#8: Worldbuilding, Arthuriana and a New Game
#8: Worldbuilding, Arthuriana and a New Game
Good day, folks. I hope you’re having a nice day! I now scribble little notes for what I should write about for next week and the week after as I go through my days. So look forward to a general theory of clue design and where do GMs get their fun over the coming weeks!
I. Specific versus Generic Worldbuilding
Or you know what’s weirder than carrion-priests? Ordinary details of non-European medieval life.
Chris McDowell, designer of of Electric Bastionland, wrote a short post recently about the idea of specific versus generic setting elements in your worldbuilding (which he calls ornaments versus bricks).
Specific elements are your Ornaments. These are the things that give your world life and identity. In Electric Bastionland this could be any of the Failed Careers or Oddities. You aren't a Fighter or a Rogue, you're specifically an Avant Guardsman or a Counterfeit Taxidermist.
Generic elements are your Bricks. These are basic pieces that aren't interesting on their own, but imagination unlocks their potential. In Electric Bastionland most weapons are Bricks. They have a damage die, maybe they're Bulky or do Blast damage, but that's about it. There's no list of fifty weapon types with subtly different mechanics here. The differences between a Sword (d6) and an Axe (d6) exist largely within your imagination.
I talked about this a little in the edition about colonialism in RPGs but when we think about what’s generic, it’s clear how much work is being done by European Fantasyland. Trying to make a non-European setting involves a lot of unexpected specifics. Do you talk about how everyone’s clothes are different? How your drinks are served to you in different mugs? How everything is made of different materials? Just thinking like has an anesthetic effect on me. Feels like I’m describing an encyclopaedia, more than a gamebook. Just mountains of words piled on top of each other. It’s something that nobody wants. Too much work to do, impossible to use. But is there another way?
Something I recently realized (which you probably already know) is how much art can do when compared to words in this regard. And this comes specifically from the project that artist Mun Kao and writer Zedeck Siew have taken up with their Thousand Thousand Islands zines. Their aim is to evoke deliciously evocative but specifically South East Asian sense of place - but fantasy. So you get crocodile kingdoms and dog queens and all that. But while those are nice, I want to point out Mun Kao’s art (especially his drawings of people) which allows so much to go unsaid about the world.
(This is the banner from their itch page. All art by Mun Kao. You might want to click and zoom in to get the extent of the detailing. Or buy a zine, heh. )
To do this, Mun Kao essentially spends a lot of time researching South East Asian history (and publishes the results for free on Patreon). He tries to recreate these authentic minor details about the clothing and architecture of medieval Malaysia because most of that kind of information isn’t easily available. There is no Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives for Malaysia, I imagine.
Nothing is generic outside European Fantasyland - which just makes the work of designing and playing in such a sandbox that much harder. So I’m really glad these zines exist. I just wish there were more of them from elsewhere!
II. Listen of the Week
It’s official. This second section of the newsletter will be a link to podcast episode or youtube video that I recommend. Three cheers for structure!
This week, I recommend a recent episode of Party of One Podcast, a weekly one-on-one “system of the week” style podcast. In this episode, host Jeff Stormer plays Chalice, a game of dark arthuriana (love the word!), with the game’s designer Nicholas Masyk. The end result is a moody, romantic story of a knight’s doomed quest. Nicholas lays out a lush setting, littered with recognizable people and motifs from Gawain and the Green Knight. It was a warm, pleasant listen.
Lend an ear and gather ’round and listen to the tale,
Of Aramel the Pertinent, who journeyed for the grail…
Check out the episode here!
(I believe it was in the Black Lives Matter itch bundle so if you bought that, you probably own this game.)
Surprise interlude: I released a new solo RPG this week! You play a criminal mastermind in a city that’s in the middle of a tumultuous rebellion.
If you like Blades in the Dark and Thousand Year Old Vampire, you might like this game. If you’re interested in combining tactical resource management and emotional prompt-based journalling, you will definitely like this game.
Learn more and buy it (for 5$, 50% off the cover price!) at my itch.io page.
III. Additions to the “List of Marketing Wisdom”
The 6th issue of this newsletter had a link to all the indie marketing wisdom I’ve collected. As I discover more, it gets added onto the list.
Jeff Stormer of the Party of One Podcast has distilled what he knows about using podcasts to market your games into three simple blogposts.
The Brain Trust podcast did a recent episode on “degreening” which is a term they invented (I think) for thinking about a pipeline for designing and marketing games that don’t require kickstarter. One of the ideas is a “bounty board” where designers with patron communities can allow their patrons to vote on games by essentially pre-ordering them based on a design pitch.
IV. Miscellaneous
I recently discovered this gem from 2017: Skerples writes an encyclopaedic entry on alien and alien design.
V. Small Ads
This section contains sponsored links and advertisements.
Revisit classic CRPGs to learn more about the tabletop influences that inspired these iconic titles.
Camp Pride is an award winning, simple, wholesome, nonviolent TTRPG about being at summer camp. Overcome challenges with friends and compete for the camp cup. Check it out for free.
Laser Ponies is an all-ages RPG about adorable ponies who fight monsters by shooting lasers from their eyes. If you hurry, you can back the Kickstarter!
These ads help keep this newsletter going and I’m very grateful for them!
If you’d like to advertise with the newsletter, the submission form with all the guidelines can be found here.
That’s all folks! As always, bouquets and brickbats to @chaibypost. Or comment on this email below. See you next week!