Goodbye colour

We're in SLEW country now

May 22, 2025

I’m coming out of my cave briefly to shout about a new game I had the pleasure of making in collaboration with the synth maker Bastl.

Introducing SLEW…

itch.io cover for SLEW featuring a mountain and a portal with someone standing before it in stark black and white

This is an experimental, rules-lite ttrpg for groups and solo, inspired by modular synthesis and available for FREE/PWYW. Set in a broken science-fantasy land robbed of colour, SLEW puts you in the role of a strange scavenger working to piece things back together whilst wielding powerful artifacts.

No-one recalls where you came from. Or the hundred other wanderers that pass each day through the six standing slabs in the wastes and into Outermono. From crystal cave or soaring fortress, riding the creaky portalline as it streaks between worlds or the gauze-draped skeleton of an airship passing the black sun... Maybe it was you that the falling stars foretold. Maybe it was you that they were spitting on. Your trail in the dark sand is as much claim as you have to this strange land. And the wind is rising. When the Orb shattered and the world lost its colour, that same wind flung the chromatic shards to all corners of Outermono. Few are those who can wield the power of these powerful, dazzling artifacts. And you happen to be one of them.

This game is directly inspired by Bastl’s Softpop, a rather singular semi-modular synthesiser.

It was a really interesting experience distilling its essence into a game. For anyone familiar with my other games, you’ll recognise some mechanics I’ve used before, alongside some completely new things.

This first iteration of SLEW is a barebones version including the one-page core rules, a double-sided character sheet and a single page adventure module, Slopes of Saw. All pages are designed to fit A5 paper.

Come help shape the game with your feedback!

Haus of Valley

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