{"id":1352,"date":"2019-06-13T11:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:38:45","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:38:45","slug":"five-or-so-questions-on-dust-wardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/06\/five-or-so-questions-on-dust-wardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Five or So Questions on Dust Wardens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi all! Today I have an interview with Nora Blake on Dust Wardens, which is currently on Kickstarter! It sounds awesome and promotes a lot of values I appreciate, so I hope you like the responses below!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me a little about Dust Wardens. What excites you about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a game I’ve been working on in one form or another for almost\n two years; it’s technically a hack of a game that doesn’t exist \n(anymore). I think the most pressing influence is Vonnegut’s Cat’s \nCradle and the way it talks about bonds between people and places and \nthings (words like karass, wampeter, and granfalloon do not appear in \nthis book, but honestly they might as well!). Those themes have stuck \nwith me for a long time and are really important to me, especially as \nsomeone with almost no ties to, for example, blood family. It’s nice to \nthink about my connections to the world and which connections are really\n mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The game focuses a lot on relationships, and this is mechanized in Vows. How do Vows work and what do they mean to the players?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, Vows are promises; specifically, they should be “I will”\n statements that drive you toward action. I’ve seen them end up as \nanything from things like “when the time comes I will give you my \nmoonlight” to “I’ll always hold the pieces together when you feel \nbroken”. They help to define your relationships through a lens of action\n and devotion, which are very important to me. I’m the type of girl to \nmake big romantic promises with an inside context only the two of us \nknow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polyamory and queerness feature heavily in Dust Wardens. I’d really love to hear more about this! How did you prioritize including it, and how do these elements affect the gameplay?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I talk at length about polyamory and queerness in the text itself, \nand how pivotal these things are to it. The world of dust wardens is a \ndangerous one, and humanity exists on the fringes of life on the planet.\n There is no bastion of “civilization” or state controlling their lives \nor coming to save them. On a more somber note this is how it can feel \nsometimes to be a queer trans person in the world doing my best to build\n my own pockets of community in a wider, more dangerous world. I won’t \ncall it a metaphor, but it’s an applicable framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you elect not to use playbooks, and how does this enrich the game for players of different backgrounds?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest I thought about using playbooks a few times in the \ncourse of development but I never found any that really felt right. I \nhave no idea how I would sort dust wardens into categories. It’s \nsomething I might revisit someday, but as it stands I like that things \nare more freeform. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be able to make \nyourself in this game and play the game with someone on a date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Dust Wardens cover art by Anna Landin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The choice of using cards as a mechanic is really cool! How do the card mechanics differ from traditional PbtA type mechanics, and how do they better support Dust Wardens as a game?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tools we use in play have an immense impact on tone and impression. I think about the Quiet Year a lot and how the map is such an integral piece of its tone. Originally this game used playing cards, and had a much stronger Americana theming, but as time went on I began to want something better than America. I’m sure part of that is from thinking about hope a lot more these days. A better tomorrow is out there, even if it’s on the other side of an apocalypse. The world of dust wardens isn’t there yet, but it’s on its way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you so much Nora for the interview! I hope you all enjoyed it and that you’ll check out Dust Wardens on Kickstarter today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi all! Today I have an interview with Nora Blake on Dust Wardens, which is currently on Kickstarter! It sounds awesome and promotes a lot of values I appreciate, so I hope you like the responses below! — Tell me a little about Dust Wardens. What excites you about it? This is a game I’ve … Continue reading “Five or So Questions on Dust Wardens”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[390],"tags":[52,30,20,10,4,17,25,46,8,15,12,23,18,56],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-card-games","tag-diversity","tag-five-or-so","tag-game-design","tag-games","tag-gaming","tag-interviews","tag-queer","tag-roleplaying-games","tag-rpg","tag-rpgs","tag-tabletop-games","tag-tabletop-rpgs","tag-worldbuilding"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/dust-wardens-cover-anna-landin-artist.png?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-lO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2018\/06\/five-or-so-questions-on-champions-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":1352,"position":0},"title":"Five or So Questions on Champions Now","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"June 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi all!I did an interview with Ron Edwards on his Kickstarter project, Champions Now! Ron prepared our audio recordings and edited everything into a video, so you get to hear the interview on the following video. I hope you enjoy it and that you'll check out Champions Now on Kickstarter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/11\/boy-band-the-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":1352,"position":1},"title":"Boy Band: The Game","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"November 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi All! Got an idea today, so I wrote it down. Check out Boy Band: The Game, which will get a fancier version at some point, but until then, get ya grabby hands on it.Boy Band: The GameThis post was supported by the community on patreon.com\/briecs. Tell your friends! To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1435,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/07\/friday-hi-day-youtube-post-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":1352,"position":2},"title":"Friday Hi-Day YouTube Post Live!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"July 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Tfn7OHqQ_HQ","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Tfn7OHqQ_HQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1862,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2020\/04\/script-change-now-has-discord-emojis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1352,"position":3},"title":"Script Change Now Has Discord Emojis!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"April 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Check it out! https:\/\/briebeau.itch.io\/script-change","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"the script change buttons on a sheet.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":434,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2014\/01\/five-or-so-questions-with-martin-ralya-on-new-game-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":1352,"position":4},"title":"Five or So Questions with Martin Ralya on New Game Day","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"January 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I interviewed Martin Ralya from Gnome Stew about New Game Day, upcoming on February 2, 2014, as well as Gnome Stew and Engine Publishing. Today's Five or So is a special edition to give people time to plan for the holiday!Tell me a little bit about Gnome Stew, and about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/06\/game-design-insight-on-twitter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1352,"position":5},"title":"Game Design Insight on Twitter!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"June 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been participating in a meme on Twitter about game design insight!Check it out here!Also check out Ewen Cluney's thread with links to other designer's Twitter threads!This post was supported by the community on patreon.com\/briecs. Tell your friends! To leave some cash in the tip jar, go to http:\/\/paypal.me\/thoughty.If you'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}