Ostensible Cat Update – State of the Cat and Looking Forward

Wow, it's been three years since I’ve posted here. I’ll be honest, I’ve been doing a lot less gaming and a lot more art. Since my last post regarding gaming with my daughter, I think my daughter and I have found it very frustrating to make much progress in playing D&D 5e. Now, before this comes off as an old school gamer bashing newer systems, I think it has less to do with 5e and more to do with my evolving views on what works for me in gaming. It turns out that my preference in gaming is maybe moving away from class-and-race-based ttprgs as exemplified by D&D and its offspring.

Now I’ve been playing TTRPGs since 1981, so none of these is new to me, but I think in that time, I have identified the aspects of gaming that really don’t flow well for me. Since I’ve been a late-life assessed neuro-spicy person, the masking and desire to just nug through things has just completely evaporated.

Character creation seems to be a very challenging process for both my daughter and me, and can overshadow much of the fun of playing the game. It’s not that hard, but it just feels so tedious to me. I want to get on with a game and have my character develop organically and not have to try to min/max my way through some character class skill list to try and get the play style I want.  I just don’t really want to do that anymore. I’m also keen on gameplay that emphasizes plot and story over killing creatures and taking their loot. Again, not trying to yuck anyone’s yum here, my tastes have just evolved, and it’s taken me a heck of a long time to figure out what really lights my fire and gets me excited to sit at the table and play. That is what has kept me from getting that excited about playing lately.

So, where does that leave me in gaming terms now? Well, for the past three years, I’ve been trying to develop my own game that works for me and what I want out of a gaming experience. It has been challenging. Mostly because I’m super ADHD and it is very hard to maintain focus and keep consistency over a large project. But also, because I’m a father, a husband, IT professional, a homeowner, an artist, and not getting any younger. All those things combine to make progress slowly. I’m not going to say slog, because I find that I absolutely LOVE working on my own game system. It sparks something in me that I have not felt about gaming for a while now. And I think that contributes to why it is taking so long. I simply just have a lot of fun tinkering with mechanics and devising concepts.

Ok, ok, so if you follow me elsewhere, you’ve probably heard me talking about the game I’ve been working on. Well, it started as one game and has sort of morphed into a few different things. Demhe, Adventures on the Liminal Sea, was the original concept, a doomed world scenario where characters are racing the clock to stop the mechanisations of the King in Yellow before the world gets subsumed into the moribund city of Carcosa. I followed a kitchen sink design process for this, throwing in concepts, mechanics, and lore that I found stimulating. However, it became readily apparent that this approach was too chaotic to be workable.

I’ve since split the game up into phases. The first, which is heavily in development, is Beyond the Bleak Forest, a solo RPG of ominous positivity. As I mentioned, character creation is really a slog for me, and I wanted to see if I could come up with a fun way to gamify it. It centres around you as a player trying to discover who your character is and acts as a character funnel of sorts. Trapped in a never-ending bleak forest, you randomly generate your three starting statistics – Corpus, Anima, and Spiritus. Each of these attributes has an associated skill tree that lets you develop your character concept through a series of challenges and refinement by traversing the Bleak Forest and setting forth on a path of self-discovery.

 At the outset, your three stats and skills are not fixed. If you die or fail a challenge, you re-roll your stats. The point of the game is to overcome specific challenges that will allow you to fix your stats in place. Once all three have been set, you have finally overcome the bleak forest and have a player-character that you can take to the fully co-op rpg, Beyond the Bleak Forest – Hail Three Wyrd Sisters (more on that at a later time) and Demhe, Adventures on the Liminal Sea. There, character creation is gamified and complete. It is a game in its own right, so of course, there is a bit more to it than that, and I hope it is enjoyable.

I’ve had a lot of iterations and refinements to the game to get closer to a playable system. It is getting closer every day, and I’m still excited to work on the whole system (Beyond the Bleak Forest, Beyond the Bleak Forest – Hail Three Wyrd Sisters, and Demhe, Adventures on the Liminal Sea). I suck at setting goals for release, but I also need something to work towards, so my plan so far is to keep working and have something ready before Christmas 2025 for folks to get a first look at. I’ve got quite a bit done, but quite a bit left to do still. However, I’m not looking to take on any outside commissions for art (well, unless they are compelling), so I can focus on this. Anyway, here is a look at some concept art to whet your appetite (as well as the proposed play map). Cheers and happy gaming!

 A look at the play mat/map of the Bleak Forest.

Bleak Forest Hex Sigil