Greetings Horizoners,
Here at Far Horizons CoOp HQ we're busy winding up for some really stellar releases. More on that later, because what I wanted to talk about is work culture in the space.
As a designer and editor as well as community manager, I take on both CoOp work and freelance work, mostly paid, sometimes unseen. In general I take on a couple of projects per quarter, and I can manage this around my day job, my family, and my partner's business needs.
But we've all been known to take on too much in the past, right? That feeling of having two or three personal projects and three or four freelance projects, plus promotion, plus accounting, plus X, plus Y, plus …
The scene is vibrant and exciting, and there's always so many things to look at and do: new games to discuss, new voices to engage with, new things to feel enraged by. But if you're engaging with the scene as a hobbyist who got in too deep, it's hard to make it not feel like a second full-time job sometimes. And I know I don't have time for a second full-time job.
What I have to remember is that, as well as creating and talking and supporting, I've got to keep playing games. Because that's why I'm here. To have a good time playing games. And that's the thing that I never seem to have time for anymore.
Don't be like me! Play more games in a year than you edit.
Enough proselytising.
News
Announcing: Far Horizons Guide to Death
Lots of you will have seen the announcements on Twitter and Mastodon about the forthcoming Far Horizons Guide to Death, an anthology of short games and essays on the subject of death.
Writers from outside the CoOp are being invited to submit pitches for their games and essays, which will be published as an anthology book by the CoOp after a Kickstarter campaign. The survey for pitches is open until Friday June 2nd 11:59pm UTC+1, so you've got plenty of time to get yours in.
We're trying out a new, more traditional model for paying creators this time, and we're excited about it. The book we have lined up is going to be incredible and we can't wait to share it with you.
The Kickstarter for the Guide will be running in July, with an expected release of January 2024.
Project Updates
Far Horizons Guide to Cults
With writing and editing out of the way, illustration is progressing based on author prompts and, in some cases, suggestions from Kickstarter backers. It’s looking pretty cool as it trickles into the work channels on the Far Horizons Discord server. Hopefully next issue there’ll be a little something to share with you.
Gungamesh
The Bronze Age Sumerian roleplaying game is out of a round of playtesting and into a round of rewrites and editing. We're looking forward to seeing what drops next.
A Thousand Burning Stars
These two projects mark the end of the first “season” of this long-term project. We're not wholly sure where we're going next, but we want to keep bringing you cool short games in zine format. Keep your eyes peeled here for news.
Outliers
Samantha Leigh's Outliers is out now! It's a solo game of working as a research assistant on a weird, absurd research study where the subjects are eldritch lords or maybe time travellers, and your colleagues and bosses - and lab equipment - aren't exactly much better.
Outliers was written by Samantha Leigh of Anamnesis fame, who is the CoOp’s first creator-in-residence as part of A Thousand Burning Stars. CoOp staffers include J. Boone Dryden, Marx Shepherd, James Hanna, and Carly A-F.
You can get a PDF version of Outliers from itch.io or from DriveThruRPG. A softcover version will be printed and released later in the year, in all the usual venues, and a special creator’s commentary version is planned too.
Kobolds: Work Until You Die
"Find someone to cover your shift."
The final zine in season one of A Thousand Burning Stars is Kevin C. Bryan’s Kobolds: Work Until You Die. With editing by Pam Punzalan, art by dan qui dam, and layout by Facu Kaper. From the game:
Employers demand, but what happens when the worker has nothing left to give? The last sacrifice a worker can give to their workplace is their very sense of self, that bit that makes them a human instead of a cog. Kobolds are those who have burnt out to the point of blending in, becoming workers only spoken of in whispers, or strange circumstances and conventions of the workplace thought mystical. Kobolds: Work Until You Die expands upon the lore of historical working kobolds and brings them into the modern day for use with any modern supernatural or capitalist horror RPG.
We’re stoked about this one. Expect to see Kobolds on Itchio and DTRPG in June.
That's it for now. Remember: make cool games. wage class war.
— F.H.C.