#116: Every Game I Played in 2022
I. Dear Reader,
I didn’t find time this week to finish reading and writing about a|state so it’s a brief interlude in our series about cities. I thought with most of the year over, it might be a good time for a gaming wrap-up.
Here are all the games I played in 2022 with elevator pitches in italics followed by a brief capsule of my thoughts:
Short Campaigns
Legacy 2e (as a player)
Post-apocalyptic adventures with a focus on faction-level play.
A really wonderful short campaign with a great group. We missed out on our final session due to scheduling conflicts but even then a real highlight of my gaming year. I think the game itself has too many bits and bobs for my taste (which is why I started working on Faction Turn) but the maximalism does mean that you always find something cool to do at the table.
Crescent Moon (as GM):
Kids going on adventures in a whimsical magical world.
This game has a lot packed into a relatively small size and we didn't even scratch the surface in our short game. Again, we missed out on the finale because of scheduling issues, aaargh. I had fun but didn't feel like I got to really see the game which I am still sad about.
Bump in the Dark (as player):
Monster of the Week storytelling in a tight Forged in the Dark package.
A failing industrial town in 1990s America is a solid setting for a monster hunting game, especially one with the tagline that "the real evil is capitalism". I played a librarian who kept hearing whispers from the void every time, they were around a computer. Fans of the X Files will find this working beautifully for them.
Nobilis 3e (as a player):
Iconic diceless game where you play Sandman-style metaphysical superbeings.
This was my first Jenna Moran game and it lived up to my expectations - it was weird, complicated, abstract, philosophical, messy and a lot of fun. My GM (who is known in this game as the Hollyhock God, which is just peak game design) was wonderful at helping me with the rules and really showcasing the world. Will I run it? Probably not. Would I play it again? Absolutely!
Bloodclotte (as a player):
Gothic horror-comedy masquerading as medical drama. Play doctors saving patients in a weird war-torn world.
Great game, great table. Very tightly focused game that makes the simple Resistance system (the one behind Spire and Heart) a real breeze to play and run. I got to design a class and playtest it with the designer and overall, I think it would be a joy to run.
Rhapsody of Blood (as player):
Castlevania-inspired game that uses the Legacy 2e flavour of PbtA.
This is an ongoing game and another great group. Having lots of fun leaning into the both the camp-y videogame aesthetics and over-the-top melodrama of monster-hunters trying to save the world.
Songs for the Dusk (as GM)
Optimistic scifi in a world where the apocalypse destroys the old world and brings magic into the new one.
This is also an ongoing game with lots of fun stuff happening. It ended up not being a game about community building in the way I wanted but it was still a lot of fun Andor-style action. I think I will probably write more about the game because I have lots to say about it.
Depths Unfathomable (as GM):
This is the playtest of my own game, a FitD game about salvaging pre-apocalyptic tech and figuring out how to survive and build a new future. It’s been an entirely nerve-wracking but rewarding process to design in conversation with my playtesters. I can see why so many designers swear by the process!
One/Two Shots
Take My Revolution (GMless): Firebrands game based on Revolutionary Girl Utena. A romantic, surreal experience like the anime!
Trophy Gold (as GM): I wrote about it here but the tl;dr is that I liked this insightful storygame-y approach to OSR style adventures.
OSR games (as a player): Played a Reach of the Roach God adventure using Knave, played a scifi adventure using Electric Bastionland, and played some Legacy of the Bieth, Humza Kazmi’s WIP rules. All good dungeon-crawly fun.
Stealing the Throne (GMless): Steal a mech! An easy recommendation that I have written about on the newsletter already!
Lady Blackbird (as a player): Got to experience this classic game and I can see why people like it. It's got pre-packaged characters, scenarios, and mechanics in a nice tight bundle. Inspiring me to do more of this kind of design.
Ech0 (GM-less): Quick, tragic game of a broken mech and their pilot. Very easy to play if you like improving scenes.
To See With Eyes Unclouded By Hate (GMless): This is a game heavily inspired by Princess Mononoke but I ended up struggling a bit with how to string together the different mini-games in a coherent and satisfying way.
Quietus (as player): A tight 2 or 3 player game (including GM) that does a great job trying to evoke thrillers like Oculus or the Invisible Man.
Red Carnations on a Black Grave (GM-less): A beautiful storygame about the fall of the Paris Commune with a lot of history in the characters and cards but doesn't really require you to know much beforehand. Tragic in the best way.
I am scheduled to play in one shots of The Between (PbtA game of victorian monster hunters) and Undying (what if vampire the masquerade was a diceless PbtA game) - which is very exciting. But after that, I think I’ll be about done for 2022.
I’m, of course, very happy with all the games I got to play this year. Really blessed to have played more than I GM’d. But it’s probably good to point out that there were also so many games that almost, almost happened. I had two sessions of The Sword The Crown and the Unspeakable Power and a session zero for Scum & Villainy before other stuff got in the way and the games fell through. There are probably other examples but I also had games of Agouro and Enter the Survival Horror that were scheduled and ready to go and then I had to cancel and never managed to reschedule with my players. Scheduling remains the final boss of the dungeon.
Yours contently,
Thomas
PS. Next week, we’ll get back to the city settings series. Cheers!
II. Listen of the Week
The Plus One Forward wraps up their series of Firebrands games with a look at what they’ve learned. Firebrands games are essentially a series of disconnected minigames - scenes without transitions - that can leave some people flailing, especially when there isn’t a minigame for a scene you want. Enjoyed hearing the two presenters wrestling with this.
I think I missed linking to Design Doc talking about Fiddly Little End Things (FLETs) or why the last 10% of making a game seems to take up 90% of the time.
III. Links of the Week
POCGamer reviews Cyberpunk RED
Redigo is an-ages, kid-friendly RPG that uses hand signs. I spoke to the designer about this a long time ago and I’m glad to see it exists online now.
A review of the runaway Kickstarter hit, Herbalist Primer: “The Primer is not like a lot of RPG supplements out there. Instead, its more like an academic textbook on the subject of plants, as though magic were real.”
The Alexandrian heaps praise on the Gardens of Ynn and the Stygian Library, two adventures from Dying Sylishly Games that I think would work well across games and playstyles.
On Dicebreaker, 10 slasher RPGs for Halloween and beyond
IV. Small Ads
All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.
Tell the story of an abandoned theme park and the bittersweet nostalgia of growing up. Here We Used to Fly is on Kickstarter now.
Coming to Kickstarter on Halloween! Bizarre Blades and Bizarre Torches, two new micro-booklets by Philip Reed! For use with any OSR game. Only $1 for the PDF reward!
This newsletter is currently sponsored by the Bundle of Holding.
New bundle of lovecraftian weird west adventures with Weird Frontiers, based on Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. I’m half-man, half-beast, half-journalist, half-game designer.
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That Utena inspired RPG has me intrigued. With Nobilis 3e I'd be interested in hearing more about the distinction between not wanting to run it vs wanting to play it, like which qualities in particular make you feel that way.