December When?
Courage
by Mark
I’ve been thinking a lot about game rules—writing them, reading them, explaining them, and how they inevitably require more clarification than just referring to what the rulebook says. I pitched a show idea to Jason recently about writing rules, to which he replied: We’re nowhere near ready to do that episode. I’d say that’s accurate. But I haven’t been able to shake this attachment to rules and how integral they are to playing and designing games.
When I look at the games I’ve personally designed or developed an idea for, Word Warpers stands out in my mind as the most successful and interesting from that small handful. Word Warpers had three rules for how to play and a short set of conditions that dictated how the game started and ended. Even Word Warpers had ambiguities in its minimal rules, and I was using the game as an exercise in writing rules.
I ran into Jason at lunch yesterday, and he justifiably gave me a hard time about my contributions to games and this article. To be fair, the December newsletter is less late than the November newsletter was. Those details aside, as I sat down to work on the newsletter and think about the factors affecting my progress on putting together a playable version of either Survival Horror Succession or a “trick-taking game for tricksters,” I found myself reflecting. I deeply admire the members of the team who have (1) put in a lot of time and effort into the games we’ve playtested and (2) are brave enough to have people try the game and see what problems and critiques could arise.
I have admittedly not budgeted the time necessary to make a playable version of either game floating around in my mind. I can explain the games in about three sentences, but when it comes to creating a draft of a set of instructions to test, I find it very overwhelming—not out of some sense of perfectionism, but more because it is so easy to write the instructions and still have ambiguities or have the game not function. I have to confess that part of my hesitation is that I care deeply about these two little ideas, and there is comfort in letting the ideas remain a blank page because they don’t have to exist or work under the stress test of a live playtest.
We’ve got a few more meetings before our self-imposed deadline of deciding what game we are going to pursue. In the meantime, I’ll try to find a bit of the courage that some of the other members of the team have found and bring one of these little imaginings to a playable form.
Tabletop Alliance
by Jason
I’m steering clear of deadlines, panic mode, and late newsletters today. Instead, I want to send a heartfelt thank-you to our Patreon sponsors. Your support means the world to us.
We’re excited to carry over a tradition from our last project and extend it to Patreon. Every year, we’ll donate all our gross revenue from December Patreon subscriptions to a charity. This year, we’ve chosen Tabletop Alliance, an organization that provides board games to educators, libraries, and community programs. Their mission is to promote learning, social skills, and engagement through tabletop gaming.
As educators ourselves, Mark and I felt this connection was a perfect fit.
No matter what you celebrate—or even if you don’t—on behalf of the entire Misplay team, we wish you a joyful December. Your support, whether through Patreon or simply by reading our newsletter to the end, means so much. Thank you!
Sponsors
Rebel Raptor Games
A new indie board game publisher focused on making games that are perfect for kids and new players but is just as fun for seasoned gamers.
Their first game, Raising Rabbits, launches on Kickstarter this March 2025. Follow them on Instagram @rebelraptor.games or visit rebelraptor.com to join their mailing list for exclusive updates.