Dear Reader,

I’m already a little late to this monthly emailing thing. I am aiming to get these out at the start of each month, however things have been hectic here in Floaker Tower¹ , what with the Winter holidays and the resultant fallout. Due to the enshitification of their platforms, and the turn towards allowing hate speech and promotion of racist and transphobic voices, I’ve taken the decision to leave Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It remains to be seen how that works out, but it has taken up a lot of spare time at the start of an already busy month.

So without further ado…

Mum Chums

Mum Chums is the next game I hope to put into print. It is a slice of life roleplay game about the people, mainly mothers, who care for kids. Click on the button above to learn more about it. The Kickstarter will be going live in just under two weeks time, on the 1st of February. There will be an early bird pledge discounted level, so keep your eyes peeled there. You can get a free demo of the game RIGHT NOW! (link to the itch page)

As well as a more grounded focus than some of my other games, Mum Chums is testing new ground as I’ll be working with Sinta Posadas on layout.

Sin is a game designer and artist from the Philippines. They've done mechanic and narrative design, digital and traditional art, and layout work for tabletop rpg books and have been part of projects like Orbital Blues, Islands of Sina Una, and Confluence RPG. They currently live in Metro Manila, being distracted daily by their two cats.

While layout of the demo version was by myself, Sin agreeing to join me on this project is mega exciting. It will punch the game up in terms of presentation. Also, if things go well, the foundations would be there for collaboration on bigger projects together down the line. Trying new ideas on low-risk zines before scaling up has worked for me in the past, so I’m keen to try it out here.

To promote the game, I’ve been interviewed by Jessica Hancock for EN World’s Not DnD & Rene Plays Games (both of which go into a lot of depth about how Mum Chums was designed and how it is played), I am going to appear on DC Bradshaw’s Shought Thorts (a lot of me being silly), and a written chat about game design with Alex White at Plane Sailing Games is already live!

If you have liked any of my games, I ask that you trust me and follow along with Mum Chums.

In Development

I’m also working on a handful of other games at any given time. Given how long this newsletter is going to get this month with stuff that’s already happened, I’ll hold off on details until a future mail-out. If you can’t wait, hop into my design discord server to see what’s going on.

That said, outside my own games, I’m helping put together another Edinburgh Indie Gamers zine. This will be used to raise money to help the club survive another year. Go check it out on BackerKit.

Past Releases

Some of the other games out in the wild have had some attention…

Lo! Thy Dread Empire

The bulk of fulfilment has now been completed! The token sheets are up in the itch page, and Marx Shepard has written an in depth review over on their new blog: Hark at Them! My fave quote:

The next steps will be to tidy up any fulfilment issues that bounce back, and place the game up on the 28 website for folks to enjoy there. Myself and Julia are starting work on our first supplement, a campaign book set in The Ever-Dying Earth!

Solstice

While I am quietly working away to put Solstice onto a deck of Tarot-sized cards, and Julia Nevalainen works on a new piece of cover art for the redux, the original game has been getting some attention.

It has reviewed in video by Lexi at The Gaming Table (above), while Kat over at Never Mind The Dice Rolls said it “runs like a ramped up version of Fiasco” in a glowing review! High praise indeed.

Also, an actual play video was organized by Donogh at The Hearth Gaming Community (above). It is always interesting to see how different groups treat the game, and while this a slower pace than I’m used to, the ending is no less poignant.

The Connection Machine

While making time for Solstice, Lexi also did a vid on The Connection Machine. Many thanks again!

BE SEEING YOU

One final video has been a look at BE SEEING YOU on Not DnD!

Phew, that’s been a lot of news in the past wee while. I should be back in about two weeks time, at the start of February, with an update focussed on Mum Chums and the Edinburgh Indie Gamers zine. I also hope to start having less of my own games and a bit more to say about other awesome things I spot out and about. If you have something you’d like me to show off, do reach out.

Narratively Yours,

Tanya.