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yes! 

The thematic core at the heart of Fetch My Blade is loyalty. 

I wonder if Siew realized in 2020 how relevant undead machines would be to the future of labor.

Conservatism, consumption, and cruelty. These are the themes by which Godkiller justifies deicide. Its effective use of the history of humanity’s resentment of religion makes for an evocative, intimate duet experience, one I think will absolutely find its target audience when the final version is released. Players who have struggled with religious oppression, questioned why their all-loving Gods would smite the innocent, or just want to sink their teeth into something holy will find a great deal of narrative satisfaction in this text. 

Here's my entry, for "Furred Worms"

Excerpt from an interview with Heshe, the first human to take up with the Worms. 

… and another thing you gotta know about the Worms, is that they’re real finicky about manners. Of course you shouldn’t touch their fur without permission, but it’s much deeper than that. A worm in a cape speaks last, it’s rude to ask their opinion too early. A spoon is a good birthday present, but a knife is an invitation to courtship. They aren’t particular about who’s shacking up with who, but another fellow gave his two lovers a dagger each, and when they found out, the only thing left of him was a big boneless knot of flesh. 

Otherwise, they’re friendly. Never had an empty belly since I joined the cult. You’d think creatures without hands would be dismal at cooking, but I never had such a hearty leek and turtle stew in my life. They expect you to work for your keep, and since I got thumbs, I’ve been really useful in helping with their paperwork, but if you pull your weight, it’s as pleasant as any kingdom above ground. Just watch your step around the mercury.

Unrelated, any chance you’ve got a bezoar? I’ve been pissing blood ever since I fell in the Mirror Pool.

It is not Ahab’s fate to slay Moby Dick. It is not Satan’s destiny to overthrow God. And it is not man’s place to snare the Devil.  

But your doomed crew will try anyway, commit hubris of the highest order, and if you’re incredibly lucky, fill the Hellwhale’s hide with harpoons, to earn your final reward.

Patchwork World is unconcerned with convention, it does not care about white space or polish. It is a text that cares about its reader, future players, and trusts they will care more about its content than its cover. It’s a game that I want so badly to be the model for indie designers everywhere, because it’s first and foremost about its words. 

thank you so much Jeff!!!

With a solid core of prompts and scenes to help players simulate a day in the life of a professional duelist, Corps a Corps ramps up wonderfully into emotional and tense battles that resolve into a satisfying climax. 

thanks so much for looking through my work!! 

The quality and scope of files up on itchio varies dramatically, but the fact is people love making games. The current “industry” of tabletop games is a mess, but the thing that endears me so deeply to indie games is that they are, by and large, labors of love. 

Untitled Moth Game is certainly no exception.

Thank you so much!! 

thanks so much for your kind words! 

I’ve been excited about Apocalypse Frame for a while.

A strategic solo journaling game built on Blades in the Dark mechanics, this game takes a fascinating look at the political and logistical realities of revolution, and gives players the choice to determine whether this one follows historical trends, or becomes immortalized in stories through the ages. 

Heard this game played on Friends at the Table, it absolutely rules!

I hope I get a chance to play Mausritter someday. It channels that same sense of adventure and excitement as the media that inspires it, and that cannot be discounted.

   But for me? Mausritter nails the terror of being small. And in an RPG scene where heroes are nigh-unkillable, facing down dragons without a second thought, I think it’s good to be reminded that we live alongside real life dragons every day.

That’s where Beak, Feather, and Bone bleeds over from fantasy worldbuilding into the actual politics of cartography. The lines you draw in BFB assert a truth about the world, that your faction actually can and does enforce a claim on specific buildings and regions of the map. But in a game where your map is both objectively accurate and also designed by multiple factions with competing agendas, it makes me wonder how strong a particular crow-person’s hold on that nice duplex might actually be.

Influenced by Three Houses and Naruto, but also by Gundam and Friends at the Table’s “Counter/Weight” season, Spectres is a game that explicitly emulates stories about students facing each other across battlefields, torn between the love they once shared and their devotion to their causes. It’s exactly the kind of narrative-focused game I want to see in the world, and I’m so glad it’s finally being released. Go to class, have big feelings, and have it all fall apart as the world is consumed by mecha warfare. High school never ends, you just graduate to the frontlines. 

Anamnesis is about deciding who you are in spite of who you’ve been. Your memories, even if they’re forgotten or manufactured, aren’t as important as what you do with what time you still have. Your past is undoubtedly important, and it may follow you long after you’ve forgotten it. But it’s not some all-powerful force like gravity or destiny. With time, even the past can be re-written. And the good news is: you always have time to become someone new.

Glad you liked it, good luck with crowdfunding!

Earnest without being overbearing, and simple without being flimsy, Broken is a tragic LARP that embraces the physical struggle of emotional turmoil .

What Dust Remains, written by 2022 Diana Jones Emerging Designer Award winner Momatoes, asks players to go behind the scenes of the accomplished and powerful, take up the mantle of legacy, and try to build something that will eclipse you, even at the cost of the things you hold most dear.

More important than its cozy vibes and natural themes, however, is the medium in which you play Brumal/Vernal. While you could send letters over email or one of a half dozen instant messaging platforms, to get its full impact, I firmly believe you need to play it by mail. Because at its core, this is a game about longing. 

Navathem’s End, written by Sinta Posadas and Pamela Punzalan, not only achieved the fantasy of expanding a D&D campaign, but elevated it into an entire book. It turns characters from Posadas and Punzalan’s previous game into saints, inspiring a new generation of heroes to look to the past in order to salvage a world that was broken long ago. Absolutely stuffed with lore and employing a blend of Forged in the Dark (FITD) and Powered by the Apocalypse (PBTA)  mechanics, Navathem’s End is a robust game that will appeal to both D&D players and indie enthusiasts.