itch.io

I picked up the physical version of this game at Big Bad Con at Aaron Lim's small publisher table and was very excited about it. I myself had briefly considered making a game based on blackout poetry before abandoning that idea and moving in a different direction, so I was very happy to see that someone had more conviction than I and saw it through.

My favorite part of the game are the simple instructions that it lays out in the letter:

1. Remove all words that start with the letters of your initials.
2. Pick a number between 1 and 9, count forward in the letter and remove every word on that number.
3. Use the same number but count from the end of the letter this time.
4. Figure out the rest.

The rules are really simple and direct, and by doing so they free you from the anxiety of trying to find something interesting in the text. Just do what you're told, and then try to find something from what you're left with. By starting with a formula for what to get rid of, it became much easier to find my eventual spell. I might try these same rules again with other texts just to see what kind of spells I can find!

In the meantime, I leave you with the spell that I found:

recognize your future

start enclosed with quill as your secret declares itself

be proficient and remove each sense

complete your power

look forward

I have not played this yet but I am BUZZING with anticipation for roping some friends into it. It's such an elegant system for emulating your favorite cooking reality shows and feels so hackable.

The basics: what does it claim to be? It's a competitive rpg (don't see many of those) but it's also "a game you tell with your friends." Immediately there is some friction here: a quasi-storygame that asks you to be in conflict with each other? But it works.

This friction helps create the feeling of a show like Chopped, where there's competition but also the awareness (on the part of the editors at least) that everyone is contributing to an overall story. The game puts us in the seat of the contestant, judge, and editor all at once.

The basic mechanics: use d6s to create target numbers for 3 courses that the chefs are trying to hit. They roll dice themselves and during each round have the chance to reroll one of their dice (Transform), reroll someone else's die (Sabotage), or simply vibe (Savor).

I want to draw attention to the Savor action. Each of the 3 actions have associated questions to help develop roleplaying, but Savor is unique in that there is no benefit to be gained. This is a fantastic rp moment. Are you cocky? Panicking? Non-confrontational? You decide!

Transform lets you live out your Top Chef fantasy. Sabotage lets you live out your Cutthroat Kitchen fantasy. Savor lets you find out more about your Chef and opens you up to all sorts of possibilities.

Now let's talk about modularity. This game is endlessly hackable. It's a rare game that feels both like a complete game and its own SRD, but this one does. 5 bonus game modes to accommodate different playstyles and # of players.

Each action can be switched up to create different vibes too! Want something like the Great British Bake Off? Take out Sabotage. Emphasize Transform. Stack dice to create new shapes! Add new targets beyond the course ingredients! Have recurring judges!

Want Cutthroat Kitchen? Emphasize Sabotage. Let the action take out dice! Hide them around your playspace! Make others roll w/ their non-dominant hand!

There's even room to add types of chefs w/ fun abilities based on reality show archetypes: Novice, Food Truck, Won't-Stop-Talking-About-Being-Italian, Molecular Gastronomist! Not to mention creating Judges with different tastes and ways to judge final dishes.

Perhaps the best part about the game is the "Judging and Tasting" section. It breaks down how you might describe a dish, provides adjectives (tags) that Judges can use, and makes describing art more accessible to players that might be intimidated by it.

This game has it all: Hackability! Fun! Food! Support for describing art! Simple elegant mechanics! Please please please buy this IMMEDIATELY

You, an Astronaut is a very different kind of game. Like another of the commenters on the game page, I was initially confused by the format. Sure, it's an interactive story but there isn't much to do beyond choose from some preset options. But where the game shines is in the layout of those options. The choices you make are thought-provoking and freeform to the point of being revelatory about yourself. When presented with multiple options, are you allowed to pick more than one? All of them? What happens if you are drawn to contradictory choices? There is no one there to tell you what the rules are, so you have to make them up yourself, if you even want to have rules.

The best part about the game might be the ending. Without giving anything away, the introduction of a new voice to the world really hits hard. It's unexpected, just as jarring in-game as out-of-game. And the open-ended final question, with no options presented? Fantastic. Even with a new voice present, the game ends with just you. An astronaut.

Hi, I'm Nico! This is also my first jam, and will probably be my first game that I will make and actually put out into the world. I'm generally trying to dip my toes into indie TTRPG design and I love Tom Lehrer so this seemed like the perfect place to start.