Breaking Out from Breakout
Howdy from Milwaukee, where snow is currently blanketing everything and it feels more like December than March.
As some of you know, I recently returned from Toronto where I spent a few days at Breakout Con, a tabletop gaming convention over the course of three days. Everyone was lovely and I made some really great and hopefully lasting connections. I ran two sessions each of my games Hunters, Inc. and Bump in the Dark, and all four sessions were incredible. I think my favorite of these was one a Hunters, Inc. session that went off the rails pretty much immediately -- a crew of monster hunting teens and a talking, weight-lifting dog. There were barrels of glowing ooze, super soldiers, and local conspiracies. It was wild.
I also got to play in a few really amazing games. The session of Under the Autumn Strangely I played will stay with me forever, just absolutely chilling and affecting. Sidney Icarus's spy-themed Blades in the Dark hack was really interesting and I wish we could have gotten a few more hours with it. Finally, Kurt Refling's in-development I Named My Baby Goku was a really cool world-building game where you build up a community of dedicated (and maybe over-zealous) fans of a piece of media -- only for the entire community to crash and burn gloriously at the end of the session.
There's a lot more to say about Breakout Con and all of the amazing vendors, and I could probably do a beat-by-beat recap of the sessions I played, but really the best part was the people -- whether that's people I've known online for ages and finally got to meet in person, or brand new connections, I feel deeply grateful for so many of the interactions I had during my time in Toronto.
One regret that I have is that I didn't get to explore Toronto nearly as much as I would have liked. I heard a lot about the great food the city had on offer, but I mostly stuck with what was fast and easy. I was pleasantly surprised by the meal I got at Tempura Keisuke -- vegetable tempura served over rice with miso soup and two vegetable spring rolls. That and the fantastic breakfast from Cafe Neon were highlights of my trip.
On Alison's recommendation, I did spend a little time wandering around Chinatown, including a stop at the famous Sonic Boom, best known (to me) as the record store in the Scott Pilgrim series. Thankfully technical difficulties meant they were only taking cash or I would have spent way, way too much money there. I also wanted to hit up The Beguiling Books & Art, but by the time I'd wrapped up at Sonic Boom, I was ready to get back on the road. I'll just have to make sure to check it out next time!
In Bump news, I'm plugging away on the Revised Edition. I've received a bunch of sketches from the artists and I've been getting quotes from printers. Not much news yet, but hopefully some big news soon.
Cool Stuff by Cool People
There's a lot of cool stuff happening right now, and I thought I could shine a spotlight on some of it.
New from Mikey Hamm (Slugblaster), Two-Hand Path is a roll-and-draw solo dungeon crawl currently funding on Kickstarter. I've bounced off pretty much every solo game I've tried, but I'm so incredibly stoked for this one.
Not only does The Lost Bay bill itself as a "suburban gothic RPG," it's set in an "alternate 90s," so you know it's got me interested. The art looks incredible, the vibes are immaculate. Seems well worth checking out.
Sidney Icarus has been doing a daily read-along of Blades in the Dark called The Daily Blade. They're almost a month in and it's been pretty consistently great.
Thomas Manuel's Indie RPG Newsletter is one I never miss. If you're not familiar already, check it out.
That's all I've got, but I'm excited to be able to share more about the new edition of Bump soon -- maybe even a preview of some of the incredible art!
I'll leave you with one last thing -- a photo of my absolute favorite thing I saw in Toronto:
With gratitude,
jex.