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It was a long time coming, but Ink & Dice is now THE place for updates on upcoming M. Allen Hall games. Thank you for reading, and please take a moment to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.
Inside
2023 Wrap-Up
2024 Game Plan
Godspark Kickstarter
Content Corner
2023 Wrap-Up
2023 was my second full year of game design, and what a year it was!
I kicked the year off with my very first stand-alone TTRPG, a game of isolation and mystery, Stork Raven Madge.
Since then, I’ve released another solo journaling game (Unhallowed), a bookmark game about going on strange quests with strangers (Headcanon), and two different games inspired by Shakespeare (Wherefore and Sneaky Witches).
I ran a failed crowdfunding campaign, but Sprinkles is Missing! still hit the shelves late in the year.
Add to that a handful of game jam entries (including TTRPG modules like The Backrooms, Creusen Moor, and Elevator Game), and it was a very productive year!
Most played game of 2023: Neon Borg
The CY_BORG version of Dark Fort, this game was a blast, and the short-lived Zap Radon had me coming back for more punishment throughout the year.
This is a game full of difficult decisions, but the place where I found myself struggling the most was with Large items. You can only carry one at a time (with your starting strength of zero), and both the Bulletproof Vest (important for not dying) and the Paracord (important for winning the game) count as Large. It was a tough call, but I eventually decided to drop the vest and carry the paracord. I still have a win rate of 1-in-10, but I feel pretty good about it.
Have you played Neon Borg? What was your strategy? How do you feel about games that limit your inventory/carrying capacity in this way? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
First Win of 2024
In the first bit of news for my games this year, Almost Bedtime Theater played a game of Sprinkles is Missing! Check out the podcast to see what you could discover in The Forest.
2024 Game Plan
I’ve got a lot on the horizon for 2024. Here are some of the games that are currently being developed:
Godspark (more info below): ~95% complete
DKTM (a collaboration with Justin Vandermeer, more info soon!): ~70% complete
Endling (tarot-driven, solo, journaling game): ~50% complete
CB (Mothership-compatible solo game): initial planning stages
And this is the convention schedule as it stands now:
March 9-10: GameFace Con in Baltimore, MD
June 14-16: FanExpo Boston in Boston, MA
December 6-8: PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA
Godspark Coming to Kickstarter
Launching on Kickstarter on January 23, Godspark is a pen-and-paper adventure game for one player. Follow the campaign to be notified when it goes live! I’ll talk more about the inspiration and mechanics of the game in the next issue of Ink & Dice.
You are a saint, granted a second life with your god’s final energy. You must scour the purgatorial space of Ruina Dei, searching the bodies of other dead gods for the energy you need to ascend and leave this fleeting afterlife behind.
Content Corner
In this, the closing section of Ink & Dice, I leave you with a bit of TTRPG content for your games. This will vary with each issue, and it might be an NPC, a random table, or a complete game. This week, we have a random table for use with MÖRK BORG:
Thank You
And that’s all for now! Thank you for taking the time to read Ink & Dice, and thank you for coming along with me on my journey of game design.
Looks like an exciting year! I can’t seem to locate Neon Borg.