PLAYTESTED

• Depths Unfathomable by Thomas Manuel: While we didn’t finish the planned playtest that Thomas started with our group, it was a fun experience. It was my cozy apocalypse that I looked forward to revisiting on Wednesday evenings. What did we do? We used the structure to create our version of a setting, characters, and our ship. Then we did a dive, then life aboard the ship, rinse-repeat. We were just on the edge of some juicy story lines when scheduling ended the run. Hopefully, you’ll have an opportunity to try out Depths Unfathomable some day!
• Tomb Raider by Rae Nedjadi (lead designer): I was very skeptical about this game, and was pleasantly surprised with how it plays. Our GM, Jim, was a master of description and the mechanics even when there were gaps in the playtest document. There are a lot of moving pieces and it does intentionally feel like a video game in how it functions. It was great fun to play with the other players and to get to know the current version of the IP better. I look forward to getting the published game at some point and running it.

PLAYING

• Monsterhearts 2e (PbtA) by Avery Alder
  We did session zero and I’m looking forward to playing the second edition of this game.
• Slugblaster (FitD) by Mikey Hamm
  We did session zero and the game is wild like advertised on the cover and everywhere within. Our teens are ready to blast some slugs as they zip through dimensions on their boards.
• Epitaph by Marc Hobbs
  I’ve been curious about this game for a while since running across it when I used Eden for a Star Wars game. Grateful for someone offering to facilitate it later this month.

RUNNING

Open Hearth Game Facilitator Camp

• Mind The Gap: a CBR+PNK /RUN by  Emanoel Melo – GM’ed by another person
  Going into this game, I incorrectly thought we were going to be playing CY_BORG. I was so wrong, but it was a good time and glad to have played. Great job by the GM!
• Escape from Dino Island by  Sam Tung and Sam Roberts – GM’ed by another person
  While I’ve played EfDI before it’s been a while and I’m looking forward to the GM running us through the savage adventure.
• Venture (BoB) by riley rethal – GM’ed by another person
  I have no idea what this game is about but it should be fun.
• Lady Blackbird by John Harper – GM’ed by me
  I’m running this game as a means to do some professional development/self-improvement work as a GM.

Shared Hearth Fall 2024

• Pasión de las Pasiones (PbtA) by Brandon Leon-Gambetta – playset: La Casa del Átomo
  I’ve only played PdlP a couple of times and loved it. I’m looking forward to running the game. This will be our version of Marvel’s X-Men melodramatic mutants. What more do you need, bub?
• Hillfolk/DramaSystem by Robin Laws – series pitch: The Root of All by Jason and me
  Inspired by our love of the TV show, Evil, this series pitch is our grasp at sharing what makes that show bonkers and yet so damn good. We’ll see if anyone is willing to push boundaries.
• Bite Marks by Becky Annison – scenario: The Beasts of Bodmin by Becky Annison
  I’ve never played or run this game, but my reading of it is that it’s a solid focused game that needs more attention.

Gamehole Con 2024

• Vigilance by me – scenario: Call of the Wild (x1)
  It’s been a long time since I’ve run Vigilance and I have some perspective. I really just need to solidify the math for the mechanics and give it a go.
• Dark Well by me – scenario: Project Onyx (x2)
  I need to review the game from start to end since Forge Midwest. Anchoring the scenario as a follow-up to the one I ran at Gamehole Con 2018 will be helpful.
• Armageddon Accelerated (Dresden Files Accelerated+) by me (x1) AND Armageddon Overdrive (Forged in the Dark) by me (x1) – scenario: Time and Tempest (x2)
  Same scenario for both games, but different rules. It won’t be a true comparison as the players are likely to be different and so forth, but using the same situation simplifies the work I need to do and where I will focus my attention during the playtest.

In-Person Series

• Scum & Villainy (Forged in the Dark) by Stras Acimovic and John Leboeuf-Little
  We are hoping to offer games in local game stores that could sell the games we are running. This may mitigate our need to pay table fees and get connected to gamers in spaces they expect to find us. It will be an experiment. I offered to run S&V and possibly other games too.

Online Series

• Apocalypse World: Burned Over 2024 (PbtA) by Meguay and Vincent Baker
  I recently learned that the Bakers are revisiting Apocalypse World: Burned Over this year for playtesting and signed up to their Patreon. AWBO is my favorite implementation of AW so far, so much so that I created Starfall as a detailed Hard Zone and tested it last year. My plan is to follow along and offer a 10-ish session series of AWBO with Starfall. I need to return to recruiting players and then schedule it out.

Playtesting

• Outside of running one-shots at cons I will be working to test a number of games later this year.

NEXT STEPS

I am considering the use of Scrum/Trello to help me manage the creative work over the next four months.

FEEDBACK

Let me know what you think. Was this helpful or insightful?