2015 has proven to be quite a busy year already. There’s so much ground to cover! Where did we leave off? Ah, yes. DREAMATION 2015. It was a great con, and I was so busy that I actually didn’t get any photos this time! Both Marissa Kelley and I ran playtests of the game that we’re developing together with Sarah Richardson, Bluebeard’s Bride, which I’ve talked about before on this blog. Bluebeard’s Bride has finally ousted me out of my semi-retirement from GMing. We’ve been getting some really awesome feedback, and I’m pretty darn excited about getting it out into the wild.
Then there was Carnegie Mellon’s Transformational Experience Summit, which I co-presented at with Emily Care Boss. It was a great experience. Our panel was very well attended, and we met and spoke with a lot of amazing people, including the guys from over at Games for Change, and Heather Kelley, an amazing and awesome game designer and thinker. Thanks again to Jessica Hammer and Chris Klug for inviting me to the conference.
Then it was off to India for two months, were I did field work for Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, which is the most astounding NGO I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. While I was there I playtested Shanna Germain’s No Thank You, Evil! with some of the kids at the school. These children had never encountered an RPG before, and I was a little nervous that it would just be too far out of our depth. However, they seemed to immediately grasp what RPGs were all about, and THEY LOVED IT. They begged me to bring No Thank You, Evil! again the next time I visited the school.
On the way home from India I made a brief stopover in Japan, and got to spend a day with Andy Kitkowski, who has translated some really great Japanese RPG titles into English, among many of his other distinguishments. He took me to a game store in Akihabara, and we discussed some of the fascinating differences between U.S. and Japanese gaming cultures (while also stuffing our faces with ramen). It seems that no matter what country I go to I can find something to do that involves games. I’m billing Japan as a vital games research opportunity : P
Immediately after coming back from India I moved cross country and started a new job. At the last minute before Gen Con I discovered that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. Much to my chagrin! Still, I had friends on the ground, and a couple of great GMs volunteered to run playtests of Bluebeard’s Bride for us. One even sent me a picture of my Industry Insider profile. I was honored to be selected as in Industry Insider, and so incredibly bummed that I wasn’t able to make good on it this year.
Now, on to actual content.
I had the pleasure of writing an article titled “Why Minority Settings in RPGs Matter” for TOR.com in April. It went off pretty well, and several other places picked it up. It was even translated into French! If there’s any of my stuff that I would point you to, it’s this. Go read it! Afterward I was invited out to Tor in New York City, and got to me my editor, Bridget, who is one of those people who can just light up a room. The whole staff is great, actually, and they stuffed a bunch of books into my hands, which anyone knows is the most direct way into my heart. I got to go a floor or two down to see my friend Liz Gorinsky, and she and I chatted about her lasted work, including editing The Three-Body Problem.Incidentally, it won the Hugo award for Best Novel last night! Eeee! A super hearty congrats to Liz!!
I did an interview with Jonas Richter over at RPG Geek called “Interview with Strix: Myths, minorities, and feminine horror.” It’s the most in-depth that I’ve talked about my work to date.
We did (or rather, Evan Torner did) a write-up in the Knudepunkt Companion Book for the Golden Cobra freeform competition that I helped judge, entitled “The Golden Cobra Challenge: Amateur-Friendly Pervasive Freeform Design“. Article starts on page 70. Jason Morningstar also did a write-up of the same title over at NordicLarp.Org. We’ve decided to host another Golden Cobra competition this year! We’ve invited a new judge into our rotation and changed up our challenge constraints. I’m really looking forward to what the competition produces. Last year’s games blew me out of the water.
Lastly, I’ve been working on a section for The RPG Studies Handbook with Jessica Hammer. It’s a university level text book that will be published through Routledge when it’s done. Can’t say more about it than that for now!
I’ve been on some panels and video casts, also.
“My Gaming Resume” hosted by Richard Rogers as part of Indie+
“Larping as Other” hosted by Julia Ellingboe as part of the Gaming as Other Indie+ series
“Lady Event Organizer Roundtable” hosted by Anna Kreider
As for the games I’ve been working on, my freelance docket is nearly full.
Urban Shadows has launched, and my L.A. City Guide has been released out into the wild, so I’m officially all finished up with that.
I’m developing a Greenwood District/Black Wall Street setting for Dead Scare, an RPG about 1950s housewives surviving a zombie apocalypse. I’m developing an “Encyclopedia Draconica” entry for Epyllion, an RPG about being a dragon. So badass! I’m co-developing with A.A. George a setting based in rural India for The Warren, a terrific and terrifying game about being rabbits. I love these indie projects, and they make me very happy.
Oh, and doy! I am of course in the middle of co-designing Bluebeard’s Bride. We’re getting very close to an open beta. If you’re interested in reading more about it, I post our playtest feedback and wax philosophical about the game over on my Google+ page.
In relation to larger publishers and studios, the things I’m doing are harder to talk about. I’ve signed a number of NDAs that basically mean I’m not allowed to tell you what game I’m working on. What I can say is that I’m doing a pretty good chunk of work for Onyx Path, in an area that directly pertains to my academic expertise. It looks like I’ll be signing on for a second project with them soon.
I am also writing for a video game being produced by Undead Labs. These are the guys that partnered with Microsoft to make State of Decay. Video games are a different animal than their analogue brethren, but I’ve really enjoyed the work so far. I’m considering opening up to video game writing more widely. I guess we’ll see!
I’ve been doing a bit of mentoring work through Different Play also. Not as much as I would like. It was especially hard to get anything done when I was in India. I’m looking forward to picking it back up again now that I’m back in the States. It’s a pleasure working with such creative people.
Coming up I’ll be ghosting around PAX Prime. Then it’s off to Sand Con on the East Coast. And finally, in October I’ll be a con sponsored guest at Big Bad Con. I know there’s a couple of things I didn’t get around to discussing this post. I just can’t remember what they are!
Till next time,
Strix
