Welcome!
Hello and welcome to Thoughts from ThatGamerPriest! I'm Ben, thatgamerpriest obviously, and this e-newsletter is titled that because I couldn't think of a more clever name. But I do want to share my thoughts with you about game design, updates as I work on upcoming APON Games like Broken: a Tragic Romance RPG. After seeing some interest in my thoughts about design as a new tabletop rpg designer on twitter, I thought that I would start writing those thoughts more fleshed out in this format. I found Buttondown through game designer Tracy Barnett, who I think is extremely talented not just as a designer, but marketing themselves and how they use social media to talk about their games and other designers games. So I followed their example, and set up this Buttondown! Thank you for thinking it worthwhile to receive my thoughts in your email box. The other reason I wanted to create this email list is so that when it comes time to start giving regular updates about Broken and to crowdfund the game, you would have an easy way to get updates and learn more about it.
So perhaps a good place to start this newsletter is to talk about Broken: a Tragic Romance Game. Here's a sneak peak at some of the game text itself explaining what Broken is about:
Broken is a game about, well, broken things: broken feelings, broken hearts, maybe even broken people in a slowly breaking relationship, looking for meaning, hope and healing. At the heart of this game is a ritual breaking of objects. This is a ritual sign of the breaking relationship and at the same time might provide catharsis, or redirect some of the energy in the scene or relationship. Breaking ten objects in this game is visceral and potent, but does not need to be literal.
There are two ways to play Broken. The first way is to bring ten physical objects to the table that you are ok with breaking. The second way is to create ten fictional objects that your story will center around by writing them on popsicle sticks. In both ways of playing, the ten objects will serve as a scene prompt. At the beginning of each scene, the player starting the ritual will choose an object. That object may serve as a prompt for the scene: whether specifically or broadly is up to you. For example, if the person chooses a pencil, the scene may be centered around a letter written from one character to the other. If the person chooses “grandfather’s pocket watch” written on a popsicle stick, perhaps the scene is centered around one partner borrowing the watch without asking and wearing it for a night on the town. At the end of each scene you will break the object or popsicle stick that served as the scene prompt.
This is a very brief little synopsis of the core mechanic of Broken! In Broken you create two characters who are in a relationship, looking back at memories from that relationship. At the end of each scene you break an object and you become disillusioned with something about the other person or your relationship. This builds until in the last scene you roleplay your break up.
If you like romance games, if you like two-player games, if you like emotional storytelling games with very heavy narrative focus and creative mechanics, Broken just might be for you!
Right now Broken is in playtest. We're looking at our options for releasing the game, including crowdfunding platforms. There are other updates I'd like to give you, but I'll hold those for now. In the meantime I will say that if you have any interest in playing the game, please reach out. I would love to hear from you and have you join our playtest list.
Thanks again for signing up for my thoughts and updates. I hope for big things to come!