Greetings Horizoners,
Things are moving apace at Far Horizons. Recent newcomers to the server have brought wonderful insights into game design philosophies, and the reawakening of some of our more dormant members has led to an eruption in activity and project pitches. I’m excited to share some of this news with you.
Recently we had a really interesting conversation about the “saturation” of markets based on systems like PbtA or FitD. I’m using double-quotes because actually I think there’s no such saturation; instead, we sort of think of those systems as akin to rapid-prototyping tools like 3D printing in manufacturing.
When you have an idea for a roleplaying game, you rustle up a setting, and you slap on a loose hack of Apocalypse World as a mechanical backdrop. It might not have all the bells and whistles of what you want from your game, but it’s a robust and very tested system that will probably do a lot of the heavy-lifting. You test it out, find the flaws, and either patch them up or eventually throw the whole thing away. It’s an iterative process that starts with something that already exists.
Two examples spring to mind. The first is BinaryStar’s Apocalypse Frame, which I’ve been editing, and the attention to detail that can only come from iteration and playtesting. The second is how Eidolon: Become Your Best Self has changed over time, from a pretty straight PbtA system with a few system tweaks, to a completely separate PbtA-adjacent system but with a really cool tarot-drawing system for the main randomisation mechanic. Both of these grew out of simple beginnings.
One of our cherished members and the creator of some truly neat and innovative stuff expressed a common held fear: that they don’t have the design chops to make their own system from scratch. But, this is the beast of Imposter Syndrome rising its ugly head again. “I can’t do that, because it won’t be good if I do.”
Reader, if you take one thing from today’s newsletter, it’s that you can, and what you need is good tools and frameworks. If you’re not sure what you want your game system to look like, try beating an existing game into the shape that you want first. Find a bunch of people to play it with you and test it, and then work out what didn’t work. Throw out the whole thing if needs be.
Game design is a skill. It takes practice. But I promise you: you are good enough.
That’s enough of that.
News
Keeping in touch
Just a reminder that we’ve also opened up our Discord server to non-coop members to come along and chat, and to get our project updates a little in advance of the newsletter.
I’ve also been looking at Substack chat, now that the Android app is out, but I can’t quite wrap my head around it just yet. It might be another avenue for communication in the future; if you’re interested, give us a shout.
Project updates
We Dig Giant Robots
The project has been accepting signups from CoOp members, and it’s shaping up to be a really thrilling follow-up to Friendship, Effort, Victory! with writing from Kamala Kara Arroyo, dev editing from Magnus T Hansen, copy editing from Nezumi, proofreading from Sam Zimmerman, layout from Falco, and art from Lib. Lots of crossover back to FEV there!
Lookout for We Dig Giant Robots in March 2023 (ish).
O Morningstar!
As fortold, O Morningstar! is due to be released next Friday, 16th December 2022. We hope you're as excited to check it out as we are to release it. Moreover, we hope you're excited about all the forthcoming games in our Thousand Burning Stars series because O Morningstar! is just the beginning.
For the first time ever for the CoOp, you’ll be able to pick up O Morningstar! in digital and print on the same day. Thanks to Tabletop Hotdish, you’ll be able to pick it up at Knave of Cups in the US, in the UK from Beyond Cataclysm Books, and globally from Indie Press Revolution (who might well distribute to your FLGS). Next month we’re hoping to get a Canadian distributor too.
Little Gods (who hide on street corners)
The second game in the A Thousand Burning Stars series is Sam Zimmerman’s Little Gods (who hide on street corners). In Sam’s words:
Little Gods (who hide on street corners) is a game of small guardians, embodiments of the flavors and whims of the big city, who shepherd a Newcomer in their journey to find a permanent home. One player will take the role of the Newcomer, while the other players will act as these little gods, embodying different parts of the city and building the setting collaboratively. Explore the city along with the Newcomer, discovering local favorite cafés and finding shared communities, in this tabletop experience coming January 24th.
Little Gods is currently entering its final stages of pre-production, with proofreading well underway and the art in its final weeks. We'll be entering layout in the next two weeks, and I'm so excited to share the fruits of this project with the world!
Keep your eyes peeled for more promo about Little Gods in January 2023.
Sundo: We, Once Mortal
The Far Horizons CoOp are absolutely thrilled to announce the forthcoming project from CoOp Member Pam Punzalan, a.k.a. The Dovetailor. This project is building on an earlier iteration (see above!) of Sundo which you can buy and play right now, except it’s going to be expanded in a major way. According to Pam:
Sundo is all about exploring the intersections of grief, memory, transformation, and rebellion. Because players play psychopomps whose entire existence is built on lies and deception, players can meditate on what death, loss, and identity really mean for them. Every Sundo campaign is meant to conclude in a choice: now that their psychopomps have confronted the fact that they are not what they were told they were - that they were mortal, just like the souls they reaped - what will they do? There is no moral choice: only what feels right for the character who has been inexplicably changed by their journey towards the truth.
I love psychopomps (I once wrote a game about them in SGD5) so naturally I’m extremely excited about this.
Sundo will be crowdfunded in the second or third quarters of 2023. The team will include writing and design by Pam Punzalan, Gabriel Robinson and Kyle; editing by JW van Heerden; art by Sinta Posadas and angela dan quidam; layout by Duamn Figueroa Rassol; and scenario writing by Marx Shepherd and Charu Patel.
That’s all for this missive. Until next time – make cool games. wage class war.
Best Wishes,
— Marx // F.H.C.