Missive 18 - tidy minds, big plans

Greetings horizoners,

It's been too long, I know. Last year was a write-off for me, as I moved from the cold, dark north of England to the flat, wet south of England, leaving behind a great deal of favourite places, people, and opportunities. It's forcing my hand a little to think of new ways of being, a feeling that, as a consummate contented person, is deeply uncomfortable.

I think it's good for people to sometimes see if a new way of being can recharge their batteries, but it's easy to get addicted to new starts too. Still, I guess there has to be a balance somewhere, and I'm not sure I'm sitting on the right side of it.

One thing I'm trying really hard to do at the moment is simple but powerful: whenever something out of my control makes me really bone-shakingly angry, I step away, put down my phone, and try to improve my surroundings: tidying up, washing dishes, folding laundry, cleaning out the fish tank. I guess one could extend this to the outside: tidy the patio, weed the beds, rake the lawn. Or even your community spaces: pick up litter, scrape off stickers, deadhead planters. Just something small that makes a visual difference. It does something to my head, gets me out of a bad cycle, and it just makes things better around me.

So you can imagine yesterday I needed a distraction? So I took up carpet from the stairs, removed the grips, and hoovered to within an inch of my life. Somebody hadn't changed that carpet since 1989, and the underlay is causing my partner's asthma to flare up. No more. And I haven't even thought about the thing that made me mad since (this is a lie).

New habits are weird. I do, however, hope to get back to writing the newsletter more than once every five months.

We've recently welcomed three new members to the CoOp: davey, whose entry to the Random Prompts Jam was judged best in show, and so it's gonna be published by us; Michael Coolwood, an author and all-round cool bean, and Finan Oillpheist, a designer, writer, and communitywright. Looking forward to working with all of these punks.

Would you like to join the CoOp? Hit me up wherever you can find me. We have an application process but it's pretty easy-going, so long as you're not a fascist eejit.

This game by Undead Author is still going ahead. It's been edited, art looks to be done, and we're just waiting on layout and proofreading. My best guess is April. Here's what it is:

In Sic Itur, you participate in an esoteric fencing tournament, to see your wishes come true. Make use of playing cards to thrust, parry, and shift the scales! Gamble your hopes, dreams, and destiny for a chance at the World!

Violet Ash's zine offering is a bit further off, having been through a few rounds of dev editing and not quite text complete yet. But it's progressing nicely outside of the limelight. This one is likely to be later on in the year, perhaps June.

Famous Last Words: A game of grand gestures, close calls, daring escapes, and certain death

Adventurers, this is the end of the line. You began this journey with everything you needed to win this final battle, but you’ve lost everything along the way and now it seems impossible.

You and your companions have only a little time left together, and so of course you are going to spend it doing the most important thing of all: You’re all going to fight over who’s truly to blame for all of this.

In Famous Last Words, you will collaboratively tell the story of your adventurers' misadventure in reverse chronological order, as they complain about every item lost and injury gained. (This also means that with each flashback looking further back in time, they will have more and more wondrous items for you to include in your story, along with all the dramatic irony to go with them.) And along the way, you'll earn word tokens that will determine the length of your character's final monologue.

Death is certain for our adventurers... but you can still be the heroes who defeat the foe and finally get to have your Famous Last Words!

A new project for us, this is Davey's winning entry to the Random Prompts Jam. Whilst we had hoped to get this ready enough for ZiMo26, I think that's looking unlikely right now, but I do think it'll be ready this half of the year, given that it's already written.

Players participate as various emotions or psychological traits of our shared protagonist's mind. Together we chart a course through a Rom-Com story arc as our protagonist lives through the vicissitudes, challenges and turning points typical of cinematic romance stories. We will create lots of little scenes to bring to life a four act story arc.

The game is built around a hex flower along which we plot our Protagonist’s path and discover their Rom Com story.

Loves Me… Loves Me Not… pretty much goes like this: Each scene most of us play an emotion/drive of our protagonist. We also take turns playing the director. The director of each scene has a different role. At the end of each act we debate (as emotions/traits) then vote to decide upon two possible paths before entering into the next act. The final act has a bit of a twist but follows this general pattern too….

The game is meant to be a fun and heartful romp although the tone can vary. The story may involve both light hearted and silly as well as more melancholy and heartwrenching story beats. It’s a Rom Com… It is intended to be played out in a single session of 2-3 hours. And yes, there will be an actual flower involved.

Hot on the heels of her success with Friendship Effort Victory and We Dig Giant Robots, Kamala Arroyo is back again with a killer team making Petmon, a tribute to 90s anime classic Digimon (only not, because lawyers). We're narrowing on getting this one to crowdfunding in the next couple of months, so please do watch this space.

There are few bonds as strong as a child and their pet… Take a plunge into the monster world and discover your Petmon, your pet monster. In a world on the brink of disaster, you and your friends will embark on a grand adventure. Bonds will be tested, your virtues stressed, and your wishes granted.

Petmon is a dieceless, tabletop game inspired by anime series like "Digimom," "Pokemon, and "Monster Rancher." Using mechanics derived from Jenna Moran's excellent "Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine," Petmon doesn't focus on combat, like other traditional roleplaying games. Focused firmly on the bonds characters have between one another, Petmon strives to hit a unfilled niche in the monster taming genre. One focused on the characters, their struggles, and their bonds.

Petmon is a designed as a toolbox game. The basic game is designed for a very generic style of monster taming campaign. However, a slew of campaign hacks exist to better emulate some of your favorite series. The game borrows from titles like "Wraith" and "Better Angels" by having both the "Chosen Child" and "Petmon" played by two separate players. Characters advance by having episode focus on them and having a change to deal with their virtues, vices, and internal issues: greater power coming from greater understanding of themselves.

Petmon comes from Kamala Kara Arroyo, creator "Friendship, Effort, Victory" and "We Dig Giant Robots." Her largest and most ambitious project yet, this title is the debut of her "pet engine. Layout is from Falco , who's done excellent work on Kamala's prior titles. Our art team is being led by Carly A-F, with assistance from Bri de Danann and D.M.G. All of them bring their own styles to the table. Carly and Bri will be handling your traditional art whereas DMG will be brining us unique sprite art. Jon Boyle and Brandon George are our editors.

That's all there is. There ain't no more. Remember: make cool games. wage class war.

M. //