The first installment of the PENITENT design diary has been posted to BGG. I address incarceration as a design topic and a more sensitive approach. Subscribe for updates on the project. It will be crowdfunding in January with a limited run capped at 200 copies. boardgamegeek.com/thread/35942...

Chicago ‘68 has finally arrived, and the complete package is stunning. Congratulations to @yoyoni.bsky.social and @ronengoldstein.bsky.social! Nothing quite like the feeling of your first published game🎉

Def should have led with card images yesterday, lol😅

Sample persona card and Iggy. The manager cards are still hideous, but Tony DeFries is just a gross person, lol.

Sample remastered album and threat cards

Anybody interested in trying an Andor prototype. Extra points if you're a publisher with a Star Wars license😅

Getting excited for SD HistCon Second Front on Saturday? Lots of great demos, including the latest from @djackthompson.bsky.social , @volko.bsky.social, @markherman54.bsky.social. Paolo Mori will also showing off Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. Plenty worth checking out!

To make it work, the game needed 1) a less cluttered game state and 2) a core loop that was easier grok. For cards, it meant making most events less specific. A card about a labor event in Colombia, would now be playable in any nation, but the flavor text would highlight the historic event.

Now, I could substitute writing out Authoritarian and Democratic on the event cards and action menu with the icon, so players could discern at a glance both the game state and utility of a given card.

To model governance, each nation had space for a leader card with unique abilities. It was excessive and too much info for testers. In subsequent plays, I axed these leaders and created events for a handful of figures. Governance became a token on the board which aligned w/ iconography elsewhere.

Look what arrived in my mail today!

Since no streaming service is interested in the best animated series in a decade, does that mean I can design a game for the IP?

This weekend, I tried SNAFU's Operation Bollebank a few times. My first play ended with a devastating roll very early, but since, I've been able to progress a bit further with each play. Very intriguing solitaire design. The art is phenomenal.

Is it to soon to tease my next Lock Horns project? If you ever wanted to explore where 18/19th century prison architecture, Quaker penal reform, and Vlaada’s GALAXY TRUCKER converge, then have I got a game for you.

The last copy of The Gods Will Have Blood goes out today. Not too many bruises, and I learned a TON. I’m excited to have a vehicle to sign new designers and weird projects!

A bit soon to post non-game-related material here but indulge me. This is a difficult life decision best left to social media polling. Fender Jazzmaster '61 reissue (left) or Music Man 2016 St Vincent (right).