ratwavekayla

[ratwavekayla]

extremely funny to me that harley quinns real name is apparently harleen quinzel, a name that sounds less real that harley quinn. they should do that with more comic characters. batman real name batthew manning. daredevil real name darius devilson. doctor strange real name. well okay that one doesnt count.

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[ratwavekayla]

Hey, my friend is fundraising for top surgery. If you donate and send me proof I'll give you a free PDF of any rat wave game you want.

If you send me proof of a donation over 30 quid and include your address I'm down to send you a free book or zine, anywhere in the world.

[ratwavekayla]

The reactions to The Batman part 2 announcements are always so funny on twt

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did u guys hear abt that intern fired from that law firm bc she bit like 10 people. im kinda obsessed with her god i wish there was footage

[ratwavekayla]

Hey there's a game coming to Kickstarter soon that I think looks really cool, and it's been struggling for attention a little bit.

Full Send is a doomed mountaineering game by Laurie O'Connel (the creator of trans necromancer game Lichcraft and Hieronymus amongst other things). You build a summit from the Major Arcana and then face individual obstacles in a trick taking game using the Minor Arcana. The climbers are working together to survive the mountain, but competing for the glory. They're trying to juggle their lives and friends with the call of the summit air.

I'm not unbiased here. I'm doing some photo collage tarot cards for the game. But I've read the full preview and I really think this game is worth your time. If you enjoyed the stuff I did with trick taking on Transgender Deathmatch Legend or have enjoyed other cars based games this deserves your attention.

There are also some unbiased testimonials on the page as well so you don't have to just listen to me. But also, c'mon, listen to me.

[ratwavekayla]

Hey, my friend is fundraising for top surgery. If you donate and send me proof I'll give you a free PDF of any rat wave game you want.

If you send me proof of a donation over 30 quid and include your address I'm down to send you a free book or zine, anywhere in the world.

[ratwavekayla]

I'm really unprecious about titles until a game is finished. So the game that started as an Infinite Dancefloor, got renamed You Wanna Go, and now has been renamed again to Caught in the Remix. Working titles baby!

There's a playable preview up on my Patreon now for Caught in the Remix (available at all tiers or as a one off purchase).

It's a tarot-based game set in a extradimensional nightclub that hates to see you leave. You have to find your fool of a friend and get out of the club before the music runs out, or the DJ shuffles obstacles you've already passed back into play. Can you manage your stress well enough to still be friends after you get through this?

The complete version of Caught in the Remix will feature in I'm with the Damned & Other Games, coming to Kickstarter later this year.

[ratwavekayla]

Hey, my friend is fundraising for top surgery. If you donate and send me proof I'll give you a free PDF of any rat wave game you want.

If you send me proof of a donation over 30 quid and include your address I'm down to send you a free book or zine, anywhere in the world.

[ratwavekayla]

i understand why people like the queue and i do respect you guys for using it but that is just not how i roll. if i think these 37 posts are funny you’re seeing them right fucking now

[ratwavekayla]

I have a new blog post about another title in I'm with the Damned & Other Games: You Wanna Go?

It talks about how this went from an update of the Infinite Dancefloor into something new and different. And how many of that evolution came from the way a restraint can reverberate through a text.

"So this mechanic, which we’ll call Stress rather than Chill, immediately brings up the possibility of someone having a pile of cards that they’d much rather be using to resolve actions. How do those cards re-enter play? I decided by default the only way out was through and busting out would lead you to taking cards into hand and being able to play them from there. It’s a trade off as the argument that results from this will cost you time in this run. Now this mechanic has gone from something that only impacted fiction in the Infinite Dancefloor to something essential for succeeding. To give greater options for card control I decided each character should have an ability, like how Out of the Fold worked, and those abilities could all be themed around ways of managing stress, healthily or otherwise. So the need to remove dice has led to basically reorientating this game and the tactical focus around this new mechanic."

If this sounds cool please check out the pre-launch page for the whole compilation

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Frankenstein's Artwork

I’ve worked with artists three times so far in my writing career and I’ve felt very fortunate each time. This was easier in an earlier point in my career, because all of the money I made from games could go back into making stuff, because I didn’t need it to live. Things changed, and now more money I make from games goes to living a life, and so in some ways I’m back to relying on what I can do myself. So for a lot of games I put together photo collage.

I’ll find photos on stock photography websites or take specific photos myself, then cut out different elements in an editing software, compose something pieces. Often I’m using a main photo as a base and turning it something different with the elements. A runner becomes a cyborg, someone posing moodily becomes a lizardfolk. Then I’ll mess about with colour adjustments to finish things off. I used to do this in the Pixlr web app, and then I swapped to making it in Affinity around the time I made PSYCHODUNGEON (after the Diana Jones Award ED prize included the Affinity 2 suite).

The same rudimentary photo editing skills I’ve used in other games to kitbash pieces of public domain art together (see Wild Duelist or Godslingers), or sometimes to just cut out a single part of a photo and mess around with a gradient to create something simple. Full collage feels a little different to me, more like sampling than a remix, to use a musical analogy, even thoughts it’s the same tools being used.

I ended up first doing photo collage stuff at the start of the pandemic, as fan art for the game Blaseball, because I was desperately needing distraction. The first game I did digital collage for a game was To Embrace a Swamp Creature. In that book it’s specifically for playbook art (the rest of the book uses stock art by Thomas Novosel throughout and the Forces at Play uses public domain art by Arthur Rackham). The mix is to the strength of the book, but limiting my use of photo collage there is also partly motivated by insecurity; a fear that it shouldn’t be sharing space with “real art”. With To Embrace a Swamp Creature the fact that the game felt “scrappy” in mood felt like it offered some allowance there.

My skills have gradually gotten better, from applying them more often, and that’s enabled me to let go of some of that insecurity. Letting go of that enabled me to plan things ahead of time. PSYCHODUNGEON was the first game where I knew in advance I’d use photo-collage in the game. I developed the playbook art while developing the playbooks themselves. It was the first time I was conciously planning to use it for the entirety of a book’s interior art, though I chose to hire an artist for the cover which was a great decision. PSYCHODUNGEON as a project was one I wanted to keep costs down on, so outside of hiring an editor and a cover artist I was going to do everything myself. That was a motivating factor for having photo-collage as the only interior art, but I wouldn’t have done it if I felt it wasn’t right for the game. It felt like a perfect match of style and subject.

This feels like a useful time to talk through the limitations of my art style. I’m reliant on what I can find on stock photography websites for parts. This makes it a better fit for modern settings, like PSYCHODUNGEON, though it also works with games where the setting is collaboratively built, like Out of the Fold (the art in this case only needs to represent one plausible setting, so as long as the game could be modern it doesn’t feel dissonant.) It has an unatural quality, that works for odd mindscapes better than it’d fit rigid reality based environments. PSYCHODUNGEON feels like a mash-up world, it’s keeping spells in a notes app, cyborgs needing to unplug your phone so they can charge their heart. The collage is always obvious, it’s easy to see which of the creatures limbs came from different corpses. I’m with the Damned also uses public domain art pieces in the collage mix, with the intended effect of the obvious seams being it feels like the supernatural is imposing itself over reality, it’s working with the stitches, making them a features. Limitations don’t have to be weaknesses, they can be strengths with the right context.

The style doesn’t necessarily take direction well. Going in with an idea of an images content can work, but trying to force blocking that I’m not finding the parts for us beyond me. It’s a reactive style, I have to work with the tools I’m finding. For PSYCHODUNGEON’s social life Dungeon Texture I had an idea of using a photo of a bear trap as a base, but I wasn’t able to find anything on a free stock site so went in a different direction. Sometimes I can fix things by taking a photo myself, like an idea I had which involved a POV of a payphone, the stock sites didn’t have what I needed but there’s payphones in the area. This isn’t always going to be possible though, like in the bear trap example for one.

Trying to make monsters by stitching together different animals will have the side effect of the monsters looking cute. I made two images for PSYCHODUNGEON this way before deciding the monsters for textures needed to be warped humans to be actually unsettling. I did use the two cute animal monsters in the book though, just not to illustrate textures, because I enjoy the possibility of at least one dungeon’s monsters looking cute and what that could say about the mind they came from, is it about their imagination, self-pity, or actually finding cuter things scarier? That’s an example of what I mean about being reactive. I changed direction for the things I wanted to feel disturbing, but found a place for those first designs because the book has a lot of different tonal possibilities.

When I’ve offered freelance services before I’ve never actively offered myself as an artist. Some of that is due to the limitations around direction, though I’m sure some part is not seeing the value in my own skill set. Truthfully the photo collage style isn’t high effort. I’m quick at it and I don’t think the photo editing skills I use in it are anything but basic. I guess I don’t see it as worth selling because there’s part of me that thinks “but anyone could do this, it’s not hard”.

I don’t think it is hard, honestly. That’s why none of this is a tutorial, though I’m trying to explain everything I do clearly enough. I do think my work is good though. I think of my art as a thing I taught myself, but if I were to guess what makes my art effective it’s probably some things I learned when studying film and trying to be a filmmaker. Stuff about shot composition and colour correction. A perspective is where the value is.

I’m doing photo-collage for an upcoming book that isn’t mine. Laurie O’Connel, of 12 Pins Press, approached me to do some art for his upcoming game Full Send, a doomed mountaineering TTRPG. I’ve been making Major Arcana cards inspired by the perils and obstacles in the game. I’ve been finding it fun to be reactive to text that isn’t my own this time. I recommend following the pre-launch page for Full Send, I think it’s a really unique game with some fascinating mechanics and great set-up.

The next big project of mine I’m hoping to take to Kickstart is I’m with the Damned & Other Games. It’ll be a collection of music-based TTRPGs that makes use of a tarot deck. As well as the brand new I’m with the Damned there’ll be new editions and remixes of Follow Me in the Night and the Infinite Dancefloor. I’m calling it a mixtape, cause I think that’s cute. The collage art is a good fit here, for each of the games it’s got that fit of style and subject, and there’s a nice resonance to games about making use of pre-existing music being illustrated by art built out of pre-existing images. I’d appreciate if you subscribed to that pre-launch page too.

[ratwavekayla]

Hey, my friend is fundraising for top surgery. If you donate and send me proof I'll give you a free PDF of any rat wave game you want.

If you send me proof of a donation over 30 quid and include your address I'm down to send you a free book or zine, anywhere in the world.

[ratwavekayla]

Help Poe get Top Surgery!

Hi gang!

My name is Poe, I've been on this horrible bad website for 12 years this year, and I have known some of you almost that whole time it feels like, and I'm finally trying to raise the money for top surgery.

The full details are in the gofundme, but the breakdown is that I am saving to have the procedure done in Madrid, because I live on Bad To Be Trans Island and it's far cheaper and less complicated to have it done there, and I have factored in the time I will need to recover there into my total costs.

I have always had major dysphoria around my chest, but as I get older and time keeps passing more and more quickly it has become crushing, and I'm finally getting over myself and asking for help.

Please do share if you can, it would mean a whole lot!

Ta,

edgarallennope

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This August I’m planning to launch a Kickstarter for a new book, a compilation of games all played with music and tarot cards, called I’m with the Damned & Other Games. I’m looking to raise £4600 for the campaign, and I’m going to explain why the goal is set that way in a bit but let me tell you about the compilation first.

The titular game is a musical, where you play as a band setting off on tour after making a deal with a dark power. It’ll include a new game remixing the Infinite Dancefloor, where you try to escape supernatural nightclub without ruining your friendship in the process. It will include a new edition of Follow Me in the Night, my solo playlist building game about someone sleeplessly walking through city streets trying to banish the ghosts that haunt them. As well as the new edition I’ll be making a variant set of rules that transform Follow Me in the Night in a group a storytelling game.

A large amount of the funds, the amount left after the costs for producing the book and covering my living experiences, I’m going to use to purchase power assist add-on for my wheelchair. I can self propel on flat terrain, but many places outdoors can be either completely impossible, or impossible without putting too great a strain only my body. I’m not explaining this to convince you to back the game. I’m not here to ask for help, I’m here to sell you something. This is an explanation though, for why the goal is the level it is, for why there won’t be any stretch goals for the campaign, and to be honest for why the campaign plans to launch in August rather than taking more time to talk up the project first.

If you’ve enjoyed previous games I’ve made involving I think you’ll find something to love in the collection. Especially if you've enjoyed previous card based games of mine, games set in modern settings, and explorations of friendship. There's an element of playing the hits here.

All the titles in the book make use of music in play. I’m with the Damned plays like musical theatre, The Infinite Dancefloor lets the ever present music act as a timer for you game while Follow Me in the Night involves building a playlist from the music following you.

All games are designed to be played without a GM figure, with rule variations to support GMed play depending on facilitating preferences, and are all self contained games playable in single sessions. With the exemption of the solo version of Follow Me in the Night, all games support 2-5 players.

The pre-launch page is up now. Please follow if you’re interested in supporting the book, it will let me know feasible this campaign could be before August.