Instead of writing this newsletter, last week I made four videos and the week before, I wrote a book¹ , so you’ll forgive me my lack of regularity.

The Lord of Rot and Ruin is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons players that pits them against a dank, overgrown tomb, haunted by what remains of a budding gardener.

Pick up The Lord of Rot and Ruin for a mere $4.99 on DriveThruRPG now!

Adventure writing is enjoyable. It scratches the game design and mechanical puzzle itch I’ve felt since I was thirteen, booting up the Unreal Editor for the first time, but it’s smaller. It’s manageable. An adventure can be eight pages or even one. There is virtue in completing, and it is far easier to learn the skill of it on small projects than on large ones that inevitably wither on the vine. Dreams, then, are best kept small and simple?

I Can't Believe I've Run This

Since completing a multi-year D&D Actual Play, the Guild of Icons, I’ve been driven to create smaller, wilder campaigns that explore concepts that are difficult to execute over longer games. A dozen dreams in bite size.

The first of such mini-campaigns is Mobius Command, a game that now counts four of its six session runtime complete. In Mobius Command, our heroes use time travel to halt the Nazi war machine while avoiding time paradoxes and unintended consequences.

Run in Savage Worlds, this campaign has taken the players from the busy streets of 1945’s London, to the burning sands of ancient Egypt, the valleys of Tenochtitlan, and the marbled glory of Rome. For many games, accommodating this many distinct locations and time periods is next to impossible, but Savage Worlds’ strength lies in its expertly written rules that are narrow enough to provide fun, but remain broad enough to fit any narrative. It sure takes a lot of prep-work, though² !

I Can't Believe I Listened To This

Today’s occasional listening music is GUNSHIP’s DooM Dance, which I used as a soundboard for LANCER, the mecha tabletop RPG. I’m playing in a game run by my buddy Keith, and I created the VFX intro for his stream. I took inspiration from as much 80s and 90s sci-fi media as I could, including this.

I love the game’s focus on fun and cool moments that build on a foundation of deep tactical play and encouraged cooperation between metal-bound lunatics. My character is an Ellen Ripley / Sarah Connor pastiche in a mech best described as Shotgun. Would you like to Shotgun? I hope so, because a rickety frame made of twelve Shotguns duct-taped together approaches. At speed.

Art by the incredible GoblinHellion, you can commission her yourself!

As with most of GUNSHIP’s music, the lyrics make no sense³ . It’s purely vibes, but it hits those vibes well.

I Can't Believe I Played This

We are, once more, talking about Metaphor Re:Fantazio, but rejoice, Metaphor haters, for this shall be the last time. Last week⁴ , I was a little down on the game. I’d reached a difficulty spike and felt each combat had mired itself in stodge like dessert at a 1980’s British household. But good news, everyone.

My fears of lacking time to complete the bits I wanted to do? Unfounded. My worry that the game would not explain itself? Absurd. We are unquestionably back. Having now completed Metaphor, the game will rest firmly in the archive area of my mind dedicated to fiction that changed me in some way. There’s a lot of Pratchett⁵ in that brain-cupboard, unsurprisingly, but also a Yakuza game and Nier: Automata - which I might discuss some other time - and many more fantastic experiences.

Metaphor earns its spot for championing “fantasy”, by which they mean less the genre and more the act of dreaming, reaching for a goal greater than you, and working to make it happen. It is fantasy that drives humanity beyond the routine day-to-day, powered by anxiety and hope in equal measure. Anxiety, the game argues, is natural and good in moderation, being the feeling of leaving your comfort zone, taking a risk, and caring about the result. To quote an old adage: a boat is safe in harbour, but that’s not what boats are made for⁶ .

I realised as the credits rolled that I don’t have a goal anymore. For a long time, I wanted to make one firm, measurable change to the world before I died. And I did that, disappointingly, in my 20s. To get a PhD in science, you must make a new contribution to the body of science. The world is changed, hopefully for the better. After that, the recovery from academia burnout notwithstanding, I’ve drifted a little rudderless. Perhaps it’s time to find a new goal. I wonder if it will be Big or Small.

1  And also I forgot, ok???

2  Please help me, I have had to entirely digest one new ancient civilisation’s culture, history, and geography every week for the last six weeks.

3  As with all music, I assume it’s about doin’ it.

4  Time only moves forwards when I post.

5  Did my liberal abuse of footnotes clue you in?

6  It is what harbours are made for, though.