On the nature of life
I was very touched someone sent me an amazing article on the microbial life found deep underground the earth’s crust, which you can read here.
Microbia, my ttrpg zine about ‘the powerful magics of the invisible’, is about how to alter your concept of the arcane in your games and introduce bacterias, yeasts and fungus to bolster your world’s mysteries. I vaguely touch on the concept that we are all connected and that ‘microbia’ is the generator of life in this proposed divinity :
The article mentioned above by Ferris Jabr kind of reads like the opening Microbia should’ve had. It sounds like fantasy and could easily be implemented as the unknown mechanisms of a magical world. But it’s real! He proposes that the world is alive and us, humans, just as any other animal, plant or microscopic entity, we are the planet: we are made from it and we simultaneously make it. Sounds fantastic to me.
Blood Rage
Rising Sun’s pacing problem wasn’t its amazing action drafting mechanic, one I’d love to see recycled somewhere lighter, but the weight of every choice going into one of the worst combat mechanisms I’ve ever seen. You need to pre-emptively ‘keep 3-5 coins for that, 2 coins for that and hopefully 2 more coins if someone attacks me there ‘. The turns take so long just because you have to spreadsheet out of your available coins for a whole round.
I’m not sure why one would move away from the mechanisms of Blood Rage when designing the second in the series (Rising Sun). Everytime a game gets close to magic the gathering territory I feel like the whole board game design community somehow reels back as if a curtain was unwillingly lifted on a vampire. In Blood Rage, you also have to plan out your round with the cards you are dealt, but you have to muster up your plan with what you have. You don’t gain new cards and you went through a rigourous drafting experience to get them, so you know what’s out there, mostly, and you made this small hand of cards yours. I couldn’t help but feel Blood Rage was a better Rising Sun in almost every way. Turns were quick, yet the game allows for different play styles to strategize within.
Discovering the escalating power level of cards from decks 1 through 3 was also exciting as all cards were great. There were no discard fodder or so-situational-it-will-never-happen cards (looking at you War of the rings:the card game), but in stead all cards had a variety of intertwined potential uses. Every card you let go in the draft is a card you’d love to have. It is rare that a game keeps rewarding you just for playing and that’s what Blood Rage does. It hides combos within it for you to discover and feel really witty about.
All in all, I finally understand the hype around this game. Every mechanic in the game is there for you to take profit from in one way or another, which gives you an impression of control and sovereignty in each of your many choices.
8.5/10
Current Area Control Ranking
1 - La Famiglia : The Great Mafia War (review coming next week)
2 - Tyrants of the underdark
3 - Blood Rage
4 - Concordia
5 - Kemet
6 - Rising Sun
7 - Brian Boru
Alone on Miridia
I get really really squirmy and shy when I put fanart out. There’s something about it that generates heavy waves of shame. Then, somehow, after listening to an artist showcase their interpretations of characters and IPs that they held dear, it clicked for me.
Some entertainment that I’ve consumed over the years has made me into me. From playing metroid on NES in my friend’s dusty blue-carpeted basement and discovering super metroid all by my lonesome when I got my SNES a bit later, the mood changed me. The idea of adventure somehow got slightly corrupted by the experimental soundscapes and the gnarly creatures you could come upon as Samus. When I accidently triggered the crystal flash move (pictured), I didn’t know what it meant, I didn’t know how I did it and also figured that the game was filled with way more mystery than I thought. It also gave me a slight feeling of loneliness, mirrored by Samus Aran huddled in bubble of light, ever alone.
I’ll be creating more fanart through illustration and music on my Aeon Cub instagram.
News
Heltung have revealed the cover of their new book (which I’m working as layout artist on). It’s fucking awesome. Over here to get subscribed to their upcoming crowdfunding.
The last game I worked on as an employed board game graphic designer has been announced! Tree Society will be coming out later this year, check it out!
In Closing
Thank you for reading! You can always reply to this email if you want to chat some more. I think I may be starting the discord channel thing.
This substack is free, but if you want to support me you can do so by checking out my games on my website or my itch.io.
See you next week!