Hey all, this is a fiction review because I got a copy of this awesome queer retelling of the Great Gatsby and I would LOVE to see more games with this energy (like Bro, Is It Okay to Dock? and such!) so I figured I’d share it here.
AJ Odasso’s The Pursued and the Pursuing, an alternate ending and retelling of The Great Gatsby, is one of the first books in months that I couldn’t bear to put down. It has been a while since I read the famous original text, but my memories of me definitely left me wishing for something different, something distinct, and this satisfied that among other things! Before I give any details, I will say that I haven’t seen the related film, but I didn’t feel I needed to. There are spoilers in this review, but the significant ones will be spoiler tagged!
Even as someone who hasn’t recently read the book, I felt like Odasso’s natural skill in establishing character notes shone through. We start in media res, a hiccup before the official end of The Great Gatsby, where Jay Gatsby himself has been shot. Instead of him dying, he’s rescued by Nick Carraway and while publicly Jay Gatsby dies, Jay Gatz has new life. They go on to have a life together in love, finding their passions in both their professions (Nick as a writer for the Boston Globe and novels, Jay in restoring boats – something I appreciated because after his injury, he’s established to be disabled, but nonetheless gets to live a life doing labor that he enjoys, and as a disabled person, I rarely see disabled characters get to go on to happily do physical jobs!), and later, become the caretakers for Daisy Buchanan’s daughter Pam when it becomes clear that Daisy’s wishes for Pam do not match up with Pam’s desires.
The story itself is largely about finding love and family in places that you may not expect, while also experiencing the reality of being people who are not accepted by others. I appreciate that Odasso is very clear that these characters are benefitting from financial privilege throughout most of the text, and how that privilege does allow them not only the means to live well and travel, but also to remain private in their “proclivities” as queer people. There are historical references & geographical references that help to structure the story, as well as provide context for the nature of their private identities. It feels almost like a wishful story, a dream that if queer people had financial security and privilege, and if we had the privacy granted by a world before the internet (which since I was a teen has been the nightmare of doxxing, stalking, & zero privacy), perhaps, in some spaces, we could live happy lives without the interference of the world and its cruelty. However, it does not ignore that there are bad things happening around them.
It references various concerns of family rejection, as well as detailing some of those events, as well as societal risk. Later in the book, time has passed and Odasso does address World War II,
<spoiler> including the Holocaust. While I think that it would be possible to look at this and think it’s unusual to bring up, since the main characters don’t engage, I felt that it was actually a really good way to highlight the privilege that these characters have in the book, residing in the United States, as white people (aside from Pam’s girlfriend at this time, Sylvie, who has Jewish family in Europe & is Creole) who can do little more than express how they wish they could help. Sometimes, marginalized people with some degree of privilege (but not necessarily the kind that can do things like change public policy or rescue refugees) like these characters are framed as being able to just like, rescue others in need, but it’s not often that simple, but the text presents it as just as frustrating and irritating as it feels to me. Rich queer people, with all your money, can’t you do more? In today’s world, maybe. In the era this is set, possibly not, not without immediately risking their lives and becoming ineffectual going forward. I also, having followed Odasso’s work for over two decades, know that they are not as distant from the history of the Holocaust as readers might think, so I see the importance of including this reflection on both the encroaching horror and how little was done. If they had written in this time period and not mentioned it, I think it would have done the story and the history a disservice. </spoilers>
Jay and Nick are largely presented as flawed people who are just trying to recover from a traumatic event and find some sort of life in a world where people like them aren’t accepted. They do find others like them, and have fun parties, but those parties are like blips on the domestic path they experience. One of the reoccurring themes is alcohol, obviously, as well as alcoholism, and trying to reduce the negative and harmful behaviors of their past, learn to moderate, and moderate their tendencies to fight with people they love as well.
Daisy is part of the story, and frankly is presented in the only appropriate way I felt she should be. She’s a difficult cousin to Nick, and a mother with uncaring expectations for her daughter. In Gatsby, she’s established to be someone who is a product of her environment – a desire for financial security and financial privilege, and a degree of selfishness. While Gatsby’s original presentation of Daisy may be flawed because of his own perception, the rest of the characters largely carry on the same characterization of the original text, so it makes sense that it continues with Daisy as well.
She is also characteristic of the high class, wealthy attitude towards eugenics & societal expectations in America, as characterized in her treatment of Pam when
<spoilers> Pam, in her teens, is revealed to be intersex, or the closest understanding of intersex at the time that they had. It’s a complex revelation and importantly executed. Daisy wants to have Pam medically examined through surgery, concerned that she won’t be able to have children because of her lack of a menstrual cycle & therefore won’t find a husband. Nick & Jay object, supporting Pam’s own objection, and take her in to protect her. Daisy does continue financially supporting Pam, keeping her privileged and protected and able to pursue the education she wants, but essentially (like in the Gatsby novel) she’s not concerned about having a close relationship, especially once it’s clear that Pam loves women and wants to be an educated writer. Odasso does regularly ensure that there are large elements of Daisy’s behaviors that are influenced by her difficult husband, Tom, who is bigoted and active politically, including the fact that Daisy keeps almost everything about Pam’s life after her teens veiled to Tom. There is a positive, though fraught, scene at Pam’s graduation where Tom learns of Sylvie & Pam’s relationship, & it is shown that Daisy also recently met Sylvie. It feels like a genuine presentation of privileged, conservative parents having a queer, intersex child that they don’t understand, don’t truly accept, but don’t want to feel like failures for not having gotten the child they expected or wanted. </spoilers>
The way that Odasso has Nick and Jay accept Pam as she is feels, in a way, a dreamlike, wishful thing of what it could be to have family who you love and identify with accept you and give you a safe space to exist. It made me wistful.
The book obviously also includes some really lovely, lightly detailed but very intimate scenes between Jay and Nick that are written beautifully and capture a specific sensation of need & fulfillment that Odasso is brilliant at. I have always loved Odasso’s work, but some of these scenes are ones that feel so sweet and yet as though they’ve been snatched from time and memory, like hurried moments drawn out to engage the passions while allowing leisurely return to calm. I really loved every single one, because they entice while not overwhelming or offending, & often have elements of humor (and I love that they recognize the physical limitations and aging of the characters!).
I truly loved the whole story, and I didn’t feel like I needed to revisit Gatsby to reengage with these characters or to enjoy the snippets of their life. I feel like, too often, fiction wants to fill in all the gaps, redevelop characterization or overcharacterize, but as a reader, I truly enjoy having spaces of time between scenes and open exploration of the way the characters act and experience things. I could connect plenty of dots throughout the story to find ways that the characters behaved, even in the first few scenes I knew who they were and how they were very quickly, but there was enough space for me to see pieces of myself, people I love, and elements of fiction that I adore peeking through, whether imagined or otherwise! I feel like more fiction could benefit from such a paced & thoughtful engagement.
Overall, I think that The Pursued and the Pursuing is an excellent retelling of the end of The Great Gatsby, with complex and open characters, truthfulness to the original story in characterization and setting, and queer reinterpretation and exploration that captures a dream of what it could be to have privilege, privacy, and possibilities in a time where maybe that wasn’t really too common for queer people. I can’t wait for what Odasso releases next, because I enjoyed every minute!
These rad games all came through my radar over the past period of time, and I figured I’d just post my thoughts all in one! As always, these reviews will be copied over to the itchio pages with a rating to support the creators, and I recommend you buy the games that sound cool to you, and TIP the creators!
I keep on meaning to do individual posts with reviews but life… is a pain in the ass. However, these rad games all came through my radar over the past period of time, and I figured I’d just post my thoughts all in one! As always, these reviews will be copied over to the itchio pages with a rating to support the creators, and I recommend you buy the games that sound cool to you, and TIP the creators!
Remember this Pride month that marginalized queer creators need support especially when big corporations are promoting Pride stuff while not actually supporting queer creators! Direct support matters!
A note: Please keep in mind that my reviews are largely based on short self-playtests, solo play, and the review of the text since I am unable to put together a game group at this time. I’ve played, read, & designed a pretty wide variety of games, so it is not typically challenging for me to envision how something plays out in full experiences, but it is still useful to know that the review is based on limited engagement.
Skel-IT-Ons by Nevyn Holmes
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins Replayable? Yes! Actual Play Available? Some examples in text Length: Short (One-shot)
Full disclosure: I think Nevyn is very cool and enjoy their work, and have done Script Change consultation work for them. However, I don’t think this really changes how I feel about the game!
The graphic presentation of the game is really gorgeous. I love using bright pink against grey or other monotone, and the cover’s stark imagery of cubicles with the bright pink text over it is so great! It evokes a really specific vibe that is what my brain calls “eldritch corporate” and I don’t know how else to explain that! The interior has really cute and fun skeleton art and a combination of sans serif and handwritten font that’s still adequately legible for most people, and the text is mostly large enough to read without zooming in on a PDF.
The rules are informed by Lasers and Feelings, but also influenced by Grant Howitt’s Honey Heist. The presentation of the rules flows pretty well, starting with character creation and then moving onto gameplay, facilitation, then the tables and credits on the final page. Character creation is pretty simple, a combination of freeform elements like your name (which must be totally normal, definitely human), constrained elements like your stat number (ranging 2-5, higher determining that you’re better at IT and therefore good at human stuff, or lower determining that you’re better at Spooky and therefore good at sneaking and skullduggery), and choosing from picklists for things like your specialty (email, lying, brawling, user accounts, etc.), role (InfoSec, Intern, etc.), Skeleton Power (Funny Bones, Picky Fingers, etc.), ulterior motive, and fear. It’s flavorful and well suited to the game!
To play the game, you roll dice when there’s uncertain rules or risk, using six-sided dice and adding dice based on various factors (expertise, preparedness, etc.). The number of dice that succeed (trying to roll over your stat if you’re rolling Spooky, and under your stat for IT). There are helping moves, plus ones for focusing and reducing your meters. Your meters are Spooky and IT, and increase or decrease based on failure or success, and are what determine wheter you go feral, turn into a pile of bones, get found out as a skeleton, or lose your job! It’s cool to see genuine stakes in a one-shot game but still ones that aren’t too intense. I also love the presentation of the rules here!
A lot of the game is focused on completing IT tickets, which have tables in the back and can gain you Kudos, which determines the final winners. The tickets are determined by the facilitator’s rolls on the ticket tables, and the facilitator can also include things like Overtime for unresolved tickets, or introduce Absurd Obstacles to make things a little more hectic. For the players, the three main goals are “‘Fix’ things, complete your ulterior motive, and don’t get fired or turned to bones.” The facilitator (called a GM here) is there to make things complicated and present challenges, as well as to help determine what happens when rolls fail.
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins Replayable? Yes! Actual Play Available? Some examples in text Length: Short (One-shot)
The layout of this game is pretty with photographs of a lot of music-related objects and scenes (record players with quotes, cassette tapes, etc.) in a largely monotone (black, white, grey) color palette. the font is mostly monospace like typewriter font except for the serif quotes and sans serif thicker header fonts. The only part that’s a little challenging to read is really the music tracklists, which are white on black and smaller text, however, there’s a link to the Spotify playlists so that you can easily find the songs without having to read them!
When the Music Stops includes a safety section that’s well worded and encourages using safety tools as well as breaks and dialogue, primarily recommending lines & veils set up a few days before play to allow for time to prepare. I really appreciate setting safety expectations early, and putting this section before the Making the Mixtape section, because I personally know some music can even impact a person’s ability to play safely. (I feel like Script Change would suit this game well, also, if you’re looking for more structure.)
The Mixtape section is really great, giving guidelines on choosing a theme, timing the playlist well, including diversity, and the importance of having the lyrics (including a translation if it’s not in your native language) of the final song. As I mentioned, there’s also a sample playlist with a Spotify link, which makes this simpler for pickup play! In the section on playing the game, the instructions say to fast forward to the final song and look over the lyrics together, not talking but listening, and then flesh out the disastrous event when the music stops. There is a lot of useful guidance here on how much to detail, what to use to inform the narrative, and what it means to play towards resolving the disaster instead of trying to immediately fix it.
Character creation includes name, pronouns, and four traits for each character as well as any additional notes you desire to include or not. Traits are simple, descriptive phrases like “Single father,” “blessed by the gods,” and so on, with two being directly from the lyrics of the final song even if they overlap with others, just interpreted differently. This is really a cool and simple character creation that uses the game’s musical mechanics, which I love!
Each game also includes up to 7 Obstacles, and I like the flexibility in this section allowing you to stop when you feel it makes sense and say that whatever Obstacle you’re at is the final Obstacle. It is also is great that this section includes guidance to check in with quiet players and encourage them to, if they desire, be the next to introduce an Obstacle, since the last person who spoke in a given scene is given the right to introduce an Obstacle and some players are quieter or engage in different ways. You also don’t have to have Obstacles in scenes, which allows for more flexible storytelling.
Resolving obstacles uses die rolls against a 1-3 (makes it worse and causes you to use Chronicle points), 4-5 (timeline fights back, rewind your playlist), to 6 (overcome obstacle and gain a Chronicle point, more successes is more points) scale. You roll dice equal to the traits you’re using, which can be based on combined/team effort. I will say that it would be useful if Chronicle points were defined before this section, but it’s not too complicated to figure out or find since it’s a small document! The Chronicle points define how effectively you address the disaster at the end of the game, with more being better.
Finally, a great part of the game is the epilogue section on Rebuilding. This is after the confrontation of the disaster where you kind of unwind and thank each other & give positive feedback. It’s a great debriefing that includes a number of useful questions integrated into the structure, and I love a good opportunity to say nice things about each other and release tension or anxiety about the experience of play.
There’s some amazing game bundles happening this month, please check them out and see which one suits you!
Queer Games Bundle 2021– I’m in this bundle with I love you and I adore you! It has TONS of games and there’s even a Pay What You Want edition! Great Pride month collection! Support queer creators in and out of the bundle this month and all year round!
Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid – This bundle to support Palestinians who are struggling against the genocidal acts of Israel is full of tons of AMAZING games, and I’m in this one with Let Me Take a Selfie! Thoughty is an apartheid free space opposed to the actions of the state of Israel!
TTRPG Charity Bundle for Trans Support – I am sad I missed out on getting in to participate for this one, but WOW is it full of tons of wonderful games! Don’t miss out on helping trans people thrive in spite of the current harmful legislation attempts!
Sapling Soul by Logan Timmins
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins Replayable? Yes! Actual Play Available? Some examples in text Length: Short (One-shot)
The layout uses a simple white background and black text in a serif font with beautiful nature photography, very atmospheric and mysterious photographs of forests with light pouring between trees or the sky peeking through the foliage. I love tree photos so I immediately loved this part of the text, to be honest! Overall the layout is really functional, which is important, but it’s also quite pretty.
The start of the game includes some flavor text to guide your journaling and set the scene, and then has you establish your Trust in the forest by rolling 2d6 and adding 3. If you have 0 trust, you move to a section called “Losing Trust” and follow the instructions there, but you start out with this established number and record it in your journal. After this, you create your Sapling Soul. I won’t be including all of my play through, but here are the questions for creation and my responses.
What is your name? Evan What does the Forest call you? The Lost One How does the Forest call to you? The Forest keens, a ringing sound in the distance, that I know and will never forget.
Sapling Soul Creation Questions & Responses
You also have three attributes, empathy, nurture, and unknowable. To get stats for these, you roll 3d6 and add the totals together for each attribute. When you test these attributes, you roll the 20-sided die. Equal or under the attribute succeeds, over the attribute fails. Consequences happen in either case, and in some cases you invite hostility, including that of the Haunted, resulting in marking a strike in your journal. Three strikes invokes the Hunted by Haunted section. In encounters, you sometimes won’t test your attributes, and instead roll a d6 to find out what will happen. The mechanics here are pretty well explained and quite simple, and though a lot of the play is in the experience of journaling, the journaling is impacted quite a bit by these rolls.
There is a short safety section that details how there is a chance you won’t make it through, and that failure is still a story, with a note to pause or leave the game if you’re uncomfortable. I often wish solo games had more structured safety support, and I felt that here, but I am glad it’s noted at all. Reminding people that you don’t have to finish a game is important!
The following pages after this are the actual play with prompts and the results on a 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 scale or 1-3, 4-6 scale based on your d6 rolls. After the first roll, sometimes you’re prompted to test your Attributes, and there are further results on a similar d6 scale that impact your Trust stat, the number of strikes you mark related to the Haunted, and other things like causing you to have to roll twice and take the lower score on your next test. All of this is supported with about a paragraph or more of flavor and detail about what happens narratively because of your results, anything from chittering in the forest to physical discomfort or threats from the Haunted.
I will be clear that there are absolutely parts of this that could be disturbing, scary, or potentially triggering. There are a lot of themes of struggle, potential combat whether physical or metaphysical, spooky framing of the forest environment and the threats you encounter, some elements of deception, and some elements of being pursued or chased, among other potential elements that I might not have caught. I would especially note that the results of being overtaken by the Haunted or the Intruder both involve loss of self, not always ending the story but making you into one of the Haunted. For me, this is particularly creepy and stressful, but it’s a completely legit story element. If you like things that are spooky and a little unsettling, deeply evocative and exploratory, this game might suit you well! It’s super captivating and enjoyable!
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins Replayable? Yes! Actual Play Available? Some examples in text Length: Short (One-shot)
The layout of the game is really pretty with colorful, patterned backgrounds that have images related to the various tarot cards and the general theme. There are bold colored splashes with text over them on many pages, which I am grateful for because as gorgeous as these pages are, the narrow sans-serif font can be a little challenging to read over some of the more vivid or busy backgrounds. This is likely just a me thing though, I don’t think most people will struggle! Overall it looks great and it uses a little crown-and-eye icon to indicate when the author is providing guidance or notes, which is fun and useful!
Character creation for the Royals involves choosing a Royal from the tarot cards (four families of royals, based on the suits of wands, swords, etc. with detailed roles in the text of the game). All of the characters are equal regardless of implied hierarchy, and the text details that whether you’re naturally part of a family or not is irrelevant, as it’s based on your magic awakening. Next you ask the Royal on your right a series of questions, and the Royal on your left a different series of questions. The questions are really great (“Who have we both loved?” and “What secret of mine do I wish you didn’t know?” are great prompts, and there are several others!). Next, you write down “silver” and “blood” on a sheet of paper, splitting two facets between these two fields, including things like relationships or equipment. Silver relates to arcane ancestry, while blood is real world and mundane things.
These facets are what you wager in challenges, and when you fail they’re damaged or lost. You invert (like a tarot card can invert) when you lose all facets. This is a cool way to handle managing resources and what you can use them for without having to keep detailed track, as well as making resources integral to the actual narrative & engagement with challenges. The section on “Junk Magic” talks about using objects, fetishes, charms, and relics to accomplish magic, which is something the Arcane don’t have to do but Royals do. Determining how you do this is part of character creation.
You also choose a reason you’re doing this heist, but it’s a secret from the other Royals, whether it’s revenge, pride, greed, or loyalty. The game does say that you don’t have to define this in detail up front, and that it might change through play. You reveal this when your card inverts! All of this and a name and you’ve created a character. Each of the families has a ton of rich flavor and detail for the characters, so I feel like there’s a lot of room to play this multiple times.
The next sections of the game describe the Arcane, basically who you’re facing in the heist to take their powers, and the City, where the game is set. The Arcane each have a domain in the city where they’re strongest, defined & fleshed out by all players as a group. It also details how the Royals will describe their court, and then the five icons that players gain (each getting one) that can be used in case of a crisis.
To start off, Fate Herself (the facilitator) draws a major Arcana card to choose & describe the Mark for the heist, and players share something that relates the Mark to them (things that could potentially motivate them against the Mark are especially good here) and Fate Herself records them. The Mark holds The Prize, which is the manifestation of the power the Royals are stealing. The Prize is protected by the Box, which is basically the obstacles the Royals encounter, represented by five major arcana cards laid out on the table around the Mark, and defined by the Icons list in the text. From here, players use coins (3 per player) and play through scouting for the heist, defining the box, placing coins to indicate contributions, then using their facets and so on to play through the actual heist and engagement. They’ll draw cards and based on the card result get a “No, and,” “yes, but,” “yes, and,” or a “yes, and then some” from Fate Herself that gets broken down and affects how they overcome icons. If all icons are overcome, the prize is had, but there can be a lot of complications down the line!
The game itself is rules light, but the execution could be more complex for those unfamiliar with tarot, or for those who might struggle with using multiple components for whatever reason. I’d recommend thoroughly reading the text, as well as looking over the noted alterative rules within the text, before engaging in play. The game doesn’t have any particular safety guidance, so I’d especially recommend having a discussion up front to see how you want to support a safer table & if there’s any aspects of a magical heist that you want to encourage or avoid.
I hope you enjoyed these reviews! I hope to do more of these over time, as well as other posts about theory and design! If you enjoyed these, please support the creators by picking up their games & tipping, as well as leaving positive reviews. You can also check out the awesome bundles I linked to, full of great games for important causes! Finally, consider supporting Thoughty on ko-fi.com/thoughty if you’d like to see more from me!
This week is the final installment of my #33in28 series of solo roleplaying game reviews that I wanted to do for my birthday month. This post is a little late, but the final reviews took me longer than intended in the wake of some trauma and grief. I think that there are a lot of great games in this bunch though, so check them out!
This week is the final installment of my #33in28 series of solo roleplaying game reviews that I wanted to do for my birthday month. This post is a little late, but the final reviews took me longer than intended in the wake of some trauma and grief. I think that there are a lot of great games in this bunch though, so check them out!
Right now on Kickstarter for #ZineQuest3, there is a solo dexterity based role-playing game funding called LAY ON HANDS. It doesn’t have many days left to go, but I was fortunate enough to get a copy of an early draft to preview on Thoughty. This game is smart and looks great already; the idea of having to draw in a maze as a way to test your character’s skills and trying to rack up as many points as possible until the coin stops spinning is just something that I have never seen before.
Genre Tags: solo, lonely, journaling, post-apocalyptic, coins, drawing, art Replayable? Yes! Actual Play Available? None yet available Length: Short to Medium, (Journaling Optional)
The Gardener is Dead is a ghostly storytelling game by Ginger (@inkyginge). The game is currently on Kickstarter and doing well, and I think it deserves a little extra attention! I reviewed a draft version of the game provided to me by Ginger, so there is a chance something will change by the final version. That being said, this game uses at least 1 six-sided die, a deck of playing cards, paper, pencils, and tokens (pieces of paper or index cards will do). It’s intended for anywhere from one to four players, but I’m looking at it as a journaling game.
Genre Tags: solo, multi-player, lonely, journaling, death, loss, nature, cards, dice, plants Replayable? Yes! Actual Play Available? Many examples in text Length: Short,2-3 hours, Journaling (At your own pace)
Hi all! This is the week three set of my #33in28 reviews! The final post will go up on Sunday of next week. This week I’m covering a lot of self-care and meta type games like Ego and soulQUEST, but don’t worry, there’s still time to get Lost in the Deep. Enjoy!
Hi all! This is the week three set of my #33in28 reviews! The final post will go up on Sunday of next week. This week I’m covering a lot of self-care and meta type games like Ego and soulQUEST, but don’t worry, there’s still time to get Lost in the Deep. Enjoy!
Hi all! This is my review for the third week of #33in28 where I focus on a single game. This week’s game is Alex Roberts’ Precious Little Animal! It seemed really cute and positive, which I think is something all of us could benefit from this week. Precious Little Animal is a journaling game where you tell positive things to an animal friend and is currently on Kickstarter!
Hi all! This is my review for the third week of #33in28 where I focus on a single game. This week’s game is Alex Roberts’ Precious Little Animal! It seemed really cute and positive, which I think is something all of us could benefit from this week. Precious Little Animal is a journaling game where you tell positive things to an animal friend and is currently on Kickstarter!
This is the second week’s installment of #33in28, my birthday celebration reviewing 33 solo games in 28 days! Today I’m featuring Bear, Morning Phase, Operation Cat Chat, and more! Check out these awesome games through my reviews and make sure to click through on their itchio links to find out more and buy your favorites! I want to point out with this post that every single one of these games could be priced far more and still be more than worth it, so *please consider tipping if you buy!*
Hi all! This is the second week’s installment of #33in28, my birthday celebration reviewing 33 solo games in 28 days! Today I’m featuring Bear, Morning Phase, Operation Cat Chat, and more! Check out these awesome games through my reviews and make sure to click through on their itchio links to find out more and buy your favorites! I want to point out with this post that every single one of these games could be priced far more and still be more than worth it, so *please consider tipping if you buy!*
I hope you all are staying safe and celebrating any holidays you do while respecting COVID-19 guidelines! I want to share some fun and interesting games with you as part of the #Epimas2020 bundlethat I’m a part of. I hope you like what I share! The bundle ends in three days!
To tell you a little about Epimas, it is a created holiday season bundle run by Epidiah Ravachol, who I am lucky enough to have known and worked with over the years. The bundle was originally conceived as a way to share games with friends or new players and expand the hobby while maximizing use of the PDF format. You gave a bundle, you got a bundle. This year, it’s on itch.io and while the give/get format isn’t yet feasible on the platform, there are 69 designers contributing to this amazing bundle you can gift a friend or colleague to help them explore so many amazing games that soon, they’ll be inviting you to play them!
This is the first year I can really participate in the bundle, and may be the last. I’ve wanted to be a part of Epimas since I first started in games years ago and saw it, because it demonstrates something I really love – games as a gift, as a way to grow the hobby, as a way to try new things, and as a way to spur new creation when inspiration strikes after checking out so many amazing games. I am so excited to be a part of it, so in the last few days of it, I wanted to recommend you check it out!
This year’s bundles are named in a trend with Santa’s reindeer, starting with the overarching Dunder & Blixem bundle, which covers all games offered in the bundle. The others are Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dasher,Dancer, and Prancer, which break down the bundle into smaller bundles of games. I am in the Vixen bundle with Turn, alongside these others! Note that I haven’t played most of these games, but I’ve read the reviews and some of the text from a few and that’s how I’m compiling my notes.
I’ve been honored to be a part of the Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, edited by James D’Amato, which is currently on PREORDER! Preorders are a great way to support the product and the idea if you like it, because it lets big box stores know that there’s demand, so they’ll order more AND it lets the publisher know there’s a market for these kind of badass products! Check it out!
I would love if my readers who love my games would pre-order this awesome book filled with games by myself and other designers we know well like Alex Roberts and Jason Morningstar but also newer designers on the scene like Ben Chong, Jay Dragon, and Jeeyon Shim, and some rad entries from people like the popular Dread Singles/Hottest Singles writer Jordan Shiveley! I’m ecstatic for this collection!
My entry is a game about werewolves and is a mostly-solo (with option to interview others as part of the game!) game called Lycantree – here’s the blurb:
In Lycantree, you play the youngest member of your werewolf pack who is exploring the history of your Lycantree—the events that created your family. Your pack is a biological family that collectively raises young, and are very long-lived. You can trace over lifetimes the individual stories and the pack’s legacy by interviewing family and reading their journals. By doing this, you will find your own path through the visions of the Lycantree!
