Game Jams and MÖRKTOBER

and why I love them

If you’ve read any Ink & Dice before, you’ve probably heard me talk about game jams. I love game jams. I have participated in several in the 2 years that I’ve been posting games on Itch.io (as of this writing, I’ve submitted 25 different projects to 22 different jams), and they are one of the best ways I’ve found to kickstart my creative process.

As an aside, I released Part 2 of my solo actual play report of Fruit from the Vine. If you were interested in Corsa’s ongoing struggles on the razorvine-infested world of Pinnacle, check it out here:

In other news, The Unconventional GMs made an Actual Play video of my module Unmoored! This adventure was written for the Pirate Borg Cabin Fever game jam (one of those 22 jams I mentioned), and it was received the Best Writing and Content award at the end of the jam. If you’re interested in seeing how the adventure runs, check out their video.

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Inside

• Game Jams

• MÖRKTOBER

• October Production Update

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Game Jams

What is a game jam? Let’s start with the words themselves. Game is, well, a game, and Jam comes from the idea of a “jam session” in which musicians get together and create music without preparation. So, in a game jam, game designers are getting together to create games without preparation. The phrase was initially used for the creation of video games starting around the year 2000, but it has since spread to include various types of tabletop games.

While jams can be hosted anywhere, from in-person conventions to private Discord servers, one popular place to host, find, and participate in jams is on Itch.io. This is where I have been submitting games, and finding out about jams was one of the biggest motivating factors in my early days as a game designer.

Why do I like participating in jams, and why should you consider doing the same?

• They encourage you to work on a new project with a fixed deadline (usually).

• They offer structure to guide the project, such as a particular game system or theme.

• They can build a sense of community around a game system.

This last item is probably the most important. Participating in game jams (and joining their affiliated Discord servers) is how I have found communities of game designers doing similar work to what I do. Through jams I have found people to bounce ideas off, to vibe-check my writing, and to offer encouragement when I hit a creative block.

And that’s what the Jam is all about: even if I am a solo creator for most of my projects, interacting with a group of people all working on similar projects is a great way to flex those creative muscles and get finished projects out into the world. Even if it’s just a free one-page game for the annual One-Page RPG Jam, every time that you make something, you are practicing and learning, so that the next time you get a big idea for a big game, you will be ready to put it together.

So, with all this in mind, let’s look at some upcoming jams that I’ll be participating in:

All Flesh Is Surplus

Starting today, the All Flesh Is Surplus game jam accompanies the digital convention of the same name, the first online convention focused on The Lost Bay RPG.

Banner image from the Itch.io jam page.

The first module that I wrote for The Lost Bay RPG was Elevator Game, and it was created for the Lost Bay Urban Legend Jam. That jam led me to find the Lost Bay discord server, and since then I have published two more adventures for the system, Diesel Service and Moe’s House of Meat. For the upcoming jam, I have two more adventures ready for release, and a third that should be done by the end of the month.

Here’s the first one! It’s a conversion of my recent Liminal Horror module One Hour Photo. It’s a quick, pamphlet adventure, but enough for a one-shot or for one session of an ongoing game.

I just love this game. If you like the idea of a weird, modern TTRPG where you play young adults with strange powers, you should definitely check out The Lost Bay and consider getting involved in either the convention or the jam, both of which run October 1 to November 1, 2024.

Horrors of the Americas

Starting October 7th, and running alllllll winter long to April 2025, is the next Liminal Horror jam.

I have been talking about horror a lot recently. This was prompted by the Liminal Horror Twisted Classics Jam, to which I submitted two new projects last month. In the Horrors of the Americas Jam, we see another facet that makes jams awesome: the compilation. Much like with the Pirate Borg Cabin Fever jam, this jam offers the opportunity to have your work included in a compilation that will be published after the conclusion of the jam. Joining in on these kinds of jams is a lot of fun because while everyone is working on their own projects, they are also creating on one large work together. It’s a great community-builder.

MÖRKTOBER

For the third year in a row, the masterminds at

Exeunt Press

are hosting MÖRKTOBER, a month long, prompt-a-day challenge to create content for MÖRK BORG (or the BORG game of your choice). Unlike the above jams that are hosted on Itch.io, MÖRKTOBER is a more diffuse event, with people posting their creations across a variety of social media platforms and Discord servers.

Two years ago, I managed to create 5 or 6 magic items before I fell off the challenge. Two of those items actually got published this year as special Foul Items in my MÖRK BORG funnel adventure, Foul. Last year, I created a dungeon (Beinfjäll) using 29 out of the 31 prompts.

I never assembled it into any sort of cohesive format, but you can see the rooms in this chain of twitter posts. I (still!) haven’t figured out exactly what I’m going to do this year, but if you are looking for a little challenge, try a few prompts from the list to make something for your favorite BORG.

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October Production Update

Thank you to HINOKODO for the template!

As of today, A Night On Rose Hill is officially released! My newest module for The Lost Bay RPG is a one-player, post-mortem adventure. It is designed to be played solo, but it can also be played 1:1 with a GM, as I did with

Chris Airiau

for an actual play video that will be releasing this month as part of the All Flesh Is Surplus convention.

The Will of the Forest will be releasing later this month as well. This is the Lost Bay conversion of my Liminal Horror module from August, On The Hill. I am doing a little more work with this one than I have with previous conversions, trying to give it a bit more Lost Bay flavor than just swapping out stat blocks.

I’ve also started doing some research on mech games in preparation for Auctōrātus 2.0 (not the actual name of the future game). You may remember my rondel-based mech combat game from the One-Page RPG jam a couple of months ago. The reception was so enthusiastic that I am going to be expanding it into a complete game. But first, I need to read a whole lot of mech games (from Lancer to BattleTech and everything in between). This might end up being pretty big, which would be a lot of fun.

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Thank you!

Thanks for reading! If you’re a game designer, check out these upcoming jams, and get those creative muscles working. Even if you aren’t a designer, these jams are a great place to go to find neat little games and adventures to your own TTRPG campaigns, especially if you are looking for new content for smaller, indie systems.

— MAH