#Guide to Booklet Design

[crookedtines]

I've been learning how to tablet weave (& create patterns) by attempting to copy designs from totk. I can't be the only one enamored by the idea of having a hateno cheese belt... right?

Btw I'm getting all my tablet weaving pattern design knowledge from Claudia Wollny's amazing book Tablets at Work!

[empty-movement]

GOGAI, GOGAI!!! COME GET UTENA KIBBLES

It's September 3rd. It's 1997. Princess Diana just died, and that's very important to lots of people. You, however, are chewing your nails to nubs waiting for the climax of Revolutionary Girl Utena's Black Rose Saga. It's going to air today.

But like any good fan, you're already one step ahead, because you've spent the last couple days thumbing through Animedia's September issue supplemental, the 100 page Duelist Bible. Strangely, it appears to be in English??? Wow! Thanks Nagumo for translating, Ayu Ohseki for Japanese editing, teasot for proofreading, and ME, FUCKIN' VANNA, for scanning and scanlating this massive booklet!

We've got duel summaries! We've got character design sheets! We've got a school directory! We've got THE DUEL RULES. We've got cast interviews! WE'VE GOT THAT CHU-CHU DOLL CRAFT GUIDE. Check it ALL out here, in the Something Eternal Bibliothèque! You can flip through it page by page here, or you'll also find on the page a link to a PDF version for your at home viewing/archiving needs!!

This gargantuan tome really gets it across that in 1997, you didn't have a fandom wiki or on demand viewing. If you didn't catch and record the episodes, a booklet like this becomes a critical tool for keeping track of everything that's happened up to now, and is also a way for the series creators to tap fans on the shoulder and draw attention to details they want seen but not explained in the show directly. For example, this drops at the close of the BRS, but points out Touga's sword isn't the same in Keiko's duel and in the opening sequence. A thing we don't see cashed in until MUCH later!

This has been a true and absurd labor of love on my part. I even rescanned the booklet from my originals because their quality (decades old lmao) was not worth scanlating. This took a ludicrous amount of time, and has been a main project of mine for over a year now!! I'm so happy to have gotten it done in time for the Something Eternal Watch-Along thread, and I really really hope everyone finds something cool and interesting about it! The really cool thing is this now completes the set of magazine supplementals by the big three magazines made for Utena during its run. We now have fully scanlated this, as well as Animage's June Utena Dossier, and Newtype's November Utena? (Oh My!) UTENA! Take a stroll through memory lane, be they yours or someone else's!

As always, if you like this kind of content, consider supporting us on Patreon! Especially right now, a holy grail acquisition is in the works that I will bleed to share with y'all. More on that later, lmao.

Revolutionize the World! Love, Vanna

[scudevils]

it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas — QH43

pairing: quinn hughes x fem!reader

warnings: fluff, bit of a rushed ending sorry, not proofread!!

inspired by: “it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas” by bing crosby [1.2k]

a/n: a quick one for boyfriend quinn appreciation

it was a rare quiet day in the middle of the season, quinn who was usually surrounded by the hustle and bustle of hockey life, found himself sitting beside you in the warm glow of holiday lights, the smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger filled the air, mixing with the sound of soft christmas music playing in the background.

you'd been to the store earlier in the week, a gingerbread house kit lay spread out on the kitchen table to welcome him home from the road game in carolina, your niece's expectant eyes looking up at the pair of you as the pieces game in their own neatly placed bags, you and quinn shared a look of hesitation.

"this is way more complicated than it looks," was the first thing he said, peering at the instruction booklet with a playful grimace, eyeing up your niece's miniature house which was going a lot better than yours. his hair, slightly messier than usual, hinted at the fact that he had been running his hands through it in frustration, dark strands falling in front of his face. you laughed softly, enjoying the moment of calm in an otherwise busy season, and even off the ice he was just as competitive. (even if it was against a 9 year old)

"i thought you were good at building things," you teased, taking a sip from one of the hot chocolate you'd made for the three of you, choosing to take a step back from the building business as it was getting a big heated. "you're an athlete, you know... strategy, precision, focus?" you gave him a wink.

quinn grinned, his eyes lighting up in that characteristic way that always made you smile. "i play hockey, not architect. but i'm willing to try. you're the one with all the crafting experience, right?"

you raised an eyebrow at his suggestion, the most building you'd ever done in your life was a science fair project when you were 11, and even then your dad had built the majority of it. "crafting experience? skylar's got more crafting experience with me, she still does homework."

"alright, alright, I'll admit it," he said, grinning, the little girl beside them too busy already decorating her gingerbread house to care about what you had been saying. "maybe I need your help after all."

he reached for the frosting bag with a dramatic sigh, and you couldn't help but laugh as skylar's first order of business was to take the icing out of his hands. "read the instructions first," she said, flipping the booklet open and starting to explain the steps.

quinn looked at the pieces in front of him, tempted to give up and just eat the gingerbread, but that wasn't his nature, squinting like he was trying to figure out the lines on a hockey rink for the first time again. "wait, do you put the roof on first, or the walls?"

"okay, we need to build the base first. that's the most important part," you said, guiding him through it, looking to skylar for approval and she nodded, adding sweets onto her own now. "if the walls don't stay up, it's game over."

with a bit of teamwork, and an insane amount of luck that neither of you bumped into the table, you two managed to assemble the walls, and quinn was about to put the roof on before an idea struck him.

"so, are we going for traditional?" he asked, his tone suggesting he had something else in mind as he eyed the candy decorations, almost as if he was a real interior designer planning the layout for their house. "or... are we going for something a little more creative? like... a hockey rink gingerbread house?"

you raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, of course he would say that, you loved the man but sometimes you swore hockey was the only thing on his mind. "hockey rink? you've got to be kidding. i’m surprised you aren’t dying to get away from your job."

but quinn was already pointing out ideas, his mind running with possibilities, the coloured icing they could use to represent the teams, the different positions they should put in. "what if we add little gingerbread players with tiny sticks? and like, a frosting rink with icing lines?" he was grinning now, clearly enjoying the process way more than he'd let on, enjoying the design park much more than he had the building part.

"you're impossible," you spoke through a laugh, his enthusiasm something you loved about him and couldn't help but let you get in the spirit too.

together, you piped out a frosting rink on the base of the house decorated little gingerbread men with icing and tiny candies, making them into the most chaotic-looking hockey players you'd ever seen, some with more lopsided faces than the others. quinn insisted on adding mini pucks made of chocolate chips.

skylar had also finished her house, adding the final touches the one you and quinn had made too, her a candyland inspired design with sweets lining the road and covering the house.

as the arena started to take shape, you felt a warmth that wasn't just from the hot chocolate on the counter. it was from the way his eyes lit up with every silly detail he added, down to the numbers on the jerseys that his teammates wore.

by the time you were both done, the gingerbread house hockey arena—although a little uneven and very unconventional—was something to be proud of. it was uniquely yours, and in that moment, it was perfect. beside it sat the little actual gingerbread house your niece has made, edible glitter covering the icing and pieces of sweets missing from where she'd eaten them.

quinn stepped back, inspecting your creation with an exaggerated squint. "i think we nailed it," he said, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

you leaned back in your chair, your head falling to rest his shoulder, admiring the gingerbread arena too. "honestly, it might be a little off-center..." noticing how the roof sloped down on one side while the other held up, "but it sure can't be called basic."

quinn chuckled, sitting next to you. "i think that's what matters most."

[naumin]

How to format, print, and bind a zine

This is a consolidated version of previous posts on zine making, with more detail and screenshots. For a version of this post on gdocs, click here.

This is a step-by-step guide on how to use InDesign (or similar programs) to format and print a zine. This can be used for fanzines, sketchbooks, anything. It’s also only one way to do things - there are as many methods as there are zines under the sun. If you’re interested in other ways, searching for zinemaking on youtube would be a start.

If you are printing your zine, your total page count must be a multiple of 4.

Examples of multiples of 4 ✅

4, 16, 112

Not a multiple of 4 ❌

7, 99, 31

This is because our book will be made of folded A4 sheets (that’s regular printer paper). 1 folded A4 makes 2 A5 pages. Each A5 page has a front and back. Therefore each sheet of paper makes 4 pages.

How to format

Open InDesign. Go to Create New > Print. Choose A5 and tick Facing Pages. Enter your page number (this can be changed later). I’ve put 12. Hit Create.

Locate the Rectangle Frame Tool.

Draw a rectangle over your whole page, or just the part where you want your images to go.

Press Ctrl+D and insert the image you want on that page.

That’s it! Repeat on every page and you’ll have a book. Promise.

Further reading

I need a free alternative to InDesign.

InDesign is free for the savvy but I also recommend Scribus which is free and open source and very lightweight. The method is exactly the same but the Rectangle Frame Tool is called Image Frame and the Ctrl+D shortcut will now be Right click > Get Image instead.

I need help with designing my A5 pages.

For my first sketchbook zines, I arranged several images on an A5 canvas in a program like CSP or Procreate and exported them as a JPG into InDesign or Scribus. You can do this if your images aren’t already A5 size or you don’t want to waste time with InDesign’s formatting tools.

I need to get fancier with it, format text, or export my file as small as possible.

Here are the InDesign tutorials I used and liked:

How to Add Page Numbers

How to keep Page Numbers on Top

How to Create a Table of Contents

What is Overset Text and How to Fix It <- essential for formatting text onto multiple pages

How to Reduce InDesign File Sizes

Formatting best practices

Remember that in addition to your front and back cover you also have an inside front and inside back cover. You can leave these blank or create an endpaper with a pattern or include a short message or something. Look inside any books or zines on your shelf for inspiration. Or don’t listen to me and put your first drawing or poem there. Just be aware printer paper is thin so you might be able to see it through the cover.

Avoid putting anything important in the gutter (inside edge) or outside edges of the page. Also be careful of creating double page spreads that go across the centre of the book. Because of how we will print and fold the pages, each half of your spread might not meet up perfectly. 

How to print it out

Open your completed book’s PDF file in Acrobat Reader (free download: https://get.adobe.com/reader/)

Print with the following settings: Booklet, and Booklet subset: Both sides. 

We can see a preview of our print-out on the window on the right. The pages will look jumbled up, but form the book in order when folded.

Congratulations! Now you’ll have a stack of paper. Once it’s folded it should resemble your (unbound) final book. Use a bulldog clip or similar to keep your pages together neatly.

How to bind (2 methods)

If your book is less than 30 pages, I recommend using a long arm stapler, or a stapler that can open to lay flat. They are cheap.

There are also special book binding staplers or heavy duty staplers, if your book is thicker than 30 pages. Just position your book so the staples are in the middle of the spine (or as close as you can get) and send it. They will be a little wonky… that’s fine.

You can also separate your book into staple-able segments and then join them into 1 big book with tape or thread.

For my 112-page zine, I used thread to bind it.

These instructions are copied from the video ‘How to Print & Bind a Zine’ by LFONinja.

You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKYy6G7lIy8

You will need: Ruler, awl, thread, sewing needle

Make 5 holes in the crease of the pages like so. (½ page, then ½ of that, then ½ of that again)

If the paper is thick, be careful when making the holes. It helps to have a piece of blu tack, putty, or soft eraser underneath the spine of the book as you work for the point of the awl to push into.

I don’t recommend separating the papers into smaller stacks as your measurements will likely vary and the holes won’t align.

Use a needle and thread to go through the holes in the following pattern. At the end, tie a knot with the ends of the thread (1 and 9) in the centre of the book. You’re now done.

About page creep

Because we are using folded pages inserted into each other, they push each other out like so:

From: https://www.greenerprinter.com/ support/page-creep/

You can use a heavy duty or industrial paper cutter/trimmer to remove this edge. This is why we kept any important contents away from the edge of the page during formatting, because we don’t want this process to destroy our book’s contents.

About image edges

Because of how the printer works, the images in the book don’t extend all the way to the very edges of the paper and have a thin white border on all sides. It’s possible to crop these edges from your book with a heavy duty paper cutter. Be careful and start small (3mm or less). Depending on how much your pages move during the printing process, the size of the white edge can be different on different pages. Or you can just leave them in.

To read some of the zines featured in this post, check out naumin.itch.io.

[blueskittlesart]

hey so i’m really wanting to make a book/field guide of my art and i was wondering what your process is from creating an art piece all the way to getting a zine-style physical copy of your work? i was inspired by your zines so i thought i’d ask you about it. what websites do you use? how do you like,,, talk to a business to get stuff from the digital illustration into a (relatively small) book?

also this is a personal project to fuel my hyperfixation so i’m not looking to like,,, produce in bulk or anything lol.

thanks :)

for my larger-quantity zines I used mixam.com! they're a print company that specializes in booklets and catalogs, and everything on the production side can be dealt with online. I've had very good experiences with their customer service (I was put through to a real person on their chat function almost instantly when i needed an answer to a more in-depth question) and their prices are really good imo, especially for bigger quantities! They also have pretty high customization options--you can choose the weight and type of your paper, multiple types of binding, etc.

if you go that route, though, all of the graphic design and layout is on you. I'd recommend getting indesign or a similar program to help you lay out your booklet, so you can keep all your pages in one easily-accessible, editable file. (and remember that in order to be printed as a booklet your page count MUST be a multiple of 4!) mixam (or whatever printer you use) will usually give you a template that lets you know exactly how much bleed and gutter space you're working with, and you can then input those numbers into indesign. (If you do this, make sure you export your final pdf WITHOUT CROP MARKS, because your printer will add their own crop marks later on.) once you've arranged your booklet the way you like in indesign, export it as a pdf (in single pages, not spreads, and make sure your pages are in sequential order rather than optimized for booklet printing; it's on your printer to do that step for you!) and upload that pdf to your printer. Mixam gives you a few days to check over your work and either confirm it's correct or cancel the order, and then once you've confirmed it goes into production. more pages and more complex printing will be more expensive, but i've had nothing but good experiences buying from mixam and if i ever selfpub again i'm definitely going to be using them!

[albertonykus]

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Doraemon print volumes, Shogakukan has been re-releasing "special editions" of the first six volumes of the manga, which are printed on higher-quality paper and come with additional bonus items.

The bonus item associated with the re-release of vol. 3 is quite interesting to those of us in the English-speaking part of the fandom. It is a reprint of a booklet that includes seven of the stories from the manga translated into English. Originally published in 1981, this was the first official English translation of Doraemon ever released, though it doesn't appear to have been very widely distributed.

The following stories are included (I'm also providing the Japanese titles and English Kindle titles in parentheses):

"Cut-out Capers" ("紙工作が大あばれ"/"The Great Paper War")

"Jack-in-the-box" ("びっくり箱ステッキ"/"The Jack-in-the-Whatever")

"Underwater Stroll" ("海に入らず海底を散歩する方法"/"Strolling on the Seabed")

"The Weather Pane" ("ごきげんメーター"/"The Moodometer")

"The Mi*get Robots" (censorship mine, "小人ロボット"/"Elf-Bots")

"Russian Roulette" ("ラッキーガン"/"The Gamble Gun")

"The Instant Memory Bread" ("テストにアンキパン"/"Memory Bread")

There are also English introductions to the main characters on the inside of the front cover, and a guide to how Doraemon's body functions (translated from "The Doraemon Encyclopedia") inside the back. Interspersed between some of the manga chapters are a few interactive activity pages.

Besides the English comics, purchases of the vol. 3 re-release come with a second booklet (pictured above on the right), which contains some explanatory text in Japanese and compiles the original Japanese versions of the same stories for comparison.

Something I find striking is the amount of effort that was evidently put into this obscure English translation. Not only were all the panels mirrored to be read from left to right, but parts of the artwork were even redone by Fujiko F. Fujio himself. For example, written sound effects were all changed into English, and for a few early stories (such as "The Instant Memory Bread"), Shizuka was redrawn with an updated character design.

The characters all keep their original names and still use Japanese honorifics. Interestingly though, dorayaki is called "Dora-Burgers" on one of the activity pages. (It is otherwise not mentioned in any of the stories included.)

[gingerteafairy]

could you possibly just write an evan peters fic, not one of his characters, and with a lot of fluff! you’re my favorite writer, and i feel you do him best. thanks!! <33

oh lord, tysm. here's a gn reader fic! i read this message countless times, i cant believe im someone's favorite writer :")))

｡𖦹°‧ 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫

"Now lift the brush a bit higher," Evan instructed, watching your movements carefully as you worked the wide paintbrush across the once ice-white wall, now streaked with long strokes of canary yellow. "That's it, steady... You can go a little faster."

"This is harder than I thought," you admitted, trying to follow his guidance, your face twisted in concentration as you attempted to correct the awkward angle of the brush. You groaned when a drop of paint dripped onto the floor. "Ugh, Evan! I'm making a mess!"

"Relax, we can clean it up." He chuckled, grabbing a roll of toilet paper and dabbing at the paint splatter. But in your focus on the floor, you forgot the brush still loaded with paint up top—until a thick drop landed right on his brown hair.

"Oh my God!" You gasped, quickly setting the brush near the paint mixer and reaching for his hair, attempting to wipe off the paint. Instead, you only managed to smear it further. He let out a genuine, hearty laugh.

"Guess I was missing the blonde anyway," he teased, standing up with his newly decorated strands. "You're doing great, though. I’ll help you out."

You nodded, and he stepped behind you, guiding your arms with his hands over yours, showing you how to spread the paint evenly while absorbing any excess. Soon, you got the hang of it, and Evan stepped back, watching as you painted with more precision.

"Told you you'd get it. You're a pro now." He grinned, stepping away to grab another brush, this one dipped in white paint. "Do you even know what 'Dove White' looks like?"

"I've been thinking about that ever since we bought the supplies," you joked, dipping your brush into the yellow paint again and spreading it across the designated area. "The store guy said it matched better with canary than 'Rice Paper White.'"

"There are so many shades," he mused, peeling the color swatch booklet off the paint can. "Alabaster, Dharma, Milk, Ivory, Pure White, Off-White… 'Creamy White'?"

"Probably like the cream they put in pasta and coffee," you laughed, now more confident with each stroke, perfectly aligning the paint on the wall. "I think I’m done with this section."

"It looks perfect. I might have to hire you again for our next renovation." He smirked, giving you a playful wink.

"Challenge accepted," you grinned, wiping the sweat from your forehead—then suddenly freezing. "Wait… I just got paint on my face, didn’t I?"

"Yup." He chuckled, grabbing a tissue and stepping closer to your face. "But hey, SpongeBob has always been one of my favorite characters."

[autisticadvocacy]

IHPP is developing a library of health information designed by and for people with developmental disabilities. The topics are presented in different ways, like booklets and posters, and can be downloaded for free. Check it out!

[sprintingowl]

Ninjago TTRPG

First off, credit goes entirely to @junipart for letting me know it exists.

Second, I'm probably going to get stuff wrong. I don't have a strong background in lego and I knew very little about Ninjago before today, so I'm mostly going to be looking at this from a TTRPG design perspective.

That all out of the way, the officially published Ninjago TTRPG is a weird proprietary OSR game that has some really fun ideas and some wild missteps and I think it's worth talking about.

So, what is it? The Ninjago TTRPG is a tie-in game with a 26 page booklet built around a proprietary board and spinner. It's pretty sparely layed out and has a very zine-y fanmade vibe despite being official. It's also got pretty good fundamentals despite being a proprietary rpg, with a GM who interprets and makes rulings and guides the story.

Checks are made with the proprietary spinner, which the book describes as a kind of funky d5. It rolls 1, 2, 3 (which you add to your stat) or a heart (critical) or a skull (fumble.) Per Junipart, the spinner the book describes isn't actually the spinner they shipped (which was a d6 with 1--3 repeated,) but the spinner the book describes is neat. Stats matter heavily, but crits happen often, so upsets are always possible.

Stats are Body, Mind, and Toughness. Body is used for physical stuff, Mind for perception and social and knowledge, Toughness for when you get hit. Also there's a Body skill called Dodge that you can use instead of Toughness, which makes Toughness seem like a terrible stat. But at least it still affects HP?

Ninjago TTRPG has no HP system. Your first hit in combat, you ignore. Your second, you get stunned. Your third, you get KO'd for a few rounds. Ninjago is very careful to keep all of its violence nonlethal, and this results in a combat flow where people kinda keep hitting the mat and getting back up. Adding to this, there's a unique mechanic (under the unfortunate heading of "Loot Boxes,") where three times per adventure a PC can pick themselves back up for free.

The nonlethality of Ninjago TTRPG is interesting as a design limitation (and leads to some of the writing of all time: "Please note that a ninja never strikes to kill,") and it clashes with the more marketable idea of life or death combat ("life or" combat doesn't really sing as loudly.) The game's prewritten adventures bridge this gap by treating everything as a puzzle---after all, if everyone gets back up after a few rounds, you kind of need to problem-solve a way to keep them from continuing the fight.

Unfortunately, the adventures are also *very* overwritten. There's four of them, and they all spend a lot of words mapping out everything that might happen in every room. This isn't a game that trusts the GM to GM, and instead of trying to teach them it hands them a narrative flowchart.

It also doesn't want the players to create OCs---you can play as the characters from the show, who have premade statlines, but you can't make your own PC unless you reverse engineer the system yourself.

It feels reasonable to assume that a lot of this is the result of conflicting priorities between the brand and the development team. The game gives genuinely good advice to the GM about going where the story is and letting the players choose their own path, and then it immediately backtracks and specifies that that path should be on the proprietary gameboard. The game has a blank character sheet at the end instead of prefilled sheets for the show's characters, but there's no character creation rules. The game has only players make rolls (rad!) but it also doesn't seem to have a plan for what happens if a player tries to roll against a player.

Overall, I think the Ninjago TTRPG is an interesting read. And I think it's *very* ripe for some mechanical tinkering. If you're a Ninjago fan, it's runnable as-is. And if you've played a session or two of D&D, I guarantee you could nudge the game into having proper character creation, adventures that don't need the gameboard, and rolls that don't need the spinner (tbh just use a d6 and reroll 6s.)

It doesn't seem to be properly for sale anywhere, but I did find some links via the site below.

Also, if there's a Ninjago tabletop community, or there's a bunch of people who've been tinkering with this system, or if you're a Ninjago fan who didn't know about the tabletop, or anything else, let me know! I'm always curious about who my posts reach.

[talenlee]

Game Pile: All My Exes Are In Mech Suits

Pride Month always presents the game pile problems. The point of a theme, after all, is to drive me away from just talking about the things I’d normally have looked at anyway. It’s meant to push me into spaces where I’m not already looking, and in Pride Month, especially when I try to talk about TTRPGs, I’m trying to browse itch and check out essentially, people I’d never have heard of who are ideally, queer creatives so I can centre queer art in Pride Month. I used a browser to find this game, trusting the browser to tell me it was a game made by a queer author, read it, and thought it was pretty good.

Anyway it turns out this game was made by one of the most important queer academics of the 2010s. But what, am I not going to talk about the game now? Because this queer creator isn’t adequately deserving of having her work discussed?

Anyway, hell with it. Let’s talk about a game with really interesting boundaries and limits, and I don’t mean that in the way we normally mean those very hot and sexy terms. Except in this case it might be like that because this is an anime about an awkward breakup and shooting at each other in powerful mecha.

Content Warning: There’s nothing particularly spicy or contentious in All My Exes Are In Mech Suits, but the book does have a discussion of consent and boundaries and safety. Normal stuff.

All My Exes Are In Mech Suits is a three-player single-session contained-experience TTRPG played with a small number of player cards and a tarot deck. In this game, you’re either the pilot (ostensibly, kinda the main character), the AI of the mech (who wants the mission fulfilled) or the Ex (who is obviously the hottest one, fighting the first). It was made by Anna Anthropy, the creator of Dys4ia and Mighty Jill Off and, you know what, she’s made a lot of things. Like, academically speaking she’s really important – she’s responsible for the essay ‘To The Right, Hold On Tight,’ which is shockingly important for an essay I can’t get on the first page of a Google Scholar search.

The game has an instigating event, where the pilot is on a mission; it’s then complicated by the appearance of the ex. What’s presented then is the conflicting narrative between the AI (that wants to fulfil the mission), the Ex (that wants to test the pilot), and the Pilot (who just wants everyone to have a fun time). This is a story moment that you’ll see a lot in many series that feature giant mecha, though it’s so often not about a pilot and their ex, as much as it’s about two guys who talk to each other like a divorced couple.

When there’s conflict between the characters, you negotiate it out between one another for what makes the best story, and where that negotiation cannot work, you use a pull from a tarot deck to see what the game should be doing. Unlike many games like this, it lacks for a prompt booklet or a set of randomised potential incidents, and is instead very much focused on the players guiding the characters to pursue the story to its end point.

Something that All My Exes Are In Mech Suits does that you don’t see too often in TTRPG spaces is a combination of fixed sizes and fixed roles. This is partly due to the overwhelming presence of games like Dungeons & Dragons, where games are designed to be open, highly creative and personally contributive. In those games, you’re assuming if you have n players, you’re going to get something like n-1 characters, and therefore a large part of the game needs to be those players having tools to make a character in which they can invest. Fixed player counts and fixed roles is by no means an obscure or unheard of thing in game design, but thanks to the dominant form of TTRPGs, it’s unfamiliar here. It honestly reminds me much more of an improv game, a theatre premise, rather than the conventional form of a TTRPG that I’m used to.

This is why I call it a contained-experience game. It’s got a very specific thing it’s trying to present, and the best way it can do that is by limiting all the options players have for what they can do. This is not a game you can patch to a thousand experiences. It’s not a game that pivots even really well from genre to genre. Sure, the pilots could be furries and you get, say, SWAT Kats instead of Gundam, but the game is only going to follow that thread as much as SWAT Kats and Gundam are doing the same things.

This is cool, mind you! Many great games are built around asymmetry, like well, Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a game that’s typically seen in the way of a storyteller with a potential goal or at least, a theme that they’re aiming for, and that person plays the game one way and other players play the game another way. That’s not how things are in All My Exes Are In Mech Suits. The storyteller of this game, the person who sets the vibe and the goal of the story is the game rules itself. In a way, that storyteller is the person who created the rules and gave them to you.

In a very real way, All My Exes Are In Mech Suits is having Anna Anthropy come and run a game for you, even if she doesn’t respond to your questions too specifically.

I do think that there’s a strong body of assumed knowledge for this game. It’s understandable; after all, you’re buying niche games on itch.io, one of the virtues of it is that it can let genre and style do a lot of bootstrapping for you. I’ve reflected how in the past if your game is built on vibes you can run into a problem where players don’t intuitively grasp those vibes. This is especially true in the case of more specific genres.

What All My Exes Are In Mech Suits uses to frame its story isn’t just anime, it isn’t just a genre of anime, it isn’t just a subtype of that genre of anime, it’s about a specific episode form within that subtype of genre of anime. Sure it’s a popular niche, but it’s nobody’s first impression of the genre! It’s also there in the resolution mechanic—players are to pull tarot cards, and interpret them as appropriate.

Where a game is just an interface and a resolution system, like this one, anything you present to a player you’re presenting with the assumption that they know what they’re doing, and that – I think! – suggests that this game is easier and better if you have a familiarity with what tarot is and how to read it. I’m not saying that it doesn’t work if you just treat tarot cards as like, Dixit cards and interpret them entirely literally situation to situation – but then I imagine what happens if you have one player is an expert in the system and the others aren’t? That’s a mismatch (that yes, can be overcome with communication). It still feels like the difference between being given a sleek system with no unnecessary parts, and being given a subtly incomplete system where your own assumed base knowledge fills in the empty spaces.

I don’t know if I’d ever play this game twice. Okay, maybe twice, I’d play it once as a TTRPG and then if I liked that I’d want to try out the LARP version in swivel chairs. It’s not a game whose systems I need, whose limitation and specific boundaries matter that much to me. It’s the game version of a bottle episode, where the idea of a single specific frame and conclusion mean that the game can be made so tight and small there’s nothing else to it. It’s not a game where you get a system for defining or building your mecha. It’s not a game where you get to design and make your pilot’s abilities, again, within a system. It’s not that kind of game.

But it is a really cool design and it’s worth checking out if you’re already a fan of the franchise and want to make something. I think this is a great example of podcast fodder; something for people to use to make and tell a story about the kinds of ways they see the story in this. I can imagine a really fun limited-run art series, where different trios of players play the characters in a chain of slight changes, to see how many different ways they can find to tell this story.

Oh and if you’re not aware, the title is a reference to a country song by George Strait. It’s called All My Exes Live In Texas, which is a western swing classic from 1987, by George Strait. It’s about a dude who’s homesick for Texas, but who managed to successfully have such disastrous breakups that the Texas police are after him.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[satoshi-mochida]

Sorry We’re Closed physical edition announced for PS5, Switch - Gematsu

Serenity Forge will release a physical edition of survival horror game Sorry We’re Closed for PlayStation 5 and Switch in 2025, the company announced.

Sorry We’re Closed first launched for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG on November 14, 2024. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch versions were released digitally today for $24.99. A free update is also available for the PC version, adding New Game+, Time Attack, and difficulty modes.

Pre-orders for the premium physical edition are available now via Serenity Forge Store for $44.99. It includes:

Physical copy of the game (PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch)

Holographic sticker sheet (featuring Mimi the rat!)

Soundtrack download card of the original soundtrack

Design booklet (including character profiles, art and insight of the game)

Here is an overview of the game, via Serenity Forge:

About

Sorry We’re Closed is an eccentric story-driven survival horror game about angels and demons that mixes fixed-camera exploration and arcade-style shooting. Michelle must use her Third Eye to see between worlds and uncover secrets. Follow the final days of Michelle as she battles to break the curse placed on her by a powerful archdemon looking for love. Help (or hinder!) the lives of curious residents in Michelle’s bustling London borough as she pursues freedom from her own untimely demise. Sorry We’re Closed is a fusion of nostalgic survival horror with a new perspective on combat, combining atmospheric environments with fixed-camera angles and the thrill of arcade-style first-person shooting. Collect items and manage resources to help Michelle survive. Optional tank controls are available for those who enjoy the classic survival horror experience. Michelle’s time is split between the perilous demon world and mingling with the locals on her residential street. Everyone’s battling their own inner demons and through Michelle you can help guide them. Multiple endings are available through RPG-style dialogue interactions with the extravagant cast.

Key Features

-A World of Angels and Demons – Follow the final days of Michelle as she battles to break the curse placed on her by a powerful demon looking for love. Help (or hinder!) the lives of curious residents in Michelle’s bustling London borough as you pursue freedom from your own untimely demise.

-Choices Matter – Michelle’s time is split between the perilous demon world and mingling with the locals on her residential street. Everyone is battling their own inner demons and through Michelle you can help guide them. Multiple endings are available through RPG-style dialogue interactions with the extravagant cast.

-Survival Horror With a Twist – Sorry We’re Closed is a fusion of nostalgic survival horror with a new perspective on combat, combining atmospheric environments with fixed-camera angles and the thrill of arcade-style first person shooting. Collect items and manage resources to help Michelle survive. Optional tank controls are available for those who enjoy the classic survival horror experience.

-Open Your Third Eye – Peer between worlds and learn about the hidden denizens in Michelle’s neighborhood. Open your Third Eye to stun enemies and reveal their weak points. Take enemies down with perfect combos to charge up for the ultimate shot. New Features – Available for both PC and consoles today.

The demon world is now more accessible than ever with rebalanced combat areas, improved controller sensitivity, aim assist options and new difficulty modes.

Restart the adventure in New Game+ to keep your upgrades and collectables as you explore alternate story paths. Race against the clock to improve your combat level scores in Time Attack mode.

Motion-controlled aiming, including gyroscope support on Nintendo Switch and motion sensor aiming on PlayStation, for even greater precision.

Watch a new trailer below.

Consoles Launch Trailer

[getfuckedblr]

here’s my guide to making typesets! I use Word to make my typesets, Canva for designs, and Adobe to insert the majority of my designs.

this is a ton of info and I tried to make it as readable as possible, but plz let me know if u need any clarification!

Word: always use the app, the online program doesn't have all of the options needed

paper size: US Letter Borderless

then i flip it landscape, do custom borders, and select book fold. I do 1 inch on top and bottom, .75 in inside, and .5 in outside. i leave the gutter option alone and leave it set to 0. You can choose how large you want your signatures to be (sheets in booklet option on the margins page): I normally do 40 page signatures, but if it's a smaller text you'll want to go smaller for stability. after that, you should have a half page to start your typeset!

Inserting your fic:

the next thing you’ll do is insert your fic; on ao3 click entire story, CTRL A to select all, CTRL C to copy it all. Paste it into your document. word automatically detects the headings, and you should be able to see all your chapters on the left side bar (if you can’t see it, click the page numbers on the bottom left to open the tab).

Formatting:

you can do the next few steps in any order, but we’re going to fix the formatting now. you’ll want to CTRL A everything, pick a font and a font size. I normally use georgia and size 10, going smaller or larger depending on the file size.

To have an indent on every line: CTRL A your work to select all, right click the “normal” style, on the home tab. go to the bottom left, open the drop-down menu, and select “paragraph”. next to special, hit first line. i like to do .3, you can do whatever you want. i then like to make sure the space after is set to 0, the line spacing to single, and then hit save. it should automatically adjust your lines to start at whatever indent you picked.

To fix the spacing: go into the layout tab, and go to spacing. There'll be a before and after option: write in 0, then click enter for both of them. Word is a little bit bitchy so you have to force it do things sometimes. after this you can choose if you want single spacing, or 1.5, or whatever you want.

*sometimes, the way the fic was formatted when posted to ao3 means that even after setting the line spacing to zero, there will still be a space in between each line. this is where you have to troubleshoot. you can either go line by line to delete the excess space (yes, for real. and yes, it's just as awful as it sounds) or, sometimes, not every-time but sometimes, you can highlight the chapter text, go into the home tab on top, click the A with the purple eraser to erase all formatting, and then do all the beginning steps again, and it will get rid of the extra space.*

Now that your format is mostly fixed, delete the archive of our own beta, and anything else you don't want. I normally delete everything up to the title of the work, and leave that for creating my copyright page. Remember to do the same for the end of the work!

Page Breaks and Section Breaks:

the next part is the most crucial. it's how we format both the chapters, but also how we format the headings and footer. this was the part that took me the longest to figure out: it's the page breaks and section breaks. page breaks mark the place where one page ends, and another begins. section breaks will create a new section in your document, so you can break the beginning few pages from the rest of your textblock. This will allow you to insert page numbers that start on page one, instead of at the first page of the document.

I like to go the end of the description, and then click on the first chapter. then I'll add a section break. you can find this in the layout tab, click breaks, and then click section break. so now our section 2 starts with chapter one. After this, add a blank page after the description and before your new section, and then click on the first chapter. (adding a blank page allows for smoother formatting later with headers and footers)

I then go to each chapter, delete the authors notes at the start and end of each chapter, and add a page break at the start of each chapter. i like to use the heading tab on the left to click each chapter, so I know I'm actually starting the new page right where I need to, and other formatting won't delete the page break.

when I create a compilation fic, where I have muitlple fics in one typeset, I use section breaks at the starts of each new fic. this will allow the page numbers to continue, but I can then edit each sectio to change the fic title and the authors name. if you're really fancy, you can do this for each chapter title as well, you would just hve to use a section break for each chapter instead of page break. *Remember to click link to previous to turn it off, so you are only editing that section, and not all the other sections. this can be found in the heading and footer tab on the top, which will automatically open when you click on the heading or footer.*

Adding page numbers, authors name, text name:

To add a page number, I click the footer, which automatically opens the header/footer tab on top. Then, I click page numbers, add page numbers. I turn on different odd and even pages, which is also found in the header/footer tab. you'll have to insert page numbers on both an even and odd age to get them to show up once you click that option. Page one should be an odd page, page two should be an even page. I like to put the page numbers on the outside of the page. Then you'll click format page numbers, click "start at" instead of "continue from previous section", and write in 1. now your typeset starts at 1 on chapter one instead of the start of your document! you'll need to go back and delete the numbers that showed up on the first section, but remember to deselect link to previous before you do that! or you'll end up deleting your page numbers again.

to add text on page numbers:

click into the header/footer again. double click directly on the page number, then start typing. You ca highlight the whole thing to change the font, font seize, etc. I normally do the same size as my text, and I'll either do georgia font or garamond font. I google "copy paste line for text" to get that line dividing the page number from whatever text I have next to it.

to add graphics on an entire work:

you can go into the header or footer, go to the insert tab, and insert a picture. Doing it in the header or footer will ensure it's on every single page that shares that header or footer. I have done this in the past, and find it's cute, but it's also tricky because it needs to be small enough to fit inside the header or footer, and won't really be able to interact with the text because it's different on each page, while the graphic will stay in the same position regardless.

Blank Pages:

you want blank pages at the start and end of your textblock: this is what you'll be glueing your end papers to. even more, you'll want to ensure your total page number is both divisible by 4 (each page of paper will have four pages of your text on it, two to each side) and fits into your signature count. If you're working with a 40 page signature, and you have 420 pages, that's fine. You'll end up having the last signature only be 5 regular pages instead of 10, which is plenty enough to sew. you really just want to try and avoid only having one of two pages in that last signature, as that won't be very strong in holding up your end page, or be very stable in sewing on to your book block.

to make sure they're blank, with no page numbers, you'll want to insert a section break on the last page of text. Deselect link to previous, delete the page numbers and you should be all good!

Printing/Saving:

I'm on a mac. I don't know how you would do this on anything but a mac. let that be a warning lmao. but I will CTRL A everything, ensure it's US Letter Borderless, and then hit print. if you don't tell the document it's the right size, it'll be funky when you go to print because of the margins. to insert images, i click save as pdf. it'll save it in the correct order to print for your signatures, and then I upload it into adobe to edit further. that'll have to be a different post bc this is entirely too long already.

If you want to print directly from here, ensure it's printing the right size, flip on short edge, double sided. and you're all done!

[vertexline]

Probably old news but...

When were yall gonna tell me Johnny doesn't just have one tarot card tattooed but two??? I updated my reference board for him yesterday and got the isolated tattoo designs from the cosplay guide and JUST actually looked at the 'injustice for all' one. Theres multiple things that stood out, but I can't quiet place them other than the THREE INVERTED SWORDS. That can't be a coincidence, so I looked up the meaning of the three of sword (regular and inverted) in the reference booklets of my two decks and yeah, definitely not a coincidence. Now I just want to know what the 4 stars, the heart and the candle mean

[sukuna-pyonie]

13. Cherished Memories (Part 1) : JJK Sukuna x OC

Cover + Table of Contents || <<Previous Chapter || Chapter 13

Disclaimer: All Jujutsu Kaisen characters, settings, and storylines belong to its author Gege Akutami. Pyonie, Takeru Ren and extra characters featured in this story are mine. Any resemblance to real people, other fictional characters, or events is purely coincidental. ***

Title: Cursed To Love You  (Sukuna x OC fanfiction) Author: Peonnywise Summary: A cursed pendant transports Pyonie back in time to the Heian period. What happens when the King of Curses falls in love with a pure-hearted lady from the modern day era? A tale of lüst turned to love that transcended time and space.  ***

Chapter 13. Cherished Memories (Part 1)

The next morning, Pyonie woke up to the sound of Sukuna's voice, low and gentle. "Good morning, Pyonie, let's eat breakfast first then we can start."

After breakfast, Sukuna led Pyonie to his study. He said softly, his hand brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. "Are you ready to learn the art of poetry?"

"Yes," she said with enthusiasm. "I'm ready."

Sukuna smiled, "Excellent," he said. "Let's begin."

He sat down beside her. Pyonie watched as he flipped through the pages of poetry books, his fingers moving deftly over the delicate paper. "Poetry," he said, his voice taking on a lecturing tone, "is the expression of emotion through language. It is a way to capture the essence of a feeling, to make it tangible and real."

Sukuna handed her a blank booklet, its pages smooth and waiting. "This," he said, his voice filled with pride, "is for you. A place to write your own poems, your own thoughts and feelings."

Pyonie took the booklet, her fingers trembling with excitement. She ran her hand over the cover, marveling at the smoothness of the fabric, the intricacy of the design embossed upon it. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice filled with awe.

Sukuna nodded, his eyes softening. "Now," he said, his voice brisk. "Let's begin with the basics. Tell me, Pyonie, what is your favorite season?"

Pyonie paused, considering the question. "Spring," she said finally, her voice clear and bright. "I love the way the world comes alive again, the way the flowers bloom and the birds sing."

Sukuna's eyes sparkled with approval. "Excellent," he said. "Now, let's try to capture that feeling in a poem. What words come to mind when you think of spring?"

Pyonie closed her eyes, letting the images flow through her mind. "Blossoms," she said softly. "Green grass, blue skies, birdsong..."

Sukuna nodded, encouraging her to continue. "Good," he said. "Now, let's try to put those images into a poem. How about this? 'Spring blossoms dance on the breeze, green grass stretches to the sky.'"

Pyonie's eyes flew open, her heart swelling with excitement. "That's beautiful!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder.

Sukuna laughed, the sound rich and warm. "It's just the beginning," he said, his voice teasing. "With practice and guidance, you will become a master poet."

As the day wore on, Sukuna patiently guided Pyonie through the intricacies of poetry, teaching her about meter and rhyme, imagery and symbolism. By the time the sun began to set, Pyonie's booklet was filled with her own poems, her own expressions of the beauty and wonder she saw in the world around her.

As she lay down to sleep that night, her booklet clutched to her chest, Pyonie felt a sense of accomplishment wash over her. She had learned so much today, had discovered a new passion, a new way to express herself. And it was all thanks to Sukuna.

Pyonie's heart swelled with emotion as she thought of him, of the kindness and patience he had shown her today. He had been so gentle, so encouraging, and so eager to share his knowledge with her.

And yet, even as her heart filled with gratitude and affection, Pyonie couldn't shake the nagging sense of unease that always seemed to lurk in the back of her mind. She was still a prisoner here, still far from home and everything she had ever known. No matter how kind Sukuna might be, no matter how much she enjoyed his company, she could never forget that.

As if sensing her thoughts, Sukuna stirred beside her, his arm tightening around her waist. "What are you thinking about?" he murmured, his voice low and sleepy.

Pyonie hesitated, biting her lip. Should she tell him the truth, confess the conflicting emotions that warred within her? Or should she simply smile and say nothing, pretending that all was well?

In the end, she chose the latter. "Nothing," she whispered, snuggling closer to him. "Just thinking about today, about how much I enjoyed learning from you."

Sukuna hummed, his breath warm against her hair. "I enjoyed it too," he murmured, his voice soft and tender. "Seeing you discover a new passion, a new part of yourself... it was a joy to behold."

Even if she couldn't fully trust him, even if she couldn't forget the circumstances that had brought her here, she couldn't deny the genuine affection she felt for him in this moment. ***

On a crisp, sunny morning, Sukuna suggested they venture into the forest surrounding the temple. "I need to practice my archery skills," he explained with a smile. "Care to join me and watch?"

Pyonie's eyes lit up at the prospect of a change in scenery. "I'd love to!" she replied eagerly.

Sukuna led them to a small clearing, where he had set up a target. He nocked an arrow, his movements fluid and precise. With a twang of the bowstring, the arrow flew through the air, hitting the bull's eye with a satisfying thud.

Pyonie clapped her hands in delight, her eyes wide with admiration. "That was incredible!" she exclaimed.

Sukuna grinned, his eyes sparkling with pride.

As he continued to shoot, Pyonie found herself growing restless. She wanted to try, to feel the weight of the bow in her hands, to experience the thrill of the arrow flying true.

"Sukuna," she said hesitantly. "Can I try?"

He turned to her, surprise flickering across his face. "Are you sure?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern. "It can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

Pyonie nodded, her determination unwavering. "I want to learn," she said firmly. "Please, teach me."

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," he said, handing her a smaller bow. "But listen carefully. This is not a toy. Always treat it with respect and caution."

Pyonie took the bow, marveling at its weight and balance. She watched as Sukuna demonstrated the proper stance, the way to hold the bow, the way to draw back the string.

Under his patient guidance, Pyonie began to learn. She stumbled and fumbled at first, the bow clumsy in her inexperienced hands. But with each attempt, she grew more confident, her movements becoming steadier. Her arrows flew shakily at first, landing far from the mark, but soon she managed to hit the target—though never quite the center. Each near miss brought a small, triumphant smile to her face, and even Sukuna’s usual smirk softened ever so slightly.

Hours passed in a blur of concentration and determination. By the time the sun began to dip towards the horizon, Pyonie was exhausted but exhilarated. She had learned so much, had pushed herself further than she ever thought possible.

But as she lowered the bow, she realized that her hands were shaking, her fingers throbbing with pain. She looked down to see angry red marks on her palms, the skin scraped and bruised from the rough bark of the bow.

Sukuna noticed her discomfort immediately. "Pyonie," he said, his voice filled with concern. "Your hands."

He took her hands in his, his touch gentle and soothing. Pyonie gasped as a warm, tingling sensation spread through her fingers, the pain and bruising fading away as if it had never been.

Pyonie looked up at Sukuna, her eyes wide with wonder. "How did you do that?" she asked, her voice filled with awe.

Sukuna chuckled softly, his tone dismissive. “It’s just a simple healing technique,” he said, though the faint pride in his smirk betrayed his words.

But to Pyonie, it was anything but ordinary. The way his touch had erased the pain, how the bruises had disappeared as though they’d never been there—it felt like magic. Like something out of a fairy tale brought to life.

As they made their way back to home, Pyonie couldn't stop thinking about what she had learned today. Not just about archery, but about herself. She had discovered a new strength within herself. And it was all again thanks to Sukuna.

As they walked, Sukuna reached out, his hand finding hers. His fingers intertwined with hers, his palm warm and solid against her own. Pyonie's heart skipped a beat, her cheeks flushing with a sudden heat.

She glanced up at him, her eyes meeting his. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Not her captivity, not her longing for home. All that mattered was the two of them, the connection between them, the bond that grew stronger with each passing day. ***

The soft light of dawn filtered through the trees as Sukuna revealed his plan to take her to a trip to the nearby waterfalls. "It will be a nice change of scenery," he said with a smile. "And the water will be refreshing after our hike."

Pyonie's eyes lit up at the prospect of an adventure. "Oh I can't wait, I better prepare now!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement.

They set off under the bright midday sun, the warm air buzzing with the sounds of nature as they walked through the forest. Uraume had packed them a lovely picnic lunch, which they carried in a woven basket.

As they neared the waterfalls, the sound of rushing water grew louder, until finally they stepped into a small clearing and were greeted by the sight of a magnificent cascade of water tumbling down a rocky cliff face into a crystal-clear pool below.

Pyonie gasped in wonder, her eyes wide with delight. "It's beautiful!" she breathed, her voice filled with awe.

Sukuna grinned, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Shall we bathe?" he asked, already beginning to strip off his outer robes.

Her cheeks flushed a warm pink as she turned her head away. But she nodded eagerly, quickly removing her own clothing and wrapping herself with a thin towel.

Together, they waded into the pool, the cool water a shock to their systems after the heat of the hike. Pyonie laughed as Sukuna scooped up a handful of water and poured it over her head, the cool droplets cascading down like a sparkling shower in the sun. His smirk deepened at her startled gasp, and she retaliated by splashing him, her laughter ringing through the air. They spent hours in the water, swimming and playing like children. Pyonie had never felt so carefree, so utterly content. In this moment, all her worries and fears seemed to melt away, replaced by a simple, pure joy.

The sun began to lower, its golden rays casting a soft glow over the water as they reluctantly pulled themselves away and started to towel off. Sukuna spread out the blanket Uraume had provided, and they settled down to eat their picnic feast.

The food was delicious - fresh fruits, savory rice balls, grilled fish seasoned with citrus and herbs. They ate ravenously, their appetites sharpened by the exercise and fresh air.

As they ate, Pyonie couldn't help but think of Uraume. "I wish he could have joined us," she said wistfully, her voice tinged with sadness.

Sukuna nodded, his expression thoughtful. "I know," he said softly. "But Uraume has his reasons for keeping to himself."

As the sun sank below the horizon, they packed up their belongings and began the trek back home. Pyonie's heart was full of contentment, her mind buzzing with happy memories of the day's adventures as she clung to his arm, a sense of safety and warmth enveloping her with every step."

To be continued...

<<Previous Chapter || Next Chapter>> Cover + Table of Contents

[thelostbaystudio]

The Lost Bay comes to life!!!

Hey folks, in the next few weeks I'll be launching the crowdfunding campaign for The Lost Bay, a dark fantasy tabletop RPG set in 199X.

I've been working on it for years, and thanks to the feedback and support of the numerous folks who played the early access version, the game is now ripe to go to print.

But what is it exactly?

The Lost Bay is a dark fantasy tabletop RPG. It’s set in alternate 199X. The Lost Bay is also the name of the game setting, a small coastal suburb, both familiar and uncanny, where the mundane and the magical mix inextricably. Living Saints, rituals, blood curses are part of the characters’ daily life alongside console games, VHS tapes, and phone booths.

The Lost Bay is a set of three booklets. It contains everything you need to play: character creation, core rules, advanced tips and toolkits, detailed setting and bestiary.

The cool thing is that you get to play powerful characters, roaming in a weird and at times dark world.

The system in a nutshell

Three attributes, and a d6 dice pool for all your Action Rolls or Saves.

One resource to fuel your Powers.

Powers always succeed but can get you a Scar.

Scars can hurt you, make you more powerful, or change you. They are specific to each Vibe.

If you get all the Scars and you manage to survive them, you become a Living Saint, an immortal roaming the Bay. YOU become the Lore of the Bay.

What’s in the books?

User Guide: character creation and core rules, ten playable classes, three post-death special classes, custom character growth, Scar tables.

GM Guide: tips and toolkits, advanced rules, adventure building frameworks, examples and designer commentary.

Travel guide: extensive ready to use setting, exploration procedures, pre-gen point-crawls, six full-fledged districts featuring: locations, NPCs, Bosses, complications, rumors, treasures, adventure seeds.

If this sounds cool to you stay tuned for more updates about the game, or follow the Kickstarter page to be notified on launch

If you have any questions about the game feel free to fire them, I'd be happy to answer. And if you want to try it come and say hi on The Lost Bay server, we play the game regularly, and I even do 60minutes intro to it for folks who just want to give it a quick try https://discord.com/invite/37XBQVr7eP

Cheers

Iko