The original subtitle for Emissary was “or, Twitch Plays Ekumen.” The audience for the joke was too narrow. It works if you know millennial internet, Ursula K. Le Guin, and also the rules to my indie TTRPG. The audience was me.

Are games art? When @playsamovar.bsky.social applied to get our games in Takoma ARTery's latest installation, I was dubious they'd say yes. The organization displays locally-made art in underused retail windows. But -- they said YES! 1/▶️ youtube.com/shorts/lvVYq...

I’m playtesting a new game. Core concept: draw rooms in a space station and then draw little crew members to go in them. Other rules mostly superfluous.

Before you get to the main expo hall, stop by the PAX Together Intersection Lounge in 201C - I spot some games Designed in the DMV here, from @greenintern.bsky.social, @playsamovar.bsky.social, and me! Thank you @sidequestbooks.bsky.social for welcoming indie designers and games to the table!

238 games! at the @ipr.bsky.social table staffed by Pandemonium Games! at #PAXUnplugged! and one of them is Emissary, my GM-less story game inspired by the worlds and wanderers of Ursula K. Le Guin. Pay them a visit and grab your copy this weekend!

Emissary will be at @officialpax.bsky.social #PaxUnplugged in Philly next weekend! Drop by the @sidequestbooks.bsky.social table in the PTI Lounge to grab a copy while supplies last! I can't wait to hear what 🪐 worlds and 👣 wanderers you all cook up. #DesignedintheDMV #storygame

If you're going to #PAXU, check out @sidequestbooks.bsky.social's booth! They'll be selling a whole mess of great independent RPGs, including my own! I'm terribly grateful to them for the opportunity to get my stuff out there!

Happy drop weekend! New in the shop: Emissary by @playsamovar.bsky.social 🫱🏽‍🫲🏼 A GMless multiplayer storytelling RPG inspired by The Hainish Cycle, Ursula K Le Guin's stories of Hain-seeded human(ish) worlds. Guide an Emissary from Here (their world) to There (a fantastic and mysterious new world)

Omg the second coolest thing about being included in the @knaveofcups.com catalogue is getting to see your product against one of their impeccably selected backdrops 😍 🌌

I made digital download key bookmarks for physical copies of Emissary I’m selling locally. On the back I dropped 20 more Nonsense Words. That’s a 20% increase in nonsense words from base Emissary! Get yours this weekend at Game Kastle’s Goblin Market gamekastle.eventcalendarapp.com/u/46429/2o5l...

My haul from the @peoplesbooktakoma.com Indie Game Fair last weekend! I can’t wait to dig in.

Wonderful Indie Tabletop Fair today at @peoplesbooktakoma.com talking to people about Emissary and hearing some great speakers.

Weather looks great for our outdoor tabletop games fair on Saturday 10/18! ☀️ Swing by from 12-4 to meet local designers and join us for a moderated discussion between three established gamer designers inside People's Book at 4pm!

Thanks Gene for repping Emissary! DMV folks, come out to @peoplesbooktakoma.com on Saturday 10/18 to check it out!

I finally finished @stickydoodler.bsky.social’s Bonsai Diary. Truly a mind-expanding experience to think forward six generations, especially in this moment that is so steeped in despair.

October 18, People’s Book in Takoma Park! Hear from the creator of Fluxx and many more. Buy local board games, card games, roleplaying games, and zones!

Indie Tabletop Day at Pure Panic Comics and Games is in just over a week! Games, vending, panels! Sept 28th! Silver Spring, MD Check out the deets in the link below and sign up to play some games. Tell your friends! www.designedinthedmv.org/indie-tablet...

Come check out our little mini-convention with vendors, panels, and game demonstrations highlighting locally-designed tabletop roleplaying games!! There is so much creativity going on #DesignedInTheDMV

! @ipr.bsky.social is selling Emissary at PAX West, bringing this game to the PNW, home of Le Guin’s worldbuilding. Also #DesignedintheDMV stuff by @goblinmixtape.bsky.social, @scryptidgames.bsky.social, @tomahawkbunny.bsky.social (who did I miss?) www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/PAX-We...

I’ve been toying with a room-by-room exploration game idea recently so of course I had to try out Moon Rings by @junkfoodgames.bsky.social! I loved my journey and the story that emerged. Shout out to the Madame Zostra figurine from Betrayal at House on the Hill for being my Witch.

Emissary is now available on @ipr.bsky.social!! www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Emissa... You are a visitor. A lit match thrown into a world of tinder. Tell your own story of discovery, diplomacy, and dialogue in the style of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish cycle. #GenCon #TTRPG #zine

So exciting!! Emissary is on @ipr.bsky.social!! 🪐👽✨

Sadly Emissary didn’t make it into IPR’s system soon enough to make it to GenCon, but they’ll have 184(!!) indie games including a bunch #DesignedintheDMV! Check them out below:

For Emissary's BxW illustrations, the wonderful Nick Bosworth helped conjure the feeling of simultaneously *exploring* and *imagining* a world. His solid, anonymous figures interact with loose, sketchy environments that feel like they're still being drafted.

100 copies packed up and shipped to @ipr.bsky.social! I can’t wait for Emissary to reach retailers all over the country!

Hey #ttrpg land. #PbtA fans. #gamers Our game is nearly funded. $305 away from our $10,000 goal. I think this game is amazing and so do most people who have read the manuscript (everyone who's told me says they like it) Come join us? www.kickstarter.com/projects/hig...

I’m honored to be involved in such a fantastic lineup. Buy local games! Thanks @junkfoodgames.bsky.social for all your hard work on this.

New ♦️🎲 Designed in the DMV 🎲♦️ Catalog just dropped! ft games designed by residents of DC - MD - VA Retailers: Order our games and let customers browse the catalog Gamers: Find our games at your friendly local game, book, or comic shop! youtu.be/US1u3gKAHWQ 1/▶️

Packed Emissary demo night at @fantomcomics.bsky.social I’m always a joyful bundle of nerves when people engage with something I wrote!

The Bonsai Diary is now live on Kickstarter. Grow a tree with pen and ink and play to find out: What does it mean to leave a legacy? 💚 It's a meditative and tranquil drawing and journaling experience. Please consider backing it: www.kickstarter.com/projects/sti...

Last month, I convinced two game stores to stock local indie RPGs by walking in and showing them the catalog we put together at #DesignedintheDMV. At this point every major DC-area game store east of the Potomac stocks local games. If you make games in a different city, you can do the same thing!

Gene is a class act and I really hope this succeeds.

Love the Krilliage. Scared of the dark! 🥺 awesome #Emissary playtest at @fantomcomics.bsky.social

Welcome to Norb, a world with long days and nights, and brief habitable zones in between. Will the fragile balance between the Tilip Tal (dusk) and and Tal Tilip (dawn) survive?

Come play my world-building game Emissary at @fantomcomics.bsky.social on Monday, Feb 10! No time like the present to imagine better worlds/revolutions/other ways of living, right?

🚀 Learn more about Emissary, a collaborative storytelling game inspired by the works of Usrula K Le Guin. samovargames.itch.io/emissary

Fight the powers that be ✊ with Bundle of Holding's Punch Nazis! TTRPG bundle, and support The Center for Constitutional Rights at the same time. Includes sweet games by @gshowitt.bsky.social @binarystar.games @jessfromonline.bsky.social @rileyrethal.bsky.social bundleofholding.com/presents/Res...