(And I Love It)

A question I’ve been pondering is, “Are there too many games?” There are certainly more games than I could possibly be aware of. Even less that I could possibly own and keep without my home transforming into a library/labyrinth (libryrinth?). Even less that I could get the chance to actually play. Even less that I could explore every nook and cranny of, run a full campaign, and god forbid that by the time I finish, there’s not an expansion to explore.

So why am I making my own game? Is there no other game like it in the known universe?

Honestly, the idea for Blightfall is not that original. Kind of well-worn territory. Corrupted by dark power and using it for good, despite the personal costs? You could find a few others like it. I saw one recently on Kickstarter the other day.

So am I kicking myself? Nope. There are other games like mine, but there is no other game LIKE mine. That one I saw on Kickstarter? Powered by the Apocalypse. And that’s not me saying mine is better or that PbtA games are bad. That’s me saying already you’re seeing something different. My game is going to play different, use a different system, behave in completely different ways based on my influences and experiences. And that’s fantastic for everyone.

Maybe my version of heroes corrupted by darkness is your cup of tea. Awesome. But maybe it’s not. Maybe that PbtA game speaks to you more. Fantastic.

Just like there are different designers that will take the same idea and go in different directions, there are different audiences that will gravitate to an idea but prefer one designer to another. I’m glad they have the option. I’m glad we’re not all stuck playing the dragon game, because not everyone wants to play the dragon game.

But … money?

I read an article written by Christopher Hutton, Are There Too Many Actual Plays? A closer look. This article ends up touching a lot of the same points that I think someone might have about the vast number of TTRPGs.

There are more TTRPGs and APs than can be followed and given attention to. A lot of this has to do with the finite resources of society, both financial and temporal. That’s because we live in a nightmare civilization that demands we work as much as possible for as little as possible so that the wealthiest people can become even wealthier.

Whoops, did my political beliefs dip into this gaming blog? GOOD.

Monopolies are everywhere, even in TTRPG and AP spaces. Dimension 20 and Critical Role own most of the metaphorical airwaves of AP. Dungeons and Dragons is hoovering up the majority of TTRPG players. It’s easier to jump on the bandwagon when the bandwagon has scale of production, infrastructure, advertising, media presence, and word-of-mouth. So should we give up on producing anything else?

No. Absolutely not. Here are a couple lines from Cat McDonald, an organizer for the Rainbow Roll Awards, that Hutton highlighted in his article:

I know I’m making my game because I want to express myself, because I want to tinker, because it brings me joy. I can’t tell you how much work I’m putting into this project and the time I’ve devoted. If there is any financial reward, it will not be enough to balance the effort I’ve put into it. I could put that time into my day job and come out far better financially. But unlike a soulless corporation, my life isn’t a matter of numbers in a bank account. A year-end balance does not give me meaning.

Creation does. And speaking of creations …

All Hail the Blood Comet

I learned about Ephemeris: Omens of the Blood Comet from a post from The Weekly Scroll. It’s an OSR-style game about a mystical Blood Comet, a mother desperate to cure her ailing daughter, vampires, and the cosmos.

Are there other games about vampires? Of course. Are there other games about space vampires? Maybe. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking this flavor of space vampires is awesome. The art is spectacular, it seems like it tells a succinct story with pre-gens (I love pre-gens, I think they unlock more creativity than take), it has a striking black/white/red color palette mixed with linocut and monoprint illustrations that really lean into the themes … and it’s not funded.

As of the time of writing, it has 69 hours to go (I’m too classy for that joke) and has $1,044 of $1,200 of its goal. It doesn’t need that much more.

But it’s the little guy. In a world where corporations are using crowdfunding as marketing and pre-order systems, the attention is being drawn away from the smaller projects. There are people out there who would love this game but just don’t know about it, because of all the things I mentioned above.

Ephemeris is a cool project, the art is beautiful, and I want it to exist. I want to play this game. All those other games from big names and publishers that have hit their goals far and above will still exist with or without your backing. Odds are, you’re probably backing something you won’t get to play (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Hype got you hooked and you backed the big projects.

The big projects don’t need your help, but Ephemeris does. Support the little guys. There’s space for them, I swear.