Last month was full of conventions (both for business and for pleasure). I lost my voice (twice!) but made a lot of progress on the development of all my projects. While I had a great time catching up with old friends and making new ones, I’m also glad to be back home to rest, find my bearings, and chart out the course for the next year.
PREQUEL
I playtested PREQUEL at Gamehole Con and came away with a renewed enthusiasm for developing the game. This is only the second playtest of the game that I have been a part of, and I was a little concerned that the tension between worldbuilding and tactical combat would be a friction point for new players, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the players having a fun time switching between the two. The playtest brought to light some pacing issues that can be resolved by tweaking some numbers, but overall, I’m very happy with how the playtest turned out. I wrote more about designing with Pacing for PREQUEL in my latest design diary.
James and I have started onboarding some illustrators and a layout artist as we prepare for the kickstarter campaign in February 2025. Remember to sign up to get notifications at https://bit.ly/prequel-rpg.
Chain×Link
I had the pleasure of running Chain×Link at both Gamehole Con and Big Bad Con. I had to cancel my second game at Big Bad due to me being physically unable to speak by the end of the convention, but the first two runs of the game brought forth valuable feedback. Overall, I think the structure of the game works as intended, with players finding the core resolution mechanic engaging. However, the semi-cooperative nature of the game fell to the wayside with players defaulting to always working together and not fighting over who would be the Leader. My main objectives when editing the game will be to mechanize Faction Conflict in a way to–as one playtester put it–give permission for players to be assholes to each other. I’ll also be tweaking the magic system a bit to make it less punishing. Once I’ve got those two things figured out, I’ll edit the game text for concision. The goal is to have a text-complete game by the end of January. We’re so close!
Drawn from the Wellspring
Drawn from the Wellspring (DFTW) was the surprising standout during my playtests. Out of the three games I ran this convention season, DFTW was by far the game I spent the least time developing up to this point. Funnily enough, this was also the game that playtesters connected with the most. Players really enjoyed the use of the dots-and-boxes grid throughout the different phases of the game, and embraced the bio-apocalyptic setting and the theme of “nothing dies, only changes.”
I also had a eureka moment between my first two playtests which solved Phase Three of the game (the collaborative worldbuilding portion) while still using the dots-and-boxes grid. Every mission objective comes with its own 2×2 box. In Phase 3, the objective box is overlaid on the grid, with each box representing something about the objective: Fate, Form, Function, and Fluke (shout out to Tyler Crumrine of Possible World Games for suggesting Fluke). Depending on who controls the specific box, either the Players or the Game Master has narrative control over that aspect of the objective. Players really enjoyed this last phase of the game, and while it wasn’t the main aspect of the game I was playtesting, it taught me that I still need to leave space for playtesters to exercise those creative muscles for their own enjoyment. DFTW will be put on the backburner until I get PREQUEL and Chain×Link text complete, but I’m eager to get back to this game and finish up the text and move into art/layout. (I didn’t take any photos of the playtests I had for this game, which is regrettable, since it was neat seeing the dot grids come to life!)
Gamehole Con
Since I started freelancing and taking tabletop game design more seriously, I’ve slowly started expanding my network of folks in the industry with each year at a convention. I’ve been going to Gamehole Con for six years, and it was only until this year that I really felt like I was a part of the TTRPG “creative space.” I finally got to meet some folks, or at least have more 1-1 time with, folks that I’ve looked up to. I also met some great creatives, both new and experienced, in no small part to the first annual POC TTRPG Industry Dinner that Lyla and I organized, and the Monte Cook Game’s BIPOC Mixer event. I spent time hanging out with the Ghostfire Gaming crew and working their booth. Matt Orr of Wet Ink Games also invited me to do a 15-minute game jam with him, which you can watch below. I also got to play a playtest of Dark Well, a conspiracy-based TTRPG by AquaVertigo which was a great time!
My Gamehole Con haul consisted of Racoon Sky Pirates By Chris Sellers, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs by Shanna Germain of Monte Cook Games, and Never Going Home by Wet Ink Games.
Big Bad Con
This year was the first year I’ve run events at Big Bad Con, which kept me busy in the mornings. I also helped facilitate a game jam with Nico and Merrilee which produced three incredibly promising games! I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to play any other games while there, but I did participate in the POC Meet & Greet and met a lot of great illustrators who I hope to work with in the near future. As I mentioned earlier, I completely lost my voice by the second day, but even then, I had a great time surrounded with friends old and new.
My Big Bad Con games haul included Weeds in the Waste (it uses a neat tic-tac-toe mechanic!) and Ignite by Meghan Cross and The Marvelous Children of Inang-Uri and ARC by Momatoes.
Looking Ahead
The rest of this month is dedicated to finishing up some freelance gigs, PREQUEL development, and if time allows, some Chain×Link development as a little treat. Oh, not to mention a secret project that I’ll hopefully get to announce mid next year. December through February will be a focus on getting PREQUEL and Chain×Link text-complete…and getting PREQUEL ready for Kickstarter. There’s a lot of irons in the fire, which is both scary and exciting. But we’ll get it done!