Insomniacs is a cryoship starcrawl game that evokes existential horror and cosmic wonder in equal measure. It's built from a meatloaf of Lasers & Feelings, the third attempt at Unknown Armies, half-eaten PbtA leftovers, and the parts of Cthulhu Dark your kids left out on the table before running to catch the bus.
Inspirational
Photo by Samuel Vowles on Unsplash, actual inspiration by Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't
Teaching a Spaceman to Spacefish
I've got maybe a year or so of my Insomniacs playtest campaign under my belt, but I'm struggling with how to put that into actionable content in the book. I don't think I've ever used a setting or module verbatim, and I don't know how other GMs adapt canned material for their own campaigns. I have a couple paths forward I can take, however, trails blazed by other designers that have inspired me.
Can’t Sleep. Space’ll Eat Me.
I've made tremendous progress on Insomniacs' interior in the past few weeks but I also redid the cover. Inspired by Ian Hubert's Blender videos, I tried my hand at making an entire stasis pod with an unwilling occupant. It's not that different from my original cover idea, and the first one has a nice negative … Continue reading Can’t Sleep. Space’ll Eat Me.
Untitled Animal Heist Game
Tonight's dice club with the kids was the first time in a long while I felt energized afterward. I think we found "our game" - inspired by Untitled Goose Game, completely normal animals come together for relatively nonthreatening heists.
Fall is Video Game Season
Time to shirk! I've been buried under a deluge of new games. Here's what I, a late-to-the-party random person off the internet with no credentials, thinks of the following video games that have been eating all my free time: Untitled Goose Game Geese are assholes, and this is a good game about being a douchey … Continue reading Fall is Video Game Season
Insomniacs: The Reverent Between
The Reverent Between is what the Somnambulist's AI called the gulf of stars between the crew's last stop at 186 Herculis and their fruitful colonization prospects in the constellation Lyra. I'm also deep in Insomniacs' editing and layout process, and that is its own sort of thoughtful journey. The Pillar of Contemplation The Pillar was … Continue reading Insomniacs: The Reverent Between
Yes Virginia, There Is a Space D&D
Space D&D isn't about the system you use. It's all about the setting, and a more specific setting than you might realize - but it'll feel familiar nonetheless. It's a setting you've seen across multiple TV shows, movies, and even quite a few space sandbox videogames.
