A look at what I’ve been up to this past month. It didn’t feel like I got much done this month, but looking back, I’ve made decent progress on all project fronts!
Fetch My Blade
Print copies of Fetch My Blade are back in stock at IPR! I’m continually amazed that there are still folks out there buying copies of this game! If you’ve played the game and had a positive experience, please share them with me! I’ve got my copy of the game sitting on my desk, and I’m getting ideas…👀
Chain×Link
Playtest version 0.10 of Chain×Link is now on itch.io! After a few playtests of the previous iteration of the game, I’ve decided to simplify the system by reducing the dice types and stripping down the mechanics to only Trial rolls and Links (which are this game’s version of tracks). There are definitely mechanical issues that will need to be worked out, but I’m looking forward to tackling them during playtesting at Gamehole Con and Big Bad Con this year. After which, I will make changes based on playtest feedback and then publish this as a zine-sized game. This game started out as a quick thought and I can tell that the threat of scope-creep is real. I’m setting a deadline for myself to be done with this project by Q1 2025 so I can tackle the many other ideas rattling in my head!
PREQUEL
James and I had our first playtest of PREQUEL this past month. We’re still quite early in development of the game, but the playtest was extremely useful for us in understanding where the pain points were and how the magnitude of those pain points. We expected friction between storytelling and tactical combat, but we underestimated how that friction manifested. This first iteration was set up so storytelling elements were triggered by combat actions, which slowed combat down tremendously. Now, we’re considering flipping that relationship, so that the tactical combat actions are triggered by the storytelling elements. So how you tell the story determines the actions you do. It seems like a semantic shift, but I think this perspective is going to speed up storytelling since your storytelling has a purpose to trigger combat moves. In a way, this is a “tactical storytelling” game. Both James and I are committed and excited to tackle this challenge of balancing a worldbuilding/storytelling game with a tactical combat game. We will be playtesting at Gamehole Con and Big Bad Con this year.
Also, James wrote an analysis of similar games in theme or mechanics to PREQUEL that we looked at as part of research. Definitely check those games out if PREQUEL sounds interesting to you!
Convention Schedule
With convention season creeping up, I wanted to let folks know that I’ll be at Gen Con, Gamehole Con, and Big Bad Con this year. I’ll mostly be helping out my friend, M.L. Wang with her author’s booth at Gen Con, but if you’d like to meet up sometime, please let me know! My schedules for Gamehole Con and Big Bad Con are still in flux, but my main goals at those conventions will be playtesting my games and hanging out with friends and meeting new folks.
Looking Ahead
Aside from monthly updates, I’m considering writing blog posts on other topics, such as commentaries/reflections on my freelance projects, and thoughts on tabletop game design and play. I’m tempted to write more design diaries, because I like talking about design, but I’m concerned writing design diaries will detract from the precious time I have to actually work on the game. Writing blog posts would be another project on my growing list of projects, but it provides variety on my blog and allows me to go into more depth about my thoughts on particular subjects that I prefer to skim over within these monthly updates.
Specific Topics I hope to write about in the near future, perhaps on a monthly basis:
- Reflections on my World Tendency for Aaron Lim’s Spectres of Brocken
- Reflections on my work with Ghostfire Gaming’s Aetherial Expanse: Setting Guide
- Integrating player character backstories into campaigns
- Creating tension and stakes with player-piloted NPCs
- Designing lists/tables for maximum utility and worldbuilding