The Eighth Day of Itchmas

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a bit belated, but hey, that’s what I, and subsequently you, get with a challenge set during the holidays.

today’s recommendation is Hometown Holiday by KidNickGames.

if you, like me, love the cheesy, sincere, ridiculousness of Hallmark-style holiday movies, this game is for you. It’s very simple to pick up whether or not you’ve played a role-playing game before. You’ll generate your town and its problems, the love interest everyone is pursuing, and set up the relationships between everyone.

The playbooks are what really shine here.

I was lucky enough to play with Nick this time last year, and he’s got some new playbooks cooking too!

Genuinely, I cannot recommend this enough for a thematic one-shot. Some friends and I played and extremely silly New Years themed version to ring in 2024, and I can’t promise we won’t do it again!

Cheer! LT

The Seventh Day of Itchmas

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For the seventh day of Itchmas, I bring you a recommendation for a timeloop game – one I think delivers on the premise in a fun and tightly-woven way! I’m an unabashed lover of Army of the Dead and this game immediately came to mind while watching the movie.

Time to Drop by marn s. follows a heist crew with 24 hours to plan and execute a heist (or so they think).

This game is meant to be played for the duration of Nonagon Infinity by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. (Or in 41 minutes, if you for WHATEVER reason aren’t listening to the album)

Play feels a bit board-gamey, in the best way. Use a tarot deck (or other oracle, like Spindlewheel) to represent complications that echo into future loops. Prepare. Plan.

Do a heist.

Do a heist again.

Do a heist again.

Do a heist again.

Do a heist again…until you clear all the complications and finally break free.

In many ways, this game feels like it may have started life as a Fiasco playset. It certainly leads to as many snafus as you’d expect. The prompts included to help flesh out your crew and the job are both evocative and genre-appropriate.

But one of my favorite things about the game is its “challenge modes” section.

Cheers! LT

The Fifth and Sixth Days of Itchmas

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a twofer today – keeping it simple!

yesterday, I pitched some local friends on Sam Dunnewold’s Bandaids and Bullet Holes. We’re gonna play it at our holiday party next week!

Today I sold my sister on Ira Prince’s Eyes on the Prize. Hoping to play it next time she’s in town.

I hope these two days can be a reassurance for folks that even just recommending games to your friends/private discord/ten bluesky followers is more than enough in the spirit of the 12 Days of Itchmas.

Cheers! LT

The Fourth Day of Itchmas

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I’m back on this wonderfully sunny (for me) fourth day of Itchmas with a review and recommendation for you!

The Log Lady cares too much.

Log Lady is a solo RPG by Armanda Haller. You may know Armanda from Grandmothership or Cordelia Needs a Kingdom. She’s one of my favorite solo game designers out there!

Log Lady is one of the more effective mystery games out there (solo or not) that doesn’t use the Hints & Hijinx system by Pandion Games. It’s extremely open-ended but in a way that feels good! You play as the titular Log Lady, who speaks to her log and learns terrible secrets from it (or not, depending how the dice treat you). Will you find enough information to go to the police? Or will someone suffer consequences while you struggle to discern the log’s secrets?

This game is heavily inspired by Twin Peaks, a show I have culturally osmosed but not watched, and yet the esoteric urgency of the game comes through in every word.

One thing I love is that the game is entirely unconcerned with whether or not the police will help you, and whether or not the log is truly telling you more than you already subconsciously knew. On this blog, we love and cherish a game with an ambiguous ending.

Cheers! LT

The Third Day of Itchmas 2024

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Keeping it simple again today (because wouldn’t you know it, i spend my weekends as parent of a toddler having a lot of offline adventures).

I’ve added 12 community copies of my solo Lost & Found game, Lost Luggage. When I first started designing stuff without collaborators, using the SRDs from other games served as a great way to flex my design muscles. I’m still extremely proud of this game, which has the emotional resonance for me of having been created entirely during time in the airport while I was away from my partner and young child.

Cheers! LT

The First Day of Itchmas 2024

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On the first day of itchmas, my true love [read: online acquaintance] gave to meeeeee

a review of the gorgeous system-agnostic Tidings by Gather Around Projects.

I incidentally got to meet the creator at PaxU, and he handed me this game – this review is purely from my own delight in it.

Everyone who has ever compared their project to Ghibli films needs to step aside, because this is the first one I’ve read in ages that feels as though it could use that descriptor fittingly.

First, the content. The possible future this setting presents is lovely, unfolded (figuratively and literally) in small neighborhood details that make it feel truly realized, and yet ripe for filling in the blanks. It is not without conflict: this is a world in recovery, hopeful that community may prevail over the threat of greed, watching the weather and working for climate repair.

Now, the format. The game currently exists as Issues 1-3, each of which is a folded 11×17 poster, lovingly risograph printed, all contained within a folded jacket. You are literally uncovering more and more of the microfiction and art within as you explore this neighborhood.

Right now there are still a few community copies of the digital version, but I highly recommend the physical version for anyone who wants to bring this to their table.

Cheers!
LT

The 12 Days of Itchmas 2024

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Jumping feet first into this blogging thing by proposing an idea I’m calling

THE 12 DAYS OF ITCHMAS

In large part this was inspired by conversations in the Dice Exploder discord (how long before referencing conversations in the discord becomes a “thing” on this blog?). It also owes a mention to Idle Cartulary‘s Critique Navidad series, which you should check out if you haven’t yet!

The idea is a simple one. For each of the next twelve days (Dec 13-25), do at least one of the following:

  • Rate and review a game on itch.io
  • Add community copies or comp codes for something you’ve created
  • Recommend someone else’s game or itch content on socials
  • Publish supplementary content for someone else’s game

And that’s it! Use the hashtag #12DaysOfItchmas if you like (I’m not on socials enough to know if we still care about hashtags on Bluesky).

I hope 12 days doesn’t feel burdensome – this time of year can be difficult for many, and I personally have complex feelings about it, but one thing I do love is a spirit of giving and community. I hope this can be a small way to share that.

Cheers!
LT

1d10 Wild West Encounters

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  1. A lone figure on a palamino stallion approaches the edge of town, the star pinned to his duster glinting in the setting sunlight. He casts a long shadow down the main thoroughfare. Townsfolk watch apprehensively from their porches and behind drawn curtains. The clop of his horse’s hooves and the faint jingle of his spurs are the only sounds in the silence, but your attention is drawn to the engraved six-shooter on his hip.
  2. A rumble on the horizon is accompanied by a roiling cloud of dust, and you realize a stampede of buffalo is heading your way.
  3. The path into the canyon is treacherous, but your mule is surefooted. You see carved out dwellings in the opposite wall of the canyon, and in them, figures wrapped in woven blankets. One of them raises a hand in greeting.
  4. A long day of travel under the unrelenting sun is interrupted by the thunder of hooves. A group of rough-looking folk in shabby shirts, bandoliers, and castoff hats surrounds you, guns leveled at you. “Money,” they demand.
  5. The train ride has been uneventful, thus far, though you’re still amazed by the power of the steam engine. All of a sudden the train jolts to a stop. A booted foot kicks through the door to your car and points a rifle at the passengers, many of whom are screaming. “This is a stickup!”
  6. The cozy cabin is the only house in sight on the wide prairie. Two little girls in gingham dresses are chasing a cadre of chickens in front of the house, but their laughter diminishes as you approach. A hardy-looking woman in calico comes around the corner of the house, a basket of laundry on her hip.
  7. The saloon is quiet this evening, relatively. Piano playing in the corner, a couple of card games going on, but no trouble. That is until the doors swing open and a stranger with a hat pulled low over their face steps in. The floorboards creak as all the revelry dies down.
  8. The lasso catches your ankle and brings you crashing to the ground. As you roll over in the dust to see your assailant, you see a woman in a fringed vest pointing a rifle at you.
  9. The town is bustling, what with all the newcomers hoping to find gold in the mountains. Course, you’ve given it a shot yourself, to no avail. A boy comes running into camp, shouting about a new vein of gold, and everyone starts making a mad dash toward the hills.
  10. Your travels have you cross paths with a group of people who look like they’re more comfortable in the field than on horseback. The leader looks you up and down before asking if you’ve seen a couple of runaway adolescents

1d10 Common Customs

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  1. It is customary to bring a bouquet of seasonal herbs when someone moves into their new home.
  2. Two fingers placed at the right earlobe signals a wish for fair weather.
  3. Shedding one’s jacket when going into the meeting hall originated as a way to prove one was unarmed. Now it is simply courteous to do so.
  4. At a wedding, the parents of the couple-to-be drink from a wine goblet before handing it to their children.
  5. In the town square, it is customary to walk in a counterclockwise direction around the center fountain so as not to interrupt the flow of traffic.
  6. A kiss on the forehead before a family member leaves for a journey is an old custom.
  7. A bow of no more than five seconds is expected when royalty is present.
  8. When dining with clergy, a single spoon per guest is used.
  9. Letting children to the front of the line at the well is expected.
  10. A sweep of the hand in front of oneself invites another into the home.