Thank you so much, this is a lovely stream that really showcases the game. Anamnesis is as ever excellent (disclosure: I'm the editor on that game).

Hi! I'm so glad you enjoyed this. If you play it on stream, please let me know where I can find it so I can link it back here!

I intend to revise this to be Better™️ but that depends on time!

Hearing this episode made me buy the game. It's so good - thank you Luka for the game and LT for the playthrough. Things I can hear: my printer, chugging through the pages; things I can see: a long-arm stapler, ready to bind it; things I can smell: the anticipation of playing this myself.

That's so good to hear, thank you! Sorry for the late response. The answer is in the revised edition, which is currently in layout and illustration: "ignore that prompt and use the next, the previous, or one of your choosing." They're vaguely in the order of least destructive to most destructive.

Yeah! I spoke to Thomas Manuel about exactly this idea - sending a message into the void in the hope that someone reads and appreciates it. In a week where de-prioritisation of unpaid users is happening on Twitter, this feels very relevant. Unexpectedly so.

just listening now, thank you so much!

thanks! it's actually a suit for ghostbox but you definitely could play it with Anamnesis, like you said, replace the closing questions with this maybe.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'm just playing through it again and I wish I'd been clearer on that. If I revise this at some point I'll take that onboard!

Removing the Kings is just to make sure it's not on top, yeah. I probably should have been clearer about that. I try to make sure they're in the lower half of the stack. I thought it would feel like how you do this in The Quiet Year but the piles are too small for it to feel natural.

Thank you Philippa! Love the video, especially seeing the handwritten letters. I hope you had fun with ghostbox.

Link to giveaway! Apologies, this is an oversight from reading the rules and not processing them.

Five Star Review

In case you didn't know, Itchio doesn't show the written reviews that I get from people. So I'm going to share them here, with names removed. Loved getting this one.

I've played this twice already. Both times it's been for worldbuilding, although the first time it was also focused on catharsis for a character pulled from a different game. I truly appreciated both aspects.

I found it confusing on the first play through that clubs were red in the playbook, but that's the sort of thing that editing will catch. I can't wait to see the final project!

They're in the Osmosis rules text. Basically a Joker can stand in for any card but has no rank until a card in a lower suit relies on it. You can replace a Joker with the card it stands for, but when you do that you have to move it down into the first row where that rank is still needed, or remove it from play when it's in the bottom row.

I don't have the stats to prove this, but it will probably extend play by at least one round and possibly two or more.

dear ghostboxers,

because i'm a fool i forgot something important in my own template. every set of prompts has three questions that help you build the character and details of your sender or senders.

i added this to The Wishful with another helpful (?) explanatory comment. because that's a collection of senders, it focuses on the community from which they're drawn, not on individuals. but if yours is from an individual, then your questions might define who they are, and their motivations.

have fun,

marx //

absolutely. please feel as empowered as you need to to hack the game completely. that's what it's there for!

completely forgot that i am also going to make a second entry, The Shadowed, about writing to your past self after you uncover who you are following a period of amnesia. yes, it's also going to be submitted to the Anamnesis jam, it couldn't not be with Sam Leigh as our project editor. it'll be played with tarot cards.

my dearest ghostboxers,

welcome to the #DeadLetterJam. here's a place to introduce yourself and what projects you're thinking of making.

my name is marx shepherd. i'm the creator of ghostbox and desperately averse to capital letters. i'm making at least one entry to the #DeadLettersJam which is The Wishful, a series of letters from children to Santa Claus. it's the guided template for the jam, and i'm going to make it by hand with paper and glue and pencil crayons and my off-hand so it looks like kids have made it.

i hope to meet you all and remember - may all your post arrive.

yours with abandon,

marx //

thanks Albi! that's such a kind review. i'm so glad you enjoyed it. may your mail always arrive!

thank you! that means a lot to me and the team.

You've got 11 DAYS to finish your submissions!

Still got a Which DnD? game to finish! Get something up by the end of the month!

I'm planning to run a wee little co-op bundle where they're all neatly packaged into one passive aggressive joke, so if you want the opportunity to get in on that, then let's be having you!

Marx //

Hi everyone! Still 47 days to go apparently. We have a lot of entrants, and even some fantastic looking submissions! I'd love to combine all of these in a bundle once the jam has finished!

How are you getting on? Any snags? Any unexpected insights?

I'm about 80% of the way through my design and layout, and hopefully I'll be able to send it to my Risograph printer for a very limited print run in the next week or so. Very excited by that prospect!

Welcome to the Which DnD? Jam!

Here's a thread where you can introduce yourself and maybe hint at what projects you might be making.

My name's Marx Shepherd, they/them pronouns, of Marx of High Water. I'm principally a podcaster and TTRPG editor, but I also occasionally write cool games for weird people and weird games for cool people. I'm probably going to write something like Dragonlings and Daycare about young dragons just learning about getting by in the world, guided by Nanny Dragon (the GM). Given the amount of time I have it'll probably be a d10 Lasers & Feelings hack, and I'm aiming to write it so I can play it with my kids (6yo and 4yo).

So, now you know - introduce yourself!

https://marx-of-high-water.itch.io/sad-robot

Hello y'all,

Here's my entry for the jam: Cowpokes & Spyfolks.

https://marx-of-high-water.itch.io/cowpokes-and-spyfolks

It's a Lasers & Feelings hack of maverick spy-scientists in the deserts of New Mexico in the 1950s and 60s, inspired by the Tom Lehrer song The Wild West is Where I Want to Be (an absolute classic).

This is a pretty silly game but was inspired by serious things that actually happened (thanks to Kyle Hill for making videos about these).

My friend at https://katamoiran.itch.io/ did the layout and graphic design - they deserve the credit, and I deserve the blame.

I've extended the deadline by a week to give everyone a chance to finalise their games as much as possible!

I'm so excited to share all of these submissions with the community. So much good stuff has been created, I'm stoked!

We've got just six days left to run in the jam. How are we looking? Do we need an extension? Are we going to get some cool games launched?

I encourage you to check out the submissions to date. They're all very awesome!

Marx.

I have found some good ones but they are NSFW (NSFW link) . Anti-antifa posters are gold mines. Here's an idea for a one page dungeon.

This is a very neat little game that you should check out. Leans nicely into superhero tropes and, of course, trans narratives. As a solo game it provides the right level of prompt and constraint - nice.

Kudos to the writer for adding it to the megabundle!

I looked for that lesbian one on a hint. Thanks for finding it.

Welcome to the game jam!

If you like, please introduce yourself in whatever way you see appropriate!

I'm Marx, I use he/they pronouns, I'm an indie hustler/promoter, game design enthusiast, roleplaying game writer and editor, and interview podcaster. I'm very friendly and over-enthusiastic in the online world, and I'm very grumpy and introverted in meatspace.

This jam is a response to the ridiculous psyops shit that we get exposed to regularly, especially when all it does is make us sound a whole lot cooler than originally intended.

The only other thing to mention about the jam is that in this community, please observe the Wil Wheaton Rule: don't be a dick.

Thanks, and have fun.

Thank you! Please take it away and have a go! I'd love your play feedback.