🌈🚀 Reliable wonder engine. I make narrative role-playing games that imagine a weirder, queerer, more connected world.
looming darkness wonder's loom
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Hi Reader, Lovely to see you. Please, come in, sit down. On the table, I have a terracotta vase filled with chamomile flowers, sacred to Inanna, and Mesopotamian irises. The land of Gilgamesh has taken over the game table, as you can see. Because the Kickstarter for Defy the Gods launches on Tuesday! If you haven't yet signed up to follow the campaign, please do at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hecticelectron/defy-the-gods. Then come back. This book got a lot more personal than I expected. I look back to four years ago, at starry-eyed Chris resolving to make such an ambitious game. To three years ago, when my brother's passing moved me to make a game that drinks deep of life. One year ago, when I finally made queer resistance the game's core. And late last year, when, against my business interests, I started billing it as a "queer game." This book became a beacon for my trans journey. It rocked my whole sense of who I am. Now, thanks partly to this game, I'm changing my name. A little. I go by Chrys now. Among friends. Why do trans people always go for Y names? It's short for Chrysoprase, an apple-green stone straight out of a Lord Dunsany story. I love Dunsany's sense of abundance and uncharted possibility—his wild invention. I flooded Defy the Gods with that abundance. In 1916, in the middle of the Great War, Dunsany publishes The Last Book of Wonder. His preface acknowledges how dark the world seems. But he's still in love with wonder. In 2025, the world seems dark again. In an act of resistance or maybe just flight, I'm publishing a game full of wonder. Wonder, passion, glory, doom. A loom to weave infinite characters who drink deep of life. That's the earthbound dream, anyway. To make it take flight, I need a push! So, forward this email. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. It all starts on Tuesday. See you then! Your friend, P.S. That link to send your enemies to is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hecticelectron/defy-the-gods. |
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. Sit down. We've got some cold fizzy water and some pizza from this place up the road. On the table and chairs there's an oiled bronze sword, a boiled leather shield, a skeleton key mottled in verdigris ... let me get all that out of the way. There. As you can tell by all the detritus—We're just a week and a half away from the end of the Defy the Gods Kickstarter! So far, we've unlocked an embroidered patch, a spot-gloss upgrade for the standard edition, a...
Hi Reader, Whew! Please come in, out of that gale. Here at the table, there's a tranquil bunch of violets and some herbal tea. Those winds are Origins Game Fair blowing through Columbus like a hurricane. Also—related—Defy the Gods blowing past its second stretch goal. This week has bowled me over. I sold out of all my raccoon dice and enamel pins. I sold over fifty Quick Starts for Defy the Gods. Several people also backed the Kickstarter right there at the booth. Since I don't have a...
Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in, make yourself at home. On the table, next to some humble, xeroxed character sheets, is a tiny ceramic pot holding a lush orchid. I've been thinking about the densely packed experience lately. Like movies. Even though they're today's prestige storytelling format, even a great movie is just two hours (okay, two and a half) of light and sound. But in that time, it takes you on a rollercoaster. When it drops you off at the end, you feel richer—not twenty...