Kismet: Local Customs is out!
In this newsletter: writing news, TTRPG news, Ninefox VN status, FAQ (Foxily Asked Questions).
My writing news is that MOONSTORM is a Nebula finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction! I’m humbled and grateful. Congratulations to all the finalists!
TTPRG news: Kismet: Local Customs, an authorized mini one-shot TTRPG developed/written by me in partnership with Layla Lawlor for her terrific Kismet webcomics, is now available at itch.io! Free/pay what you want. :) This was a wonderful design experience for one of my favorite webcomics, and I hope y’all will give it a whirl.
Based on Layla Lawlor's Kismet webcomic, this is an authorized mini TTRPG one-shot that can be played in a single session, or across two or three sessions. Everything you need to play (except for players and D6 dice or a dice simulator) is contained in an 8-page digest-sized PDF mini zine that can be downloaded and printed.
Get ready to enter a pulp sci-fi setting on a lawless frontier moon! You and your group have been accused of attempting to smuggle a valuable object past the corrupt customs agents. (Did you? Possibly!) Play as an escaped science experiment, a spy, or one of four other pregen character classes. Make a few modifications to customize your character, and you'll be up and running in minutes! Each of the characters is also hiding a secret (chosen by you from a pregen list or made up yourself with the GM's permission) that only you and the GM know about at the start of the game, ranging from malfunctioning psychic powers to secretly planning to betray your team.*
The PDF contains everything you need to know for worldbuilding background, with no knowledge of the webcomic necessary to play. However, if this intrigues you enough that you'd like to read the comic, you can find it at www.kismetcity.com.
Ninefox VN Status
Thanks to those who wrote in with feedback on the text-only prototype in Ink!
Ninefox Tarot art (see above for an example!).
Ren’Py prologue prototype port.
Godot 4.4 and Defold learning. Developing a VN for in-browser play might (?) make this more accessible for early testing.
Paper prototype of the battle system.
Music: music editing/composing.
Research: number theory and cryptology (Judson’s Abstract Algebra, Knospe’s A Course in Cryptography), steganography, Monte Carlo simulations, game design (Gabe Barrett’s Find the Fun).
You can find more updates at the website.
FAQ (Foxily Asked Questions)
What are you doing lately?
I am recovering from a concussion (Sun Mar 9) and outpatient surgery (Tues Mar 11), and am awaiting diagnostic results from the latter.
If I’m incoherent or not responding quickly, it’s because I’m sick + concussed and my short-term memory is destroyed. (Possibly less obvious online. Blazingly obvious to my husband, who interacts with me in person in real time. Large parts of this newsletter were drafted ahead of time over a couple weeks.)
What have you read lately?
I had the intense pleasure of reading an ARC of Petra Lord’s YA fantasy QUEEN OF FACES (first in a trilogy):
Anabelle is trapped in a boy’s body, and in a year, it will kill her. In the nation of Caimor, the wealthy buy and trade fabricated bodies like clothes, moving their souls between them as easily as blinking. But Ana can only afford a grey, damaged male form, and by her 17th birthday, it’s already falling apart. As her extraordinary magical ability grows, but her body continues to fail her, she is left with only one choice: become an assassin for the headmaster of Paragon Academy, Caimor’s prestigious school of magic, working against those who would see the nation’s magical elite toppled. If she completes her dangerous assignment, she just might escape her body before it takes its last breath.
I’d saved the Publishers Lunch email announcing the book so I could track it down when it was published, something I’d only done once before. I was thrilled when a request to read the ARC came in! QUEEN OF FACES destroyed me and I want seconds already. The book’s due out in November 2026.
What games are you playing lately?
The first part of my fancy edition of Shing Yin Khor’s solo keepsake game Bird Oracle arrived. I love it unreservedly. Multilevel marketing! Advice columns! Magic and transposition, birds and beheadings!
(It didn’t come with the tea service or tea or Bonne Maman pear spread; I had those, but it seemed fitting to bring them out!)
My husband persuaded me to try Caves of Qud! This is a quirky, delightful roguelike. Joe designed a Jedao character for me. We’re wildly confused/delighted that one of the first things Qud!Jedao (moo) did was Beguile (~Charm Monster) an NPC boss. It turns out the NPC has an EGO of 42 (vs. Jedao’s mere 18). We may have rolled a critical success?!
This means that I can make “chewing the Qud” jokes with impunity. ;) For some reason Cloud disapproves!
(Fear not. I’m still addicted to Mechabellum!)
What music are you listening to lately?
I ordered piano arrangement books for Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy XV, and Sawano Hiroyuki from Japan (hat-tip to Storme and Pez!). I have played neither Chrono Cross nor any Final Fantasy (I didn’t really grow up with consoles) but the music is a lovely piano experience. The Sawano Hiroyuki book I picked up on the strength of the score for Aldnoah Zero.
I have a foxy question you haven’t answered here!
Sure: email me at ninefox@ninefoxgambit.com :)
And for lagniappe, obligatory fox pic:
Un Kyu Lee’s writerdecks are terrific and sell out quickly during the ~weekly drops, although you can DIY as he makes the plans & specs (3D printing + components) and software available as open-source! This one is a Micro Journal Rev.5 (you provide your own keyboard) and it’s my favorite writerdeck. (I bought one prebuilt because I’m a klutz, and have a Micro Journal Rev.7 on order!)
Yours in calendrical heresy,
YHL