Wow. That was a great Metatopia! Vinny, Avie, and the entire Double Exposure crew always put on an amazing festival of game design, and 2018 was bigger and better than ever!
Personally, I enjoyed the con even more than I usually do. I’ve been in a bit of a creative dry patch lately as I’ve been struggling to finish my sword and sorcery novel. Metatopia was such a breath of fresh air for two reasons: I got to see so many brilliant friends that I rarely see, and I got to look at the flourish of creativity that so many others have been bringing to their own designs. The games I got to playtest or discuss:
- Please Save Our Village A story game Western inspired by the Seven Samurai and the Magnificent Seven. We discussed lots of ideas for genre emulation.
- The Indie Scene Bill White’s game about being indie game designers on the Forge in the early ‘00s. It was surprisingly fun creating an alternate reality where the Forge was focused on “Setting Matters” and we worked on a lexicon of setting creation.
- The Micean Council A clever, light RPG about mice fighting to save humanity from evil spirits. Lots of well-thought-through settings fixtures on display that made problem-solving challenging in the best possible way.
- Scherzando An RPG where half the table plays the soundtrack while the other half plays the scene. Seeing a pile of recorders, penny whistles, and a xylophone on the table was a bit intimidating. In the end, I didn’t have to play anything during the playtest, I just brought the melodrama instead. Very cool game.
- Dark Designs in Verdigris Richard Ruane’s hack of World of Dungeons to do a “dark Oz” setting, with lots of delightful weirdness lifted from the _other_ Oz books that haven’t made it to the big screen. I was impressed by how much setting information was conveyed in such a small space. Look for this in an upcoming issue of The Gauntlet’s Codex zine.
- A Dire Situation A fascinating-looking game of letter writing, deception, and intrigue. We only got setup done, but I hope to learn more about the letter passing mechanic and how it achieves the potential I could see in this. Easily the most innovative game I saw this weekend.
- CardPG A traditional RPG with deck-building elements infused. Dice are replaced with a standard deck of cards which you you customize every level. Interesting.
- Dying is Easy. Comedy is Hard Bill and Mel White’s minigame of doing classic comedy like “Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein” by improvising in one minute bursts. I laughed a lot. What more can you ask for in a comedy game?
- The City Afterlife Rob Deobald’s game of the supernatural entering the modern world and reshaping the city around it, taking inspiration from Dream Askew. I playtested this one last year and it was gratifying to see how much it’s improved over the last year. I think this one is largely done.
- Breaking Spirals A really interesting focus group on making a portal mini game to teach and strengthen techniques of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Most thought-provoking.
- 1st Thoughts on 2nd Editions The only panel I attended was about making the second editions of games. I know a thing or two about that, but really enjoyed Russell, Rob, and Brennan sharing their perspective.
- Tears of a Machine: Second Edition Russell Collins’ second edition of his game about teenage mecha pilots. This one will have lots of feels and lots of collateral damage.
Plus, in the midst of all this awesomeness, I found myself working on my own game design notes that I hadn’t looked at in months. It’s inspired by the 7-month “slow read” of Lord of the Rings I did with my book club here on Google Plus. I know that momentum is precious and dissipates easily. I hope to have a playtestable draft by the end of this month. Who knew I’d be designing another game (probably everybody, but still)?