Not Writing

The Fall of Aldermark - Chapter Two: The Western Front

Commander Blas Rodano peered at the maps arrayed before him and smoothed his beard with his hand.

“So the bridge is destroyed then?” He didn’t look at Valeria, who stood at attention at the other side of the table.

“Yes, Commander.” Valeria watched as he scratched at old scars beneath his beard and along his neck and collarbone. Blas, despite being Commander of the Legion, was never one for badges of station or fine clothes. He often appeared around camp dre...

The Fall of Aldermark - Chapter One: The Bridge

When I read through a role playing game and want to get an understanding of the rules I usually do a short solo session. I roll up my own characters, and use something like Roll20 to perform the die rolls, keep notes, and store character sheets.

These usually end up looking something like short stories, so when I recently purchased Band of Blades I thought I would record these sessions instead of just throwing them into ...

Neon Black v 5.3

Hey cyberpunks!

A new version of Neon Black is available! This version adds the Star playbook, a charismatic artist. Also a few new factions like the Prime News Network, Corporate Management Board, and the City Council. 

Folks pledging $10+ will have access to the new version through itch.io like usual. You can see the full devlog here.

3 Free Three Forged Games!

Hey folks,

Over the last month or so I participated in the 2019 Three Forged game jam on itch. In this jam every participant makes a basic tabletop RPG, and then your game is sent to another participant for them to edit or change whatever they like, and then that draft is sent to a third participant to edit and add any final touches to make it a playable game.

The jam recently completed and I wanted to sha...

Updates and Holiday Sale

Hey holiday makers,

I've been cleaning up and redesigning all my tabletop games lately to prepare them for a  sale! For the next 14 dales I'll be participating in itch's holiday sale. All of my games will be available for 50% off each. Hell of a gift for the RPG lover in your life.

I've recently made some changes to World Maker, my tabletop card game about creating RPG campaigns and stories in g...

One Trillion Years version 1.1

I just updated my first tabletop RPG, One Trillion years. This was mostly to make the rule book look pretty and all science-fictiony. The itch page looks a lot nicer now too.

There are also some edits to the text, making the game a bit more concise, and easier to play for a single player.

You can read the full change log here and see the updated page 2019-12-15 23:03:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Wild Speed Space Family v 1.1 and Bundles

Hey familia,

I've been spending time updating my various games on itch. World Speed: Space Family, my  ridiculous action movie RPG, got a significant makeover, with gear shift style tables and clearer rules text. 

Also a few of my games are part of bundles on itch right now.

A Few Degrees of...

Neon Black version 5.1

Hey hackers,

I've posted a new version of Neon Black, my cyberpunk RPG where you steal from the rich and try to survive.

This version includes some of the last big mechanical deviations from the source material, Blades in the Dark. It includes Credit Burn, a rule where characters suffer character changes if they hoard too much wealth, as well as Burn Credit, an action p...

Riot in the Stars on Hiatus

Hey rioters,

So for the last month or so I've been making a game called Riot in the Stars. It's an RPG where you play as members of an alien resistance fighting against a colonizing human empire. I was trying to get this finished by the end of the month but pretty much since I started I had a voice in my head saying,

"You shouldn't be doing this."

That voice is right. I'm not comfortable telling an anti-colonialist story. Not because I think there's anything wrong with it, I...

Riot in the Stars Prototype

Hey Rebels,

Today I finished the prototype of Riot in the Stars, my alien resistance single-player RPG where you fight against human colonizers. Players take on the role of a resistance movement in the Centauri Sector, a group of planetary systems recently invaded and settled by the Sol Federation. It's up to you to guide the brewing revolution, make friends, defeat enemies, all before the hammer of the human empire wipes you out.

I think I'm mostly happy with the core mechanics, ...

UnrestrAIned Prototype

Attached to this post is the prototype version of my submission to the Three-Forged jam. This will act as a seed for two other developers in the jam to edit and add on as they see fit. It may look completely different at the end, which will be made available on itch at the end of December.

You'll notice that this prototype is fairly incomplete. That's by design. I wanted the other developers to add what they tho...

November Update

Hello Patrons!

Just wanted to share what I have been working on with your lovely support.

I just updated my game Spooky Action at a Distance with some new art and some freshly edited text. I wanted to make the game a bit more concise and to-the-point. I also included a plain text version of the game's rules.

I also updated my Patron page, hoping to better showcase what I've been wor...

CYBERMANCY

Hello hackers!

I finished a new version of my cyberpunk solitaire game last night. MATR1X 0VERL0AD: CYBERMANCY uses a deck of tarot cards instead of playing cards. The basic game remains the same, but there's a few additional game modes including a short narrative campaign that slowly introduces new mechanics into the game.

The base game remains free, the CYBERMANCY version costs $5. Patrons pledging...

Unillustrated - Nikola

Today I finished a short script called Nikola. I started working on this 3 years ago with a friend of mine. We were planning on writing a small comic together, inspired by the life and legends of Nikola Tesla. But that project fell apart.

Earlier this year I started playing around with the script again, and decided to give it a proper format and rewrite. I'm proud of the result. It's just over 30 pages, which isn't enough for a film, but I think it has the bones of a good story. Honestl...

MATR1X 0VERL0AD is Live!

Hello Hackers,

My cyberpunk solitaire game MATR1X 0VERL0AD is now live on my itch.io store! Unlike my previous physical games this game is 100% free so whether or not you're a patron you can grab yourself a copy right now.

Many thanks to Tom Francis for the original idea and making his solitaire game 2019-10-15 00:20:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Matrix Overload Prototype

As promised, here is the prototype of my cyberpunk solitaire game Matrix Overload, based on Gridcannon by Tom Francis. You need only a deck of cards to play. I've tested this version of the game pretty extensively, and I'm pretty happy with it. The difference with the release version will mostly be in presentation and fine-tuning the rules text.

You'll...

SHUX, Sales, and Super Powers

Hey Patrons!

Just over a week into October and quite a lot has been happening. 

I recently posted my latest small RPG, Wild Speed: Space Family, onto my itch.io store. Do check that out if you haven't already, especially if you are a fan of ridiculous action films like the Fast & Furious.

I also attended SHUX 19 this past weekend, where I ran demos of my cyberpunk RPG Neon Blac...

Wild Speed: Space Family is Released!

Hey Familia,

My most ridiculous game to date, Wild Speed: Space Family, is now available on itch.io 

I't s a love note to one of my favourite over-the-top action film series: The Fast and Furious, and also an experiment in whether or not I could make an RPG that could be completed in less than an hour.

All patrons giving $5 or more will be receiving a download code for their free c...

Wild Speed: Space Family prototype

It's! Another! Prototype!

Wild Speed: Space Family is the start of a love letter to the Fast and Furious franchise and ridiculous action films in general. This is a kind of micro mad-libs GM-less tabletop RPG that's meant to be real short and sweet. Players are guided through the archetypal tropes of an action film in it's N+9th iteration where things have just gotten buck wild ridiculous. Players take on the roll of the crew of heroes in the film who overcome impossible odds and save t...

A Few Degrees of Warming Released

Hey folks,

A Few Degrees of Warming, my climate change map making game is now available for $5 on itch.io.

I was going to submit this to the Hot Horror Game Jam but I misread the deadline and didn't submit it in time. Regardless, I'm proud of this game and the design work I did. I think it captures the slow, creeping horror of rising sea levels in a coastal city.

Patrons at the $5+ tie...

Neon Black - the Capitalism Sucks Update

The latest version of Neon Black, version 5.0, is now live on itch.io. 

This is a pretty significant update, removing and adding some mechanics as well as renaming and modifying old ones. 

The next few updates won't be quite so major, and will mostly focus on adding new playbooks or refining these new mechanics. 

You can see the 2019-08-30 03:36:57 +0000 UTC View Post

A Few Degrees of Warming First Draft and Other Updates

Hey patrons,

Woof, been a while huh? Sorry about that. I've been hard at work testing Neon Black and finishing my submission for the Hot Horror Game Jam. That game is now called A Few Degrees of Warming and will be finished and available for patrons by the end of the month.

A Few Degrees of Warming took me a while to get my head around. I struggled with creating game mechanics that produced the feeling of a c...

Neon Black 4.2 and other projects

Hey folks!

A few days ago I released the latest update of Neon Black, 4.2. You can check out the change log on the itch.io site, it's mostly small rules clarifications and edits. I'm in the midst of testing the game right now and there will be more updates in the future.

For those of you backing at $10 or above you should have access to the latest updated version by...

World Maker - Released

World Maker, a singe player ttrpg about making your own setting, is now live on itch! 

This is me sort of putting my foot down on what makes good story telling in rpgs. It's not about the GM coming up with a world for the group of players to explore, it's a conversation where everyone defines the setting and the stakes of the story. World Maker teaches those skills.

Patrons giving $5 or more will be...

The World Maker - Prototype

After finishing the latest version of Neon Black I wanted to make something small and simple. Another game jam on itch.io caught my eye, so I'm making a game about building a fictional world.

At first I was thinking of designing a game that would give random details about a world, like how it was created, what sort of landmasses it has. Players would move through phases creating factions and a timeline of events. ...

Neon Black is in Early Access!

Hey punks,

Neon Black, my cyberpunk rpg based on Blades in the Dark is now in early access on itch.io 

My $10 and up backers will be receiving their free download code shortly. You'll also have access to updated versions automatically through itch... I think. I haven't tried that out yet. If not I can just link you to them directly.

After this I'll be focusing on some smaller projects, includin...

Small Update

Hey folks,

Sorry for the weeks of radio silence. I've been working on getting a new version of Neon Black completed and it's taking me a lot longer than anticipated. I'm aiming to have that finished sometime in June, then I'll be turning my attention to more smaller RPGs and possibly some other writing (maybe even comic or film scripts!)

So stay tuned and as always thanks for keeping this writer from not writing. 

Spooky Action at a Distance - Released

Spooky Action is live now on my itch.io page. I'm really proud of this game. I love stories about first contact and I've put together a simple system that can tell a variety of those types of science fiction stores.

$5+ patrons will be receiving their free download code soon, otherwise it's $5 on itch.io.

The day of First Contact started like any other. News of the event leaked s...

2019-04-22 23:59:38 +0000 UTC View Post

One Trillion Years Released and New Rewards

Heya folks,

Welp, finished my submission for the Mapemounde2019 game jam. I present to you One Trillion Years, a game about humanity's survival in the far future. It's live now on itch.io for $5.

In a few million years our solar system will be uninhabitable. Earth will have suffered any number of calamities, both natural and man made. In 1 billion years our sun will begin to die,...

2019-04-16 22:32:41 +0000 UTC View Post

One Trillion Years Prototype

Here's the prototype rules document and map for One Trillion Years, a game about humanity's long term survival. The game uses a standard deck of playing cards (including the jokers). 

I should have the full version of the game with everything you need to play available in a couple of days. I'm in the midst of testing the game and putting everything together to submit it for the Mapemounde game jam.