ars ludi

Gameplay Video: Wild Worlds of Dating

We’re back at the table, playing more In This World. What could top our Vacations game? How about Dating..???

We recorded this game a while back, shortly after the Vacations session, but technical problems prevented me from editing and posting it when I first intended. Now that In This World is done, I circled back around to finish up and share it with you.

Marc, Caroline, Al and I were joined by Justin, who had never played In This World before. Which is perfect, because it reminded me to explain every step of the game… eventually! Despite having never played before, Justin jumped in fearlessly and made our first world — that’s that Story Game Seattle pedigree shining through!

In This World Is Out

The full release of In This World is done! You can get it and play right now.

If you bought the early access release, you should have already received an email with your download link.

The book is about 20 pages longer than I originally planned, not because the rules changed — the rules are rock steady — but because I included more examples of play (at the wise suggestion of my backers) and also because I dug deep into the game theory mines to analyze exactly what goes on when you sit a bunch of people down and ask them to reimagine the world together. If you want to understand game design, there is a whole chapter, just for you.

Next up is doing print tests, so if you spot typos or whatnot, now’s the time to tell me! Give me a holler at info at lamemage.com.

Summerween

You had me at watermelon jack-o-lanterns…

Voyage of the Astral Swan

Twinkle Twinkle Little Bar…

Calamity Vault is a new podcast playing rare indie gems. Their first game? Kingdom! And they absolutely kill it with the ‘Lost In Luxury Space’ seed:

Calamity Vault: We Make Our Kingdom Together (episode 1 of 3)

One important caveat is that they played the old edition from 2013, not the more recent K2 from 2021. If you listen to their review in the third episode, you’ll see they had some difficulty with the rules, which totally makes sense, because the old text is… cumbersome. Which is exactly why I had such a burning desire to go back and revise it into the sleek and sharp book it is now.

In This House, A Mouse

I’m working on finishing In This World, but I keep thinking of more things I want to add. Just the other night we playtested an “alternate history” rules variant and now that absolutely has to go in the book. Plus there’s my usual perfectionist streak.

But the real thing slowing me down is… a mouse. A tiny frenemy, who has penetrated the perimeter and found a way into the innards of my house.

Tiny feet sneaking around the rafters is… distracting. Like Batman, it haunts the night. I merely adopted the dark, it was born in it.

I am morally opposed to harming the tiny mammal, but the battle to evict it is on. I’ve got motion detector cameras, live capture traps, strategies, tactics, plans within plans, the writings of Sun-Tzu, thousands of years of military history… and yet, the mouse remains completely unconquered.

Thus far the score stands mouse 1, human 0. Pray for me.

“Was ist eure nächste Queste?”

Plotbunny has translated Follow into German and the crowdfunding launch is underway right now!

Andrea Rick is managing the project, and I’ve been very impressed with her attention to detail and her desire to make sure the translation captures the experience of the original game.

It’s nearly half-funded, so if you’re a German-speaker who wants to bring some gaming goodness to your table, get in there!