Dev Log: Extraction Command and Vampire Diary
Zine game and solo play...
Welcome to the Glyph and Grok - A weekly blog-letter exploring design, execution, and culture relating to anything played on a tabletop. See the other pieces on Game Design from the Glyph and Grok here.
A Walk Through My Mind
There are many inspirational creators out there in TTRPG spaces online (like substack/itch.io) that generate myriad awesome things. Some of them you can find in the recommendations list of this very publication. I find myself somewhere between jealous and motivated by the constant stream of awesome things I see pulling at my strings between wanting to just sit and play and wanting to have the feeling of having created something awesome that is now out in the world. The primary objective I have with this publication is to always be learning and writing about tabletop gaming. Writing, mechanics, expression of ideas are things I am constantly taking input from many often amazing examples out there. The secondary objective is to follow and intensify my interest through use of the external expectation created by wanting to deliver something for you, dear reader.
Exploring tabletop rules of all kinds and the various packages they are delivered in, generates a kind of cross breeding of ideas in my mind that I enjoy. There’s always “the perfect adventure game” that I have somewhere living in the back of my mind that I can’t describe as much as I can feel - and I’m always looking for something to help define the facets on the crystal of that idea so that someday I can articulate it, write it, and play it.
There’s also ideas like the fact that Oe D&D had the assumptive use of wargame rules like Chainmail and it was often that players would manage a stable of characters with the goal of ultimately taking ownership over parts of the map and retiring their characters to manage strongholds and become rooted NPCs in a world that was built through the play. I want to be a part of something like that. This one has stuck with me and is partly why I am excited to get the physical Wight Box by The Basic Expert and previously enjoyed reading the booklets of Delving Deeper. I don’t see myself using these expressions of the rules to play with as much as I thoroughly intend to generate my own version of the “club play” model - That’s the end goal I feel at the end of a very long meandering that takes me very far afield and sometimes doesn’t feel connected to that idea at all.
The wargame idea in particular, combined with an enjoyment of the extraction shooter video game Helldivers 2, and a want to build up muscle creating fully fleshed out rules, are the inspirations pushing me to make Extraction Command a real thing. Exploring the Exuent Omnes “1-page RPG” building material has been stick in my mind and while I don’t think Extraction Command will be able to be anything smaller than a full ass zine (The demo is currently sitting at 20 A5 pages).
And so my current plan is to flesh out the rules ideas I have for this zine-sized game and chop it up into a version that I will release as a free demo to ask anyone willing for feedback on what’s there while I work to make a full release version. It has already ballooned and taken more time than I wanted for generating the demo, but I gotta say it’s cool to see this thing forming in my hands - so I’m going to keep going. A natural flow of progress from the NXY mapping system to trying my hand at a solo wargame that I’m going to see if I can inject some solo TTRPG elements into - then we can see how many of the ideas that keep spilling out of my head can be honed and tested.
In the same vein, I’ve been pushing myself to spend more focus on solo gaming. Historically, this has not been something that has pulled me in - as gaming is how I like to connect with people and ultimately I find myself doing a lot of the work to get to a nice game night is about spending time with people I like doing something that is just utterly enjoyable to me. But One Thousand Year Old Vampire is simple yet elegantly deep, I am feeling compelled to explore it through the entirety of a character and practice my narrative writing as I go. I am encouraged by the contingent of readers that voted “yes” to wanting to know more of the story of the dishonored noble peer and newly christened vampire, Rupert Kerrington, So I’ve decided to do a limited run of Friday posts that will each consist of 1-3 journal-style prompt responses resulting from my solo writing playing through the game.
I will not put the prompt numbers into the entries to avoid as much spoiling as possible. I have a “dashboard” I’ve created of tables organizing the mechanical parts of the game like the Memories, Experiences, Resources, Marks, Persons which is previewed below, but I will likely not include that in the gameplay entries and treat it more like a writing exercise for the purposes of publishing it here. I have attached here the dashboard at character generation, and then I will post the final version when Rupert meets his untimely end.
This has been a long winded way of saying, this week, we’re focused on design, layout, and enjoyment of some games.
Thank you, dear reader!
Please like, share, and comment your thoughts.
Till next time!
Hey Alex, I don't want to add chaos to your plans, however if you would like to get a comp copy of my new set of rules, the Hackssential edition, pls drop me a line on the chat! Hope you'll accept my offer!
I’m looking forward to reading more about Rupert! I love 1000 Year old Vampire. My dead dude rose from his grave as his fiancé was visiting his grave…and he killed her in a blood frenzy of hunger. He was aware as he was doing it but couldn’t stop. He walked away from her drained body…only to meet up with her 200 years or so later, he being completely shocked. I was like damn I didn’t know I had this drama in me! lol