Here’s a quick round-the-houses update whilst I listen to the Theme from ‘The Conversation’ by David Shire on repeat (delightfully jaunty).
What I’m up to
Games.
The image above is a draft card from an 18 card solo game I’m developing called Brute Fort.
I’m hoping to release this later in the year. It’s meant to feel like a duelling game (because I’ve played too much Marvel Snap) meets a Soulslike dungeon crawl, except you’re managing your heroes’ diminishing resolve as you try to ascend a growing tower of cards.
Games?
More pressingly, I am in the process of finishing up the layout on Cycles of the Eye, the Citizen Sleeper solo TTRPG I’ve been making with Gareth Damian Martin. Here, let’s share a couple of spreads…
This game’s been a long time in the making so I’m really looking forward to it eventually seeing the light of day. At 100+ pages it’s by far the biggest thing I’ve ever worked on.
Games!
More! I’m also working on a solo game in the Triangle Agency universe (early days, but really exciting) and my adventure module, Decay Daughters, for The Lost Bay. Speaking of which…
Kickstarter projects
The Lost Bay
As I type this, you have 21 hours left to back The Lost Bay on Kickstarter, and if you buy the Urban Legends book you’ll get the weird body horror / radioactive hexcrawl I’m writing.
In my earlier days of designing games I yawped into the void (/Twitter), beseeching someone to have me as a stretch goal for their project. IKO, the man behind The Lost Bay, graciously replied: “one day I will make you a stretch goal for a project”. And here we are, amongst illustrious company including Chris Airiau, Watt and Sam Leigh.
This is a game that’s been carefully and lovingly moulded over a long period of time, and it shows.
Blood Borg
Come on. Just look at this thing. Blood Borg, by Adam Vass of World Champ Game Co., is also on Kickstarter right now.
I have so much I could say about TTRPG’s other AV that I don’t really know where to start. Adam was and still is a massive inspiration for how I approach game design, and I was fortunate enough to hang out with them on a call recently chatting about how to approach solo rules for this game.
You got to pay attention any time a designer pushes things forward and Adam innovates with every. single. thing. they make.
Other platforms
I have a blog
It was only a matter of time. There are a few posts on there to catch up on, including two about my process designing solo rules for non-solo games (one about This Ship is a Tomb and one about Constant Downpour).
I went mildly viral on TikTok
I made a poster for Dune. I wish I could emphasise ‘mildly’ even further.
Top comment: “you spend too much time thinking about texture, and not enough time thinking about composition, contrast, color, application of aesthetics and story.” Top stuff.
Official* roleplaying patch
I have just added these embroidered patches to my shop. They’re nice.
*not official
THX BYE
I’ve stopped listening to The Theme from ‘The Conversation’ now.
Consistently creative and inspiring as always, Alfred!
Those patches are awesome.