No Turning Back

Out of the Fold, PSYCHODUNGEON reflections, This is Your Lifepath, upcoming appearances

Hello and welcome back to the Rat Wave Newsletter. I’m in the middle of a quieter month for me work wise (so if you’re looking for any writing or editing know that I’ve got space going) but that comes after a real packed month so there’s a few big things to talk about.

Out of the Fold

Lately (as in like, this year) most of what I’ve worked on has been big projects. Terminal’s production time was like six months maybe? (From writing to printing at least.) PSYCHODUNGEON has had starts and breaks (writing, then a redraft where finished way before the campaign for instance, which is where a lot of art got made and I’ll have more work coming up for it after editing) and projects I have on the horizon like Transgender Deathmatch Legend II will also be longer journeys. So I wanted to get something from start to finish with a quick turn around mainly just to work out all the creative muscles. The result is a new game I released yesterday: Out of the Fold!

Out of the Fold is a GMless card-based magical thriller storytelling game for 3-5 players. You play magicians hatching a escape plan to make it out of the Fold, the secret society of magicians who taught you everything you know.

Build poker hands to cast spells. Flashback to the events that set you on this course. Run for your life and don’t slow down.

You can find the game over on my Itch. I've ordered a short print run which will go up on the Rat Wave Webstore when it arrives (in addition to restocks of Infinite Dancefloor and Follow Me in the Night).

Out of the Fold is designed for zero-prep one-shot play and to celebrate the release yesterday I ran a game at a queer games social at Badger Badger in Deptford. It was a real blast of a game. In about two hours we played the full game. Our crew of a conspiracy theorist, an aging circus strong man, a rat man and a succubus desperate to learn what a pomegranate tastes like made a daring escape.

This is Your Lifepath

This is Your Lifepath took an unplanned hiatus through June. Basically there was an episode that proved an editing stumbling block and I wasn't in the right headspace to deal with it. So, unplanned hiatus and then this month was a triumphant return. I came back with an interview with Aaron Lim, creator of Spectres of Brocken, and this week's episode I chatted with my friend Jo Winter, creator of The Fall of Home.

The podcast is now also fully up on YouTube because of Google Podcasts getting taken out the back and shot. Wherever you get your podcasts, etc, etc.

The Places I’ll Go

I get around. Here's some of the places I'll be over the coming months.

I'll be at the Trans Pride event at Walthamstow Trade Halls on June 26th, tabling a stall selling books and zines.

I'll be at Norwich Games Con on August 25th with 12 Pins Press. Stay tuned for the next newsletter where I should have some extra events details.

(For both those events I'll have freshly printed Out of the Fold as well as everything currently up on the store. I've also ordered restocks for Infinite Dancefloor and Follow Me in the Night.)

From 6th-8th September I'll be at Tabletop Scotland with Laurie O’Connel from 12 Pins Press and Alyssa and Chloe from Biscuit Fund Games. Timelines depending I might see if it's possible to have an advance print run of PSYCHODUNGEON at the con.

Late November/December I have Dragonmeet and TAGS Fest but we're far enough away now that they're conversations for another day. I get around.

PSYCHODUNGEON Reflections

I'm gonna finish this months newsletter with some reflections on PSYCHODUNGEON, which finished it's Kickstarter campaign last month and honestly, it was a hell of a journey. I've written before about why it felt so stressful going into that. It took a lot out of me honestly but still feeling proud of the book that will result from this.

PSYCHODUNGEON is now in the hands of the books brilliant editor and my current estimate would be a mid September digital release.

PSYCHODUNGEON had a similar goal to Terminal, and it hit that goal and and stretch goal, though in the whole it had less backers and overfunded by less. I think getting too bogged down in exact numbers and factors can be not that useful, but making a comparison and thinking about why the difference occured at least once seems like worth doing, especially as I plan to kickstart Transgender Deathmatch Legend II later this year.

I do wonder if the pitch for Terminal was more unique and quicker to the point. I know people bemoan X meets Y marketing and I'm not as big a fan of you as you might assume, but I do wonder if PSYCHODUNGEON having no easy media comparisons made it a harder sell. I’m also curious if the triumphant tone of Terminal was more appealing compared to the bitter cynical view of PSYCHODUNGEON. Still I can't imagine myself having tweaked the game to be more X meets Y or trying to sell it with a different voice than the one the game has so that's probably not the most useful reflection. I guess I'd say I don't know if I ever mastered a truly killer one line pitch for PSYCHODUNGEON and maybe working on that side of things more in future could be useful (admittedly Transgender Deathmatch Legend’s killer pitch for many people is its title alone so that's a good sign there.)

There are certain things that might have been a boost to Terminal but are hard to tell; namely the DJA Emerging Designer win and getting shouted out in a related and more widely seen campaign. If they were factors they're essentially just circumstances, hard to influence and plan for, sometimes useful.

The thing really worth going to the drawing board on is promotion though. Terminal got picked up in more places than PSYCHODUNGEON did. Some of that is luck based and related to other people's interest but what I do have influence over there is how much lead time I'm able to provide and how many places I approach. Those are things I can work on. I also think Terminal having an actual play was probably a boost and not sorting one out for PSYCHODUNGEON was a miss. Improvable things.

Another reflection, though less comparative, is I’m not going to plan a campaign around a convention in future. While there are clear promotional benefits there I also need to look at my capacity and the time it takes me to recover from cons means I'm away from focusing on a campaign more than is good for me. My tentative plan for Transgender Deathmatch Legend would be October which is squarely between any cons I have planned.

I said in a previous newsletter I had some numbers in my mind different from the actual “necessary to make the game” targets. One was a number that if I didn't hit I felt I needed to consider stepping back from trying to full time this vocation. I didn't hit that number, and yet I don't think I'll be quitting.

The overall equation changed a little. Local housing allowance in my area got unfrozen and I got a fibro diagnosis that might open some other benefit options. But a big part of it is I'm just not ready to step back. I believe in the art I make and I want to be devoting my time to that. I want to put in the time and effort that might never pay off, might always leave me a little bit closer to the edge than I'd like, just because there is still a chance. Stressful as it may be, I want to play the long game.

I've been tinkering with a little video package for Transgender Deathmatch Legend II and I clipped part of Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson's speech after getting cleared to wrestle again. It's a part that's been ringing around by brain a little lately. If you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you.

Until next time