My Coffee Went Cold While Writing This
Latest progress on Terminal, fuller PSYCHODUNGEON announcement, Zine Club, and Secret Teases
Hey welcome to the tenth issue of the newsletter since I committed to properly doing it monthly at the start of the year. Last month I said this months letter would be less meaty. I was wrong. Such is the way things go sometimes.
This month will include:
Latest update on how Terminal’s going
A more extensive preview of PSYCHODUNGEON
A plug for the RPG Zine Club
Tease of a fun secret project
Let’s kick this into gear and plug back in to the Terminal.
Terminal
Layout work has continued and there's an initial draft of the book now which I personally think looks gorgeous. There's more art to be added, as well as adding in the stretch goal techno-fables. Additionally I need to make sure to include the table of contents (oh god I live in fear of forgetting this) and I may add some little in-universe easter eggs as spot visuals (it's something I'm gonna play around with at least, maybe I find it more distracting than exciting).
I've received most of the techno-fables from stretch goal writers. I'm really pleased with work from some of my favourite writers. I think there's a really neat mix of styles and thematic focuses across the different stories. Most have been passed on to our talented editor Alyssa.
Here's a preview of a new piece of art, focusing on two pirate fighting off a robotic sea monsters in the Wake, in layout as a preview.
PSYCHODUNGEON
In last months newsletter I previewed a new project I'd been working on, PSYCHODUNGEON, a game about poor cityfolk making a living by delving into mindscape dungeons manifested from troubled individuals. Last month I was figuring out how the setting elements worked properly. In the month since I have a full draft of the book and I'm happy with the path I went down.
I'm now pitching the game as a fantasy workplace action drama, played using No Dice and No Masters. (Feels like a good quick pitch). So the way the game developed is that there are three roles. The main cast take the role of Psychoplumbers, of which there are seven playbooks. Each playbook has access to a variety of moves. They spend tokens to make Strong Moves, gain tokens by making Vulnerable Moves and can give tokens by making Lateral Moves.
The seven core playbooks are the Wizard, the Witch, the Werewolf, the Cyborg, the Swordfighter, the Shapeshifter, and the Rockstar. The playbooks are exploring lots of different things, a lot of which relates to work and mental health. The Wizard is someone wondering about a sunk cost fallacy, if there's only one thing they're able to be. The Shapeshifter is struggling with a completely destroyed work life balance. The Werewolf is in part an exploration of chronic pain caused by an unhealthy work enviroment.
In addition there are two other roles players can assume in a session of play: The Dungeon and The Client.
The Dungeon acts as the physical landscape itself along with any monsters that inhabit it. They gain tokens by manipulating the emotions of the Client and the Psychoplumbers and spend them to act aggressively. Dungeon’s have different Textures to help shade them in. The Client will act as an individual whose traumas have been made manifest. They'll get to know the Psychoplumbers and enter their own dungeon to close it off. You’ll fill in details on an individual Client for every dungeon and give them three Traits. Traits describe something about how a character is and include a move through which others can gain tokens. They can also be given tokens by Psychoplumbers and depending on how much they're able to understand and accept their problems they can spend tokens to manipulate the dungeon. They're not expected to get physical down there though, that's what psychoplumbers are for.
I mentioned I was looking to this as my next crowdfunding project and I think that's still the plan. However I wouldn't be able to get it launched until Terminal is closer to fufilment, which may push me into timings everyone says are better avoided. I'll probably have a clearer idea in next month's newsletter, maybe even something to actually announce
Patreon
Did you know I had a Patreon? Yeah I never did a great job of plugging it and definitely neglected updates there some times. I think with other things going on I don't feel in a position to be giving the Patreon the attention it should have so I've made the decision to shut it down before the end of the month. I've posted the first draft of PSYCHODUNGEON as an apology to Patron's for the shoddy communication. Maybe it gets dusted off again in the future if things change and it seems like a thing I could give fuller attention to.
RPG Zine Club
Have youse heard about RPG Zine Club?
Zine Club is a new subscription membership by Plus One Exp and a global community of indie RPG designers. As a club member you get:
Fresh New Zines Each Month (in 3 great flavors).
An Online Community of Conversation & Play.
The Lowest Price On Each Zine.
The Best of New & Known Creators.
Transparent Control Over Your Membership.
To Help Transform How Indie RPGs Get Made.
It's a really cool initiative that I'm super excited to see grow. Aaaaaand if you sign up to Zine Club Stories Membership (or the All the Zines Membership) then next month you'll receive Fear the Taste of Blood, my game of classic movie monsters inspired by Dracula, the Wolfman and others.
Secret Project
Hey did you see this tweet on everyone's least favourite social media? Interesting. Whatever could that be about?
Incidentally I recordered a secret project yesterday that was a lot of fun. Interesting, no? Whatever could that be about?
Always Remember: You Can Give Me Money Anytime You Want
Closing off this (oh god much longer than I expected) by saying that I've done some freelance work this month that I've enjoyed a lot, both layout and writing, and just a reminder that I'm available for more work (at hire.ratwave.uk) if you want to add one of the hottest rising stars to your project. (Hey did you know you can just declare yourself a rising star and no one will stop you? You won't go to jail or anything?)
See ya next month!