an unexpected shock but it will likely be better for my overall mental health du...
External Containment Bureau - Coming Soon!
Hey Investigators!So, this is the big project I've been teasing for the last few months. It's called External Containment Bureau and it's a tabletop RPG all about paranormal investigation and corporate bureaucracy. It's very much like X-Files or the video game Control.I've been collaborating with 3 other designers from the Blades in the Dark community to put this together. I'm doing the lion's share of the writing for the rules and I've been having an absolute blast.The project will be released digitally and prin...
Neon Black 7.3
Hey punks,The latest version of Neon Black is now live on itch. This will be the version I resubmit to publishers, so there probably won't be many changes until I figure out if I have to do it myself or if I can get someone else to manage it for me :POdd bit of serendipity: the last version I submitted was v6.3. Weird how that worked out.As for the future, you'll definitely be seeing something big on Kickstarter from myself and a few other designers in February. I'm really excited about that but can't say much more right now.I&#...
An Amateur's Guide to Hacking Blades in the Dark
So there's this game design essay jam happening on itch.io, and y'all know how much I love a good game jam. I've seen a lot of folks in the Blades in the Dark community puzzled about how to start making their own version of this game. There are a lot of moving parts and it can be quite intimidating to start, make changes, and charge money.So I put together this little... Essay? Zine? Presentation? It's meant to help folks when they first start hacking Blades, and covers some basic tips and resources that have helped me in the pa...
Bundle for Trans Day of Remembrance
Hey folks,A member of the Blades in the Dark discord server recently proposed putting together a bundle of indie TTRPGs on itch to help raise money for trans folks. There is, as we all know, quite a bit happening in the world and trans folks often slip through the cracks. Whether it's healthcare, housing, or other essential needs, we often see trans people creating a GoFundMe page and begging on the internet for anything anyone can spare just so they can live.Bundle for Trans Day of Remembrance.This bundle will be running for 1 week and the...
Neon Black 7.0
Hello Hackers,Well about time, huh? Finally managed to compile my pages of notes and feedback and push out a new version of my cyberpunk tome. I've been working on this thing for most of 2020 and I feel like it's almost something I can resubmit to publishers. I'm mostly happy with it right now, but I'll be adding 2 or 3 things in the future before I think I'm well and truly done with it. My sincere thanks to everyone who played the game and gave feedback. It would be worse without you.I'm still hoping to get that final f...
The Sea Changes Bundle
Hey folks,I gave two of my earlier a games a nice make-over: A Few Degrees of Warming and One Trillion Years. The rules are more or less the same, I just updated them with new graphics and hopefully a slicker design.I did this because they are both included in a sales bundle with another indie tabletop game designer, Speak the Sky! The bundle has 4 games, and is on sale for the next few weeks. Even if you already own A Few Degrees of Warming and One Trillion Years, you can still get Speak the Sky's games for a bargain! What a deal!Work cont...
A Torch in the Dark version 1.0
Hello Delvers!I've finished A Torch in the Dark! Since version 0.1 came out in... the end of March? Oh god, that feels like forever ago. Uh, ahem, okay.Anyway! This version is almost a complete overhaul. The core idea remains the same. It's a single-player RPG where you delve into the crypts and catacombs beneath the Imperial capital of Kynburgh. The People's Revolution has secured the city, but as Emperor Titan Kyne died he cursed the land and all who deposed him. Now that death-curse has animated the old Lords in their tombs and p...
The Operative
Hello again Scoundrels,Last time I mentioned I was working on another fan playbook for the Unusual Suspects playbook jam, and here it it! The Operative is designed for Scum & Villainy, and is inspired by science fiction rogues with mysterious pasts and who always seem to have the right tool for the job. Most of the submissions so far have been for Blades in the Dark so I was happy to break the mold a little.Work on A Torch in the Dark is going well. Mostly everything is written and tested and now I just need to put it all into Affinity Publishe...
The Pledge, a Blades in the Dark playbook
Hey scoundrels,Well, I got bitten by the game jam bug again. I know, I know. But don't worry, work still continues on A Torch in the Dark, I've finished all 9 dungeons and am now testing them for balance and consistency.In the meantime though my friend Justin started the Unusual Suspects Game Jam, a jam all about creating custom character playbooks for Blades in the Dark. I've had ideas for custom playbooks for a little while now, so I thought this would be a good time to polish those ideas off and release them into the wild.This fi...
August Update
Hey folks,By now you've probably figured that A Torch in the Dark won't be out this month. Sorry about that but it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I don't know why I thought I could write 9 dungeons each with 52 encounters, plus a character sheet, plus a whole new rule book in a little over a week. But uh... yeah, here we are.My goal is to get A Torch in the Dark finished by the end of September. That should give me plenty of time to turn around a good looking game that I'm proud of, and it's not asking too m...
New Torch in the Dark & Neon Art
Hey dungeon delvers!Just wanted to give a brief update on how things are going. I have revised the rules for A Torch in the Dark and I'm hoping to get the new 1.0 version available on itch and for $10+ patrons by the end of August. Above you can see an unfinished version of the new cover image.Revisions to Neon Black are going well. There have been... several versions 7.0 but I think I'm getting close to something I can actually start writing the rules for. Right now it just lives on several Google Sheets and in my head. My testers have...
Area Zero One Released
Hello Incursion Team Members,Finally wrapped up my first module for the Trophy Gold system, Area Zero One. It's an adventure influenced by stories like the Southern Reach Trilogy, The Ritual, and other horror stories of first contact and weird paranormal happenings. Didn't win the contest I submitted it for, but I'm still quite happy with it.All $5+ patrons will be receiving their link to download the game shortly.Not sure what I'll be doing next. Still making revisions to Neon Black. I'd like to revise A Torch in the Dark a...
