Alright kids, gather round.

A few of you may remember that my 3yo discovered a door in our ceiling, and has been asking about what’s inside.

Her eyes were wide: “Papaí... there’s a DOOR... on our ROOF!!” I’ve been stalling for a few weeks, but I told Emma we’d get a ladder and climb up there to see what’s behind the door.

I happen to know there is... an OLD RUG up there. Meh.

This Gen Con, I set out to try a strange thing: a mashup of #SunlessSea by @failbettergames and #InvisibleSunRPG by @MonteCookGames.

Let me tell you all a bit about Invisible Sunless Sea.

1/ Sunless Sea is a literary survival horror computer game by Failbetter.

Like Invisible Sun, it’s surreal fantasy, though Victorian in flavor rather than Art Nouveau-era. The two are a wonderful aesthetic match.

Images, concepts, writing flow easily between the two worlds.

2/

I am normally disinclined to publicly pat myself on the back. But today, I think it’s good.

So I’m going to! And it’s going to be a thread.

I left work an hour early, and bought myself a drink. I may buy another. 1/ I just sent off a draft for an essay I was invited to write — for a physical book!

This is not, objectively, earth-shattering. It is a short essay, 800 words, part of a larger anthology. Writers-who-write-things do this (and much more) every day, with discipline.

BUT!

2/

Hi, TTRPG friends. Help me think through this:

What would be required, both mechanically and in terms of expectation-setting, to create a truly fun/engaging “walking simulator” style one-shot?

I (finally) just played through @GoneHomeGame, so it’s v much in mind. Or is this just a bad idea, poorly suited for the medium?