Crow Tracks

2010-07-31T11:06:00.004-04:00

A new game from Black & Green Games and Dig A Thousand Holes Publishing!

A fun game for kids and adults too! Dread House will be available at GenCon, at the Design Matters Booth (#2100).

New home for Crow Tracks

2007-02-01T14:14:00.000-05:00

You can find new posts about Black and Green Games over at:

http://www.crowtracks.blackgreengames.com/

See you there!

best,
Emily

Breaking the Ice is available at IPR

2006-03-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

Hello!

As of today, you can now order Breaking the Ice from Indie Press Revolution.

IPR is an rpg distribution company run by independent game publishers Brennan Taylor of Galileo Games and Ed Cha of Open World Press. They distribute games for 20+ other independent game design companies including Ron Edward's Adept Press, Luke Crane's Burning Wheel and many more.

Some other crazily awesome games have recently been signed, and IPR just seems to keep getting to be a better place to get games.

It's a thrill to see BtI in there among this great stuff. Thanks guys!

all the best,
Emily

Sweetheart Deal on Breaking the Ice

2006-02-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

Hello!

For the month of February, there will be a special offer for purchases of Breaking the Ice. All orders of the game will include a box of chocolates, in the traditional red heart shape. If you're ordering for a friend (or would like one yourself), let me know and I'll include a personal inscription.

All proceeds from the month will be donated to a women's shelter in Western Massachusetts, to spread the love to those who may need it most.

all the best,
Emily Care Boss

Slashing the Veil

2006-01-26T09:36:00.000-05:00

As you may know, Breaking the Ice is a game about romance and the ups and downs of the start of a relationship. In it you play two characters going on their first three dates. My favorite example is Bringing Up Baby, where the Cary Grant character has as his conflict "getting married to someone else", and the Catherine Hepburn character has as her Conflict "babysitting a leopard". Hijinks ensue, it's romantic comedy and screwball romance in a bottle.

Now, as it happens this game is also well-suited to another huge genre very popular on the internet: slash. Take Legolas and Gimli getting it on, or Kirk & Spok finally speaking of their feelings, and you get the idea. An actual play thread on the Black & Green forum shows how one lost pairing turned out: check out Breaking the Ice between Bruce and Clark for some superheroic slash action.

Pretty as a Playtest

2006-01-06T10:05:00.000-05:00

City of the Moon playtest version 1 is now available. This game came out of last year's Iron Game Chef competition.

City of the Moon is set in the classical period of Japan @the year 1000 CE, in the imperial court at the capital Heian Kyo (site of current day Kyoto). The game is "gmless" or all-gm'd. Each player makes a main character that is a female heroine, a high-born lady of the nobility who is serving as a hand-maiden in the imperial court, a position of high status. Art and cultural refinement were paramount in this society and women could rise high in society based on their artistic accomplishments. Creative endeavours were brought to an epic high by women during this time, with Murasaki Shikibu creating the form of the novel with her Tale of Genji.

The heroines each have a destiny they are seeking: attainment of their art, power in the court, realization of love. Each destiny is associated with one or the other of two powerful virtues held in high esteem at the time: aware, the sense of the beauty and transience of life, and miyabi, elegance and cultural refinement. Inner and outer, yin and yang, these differing values express the different courses through which the women of the game seek happiness and face trials.

Since everyone in the game shares in the game duties, each player choses another to present opposition to their character, and does the same for them. The characters become rivals or nemeses, who are vying for attention at court over attainment of the same art, or have dibs on the love or support of another, minor, character. The other players can take part each other's stories by taking part in scenes where they help the main character in her goals, and in smaller ways by creating elements in any scene that may assist or hinder the main characters. They do so by using counters gained during special Full Moon Party Scenes, where the players themselves make poetry in simple party games similar to what they would have played in ancient Japan.

The character's conflicts and efforts culminate in Festival scenes, colorful events involving the Emperor and Empress themselves, in which characters may gain, or lose, powerful allies. You can even cause your nemesis to become possessed by evil spirits, losing them all their support, though if you fail, you suffer the fate instead...

Duration of play is likely best for a short campaign (3-6 sessions). Preparation is quick and easy, though familiarity (and love) of the setting will assist in play. The playtest version includes brief background material and names, example characters from court, descriptions of festivals and Moon Cards, themes and motifs used to inspire the spontaneous poetry of Full Moon Parties. Resolution uses a standard playing card deck, and you will need counters or pennies to use during play.

If you have any questions, write 'em here, contact me at blackgreengames@yahoo.com, or drop by at the Black & Green Games Forum at the Forge.

How did I miss this?

2005-12-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

Ron put out a call for a picture of a Big Model posterboy (or girl, for that matter), in his post Let's Make a Deal on the Forge.

I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of that.

The Fluffy Bunny Game

2005-12-23T13:22:00.000-05:00

Hiya! Inspired by Clinton's latest post, I'm going to post the rules to a game Ben Lehman & I collaborated on over the summer.

I give you, the Fluffy Bunny game.

Character Creation:
To make a Bunny

Pick a name (eg Thumper, Marshmallow, Brownie, etc)
Pick a color (eg brown, black, white)
Decide if the bunny has patterns (eg spots, half-black/half-white)
Write "Fluffy 10" under the Bunny
Write "Happiness 10" under the Bunny

Your bunny is complete!

Playing the Game
Play out your little bunny lives, each player takes a turn taking an action

You may:

Play Bunny games
Graze clover and grass
Have bunny tea party with the sparrows
Have sex like little bunnies
etc.

The End!

Now what's missing from this game?

Thoughts on the Beloved

2005-10-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

So despite admonitions not to cross union rules by having two games in development with celestial orbs in the title, I'm still working on city of the moon and Shooting the Moon.

I think Brand has a set of nipponophile friends who might playtest city of the moon (though I've realized that you have to have each person choose one Rival or Nemesis relationship for their main character, and then allow anyone to choose a non-Rival/Nemesis character to have a Companion scene with.) But I've been feeling stuck with respect to Shooting the Moon for a while.

Back after Ben & I played in the playtest I linked to here, he asked me, "So why should I want to play this game? What makes it interesting & different?" Or some such, and I've been cogitating on it since. I've been feeling un-inspired & not sure of what direction to take it in.

Then, while I was thinking about the character sheet & musing on the name I've used for the object of desire since day one and--a lightbulb went off in my head. The Beloved, of course! The search for truth in the light of the beloved. So from that start I got this:

Love is a journey toward the illuminating light of the Beloved.

Each of us has a desire, an emptiness that yearns to be filled by someone--something that brings us meaning.

We see in our Beloveds those parts of ourselves that would make us whole. We see in our loved ones what we seek to attain in ourselves.

Like the light of the Sun reflected in the Moon’s face, the Beloved is a mirror for our Soul. The quest for the love we seek is truly a journey that brings us closer to the truth of our own Self.

Take a few steps upon this journey in Shooting the Moon…

Breaking the Ice in Out of the Box

2005-10-09T10:54:00.000-04:00

Word has come out from Ken Hite about small press games he read & liked at GenCon in his latest Out of the Box column. The Mountain Witch and Polaris get excellent coverage, as do City of Brass, Jihad and Bacchanal, along with Thirty, the Farm, Dread and Discordia.

And, also, Breaking the Ice!

From the column:

Ken wrote:
Emily Care Boss' Breaking the Ice (38-page digest-sized softcover, black and white, $14) is likewise a game in which the narrative direction is predetermined, although there is far more room for player initiative, and the dice (sort of) resolve things. It resembles a romance version of My Life With Master, with a set time limit and story arc.

He's spot on the money in noting this influence. I am definitely exploring the new territory that Paul broke ground on in with MLwM. What he did was to structure the role playing game as a story type that then gets populated by the specific details the players bring to the game. This gives you the advantage of a clearly determined dramatic arc, while avoiding the single-use problem that modules & prepared adventures have. Instead of getting "used up" after you run it once, every time you play it's completely different. Can't thank Paul enough for his work on this principle.

This game, like many narrativist games, doesn't merely presuppose interested, cooperative players, it actively requires them; otherwise, there's far too much room for apathy or spite to wreck things. (This is also very much true of The Mountain Witch, Polaris, and Bacchanal.)

It's true. Especially since it's a two player game, both parties need to be engaged. Though it is sad that this may be seen as something unusual--don't we play these games because we enjoy them? But we all come to games with different experiences and expectations. Not everyone will be as willing or able to come up with things, or to get involved.

But, here, what the game has going for it is something that puts the wind in the sails of Primetime Adventures: player input. In PtA, the pitch session is where you get to/have to combine the best elements of all the players' ideas, and so you actually get the opportunity to, from the get go, make the role playing experience be about something that everyone likes and has the opportunity to have a stake in. Creating characters in Breaking the Ice opens that same door, and the way dice are awarded keeps it current throughout play. Every moment you are checking in, "is this interesting to you?", "does this make a connection, creatively, between us?"

Or so I do surely hope. : )

Change of Venue

2005-09-30T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hello!

The purpose of this blog is going to take a slight detour. Meguey Baker & I are starting up a theory blog called Fair Game. It's just in it's bloginfancy now, but that will be the site for our musings & discussion. Crowtracks will now simply be the blog for Black & Green Games.

best to you!

Emily

What type of gamer?

2005-09-04T07:42:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Ben Lehman, I just saw that someone made a quiz out of Robin's Laws. Here are my results:

You scored as Storyteller. You're more inclined toward the role playing side of the equation and less interested in numbers or experience points. You're quick to compromise if you can help move the story forward, and get bored when the game slows down for a long planning session. You want to play out a story that moves like it's orchestrated by a skilled novelist or film director.

Method Actor

92%

Storyteller

92%

Tactician

75%

Specialist

67%

Power Gamer

50%

Butt-Kicker

33%

Casual Gamer

Law's Game Style
created with QuizFarm.com

Mostly right on, though I am actually partial to long planning sessions. When I play pretend with the Baker kids, Sebastian & Elliot, I sometimes get accused of dragging out the preparation time (drawing maps, coloring in our tiny robots & their cool jetpacks etc.) for too long. Elliot says "I want to play already!" I'm like, "Aren't we playing already?"

For Elliot, play begins when we drop into character & start zooming around the room like we're flying the jetspeeders or what have you. (Does that make our pretend a larp?) For me, it starts as soon as we start talking about what setting we are going to use, and what characters we are choosing. I think most people would class what I call the start of play as pre-play, but it can be some of the most important parts of gaming: look at the Pitch Session in Primetime Adventures. That's the spark that gives life to glue of this amazingly collaborative little game.

GenCon Followup

2005-08-29T14:29:00.000-04:00

Black & Green Games (that is, me, Emily) made it to GenCon Indy this year as part of the Forge Booth. Our little traveling party to get there, made up of Meg & Vincent Baker, Drew Baker, Joshua Newman & Ben Lehman, had five role playing games between us we were bringing to the show, three of which were just hot off the presses for their debut:

Under the Bed by Joshua Newman is a slick little role playing game where you play a child's toys trying to help the child overcome the difficulties of childhood. Think Wizard of Oz the role playing game, or Alice in Wonderland.

Polaris by Ben Lehman is a role playing game set in a fabulous civilization in the uttermost North, facing it's demise in the face of demonic invasion. Think Lord of the Rings crossed with the Ice Queen, by way of Baudelaire.

Breaking the Ice by me is a romantic comedy role playing game for two (or more) players. You play two characters going on their first three dates. Think Bringing up Baby, Sleepless in Seattle or Four Weddings and a Funeral.

It was, in a word, amazing. Meeting the many amazing people from the Forge and elsewhere that I've only known from online was a real treat. Folks whom I've enjoyed working with & admired for years are now known quantities, and what's more, real friends. Ralph, Mike, Julie, Paul, Danielle, Matt & Matt, Clint, Ron, Dave, Luke, Tim, Eric, Star, Andrew, Michael, Kat, Gordon, Keith, Judd and many more--it was so great to meet you finally, what an amazing group of folks. And new friends: Allan, Gregor, Malcolm, Ian, Morgue, John, James, Ed and everyone else--what an unexpected delight to get to know each of you. Well met!

And working at the Forge Booth taught me the real value of a cooperative creative endeavor. There were 23 game companies there, all independent designers of games with their staff & helpers. In another context we would have seen each other as the competition, people to vie against for sales. But instead, we demo'd each other's games, sent likely customers towards the designer who'd written the game they were interested in, and helped run the register & stock the books to keep everyone's sales flowing.

And sales were kind to me: 66 copies of Breaking the Ice sold, putting it as the 5th best selling game at the Booth (per unit sales). I got incredible feedback on the game and it's art by my talented friend Barry Deutsch. And seem to be off to a good start all around. If you're thinking about publishing a game, I can't recommend starting out this way highly enough.

Travel is broadening

2005-08-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

First real post here. A wrap up from some traveling I did in July, taking in some amazing sights and getting a chance to have some in depth discussion about role playing with freeform folks who represent my roots in roleplaying. While with them I was able to sit in on a session, which I will be writing up soon as a pseudoethnography. Well, it'll be observations on the meta & in game level anyway.

Some recap. Flying out from my home in the hills of Western Massachusetts I went down to North Carolina. This was the first gaming stop, actually. While visiting with Ben, Andy K. and Orie, I got to attend Yukicon. It turned out to be a "play the indie game in development"-arama. Awesome. The line up for me:

Breaking the Ice

Open Boat

Exemplar

Verge

Dogs in the Vineyard

Let me just say, wow.

For my own game, it was just what I needed. Playtest by 6 people, only two of which had played the game before (including myself). I had to explain the game sensibly to a mess of folks & then let go & let 2 pairs run on their own. Very interesting especially since in the group I was the only female. Since it is a game about two characters going on a date, I've had some concern--and gotten some input--that it might be intimidating or awkward for folks to play who were not of the appropriate orientation. But here a bunch of (presumably) straight guys got into the story & enjoyed watching their characters fumble around towards ecstasy or entropy, depending. A high point of one game was when one character made a sleazy pass at another in a holocaust museum where she worked, get this, in front of an orthodox jewish man who was visiting. I cannot say oy vey, but those are some chops.

Vincent is offering put an ad for BtI in Kill Puppies for Satan. I thought it would be an odd match up, but maybe he's more onto things than I realize. This can be extreme dating.

Moving on, the next stop was Topsail Beach in North Carolina, near Jacksonville, NC. It's an island, sort of an oversized sandbar, generously scattered with vacation homes that pop up 3 stories tall, looking out one way over the ocean, the other over a green choked narrow sound.

Me & Iris intrepidly working on the treasure hunt.

While there and later in their home in Portland, OR, I got the opportunity to speak at length with Sarah & Charles about various aspects of role playing. Many of which I am still unpacking & chewing on. Grist for the mill. Sarah gave me some great insights into the world of online narrative RP, the fanfic world and it's ancillaries. Fully concensus based gaming. Try this on for size: only the person playing a character has the right to determine if something (good, bad, indifferent) happens to their own character. Flies in the face of the Czege Principle, and does it handily & well for, what? thousands of people? How many folks are there out in the online rp/fanbase community. Many more than play rpg. But I think there are a lot of different issues going on here. More to say & think about.

In Portland, I got to visit my erstwhile companions, the Ennead. The aforesaid root roleplayers. Back in the basic culture of my freeform development once again. Kip, I will write up that session next. Believe me.

While visiting, I also made a trip south to see more friends & the redwoods....

The other purpose of this trip was to do some professional development. Visiting foresters in the Pacific Northwest, to hear first hand about the different issues & attitudes confronting forestry professionals there. I got to visit the Discovery Museum run by the World Forest Institute. Had a everything from a cross-section of a 635 yr old Douglas Fir, cut for the Portland, OR Centennial celebration, to a fire-jumper simulation you could run: try to parachute down to a target to hit the ground running to suppress a forest fire. Many issues here cross-secting this exhibit: use vs. exploitation, suppression of fires vs. allowing natural disturbances to take their course. It's a complicated world of questions, is land managment and forestry. Well, at least I won't be bored.

More soon on the process of publishing Breaking the Ice. It's been longer & harder than I'd imagined, but also easier and more fun in many ways. All the best to everyone else out there getting their games ready for GenCon Indy 2005. See you there, I hope.

Testing out the new blog

2005-07-25T05:51:00.000-04:00

Hello! This is a trial post to a new blog. If you're reading this, you've probably gone back to the start, or stumbled across it somehow. Soon this will be where I talk about my little thoughts about various topics of interest to me: role playing game design, ritual and magic, social dynamics and human psychology.

Stop back by when there is more, I'll be interested to hear what you have to say.

best,
Emily