Games

Ever since a good junior/high school friend of mine introduced me to the wonderful world of indie games that is itch.io, I've ha a real love for experimental TTRPG writing. And I've taken my own stab at it! You can find most about it over on my itch page, Fox with a Fountain Pen, but here I'll tell you a bit about my favorite projects I've written, and other games and game creators who inspire my work.

My first game, Creature, is one hell of a journaling game with way too many dice involved. I've started a game, but not yet finished it, especially after realizing there are some edge case situations the rules don't actually account for (not too hard to find workaround solutions though). Still, it's a darling of mine, and one I definitely want to revisit in play one day—those monster prompts I wrote are too good to pass up.

The mechanical heart of Creature, a deck of cards that acts as a countdown timer to the end of the game, also shows up in Good Town Bad Neighbors, my favorite of the more traditional systems I've designed (most of the other traditional systems I've made are not yet ready for publishing lol.) This came to me in a dream as a very different premise for a mobile game, and the piece I drew based on what I'd seen became the cover art for the TTRPG. In this game, you play as a group of friends in a small town with a monster that does not exist (until it does) (because of you) and whose influence makes certain roll-to-succeed actions harder and easier at will. I particularly like it as a game that permits and even sometimes encourages players to lie to one another, making sure no players need know anything their characters wouldn't.

By the time you read this, my Ticket Games series may well be completed! Right now there are but two left. This was started for the Alphabet Superset challenge, and while my steady progress got disrupted by a broken computer sometime around letter S, I've been chugging along at finishing the series. These are very short games, all under 200 words and most made with only one week to write them, and all centered on the theme of "Accessing Inaccessible Places." My favorites right now are Bed//Room, Center, Flight, Jaunt, Monolith, Observatory, Vertigo, and Xenagogue.

I wrote Ritual Magic to Trans Your Gender for the Trans Fucking Rage Jam, and billed it as a game that demands to be played, not read. I have yet to actually play it. Oh dear. I followed it up with Casting Transgender Wizard Spells for Fun and Profit as a late entry to the Trans Joy Jam, a very fun gamebook/grimoire. The third in the trilogy, someday-to-be a very late entry to the Trans Fucking Jam, will be Hyperreal Gender Affirmation through the Skull. It's so close to, yet so far from, being done.

Lastly (though never lastly), there's For 2d6+Day, a lyric game adaptation of the lyrics to Today, by The New Christy Minstrels. It's the sweetest thing I've ever written.

Some game writers and games that I love!

Maria Mison! Writes cool-ass ritual games of all flavors. I EAT MANTRAS FOR BREAKFAST, Falling into a Crystal Pool in Reverse, and 101 Games for Survival are my favorites of hers.

I believe Lucian Kahn is best known for Visigoths vs Mall Goths, but I know their work best through Astrology From Hell and the worldbuilding supplement Elf Genders, both works that really spark my brain.

Lilancholy punched me in the gut!! It was awesome. I plan on playing the fairy in these games whenever I get the chance to do it with friends.

Speaking of "do it with friends," legally I shouldn't exactly condone playing Pantamalion's Fight Truck, but I know exactly who I'd do it with if I did. There's not much I can say to hype this one up that'd do a better job than your reading it.

I keep coming back to Ludorites whenever I want more magic in my life. There's such quiet electricity in it.

Wreck This Deck is a game I started on slightly the wrong foot, but boy oh boy do I want to pick this back up and run with it. It's magic and playing cards and defacing playing cards for magical purposes. That's my shit right there.