🌈🚀 Reliable wonder engine. I make narrative role-playing games that imagine a weirder, queerer, more connected world.
game therapy
|
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Have some fizzy water. It's so hot outside. A neighbor gave me a bouquet of zinnias—they're in a jam jar on the table. Do you ever check out—dissociate—when you should be concentrating? Time you urgently need tickscdcr5t by and by. And then you realize you're doing it, and you feel like you're falling into quicksand? No? Just me? Then have you ever felt the opposite? You suddenly find yourself dialed in, not just mentally but emotionally? And something unlooked-for unlocks in you? Role-playing games do that for me sometimes. Do they ever do that for you? Tangentially related: One of my absolute heroes in tabletop RPGs is Alex Roberts. In May, Dicebreaker interviewed Roberts. Turns out she’s a trained therapist. She talked about how games can be profound, therapeutic experiences, sometimes especially because they’re not officially “therapy.” I love those meaningful gaming experiences. Ones that couldn’t've come out any other way. But—as Roberts says in the interview—they don’t have to be therapy. Maybe you didn’t sit down at the table tonight to process you trauma via an elf persona, or to help your friend process theirs. Trusting your fellow players is key. Roberts' most recent game that allows for those experiences is a new edition of her groundbreaking game For the Queen. Darrington Press gave it new, full-color portraits of queens, in a box with a magnetic closure. Luxe. Roberts also redesigned some questions to draw you in more. You can tell everyone worked hard to make an already great game worth a re-do. Not related at all: I have box sets of Raccoon Sky Pirates to sell again! Q Workshop shipped the dice to me way ahead of schedule. So now we're in the final gallop to the end of this game's run. After that, I'll let it go, so I can work on the new design. Make it worth a re-do. Cheers, P.S. A cool game resource is crowdfunding right now: How to GM Romance. It looks like it has a lot of good tools and ideas. Things about consent, for instance. Since Defy the Gods offers a lot of romance, I'm backing it. P.P.S. Raccoon Sky Pirates box sets are available! I'm restocking Indie Press Revolution, Amazon, and my own site. Get one while you still can! |
Everlasting, Neverending Game Night
🌈🚀 Reliable wonder engine. I make narrative role-playing games that imagine a weirder, queerer, more connected world.
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Do you like the pantsuit? I got it at Ross. powered by Midjourney I'm glad you're here—you're just in time for a big announcement. Roll that podium over here, would you dear? In an effort to capitalize on market synergies, Hectic Electron is excited to announce two new games in our line-up: Defy the Raccoons and Queer Sky Pirates. The first one out the gate is Defy the Raccoons. In this game, inspired by Over the Hedge and the sensational,...
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. After some whipsaw weather, spring has gotten determined here. Nothing's blooming in the garden yet, but five years ago, M rescued an orchid from a gutter, and now it's blooming for the first time. So I've put it on the table. I'm still thinking about everything I saw at GAMA Expo. So much waste. It's amazing what sells. It's discouraging how few ideas are in most of it. But it's a privilege to be in this business. I'm so glad I get to make fun things for...
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. I'll put the kettle on ... you're an hour early, aren't you? No? It's me? I'm an hour behind? I'm still tripping over the time change. Last week, I went to GAMA Expo, the business con for tabletop games. I got to show off the advance copies of Defy the Gods and collect pre-orders. I also got to tell people a new version of Raccoon Sky Pirates is coming! I drove down with Faye of Goblin Door Games, a Horizons Fellows this year who I've mentioned before. Her...